Senior Ladies SP | Page 16 | Golden Skate

Senior Ladies SP

I wasn't able to watch it all live, so I'm catching up just now. I mean very lovely from Gracie, but I believe even Frank told her in the kiss 'n cry about dragging out her free leg on her last jump which made her program not exactly perfect. She looked absolutely gorgeous -- Frank is definitely known for packaging his skaters tremendously well. He's done wonders for Gracie and he's got tremendous talent to work with obviously. All that said, the scoring was uneven for particular skaters having more to do with politics than what was put on the ice. I thought for what she did and her obvious improvements, Gracie may have deserved more in the range of 67 to 69 for that skate. She would never be scored 72+ for that internationally IMO. The USFS can be so obtuse and fanciful. Gracie has a lot of power and is developing grace to go along with it, and she had a tad more jump difficulty than Mirai, but was not IMHO over 6 1/2 points better than what Mirai did.

Ha ha, they obviously had no choice but to give Mirai her due! That was an absolutely fabulous skate by Mirai. Based on how they low-balled Zhang a bit, Hicks' marks were maybe lower than they would have been for her mistakes. Wang was less than stellar too but of course both Wang and Hicks are great jumpers, they just weren't up to their best. Great skate and great score for Ashley Cain, skating first. She really set a high for the evening. :)

Really upset for Christina. She would most likely have placed right up there with Mirai had she not made those nervous mistakes on her footwork after beautifully landing all her jumps. Too talented a field to have a lapse on footwork.
 
Frenchie said:
Gosh, I wonder how many Europeans are from Michelle?!? ;)
I remember Sjoukje Dijkstra being guest co-commentator for German Eurosport during the 1995EC in Dortmund, GER. She was an absolute cracker, this typical funny and blunt grandma! :)

Here she is a few years younger.

Btw: I'm not kidding, did you know that Dick Button was the 1948 European Champion?!? :eek: Yup!
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Michelle probably won all of them. That overachiever.

(Yep. I knew that. It wasn't until he and another lady skater--her name escapes me at the moment--won that the officials realized that there was nothing in the rules that barred them from competing!
 
Oh yes, re Dick Button. That's back when any skater could enter Europeans. Dick has lots of achievements that will never be topped by anyone else. :cool:
 
deedee1 said:
Soooo happy Mirai nailed it, finally! :rock:
Ashley C, Hannah, Polina were simply a JOY to watch! :yes:
Loved Gracie's new SP. :) But she looks really slim on TV @_@; must have lost quite pounds, right? hope she is all right...
Hope Ashley W and Christina will come back strong in the Free. :)
Fascinated by Rachael's program, her skating and expressiveness, in spite of mistakes. Her skating has something that grabs my heart. But to feel it, you just have to see her LIVE. TV just does not reflect her quality of skating, I think.

Good luck to every girl in the Free! :yay:
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Although Gold seems to have lost a great deal of weight, it seems to me that Ashley Wagner has as well. I rather wonder if that has affected her skating. As far as Gold, it seems to me that her jumps are not as high as they used to be, nor does she skate with the same power.
Hanna was wonderful-great speed throughout-perhaps though she ought to take a page from the GGold playbook and use a program with lots of built in rest spots, not to mention slow music that allows you to basically stand and wave your arms around during those rest spots.
Hanna I felt was underscored, even given the fall-and Gold was way over scored. (IMO).
 
kwanatic said:
What that amounts to is the USFSA sending a message. They are finished with her. To be honest, I don't think it'd have been such a huge shock if she hadn't been receiving such high scores in this event over the last few years. She got similar PCS at COC this year...but that was with a fall. To me, if feels like the USFSA is weeding out the garden so to speak. They know the future of the sport is with Gracie and Polina as well as a few newer girls so they're showing the holdovers the door...
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If this is true, it makes me not want to watch skating anymore--or at least not US Nationals. Just think if Japan had "shown the door" to Shizuka Arakawa? Or to Akiko? Skaters should be judged on how they do at the competition they are at. If their PCS suddenly drops, there should be an explanation.
 
That's how judges communicate to you... Agnes was definently shocked and didn't deserve this ! Can she have the skate of her life and make a come back as Gold did last year from 9th to grab silver?
I feel Gracie is the only shoe or should I say skate in for sure on the podium Saturday!!
 
Gracie threw a monster of a performance!!

This performance would be a top three SP at the Olympics, and I expect her to be right up there if she skates it clean. :eek:
 
jenaj said:
If this is true, it makes me not want to watch skating anymore--or at least not US Nationals. Just think if Japan had "shown the door" to Shizuka Arakawa? Or to Akiko? Skaters should be judged on how they do at the competition they are at. If their PCS suddenly drops, there should be an explanation.
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Shizuka Arakawa at least was a World champion and Akiko a World bronze medalist with her slew of GPF and 4CC medals. Let's not get ahead of ourselves and equate Agnes's achievements with those.

(Paul Wylie, maybe.)
 
I lost my previous post, which was more extensive. Stupid phone.

Anyway, not worried about Wagner, she's better coming from behind anyway. Just do well enough to get on the team, that is all. She doesn't need to peak here.

I would have had Gold around 69-70, not 72(!). With a 7 point lead and skating last, all eyes will be on her. It will be the ultimate test of her ability to handle big time pressure. This championship is now hers to lose.

Nagasu - dark horse like I thought. Solid effort on the SP but what will become of her in the FS?

Finally, what was done to Zawadzki - NOT COOL. What were the judges smoking? Sure, it wasn't her best performance but this is the event where she scored 11 points higher last year with a fall. Such a sudden drop in the score (particularly in PCS) demands some sort of explanation at the least. At worst it should have been 57-58. If they wanted to "send her a message" or whatever they should have done that last year (if at all - but that's another topic). But to get dumped on like this in an Olympic year? She was absolutely devastated. The Olympics are now all but unreachable for her now (although it is still mathematically possible to get back up to 3rd, however the stars must align). And she didn't even see it coming. As far as I'm concerned you don't do that. Unless there has been a CLEAR, OBVIOUS decline in skating skill, which I didn't see here.
 
noidont said:
I thought even Rachael Flatt deserved higher PCS than Polina Edmunds. I love how USFSA gifts skaters for being "fresh faces".
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To be fair, Polina skated last and that always helps. While she is coltish, her jump combo was so big, easy and smooth I had to rewatch to make sure it was a 3-3 and not a 3-2. If they are going to gift anyone it might as well be someone who can bring the goods to compete with the best in the world.
 
Frenchie said:
I was about to tell you I love you, but it's geoblocked in Germany. Of course.
OK, it's the intention that counts, so I'll agree to a "I like you very much". :agree:
I hate youtube. :mad:
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I´m glad to notice it was not geoblocked in Finland. Thanks so much for Ladies sp, AlexRus!!!
 
As I said, I didn't see all of the ladies sp live. Boy was I in for a surprise re the last group. Give me a break USFS! Are you kidding??? You're gonna place down one of the two ladies who secured the U.S. 3 spots, and go overboard with who you think are the next stars. Remember that Polina, however talented, is still immature and inexperienced. She's just out of juniors. That was a ridiculous score for that girl. I mean, "WHAAAT?" Recalls for me the year Zawadski skated great in sp, and they over-scored her. Now apparently, they are through with Agnes. Good grief!

Mirai was scored within reason and equitably I felt. But Gracie was over-scored -- yes Gracie should probably be in first, but not by that margin. Polina did NOT skate better than Mirai. Puhlease! It seems as if they feel Mirai is gonna tank in the fp, or that they are somehow punishing Ashley for speaking out so forcefully against the Sochi anti-gay law. I mean, come on! Cesario was under-scored a bit and so was Zawadski, even with her mistake, I thought Zawadski based on rep and former love from USFS might have been around 57 to 58 at least. Polina and Gracie were over-scored. Kiri Baga was under-scored for how well she skated -- surely Kiri skated as well or better than Mariah Bell! I mean seriously Hannah Miller skated very well, but she made a mistake and in keeping with the wacky scoring Hannah appears to have gotten lucky. With this field and a lot of very good juniors coming up to seniors, it was tough for Cesario, but still she should have been in front of a few people she's behind (including Barbie Long).

What a mess of scoring. Seriously USFS, you're planning not to send Ashley Wagner to the Olympics?!!! The problem started with low-balling and over-scoring other skaters. Don't we have ENUF with all the immature Russian baby ballerinas?!! Do we really need Polina on the senior international scene so uber-early? Based on what she did in her senior debut, I'd have had Polina no higher than 60.

Ya know what, USFS, 3/3s are NOT everything. And neither are immature long-legged precocious young ladies!
 
aftertherain said:
Shizuka Arakawa at least was a World champion and Akiko a World bronze medalist with her slew of GPF and 4CC medals. Let's not get ahead of ourselves and equate Agnes's achievements with those.

(Paul Wylie, maybe.)
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No one is equating Agnes' record with Shizuka's and Akiko's. The point is that both were "older skaters" who had not won many medals early in their career and who took some time off. If they had been "given a message" to get out of the way for the next generation, they never would have won Worlds/Olympics (Shizuka) or World medals/Japan Nationals (Akiko).
 
Art&Sport said:
What a mess of scoring. Seriously USFS, you're planning not to send Ashley Wagner to the Olympics?!!! The problem started with low-balling and over-scoring other skaters. Don't we have ENUF with all the immature Russian baby ballerinas?!! Do we really need Polina on the senior international scene so uber-early? Based on what she did in her senior debut, I'd have had Polina no higher than 60.
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This! If the USFS is going to use scoring to "send messages," why aren't they sending a message to Ashley that they want her on the team? Polina has a lot of potential but she deserved PCS in the 6's and low 7's, at most.
 
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