2015 Japan Open | Page 38 | Golden Skate

2015 Japan Open

Ice Dance said:
And in one performance, Javi takes care of the it's-all-about-Patrick-vs-Hanyu myth. Meanwhile Shoma . . .

Who was just beaten by Samohin . . .

Who was beaten by Nathan . . .

Defeats both Javi & Patrick.

LOL. I love the unpredictability of the men's field these days.
Click to expand...

:laugh: That's the men for you!
 
I love Mao and Satoko's performances. Too bad about Gracie's mistakes, I like her LP a lot.
Mao's LP kinda reminded me of Yuna's Send in the Clowns, style, music and costume. ;)
I love it. :)
 
I have come to the conclusion that Gracie just can't compete and that she will never fulfill her talent. She can skate 2 back to back clean LP's in practice but bombs when it counts. :bang:
 
It is clear that Chan and Fernandez were not quite ready with their programmes, which is as it should be at this time of the season.... The first GP for Fernandez will be Cup of China and my guess is that there we will see improvement. I liked his music, choreography and interpretation already now. It is a difficult programme with plenty of transitions, etc., which all will affect his PCS. I do not agree that his scores were too high, his PCS was about the same as it was at 2015 WC and he deserved it there and here, in my opinion.

Chan was not into his music, yet, but otherwise his floating on the ice was wonderful to watch again. Skate Canada will be quite soon though.
 
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Looking at the protocols I can't help but marvel at Shoma's marks for a Junior skater upcoming to seniors, How did he get Hanyu marks without being Hanyu for at least 2 or 3 years of deliverying?

http://www.jsfresults.com/InterNational/2015-2016/jo/data0105.pdf

Looks like I found a new most inflated skater to scrutinize lol... Judge 7 for JSF. Very funny. Home inflation at its best!!

His transition mark varies as wide between 6.75 to to 9.25
Interpretation from 7.75 to 9.50
Oh I love anonymous judging.

FYI, Shoma Uno's controversial quadless win at JWC2015 last year he received 147.67 in his FS. 2 x4T magic effect a few months later skating at home is 40+ difference. Oh i love COP, it is as unreliable as the British weather.
 
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I liked Mao and she skated beautifully to Madame Butterfly but some parts of the program can be improved. The last 3L didn't go well with the music and instead of the spread eagle during the climax of the step sequence I wish she would do something bigger.

I expected a little bit more honestly. Lori Nichol got the job done but nothing more to my mind. With Carolina she would have put more effort into creating a unique Madame Butterfly.
 
Gracie needs to fix her skunk hair. She looks like Miley Cyrus when it's pulled up. She is not a natural blonde so don't just get highlights, you need to commit to dying all your hair blonde in order for it to look good when pulled up.

Sorry just a pet peeve of mine. Gracie always has great dresses and makeup so her hair with the constant dark roots is a little baffling to me. Unless she intentionally keeps the roots and the underlayers of her hair dark for an edgy look? If so, that probably looks fine when her hair is down and parted, but it's always going to be up when she's competing.

Urg. In general I'm just frustrated by Gracie. She looked SO GOOD in those videos TSL posted, I was actually starting to like the program. But here she was nervous and disconnected again. Time for a new sports psych I think!
 
silverlake22 said:
Gracie needs to fix her skunk hair. She looks like Miley Cyrus when it's pulled up. She is not a natural blonde so don't just get highlights, you need to commit to dying all your hair blonde in order for it to look good when pulled up.

Sorry just a pet peeve of mine. Gracie always has great dresses and makeup so her hair with the constant dark roots is a little baffling to me. Unless she intentionally keeps the roots and the underlayers of her hair dark for an edgy look? If so, that probably looks fine when her hair is down and parted, but it's always going to be up when she's competing.

Urg. In general I'm just frustrated by Gracie. She looked SO GOOD in those videos TSL posted, I was actually starting to like the program. But here she was nervous and disconnected again. Time for a new sports psych I think!
Click to expand...

Some skaters are just not competitors and never learn to compete. See Allisa C and Jeremy for example. They might have some good moments where they put it all together but it doesn't last. But you would think just once Gracie would nail it in competition. Oh well Ashley also finished last at the Japan Open last year and was awful and she came back. Maybe Gracie will get mad and finally skate like she can.
 
I have only watched the ladies so far so I can only give my opinions on them

Mao Asada: right away, those skating skills, the smoothness across the ice was wonderful, she has really been missed, the performance was lovely and expressive but there is something missing for me, I'm guessing it's just because it's the first competition of the season and she needs to gel a bit more. The break seemed really good for her, she seems really refreshed and I loved the performance. Choreography is a kind of meh for me right now, there are parts where I feel like more could have been done. Either way her skating was fantastic for me, so happy to see her smile at the end. Didn't find her slow at all, the ads at the side of the rink were a blur when she skated past them, she made it look easy.

Satoko Miyahara: lovely program and lovely skating, jumps are still small. The hot pink colour is way too loud for a piece of music like that, it's kind of distracting. The music is lovely and has a lot of wonderful moments and nuances but the dress is just... hmmm she should go back to the other one. Good on her for giving a perfect performance but she won't receive those scores internationally.

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva: typical program for her I guess? I feel like her expressions and movements have improved a little from last season and I like this LP better than last season's. Shame on the 3A but her lutzes were fantastic, love the lift she gets into them. The one handed Biellmann was pretty decent and probably a good choice as when she used 2 hands she slowed down a lot in that final position. I'll have to watch more.

Adelina Sotnikova: glad to see her back, there were a lot of cheesy moments in the program but she sold it well enough for her first comeback. Her toe jumps are huge and that 3F at the beginning was fantastic. It's unusual to start at the edge of the rink of I think it worked for her, I was hoping to see her do the ending where she runs towards the judges but the ending pose was not so bad.

Ashley Wagner: welp Ashley is going back to 2 3Fs instead of the 3Lzs which I think is an excellent choice, she should really just work on getting that outside edge first before trying to put it into a 3-3. Disappointed in this performance, I understand that she likes this program a lot but she shouldn't have kept it if there wasn't much that she was going to upgrade. I don't really see an improvement in transitions or choreography, looks exactly the same as last season. I hope we'll see more when the GPs start.

Gracie Gold: I mentioned this last season but I find her arms very wild when she goes into her 3-3, very big but lacks control, a poor showing from her. Gracie and Ashley should trade PCS. Don't have much to say.

I must say though, with respect to Adelina and Mao's comebacks, love the skating skills and how they hold their spiral positions, I've seen too much of 1 second spirals and they just go right back into concentrating on getting the technical elements. Hate those spirals, they're practically poses but I loved Mao's spiral past the judges and Adelina's towards the end, great extensions.
 
Re: Gracie... yes, disappointing but I am more optimistic this season than the last. Remember when she said "that's ok!" when she heard her score after a pretty meh SP at Skate America? This wasn't a great skate obviously, but she looked very glum and wasn't making excuses. I think she'll work hard to come back after this. At least this program is backed by more engaging choreography that can pique some interest when the jumps are off.
 
a few of my impressions

shoma: good for him, a great improvement from his early skate this a little while ago.. I love his costume so much.... I think he will become a really great skater but I don't think he is quite there yet in SS eventhough, he is very good...

chan: 1) he just did his short a week ago in quebec, and we could see it wasn't ready, to fly all the way to japan, fight jet lag, and skate the LP... i wasn't expecting him to skate it well...
2) however, the PCS are a bit low compared to other skaters who didn't do better PCS wise and outscored him :)
3) my biggest concern for him is his layout. at least at the OG he had 2 quads in there.... if he is going to do only one quad, and one 3A, it's not enough... he used the same laying IIRC as last year's JO so perhaps it will change throughout the season but for now, it's a bit low in terms of BV... however, he has said that he is skating for skating not for winning, so perhaps he only intends to do this layout but make it flawless... whatever this program is headed to, it has HUGE potential... let's hope it gets there
4) jeremy is a beautiful skater. that's all i will say
5) for javi, ermm... how can he fall and get a +1 goe by one judge on that specific jump .... sort of explains why his PCS are also a tad high :)
6)murakami: ihave high hopes for you!


ladies.. i think a lot has been said already... all i will add is that mao and satoko were ready for this! they came out so strong! YAY Ihave often preferred other skaters to Mao a few years ago but right now, she is my favourite.. Her program is gorgeous. It was good that she took some time off. All of her skating is better.
For Satoko, i would just prefer that she uses the original piano music... the added strings part makes it a bit tacky musically.... and her dress, makes her look even smaller and younger.... for un sospiro, i would expect a very elegant white or off white dress... but it was still a nice dress and what a wonderful skate today.... WOW....
 
os168 said:
Looking at the protocols I can't help but marvel at Shoma's marks for a Junior skater upcoming to seniors, How did he get Hanyu marks without being Hanyu for at least 2 or 3 years of deliverying?

http://www.jsfresults.com/InterNational/2015-2016/jo/data0105.pdf
Click to expand...

He has a HUGE 86.42 BV. He hit all his jumps and spins, including 2 great 3as and 2 quads, that gives him at least 10 points in goe. In this case, 12 points. He got 86 in pcs, maybe a little inflated, but that kind of score is not entirely new for him, he got 82.44 pcs (167 total) in the 2015 four continents with a fall and other problems. He scored 185 overall, if you take 3 points off in pcs and 2 points off in TES, he still has a massive 180. He's just a very talented young man with an incredibly difficult program, great skating skills, steps, spins and artistry, and unlike his competitors, he performed his program perfectly. That's it. Hanyu, Chan and even Fernandez can score close to 200 if they skate perfectly, but that rarely happens.
 
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Shoma was awesome! Skate of the night for me.
I love Liz's FS. So much better than last season. Would have been much more interesting if she hit that 3A right after mao hhaha
Happy for Mao showing that she's still the queen of 3A.
Gracie....oh...i forgot you were gracie. She's so capable of mega score but no.
 
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Gracie was scored quite generously, I thought, for that messy skate, The program itself is very good, as are her skating skills. She just needs to execute!
 
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