2014 Worlds - Ladies Short Program

[jenaj]

It's hard to skate well with a broken heart. But who am I kidding? Mirai would have finished in about 15th place even skating clean.

I think she would have finished quite a bit higher than 15th skating clean. Only the top three skated clean (or two of the top three if you count Adelina's step out), as I recall.

 

[mary01]

No.

no what?
crossovers is something that's easily counted and compared, not much to discuss there, and many people who have watched both Mao and Carolina live confirmed that Carolina did not have superior speed and in fact wasn't as fast as some claim her to be.

 

[imisscohen]

It's hard to skate well with a broken heart. But who am I kidding? Mirai would have finished in about 15th place even skating clean.

This completely.

 

[zamboni step]

no what?
crossovers is something that's easily counted and compared, not much to discuss there, and many people who have watched both Mao and Carolina live confirmed that Carolina did not have superior speed and in fact wasn't as fast as some claim her to be.

Mao uses more crossovers, and has less speed. Not by a considerable amount in either case, but it's true. This is coming from a Mao uber.

 

[CarneAsada]

Mao uses more crossovers, and has less speed. Not by a considerable amount in either case, but it's true. This is coming from a Mao uber.

She does do fewer crossovers than either Carolina or Yuna into her jumps. Maybe her crossovers are less effective, but she also does less of them.

 

[Meoima]

After the battle of the princes and warriors (because the King did not attend), now the battle of the queens and princesses. I am so eager for tomorrow.

Come on ladies, please show us you are much better than those men as you have done in SP.

 

[zamboni step]

She does do fewer crossovers than either Carolina or Yuna into her jumps. Maybe her crossovers are less effective, but she also does less of them.

Kim does more crossovers, but I think the fact that Mao does forwards crossovers rather than back ones deceives people into thinking there's fewer of them.

 

[mary01]

Mao uses more crossovers, and has less speed. Not by a considerable amount in either case, but it's true. This is coming from a Mao uber.

lol there have been so many different people who have analyzed, compared and they all came to the same conclusion, even people who don't know much about figure skating can easily count something as simple as crossover, this takes no advanced science or brain to do so, and if you don't want to count yourself, just look this matter up and confirm for yourself, not long ago this was discussed in a different thread.

 

[CarneAsada]

Kim does more crossovers, but I think the fact that Mao does forwards crossovers rather than back ones deceives people into thinking there's fewer of them.

She does a bunch of quick little forward crossovers into several of her jumps which I think mary01 overlooks, but you can still count the number of back crossovers into her 3-3. FWIW, it's fewer than 6.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I wouldn't go so far as to say equal. I do think that Mao's power here was better than I've ever seen before and she was honestly a little lowballed in PCS for me, I would have had Mao higher in IN and PE, equal in CH and a bit lower in TR and SS than Caro. But I do think her speed doesn't quite equal Carolina's.

This short event was amazing! That being said I think the following skaters were screwed:

1. Mao Asada- She skated flawlessly, I think the judges were on the right track, but she deserved higher PCS and GOE on her steps; they gain speed to reflect the music, I think that's incredible.

2. Akiko Suzuki- What the ****?!!! Lower PCS than Lipnitskaya??? No, just no.

3. Kaetlyn Osmond- Lower PCS than Gracie and Julia and equal in PCS to Anna? With those transitions and performance skills I don't agree.

4. Kanako Murakami- The judges need to leave her alone, the 3T may have been slightly UR if you're going to be harsh but her 3F was totally fine. Goodbye reputation.

I agree on most accounts here but all four in the top 4 skated the best SP's of their lives and were rewarded PB scores and are all within 3 points of each other. Yulia's PCS might seem high but she skated what was likely the hardest program second only to Mao! Perfectly I might add. I think she may get hometown scores in Japan from here on out anyway. Did you here them screaming their love right before her SP began? It was like Sochi or something. She does recover generous PCS but really Yulia gained at least 2pts on Akiko when adding all the spins up. Yulia got +3's across the board for her last two spins making them worth more than Mao's 3a!! 3lz-3t vs 3t-3t too may score in the Execution scores furthering Yulia's lead. I'm pretty sure your difficulty can effect your PCS scores if you execute an easier program perfectly I dont think you get the same Execution/Performance scores. So them being 3pts off seems fair at least to me but If Akiko were up by a point I probably weren't complain. It's hard to get 7 judges to agree within 3-5 pts anyway. I all the top four skaters and I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

The only backseat judging I may suggest is Gracie's scores. I mean...wasn't that a PB for her too? If that is the best she has to offer than I'm not buying into the hype! Her 3lz-3t nearly came to a stop and scored a -1 GOE and somehow also got three +2's :think: On top of that her 3lo looked 2 footed and all she got was a .20 deduction. Zero flow out again and the GOE's are lol worthy again. -3 to +1. I don't necessarily think Gracie was bad or anything but how was that her personal best? And if it was than what have we been hyping. Anna P should be right up there with Akiko and Yulia and Gracie should be 6th. This isn't a reflection of my Gracie preference because I like her just fine, but come on. That was not on the same level as Akiko and Lipnitskaya.

Osmond is much more simple to figure out. That spin that she missed did her in and dropped her multiple places. She scored .39 where most people get at least 3pts and someone like Yulia gets 4.2 on her layback. If you blow an element the way she did I think it's fair to lose PCS scores in everything except Transitions/linking footwork. She was the best I've seen her and that one error was just a little too costly overall. If you factor out her error and add 2pts to her TES and 2pts to her PCS then she'd be in the final group!

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

@Zamboni Step Someone actual told Yulia that she was over scored and was met with this look of intimidation at the 15 sec mark. You might want to watch what you say unless you want to be on the other end of one of those!!!

http://vk.com/video_ext.php?oid=244654229&id=168060545&hash=72b3baefc2fd49f1&hd

Not sure if the video works without a VK acount but I think it just might.

 

[jenaj]

The only backseat judging I may suggest is Gracie's scores. I mean...wasn't that a PB for her too? If that is the best she has to offer than I'm not buying into the hype! Her 3lz-3t nearly came to a stop and scored a -1 GOE and somehow also got three +2's :think: On top of that her 3lo looked 2 footed and all she got was a .20 deduction. Zero flow out again and the GOE's are lol worthy again. -3 to +1. I don't necessarily think Gracie was bad or anything but how was that her personal best? And if it was than what have we been hyping. Anna P should be right up there with Akiko and Yulia and Gracie should be 6th. This isn't a reflection of my Gracie preference because I like her just fine, but come on. That was not on the same level as Akiko and Lipnitskaya.

I pretty much agree. Gracie skated well--very well, in fact. But she is not on the same level as the others, including (at this event) Anna Pogo. She still has a ways to go in terms of presentation. And I agree she needs to work on her flow out of her jumps. Isn't that one of Frank's specialties?

 

[skatedreamer]

That look of Yulia's can be downright scary. During Europeans (can't remember now if it was the SP or the FS) the camera zoomed in on her face just as she took her starting pose and I just thought holy ****! Repeating my comments from other threads, she is one very determined young lady and a helluva ferocious competitor. Wish I had her strength of will -- and I wouldn't want to meet her across a negotiating table, either.

Come to think of it, if Yulia ever decided to do battle w/ Speedy & the ISU, my money would be on Yulia for sure!

 

[MaiKatze]

While I certainly respect Julia this is another reason why I prefer Elena if I am comparing 2 Russian youngsters here. Elena radiates joy while Julia looks intimidating.

 

[Olympia]

After the battle of the princes and warriors (because the King did not attend), now the battle of the queens and princesses. I am so eager for tomorrow.

Come on ladies, please show us your are much better than those men as you have done in SP.

I just love the visual image your post conjures up in my mind!

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

While I certainly respect Julia this is another reason why I prefer Elena if I am comparing 2 Russian youngsters here. Elena radiates joy while Julia looks intimidating.

I get it. Sometimes it's all a matter of if you like sugar with your tea. Coincidentally I don't need or want sugar in mine. Give it to me straight and no need to sweeten it up at all! For the record I have a huge soft spot for Elena and sometimes put honey in my tea[]

 

[MaiKatze]

^Yes! I totally agree, each to their own. Everyone has different types of people they feel drawn to. The World would be boring if we all preferred one kind of flower, music, art, whatever. Diversity is good. Me personally I love sugar!!! Can't be sweet enough for me.

 

[akoko]

Regarding Mao's speed, I don't think it's not so much speed that Mao lacks in comparison to Carolina but powerful stroking. Carolina and actually Akiko as well have very powerful stroking that uses deep edges, and Mao, maybe because her physique allows her to skate with the most perfect glide in the business, didn't (need to) engage her edges as Carolina and Akiko do when she was skating.

Your explanation reminded me of a comment I heard from someone I know who went to see Japanese National. She said, "On TV, Kanako and Akiko look faster than Mao but Mao is not slow at all. Kanako is like rowing a boat with all her might, Akiko is like rowing a canoe, but Mao looks effortless like cruising on a sailboat with the right wind."
I am going to confirm if it is true in Osaka.

 

[Meoima]

While I certainly respect Julia this is another reason why I prefer Elena if I am comparing 2 Russian youngsters here. Elena radiates joy while Julia looks intimidating.

I think Julia is the most cutie pie aside from Hanyu. Whenever I see her, I wanna hug, and pinch her cheeks, make her irritate because that would be fun.: Sorry, she reminds me of my cats. She is also flexible as feline!!!

 

[MaiKatze]

I think she is a beautiful girl, but I don't think of her as cute. When she was in Cup of China with Mao Asada she looked furious that she lost to Mao. Hey, it is nice that you're competitive Julia, but loosing to Mao Asada is no reason to be angry. When Elena was at NHK she looked so happy just to be there, just competing and all...she looked like she was in love with the audience and everyone around her, that was what is cute to me. Each to their own, like I said, I just prefer the cheery girl to the one who gives death stares. All my own preference.