Just got back from the arena. Here is my report from the ladiezzzzzz. None of them really had outstanding skates, with the exception of Zijun who had the only clean free skate of the night!
Tuktamisheva: Was the deserved winner here but was not at her best either. Opened with a gorgeous 3lz3t, followed by another 3lz out of steps. She then fell on her 3f and you could see it coming in the set-up of the jump already. Did 1a3t instead of 2a3t, followed by a 3l with a turn-out on the landing. Nice 3s2t and a 2a tano to finish. Some very good jumps, but also some not so good ones in there. I found her a little overmarked on PCS, she really does not cover the ice well and was skating through the music, rushing from one element to the next. I hope she will learn to take her time for each movement in her programs in the future.
Sotnikova: Had quite a bad free skate. She did not look as sharp as in the short program and did not seem to believe in herself today. She was doing very well in the warm-up, landing a huge 3lz3l (even though it seemed a little pre-rotated) and all of her other jumps. In her free program, she started out with a 3lz3l (second jump UR and turnout), beautiful 3f, 2a2t(pop and df), 1flip, 3s2t, 1loop, 2a. She looked very disappointed in the end. I thought she was lucky not to end up third, I personally would have had her behind Zijun overall. It was close.
Zijun: was lovely. She is as light as a feather and her jumps look effortless. She could use a little more speed though. She did 3f2t, 2a3t2t (easy), 3flutz, 3s2t, 3f, 3l, 2a. Her coach was jumping after her last axel
As I said, I would have had her in second overall, only just.
Park: After seeing her in practice and during warm-up, I thought she might have a shot at the podium. Her jumps are so consistent, but apparently not in competition She had a perfect warm-up, including 2a3t, lovely 3lz... In the program, she fell on her opening 3lz, followed by a 2a2t, a popped flip, lovely 3s2t, 3t2t, 3s, 2a. She pulled herself together in the end and did enough to finish in fourth, just edging out Anais Ventard (whose most difficult triple was a 3s and who did not have the best free skate either!).
Anais: was struggling a bit also but I loved her anyways. She brought the most energy to the ice, had the most interesting program and had the most difficult spins. She did 3t2t, 3t fall, 3s2t, 3s, 2a step out, 2a low on the landing and again step out. Her incredible spins must have given her enough points to stay up there. The audience loved her, and so did I
Risa: Another downgrade-fest for her
But she showed that she CAN do it with her opening combo just right in front of me - 3s3t2t and I was like yesssssss that was not UR!! But it was followed by a 3lz that was clearly UR, a 2a3t << hard fall, 3f UR step-out, 3l2t UR, 3s looked fine, 2a. Her jumps look so clearly short on rotation even from where I was sitting, you don't need a slomo camera to tell. It's such a shame, because she does have very nice qualitites to her skating but if she doesn't get those jumps under control, it's just not going to happen for her
Honorable mention to Jordan Bauth who skated well too. She managed to eek out all of her planned triples, including the 3l which she struggled with in practice.
