Haien, and a number of other ladies are still in the running too. Isabeau has not been a favorite of mine, but I found her to be so lovely in this program. A great choice of music for Isabeau! Loena is deservedly ahead by a slight margin. If she brings it in the fp, Loena will give herself a great chance to prevail for her first World championship win!
Apart from Loena's technical problems, her skating skill is not an 8.75. And 9.04 composition for a program with trashy nightclub style cheoreography? Hell no.
Also Hana Yoshida was insanely underscored.
Loena tries her best and maximises her talent and opportunities in every way. I'm prefacing it saying nothing against her, but with her jump problems she had no business being so far ahead of someone like Haein Lee or even Isabeau.When Loena skates the technical panel is obviously going for coffee break. No q on the 3F, no q on the 3T and no q or ! on the 3Lz. So unfair to the other skaters.
great post! it always, always slips out from Amber's grasp, and it's always on jumps she can do in her sleep. it's so frustrating.Already home...
my take on this :
Korean women outdid the Japanese. I don't think anyone saw that coming considering the prediction threads.
Levito did much better than I expected. Will never be a fan of her jumps, but the rest of her skating is very nice.
Loena brought the house down. Her skating is true, clear and powerful. To me, she is the clear winner of the SP.
Haein's performance though was my favourite. Gosh, her skating is beautiful.
Kaori is still the best skater in the world. Unmatched skating skills and flow. But you cannot make two mistakes in a SP that tightly contested.
Niina did well but I think the judges put her there and her score held on but I think her placement is a tad high.
Maddie : too nervous. You could see it in her eyes. This performance to me is important. She didn't collapse and made it to the LP. I hope she can redeem herself.
Gubanova crumbled.
Very happy for Young You. It was nice to see her so satisfied after a few tough years.
Amber... sigh. It was going so well.
Hana has a lot of energy. Her skating is dynamic and refreshing.
Sad for Mone.... Damn it. that was frustrating.
Mia skated really well and deserved to be skating her LP.
Nina Povey : too bad she is a few tenths away from the LP at 29 years old.
Agreed.I didn’t comment much because I’m in the arena, but it was a very good event. Although I’m disappointed in Chiba, the Japanese ladies did okay overall. I was never expecting Yoshida to do masterfully in the short as the SP is such a problem. In fact, I was getting very worried after Chiba’s mistake on the lutz. I’ll take a 64 from her and taking the pesky 3A out of the SP was a good decision. And Sakamoto’s not infallible (she lost the SP to Yuna Aoki at Challenge Cup), especially when the pressure’s on. She was nervous from the start so being fourth may actually be a good thing for her. There’s more pressure on Hendrickx now than on her at this point. I think all three Japanese women will move up in the free.
Kim Chaeyeon was shafted. Her calls were deserved, but skaters higher up were given huge favors. Therefore, she was underscored. I thought she’ll be above You. But not above Lee, who I thought had the best performance of the night.
I don't like the program. Up until she completes the jumps it's really chaotic no cohesion, waving her arms and kicking her legs out of sync. For the last 60 seconds she does a great job selling it.Hendrickx left me cold, although the arena went wild. Watching her live, I find myself very distracted by her jumps.
Yeah, Schizas had an unclear edge on the 3Lz (don't know if they dinged her), wobbly landing, then a messy landing on the 3Lo. The program lacked energy, no real connection to the music. I think they gave her a bad program that doesn't suit her.The arena was a little outraged by Schizas’ score, but I think that’s just patriotism talking. She barely squeaked out a 3-2 and stepped out of a 3Lo. The step out wasn’t clear during the performance on my side of the arena, but it was pretty damn clear on the replay. I knew she’ll score below 60. Her performance wasn’t that great, but it was definitely better than what she put out in the past.
Gubanova was on track for a solid performance until not completing the combo. It's a shame.GUTTED for Gubanova. Even more so than Chiba. I really hope she rallies in the free.
I thought Glenn would go clean in the SP, but I can’t say I’m disappointed or surprised that she did not. I am surprised (but maybe I shouldn’t be?) that Levito did better than her in the SP. At this point, I feel that Glenn was anchoring the team and Levito is saying otherwise.
Much nicer than kill.In French we say "la remontée" and I think it's beautiful.
Amber skates like a world champion in practices. She was fantastic in practice at Nationals and has been fantastic in practice at Worlds. The judges watch practices and know what she is really capable of. I really wish her practice skates would translate to competition. Her career best long programs have followed disappointing short programs, so I am really hoping she lays down a clean skate tomorrow.Great score for Amber. The judges are generous.
It was about the judging at this event. There is no need to bring other skaters into play because it is nothing personal against the skaters, but against the tech panel and judges who fail to do their job with some skaters now and some skaters of the past.And patronizingly telling others how to behave is not childish? Then spare me from any discussion with you, please.
Upd. I see you edited your comment, so my reply is now confusing. Childish, isn't it?
Its so nice watching a woman skate with graceful fluid coordinated movements of her whole body. She should be in first place. I'm so tired of the judges rewarding skaters with stiff backs, poor posture and uncoordinated upper body movements the last few years.haein was amazing. such a powerful stsq
ITA. Seeing live is incredible....and I have seen a few legends since 2002. I am glad I got to see Haein with my friend PaulE live at four conts 2023. Yelim and Chaeyeon too. And the wonderful Korean fans who talked with me and filled me with Korean treats....I couldn't follow everything live yesterday, so I watched the last groups straight away this morning.
What can I say, I'm so incredibly proud of my beloved Haein's performance and that she brought back her wonderful Sirens. This season I was able to visit a figure skating competition live for the very first time - GP France. Watching Haein live is simply even more beautiful than on TV, magic. You can't take your eyes off her. I am so jealous of you, @4everchan that you were able to see Haein in best shape with Sirens. I was so devasted for her for not making the podium in France... And now she has a small medal. Wow, so happy.
Loena, what a power program that was! What charisma, energy and self-confidence. I absolutely loved her. And she holds the European flag high. An absolute highlight.
Kaori, never write her off too soon...
Looking forward to the free skates
I would have Haein in first on my scorecard in the short program followed by Leona in second and Isabeau in third. I expect Kaori to come out in attack mode tonight with a clean skate and if she does that, then she should win. If Amber can come out and have her best skate ever with all her planned content, she could win bronze. I can dream and my dream podium would be Sakamoto, Lee and Glenn!haein was amazing. such a powerful stsq