Ladies sp 7:15 est!!!!

[silverlake22]

amazing. I found out through several fan forums that Agnes skated slow, but GAO skate fast despite the slips of the change foot spin and double axel. GAO got a 25.33 in pcs, but AGNES got a 27.
GAO did a triple/triple like agnes.
I am amazed that the ASian ladies, chinese and korean got lowball in pcs. Yet the white girls got high only mirai (japanese got high)pcs.
i though gao deserved a 26 in pc's.
you take a look at the pcs scores for the white ladies you find out they are higher and you wonder why we think there is still racism in your sport.
alissa should have gotten a ur on her triple lutz , plus her single triple. By the way I am rooting for ALissa.
i was only able to watch the first group
also i can't pull up scores on icenework for the short even though they are (free).

Gao skated very early, her lower PCS probably had something to do with her start order, Czisny's too. It's not neccesarily fair but that's the way it works. Had Gao not flubbed the 2a, her PCS would have probably been a bit higher and her total score would have been more like 60ish. It's ok though, it's still a good score. For the record though I prefer her and Vanessa to Agnes, Agnes seems a bit slow and boring to me. Great technician, but not the packaging. Christina has a very good draw for tomorrow, she can put the pressure on the last 3 ladies with a clean skate and skating after Vanessa and Agnes should help her PCS, just because those two will likely be getting good PCS so she probably will as well.

 

[MKFSfan]

She did a beautiful 3x3 in the warm up, but said her speed was too slow coming into the combo, so she decided to play it safe. Had she done the 3x3, she would be first. I agree, Rachael has room to grow in this program. :thumbsup:

Her jumps are higher than usual. The flip is higher than last year, with better entrance. The lutz is also higher. Impressive all around. This girl improves and improves.

Sounds like the top 3 did very well last night, but all three still have room to improve. I try to avoid comments like,"If so and so did this or that they'd be 1st." I'm not sure Rachael can do more spin wise, but while the 3/3 would definitely help her points, it's not as if Alissa or Mirai maxed out their points either. Alissa had an edge call of her 3flip and a tight 2ax and a level 3 layback spin. Mirai trains a 3lz/3t which would boost her scores, and also received an edge call on her 3flip. I only saw Racheal and Alissa's SPs. I thought Rachael did a nice job, best I've ever seen of her, really liked it until the frentic footwork section. And Alissa, while lovely, she seemed a bit more concentrated and not just letting it fly as she had this past fall. I hope she can have another GPF LP type of skate tomorrow!

I really hope all the ladies come out fighting tomorrow!

 

[R.D.]

Wagner SP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzQYjLCFons

 

[SerpentineSteps]

Wagner SP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzQYjLCFons

Has anybody come across any of the other vids?

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Gao was fine and so was Agnes. They were the two most popular picks in the Forum as SPOILERS. Maybe one of them will take over a podium spot. Who knows? We'll all know tomorrow night.

 

[Jammers]

Gao to me is mostly about her jumps right now. She is an average spinner and just doesn't have the overall skills that Alissa or Mirai have. Her PCS should never approach theirs. She sure has grown since last Nationals though. She must be about 5'6" now. Hope she doesn't grow anymore.

 

[Nadine]

I was up late last night waiting for the on-demand at IN, which never materialized, nor today either. I even looked over on youtube, but no such luck. Not only that, I just found out that I missed the Jr. Pairs FS today.

The upside is that IN has the Jr. Pairs SP up now!!!! YES! Hopefully it's only 30 minutes long because if longer I won't be able to watch, too busy, but can't wait to watch the Mens SP tonight at 7:30PM EST! ^)

 

[Layfan]

Gao was fine and so was Agnes. They were the two most popular picks in the Forum as SPOILERS. Maybe one of them will take over a podium spot. Who knows? We'll all know tomorrow night.

Well, they certainly have a great shot. Agnes pretty much tied with Rachael and barely behind Alissa and Mirai. And the highest TES of all.

I thought the scoring was fair. I don't know if I agree with every last detail of it but I don't see signs of favoritism much less racism. I mean, they didn't gift Alissa with enormous PCS because she's the GPF champion or give Mirai a crazy lead because she was fourth at the Olympics and I think they judged Rachael on what they saw that night at not her past PCS scores.

And on TES, they called it like they saw it and gave the highest score to a newcomer whose jumps were the best.

 

[ucrgirl]

Has anybody come across any of the other vids?

I looked. It seems the person who posted that is an Ashley fan and it may have been all they put up . . . I was really hoping to see Rachael's new short.

 

[Lissy]

Does anybody know if the Ladies short will be on demand? Or are they waiting until after Saturday to put it up?

 

[Tinymavy15]

yes, it was great seeing something, but I am dying to see Rachel's new program.

 

[seniorita]

I just saw the dresses cause the videos are nowhere, that means there is no link and I wont see Abott, Armin and Bradley tonight?
I m happy for Mirai! The Rachel ´s dress was too canary yellow, and I dont think it goes to anyone unless she is named Sasha or Kiraa, but i heard the program was very nice so maybe it goes with the program and now I m curious!

 

[HCOSurfer]

Does IN not have the rights to release the SP? I was working all last night and I missed the entire segment.

 

[fairly4]

okay for all you who say fair, okay zhang did triple/triple was slow what was her pcs when she jump up 25. newcomer.
agnes socalled newcomer 27. no--2 points higher.
like i keep saying as long as they are your favorite skater, no racism, favoritism; yet when caroline zhang she did triple triples, she skated slow. versus internationa her was same as gp events however, rachel, alissa, miria, ashley was a whole point higher.
they were white.
27.42. zawadzki, no--not newcomer, something more. it more what people see. zhang jumped up 25, chinese
gao, chinese, 25, lam chinese 25, c zhang, f zhang 22.
so you are telling me it is okay for a (white skater like zawadzki, to skate slow get high 27.42 and a fast skater like gao, but chinese to get a 25, not to mention a slow skater like lam, c zhang to get a 22.
if you can't see a correlation, i feel not only sorry for you but the sport.
why, you and the sport don't want to change worse acknowledge their might be a problem. just put it down to speed, flow whatever, however when chinese skaters in us do that you nailed them.
i didn't see agnes, what i did see in the gp series she wasn't all that impressive, she was okay but not great.
this is a cumulative thing that has happened and been happening which sport people like you, other refuse to acknowledge it exist. lets give agnes a 27.42 for pcs even though she skates slow, harldly any flow why-newcomer,
gao, fast a bit off yet lets nail her 25. she is too slow, fat chance let make excuse for one and build up other with same reason. like i say-same old , same old,
you have to acknowledge a problem to correct it. people can see. and to patronize the public, calling them stupid, don't know anything just put them off more.
how football, men told women didn't know sport, patronize them, called them stupid didn't know what they was talking about until some female started to pay attention, learn rules, regulations, now they know some abouty the sport and some know more than men.
figure skating would do well to heed some of public responses instead of ignoring them and or calling them stupid and or making fun of them. you just put them off more and away from sports. shows lack of interest in publc. in return public shows and gives you lack of interest as well.
even without

 

[ivy]

Isn't this the first time she has performed this program? What are you comparing it to?

The judges protocols that are linked to earlier in the thread list both planned elements and executed elements. Two of the spins were flipped according to that list. Wondering if the switch was planned before the skate, or if Rachel was winging it. Just curious

ETA - it's this link

http://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2011/68096/CAT001SEG001.html

click on the plus - it's the camel and the layback they show switched

 

[Reginald]

Ah! My first post on Golden Skate Forums.

First, let me say that I am a huge Caroline Zhang fan. Been watching her since she was 13 (and I was 14). It is so heart-wrenching to see her struggle like this. Hopefully, she is going to be a Shizuka Arakawa and not a Bebe Liang. Her bad technque seems to have finally done her in and she has not been able to skate well using good technique.

I think that Mirai Nagasu has problems winning from first only at international competitions (witness her success at the 2008 Nationals). It is ony when she is competiting internationally (2008 Jr. Worlds, 2010 Senior Worlds, 2009 Cup of China, 2010 Cup of China) that she seems to falter. So if she skates a clean long tommorrow, I would not be surprised.

Christina Gao has been compared to Yu-Na Kim. Why? At 16, Yu-Na has already won multiple national championships and was medaling in the Sr. Grand Prix Series.
While I'm on the subject of Yu-Na Kim, I think I should point out that no US lady has ever finished ahead of her! Ever! That is the most jaw-dropping statistic, but it's true. Yu-Na Kim is the US Ladies' nemesis of nemesises. US ladies have beaten Mao Asada, but never Yu-Na Kim.

Alissa Czisny. There should be a book writen about her entitled Dr. Alissa and Ms. Cziny. When she's Dr. Alissa, she can be the best in the world. When she's Ms. Czisny, she can be the US's 10th best skater. Which Alissa will show up tommorrow night. That is the quintillion dollar question.

Rachel Flatt is the US's best technician. She actually did beat Yu-Na Kim in a long program. But not overall. However, she never seems to relate well to her music selections. I think her best program was her long from 2006-2007.

Speaking of music, most of the music that today's ladies skate to is slow and boring. They should skate to more interesting music like Ryan Farish's "The Promise." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4CWEUTEj9I That would get me more interested in figure skating.

Does anybody agree/disagree with my statments?

 

[wonderlen3000]

ITA. Good analysis of the U.S ladies. I think IMO Gao is the most hype of the U.S ladies. Sure she has a nice 3F+3T and kindda resemble Yuna in terms of body structure, but she is no where no polish as Yuna or has the 'look at me' present. Kim was already world jr champ, as well as runner up, GPF champions.

I'm just sad that Ashley wouldnt be able to make it to the podium, even if she skate light out and win the LP. It will be tough as she still getting edge call and still twofooting her jumps; which really holding her back from the top of podium. And self destructing the SP.

 

[Layfan]

Welcome to Golden Skate!!

Ah! My first post on Golden Skate Forums.

First, let me say that I am a huge Caroline Zhang fan. Been watching her since she was 13 (and I was 14). It is so heart-wrenching to see her struggle like this. Hopefully, she is going to be a Shizuka Arakawa and not a Bebe Liang. Her bad technque seems to have finally done her in and she has not been able to skate well using good technique.

Caroline the most heart-breaking downward spiraler since Kimmie Meissner, although of course, she never came close to reaching the heights Kimmie did. It's obvious that Caroline's coaches let her get away with bad skating skills and technique for too long and now she's trying to fix that while also contending with body changes. My gut feeling is that it's too late but far be it from me to predict the future. I could be that she gets used to her new body and I can see that her jump technique is better.

I think that Mirai Nagasu has problems winning from first only at international competitions (witness her success at the 2008 Nationals). It is ony when she is competiting internationally (2008 Jr. Worlds, 2010 Senior Worlds, 2009 Cup of China, 2010 Cup of China) that she seems to falter. So if she skates a clean long tommorrow, I would not be surprised.

Mirai has been open about her struggles with being first in the SP. But I'm never surprised when she skates clean as it's clear she has it in her. She's a lot better trained now than she was at the beginning of the seasons so hopefully she'll be fine.

Christina Gao has been compared to Yu-Na Kim. Why? At 16, Yu-Na has already won multiple national championships and was medaling in the Sr. Grand Prix Series.
While I'm on the subject of Yu-Na Kim, I think I should point out that no US lady has ever finished ahead of her! Ever! That is the most jaw-dropping statistic, but it's true. Yu-Na Kim is the US Ladies' nemesis of nemesises. US ladies have beaten Mao Asada, but never Yu-Na Kim.

I think Christina has a looooooooooong way to go before she lives up to those Kim Yuna expectations. Besides Christina herself seems to have modest goals for now. She said after the SP that she was happy she did the 3-3 and a little disappointed that her 2a was shaky but as it's not one of her best jumps anyway, she was just glad she landed it. So I think she herself sees herself as a skater who has a ways to go.
Kim Yuna is everyone nemesis not just the U.S. ladies.
It wasn't just the U.S. ladies who couldn't beat her last year it was everybody. Except for Mao at worlds of course, but that was with Kim having two bad skates.
Rachael beat Kim Yuna once in a free skate and Mirai in a short skate. But in a more accurate sense, they both beat Yunas worst skates ever and Yuna really beat herself.

Alissa Czisny. There should be a book writen about her entitled Dr. Alissa and Ms. Cziny. When she's Dr. Alissa, she can be the best in the world. When she's Ms. Czisny, she can be the US's 10th best skater. Which Alissa will show up tommorrow night. That is the quintillion dollar question.

In the past, Alissa has been great or buried herself in the standings. This year seems to be different. Even when she messed up during the GP series she kept fighting and held on to the podium.

Rachel Flatt is the US's best technician. She actually did beat Yu-Na Kim in a long program. But not overall. However, she never seems to relate well to her music selections. I think her best program was her long from 2006-2007.

I've never thought Rachael's problem was musicality. She's pretty musical, IMO. Her problem is more with body language and lines. And I thought her SP did the best ever to show her off and maximize her strengths and minimize her weaknesses. I never realized Rachael had such lovely ina bauers and spread eagles until her exhibition program this year and I'm so glad she included them in the new SP. Her biggest nemesis are the spins, though.

 

[Mathman]

The judges protocols that are linked to earlier in the thread list both planned elements and executed elements. Two of the spins were flipped according to that list. Wondering if the switch was planned before the skate, or if Rachel was winging it. Just curious

ETA - it's this link

http://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2011/68096/CAT001SEG001.html

click on the plus - it's the camel and the layback they show switched

That is very interesting! Thanks for the link. Maybe she really did get mixed up and forgot what to do next in this brand new program.

 

[brightphoton]

I can't find anyone's performances (other than Ashley's) on Youtube. Help? I really want to see how everyone skated.