What will the 2011/2012 season bring us in ladies?

[Jammers]

I almost think that Tonya being the kind of person she was intentionally sabotaged her LP just for the attention. She knew she didn't have a chance to medal anyways so why not give a big FU to everyone.

 

[pangtongfan]

Pro Ams are stupid anyway. I dont put Josee's win at the 2001 Sears event down to anything more than that. It works in all directions, Kwan at the 2002 Masters popped 3 or 4 jumps and still missed winning by only 1 judge over Irina who skated cleanly which was also a joke. Would Carrol have been irate had Kwan won there which would have been an even bigger joke than the Sears loss.

 

[pangtongfan]

Chouinard was a charming, incredibly expressive skater with more ability than confidence, and I generally enjoyed her programs (though I thought Michelle should have won that day). She must have been a joy to choreograph for. I still ache for her because of the dirty trick fate played on her in the 1994 Olympics. That Typhoid Mary, Tonya Harding, having already jeopardized Nancy Kerrigan's Olympic chances, then took out Chouinard. Harding broke her shoelace or somesuch, and asked the judges for a moment to repair her skate. The judges decreed that yes, Harding could have a time-out, but the next skater MUST then skate right away or forfeit a chance to do her long program. The next skater was Josée. So out went Chouinard, even though I'm sure she was completely unsettled by the change. Really such a shame that Josée became another casualty of Tonya Harding's chaotic tenure in the skating spotlight.

Josee was only a bit contender for a medal going into the 94 Olympics anyway, I would say in the same group as Harding, Szewcenko, and possibly Witt. Chen, Kerrigan, Baiul, Sato, and Bonaly, were all bigger favorites, and it would have taken Josee the TWO skates of her life to even win a bronze, especialy when Baiul, Kerrigan, and Chen all had good competitions. And the short program which she bombed and had her in 8th already killed her medal chances anyway.

The Tonya destroyed Josee's Olympic chances is a big blown up myth for PR purposes. Even if Josee had skated well the best she was going to do is pull up to say 6th at that point. And given her history she was probably bombing the long program anyway, it is much easier for her to skate a good short then long and she didnt even do that there.

 

[Olympia]

Oh, I'm not saying that Harding took away a sure chance for Josée to medal at the '94 Olympics. But there's a big difference between having the chance to skate one's best (even if nerves take over during that attempt) and having to skate on short notice because of another skater's poor preparation, thus adding to one's normal anxiousness. It was grossly unfair to Josée, and more so because it was Tonya, who possibly shouldn't even have been there.

As for whether the situation was blown out of proportion for PR purposes, I couldn't say. I'm going by my own reaction from memory...I was watching and feeling acutely sympathetic to Chouinard at that moment. I am not depending on any write-up or reporting in this instance. Though I'm sure the press, especially in Canada, did a lot of writing on this topic in the days following the long program.

We can't really know what would have happened if Chouinard had had a smooth and predictable entrance onto the ice. Almost certainly she wouldn't have outskated Chen Lu, Kerrigan, or Baiul. But she would have had a nicer memory of her Olympics, whether she had finished higher, lower, or in that same order.

 

[ankka]

Back to the 2011/2012, I am very excited about the fact that Laura's going to return to competition!

 

[Olympia]

She is? Awesome! It'll be good to have her back in the mix.

 

[kwanatic]

I think Laura's lovely, but I'd really like to see her take another step in her technical content. Yes she has a 3t-3t, but sometimes I think she get's the judges' pretty bonus when they're lacking in other areas. Laura winning that bronze medal in 2010 was a travesty. 3 triples and a handful of double jumps...Miki should have won bronze that year. I think with the newer crop of girls coming in, Laura will have to step it up if she wants to remain competitive.

 

[berrycute]

I think Laura's lovely, but I'd really like to see her take another step in her technical content. Yes she has a 3t-3t, but sometimes I think she get's the judges' pretty bonus when they're lacking in other areas. Laura winning that bronze medal in 2010 was a travesty. 3 triples and a handful of double jumps...Miki should have won bronze that year. I think with the newer crop of girls coming in, Laura will have to step it up if she wants to remain competitive.

I'm also very very curious to see what Laura will do this next season, and if/how her year's break will effect her. She just announced her new LP in an interview recently, it's Miss Saigon. I presume the SP is the one she was supposed to do last year, Besame Mucho

 

[silverlake22]

I'm also very very curious to see what Laura will do this next season, and if/how her year's break will effect her. She just announced her new LP in an interview recently, it's Miss Saigon. I presume the SP is the one she was supposed to do last year, Besame Mucho

I thought her new SP was to Jupiter?

 

[janetfan]

I think Laura's lovely, but I'd really like to see her take another step in her technical content. Yes she has a 3t-3t, but sometimes I think she get's the judges' pretty bonus when they're lacking in other areas. Laura winning that bronze medal in 2010 was a travesty. 3 triples and a handful of double jumps...Miki should have won bronze that year. I think with the newer crop of girls coming in, Laura will have to step it up if she wants to remain competitive.

Sorry but Laura had a huge lead over Miki in the SP and held on to win bronze.

Miki can out jump Laura when she is ON - every other category of skating Laura wins.

It is fairly easy to see when Miki messes up she loses more than Laura does.

I guess this will be disputed for a longtime.
I like Miki coz she is a very good jumper when she is on.

I love Laura who for me simply outclasses Miki as a performer and as an all around skater.

 

[ankka]

I thought her new SP was to Jupiter?

No, she skated to Jupiter at a Gala performance in Japan a year ago. Besame mucho is her SP.

 

[kwanatic]

Sorry but Laura had a huge lead over Miki in the SP and held on to win bronze.

Miki can out jump Laura when she is ON - every other category of skating Laura wins.

It is fairly easy to see when Miki messes up she loses more than Laura does.

I guess this will be disputed for a longtime.
I like Miki coz she is a very good jumper when she is on.

I love Laura who for me simply outclasses Miki as a performer and as an all around skater.

I definitely agree that Laura's skating outclasses Miki's...but to win with barely anything with double jumps? That was a little tough to swallow...

 

[janetfan]

I definitely agree that Laura's skating outclasses Miki's...but to win with barely anything with double jumps? That was a little tough to swallow...

It's the CoP.

Look at Patrick's SP score from SC where he fell on his solo jump and fell on his required jump. And he fell on his footwork.

If you are a judges favorite in this system they find ways to keep your score high.

Remember at the GPF when Akiko landed 7 triples and still finished third behind Yuna and Miki in the LP? What did they do, 3 or 4 triples?

But I get why Miki fans disagreed with 2010 Worlds.

Maybe it was Laura's beautiful red dress that edged out Miki's questionable costume.
Sometimes the CoP = Code of Pageants

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

But it's not like Worlds was a well skated event last year, kwanatic. Miki Ando had a massive fall in the SP that ruined her combo, so she got virtually nothing for the biggest point getter in the SP. And even then her PCS were quite close to Lepisto.

If we were to articulate it another way: in her two programs, Miki Ando landed seven fully rotated triples. Laura Lepisto, in her two programs, landed six.

 

[kwanatic]

Code of Pageants! LOL! That's a good one...

I always say Laura and Kiira get the Finnish Beauty bonus; they are gorgeous...

You're right Imaginary, I forgot how terrible that event was overall. Miki was coming off of a decent season, but not the powerhouse season she had this year. This year Miki was so on fire at nearly every event, she was getting the extra push from the judges for performing so well...that wasn't the case last year.

 

[silverlake22]

But it's not like Worlds was a well skated event last year, kwanatic. Miki Ando had a massive fall in the SP that ruined her combo, so she got virtually nothing for the biggest point getter in the SP. And even then her PCS were quite close to Lepisto.

If we were to articulate it another way: in her two programs, Miki Ando landed seven fully rotated triples. Laura Lepisto, in her two programs, landed six.

This is true, and for me I wouldn't have as much of an issue with Laura winning bronze if she had had a stellar SP at Worlds last year. The thing is, she didn't, her 2a was a mess and I think her SP score should have been lower because of that even though she did do a nice 3t-3t and 3lo. Miki DID beat Laura handily in the FS skating in the penultimate group, so my issue was more that Miki got nailed super hard in the SP (not that i liked the program or thought it suited her well), while Laura earned a terrific score even though she botched one of her major elements pretty seriously. In all honesty I thought Phanuef maybe deserved bronze that year over either Laura or Miki, because she skated really well in BOTH programs.

I agree that Miki last season was not comparable to Miki this season, though. For one thing, her programs last season weren't great while this season, once she changed her SP, I felt both programs were really well suited to her and brought out the best in her skating. Also, last season she wasn't dominating, she was in the mix for sure, but kept being overshadowed by Yuna and then Mao and Joannie too later in the season. This season, she was the one to beat, as evidenced by her two wins over Mao at the two competitions where Mao actually did have her sh*t together, and then at Worlds when she beat Yuna, who gave flawed performances but certainly didn't bomb. I know she was 5th at the GPF but she was injured and the results among the top 5 were really close and she DID win the FS there, so apart from that competition, it was Miki domination all season. Last season was not like that, and tbh she seemed to lose steam as the season progressed, esp after the disappointing 5th at the Olympics, so by the time Worlds rolled around, she wasn't going to get preferential treatment from the judges, hence her 11th place SP.

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

I'm sorta of the opinion that no one deserved bronze, so it's really hard for me to get upset about Lepisto.

I've seen people say that Phaneuf should've had the medal, but spiral error aside (only level two, not four, and that would've been enough), she doesn't seem to have that extra something. I don't think her PCS should be that high - her performance/interpretation didn't strike me as that strong, nor did anything else. It was a clean skate and I'm glad she had it. Miki... you know what, I don't even remember her Worlds program at all.

Truthfully, I just pretend she earned the World bronze with her Olympic LP.

 

[Jtsmith12]

Mao is going to skate to "Liebestraum" next season

This is an article in “Sankei sports” in Japan.
Translated from Japanese.
As for the free skating, Mao is going to skate to "Liebestraum" next season, too.
June 21st, 2011 JST

By Kydo Press
In Jun 21st, former Worlds Champion Mao Asada revealed that, as for the free skating of next season, she skates to "Liebestraum" composed by Liszt as same as last season.
She explained the reason, saying 'I am not satisfied because I made "Liebestraum" finish while not doing my best performance, so I would like to perform the perfect one', because, in the worlds of April where she had aimed at the championship for two seasons running, she finished at the 6th place.
In Tokyo Metropolitan area, Asada attended the publicity meeting of the mattress which she is using.
She did not reveal the name of music of the new short program which uses a classic music, but she said "I would like to perform the leading character perfectly because it is the story of a queen".
In this day, I heard that she was coached by Nobuo Sato coach in early morning.
She fixed the eyes on next season, while saying, “I am reconsidering a skating and a jump. I would like to do the practice which I can feel to have become good every day even if it was only one thing per day”.

 

[Sylvia]

This is an article in “Sankei sports” in Japan.
Translated from Japanese.
As for the free skating, Mao is going to skate to "Liebestraum" next season, too.
June 21st, 2011 JST

By Kydo Press
In Jun 21st, former Worlds Champion Mao Asada revealed that, as for the free skating of next season, she skates to "Liebestraum" composed by Liszt as same as last season.
She explained the reason, saying 'I am not satisfied because I made "Liebestraum" finish while not doing my best performance, so I would like to perform the perfect one', because, in the worlds of April where she had aimed at the championship for two seasons running, she finished at the 6th place.
In Tokyo Metropolitan area, Asada attended the publicity meeting of the mattress which she is using.
She did not reveal the name of music of the new short program which uses a classic music, but she said "I would like to perform the leading character perfectly because it is the story of a queen".
In this day, I heard that she was coached by Nobuo Sato coach in early morning.
She fixed the eyes on next season, while saying, “I am reconsidering a skating and a jump. I would like to do the practice which I can feel to have become good every day even if it was only one thing per day”.

Translation credit goes to "Akira Andrea" at FSU - link: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showpost.php?p=3214575&postcount=65

 

[Jtsmith12]

@Sylvia Yes Thank you