Can Mira Leung beat Joannie Rochette?

[chuckm]

I never predicted top 10 for Phaneuf. I don't make predictions like that. I think what I said was the best Phaneuf could hope for was top 10. Not the same thing at all.

I think top 12 is about the ceiling for Leung, and Rochette will place well above that. I think for sure Joannie will make top 10, and if she can pull herself together and land most of her jups, she could make the top 6 or 7.

BTW, I don't think the ISU judges prefer Emily over Joannie, or vice-versa. I think what the judges see in Emily is attack and a positive attitude, and they see the lack of confidence in Joannie. Joannie does not attack her jumps. Too often, she backs off from a jump she's had problems with in practice or at earlier competitions, and then fails on it yet again.

The ISU judges know Joannie is capable of executing her programs, so they still give her fairly high PCS scores. If she radiated a more confident attitude, her PCS scores would be even higher.

 

[Ladskater]

At this point I would say no. Joannie is an all around skater while Mira is still in the development stage. Joannie is just hitting her stride so to speak while Mira is a "diamond in the rough." Mira needs more mileage under her belt competively to go up against the best. I think Mira will make the top ten which is good, but she does have a long way to go to beat Joannie.

 

[slutskayafan21]

I dont see Mira in the top 10 unless it is an extremely poorly skated event. Asada, Ando, Kim, Meissner, Meier, Kostner, Rochette, Hughes, are all virtual locks to finish over her. Nakano, Poykio, Czisny, Korpi, Sokolova, should all probably beat her without too many major errors, so unless 4 of those 5 falter badly, almost all of them, she wont make the top 10. That is assuming she beats another group of about 5 skaters with people like Sebeysten who have good shot to beat her, but she is very competitive with all the same.

 

[Spun Silver]

Well, I guess we were about due for another 12-page Mira Leung thread.

 

[SK8LUVR]

Joannie would have to have a complete meltdown for Mira to beat her. The quality of her skating and the whole package she has doesn't even come close to beating Mira. I watched them at Canadians and I was even more convinced that Mira's technique is ugly and really she needs a major overhaul. However, I love Joannie and I think that she will do well but she really needs to mentally get it together or she is going no where----fast.

 

[Sackie]

Mira is a good jumper but even with her jumps she quite often has them marked down with - GOE or they are downgraded. And if this happens at worlds she will lose alot of marks so even if she tries 7 triples in her program and Joannie only does 4 or 5 - Joannie will come out with a higher score. Esp since you will get more points for a missed 3 flip then a downgraded one.

 

[passion]

Okay. For the people who say that Mira needs an overhaul on her jump technique, stroking, and polish, did anyone see even an inch of improvement in those areas at Canadians this year? I did.

There is no doubt that Joannie has great skating basics, however, her lack of mental strength concerns me greatly. If she has a meltdown she will end up somewhere in the top ten, but not top five.

Now, concerning Mira, I think her chances of fulfilling her goal of becoming world champion this year is very slim. (Personally, I think she should have kept it to herself rather than make it known to the public for the sake of saving face). One thing I am confident about is that she will land all her jumps at Worlds and because of that and the great improvements in her overall skating, I think she does have a chance of breaking the top ten. However, there is no way that Mira's overall skating matches up to Yu-Na, Mao, and a host of other skaters. Whether she can beat Joannie is a slight possibility.

 

[iloveaxel]

Okay. For the people who say that Mira needs an overhaul on her jump technique, stroking, and polish, did anyone see even an inch of improvement in those areas at Canadians this year? I did.

There is no doubt that Joannie has great skating basics, however, her lack of mental strength concerns me greatly. If she has a meltdown she will end up somewhere in the top ten, but not top five.

Now, concerning Mira, I think her chances of fulfilling her goal of becoming world champion this year is very slim. .

She did not say to become world champions this year. What she said was hoping to become world champion one day. That's a big difference. Do I believe she can achieve that goal? Not really. In the meantime, I don't see her potential to even medal at world stage without a reliable 3+3. But on the other hand, I have every reason to believe she will surpass Joannie in the very near future, if not this year, based on the divergent trajections of both skaters.

For all those who roundly ridiculed Mira's 'cheated', 'ugly' jumps, you really need to watch her performance at Canadian Nationals:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3giL2xsRlTY

She had much better speed out of her jumps, and there is no obvious cheating. She does have incredibly soft knees to make her landings quite secure, even the Euro commentators complimented her on this. I don't see any of her jumps is particularly inferior to Caroline Zhang's except that 2A. The improvement of speed in her jumps is quite obvious, the jump height is decent, and they are bigger than Caroline Zhang or Tara's; She also has a real lutz.

 

[chuckm]

Become World Champion this year?



Become World Champion this DECADE?

:chorus:

 

[slutskayafan21]

Become World Champion this year?



Become World Champion this DECADE?

:chorus:

I share your sentiments on that one.

 

[janetb]

Become World Champion this year?



Become World Champion this DECADE?

I share your sentiments on that one.

I actually think this a is nasty thing to say. Please tell me which competitive figure skater on the senior international seen doesn't have the goal of winning Worlds and why shouldn't they say it? Please give us you vast wisdom on this.

 

[AliasJohnDoe]

Become World Champion this year?



Become World Champion this DECADE?

:chorus:

I share your sentiments also.

 

[temperboy28]

Alot of people seem to not really like Mira much. She isnt my favorite skater but there are things I do like alot about her:

1)The girl almost never falls or stumbles. Since she is human she will once in awhile, but very very few times. In this day of such high risk programs, and such rare number of clean performances, and such unpredictability in whether and how many planned jumps will be landed, that is something I really appreciate. A skater who you actually know will very likely land all her jumps cleanly, or atleast with only small mistakes like a touch down or step on one or two. You can count on Mira to deliver the jumps in competition, very rare today.

2)She is determined. You can tell she wants to push herself to be the best she can be. She sets high goals for herself, some may be very unlikely, some she may never reach. You know the season though, to reach the moon shoot for the stars. I prefer skaters setting unrealistic goals, but atleast being sure to not be scared to atleast try and reach their maximum potential, whatever they have the least chance of reaching while still there being some chance, whatever that may be. I would rather a skater even reach beyond that, then by being too cautios and "realistic" in their goals not even target their own maximum potential. You can tell she wants it so badly, you can tell she sets goals for herself, she has things she wants to do, and she will try whatever she can to get there. I like that.

3)She is not the most naturally talented skater. You can see that. She is an overachiever in a sense. I respect that though. I like seeing skaters who maybe were not born to ever be destined to get where they have gotten more then skaters who have wasted their abundance of talents.

4)She seems articulate and well spoken in interviews. I dont know much of the off ice stuff with her mom, with her reluctance to listen to advice on her look that some others have spoke of. I am sure she has faults though, she is human. I dont know enough about her off ice issues to analyze much. However to the media, to the press she is very polite and well spoken.

 

[skater 17]

I have heard that Mira has had her share of critizism from a young age, there was articles in the Vancouver newspaper reguarding her cheated jumps when she was may about 10 or 11 years old. I would guess she choose to use all the negitive media to inspire her and prove them wrong. I do admire her determination, I think it has made her mentally tuff. At this stage I would think Joannie would still rank higher at worlds with mistakes, but I do think at nationals she made alot of people take a second look at her and possibly gave Joannie a scare. It seems everyone wants to right Mira off, I think she likes being the under dog. I hope Joannie pulls it together and can place in the top five, I hope she does not end up like Josee and never reach her potential due to nerves.

 

[Spun Silver]

Nice post. Those things make me like her too. Not like I'm rooting for or expecting her to win, but I'm glad when she does well. She's a scrappy little thing. Maybe a bit like Tonya Harding.

 

[temperboy28]

Nice post. Those things make me like her too. Not like I'm rooting for or expecting her to win, but I'm glad when she does well. She's a scrappy little thing. Maybe a bit like Tonya Harding.

You are right, she has a bit of Harding in her. A few big differences would be she does have nowhere near the incredable talent of Harding who could have been one of the best ever if she applied herself and didnt look for sorry excuses for all her bad choices and self-sabatoge. However the other side is she is much much more dedicated to continous training, practice, and hard work then Harding ever was. If Harding worked as hard as Mira Leung then Harding would have been unbeatable pretty much.

However their "I am going to do things my way", "I like being counted out, I like proving you wrong, and I am going to show you doubters and naysayers something", the "this is what I want and I am going to get it" attitude is similar and I like it.

 

[chuckm]

I actually think this a is nasty thing to say. Please tell me which competitive figure skater on the senior international seen doesn't have the goal of winning Worlds and why shouldn't they say it? Please give us you vast wisdom on this

If Mira wants to be World champion, then she has to LOOK at the protocols and LISTEN to her coach. She hasn't done either of those things, and Mira was 'fired' by her coach at the end of last season because she refused to follow direction but did only what her mother told her to do.

When the Leungs hired a new coach, it became immediately quite apparent that the coach was just a stand-in for Mrs. Leung. Mira even boasted in an interview during the summer that she liked the new coach because she pretty much let Mira do what she wanted to do. At one of the GPs, people in the stands heard Mira say to the 'coach': 'Don't look at me and don't talk to me'. After that, Skate Canada stepped in and insisted that Mira return to her old coach.

So we have a picture of Mira that is not conducive to her becoming World Champion now or any time in the next few years. Champions listen to criticism, identify their weak points, and work hard on those weaknesses to eliminate them or improve them. A skater who thinks all she needs to be World Champion is two 3/3s, pays no attention to judges' feedback (those low PCS scores) and refuses to follow her coach's advice is not going to improve in a way that will move her into the elite ranks.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to be World Champion. What makes Mira's desire ludicrous is that she goes about becoming one in a way that is guaranteed to fail.

 

[passion]

However their "I am going to do things my way", "I like being counted out, I like proving you wrong, and I am going to show you doubters and naysayers something", the "this is what I want and I am going to get it" attitude is similar and I like it.

In theory it sounds great. Unfortunately, it actually did her a disservice. eg. the beginning of the season she was pretty much doing it her own way. I still think she is better off with Joanne McCleod and I think some credit has to be given to Joanne for improving her skills, jump technique, and "look". Now if she can transfer that attitude under Joanne's instruction, then Joannie Rochette better watch out!