Why Yukari Nakano had the best long program

[GoldMedalist]

Go watch just about any jump by any skater in the World...everything has pre-rotation.

 

[silver.blades]

I've never seen that much rotation on an axel before

 

[GoldMedalist]

You've not been looking too carefully, then.

 

[Mafke]

Have I mentioned lately (as in the last 7 minutes) how much I hate CoP's approach to underrotation?

I'm in favor of punishing underrotation about the same degree as wrong edge on take off or landing and two footing a landing. The current double whammy (called as lower jump plus automatic GOE deducations is one of the main reasons I think of CoP less as a viable judging system and more like a wildly unrealistic daydream by Speedy.

I'm especially inclined to be more lenient on underrotation issues when a skater is the only one to do a particular jump (I wouldn't call Asada's splattt a 3ax attempt).

 

[gourry]

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

You know, it makes every jump except axel to take off forward- which means axel would be the easiest jump to execute.
Now that is very strange indeed.

And there are quite a number of skaters who don't do that. Yuna, Joannie, Caro, Julia, and probably many more. At least not more than 1/4 rotation.

 

[TCTC84]

2 ladies were royally robbed at this worlds:

Nakano, who not only gave the performance of the night and got the only standing o, but gave me chills and goosebumps by the end. I was sooooo happy, and I was never a fan of hers. artistry, great footwork, great passion, great musicality, spins out of this world, and she took risks! The only lady to go for the 3axel, and it looked better than all the other ones she attempted this year and got ratified for. It broke my heart that she didn't even medal

Julia Sebestyan: I look at her SP and LP together, then I look at the SP and LP of Bebe, Korpi, Lepisto, and Meissner and I just don't get it. How in the world did she end up behind them?

 

[GoldMedalist]

You know, it makes every jump except axel to take off forward- which means axel would be the easiest jump to execute.
Now that is very strange indeed.

And there are quite a number of skaters who don't do that. Yuna, Joannie, Caro, Julia, and probably many more. At least not more than 1/4 rotation.

It's just a technique thing. I've been told by many coaches that I need to pre-rotate like that in my jumps. I still don't, but it's just fine to do so.

 

[silver.blades]

Yes some prerotation happens, but taking off from the axel backwards is a bit excessive. Plenty of people have only 1/4 rotation on the ice before taking off it's a given there will be some prerotation on edge jumps, but 1/2 a turn and taking off backwards from the axel is too much. I've never seen anyone with that much prerotation on an axel before

 

[SamuraiKike]

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

Exactly, and I was one of them too. But by some people you mean NOT EVERYBODY, right? Cause Im sure lots will beg to differ. Im not necessarily picking on you but lets stop it with that reasoning of "the way I think It should have been is the only possible fair result". I liked Yukari's SP and LP better than Carolinas but I can see how others would place her higher (and yes mostly beacuse of the new rules, but thats a whole different story) and thats not undeserving by any means IMO. If you win by the rules you deserve it, period. We can b+tch about the rules all we want, and we certainly love to do so, but why me must dowgrande the achievements of the skaters that are just doing what they are being told to do.

 

[GoldMedalist]

If you win by the rules you deserve it, period. We can b+tch about the rules all we want, and we certainly love to do so, but why me must dowgrande the achievements of the skaters that are just doing what they are being told to do.

It's not that skaters are just doing what they are told, it's that they are being unfairly hindered for things they DID do that are just fine.

Yukari's 3Axel should have been a high-scoring element and her second 3Flip shouldn't have been downgraded.

Watching the performances again without the bad live-feed quality I viewed yesterday, I definitely believe that Yukari deserved to win the LP and should have placed at least 2nd. I'll have to go view the SPs again now and add up all the points to determine if she deserved to win this whole thing over Mao.

 

[katymay]

I agree

Sorry, after watching the ABC footage, I see only allowable cheat-i.e. 1/4 on the landing of the triple axel.

Dick had it right when he said the problem was Kostner being propped up. Kostner should have fallen to 5th.

Kim was not her usual self-her skating was slow and lacked energy, even her usual textbook jumps were not up to Yuna par. Nakano SHOULD have won the free skate-her only weak points being the footwork and spirals. Nakanos spins were the best in the competition.

 

[Mathman]

It was interesting how Peggy Fleming went on and on about Nakano's triple Axel being the best Yuakari has ever landed. They replayed it in slow motion twice, and Peggy was still full of praise.

As far as I could tell, the landing did have a hook on it. This underrotation thing really needs to be reworked in the IJS.

 

[alain707]

I am a big fan of Yukari Nakano, her skating is always musical and pleasing to watch, and since a couple of years, she has taken the habit to make very little mistakes in her routines - so we get even more taken by her choreography.

So I regret that her PCs are not high enough ... especially I think her transitions are very good from one element to another, yet, as for all other skaters, that marks is lower than the 4 other PCs (let's figure out why!). She really has a choreography throught her program and executes it well, so I'd say she also deserves higher marks for the last 3 componants.

Now on a the technical side, her main quality is to miss very little. But she has flaws in many of her jumps. She keeps trying her 3A and often lands it on one foot with good flow, but then it often gets downgraded, or the rotation is just slightly within 1/4 turn to be validated. I guess she does not have the spring to make it a safer jump, she might keep trying it to counter all the girls with 3-3s. It's true that the NJS does not help her by the way it scores this element when downgraded, it then gets no more points than those for a bad double ! In my viez this should be changed. Then she has that wrap leg on her lutz and flip where she is often close to underrotation, and her sal and toe are not really impressive (her sal was better in the past seasons, it used to be an exciting jumps, I don't feel it is now). To compete with the top girls she should need to bring in something new jumpwise, otherwise she'll probably still score less than the top girls at the end of the day.

 

[demarinis5]

IMO Yukara deserved silver. It is outrageous she placed fourth in the freeskate. It does not seem right to me. If a skate like Kostner
(nothing against her personally) can earn silver under COP and a skate like Yukari earns fourth I won't be watching ladies skating
much longer.

 

[summervie]

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.

You know, the sad thing about all this, I think she wasn't happy at all. She was just smiling.
And later when she realized what Kostner got her 2nd place for, I doubt she was doing even that.

 

[bekalc]

I would have given Nakano bronze after Mao/Yu-na. I thought Kostner getting a medal was terrible because it was messy/messy/messy... I think Dick hit the nail on the head, about this being a reaction to the Asian Invasion. But you know what that's just wrong.

The Asians currently are the best figure skaters in the world and last year and this year, they deserved to sweep the podium. Kostner can compete with them, but not when she skates like that.

I'm glad the crowd booed because that was a ridiculous result.

 

[yelyoh]

I was thrilled for Nakano. She deserved to be on the podium and not Kostner, who btw comes off as a thoughtful and honest person when interviewed but had one sloppy skate. Even her footwork sections, which earlier in the season looked great, looked awkward in the LP at World's. What can you do? I think Nakano earned a lot of fans at this comp.

 

[Skye]

If Nakano had not had her 3A and 3F downgraded, assuming that she gets 0 GOE for both elements, she would have not only won the free skate but also the championship. Personally I think the judges just screwed themselves by holding back Kim's scores in order to guarantee Kostner the lead. Even Asada barely beat Kostner by less than a point. Had the skating order been different, any of the three "Asian girls" might have been knocked off the podium.

 

[bekalc]

If Nakano had not had her 3A and 3F downgraded, assuming that she gets 0 GOE for both elements, she would have not only won the free skate but also the championship. Personally I think the judges just screwed themselves by holding back Kim's scores in order to guarantee Kostner the lead. Even Asada barely beat Kostner by less than a point. Had the skating order been different, any of the three "Asian girls" might have been knocked off the podium.

I suspect that was the point, and I'm incensed by it.

 

[Tinymavy15]

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

I was stunned. I really thought she had won there for a minute. Then i figured that they would take off for the leg wrap and lesser chreography, but 4th!!! there is some weird judging going on in that world championship let me tell you!