I was too tired yesterday to post some bits live from the arena, here they are...
I think that Rika is just at the beginning of her senior path and there are a bit of blandness and non-showstopper factor to be expected there, and her style seems not lean to be a firecracker anyway in my opinion. That is why I am willing to wait how it will pan out. Yesterday's performance was definitely as clean and good as it gets with a fall - the best thing was that she never let it affect the rest of the program where she was attentive and in control. But this 3A is here, her practice was really solid proof of that, it is a matter od translating it into competition. The program is for me right now made more by the music than a skater, but it is a matter of growth into it, nevertheless she moves with ease, flow, lovely musicality, a 'translucent' one that characterizes Japanese skaters for me, nicely looking Rippon on a solo triple. I think it is a nice vehicle for a senior debut and I hope she will flourish into a great skater and competitor
Stanislava was good, with strong image and purposeful skating. These jumps were a bit of a flight, but she get them done, I wish that choreo was a bit more dance-y and punctuated.
Polina... Lovely skater with such a presence, striking figure, quite expressive from what I saw in the past, but yesterday she looked kinda...lost? Something felt off for me and I felt that this SP suits Sotskova way more than Polina. Polina was for me always more about little, expressive details framed by these huge jumps with height and delayed rotation, not 'big' music and huge sweeps of movement... And that entourage was not help either, she looked more like suited for Marylin Monroe-theme program in these gloves and sparkly pink. I am not jumps expert, but Polina's looked quite not there, there was hesitation in a combo in particular for me.
Elizabet looks like getting her mojo back - and I am all about that regardless of coaching, different styles suit different skaters. She looked confident and in control of her stuff, she may benefit from more speed and extension in some moves, but overall a great skate, I do hope though it will get more polish and character as a performance too, not only a skate.
She’s been around for a while, I know, but never caught my attention that much. Here she did... I’m not sure why. Perhaps sharper jumps, lines and spins... better confidence? Some work on presentation and she’ll be in the top. Is she also taller?
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