2023 Skate America: Women's Thoughts

[chuckm]

Amber has been nailing her SP then bombing her LP for years---well before introducing 3a.
I was surprised at her music choice for the LP---usually she goes for emo for both programs (which I hate).
NOT surprised that she reacted to landing a clean 3a by bombing the second half of her LP---that is the danger of going for the big element---the extra adrenaline doesn't fade when the element is done, but lingers on and it's a drag on stamina.

 

[SmileHappy34]

Isabeau or Isabella should have received a 220.
Amber should not have been. Below Hana . Hana made as many mistakes.
Angyi did skate well.

In fact all women should have been 5 points higher overall.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

What really stood out for me was how much more confident Mana Kawabe looks when she competes. Sure, she wasn't happy she made those mistakes, but it seems like she's coping better when she does make them. Two years ago, I wouldn't have expected this sort of performance style for her, and I think with cleaner skates she could be a real standout amongst the Japanese women.

 

[noskates]

ChuckM - I heartily agree with your assessment of Amber. It's difficult for me to accept her excuse that she lost all focus after she bombed the 3A in that her next few jumps were picture perfect. Besides, for as long as she's been competing I can only think of a few competitions where she put two cleanish programs together. Sadly I predicted to a friend that she would bomb the freeskate. I did like her music and her dress was beautiful. Frankly I'm tired of the emo (or whatever you call it) but I think were going to have to add Exogenis to the warhorse list. Not a fan of Loena and wish she would just skate and drop the sex kitten act and dress. I think it detracts from her skating ability. I really enjoyed Kurakova's programs including her exhibition piece. She's darling and has so much joy when she skates. She has the personality, just needs to work on the consistency.

 

[moonvine]

I was freezing during the LP and wishing for something, anything, other than slow lyrical music. Congrats to Amber for the 3A and a great SP. I don’t think Isabeau will ever interest me, but she doesn’t have to interest me, just the judges. I loved Kurakova, who scooped up one of my unicorns with glee!

 

[macy]

It's difficult for me to accept her excuse that she lost all focus after she bombed the 3A in that her next few jumps were picture perfect. Besides, for as long as she's been competing I can only think of a few competitions where she put two cleanish programs together.

i don't think it's quite fair to give the same assessment of Amber's performance this competition vs the rest of them. the circumstances WERE different for her- she landed a jump for the first time in competition she's been chasing for two years. i can't imagine the emotion and adrenaline she must have felt in that moment (as she explained), and i also imagine it was quite distracting. add in the energy from the crowd going CRAZY and cheering her on for much longer than a few seconds, and it makes sense why it fell apart the second half. adrenaline takes a lot out of athletes, it depletes energy, and this isn't a situation Amber has encountered before. it's likely she didn't know what to expect or what she would feel until it happened. it makes a lot of sense to me the adrenaline rush affected the rest of the performance; she ran out of energy/stamina early.

now, she knows what to expect next time. the first one ever is out of the way and she can prepare better for the next competition, whether she lands it or not. she knows what she needs to fine tune.

 

[noskates]

You may be right but....there's always an excuse! I like Amber, generally like her skating, but she's another one who skates with her head instead of her feet. I certainly don't wish her any ill will and hope she gets it together. But.....time is running out for her.

 

[Anni234]

First ever GP medal for Estonia

 

[Dawn825]

I was in the arena and the crowd was losing their mind for Amber. A lot of support but also a lot of pressure. The axel was thrilling and something to build on, though I'm sure she was hoping to medal.
I wish Hana had gotten a medal, she's a great skater and she had a triple axel as well. Possibly Japan's next big star, though Mone will hopefully improve as well. Her FS was lovely.
I love Loena and everything she brings to the sport but her FS is empty of choreography and footwork. I think she does one rocker/counter before the step sequence and that's it. And while I love the arm movements and the idea of the program, they aren't enough to make up what's lacking, and they had no effect on anyone not sitting on the judges side of the arena or watching on TV. And nearly every jump was significantly under- rotated.
I think Isabeau should have won. Her jumps, while not perfect, were cleaner. Two clear URs compared to Loena's 7 across both programs. And she is doing the absolute most in terms of choreography and footwork. I noticed this about her last year, her programs are the most intricate and complicated in the field. She's present for every moment of her programs, and I think if you look at the judges' criteria for PCS, she is being completely undervalued. (Her dress needs a plain black skirt to allow the regal shoulders to be the star, and the SP one has to be redone completely - brown??)

 

[DancingCactus]

I don't think her jumps were cleaner than Loena's but someone who knows more about tech stuff than might know better. Loena seems to have some Qs and UR usually, but I think Isabeau's are mostly URs? Plus, she has much much less height on her jumps, I guess that features into her GOEs?

 

[nguyhm]

Isabeau's FS was beautiful but it might as well be skated with music from Swan Lake - even with the choreography. It did not give me the vibes of a ballet dancer especially since I just finished watching the movie.

 

[DLong]

Isabeau is the complete package. She is a beautiful, artistic, consistent skater with wonderful music and costumes that compliment her lovely programs. I love both of her programs. They are both so different and that shows her versatility. She is one of the few skaters that I can watch over and over. I thought she skated her short program at Nebelhorn Trophy faster than she did at Skate America, so I was ok with her score for the short, but I thought she deserved a higher score for the free. However, this program will only get better as the season progresses.
I liked Amber's short program better last year. This year not so much. However, she had a lot of energy and she is so talented. Before the free skate started she was interviewed by Andrea. Amber mentioned that she was ADHD which explains why she loses focus sometimes. It had to be very difficult for her with so much family there, the stress of wanting to land the triple Axel, and trying to manage nerves while attempting to stay focused. My son was ADD when he was in school, so I understand how easily a person with ADD or ADHD can be distracted . I really like her free skate music and her costume is beautiful. Hopefully, she will do a lot better at her next event. Amber is one of my favorite USA ladies, so I'm wishing her the best. Congratulations to Nina though, for winning the bronze.
I'm hoping Brian can fix Ekaterina's under rotations as I really like her skating too. I would like to see her win some more medals.
I like Loena and I think she is a very good skater, but I really dislike her programs this year. Years ago I liked Madonna for about 5 minutes, but I guess I can understand why a young girl would like to skate to her, but why two programs???? Two programs that are basically the same except different costumes. The short is a little better than the free since she doesn't stand around having rest breaks, but the ending is horrendous in both of them. I really dislike it when skaters schmooze the judges by hanging on their table it's just tacky. The ISU needs to make a rule change on this as it's distasteful and a skater as talented as Loena doesn't need to do it. I would think Loena would want to stretch herself artistically and have one program that is different - maybe next season.

 

[skylark]

Isabeau is the complete package. She is a beautiful, artistic, consistent skater with wonderful music and costumes that compliment her lovely programs. I love both of her programs. They are both so different and that shows her versatility. She is one of the few skaters that I can watch over and over. ....

This. You have stated beautifully some of the values that many, many figure skating fans and judges value and love and want to see more of. While other fans seem to be watching the performance of elements and adding those up. Of course, we all like different skaters and others don't do much for us. And that's part of the beauty of figure skating. It's just that I like the old system of the presentation mark, the second mark, being the tie breaker and giving more value to it, although the technical still had to be there.

I liked Amber's short program better last year. This year not so much. However, she had a lot of energy and she is so talented. Before the free skate started she was interviewed by Andrea. Amber mentioned that she was ADHD which explains why she loses focus sometimes. It had to be very difficult for her with so much family there, the stress of wanting to land the triple Axel, and trying to manage nerves while attempting to stay focused.

Immediately upon seeing Amber's free skate, I remembered several commentators during the 90s saying that the problem with the men doing quad jumps was that the rest of the program often wasn't up to their usual par. Also, Timothy Goebel did an interview once where he calculated how many quad jumps of each variety he had to do in competition with a fall or otherwise mess up on, before he was able to build his record of doing them well.

I think Amber's description of what she went through with the adrenaline rush was spot on. I think the adrenaline carried her through the next several elements. Before doing what adrenaline often does ... drains energy all of a sudden.

Also I'm appalled that Andrea interviewed her before the free skate. That cannot have helped. Reminds me of Sergei Grinkov once, shaking his head, declining to be interviewed between the SP and long program.

 

[eppen]

Uuu, a little late in the game, but a couple of words on this comp.

Liked the fact that music choices were a little different than normally, but at the same time disliked the fact that most of the girls seemed to be lost with their choices. They still seemed to be skating to the lesmises and whatnots. Mone Chiba with her warhorse short was in the end way better.

Loena has two clubby programs this year and the free reveals her lack of attention to detail and music in the complicated armography (though maybe the choreographer was a little lost also?).

Isabeau Levito should be among my favourites - great skating skills, good attention to detail and all, but I find her profoundly uninteresting and even somehow irritating. The ugly jumps account for part of that, but for the rest I really don't have an explanation. The short with the snake is a good concept though I wish they would have opted to go 100% snake instead of using also the Egyptian arms and other horrors from the oriental/middle eastern standard movement book. The free music makes me think of Kolyada which is a very, very, very, very bad thing. I am also not quite sure what they intend with the costume, because the choreo really has nothing distinct in it. I think that it is the "White Crow" literally, but they got the wrong species for the bird arms.

My faves: Hana Yoshida's Crane free, which is just great: the idea informs the choreo from start to finish, the costuming supports the theme and she is a delight to watch in it. Hope the 3A will come some day. Niina Petrokina who is always enganging and present in her performances. Hope she will get those technical problems fixed.

E

 

[Weathergal]

For some reason I really noticed Isabeau's slowing down before and kind of wrenching through jumps during the Japan Open, and I was relieved that it seemed better here. I wonder if it's at least partly a nerves issue because even in the FS at SkAm, it seemed less apparent as her FS program went on. I'm OK with her programs, but I think her dresses, particularly the FS one, overwhelm her. I'd love to see her try a different costumer who can still give her something balletic feeling, if that's what she wants, but something that is more flattering. I thought she did well here overall.

I thought Loena skated well with nice, big jumps and great spins, but I'm not sold on her programs. I think there's a balance between finding your niche, what works for you and doing too much the same. I wish she had gone in at least a slightly different direction (maybe with a different choreographer) for one of her programs this season. Loving the clubbing but maybe not THAT much clubbing. In short, I'd love to see her work with someone other than just Adam Solya -- perhaps Shae-Lynne Bourne, Misha Ge, or Rohene Ward.

So happy for Niina Petrokina getting Estonia's first GP medal; I love her different style of programs.

I was afraid that Amber's nerves might get the best of her in the FS, but...that 3A was a thing of beauty! I hope she can build on that, her SP, and other positives from this comp and move forward. She seems to have an incredibly supportive coach in Damon Allen, so hopefully he can help get her through this hurdle.