Ladies short program

[slutskayafan21]

I hope for a better performance from Ando tommorow. It is embarassing to see a World Champion look like that. Almost painful. Meissner and Zhang were both impressive I thought though, even with a downgraded jump each possibly.

 

[Ptichka]

So sad that Elene is last, with only 16.90 for technical content. She's so talented, it kills me to see it all wasted away.

 

[demarinis5]

Whether it is 6.0 or COP there still seems to be a pecking order. Caroline Z being the new kid on the block will get held down for now. She does need some improvement in speed.This is only my impression since I did not see the actual performances. I can't wait to see Kimmie's SP sounds great. Thanks for the reports.

 

[Andalusia]

Kimmie rocked, I thought. Definitely the class of the field. Those lessons with Frank Carroll must really be paying off. She doesn't look as stiff as before, and the airplane arms have lessened. She still sticks her butt too far out while stroking, though. The second jump of her combo looked, as always, a little cheated.

Caroline looked amazingly confident. Quite a little diva she's turning out to be. Even though the jumps were clean, they still looked a little off to me. Not as good as they were in the practice clip. Also, she is excruciatingly slow - she really needs to work on that if she wants to be world-class; I thought she was going to come to a complete stop during the footwork sequence.

Miki should have placed lower than Caroline IMO. Even though the spiral is better, I concur that her skating looked heavy. Awful costume and a careless fall during the footwork section. Morozov creeps me out.

Poor, poor Elene. Popped all the jumps save the double axel - such a lovely girl, it's really a shame.

 

[Tinymavy15]

Wow! Looks like Miki got an early Christmas present from the judges by placing her 2nd.

now what did miki do to place ahead of Caroline? Caroline had a 3/3 beautiful spirals, other two jumps were clean and well done. best spins in the competition. COME ON JUDGES ARE YOU BLIND?

 

[waxel]

Fairly interesting SP. No one seems to be mentioning Binshu Zu --- I liked her a lot--- esp. the spins. I think she got shafted.

Caroline got the "she's new" downgrafe, plus Miki simply got held up.

Kimmie skated well. She still (!) needs work on spins and spirals.

On a different tangent, I've never been much of a Kerrigan fan but I think she's doing an okay job through every discipline and many hours.

Caroline. Wow. DEFinitely the future of US Ladies skating. Can she stay healthy thru 2010?

 

[bekalc]

Yeah except, Mao also bombed at Skate America last year... But I suppose in Mao's case, even her missteps cemeent her status as the brightest star in the sport ;-)

(Forgive the cynicism, but I hate when people rush to judgement.)

Look, Caroline has talent, but she's not as good as Mao was at Mao's age. In the sense that Caroline's jumps aren't as solid.. She doesn't have the basic skating skills that Mao had/has either.. This is the second time in international competition that Caroline's 3/3 hasn't been ratified. So right now, no she doesn't compare to Mao or Yu-na. Still, if you look at predictions, I actually predicted the possibility of Caroline winning Skate America because Miki's injured.

 

[Wrlmy]

Well, Miki's pcs was a bit higher than deserved, but come on, Caroline's pcs was pretty good considering it was her first senior competition. 26+ is really good.

 

[carolinefan177]

The 3-3 looked fully rotated to me, and her skating might have been slow, but it WAS NOT as bad as the counter match where they gave her around the same score. I thought her spins and spirals were in a class of their own. IMO she should have gotten at least a few points higher

 

[netnuts]

I think judges are a bit harsh on zhang's 3+3. They were definitely cleaner than Kimmie's. Kimmie's almost had 1/2 turn short.

 

[bekalc]

Well, Miki's pcs was a bit higher than deserved, but come on, Caroline's pcs was pretty good considering it was her first senior competition. 26+ is really good.

It's not like Miki's PCS were that much higher than Zhang's either.

Meissner got the highest PCS of the night, and while I haven't seen the programs, from what I know about all of the girls, this seems quite fair.

No, Kimmie Meissner is not as pretty/pretty princess or flexible as Zhang. But Meissner is a better basic skater than Caroline Zhang is. She's also faster, and since it's skating, those things should count.

I think judges are a bit harsh on zhang's 3+3. They were definitely cleaner than Kimmie's. Kimmie's almost had 1/2 turn short.

Kimmie and Caroline both had similar technical scores. So they were both downgraded.. Kimmie probably made up points on the technical because of Caroline's flutz.

 

[oleada]

now what did miki do to place ahead of Caroline? Caroline had a 3/3 beautiful spirals, other two jumps were clean and well done. best spins in the competition. COME ON JUDGES ARE YOU BLIND?

Her triple-triple was definitely cheated when you see it in slo-mo. I agree that her presentation, spins and spirals are superior to Miki's but her jumps have that horrid kick and are relatively small - Miki's looked gigantic compared to her. She is also slow compared to Miki and Kimmie.

Miki's presentation was not good tonight. Hopefully she'll do a better job tomorrow. Had she gone for the triple-triple, she might've been in first.

 

[Andalusia]

Still, if you look at predictions, I actually predicted the possibility of Caroline winning Skate America because Miki's injured.

Well, whoop-dee-do for you.

Caroline is vastly inferior to Mao and Yu-Na. We get it.

 

[krenseby]

Miki looked like the bogus World Champion tonight. She looked horrible. Her whole skating looked about 200 pounds.

Well the idea that being "World Champion" sets up certain expectations of high quality skating is kinda weird. I mean, Kimmie was the 2006 World Champion and yet no one really expected her to even be close to contending for that title in 2007.

Miki, on the other hand, can put it all together, but only occasionally. Has anyone forgotten her unremarkable outing at Eric Bombard and the dismal GP final? (I won't even mention the season leading up to Torino.)

However, I am incredibly impressed by Caroline. I think she may end up being very consistent: more so than Miki, Kimmie, and maybe even Mao. I have heard about Caroline having trouble with her 3/3 in practices, so I was pleasantly surprised that she managed to get it right at SA. She's gotta be as tough as nails to overcome her jump problems in such a short period of time!

 

[bekalc]

Well, whoop-dee-do for you.

Caroline is vastly inferior to Mao and Yu-Na. We get it.

For right now doesn't mean that things won't change.

 

[tagmats]

They are really disappointing results, they kind of cement the fact that the two brightest stars in this sport are Yu-na and Mao.

Are you kidding? Please do not mention Mao when you are lost in wild fancies.

 

[waxel]

Look, Caroline has talent, but she's not as good as Mao was at Mao's age.

Well. You will have MANY people who will disagree with that blanket pronouncement. For one, Mao has never had the spins Caroline has ... and I'm not just talking about the positions ... but the speed as well. This is not a Mao bash, I like her a lot. I just disagree with your premise. Poor Caroline ... onlly 14 and already has bashers! LOL.

 

[oleada]

I think judges are a bit harsh on zhang's 3+3. They were definitely cleaner than Kimmie's. Kimmie's almost had 1/2 turn short.

Both of them were downgraded, and fairly so, imo.

 

[slutskayafan21]

Miki's presentation was not good tonight. Hopefully she'll do a better job tomorrow. Had she gone for the triple-triple, she might've been in first.

Miki would have been 1st had she either: 1)done the triple-triple, 2)not fallen on the footwork. Either would have been enough to push her score over 60 despite that she looked heavy and sluggish throughout.

 

[netnuts]

come on, no need to get fired up, we still have long!

I can't wait to see protocols.