ITA. She does what suit her FS career as WHOLE......She said in a interview that she is selective for what events she wanted to be in. She did just that for last couple of seasons.skatingfan5 said:If the ISU ranking mattered a great deal to Michelle, I'm sure she would have put those events higher on her priority list. It's obviously higher on the ISU's list than it is on Michelle's the past few years. But she previously competed in the series (two and three events plus final) for quite a few seasons (5 at least).
Jaana said:The fact that Kwan has chosen not to participate in GP events and as result does not get as high ranking points from the season as those that are competing in those events and elsewhere, does not make the ranking system wrong or biased.
Red Dog said:Do you really think that Irina is 4th in the world? Suguri 3rd? Arakawa 1st? (THIS YEAR I mean)
nicole_l said:It's based pretty heavily on the Grand Prix. Shizuka Arakawa is nice and all, but she finished 8th at the past Worlds.
emma said:She was low (relatively) on the ISU standings last year too and on the podium...these rankings are based on how many ISU sanctioned competitions you are in, and then even those are weighted if I'm not mistaken, and include more than one year.
anyway, it is, of course, impossible to disagree Joe -- I mean she did finish off the podium for the first time in 10 years last season, and thus 'lost' her podium standing, clearly a decline.
soogar said:She was held up because I think she only landed 3 triples , while Jenny Kirk made 5 triple attempts and landed 3 and finished 17th or something.
Red Dog said:But it's not just Kwan- and I'd be the last person ever to defend her- it's the whole system IMO. Maybe it's OK since they are basing the rankings over several years, but I still can't put much stock in the ratings. Do you really think that Irina is 4th in the world? Suguri 3rd? Arakawa 1st? (THIS YEAR I mean)
If they did it by year, I don't know, maybe it would look better/more accurate. But for now, it's somewhat outdated IMO.
antmanb said:True but there is a world of difference to say given the ISU criteria (which means you have to do the GP to get a high standing) and saying Rochette and Poykio are in the top ten and are therefore better skaters than Kwan which is patently untrue, Kwan is a better skater than both of those girls. Onda and Sebestyen are also in the top ten list and i would say Kwan is head, shoulders and half her torso above those two in terms of skating skills. I would also say she's without a doubt a better skater and Suguri (number 3 in the standings) and also Ando but i know that some people might prefer their skating to Kwan's.
Yeah....I was just trying to clarify to Joe my understanding of the ranking system (of course Sylvia much smarter just gave us the link to the explanation itself)...I was trying to say that I wouldn't take the ranking to be indicative of a decline per se for Kwan...but in terms of her placements, the world's finish is (albeit it slight and not indicative of a clear trend since she placed 'on the podium' for the short and long, but her qualifier kept her off).antmanb said:True but there is a world of difference to say given the ISU criteria (which means you have to do the GP to get a high standing) and saying Rochette and Poykio are in the top ten and are therefore better skaters than Kwan which is patently untrue, Kwan is a better skater than both of those girls. Onda and Sebestyen are also in the top ten list and i would say Kwan is head, shoulders and half her torso above those two in terms of skating skills. I would also say she's without a doubt a better skater and Suguri (number 3 in the standings) and also Ando but i know that some people might prefer their skating to Kwan's.
Ant
Onda Sebestyen Sugri and Ando
Joesitz said:The bottom line on all this is as I said before Kwan doesn't give a hoot about where she stands in this ranking. I strongly suspect other skaters feel the same way. It's a ranking signifying nothing. It may have something to do in the skating order of the Qualifying Rounds. I'm not sure.
Joe
soogar said:Kwan doesn't give a hoot because she makes tons of money off shows and is always assured of at least one GP invite (not that she even cares about the GP at this stage in her career). A skater like Jenna McCorkell takes the rankings very seriously because it could give her an opportunity to get into a GP. If there is one good thing about this ranking system, it does give the little skater from a no name federation a chance to do well in smaller events and secure invites to bigger events. Upon further reflection, that's probably why the rankings are set up the way they are. A skater that won a few small events the season prior and then misses this season due to injury still can maintain his/her ranking enough to secure invites to events. Since there aren't that many events in skating anyway, it's probably best to carry over results from the previous years so a skater won't lose ground due to injury. For skaters whose federations don't host events and otherwise have no assurance of guaranteed invites, such a system really helps them out.