Ladies' TV review
Excellent posts all. I'll start with agreeing with Rgirl:
Rgirl said:
This year's worlds had it all--controversy, good performances, and an unexpected guest.
Carolina Kostner-After last year's breakout debut, this season seems like a sophomore slump. Her SP to
A Secret Garden was fast and technically difficult, with a 3lutz-3toe, 3 loop, and 2axel (which admittedly is among the weakest of the top ladies). However, her LP, despite the 3-3s, leave a lot to be desired. Her speed here almost seems like a detriment, as it looks as though she is just moving from element to element without any plan of a program as a whole. She is inconsistent, and (unsuccessfully) throwing in the missed jumps later just gave a look of desperation to a level of presentation that does not seem to have improved from last year. Her finish in the LP was at least two places too high. Still, Kostner improved from 10th to 5th, but can't falter on the jumps and needs better choreography to continue upwards, which she still has time to do.
Julia Sebastyen-Her best year ever, with a European championship and 6th at worlds. Her jumps are wonderfully high, but seems to lack an extra spark either in presentation or technical merit that would push her higher. Nonetheless, she obviously has worked hard to take everything she does have and present it in the best possible, with good choreography complementing her high jumps. Good work in earning Hungary two spots for the next worlds. I would have her higher than Kostner.
Miki Ando-Perhaps the quintessential young skater--a jumping bean who wows with the raw energy of youth and the lack of expectation but who lacks maturity. Her 3lutz-3loop in the short was amazing, and should she get the 4salchow consistent, she could be a major threat. That said, her LP, despite two 3-3 combos, just did not live up to the power of Stravinsky's majestic
Firebird, and that combined with the jump mistakes dropped her down. Still beating Kwan in both the qualifying group and the SP, being the Japanese champion ahead of the World and GP champions, and being the Junior Worlds champion is nothing to sneeze at. She seems to have some musical understanding, so it will be interesting to see how her presentation develops and whether it will be to the detriment of jump consistency and difficulty (see Yoshie Onda).
Michelle Kwan-Kwan dug herself a whole that was impossible to get out off with her poor qualifying group and compounded it with having a SP that perhaps was too close to the time limits.However, despite these things and the appearance of a human web advertisement before her LP, she bounced back beautifully, with a great SP and only a popped 3lutz at the end of the LP for yet another podium finish (since 1995?). Each additional year in Kwan's career seems to bring up more questions--this is almost like a rebuilding year, and she is obviously at a crossroads between retiring and going for the gold at Torino. From her interviews with Hersh, she seems lonely and sometimes almost seems to lack motivation, yet during the competion, the fire always shows up. It does seem that a message was sent during the SP to improve choreographically, but also during the LP that with perhaps only with an extra 3lutz that she is not yet being pushed out the door. It remains to be seen whether Kwan can add the 3-3 combos necessary to assure her a place in the top for the next two years leading to the Olympics, but she does seem that she has allied herself with the right team and attitude to make it happen.
Sasha Cohen-Her SP to
Malagueña was clearly the best SP, skated with lots of attack and interesting choreography. Here, Robin Wagner made good improvements in the straight-line footwork and ended Sasha's two-year streak of falling in the SP. I am at a loss to say what happened in the LP. Compared to last year and US Nationals, I do not see a hands down improvement as others do. Both this year and last year, she finished 3rd in the LP.
Swan Lake must be here in the West, because like our water supply, her program seems to have evaporated from the masterpiece it was at Trophee Lalique to a poorly reworked bare outline of its former self, with worse music cuts and severly gutted choreographically and resultant impact. Given Kwan still was able to get a 4/5 split against Arakawa, the judges appeared poised to give her the title with a clean skate. But I also saw the return of a tight, uninspired performance with poor jump technique, with the lutz landed on the wrong edge, some wonky landings and the popped 3salchow at the end indicating something is still holding her back--whether that something is technical, mental, both, or neither I have no idea. Unfortunately she will have the albatross of not being able to step her level of performance up on her neck for another year, and it may be something that no coach can correct with any consistency. She, like Kwan, also knows that she needs 3-3s, and will probably work on it during the summer.
Shizuka Arakawa-It's nice to see her hard work finally paying off with Japan's first world title since Yuka Sato in 1994. While she may have gotten away with cheated combos in the SP and LP, her excellent basics and hard work to improve under the COP (I agree with Rgirl) combined with a until-now unseen consistency to vault her to the top. Her LP was undeniably the best of the night and highlighted her strengths and gutsy 3-3 combos (and unfornately, her "cheeks"
). How much of these changes are attributable to Tarasova is unknown, but it is interesting that the judges did not notice her strengths before now. Also unknown is whether Arakawa can repeat this technical performance in the future or like Slutskaya and Hughes before her, always be in the shadow of her performance of a lifetime. She just shows how hard work (she didn't even go to worlds for several years) and perhaps the right people and circumstances can culminate with a gold medal.
It seems very much now that the age of 3-3s as a necessity for the top skaters is coming now. It is basically a "mass effect"--so many skaters are able and have successfully thrown 3-3s into both the SP and especially the LP that not having that move in one's arsenal will be a strategic error. Even though COP would make the move more risky, 3-3 combos is still the easiest way to improve one's score. The future of this crop of ladies is probably very much tied to having the complete package of technical merit, choreographic difficulty, and presentation to squeeze as many points out as possible.
InsecureEdge
Rgal you are one lucky lady!
Rather interfered with the elegant, regal look she has, which is one of the main things I like about her.
