I thought a lot of criticism in the build up to the event about M/B taking part was uncalled for. The silver medalists in pairs were an older team yet no-one was complaining, the bronze medalist in males skated in senior competitions all year, the bronze in females skated in senior GPs this season, look at ice dance they are all in their 20's. It seemed like people were targetting this one particular pair for some reason
To me, M/B taking part should be less offensive than a senior skater from a big fed taking part in a junior comp because a big fed has a surplus of skaters too choose from, whereas M/B are the only competitive senior/junior pairs team from Georgia. So it makes sense for the Georgian fed to send M/B if eligible.
Congratulations to M/B they are a cut above and proved to be the best junior team in the world once again.
Junior women was great in the end. New stars were born like Arina Kalugina who in her first real competition scored the second highest for TES. With only 190 required to get a World silver, this is one skater to watch out for in the future. I can't remember seeing a quad combo at junior level must be years. Kalugina landed it with margin to spare. I got so excited watching it, but the commentator seemed really non-plussed about it all and was some what negative about it when she was coming off the ice
Strange to me, because here is this skater who he didn't know anything about, no-one really heard of her and just attempts two quads and a triple axel. The commentator should have been screaming with excitement, on his feet applauding such an effort. Maybe it was just my perception, but the commentator seemed kind of annoyed about it all if anything.
I thought Shimada got a little lucky with some calls like with the 3Lz in the SP which was clearly on the q, but the tech panel some how missed it, the 4T was a clear q as well but they missed it, some other jumps looked borderline q but didn't affect GOE. So it did inflate the score some what, but would have been a 30 point victory not 40. That PCS in the FS was so high, higher than Valieva at 2020 World's. Not sure I agree with that
. And that PCS gap to second was huge. Not that it changed anything.
I know there is a lot of comment about it being unfair that Shimada is in juniors, but it is for her own protection.
ISU Athletes Commission member and three-time Olympic figure skating medallist Eric Radford of Canada asked the Congress: "Is a medal worth risking the health of a child or a young athlete?"
Judging was a bit of a sore point with me, they really went hard after Wada but then one skater in particular (skates at senior level for a big fed and coached by someone whose skaters all have trouble with landings) it seemed most landings were problematic yet they mark every jump as clean. It was so bizarre after they had really gone out of their way to scrutinise other skaters. This really affected the final results as well. I felt sorry for Wada.
It was disappointing for Inga after the skate of her life in the SP, and then just completely melt down in the free skate. Silver was there for the taking. She might not get a better opportunity again. Still, the second place in the SP was a big step forward in her career.
And just a general comment to end, but what is with Hamada's shrieking, jumping around and carrying on? It is so over the top, I wonder if she does it to help the scoring. If the judges see this woman in the corner of their eye jumping up and down for a combo are they more reticent to review it or maybe add a point or two more to GOE?
