Why Yukari Nakano had the best long program

[mizu_iro]

As per Mathman's request on the short program thread.

The 3A downgrade and the wrap on her lutz and flip obviously hurt her, and I won't argue with the fact that the math puts her below the medalists.

But, my goodness, that program was magical! The last time I felt such a thrill while watching a performance was Arakawa in Dortmund.

 

[kandidy]

But her free leg wrap is very annoying and that cost her medal. It made her jumps look underrotate and she did really underrotated some of them.

 

[MasterB]

Her program was worthy of a medal. She was robbed. She had the only clean program of the evening.

 

[Wrlmy]

Watching her skate, I knew that flip would be downgraded, but never suspected the triple axel. Oh well. At least, she is happy with her placement. I also thought she had the best speed of the night.

 

[Mafke]

She's the _only_ skater yesterday whose program added up to more than the sum of its parts.

CoP doesn't really allow for this, so the program that got the biggest crowd reaction caused her to slip in the standings. How will this kind of result bring new fans to skating?

Yes, leg wrap. I don't like it either (especially since it seems to be getting worse) but even with that she was the only skater with the spark (the undefinable quality that makes you want to watch a program again and again).

 

[BelleFilleYuna]

Nakano's free program is really good, she moves constantly with flair, with abandon that you can't take your eyes off her, I get this impression since seeing it at Cup of Russia.

At the same time, after following her through the season, I knew she would be low scored due to her risky(?) technique which can easily be at the mercy of the Caller.

I think there's a reason why Nakano was so happy to see her score.

 

[MarieM]

Her technique is BAD. It's not at the mercy of the caller.
She underrotates nearly ALL her bloody jumps.
Her components reflect the skate she had! Great mark, 2nd best of the night and she deserved it there.
Her technique pulls her off the podium. The leg wrap is something she uses to cheat all her jumps. Sometimes she doesn't, but that is unfortunatly very rare.

 

[Mathman]

A historical question. Did fans and judges give Midori Ito the same kind of flack that Yukari gets for her wrapped leg technique?

As I recall the times, Ito was the closest thing ever to a universally admired skater.

 

[Mafke]

Ito didn't necessarily wrap in the classic sense. She usually crossed the ankle of her free leg across the landing leg, just higher than normal. I'd call it a semi-wrap as it were.

The classic bad wrap is crossing the knees so that the feet are far apart. Again, Ito didn't do this (often though she occasionally did).

Nakano was turning hers into a semi-wrap a few years ago but it seems to have become (or reverted to) a true wrap this season.

Ito didn't come in for that much criticism due to the wrap. Considering she was landing jumps and combinations that the rest of the field could only dream of, it would have seemed silly to criticise her technique.

 

[mizu_iro]

I think Yukari's wrap is more comparable to Claudia Kristofics-Binder, whose wrap was universally criticized.

 

[Mafke]

Absolutely right with the KCB comparison.

I seem to recall reading that Nakano doesn't get much respect/support in Japan.

Despite the wrap (which I wish she'd do something about) I like her a lot (she's probably current second favorite after Kim) and hope that her finish (and the reaction to her lp) improves her situation at home.

 

[SamuraiKike]

I feel bad for Yukari, she's overdue for a world medal in her career but after watching the LPs I dont think it was thaat scandalous. For me the champion has to be the whole package, not just the most beatiful, or the most clean, or the better technique, a true champion has to excel at everything. Yukari is great but she really lacks on the technical side so until she fixes that she doesnt deserve a gold medal. Her PCs should have been the highest of the night though and by some margin, that's where the proble really lies IMO, but I think is more a flaw of the judges rather than the system. Fair PCs for her would have put her on the podium but that would mean Yu-Na out of it so I really dunno which I would have prefered. Carolina's very strong SP held her up on the podium and thats fair for me.

 

[GoldMedalist]

Carolina's very strong SP held her up on the podium and thats fair for me.

Some people thought Yukari's SP was just as good or better than Carolina's...

I think this should have ended up exactly the way I predicted it:

1. Asada
2. Kim
3. Nakano
4. Kostner

 

[luckyguy]

Some people thought Yukari's SP was just as good or better than Carolina's...

I think this should have ended up exactly the way I predicted it:

1. Asada
2. Kim
3. Nakano
4. Kostner

Yukari Nakano is a lovely girl and I like her very much but Asada, Kostner and Yu-Na Kim skate in another ligue.

 

[capcomop]

. The leg wrap is something she uses to cheat all her jumps. Sometimes she doesn't, but that is unfortunatly very rare.

Could you explain this? The leg wrap is certainly ugly to look at but how could she purposefully use it to either pre-rotate or underrotate her jumps? At most I could imagine that the position would slow down her air rotations thus causing a more likley tendency to unrotate her jumps but I can't see how she is using it to cheat.
From everything I have read the leg wrap is not considered a technical flaw any more than a very flat footed air position would be. In fact early on in skating it was PREFERED.
Looking at the protocal Mao did just FOUR triple jumps without either a wrong edge or an underrotation.
Yukari did five even with the clearly not underrotated triple axel being downgraded!

 

[GoldMedalist]

The only thing Kostner has over Nakano is being able to do Triple Toeloops in combination.

Which can be rather important. But, Kostner's spins are much weaker and she was very sloppy here. She didn't deserve her placement.

Nakano was clean, exciting, and the victim of CoP. You go for a Triple Axel and land it "cleanly" but just slightly underrotated past the 1/4 turn, and BAM, that jump is now worth less than if you had done a Double Axel and put your hand down on the landing.

It's totally ridiculous.

 

[Engwaciriel]

I dont really know enough about jumping technique to comment on that, but one thing I found very surprising was that the commentator on french eurosport said Nakano's spins very much weaker than Kostner's?! Surely he can't be serious.. I love Nakano's spins, especially that she actually holds the positions more than two turns..

 

[silver.blades]

I don't have a problem with the placements. Yes Yukari skated very well, but that 3A practically took off backwards (not sure how she managed that but...) and was underrotated. I think she only compleated 2.5 rotations. And she dosn't use the leg wrap to cheat jumps, that's ridiculous, but it does cause her to underrotate alot of her jumps and it makes rotated jumps look underrotated to the naked eye. She's a great spinner and I could watch her spin forever, but those jumps are horrible. I can't get past the leg wrap. She appropriatly IMO gets no +GOE's on her jumps with a wrap. I don't feel she was robbed. If she wants to be on the podium she needs to fix the wrap or hope those ahead of her implode. Without the wrap she can contend, not with it.

 

[GoldMedalist]

I don't have a problem with the placements. Yes Yukari skated very well, but that 3A practically took off backwards (not sure how she managed that but...)

It's fine for ALL jumps to spend a half rotation on the ice before leaving. Just how it works.

 

[silver.blades]

^a link to something aying that would be great