2023 JGP Armenian Cup Women's Free Skate

[hermine17]

Tbh, I think Ikura deserved the bronze medal. And Eunbi’s score was lower than I expected. Oh well, congrats to all the top placing girls.

I agree about Ikura’s sophistication. She’s adjusting to her height, but her presentation has improved a lot since last year (and it was already good).

 

[Skating91]

4T not working well for Mao this season but the 3A seems reliable

She didn't land a clean 4T all of last season either, so that's two seasons and the last two events she hasn't landed a clean 4T and fallen on at least half of them. It seems to be regressing as she is growing. Hopefully the coach isn't pressuring her to do this because she's not even eligible until 2030 for the Olympics, so I don't understand what the coach is trying to achieve with a jump that simply does not work unlike her 3A. Ted and Mark did talk on the broadcast about cultural differences where Japanese skaters are up at 4am for training and this kind of regiment is apparently normal.

64 for components is quite good for program where there were 3 errors in the 7 jump elements (lutz strangely wasn't called).

I thought Kushida was little stiff not to be on the podium.

Poor Inga getting dinged on that flip. Quite harsh they overlooked a lot of blatant under rotations. Unlucky I guess.

 

[Skating91]

Mao SHIMADA (JPN)
Benedictus by Karl Jenkins

3A<
4T< Fall
3Lz<+3T
FCCoSp4
3F+2A
3S+3T+2T
3Lo
ChSq1
3Lz
CCoSp4
LSp4

Free Skate: 136.67
Total score: 209.81

Pretty much a standard skate for Mao I wish they'd let the 4T go for now, and try two 3As, because even with URs she lands that pretty consistently now.

Couldn't agree more. She takes some nasty falls on her 4T, but the 3A is so reliable (at worst an under rotation not a nasty fall I thought she was going to hit the boards this time).

 

[lileychristie]

I know I'm super late but I finally got the chance to catchup on the top girls from the weekend
(I was away the whole weekend... then got sick right after I got back )

Agree with what many people have remarked about Mao. She should really ditch that 4T for now.... As her 3A is pretty stable, she can do solo 3A and 3A+2A if she doesn't want to do 3A+2T (understandably).

It will be very interesting in the JGPF, as I think a clean Jia can beat Mao with a fall. So the 4T means a huge risk of losing the gold.
I really hope she will ditch the 4T... but then in her Yerevan interview she seemed determined to land that 4T I'm starting to get the impression that it's Mao herself who is determined to do the 4T (as opposed to her coaching team, but perhaps a bit of both). At least if she loses the JGPF gold because of the 4T, it will be a good lesson for her and her team.

As a side note, how cute is her English during the interview Glad to see the Japanese and Korean skaters learning English, since the ISU translation is often off the mark.

Sad for Ikura being the only Japanese girl who didn't manage to get any JGP medal this season. I love her FS, I hope I can see it a few more times. And, I hope JSF learnt something here. Kaoruko probably would've medaled if you had sent her!

That being said, I'm also happy to see 2 American girls on the podium, at the very last JGP!
Sherry is my favorite American junior now, I love her expression and commitment to the program. Both her and Elyce are promising, I hope they can do even better next season.

Sad that there's no more JGP, I can't wait to watch JGPF especially as the timezone is friendly for me