2022 NHK Trophy Women's Free Skate

[4everchan]

Yes, my mistake.

Well, it's almost absolutely clear then. Watanabe probably goes to GPF as I see it unlikely that Gubanova beats one of Mihara and Hendrickx.

The only thing that could happen is if Kihira wins in Finland and beats Watanabe's score.

well nobody thought Rinka would finish in 5th today... so who knows... look at the German pairs, stranded with a positive covid test. ... it's a mine field these days.

 

[Jontor]

well nobody thought Rinka would finish in 5th today... so who knows... look at the German pairs, stranded with a positive covid test. ... it's a mine field these days.

True. It is never over until it's over. Finland might surprise us.

 

[hermine17]

When you're called to the podium in the middle of a chat with Kaori.

 

[gourry]

Is it "suh" with O sound as in "so"?
I'm not a native english speaker and english phonetics still confuse me

And the "young" - is it really like the english pronunciation of young (opposite of old), or is it more O sound like "yong"? I thought "eo" in Korean is pronounced "o" - but CMIIW. Would love to be able to pronounce their name correctly!

No. 'eo' in Korean as in Seoul, it's always /ə/ sound. It sounds like bus, umbrella, uncle, bummer, uh, underrotate, etc.
Koreans mix 'eo' and 'u' for vowel ㅓthat sounds as /ə/ when alphabetizing their names. e.g.) Samsung, Seo Minkyu, Jeon Jungkook, Park Ji-sung, Jung Hoseok, Kim Seokjin. (and yes I like BTS. ) Don't ask me why coz I don't know.
So, why not just use 'u' for ㅓ? It's because 'u' has another pronunciation, /oo/ or /yoo/, as in super, U, united, use, and so forth.
Things get complicated because Koreans use 'u' for vowel ㅜ /oo/ as well. Like Cha Junhwan.
Confusing. I know.

And you are right about young. It sounds as young (opposed of old). You Young, Wi Seo-young, Park So-youn, Cha Young-hyun, they are all so youn(g).

 

[gourry]

Congrats to all the medalists!
Yelim improved soooooo much over the years I'm so impressed. And when I think of her height(there was a time when I thought Carolina Kostner might be too tall to keep her jumps, and Yelim is even taller than her lol), it's even more impressive. Kudos Yelim And I love both of her programs this season. Finally something I'll watch over and over again from Yelim.
I love Kaori's speed and her new hairstyle.
Rion is also very pleasant to watch.

 

[Zora]

Kaori's skating, smooth as always, great hair, great costume. She does it again, I'm kind of falling in love with her free skate despite hating the music initially (I still hate the part where she goes into her 3-3 combination though ). Too bad about the 3Loop.
Rion has the best skating music for me, a good program and a great costume, but she isn't such a good skater like Kaori or Yelim yet, so I kind of want to give her program to one of those.
Yelim at times is spectacular, but her programs are always a bit snoozy to me. Great arm movements and posture, but no real connection. A lot better in her free skate than her short program though. I really want to see her with a different style of program.

 

[mrrice]

Oh Starr.......You're bringing back my Courtney Hicks nightmares. I declare this is the season you'll be in the top 5 at Nationals and then this...I hope this was a fluke and your dream season will continue.

 

[Seven Sisters]

What god do we need to sacrifice to to get English language commentators to figure out how to pronounce Kaori's name

I met two lovely Japanese fans at Skate America who graciously gave me a tutorial One explained that the easiest way for English speakers to remember it is to think of how the name would be pronounced in Italian

Interesting trick, but if it helps, I’m happy to put it out there!

PS fans in question made a lovely banner for Kana and Daisuke and during the comp, Kana and Daisuke went over to the creator to admire it and speak to her. I think I would have fainted dead away if this ever happened to me

 

[lariko]

Yes, my mistake.

Well, it's almost absolutely clear then. Watanabe probably goes to GPF as I see it unlikely that Gubanova beats one of Mihara and Hendrickx.

The only thing that could happen is if Kihira wins in Finland and beats Watanabe's score.

Kinda a bummer it’s Watanabe>Sumiyoshi. Sumiyoshi was more impressive overall in toe-to-toe. I can’t see Gubanova taking silver in Finland. She hadn’t skated fully clean the first time, and Mihara wasn’t impacted by time difference in France. There are also Kawabe and Kihira there, both of which can score better than Gubanova. I hope she can skate well enough to be S with Sumiyoshi.