IMO Zagitova skates amazingly. I forgive the backloading because the section where she does most of her jumps, in the ballet, the entire piece of music of choreographed as a display of sheer technicality (male dancers do a whole series of seriously impressive jumps and Kitri follows with as many fouettés as she possibly can). So for me, it fits and actually does balance out with the music. But not everyone is familiar with the ballet so I see why it can annoy people. The fact they use this to also gain extra marks doesn’t bother me.
I, on the other hand, hate the beginning of Nagasu’s programme which to me looks like laps of very few steps that lead up to a jump (except that absolutely mega axel today. Stunning.). I despise front loading because for me that kills the excitement of the programme without displaying much skating skill through footwork for over half the programme, and then all the choreography and performance is crammed into the final minute of steps, choreo and 2 spins.
It does always make me think though that whenever people say ‘it’s just killing time’ that they probably just can’t be bothered to pay attention to anything that’s not a spin or a jump, and that irritates me, even when I do it myself.
But enough complaining, that was an absolutely stellar competition so a huge well done to all the athletes and thank you so much for that calibre of competition. All clean, all skated amazingly, some personal bests, and a really exciting time to look forwards to next week!
I, on the other hand, hate the beginning of Nagasu’s programme which to me looks like laps of very few steps that lead up to a jump (except that absolutely mega axel today. Stunning.). I despise front loading because for me that kills the excitement of the programme without displaying much skating skill through footwork for over half the programme, and then all the choreography and performance is crammed into the final minute of steps, choreo and 2 spins.
It does always make me think though that whenever people say ‘it’s just killing time’ that they probably just can’t be bothered to pay attention to anything that’s not a spin or a jump, and that irritates me, even when I do it myself.
But enough complaining, that was an absolutely stellar competition so a huge well done to all the athletes and thank you so much for that calibre of competition. All clean, all skated amazingly, some personal bests, and a really exciting time to look forwards to next week!
/crying/
