Ladies' Free

[Bennett]

The best part about Joannie's victory here is that she came in with alot of expectations after her superb showing at Skate Canada. And even though she fell on the triple-triple, she proved once again that 9 times out of 10 you can count on her to deliver an almost clean long program. And she did it under pressure of being in a position to win. I wonder if she knew before hand how poorly Mao had skated.

I think her decision to focus on the PCS this year is paying off brilliantly. Going by Skate Canada's Tracy Wilson..."She's lighter, she's faster, she's jumping higher"...lots of confidence. The judges reward speed and quality skating and she's got tons of both this year. It does sort of look like the judges have kind of finally accepted her into the elite group, but many of us fans have thought she belonged there for a long time.

Her technical element scores have always been high. Despite her remarkable jump technique and obvious effort to put detailed choreography into her programs, she's been hit hard. Remember at the Olympic short program how tough the judges were in her short program. She's come a long way and is obviously now in their favor. But she deserves to be! The judges generally tend to favor the best and if you can't prove you deserve to be there they will stop favoring you soon enough.

So let's see where Joannie goes from here. I think the grand prix final will tell alot about whether this truly is a new Joannie and how she handles the pressure of being one of the favorites. But my guess is she'll come out with a medal of some color.

It's too bad about that judges obvious PCS overscoring. She didn't need it to win.

Sorry for the long winded post. I don't post often so I just had to pipe in about her great skating.

:agree:

 

[TRAxel]

After all the talk about Mao's dress I thought it would be horrific... I actually think it rather pretty, and I'm one of the more "conservative" fans when it comes to costumes...

it certainly has more fabric than what Ashley Wagoner's wearing for her LP.

I love her dress and I think she looked beautiful in it... I've seen many skaters wear much less then that.

WTG Joannie!

 

[Tinymavy15]

I just saw Mao's LP on youtube.
first, i don't get the beef about her dress, i thought it was beautiful, not as lovely as the one she wore at worlds, but very classy.
second, i felt SO sorry for her. That program is HARD. She must have been out of breath after the 1st minuite. There is no slow part, noplace for her to catch her breath. Strange that there was not one planned lutz in the whole program. I guess she plans on putting them in when she fixes the flutz. But she still has not proved she can land the salchow.

 

[frozenhell]

I totally agree about Mao and the flutz. She can win with it. Everything else in her skating is wonderful. If I was Mao I would just work on the 3 Sal. I am so happy for Joannie!!

She had to fix her flutz because she was basically giving Yu Na at least 5 points even before competition started because of her flutz. Mao had to focus ONLY in fixing her flutz. I don't understand why she wasted her time in tano jump and salchow.

 

[Bennett]

About her costume, I think it portrayed the 'grotesque' feel her music just the way it is. It didn't bother me at all.

Awwwww, you know a nice way to put it!



Regarding the program, I think that it was well skated despite some mistakes. She's got the speed and all those transitions. I did not find the last spin variation very nice (the positions looked rather sloopy for her), but I liked steps and spread eagles.
Although it seems a challenging program for her, I guess she would be doing it fine in practices. If she can finally do this in comp, that would be a great accomplishment for her.

 

[shine]

I just saw Joannie's LP and in some ways I really liked it even better than at SC. I thought she was even more expressive and into the music, the spiral with the music was just BEAUTIFUL, and she covered the ice with such flow. And she finally hit the 3t+3s sequence! Good for her!

 

[Mathman]

I agree with TinyMavy. I don't see what is controversial about Mao Asada's dress. It was fine.

But oh the program! I was out of tbreath just watching it.The tempo is just relentless. I suppose Mrs. Tarasova is trying to show us her skater's endurance, but I think it would be more audience friendly if the music had more variation in pace.

 

[rain]

I agree with TinyMavy. I don't see what is controversial about Mao Asada's dress. It was fine.

But oh the program! I was out of tbreath just watching it.The tempo is just relentless. I suppose Mrs. Tarasova is trying to show us her skater's endurance, but I think it would be more audience freindly if the music had more variation in pace.

I agree with both of these sentiments. I didn't love Asada's dress, but it didn't strike me as inappropriate in any way. I thought it was pretty typical skating fare.

I thought it looked like Asada was concentrating, and concentrating hard throughout the program. It was not her natural light and seemingly effortless balletic-type movement. She seemed to be thinking really hard, and not to have her usual confidence.

 

[Tonichelle]

I'd rather it be too hard than too easy this early in her season.

 

[PolymerBob]

Did Caroline land her double axel in the long program?

 

[wonderlen3000]

What an upset win for Joannie! When is the last time Mao lost to someone other than Yu-Na in competition?

Mao did lost both to Miki and Kimmie at SA in 2006 and again to Miki at 2007 World. We all know for the past 3 years Mao always started season slow, so hopefully she will regain her form by NHK (which should be an easy event for her with only two GP medalist, Yukari and Laura). I think last year layout was smarter and she should just ditch the 3S. not worth in point value and not if it keep distracting her on her program.

3A, 3F+3Lo, 3Lz, 3Lo, 2A+3T, 3F, 2A+2Lo+2Lo should be more than enough to keep her in the 125+ score if she skate clean. I mean not many skaters can crack that mark, except Yuna and maybe Joannie if she keep her momenten into the GPF and World.

 

[R.D.]

Once again, I tell the Mao fans NOT to panic, or even raise a concern. History indicates that she will improve. Personally, I'd like to see someone other than the Big Two in the picture.

 

[bekalc]

Once again, I tell the Mao fans NOT to panic, or even raise a concern. History indicates that she will improve. Personally, I'd like to see someone other than the Big Two in the picture.

Rochette isn't in the picture? This year though I really want Yu-na Kim to win Worlds.. With all her injuries, I can't see her staying much longer after Vancover. So it would nice to see her at least be a world champion. Joannie can be GPF champion, if you want someone knew in the picture, but hopefully Kim will at least win worlds.

 

[wonderlen3000]

Who care if you cann't land all the jumps type, i mean if you can nail the 125+ mark with only 6 triples , it's very good mark. I mean Yuna can nail that mark without the 3Lo and Mao can without the 3S, so both of them should just concentrate on what they can land consistantly especially now that the Olympics is near. A good 2A with a GOE is worth more than 3T so, there is your 7th triple jump.

 

[mycelticblessing]

Once again, I tell the Mao fans NOT to panic, or even raise a concern. History indicates that she will improve. Personally, I'd like to see someone other than the Big Two in the picture.

She definitely will improve. Mao tends to peak at the end of the season. She's always fantastic at Worlds. I feel really sad for her at this competition though. Jumps aside, I really like this program. The footwork section at the end is wonderful! I love her twizzles! When she skates it clean, this program will be fantastic.

 

[PolymerBob]

Rochette isn't in the picture? This year though I really want Yu-na Kim to win Worlds.. With all her injuries, I can't see her staying much longer after Vancover. So it would nice to see her at least be a world champion. Joannie can be GPF champion, if you want someone knew in the picture, but hopefully Kim will at least win worlds.

Actually, I'm kind of torn here. Who deserves to win Worlds more, Yu-Na or Joannie? It just seems that Joannie has been fighting in the trenches for a few more years than Yu-Na.

 

[fiercemao]

Actually, I'm kind of torn here. Who deserves to win Worlds more, Yu-Na or Joannie? It just seems that Joannie has been fighting in the trenches for a few more years than Yu-Na.

I don't think Joannie deserves world champion. A medal, maybe, but world champion, no way! She hasn't done any clean long program since when? Seldom does she do any clean short program either. She doesn't have a triple+triple. All world medalists for the past two seasons landed 3+3. Maybe this season will be different, if so, it's just a sad reality .

If you are talking about who deserves a world medal for years of efforts, how about Nakano?

 

[mycelticblessing]

Actually, I'm kind of torn here. Who deserves to win Worlds more, Yu-Na or Joannie? It just seems that Joannie has been fighting in the trenches for a few more years than Yu-Na.

I'm not a fan of either of them, but I do enjoy their skating. But I don't think YuNa has ever been beaten when she skated clean. Joannie has a really good shot at a World medal this season though.

 

[bekalc]

Actually, I'm kind of torn here. Who deserves to win Worlds more, Yu-Na or Joannie? It just seems that Joannie has been fighting in the trenches for a few more years than Yu-Na.

But Yu-na has been more consistently good than Joannie has. And has been so hampered by her injuries the last two worlds. And she was screwed out of Worlds in 2006 which she would have had a legitimate shot of winning if she was healthy.

Maybe Joannie's been around longer but Yu-na has been better longer.

 

[shallwedansu]

Oh, I'm not panicking. If the past two seasons are any indication, then I can expect the front runners to be:
Oct - Dec: Yu-Na Kim (strong, peaks, injury, DOWN)
(late) Dec - Mar: Mao Asada (moderate start, gain momentum, peak at exactly the right time, GOLD)

But I can't say I wasn't slightly disappointed by Mao's FS. Not only in her performance, but the choreography in general. I really appreciated Mao getting into the up and down motion of the waltz. You can count along with her the 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 and see that her movements match to the beat. I think the counting may be affecting her concentration because it looks like the jumps are placed on an exact beat and if she's thinking too hard on when to hit that jump, it might cloud her mind. But her step sequence was awesome! That part I love.