2025-26 Grand Prix Final Women's Short Program

[museksk8r]

I would have ranked Alysa ahead of Mone, who looked like she was walking to her execution at the start of her program. Mone didn’t even try to interpret the music until the step sequence; however, this SP by Alysa is her best program ever.

I am so sad for Kaori and Amber. It was a really short turnaround for Mone and Amber coming here from Finlandia Trophy. Amber’s 1Axel made me think of Minerva Hase’s (who was also a Finlandia Trophy) 1Salchow yesterday; it’s just not a mistake they usually make and the scheduling of events has not been ideal.

Hoping for clean, redemptive skates from everyone tomorrow!

 

[Demandred]

Mone Chiba is a star, she just nailed everything today and her skating skills make her such a pleasure to watch.

Shame about Kaori and Amber's pops, they'd need to make up a lot of ground tomorrow.

Ami was really good apart from the 3A and can definitely medal here.

 

[Magill]

So happy for Mone!!! She was so sweet being so shocked and surprised to see her score and placement

 

[SmileHappy34]

Nice skates women.
Surprised a bit at who in medal position, but shows what a little mistake does.

How come Kaori ' s double Lutz didn't count.
I thought they could do a double or triple as single jump.

Is it a requirement to do a triple as single jump in ladies now. That leaves a lot of ladies skaters out.
I thought they been counting the doubles during the season .


Congratulations all on great skates
Do feel bad for Rinka, Amber, Kaori, Amish.
Thrilled for Mone and Alyssa

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

My saying for years. ISU should finallly see the light and double the group count in the GPF. In the GPs too, if they can.

Mine too!

My dream would be 8 GP's with 16 slots in each category. And 16 skaters / partnerships going through to the Final.

But, other changes to the calendar would need to be made to accomodate this. And we know fine well that the ISU aren't forward thinking enough to do it. They prefer to make silly changes.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[SmileHappy34]

"sixth at the Olympics then retired" literally no one remembers Alysa's world bronze

Actually I do as a spectator. I dont know about others nor claim to know what others think or remember

 

[frompolandwithlove]

Poor Mone looked absolutely terrified before her program. Girl must have been so sure the ice is cursed or something . Honestly, I don't blame her.

 

[lariko]

Nice skates women.
Surprised a bit at who in medal position, but shows what a little mistake does.

How come Kaori ' s double Lutz didn't count.
I thought they could do a double or triple as single jump.

Is it a requirement to do a triple as single jump in ladies now. That leaves a lot of ladies skaters out.
I thought they been counting the doubles during the season .


Congratulations all on great skates
Do feel bad for Rinka, Amber, Kaori, Amish.
Thrilled for Mone and Alyssa

Was invalid in senior women forever.

 

[TT_Fin]

Nice skates women.
Surprised a bit at who in medal position, but shows what a little mistake does.

How come Kaori ' s double Lutz didn't count.
I thought they could do a double or triple as single jump.

Is it a requirement to do a triple as single jump in ladies now. That leaves a lot of ladies skaters out.
I thought they been counting the doubles during the season .


Congratulations all on great skates
Do feel bad for Rinka, Amber, Kaori, Amish.
Thrilled for Mone and Alyssa

In seniors it must be triple. Only juniors can do double.

 

[museksk8r]

Was invalid in senior women forever.

Not true. It was not the standard for women to do a solo triple until the 1995 season. Go back and watch YouTube videos of the 1994 Olympics; the standard then was 3Lutz+2toe, 2Axel, and 2flip.

 

[elektra blue]

Right, @elektra blue . We know how you feel about Mao Shimada's SP costume, and about Ekaterina Kurakova's costumes in general.

How do you feel about Mone Chiba's SP costume? Because I feel it falls into the same category as those others I just mentioned. So, I expect you to not like it.

Personally, I loved it.

CaroLiza_fan

i hate it

 

[lariko]

Not true. It was not the standard for women to do a solo triple until the 1995 season. Go back and watch YouTube videos of the 1994 Olympics; the standard then was 3Lutz+2toe, 2Axel, and 2flip.

1995 is forever ago. I started watching in 2018. Was invalid then, is invalid now. I don't watch old stuff and never will. In my time, women jumped quads and asked for them to be included in the short...

 

[museksk8r]

1995 is forever ago. I started watching in 2018. Was invalid then, is invalid now. I don't watch old stuff and never will. In my time, women jumped quads and asked for them to be included in the short...

Wow, what a shame as you have missed out on the very best skating this sport has ever had to offer then. I cannot imagine getting into this sport never having watched Kristi Yamaguchi, Midori Ito, Oksana Baiul, Chen Lu, Michelle Kwan, Yu-Na Kim, Mao Asada or Carolina Kostner at her prime. You do you though.

 

[lariko]

Wow, what a shame as you have missed out on the very best skating this sport has ever had to offer then. I cannot imagine getting into this sport never having watched Kristi Yamaguchi, Midori Ito, Oksana Baiul, Chen Lu, Michelle Kwan, Yu-Na Kim, Mao Asada or Carolina Kostner at her prime. You do you though.

Yeah, i do me. Gorgeous skating is Trusova and triple A. That old stuff with reputation scoring of princess powers is 100% not my cup of tea. They are all even more boring than the current line up.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

i hate it

I thought you would. But just wanted confirmation.

Thank you

CaroLiza_fan

 

[el henry]

1995 is forever ago. I started watching in 2018. Was invalid then, is invalid now. I don't watch old stuff and never will. In my time, women jumped quads and asked for them to be included in the short...

But what *you* watch is not forever.

It is in "your" time., and "forever" was an exaggerated turn of phrase based on your, one person's, experience. What you do or don't watch doesn't answer the OP's question.

that it has been invalid since the mid 90s does.

 

[lariko]

But what *you* watch is not forever.

It is in "your" time., and "forever" was an exaggerated turn of phrase based on your, one person's, experience. What you do or don't watch doesn't answer the OP's question.

that it has been invalid since the mid 90s does.

I can't see how 30 years is a short period of time in a context of any human life. Five years before Sakomoto was even born. But if you or anyone wishes to insist that the change is recent... okay? I disagree that it is recent and stand by my description of it as 'since forever'. And I certainly do not appreciate it when people tell me what I should watch.

 

[Janice4th]

My saying for years. ISU should finallly see the light and double the group count in the GPF. In the GPs too, if they can.

I misremembered, and thought the early competitions had more skaters. The first women’s competition had 7 competitors. The rest of the disciplines had fewer.

 

[museksk8r]

Looking back at past Olympic year Grand Prix Finals for the women, it’s interesting how none of the Olympic medalists skated well and in some cases were not even present at that season’s Grand Prix Final. Michelle Kwan withdrew from the 1997-98 GPF due to the stress fracture in her foot. Chen Lu wasn’t there either. Tara Lipinski, the one exception of this post, did win with a convincing and clean skate. 2001-2002 GPF was bizarre as this was the period in time that the ISU actually required Grand Prix finalists to skate 1 SP and 2 different FS programs. Needless to say, it wasn’t a well skated event either as the poor skaters were totally exhausted from these stupid requirements. Slutskaya won, Kwan was 2nd, and Hughes was 3rd. 2005-2006 GPF saw Irina Slutskaya lose to champion Mao Asada, who was not age eligible to go to the Olympics. Shizuka Arakawa and Sasha Cohen were not even present there. 2009-2010 GPF was another poorly skated event. Yu-Na Kim won, but it was far and away the worst performances of her season, Mao Asada was not present, and Joannie Rochette, who finished 5th, probably delivered the worst FS I have ever seen her perform in her career. 2013-2014 GPF actually saw none of the eventual Olympic medalists present in the event. 2017-2018 GPF saw Zagitova lose the SP to Osmond, but unfortunately Kaetlyn placed 5th in the FS to win bronze overall. Zagitova won, but the performance was tight and not her best. Medvedeva was not present due to injury. The 2021-2022 GPF was cancelled due to the pandemic.

I bring this up to point out that I find it odd how Mark Hanretty keeps saying that the GPF is a barometer of how the Olympics may play out. History shows that really isn’t the case at all!

 

[yfan1]

I bring this up to point out that I find it odd how Mark Henretty keeps saying that the GPF is a barometer of how the Olympics may play out. History shows that really isn’t the case at all!

Mark Hanretty needs to leave singles commentary because he treats it all like Ice Dance. Too much discussion about "patterns" and "impressions" than the skating, and then what he does say about singles skating, I'm not really a fan of.

To extend your point (although Sotnikova was present at the GPF ahead of Sochi), Javier Fernandez and Yuzuru Hanyu were both not present at the GPF before PyeongChang either - and Uno finished second there. Kolyada and Chen both didn't medal at those Olympics. Denis Ten wasn't there at the 2013-14 GPF either. Evan Lysacek won the 2009-10 GPF - but Takahashi didn't medal, and Plushenko wasn't present.

GPF really only has mattered for newbies. Established seniors don't really "need" it. You saw Zagitova and Lipnitskaya (and perhaps Hanyu with that pre-Sochi showing, seeing how he beat a 3 time world champ there) take full advantage, but most of these skaters didn't exactly see how it was a barometer of anything. There are only around two months left for the Olympics, and practically everyone tries to peak there.