How did Kostner get so much high score than Pogorilaya at last years worlds LP when Kostner's skate was terrible and Pogorilaya's was even considered as the skate of the night perfecting all her jumps.
The things we can just think of.
Mirai Nagasu's future prospects
- Thread starter flying camel
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How did Kostner get so much high score than Pogorilaya at last years worlds LP when Kostner's skate was terrible and Pogorilaya's was even considered as the skate of the night perfecting all her jumps.
The things we can just think of.
It was pretty obvious that something was wrong with Pogo's picking foot, because she cringed every time she tried a lutz and she couldn't seem to do a combo with it. I guess the Russian fed made her go ahead and compete since she had the gold medal and any other color medal would guarantee her a GPF berth. She can rest the foot for 3 weeks until the GPF.
They just padded her PCS (which she didn't deserve, but WTH) to ensure she got a medal. But maybe it is truer to say Chartrand was robbed of silver than that Mirai was robbed of a medal. Mirai was 4th in the SP, but 6th in the FS---she took herself out of contention with her URs.
She's been on autopilot with the blank-faced stare thoughout her programs for a while now. Even last years nationals she was the same until the very end when the jumps were done and crowd started going crazy. That should have been one of the easiest things to correct, right? Unless she personally thinks she's selling the programs and is seeing something different then everyone else then that's a whole new issue. When she's "performing" she has the look on her face like its an unwanted job that she can't wait to be over with for the day. Her ability to sell a program seems to have disappeared after she went through puberty and hasn't recovered as if she's still not completely sure/comfortable with her body or something. It appears to be yet another mental bloc.
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- Nov 24, 2006
Mirai has been URing since juniors. I have no hope for her anymore. As for Pogo it is starting to get ridiculous with home boost and blatantly bad and unfair judging. It's a total joke. "SWR" is stronger than ever. At least Slutskaya had skills even though she wasn't my cup to tea. Pogo is well on her way, she has the jumps and combos, but she isn't champion level IMO. I'm depressed.
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- Feb 14, 2014
Imo Chartand was robbed of silver. Also...maybe there should be more than six entries for gpf. It isn't fair to Pogorilaya to compete with an injury. I like her jumps so I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt. There should be some sort of appeal process too since she got gold. If there were more spots for gpf and a skater could get gold at one event and have a medical exception or something that would be better. Forcing skaters to compete while injured is also why their careers are so short. Really it's unfair to everybody. Because things like this happen. -sigh-
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- Feb 14, 2014
In this specific case I'd say URs are slightly better than problems on the exits of multiple jumps and Zayak-ing.
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- Feb 24, 2012
Perhaps she is focussing and unfortunately it isn't pretty. I remember teh joy she had when she skated Carmen at the Olympics in 2010. It was a pleasure (though totally not fitting with Carmen or the character) to watch her as she seemed to enjoy. She seems to have a different body type which isn't ideal for a graceful look though if she could translate it to powerful and big jumps that would be a great alternative - easier said then done. One doesn't want to put pressure on this lovely skater but it seems she has to prepare for Natioanls and then decide what does she really want to do and can she obtain it or is it time to look at other options in life. Skating takes a lot out of you ; I hear Tessa Virtue is thinking of being a lawyer or I think I heard psychologist. She is in her late 20's and that is probably another 5 or 6 years for a lawyer and 8 years for pscyhologist.Iguess age is in the mind but it is hard not to think of the future. And it is hard for skaters to balance school and skating - my mom said when Michelle Kwan lost that it was because she needed to decide between the two - school and skating - it's tough for anyone. Look at Flatt and Gao. Even Debi Thomas who is a doctor found the balancing tough.
I agree!
I think you make a great point about her musical direction and skating style. I think a lot of the joy she showed back then is due to the expectations not fully sinking in yet and she was still more fearless and carefree, now she knows a lot more as a grown up.
She's going all light and graceful when she probably should be going for heavy and powerful instead. The expression that comes with her focusing, as you put it, would lend itself better to music like O Fortuna, Red Violin or even Rachmaninov #2. That face that looks bored and uninterested would now look determined and powerful instead. However like you said its all easier said then done, but I think it would make a huge improvement even if she skates the same.
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- Feb 17, 2010
This is a good point. Mirai skating to music like Ashley chooses (when Ashley chooses the right music) would work well.
But at her Olympics, Mirai did not receive any urs at all. In fact, the only call she got was one ! on a lutz.
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
She has had an occasional good competition once in a while. Maybe Vancouver was one of them.
Mirai did have ur problems from the very beginning as LiamForeman said although not on the level we see today. I believe her free skate at 2009 nationals is an example where it looked like she was perfect but in the end was dinged with multiple urs, correct me if I'm wrong.
I have no way of proving this and I'm probably way off but I always thought that Mirai skating last at the Olympics LP helped her a lot. The podium was already decided, the one everyone seem to desire, so the judges may have been a bit more lenient after that basically taking their foot off the pedal and being less critical. Also Mirai performing with a lot of spirit made it easier as well for them to forget possible urs. But perhaps Mirai really did fully rotate all her jumps by chance. Why she was never able to repeat that I have no clue but maybe the stars for one night did line up for her. Unfortunately for her not for a medal.
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I wish a lot of people would stop to compare Mirai with 2010 Mirai..that was along time ago!
I think that indeed, she can feel that she ur some of those jumps but maybe not all of them that are actually being dinged? I mean, even Tom looked surprised so even for a technical coach, it is not that clear for the naked eye. I will take British Eurosport as an example. Up until this competition, they have never (or at least rarely) taken up the fact that she get dinged for ur's and on the contrary, gushed about how beautiful skater she is, that she has not done herself justice etc..
Now, suddenly they have jumped on the bandwaggon as everyone else and pointing at her ur issues..because they probably actually read the scoresheet after her "gorgeous" outing at SKAM and started to watch the see the TES box tick down.
What I mean is that it must be difficult for the general public to sometimes understand her scores when even the coach and commentators does not see it themselves.
Mirai has her issues, no doubt about that, BUT some of those calls seems questionable and even if they would not make a difference to get a medal or not, they would make a difference point wise and as a result, a positive effect to her confidence.
I hope she will see this move to Tom as a longterm plan as it does not seems like there will be any miracles just yet. She often have the audience and fans behind her, let us hope that she will be able to turn around the situation and get the judges behind her too.
Also, how come that the TES was lower than at SKAM?Was it due to the downgrade on her second 3F? I think she got her first 3F and 3S ratified this time so atleast, that was something positive ;-)
I think that indeed, she can feel that she ur some of those jumps but maybe not all of them that are actually being dinged? I mean, even Tom looked surprised so even for a technical coach, it is not that clear for the naked eye. I will take British Eurosport as an example. Up until this competition, they have never (or at least rarely) taken up the fact that she get dinged for ur's and on the contrary, gushed about how beautiful skater she is, that she has not done herself justice etc..
Now, suddenly they have jumped on the bandwaggon as everyone else and pointing at her ur issues..because they probably actually read the scoresheet after her "gorgeous" outing at SKAM and started to watch the see the TES box tick down.
What I mean is that it must be difficult for the general public to sometimes understand her scores when even the coach and commentators does not see it themselves.
Mirai has her issues, no doubt about that, BUT some of those calls seems questionable and even if they would not make a difference to get a medal or not, they would make a difference point wise and as a result, a positive effect to her confidence.
I hope she will see this move to Tom as a longterm plan as it does not seems like there will be any miracles just yet. She often have the audience and fans behind her, let us hope that she will be able to turn around the situation and get the judges behind her too.
Also, how come that the TES was lower than at SKAM?Was it due to the downgrade on her second 3F? I think she got her first 3F and 3S ratified this time so atleast, that was something positive ;-)
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- Joined
- May 19, 2011
It was 2010, not 2009. The jumps looked good but were URed.
She's had a handful of clean FSs: 2010 Olys, 2011 4CC, 2013 COR, 2013 nats.
It's just not good enough. Her clean skates are few and far between. Unfortunately she has developed a reputation for URing so whenever the jump looks even a tiny bit questionable she won't get the benefit of the doubt. In real time watching her skate I counted 3 or 4 URs and I was right. I'm learning to spot them easier. Mirai hooks her landing but she does it so smoothly most of the time it's easy to miss.
I thought her performance overall was much better. She gave the movements much more energy and life. I thought that was the strongest performance of her FS we've seen so far this season. I do think she was too low in PCS compared to the medalists. I thought she deserved to be in the 58+ range right along with them. Oh well. Hopefully she'll skate well at nationals.
^^^
Your right it was the same in 2010 but I think it was the same in 2009 as well. I remember she seemed to have a mini break down at the boards before she skated (she was injured all season I believe) but she seem to miraculously pull herself together and skate really well. I remember being really impressed with her skate and then surprised her marks weren't higher but then it was said she ur'ed some of her jumps.
But maybe I'm mixing things up and thinking of something else
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Your right it was the same in 2010 but I think it was the same in 2009 as well. I remember she seemed to have a mini break down at the boards before she skated (she was injured all season I believe) but she seem to miraculously pull herself together and skate really well. I remember being really impressed with her skate and then surprised her marks weren't higher but then it was said she ur'ed some of her jumps.
But maybe I'm mixing things up and thinking of something else
:- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
I don't think the problem is with the judges, honestly. The technical panel does not < a jump unless the skater is clearly more than 1/4 short. I think sometimes other skaters get the benefit of the doubt, whereas Mirai does not, but she is in this situation because she has had a rotation problem her entire career.
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- Jun 7, 2014
Mirai's newest Instagram post:
http://instagram.com/p/veK7Lli5dZ/?modal=true
I hope she stays strong. She's obviously aware of her weaknesses, but unfortunately there's no overnight miracle and the reworking process can be frustrating.
http://instagram.com/p/veK7Lli5dZ/?modal=true
I hope she stays strong. She's obviously aware of her weaknesses, but unfortunately there's no overnight miracle and the reworking process can be frustrating.
Judges may be more likely to watch for under-rotations if they know you have a reputation for it.
During his CoR commentary, Kurt Browning mentioned Mirai has a tendency to land her jumps on the toe-pick before dropping to an edge. Kurt was discussing that under-rotations are counted from the moment your blade hits the ice, not the edge. This comment had me wondering...if a skater initially lands on the toe-pick, wouldn't there be a less pronounced J-shape pattern because part of the on ice rotation would be done on a single spot ie. a momentary twisting motion before dropping to the carving edge? If so, would it be harder for the tech specialist to recognize the under-rotation? With the implementation of slo-mo cameras, the tech specialists can now examine the landings more carefully. If a skater has a reputation for this type of landing, the tech specialist may need to be much more careful when scrutinizing that skaters landings, more than the other competitors.
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