Ladies' Free

[harmy18]

I'm glad that Caroline's LP finally scored over 100, it nearly makes me burst into tears. She skated faster than SC and at least laned all her jumps (let's ignore the urs or so-called "e").
I still feel sorry for her low PCS Judges seem to be so critical towards her.

 

[Kinga]

Congratulations to Joannie! I believed that she had this level of performance within her even before, but she polished all elements even more and it pays off! I was sure that she is able to beat Mao, and she proved it! So many people did not believe it, but now I hope, Joannie will get more respect.

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.

ITA!

As it comes to Mao, it is really surprising for me, that while most of you do not like her new LP, I do like it, although I have never been a fan of her artistry before - again, opposite to most of you. I liked her LP, even if she did not nail many elements. I also agree, that she looked a bit lost and uncertain during her performance. Still, the reason I liked it, is probably because she became more feminine and mature in her skating. Before it looked more 'learnt' and stiff to me. Now she really looks like an artist (at least, basing on this first performance of her). She grew. And I liked the music, actually. I think this energetic type of music suites her. I liked her steps more, I don't see any exaggerated arm and chest movements as I used to see last year.
Of course, she has many things to work on, when it comes to jumps.
And on the shallow note - I did like her dress a lot! In general, she looks prettier!

Wow, Mao's skating has never really touched me as to artistry, and I never understood why she got quite so much hype when she's never had the full set of triples (flutz, no sal, etc.)

This is also true for me. But I hope that this season I will get into her skating when it comes to her artistry.

 

[Blade Runner]

I think she means that until Olympics is too hard to skate and study... after it may be possible. But it doesn't mean she will necessarily drop. There are some top skaters who do GP, Worlds etc. AND University (Takahashi, Nakano...).
If she doesn't speak plainly about it, please don't misunderstand

No retiring according to this article:

"I'd like to go to the university to study sports," she said. "I have to because I want to be a professional figure skater and then a coach.

http://www.goldenskate.com/articles/2008/081108.shtml

 

[BelleFilleYuna]

Why are we talking about Yu-Na's retirement suddenly??
And yes, she did say something that insinuates her retirement after Vancouver however I think we'll have to wait and see. I think she'll be around for couple of years 'if' she stays healthy.

 

[Andalusia]

I only just saw the top 3 LPs on YouTube, and I still haven't read the whole thread because I wanted to remain unspoiled.

Poor Mao-chan. Now I certainly can't complain about Joannie winning unfairly, because Mao gave it away to her. I think it's just nerves that did her in - all that fixing and relearning she did during the break must be hard to adapt to in competition. Plus she herself said she was nervous that her first competition of the season begins so late. Is there some reason why Mao always seems to get TEB? Strange. I wanted to hug her when she tripped on the salchow, as she looked like she was about to cry right after that mistake. And I must say, if you're nervous whilst performing, that is certainly the worst piece of music to skate to as it's so ominous. As she kept making error after error, it felt like the music was swallowing Mao up. However, I appreciate the contrasts she's made between the SP and LP music choices, and I look forward to Mao really bringing the performance to life when she hits everything, or, at least, almost everything. It almost scares me how she'll be like once she rebounds - anyone who can recover perfectly after that awful fall Mao had at the beginning of last season's Worlds LP should be able to overcome what she went through here. It's still early in the season, and Mao has plenty of time to peak. Ganbatte, Mao-chan!

I'm not a big fan of Joannie's style of skating, so I'll refrain from commenting too much about her. That being said, she most certainly deserved her win here and her jumps looked better than ever. Kudos to her for finally hitting that sal sequence. It's laughable that one judge gave her no -GOE for her 2A sequence; equally distasteful is one judge giving Mao +GOE on her two-footed 3A.

That new dress on Caroline makes her look almost unrecognizable. She looks so grown-up now. Still the poor technique on her flips and flutzes, although the other jumps looked a little better, and she skated with overall more speed this time around. Although she went clean, her jumps are looking lower than I've ever seen them. So low that they almost look like doubles. It's disheartening that the growth spurt isn't making her jump any higher. Still, glad to see some of that old consistency back, and she looked confident and almost playful in the LP. Lol, technically she went clean and look how far behind she is from the top two - I hope that sets off an alarm with her and her team, although I feel like I've said that one time too many.

All in all, I'm satisfied with the top 3 placements.

 

[camion]

Just watched the ladies long. Must say I don't think Mao's programs are working for her musically. Her lp had really strong horn, trumpet? Idk instrumentation & she's a soft gentle skater so it seemed the music was a bit overpowering. I don't think I've seen her struggle as much on jumps before and it just seemed she had a mental block- just running through the program, not skating w/the music. The design & cut of the costumes are so similar to her Worlds outfit and I didn't really care much for it.

Congratulations to Joannie. I think she takes her time in choreography and she has really beautiful deep edges. It's great to see how her mental and emotional maturity is conveyed on the ice. She should be so proud and confident going into the GPF.

And yeah, Caroline looked great in the long. I wonder why she changed her outfit, but it suits her a lot better than the yellow lp dress. And my god, I saw pictures of the medal ceremony and she has freakin' grown! It's also great to see her improve for each competition. Since it's so close to Olympic season, it probably is real tight, time-wise to alter her jumping technique but I hope she changes that free leg kick because I don't want her to have the same stigma as Nakano.

 

[zephyrskates]

It's Mao's first outing with that program, but boy she has a lot to get comfortable with. I just don't think she had enough time to get used to it, which is crazy considering she had one more month to prepare as compared to those who competed at Skate america. The program is just relentless, I was out of breath for her. I think that Tat may have gone overboard with the transitions, the program just feel overworked to me. I think it will be a great idea to tone down the transitions a bit, and find the right balance.

Just a reflection: We can't be satisfied, fans complain when Kostner telegraphs her jumps, and we still complain when Mao gets so much choreography. Although, we'll see if there is improvement at NHK, and then we can judge the viability of this program.

 

[Bill508]

Painful watching Emily Hughes.

OMG! Emily Hughes needs to hang up the skates...she really does. She's terrible. It was embarrassing having her represent the USA. Time people admitted she and Kimmie are not world class skaters. Kimmie only won the Worlds because it was post Oly and the best stayed home. Emily stands in a class all by her self; shes always been overweight and always a second tier skater.

 

[shine]

The music might be relentless (the cuts are very bad and monotonous IMO), but there was plenty of skating around with a lot of arm waving and little transitions. Typical TAT. There were two difficult jump entries I saw, but other than that, I thought the program was really mediocre difficulty-wise AND choreography-wise. I think Mao does lyrical much better (such as Claire de lune); the LP is just beat after beat and lacks any sort of musical phrasing and subtlety.

 

[Blades of Passion]

Judges really need to start using the negative GoE mark on spins more liberally.

Joannie's Level 4 change-of-foot upright spin is SO transparent in its attempt to gain those levels. A half-assed inside edge spin, a couple half-assed rotations in the opposite direction...

Spins with a lot of complexity can look great but skaters shouldn't simply be adding things in that they can't do very well. Judges need to deduct for every bad position they see. Similarly, positive GoE on spins should be the same as it is for jumps - a full mark. Especially since there are only 3 spins in the LP now. Footwork and Spirals should also get that full benefit regardless of their level. This would let skaters be properly rewarded for things they are actually good at, persuade them to stop adding in a bunch of extra crap, and allow for more flexibility in trying to choreograph moves that interpret the music.

 

[R.D.]

OMG! Emily Hughes needs to hang up the skates...she really does. She's terrible. It was embarrassing having her represent the USA. Time people admitted she and Kimmie are not world class skaters. Kimmie only won the Worlds because it was post Oly and the best stayed home. Emily stands in a class all by her self; shes always been overweight and always a second tier skater.

I think the comments in bold are uncalled for...but in general I agree that she would be better off sticking to college full-time. I won't push her into retirement but I feel that one is coming anyway.

To turn the tone positive again, I think she is a great show skater. You can tell she enjoys being out there on the ice performing. I hope she continues to do shows. And she actually has a shape to her body...yeah, shame on her for having that.

 

[Blades of Passion]

There were two difficult jump entries I saw, but other than that, I thought the program was really mediocre difficulty-wise AND choreography-wise.

Most skaters have 0 difficult entries into their jumps. 2 is actually very commendable.

I think this program will get better as Mao's jumps get more consistent. The music is very hard-driving and the jumps are an important part of the choreography because their explosive nature is what matches that tone. Mao missed a lot of jumps here so course a lot of energy was taken out of the performance.

She should change her ending pose, though. It's the same as what she did last year in the SP.

 

[kalle]

I saw the ladies live yesterday and it always hits me how different the impressions are comparing to on "you tube"..!

It was the first time I saw Bebe live any boy she is fast and covers the ice very well!I like the whole program and just so frustrating to see that she does not "fight" to the very end.
It looks like a lack of confidence as she actually "lands' the jumps but then falls..I dunno..but her landed jumps are all great with nice flow as the transitions between them.I hope that she will be able to work slowley but surely towards better results.Look at Joannie, she is peaking now

Caroline seems to be back in form but I cannot get into this program as i would like to..The second half of it is better in terms of choreography but it is still too empty between the jumps and hardly no transitions, is this a Lori Nichol program?I loved her spanish program last year which had much more character and personality.
She is a lovely girl though.I passed by the arena this morning and I saw her walking towards the hotel.I asked if i could take a photo and she was really polite and put on a nice smile in the rainy Paris!I just said I was happy to see her skate so well and wished her all the best for the rest of the season.

Mao looked so tense and nervous that you could almost feel it up to the last rang..I guess that it is a different pressure this year as the current world champion but I hope as previous seasons that she will come back stonger towards the end of the season.
I thought her dress and make up was just great and she defientely looked more "womanish'!
However, I got this "Michelle Kwan Bolero program in progress the whole season" feeling..I pray that TT will not change the program too much so that she can get a real possibility to develope the program and to make it to her own.I think it can be a fantastic program in a quiet Mao way..
Also, It always impress me how "gentle" she is on the ice even with a messy program!

Is it going to be Joannie's year?Well, she certainly looks so "together" and happy to be on the ice.Her jumps are truly amazing..I could watch her jump for hours with the way they covers the ice and the smothiness in the landings.I do prefere her short program choreography wise but it is still just so good and I almost got the chills when she did her spiral.It is not like she is having the best spiral in the business but the way it goes with the music is simply magnificient.Hopefully she will continue to share these moments with the public until end of the season

 

[Andalusia]

Thanks for your insights, kalle! Really appreciate a "live" perspective for a change, as opposed to our armchair observations, lol. Do you know who is the painter who was painting the skaters during the ladies' SP? Is he a FS fan or someone from the local paper or something? I'd love to see the paintings he did of all the skaters. I didn't notice him around during the free.

One thing I like about TEB is that the boards always look the same. It's the one competition you can spot just by looking at the boards. Always that familiar, reassuring blue colour and design.

 

[PolymerBob]

My thoughts pretty much fall in line with everyone elses. I am very, very happy for Joannie. She hasn't won a comp outside Canada in 4 years, and she really deserved this.

Mao struggled, but still a silver is nice, and I'm sure she will get into the GP Final.

Caroline coughed up the only American medal of the day with an impressive performance. She landed her axel, and everything else. She was slightly stiffer than I've seen her before, still, a nice program. Her downgrades must be the result of things I can not see.

As for the judges' treatment of Caroline. Well ..............

at least they didn't forget to include an entire element.

 

[camion]

That Michelle Kwan-Bolero analogy is great, kalle. The Bolero program is my least favorite of Michelle's because the music is so difficult to skate to because the music can be so monotonous. It worked for Torvill & Dean because they kind of built climatic points themselves using each other. Mao has never really been one to "sell" the program so it's better if she uses music with more explicit variation.

 

[Mathman]

Thanks for the excellent report, Kalle!

 

[ihystfuj]

This is off topic so I don't want to repeat but she herself used the word "retirement" (in Korean). Also please read my previous post:

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?p=315479#post315479

She already has her own plan after retirement. Of course I don't want to see her retirement but this is what I understand so far.

The funny thing is I don't understand why you think she would retire after Vancouver. She just says that she will not be able to attend college until Olympics (because for now Olympics is her priority) but when/if she retires she wants to be just a student like any others and study. That doesn't mean she will retire with Vancouver Olympic as her last competition. She doesn't link those two together.

So I have to agree with GiuliaPlum. Plaese don't focus on certain words and misunderstand. She might have talked about retirement several times but she never said that it would be right after 2010. Also your previous posting you keep referring to is just another interpretaion of her interview from your POV as well. So for now "when" of her retirement is not certain in any way. Please don't make hasty assumption like that..... it can surprise other people (including someone like me ) and break their heart....

 

[Medusa]

I loved Asada's program. Extremely difficult to really do it perfectly, I guess. But if she can pull off a good performance with that.... Could be incredible. And did she somehow improvise throughout the program? When she doubled the Loop it didin't look like her usual Loop entry, it looked as if she was preparing for the Lutz - and changed her mind shortly before. I am amazed that she tries the new jump (Salchow) out of nowhere at the end of a footwork section, normally skaters do that with their very secure jumps (e.g. Abbott with the Loop).

And the costume is gorgeous.

 

[bmelanie]

I agree that the outfit itself was pretty but Mao has such a sweet, young face...and I was just startled to see it on her. Very boudoir-inspired, IMO, with black lingerie and red lipstick. Mao, you've got a shining career ahead of you, you really don't have to grow up so quickly...(sniffle)