But at the time, the system didn't call for harder spins, combinations, etc... I'm sure she can tag a few 2T or 2R. Compare Kwan and Arakawa at the 2004 Worlds, Kwan doubled the second lutz, footwork sequence was not as great as it was at Nationals, and they gave her a bunch of 6.0s, and 4 judges put her 1st over Arakawa's complex spins, big 3x3x2 and 3x3 combos.
If Michelle did what she did at National at World, no judges would even put Arakawa 1st. So I don't fault Sasha for losing to Michelle in those years.
Two things.
1. Just because some of the judges put Kwan with her Worlds performance above Shizuka's long program does not mean no judges would have put Arakawa first if Kwan had an even better performance like her U.S Nationals one. Keep in mind in the short program even without the time deduction Kwan who was otherwise brilliant probably would have been only 3rd behind Shizuka who cheated the back end end of her triple lutz-triple toe and had two other minor errors.
2. Lets also be honest on one thing. Shizuka was not at all being judged on the same scale as the big names like Cohen, Slutskaya, or Kwan. I gaurantee you 110% if Slutskaya, Kwan, or Cohen had done the exact same long program Shizuka did at the 2004 Worlds they would have had all 6.0s for technical merit and mostly 6.0s for presentation, and had straight 1st place votes from every judge. Shizuka at the time was still a relative "no name". She came into Worlds as the distant #3 Japanese, and for clean shorts with a triple lutz-double earlier that season was finishing 8-12 points back of Cohen, heck she still was often losing head to head meetings with Jenny Kirk up to that point.
Also keep in mind Sasha Cohen with a quite mediocre long program performance which was far worse than Kwan's performance really, which had 3 or 4 shaky landings, aborted cominations, a botched triple salchow late, and very slow and tenative, even took 3 of 9 counting judges of Shizuka (3 of the same 4 who also had Kwan above Shizuka). And btw also look at how much more decisively the now "former World Champion" Shizuka beat Cohen at the 2006 Olympics for a far weaker performance than her 2004 Worlds one, while Cohen even with her 1.5 falls probably turned in an overall better performance than her 2004 Worlds one.
In essense journeywomen Shizuka's long program at the 2004 Worlds is not reflective of how well a big name like Cohen or Slutskaya would have to skate to beat Kwan at that point, even with a slightly better performance. It is only reflective of how well the then #3 Japanese who came into Worlds with far less stature than say Fumie Suguri would have to skate to do so. Cohen would have won Nationals in 2003, 2004, and 2005 if she had simply kept her artistic touche off the ice. Kwan was still great but she was not the Kwan of 96-2001 anymore, and the USFSA were also more than ready to anoint Cohen as their new #1 that whole time, the hype on her to win Nationals and Worlds every year after 2002 makes that apparent. And even if you think I am wrong she would have still been less criticized if she had atleast kept her dress off the ice one of those times.
