2021 Internationaux de France: Women's Free Skate

[Thrashergurl]

I actually have no problem with Anna winning because she landed 4 triples in the short program and 7 triples + 1 quad in the free skate. If she had done a solo 2A instead of that botched 4Lz she’d have gained around 5 points and been at 235 total which seems reasonable enough to me with one quad landed (certainly more reasonable than the 233 at Worlds with 0 quads landed). EDIT: to be clear I still think she got some gifts for the judges but I don’t have a problem with her winning the free skate is all, and I think her judging wasn’t extremely biased

However either Aliona was very overscored or Wakaba was underscored. To be clear, even if Wakaba skated her short program cleanly and scored 79.73 as she did at Cup of Austria, she would have scored 220.77 and still been behind Kostornaia. That’s right, Wakaba with 2 3As landed and two clean programs would have still been behind Kostornaia with no 3A in the short and a 3A< fall in the free. And that’s even before we begin to discuss the quality of the programs themselves...

Personally I was expecting this result so I’m not sweating it but I hope this clarifies the realities of the judging system to people who still refuse to accept that PCS is Political Connections Score.

Anna landed four triples in the SP?

 

[eterialskating]

with some overlooked underrotations too, the quad flip looked like on the q, and the components too are very high even with the fall, there's a lot i don't agree with these scores.

I'm pretty sure your seeing a lot of things since you don't like her. Anyway no sane judge would give her a lower PCS than Tuktamysheva got for her godawful program or score her near Higuchi despite clamor from some certain fanbase.

The judging is confusing. I wonder if the judges were watching the same competition I was? Definitely uncalled URs for select skaters, high Goe on jumps and spins which weren't well executed. Favoritism shouldn't be this clear

Where are the high resolution and slow-mo footages to prove your point like those fanatical Yuna fans back in the day. A lot of innuendos and slander but then you cannot prove your point.

 

[eterialskating]

I actually have no problem with Anna winning because she landed 4 triples in the short program and 7 triples + 1 quad in the free skate. If she had done a solo 2A instead of that botched 4Lz she’d have gained around 5 points and been at 235 total which seems reasonable enough to me with one quad landed (certainly more reasonable than the 233 at Worlds with 0 quads landed). EDIT: to be clear I still think she got some gifts for the judges but I don’t have a problem with her winning the free skate is all, and I think her judging wasn’t extremely biased

However either Aliona was very overscored or Wakaba was underscored. To be clear, even if Wakaba skated her short program cleanly and scored 79.73 as she did at Cup of Austria, she would have scored 220.77 and still been behind Kostornaia. That’s right, Wakaba with 2 3As landed and two clean programs would have still been behind Kostornaia with no 3A in the short and a 3A< fall in the free. And that’s even before we begin to discuss the quality of the programs themselves...

Personally I was expecting this result so I’m not sweating it but I hope this clarifies the realities of the judging system to people who still refuse to accept that PCS is Political Connections Score.

Goodness me some people seriously need to lay off on eating bitter fruits everyday. WHO in the world wins this event aside from her. Don't tell me it's Higuchi who is nearly 25 points below her. I've seen some crazy, inane and delusional complaint but this one takes the cake.

 

[eterialskating]

However either Aliona was very overscored or Wakaba was underscored. To be clear, even if Wakaba skated her short program cleanly and scored 79.73 as she did at Cup of Austria, she would have scored 220.77 and still been behind Kostornaia. That’s right, Wakaba with 2 3As landed and two clean programs would have still been behind Kostornaia with no 3A in the short and a 3A< fall in the free. And that’s even before we begin to discuss the quality of the programs themselves...

Personally I was expecting this result so I’m not sweating it but I hope this clarifies the realities of the judging system to people who still refuse to accept that PCS is Political Connections Score.

"You know let's all pretend Higuchi's score include the non-existent 3A in the short and the fully rotated 3A in the LP that never happen so we could put her on top. Oh no she's still behind Kostornaia...." said wannabe ISU judge.

 

[lurkerghost1]

"You know let's all pretend Higuchi's score include the non-existent 3A in the short and the fully rotated 3A in the LP that never happen so we could put her on top. Oh no she's still behind Kostornaia...." said wannabe ISU judge.

Sorry your reading comprehension is not up to par. My point is that even had Wakaba landed 2 triple axels (1 in the short, 1 in the free) she would have been placed behind a Kostornaia with a fall on her only axel attempt. My point was not about trying to engineer a silver for Higuchi by adding triple axels to the free, I will leave that game to the judges to play with Kostornaia.

Your attempt to insult me as a wannabe ISU judge only reflects on your own naivety and lack of knowledge of the sport’s history. Anyone who saw 2002 and 2014 knows the ISU judges are not anything to take seriously, much less something a rational person would want to be.

I guess you agree with the judges that Diana Davis is the 2nd coming of Jesus? What a sad situation for Sasha and Vanya, if I was them I would quit on my own terms instead of humiliatingly being left out of the team gold at the Olympics in favor of a 5th place at Junior worlds team. But I guess the judges just all collectively and suddenly realized Diana and man are better than Sasha and Vanya and are correcting their mistakes right? Best not to question it I guess if I take your advice

"You know let's all pretend Higuchi's score include the non-existent 3A in the short and the fully rotated 3A in the LP that never happen so we could put her on top. Oh no she's still behind Kostornaia...." said wannabe ISU judge.

you know what actually never happened? Diana Davis losing a competition. Nope. don't remember it, don't know it. So said the holy ISU judges

 

[Lutzedge]

70 PCS seems too high for Alena.

 

[kimganos]

Beautiful dress for Park!

The Korean have some of the prettiest dresses!

 

[kimganos]

Poor Yeonjeong, just not her day Her skating is so lovely and her jumps are so stunning when she gets it right. She's got huge potential for sure!

She jumps like Yuna

 

[Ira]

Seeing the competition in the arena I thought it was striking to see how much faster Shcherbakova and Kostarnaia were compared to the other skaters. And Kostornaia jumps are so impressive

 

[Jeanie19]

Seeing the competition in the arena I thought it was striking to see how much faster Shcherbakova and Kostarnaia were compared to the other skaters. And Kostornaia jumps are so impressive

Welcome to Golden Skate. Post often.

 

[[email protected]]

People here will go miles to show their dissatisfaction with the current state of things. The worst is the US thread - there are nasty allegations that Eteri hurts children and makes them starve. And here I can see this frustation as well. Wakaba is the highlight of the event? One has to be extrememly biased to praise like that her empty skating with close to 0 elegance. The only extraordinary thing about her is her 2A. Everything else is average or below average. Big jumps? It's about Korean girls - they do jump big. Or Valieva's 4T . This is a big jump. International judges see it the way I see it. And their scores reflect the reality - not some wishful thinking based on conspiracy theories and personal preferences.

 

[lurkerghost1]

People here will go miles to show their dissatisfaction with the current state of things. The worst is the US thread - there are nasty allegations that Eteri hurts children and makes them starve. And here I can see this frustation as well. Wakaba is the highlight of the event? One has to be extrememly biased to praise like that her empty skating with close to 0 elegance. The only extraordinary thing about her is her 2A. Everything else is average or below average. Big jumps? It's about Korean girls - they do jump big. Or Valieva's 4T . This is a big jump. International judges see it the way I see it. And their scores reflect the reality - not some wishful thinking based on conspiracy theories and personal preferences.

Sorry while I absolutely agree with you that the allegations against Eteri have reached the ridiculous level, no one has to be biased to say Wakaba was the highlight of the event. And in fact I would suggest that saying otherwise was biased. Why? Because she got by FAR the loudest reaction from the audience, despite Anna and Aliona certainly being better known and with bigger reputations.

And that is even before getting into the Icescope measurements which have shown numerous times that Wakaba’s 3Lz is the biggest 3Lz since Tsurskaya retired (60+ cm). Yes bigger even than Tuktamysheva or Kostornaia or Kawabata. Her 3A is massive too and I can’t wait for Japanese nationals so we can get a proper measurement on that one. No doubt bigger than Valieva’s and probably bigger than Kostornaia which was about 56 cm. So I would strongly disagree with claim that only her 2A is extraordinary.

Even with the less than ideal technique, I have no trouble saying Valieva’s 4T is the best jump in ladies today and I’d say the best jump since Midori’s 3A. But it seems to me that your bias against Wakaba is the one visible here, not the other way around. Nothing special about her? Can you imagine Anna skating Wakaba’s step sequence from either a technical or artistic perspective? No, I really want you to stop and think about this. Imagine Anna or Kamila trying to hop on her toe picks and shake her arms the way Wakaba does after the first twizzle sequence (if they could even twizzle for that long which I’m skeptical of). I’m laughing just thinking about it because for Anna and Kamila their entire 10+ years of training, personality, and demeanor has made it psychologically impossible for them to show such wildness and soul on ice. They must be controlled, elegant, graceful, balletic, it has been drilled into them every day since they were 4 years old. And it makes their performances unbelievably beautiful but it also means they will NEVER be able to perform the same way as Wakaba outside of the exhibition. In competition they are simply too focused, too much classical body tension, too much focused on impressing the coaches and the nation expecting them to win gold. Whereas Wakaba has the versatility to show lovely, extended, balletic performance (Scheherazade, Gypsy Dance) AND big, powerful, engaging skating.

Once again I have to call out those who try to use the judges’ marks as some kind of ability measurement. The same judges who caused the pairs screwup in 2002, the same judges who in 2014 said Sotnikova had better jumps than Kim or that Davis/White had a better pattern step sequence than Ilynikh/Katsalapov, the same judges who said that Medvedeva and Osmond had the best lutzes of the whole 2017-2018 season...the judges are just as biased as you or me or any other fan, if not even more. Remember when the British judge in 1992 gave Midori Ito a 5.6 in technical score despite landing a backloaded 3A? I do. The judges have been biased since the start and will always be biased towards one skater or another

 

[[email protected]]

That was a good reply - I will give you that. I agree that it is just my bias when I felt shivers watching Anna's SP and felt nothing watching Wakaba. I just don't get her singling out of the array of non Russian skaters. And this happens since 2014 when here she was annointed as the future Olympic champion.

 

[lurkerghost1]

That was a good reply - I will give you that. I agree that it is just my bias when I felt shivers watching Anna's SP and felt nothing watching Wakaba. I just don't get her singling out of the array of non Russian skaters. And this happens since 2014 when here she was annointed as the future Olympic champion.

Yes Anna’s SP was giving me chills too, my favorite program of hers already besides Perfume.

I also think you are right that there are many fans who are fans of Wakaba (and at some point also Marin Honda, Rika Kihira, and Alysa Liu) only because they want to see and end to the Russian dominance, rather than any appreciation of their unique abilities