Ladies Free Skate: 2013 NHK Trophy

[demarinis5]

Congrats to Mao! Beautifully skated program, she is an amazing skater.

Elena my goodness she is a little speed demon but she can skate and jump.
She is a breath of fresh air. She seems to have a lovely personality and it is
contagious (ahhh youth there is nothing like it).


Akiko had to many mistakes to hold onto Silver but she is is still lovely to watch. She was
clearly disappointed with herself.

 

[Mao88]

LADIES FREE SKATE - VIDEOS (By Starting Order) - Updated

Warm-Up Group 1

1. Elene GEDEVANISHVILI (GEO) Free Skate
2. Mirai NAGASU (USA) Free Skate, 2nd Copy
3. Alena LEONOVA (RUS) Free Skate
4. Satoko MIYAHARA (JPN) Free Skate, 2nd Copy

Warm-Up Group 2

5. Valentina MARCHEI (ITA) Free Skate
6. Gracie GOLD (USA) Free Skate, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy
7. Elena RADIONOVA (RUS) Free Skate, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy
8. Akiko SUZUKI (JPN) Free Skate, 2nd Copy
9. Mao ASADA (JPN) Free Skate, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy, 4th Copy

RESULT

Overall Result, Segment Result, Protocols

 

[Skater Boy]

Hmmm, it does seem Asada isn't totally in tune with the music at least yet in the fp. I liked her original dress better than this one which looks like another version of her old dresses. I do think her jumps are iffy and had the tech panel went a different way her tech elements could have been under 60 maybe. I love the joy of Radinova but fear puberty. Alena is a hot mess and seems finished but who knows about the injury. Mirai - not sure if it is just the new skating boots or is it her. But it doesn't look good for her this year now does it. Suzuki was okay ; I really thought everyone was overmarked except for Radionova of the top skaters. I am not sure how in the world Gold gets marked so high; I would have had her much lower. I mean these ladies are doing three clean triples and getting amazing marks. Marchesi is a delight, it almost feels like though all the Italian "benefit" has been bestowed upon lucky Carolina. Some may write off Mirai as this being her last international assignment but even if she does not qualify for the olympics I wouldn't be surprised if she is sent to 4ccs.

 

[Shayuki]

Really happy that Radionova got second here. I thought that her PCS was too low, though. And Asada's PCS was way too high once again. I don't think her getting a personal best here counts for much. I'd say that this was a ~200 point performance at best with a non-biased panel.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Beautiful program by Mao but a PB with all those errors? And she was certainly helped on UR calls. Deserved wins by her and Dai but lord they were getting favours by the tech specialists.

 

[hippomoomin]

Finally Radionova redeemed herself here. I was not happy she only got 3rd at SA. Russia federation definitely thinks she is "dispensable" for the GPF sending her to two events with Mao.

 

[sapphiresky]

Congrats to all the medal winners! What an exciting competition (way better than last week)

I just realized this is the last time Mao, Dai, Akiko will be at NHK cup
They finished with a bang- I'm happy for Akiko's medal despite her FS not being what she intended.

Oh Dai- I really hope his confidence is coming back, this seems to be a good step in the right direction.

Mao- this skate does really warrant a PB. Wasn't her last PB in the FS at the World Championships last year? She is a much more polished skater this year, skating with more speed, and she performed this program better. I don't think it was inflated.
I think those people with claims of "overscoring" should really give specifically where they would deduct points, using the protocols that are out. Otherwise, the claims are just thrown in the air.
And the whole "this jump should have been downgraded" blah blah- I think I'll leave it to the tech panel...It's amazing how people state those as "facts".

Elena- Really impressed with her so far, I'm liking her most out of all the Russian ladies. She emotes joy on the ice- like she actually wants to be there (compared to Julia). And I cannot believe she skated this with an ankle injury. I'm hoping she'll get past her growth spurt- but she seems like a fighter, so she hopefully will!

And interestingly (and deserved) she got higher PCS than Gracie.

 

[Shayuki]

How to be specific with PCS? Those were too high all around.

Now, for technical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSqG4sRerwk

6:46. Clear underrotation. The loop seems underrotated as well but I might forgive that.

7:04 Clearly underrotated as well. Not even close, to be honest.

Both those got no deductions and positive GOEs. Along with that, and too high PCS, and too low PCS for Radionova...

 

[sapphiresky]

How to be specific with PCS? Those were too high all around.

Now, for technical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSqG4sRerwk

6:46. Clear underrotation. The loop seems underrotated as well but I might forgive that.

7:04 Clearly underrotated as well. Not even close, to be honest.

Both those got no deductions and positive GOEs. Along with that, and too high PCS, and too low PCS for Radionova...

PCS high all around in comparison to what? Year after year, PCS is going up...it's kinda hard to compare between competitions. Judges are giving more 9's, 10's...so what. People should get what they deserve.

"Clearly" in whose eyes? I thought they were okay, obviously tech panel + some judges thought they were okay. I thought it was okay, but I recognize that it's my opinion

Elena skated wonderfully, but she didn't get low-balled in PCS. Akiko got 63 in this competition, I don't think that if your TES is up, your PCS should automatically go up as well. There are many bulletpoints to each area of the PCS, and I think Radionova got what she deserved.

 

[LiamForeman]

I love the voidy little RadioGaga. But did she even skate a program? The music started and then it was VROOOM and watch her go! It's fine, she's young, but I didn't see a program there.

 

[Shayuki]

PCS high all around in comparison to what? Year after year, PCS is going up...it's kinda hard to compare between competitions. Judges are giving more 9's, 10's...so what. People should get what they deserve.

"Clearly" in whose eyes? I thought they were okay, obviously tech panel + some judges thought they were okay. I thought it was okay, but I recognize that it's my opinion

Elena skated wonderfully, but she didn't get low-balled in PCS. Akiko got 63 in this competition, I don't think that if your TES is up, your PCS should automatically go up as well. There are many bulletpoints to each area of the PCS, and I think Radionova got what she deserved.

They are giving more PCS to certain skaters, but not to certain other skaters. Sure, the max PCS is 80 and still ways off but these performances really aren't 70 PCS ones. What are you going to give Kim Yu-Na for a clean FS then, 78?

I think Mao Asada probably deserved on the higher end of 67-68 at best here, though even that probably is pretty generous. One of the judges made sense(8.25, 8.25, 8.25, 8.5, 8.5), others not so much.

 

[CarneAsada]

They are giving more PCS to certain skaters, but not to certain other skaters. Sure, the max PCS is 80 and still ways off but these performances really aren't 70 PCS ones. What are you going to give Kim Yu-Na for a clean FS then, 78?

I think Mao Asada probably deserved on the higher end of 67-68 at best here, though even that probably is pretty generous. One of the judges made sense(8.25, 8.25, 8.25, 8.5, 8.5), others not so much.

Yu-na gets 75. The judges will give her over 75 at Sochi. Mark my words. Asada won't even be within 4 points in PCS.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

As somebody who appreciates a clean program with high difficulty I think it's a bit disappointing to see Mao beat Radionova by that margin in the FS. I felt the same way about Kostner winning bronze with a 2-triple FS and UR fall in the SP. Like its pointless for skaters who actually jump well when the favourites get huge scores even with quite flawed skates.

 

[Buttercup]

They are giving more PCS to certain skaters, but not to certain other skaters. Sure, the max PCS is 80 and still ways off but these performances really aren't 70 PCS ones. What are you going to give Kim Yu-Na for a clean FS then, 78?

I think Mao Asada probably deserved on the higher end of 67-68 at best here, though even that probably is pretty generous. One of the judges made sense(8.25, 8.25, 8.25, 8.5, 8.5), others not so much.

If Volosozhar/Trankov are getting high 9s for Jesus Christ Superblah, I see nothing wrong with Mao being in the upper 8s. If anything the ladies are underscored compared to the other disciplines.

 

[Shayuki]

Yu-na gets 75. The judges will give her over 75 at Sochi. Mark my words. Asada won't even be within 4 points in PCS.

75 feels a bit low. She already got 73.61 last year with a performance that's around 3 scales higher than Mao's performance today.

 

[elif]

Radionova did only one triple jump at the second half of the program. This is worse than her short program.

How to be specific with PCS? Those were too high all around.

Now, for technical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSqG4sRerwk

6:46. Clear underrotation. The loop seems underrotated as well but I might forgive that.

7:04 Clearly underrotated as well. Not even close, to be honest.

Both those got no deductions and positive GOEs. Along with that, and too high PCS, and too low PCS for Radionova...

Technical Specialist and Technical Controller not really experienced. A few junior grand prix for Cyr and Markova did cup of russia 2010 and NHK 2012. Maybe they did others but I couldn't find. No big competitions like europeans, 4cc, grand prix final even as a Assistant Technical Specialist. Both Skate Canada and Cup of China specialist worked at the World Championships as assistant.

 

[dyu]

Radionova and Asada both did very well, and it's clear that there are qualities to Asada's skating that Radionova has not yet developed.

Well Asada got similiar PCS to Irina when she just debuted senior GPF in Japan in 2005. So the huge PCS gap between Asada and Radionova is not just all about developed skating.

 

[Jammers]

Where the heck have Gracie's jumps gone? Now she can't even do a 3-3 combo or a 2axel3toe. While she seems to be skating with the music and improving in other areas she needs her power and speed back which is what her best features as a skater were.

 

[mary01]

Well Asada got similiar PCS to Irina when she just debuted senior GPF in Japan in 2005. So the huge PCS gap between Asada and Radionova is not just all about developed skating.

Different skaters + Different judges + different performances= Different outcome

 

[prettykeys]

If Volosozhar/Trankov are getting high 9s for Jesus Christ Superblah, I see nothing wrong with Mao being in the upper 8s. If anything the ladies are underscored compared to the other disciplines.

The ladies were scored pretty well, I thought. No complaints from me after reviewing the protocols.

I never tire of Mao's step sequence in her LP.