2018-19 Ladies' power ranking

[thexfireball]

Well, Kihira was in the top 3 and even top 2 of a lot of people’s lists when they saw her scoring potential at Ondrej Nepela, before the GP even started. Though I agree its early and Kihira hasn’t shown yet if she can be consistent, her showing before NHK made people even more interested and justifiably so. It’s no wonder some people (especially those unfamilar with her inconsistency in juniors) will pick her as the one to beat.

Even though NHK was on home soil, I don’t think Kihira’s scores will be much different away, to be honest, provided that she performs. She does not lack in PCS, it’s just a matter of how consistent she is for the mark to continually increase throughout the season. Her GOEs are pretty fair imo, but even if they decrease a bit with a clean skate her PCS rise will make up for it. Added on with the fact that Zagitova hasn’t skated fully clean at both her GP outings, and her known struggles with growth, some people are ready to get aboard another hype train.

However, like you I do think it’s still to early. Though I can understand why people would be motivated to put her as #1. Nevertheless, Rika needs to prove herself more, because as it stands, I still think Zagitova’s the one to beat. Though she hasn’t been fully clean at both GPs we’ve seen what she’s capable of. And I have little doubt that we’ll see clean skates from her at the finals. Kihira is yet to skate two fully clean programs and prove she can surpass Zagitova’s SB scores - Zagitova even went over 80 at this GP.

If they’re both clean at this moment, I say Zagitova wins.

 

[Shanshani]

Don't take this the wrong way, but it feels very weird to me that people are considering Rika the top lady in the world right now after a SINGLE GP event... with a home crowd also.

I feel like people overreact to whatever has happened most recently (witness all the sky-is-falling stuff that happens when Evgenia or Alina have a bad skate). I don't think Rika has shown that she can perform under significant pressure yet (though she does look substantially improved from juniors), so IdF results will be interesting because she'll be dealing with greater expectations there. Glancing through the predictions thread, most people seem to have her winning over Zhenya, but IMO the reverse outcome is just as, if not more, likely. I do hope people are right to be bullish on Rika though--I would love to see her kill it this season.

 

[Ziotic]

I feel like people overreact to whatever has happened most recently (witness all the sky-is-falling stuff that happens when Evgenia or Alina have a bad skate). I don't think Rika has shown that she can perform under significant pressure yet (though she does look substantially improved from juniors), so IdF results will be interesting because she'll be dealing with greater expectations there. Glancing through the predictions thread, most people seem to have her winning over Zhenya, but IMO the reverse outcome is just as, if not more, likely. I do hope people are right to be bullish on Rika though--I would love to see her kill it this season.

While I think it could go either way based on the tech panel.

This situation is very similar to last years story of a clean Med will surely beat a clean Alina.

Part of me is really happy GPF will take place on completely neutral territory.

 

[halulupu]

(only active senior skater)

1. Alina - Rika.
3. Medvedeva
4. Satoko - Liza.
6. Sakamoto
7. Tennell
8. Samodurova
..
..
..
.. Gold (new entry)

 

[Shanshani]

While I think it could go either way based on the tech panel.

This situation is very similar to last years story of a clean Med will surely beat a clean Alina.

Part of me is really happy GPF will take place on completely neutral territory.

I think the question is more whether Rika will be clean rather than whether a clean Rika will beat a clean Zhenya (I think she almost certainly will.) I agree it depends on the tech panel though--if they are strict on edge calls, Rika has more room to make mistakes.

 

[qwerty1195]

(only active senior skater)

1. Alina - Rika.
3. Medvedeva
4. Satoko - Liza.
6. Sakamoto
7. Tennell
8. Samodurova
..
..
..
.. Gold (new entry)

We get it you don’t like Gracie Gold.

 

[lurkz2]

I think the question is more whether Rika will be clean rather than whether a clean Rika will beat a clean Zhenya (I think she almost certainly will.) I agree it depends on the tech panel though--if they are strict on edge calls, Rika has more room to make mistakes.

If they are strict, as long as they are fair, Zhenya will probably get edge calls

 

[lzxnl]

(only active senior skater)

1. Alina - Rika.
3. Medvedeva
4. Satoko - Liza.
6. Sakamoto
7. Tennell
8. Samodurova
..
..
..
.. Gold (new entry)

Rika...edge call...when discussing Medvedeva? I personally thought Rika's 3F and 3Lz had fairly clear edges. I'd fault her choreo before her jumps

 

[yume]

With a really strict, consistent and FAIR technical panel, and with the current layout, the ones who would be the most dinged are, IMO:
1)Medvedeva: three "e" (all lutzes) + occasional UR(s)
2) Miyahara: three ! (both lutz and the flip) + URs calls
3) Zagitova: UR calls on lz-lo combos + occasional UR(s)
4) Sakamoto: an "e" on lutz
5) Kihira: Occasional UR(s)
6) Tuktamysheva: Occasional UR(s)

 

[j00mla]

I see nothing about age limits in the title and 1st post of the thread
seniors only?

 

[Fluture]

I see nothing about age limits in the title and 1st post of the thread
seniors only?

I personally don‘t understand why we always have to mix the juniors with the seniors while they‘re still in juniors. Sasha, Anna and Alena are currently the best in the world in juniors, there‘s nothing to doubt about that. But let them have their turn when it‘s supposed to happen: NEXT year, NEXT season. That‘s when we‘ll see how they fare in seniors. We never know what the future brings and while it looks like the three will do phenomenal in seniors we just don‘t know yet because they currently just aren‘t. Next year, we‘ll see, next year we can talk. We can make a junior ladies power ranking but it will be very obvious who‘s on top for it. But for now I just don‘t see any use to compare juniors with seniors.

 

[Shanshani]

Rika...edge call...when discussing Medvedeva? I personally thought Rika's 3F and 3Lz had fairly clear edges. I'd fault her choreo before her jumps

I think you misunderstood--Rika's edges are good, so if the tech panel is strict on edges (in other words, if they call Zhenya), Rika will benefit and have more room to make mistakes.

 

[lzxnl]

I think you misunderstood--Rika's edges are good, so if the tech panel is strict on edges (in other words, if they call Zhenya), Rika will benefit and have more room to make mistakes.

Point taken

 

[moriel]

(only active senior skater)

1. Alina - Rika.
3. Medvedeva
4. Satoko - Liza.
6. Sakamoto
7. Tennell
8. Samodurova
..
..
..
.. Gold (new entry)

I don't really get how you put Zhenya ahead of Satoko and Liza, who are both doing better than her so far.

 

[zounger]

I don't really get how you put Zhenya ahead of Satoko and Liza, who are both doing better than her so far.

I think everyone is writing his/her impression. Mine is similar, that Evgenia is at the moment in number 2-3. The fact that she didn't have clean SP doesn't mean that she cannot have a score near lets say 74 when clean plus a 140-145 for FS. Which gives similar scores to Satoko and Liza.

 

[chopinskate]

Zagitova is a great talent. However, something is slowly slipping away in terms of her jumping, and her refinement and her skating skills need work. I think her performance with her face has matured and has become slightly deeper, but her body movements, perhaps due to the growth spurt, have become sloppier. Her talent could be to create stunning stationary/held out pictures, like with the opening of her LP, just a pity that her programs require her to be in constant, unnecessary, fidgety motion.

Pretty much this is what I have to add to this discussion. I do think Zagi is the one to beat at worlds, if only because she is clearly the Number One in the judges' eyes currently, but Kihira has a big chance to establish momentum by winning IdF, being on the podium at the GPF, winning JNats, and then being on the podium at 4CCs.

It's all a string of Ifs, but it could happen. And the judges seem to be willing to acknowledge Zagi's flaws when she's handed tech calls in terms of PCS, even though it's still too high with those programs, and the judges seem willing to go big on Kihira when her LP is clean. Her PCS will already rise for IdF if she's clean (or be around the same at least, if we are to correct for home inflation).

For the rest: Sakamoto is cool, but meh meh meh at everyone else at being entirely boring. It can shake out differently by worlds, but there's nothing interesting in terms of development or programs for any of the others, and the competition barring disaster seems entirely between Zagi and Kihira.

 

[moriel]

I think everyone is writing his/her impression. Mine is similar, that Evgenia is at the moment in number 2-3. The fact that she didn't have clean SP doesn't mean that she cannot have a score near lets say 74 when clean plus a 140-145 for FS. Which gives similar scores to Satoko and Liza.

Her best SP this season was 70, and her best FS this season was 137. I don't see where the 74 and a 145 come from.

 

[halulupu]

I don't really get how you put Zhenya ahead of Satoko and Liza, who are both doing better than her so far.

you are right. But I think Zhenya hasen't yet skated to her full potential, while especially satoko is already maxed out. A clean Zhenya has still quite a big PCS adavantage over Liza and with two flips instead of 2 flutzes she is getting if clean arround 72-75 tes. And I think we might have seen the peak of Lizas form already. Its very hard to preserve this kind of form for the whole season. But yeah this 3 are very close

 

[tofuetoffee]

I find it very appalling about the judging system about how Satoko is considered maxed out in terms of how far she can be scored when she is putting out consistent skates in performance ability and yet her PCS will barely be rising any higher while some skaters that have not done as well as her in skating their programs during the first part of the season is hitting her scores and also expected to be able to score higher at least in PCS even though Satoko is one of the best skaters around in components and maybe just needs more quantity to convince the judges as she is one of the top in quality, but maybe even that is not enough.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

It's not appalling to me because Satoko does deserve high PCS, it's true, but she's also gotten quite the generous scoring on her jumps, and I'm not sure a PCS advantage should equalize what she should be losing in jump GOE. 220 looks to be as high as it will go for her.