2021 Worlds: Ladies' Short Program

[readernick]

"Skating in mud" ?! Look, I am not a fan of Kihira (though I appreciate many of her qualities), but she gave an absolutely stunning performance today! One would need to be biased beyond remedy not to acknowledge that.

But, the above poster is biased beyond remedy. In a way, it is cute! We all have things we love so much that they will always be the best to us regardless of the evidence to the contrary provided. It's fine. Let's move on to other things!

 

[[email protected]]

I just watched all the performances. And looks like 100+ pages is too big a challenge for me to read. So that just my "unbiased" opinion on what I saw.

Top placements are correct. I would place Rika first initially but then I saw her landings. They were quite URed. And she did not bother to keep the free leg - at least another half a second would not hurt. May be pcs difference is a bit big and having the total score something like 81 vs 80 rather than 79 would be more fair. But in the end of the day I don't think that after the FP there will be 1 point difference between them. Well, if Anna ends up with 240 and Rika with 239.5 then one could argue that SP scoring affected the outcome. Once again, with Anna's quads and Rika's 3A+4S it will be about how they land them and the jumping passes afterwards. So that, I expect the final difference between them much more than 1 point.

Liza delivered finally! She looks a bit overscored vs. Rika and Anna as her 3T landing seems URed but not by much.

The skater who was most gifted is Karen. 2 obvious URs, no 3A and such a score. Her main "victim" is Yelim Kim whose jumps are just mind-boggling. Why is she lower than Karen - I have no idea. Saying this, overall I enjoyed Karen's performance. She is a great albeit somewhat old-fashioned skater.

Kaori did not impress me at all - she had much better skates before.

Well, I would surely place Yelim Kim 4th. That's the only change in placements at the top that I would make...

I feel sorry about Mae and Sasha. I don't understand how she can miss a 3Lz jumping 4Lzs? Something is wrong at Plushy's psychology wise.

 

[kwanatic]

My all time favorite—Bourne and Kraatz wiping out on the closing pose of their Michael Jackson Olympic skate

Valentina Marchei's perfectly timed butt plant at worlds in 2007 is unmatched!

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I did love Ashley's fall though to be fair it was after her program during her celebratory hopping up and down. So cute!

 

[gliese]

Yeah cause for comparison look at Rika's 3a.

Since they gave the q on that element, judges ignored the beautiful landing, the speed and flow, and the spiral coming out and gave -1 regardless.

If you are that harsh for a q then i don't understand why you can let that pass so easily.

The gorgeous takeoff too. Not sure how I'd place the GOE but probably a 0 or +1 despite the q to be honest.

I'm sure we could load up a thread on silly minor errors that elite skaters make occasionally, errors on easy elements happen likely because its so easy you relax your concentration - I remember more than a few times elite skaters falling going into their final pose.

Here you go, some of the sports greats making silly mistakes https://youtu.be/sPNQVnnOhOE

Oh for sure. I'm usually mentally on for my triple turns as I kinda struggle with them. Probably different when you're actually good at them. Unrelated but when skating onto the ice for a somewhat major competition I tripped on a crossover. Looked so silly, flailing my arms trying to not fall onto my knees.

I feel sorry about Mae and Sasha. I don't understand how she can miss a 3Lz jumping 4Lzs? Something is wrong at Plushy's psychology wise.

Isn't it her first senior worlds? Similar to Nathans mess up at the Olympics?

 

[labgoat]

I just watched all the performances. And looks like 100+ pages is too big a challenge for me to read. So that just my "unbiased" opinion on what I saw.

Top placements are correct. I would place Rika first initially but then I saw her landings. They were quite URed. And she did not bother to keep the free leg - at least another half a second would not hurt. May be pcs difference is a bit big and having the total score something like 81 vs 80 rather than 79 would be more fair. But in the end of the day I don't think that after the FP there will be 1 point difference between them. Well, if Anna ends up with 240 and Rika with 239.5 then one could argue that SP scoring affected the outcome. Once again, with Anna's quads and Rika's 3A+4S it will be about how they land them and the jumping passes afterwards. So that, I expect the final difference between them much more than 1 point.

Liza delivered finally! She looks a bit overscored vs. Rika and Anna as her 3T landing seems URed but not by much.

The skater who was most gifted is Karen. 2 obvious URs, no 3A and such a score. Her main "victim" is Yelim Kim whose jumps are just mind-boggling. Why is she lower than Karen - I have no idea. Saying this, overall I enjoyed Karen's performance. She is a great albeit somewhat old-fashioned skater.

Kaori did not impress me at all - she had much better skates before.

Well, I would surely place Yelim Kim 4th. That's the only change in placements at the top that I would make...

I feel sorry about Mae and Sasha. I don't understand how she can miss a 3Lz jumping 4Lzs? Something is wrong at Plushy's psychology wise.

Honestly, I think Sasha had the same problem with Eteri. I would like to see someone pull her off practice or warmup and tell her to save something for the performance. I have seen so many skaters win the practice or warmup and blow it in the actual event.

 

[Fluture]

I don't understand how she can miss a 3Lz jumping 4Lzs?

That‘s precisely the problem. She went in with too much power and overrotated the jump. The result was something between a quad and a triple and obviously there was no way she‘d get a combo on it. Watching it in slow-motion, I‘m surprised she didn‘t fall. Though it is a very uncharacteristic mistake from her and Plushenko‘s reaction to it was just...not good at all.

 

[labgoat]

Dick Button used to say (paraphrase) that sometimes skaters go out to fast, too hard and that they frequently blow it in the first 30 seconds. He said skaters need to learn how to hold back and stay in control.

 

[Maribelle]

oh gosh, how horrible. she was in so much pain trying to get off the ice. i hope she has a quick recovery and wish her the best.

I can't believe no one helped her get off the ice, and the official she went to just pointed to where she needed to go. She could barely get off the ice herself.

 

[Gabby30]

I just watched all the performances. And looks like 100+ pages is too big a challenge for me to read. So that just my "unbiased" opinion on what I saw.

Top placements are correct. I would place Rika first initially but then I saw her landings. They were quite URed. And she did not bother to keep the free leg - at least another half a second would not hurt. May be pcs difference is a bit big and having the total score something like 81 vs 80 rather than 79 would be more fair. But in the end of the day I don't think that after the FP there will be 1 point difference between them. Well, if Anna ends up with 240 and Rika with 239.5 then one could argue that SP scoring affected the outcome. Once again, with Anna's quads and Rika's 3A+4S it will be about how they land them and the jumping passes afterwards. So that, I expect the final difference between them much more than 1 point.

Liza delivered finally! She looks a bit overscored vs. Rika and Anna as her 3T landing seems URed but not by much.

The skater who was most gifted is Karen. 2 obvious URs, no 3A and such a score. Her main "victim" is Yelim Kim whose jumps are just mind-boggling. Why is she lower than Karen - I have no idea. Saying this, overall I enjoyed Karen's performance. She is a great albeit somewhat old-fashioned skater.

Kaori did not impress me at all - she had much better skates before.

Well, I would surely place Yelim Kim 4th. That's the only change in placements at the top that I would make...

I feel sorry about Mae and Sasha. I don't understand how she can miss a 3Lz jumping 4Lzs? Something is wrong at Plushy's psychology wise.

Because Trusova never fell on jumps, even triples under Eteri, that's why she won so many events when still with Eteri...oh, wait a minute

 

[kwanatic]

Dick Button used to say (paraphrase) that sometimes skaters go out to fast, too hard and that they frequently blow it in the first 30 seconds. He said skaters need to learn how to hold back and stay in control.

Simply put, it's all about pacing and managing adrenaline.

I can't believe no one helped her get off the ice, and the official she went to just pointed to where she needed to go. She could barely get off the ice herself.

They usually don't come get skaters off the ice unless they are incapacitated to the point they cannot move at all. She was clearly in pain but was at least able to get herself off the ice. Honestly, I'm glad for that. If she was in so much pain she couldn't move that would have broken my heart even more.

 

[Gabby30]

I can't believe no one helped her get off the ice, and the official she went to just pointed to where she needed to go. She could barely get off the ice herself.

You know, social distancing and stuff

 

[alexocfp]

Gotta say, I am usually anti commentary, but the world feed and peacock commentator was really great and added the technical details without overwhelming the broadcast.

 

[Tinymavy15]

That‘s precisely the problem. She went in with too much power and overrotated the jump. The result was something between a quad and a triple and obviously there was no way she‘d get a combo on it. Watching it in slow-motion, I‘m surprised she didn‘t fall. Though it is a very uncharacteristic mistake from her and Plushenko‘s reaction to it was just...not good at all.

Yeah she probably doesn't even train the triples that much anymore. Is it against the rules for the women to do a quad in the SP? I was so confused why she just didn't go for the quad.

 

[Amei]

Yeah she probably doesn't even train the triples that much anymore. Is it against the rules for the women to do a quad in the SP? I was so confused why she just didn't go for the quad.

Yes. No quads in the SP for the ladies

 

[Amei]

what did the small medal winners get? I saw there was what looked like a nice wooden box on a pedestal beside each girl in the pictures at the press conference

 

[[email protected]]

Isn't it her first senior worlds? Similar to Nathans mess up at the Olympics?

Olympics is a unique animal. It is the top career destination for most of skaters. Sasha is a 2 time world junior champion. So, I don't think that this particular event is such a big shock to her to lead to such a meltdown. There is no hostile crowd, no aggressive peer pressure. She is supposed to be a fighter. And she landed multiple quads during the practice to boost her self-confidence.

I just don't get it. Alyona had similar SP meltdown at Cup final. She managed to show her best during FP. I hope that Sasha will say her word as well.

 

[[email protected]]

That‘s precisely the problem. She went in with too much power and overrotated the jump. The result was something between a quad and a triple and obviously there was no way she‘d get a combo on it. Watching it in slow-motion, I‘m surprised she didn‘t fall. Though it is a very uncharacteristic mistake from her and Plushenko‘s reaction to it was just...not good at all.

Honestly, I think Sasha had the same problem with Eteri. I would like to see someone pull her off practice or warmup and tell her to save something for the performance. I have seen so many skaters win the practice or warmup and blow it in the actual event.

I don't remember her having problems with Eteri with the starting jump in the SP combo. What I remember is her bombing 3Lz-3Lo during the second half of FPs after jumping quads. Did she overrotate triples during SP before? Maybe, I just don't remember it.

I won't praise Eteri although, yes, I think that she is the best coach not for those who seek a nice training environment but for those who want to win big prizes. I am more about Plushy's being a wrong coach. With every example like that I convince myself he could be better off doing something different say, like his former "foe" Yagudin. It's because the number of examples keeps growing with every competition.

 

[P44]

I couldn't watch live so here my opinion.
I don't think Rika was underscored. Her 3A was called q and it was fair. Her 3T was called q but i think it was even UR. Her lutz was georgeous, what should she do to get more than +3 ?
When it comes to Anna she clearly had better spins and more flows in her jumps and landings. However her 3F edge was flat (I don't know for the lutz because of the angle). Furthermore she stumbled at the beginning of her stsq but still received big GOE.
And for PCS I don't really know, Rika is not the most expressive skater and I often think it could be better. But I don't think Anna deserved the PCs she received. They were a little bit high.
Otherwise I'm devastated for Sasha, such an unusual mistake and once again a call on her flip. She will need to do amazingly well in the FS.

 

[Gabby30]

Hardly. She won junior worlds twice and has a bunch of GP medals. She has been successful.

Junior competitions don't matter. And she won only 2 GP medals as a senior so far.

 

[Amei]

Hardly. She won junior worlds twice and has a bunch of GP medals. She has been successful.

Perhaps hype is the wrong word, maybe the phrasing should be it was anticipated her success in the senior ranks would mirror her junior results.