Even with regards to Alexandra Trusova’s ridiculously record breaking FS, am I the only one who feels like Mako Yamashita, You Young, Eunsoo Lim, and Rika Kihira still show the most promise for the senior circuit? Alexandra is competing with a drastically different body type from most of the other girls, and while what she did was astonishing, it can’t help remind me of Miki Ando. She’s now showcased these incredibly difficult jumps that people will expect her to do as she grows older, disregarding that her body will change with puberty and her jumps along with it. Miki Ando spent so much of her Senior career trying to land her 4Sal again much to her own detriment. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sasha gets stuck in a similar predicament and winds up trying to regain her jumps while sacrificing perfecting the other elements of her skating. Only time will tell, I guess.
Mako still has huge jumps, and you can already see that her body has become more adult like.
If I had to pick one skater to keep my eye on, it would probably be Young You. She’s got great speed, more centered, faster spins (although the change of leg sometimes throws her off), nice flexibility and extension, and still has nice height in her jumps (but could use improvement in her body position in air). But most importantly, she’s still only 13 with better PCS than some of her older peers, but most importantly she is hitting/has hit puberty younger than Alexandra and even other older Junior skaters. She’s adjusted to her taller body quite well so far, and she will have even more time to adjust by the time she hits Seniors. Anyone else have thoughts on this?
