- Joined
- Nov 18, 2014
I thought it would be fun to do some book-club-esque discussion questions about this event, so here goes! My answers are in purple.
1. Rika Kihara landed a 3A in the FS at this event. At her previous JGP, she fell on it. Clearly, she's capable of landing it, but it's still a big risk to take. Do you think it is worth the risk to have such a difficult element in a program when a skater already has what it takes to win without it?
Even if she doesn't need it to win, it's awesome that she's trying something most people aren't, and it gives her a certain prestige, so I say yes. It's not necessary, but it's worth the risk.
2. McNamara/Carpenter were the heavy favorites in the dance event, and they won, but with scores that are much lower than what they've shown they can get. They dominated the JGP last season and they were expected to do so again, so this outcome is rather surprising. What do you think happened?
Honestly, I have no idea. I think it's probably a freak thing, if it isn't because of an injury or illness we don't know about. It's just one competition, I wouldn't sound the alarm bells yet. I hope it was a random incident, because about fifteen of the alternative possibilities would make me cry.
3. Are you at all surprised by the outcome of the men's event? Why or why not? Very much so. I, like a lot of people, thought Dmitri would win, and never in a million years would I have predicted he wouldn't even medal. Ditto Alexei winning. But I suppose I shouldn't be so sure when it comes to junior men...
4. Alisa Lozko is a great example of a promising skater who is held back by frequent underrotations. She has many great qualities, but underrotations often drag her scores down so much that she can't medal. We've also seen this with Anastasia Gubanova and Elizaveta Nugumanova. In a case like any of those, where URs are holding a skater back, what do you think should be done to correct them? In this era of strict technical judging, can a skater have success at the senior level with a reputation for URs going back this far in their career? This is a really common problem at all levels, and in my opinion, it needs to be corrected as soon as it can be or it could be disastrous for a skater's career. (Look at what it did to Mirai Nagasu.) Switch coaches, rework your technique, whatever-just get it dealt with before it becomes even more of a problem. However, there have been skaters who had UR issues and were successful anyway-Mao Asada, Ashley Wagner, Satoko Miyahara, etc.-so it can be done. I really hope Alisa can find a way to improve her jumps, because she has a lot of things going for her.
5. Marin Honda has had subpar SPs and strong FSes at all three of her most recent competitions. Do you think this will be a problem for her later on in the season, and her career, if the pattern continues? Can you think of any "Free Skate Skaters" who have been successful at the senior level despite often making mistakes in the SP? In a field full of really consistent skaters, yes, this can be a problem. It may work at a JGP event where you're not up against all of your main rivals, but how is it going to treat you at the JGPF if you make it? Junior Worlds? Nationals? I love Marin, and it's awesome that she often has strong free skates, but eventually, messing up her SPs is probably going to become an issue. (Lookin' at you, Gracie...) As for whether or not there are successful skaters who rely on the free skate to pull up in the standings, yes, there are-Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner were the first I thought of, although I'm sure there are more. However, as both of them have shown repeatedly, it's not a good strategy, so it's best to not dig yourself into a hole after the SP.
6. Conversely, Dmitri Aliev has shown a pattern this season of very strong SPs and disappointing FSes. Will this be a problem for him in the future if the pattern continues? Can you think of any "Short Program Skaters" who have had success as seniors even though they're prone to mistake-filled free skates? This is equally problematic: instead of digging themselves into a hole, skaters like this create a hole between themselves and the competition with a good SP, and then fill it back in with a bad free skate. I don't really know why this is a problem for Dmitri (I would guess the most likely cause was either lack of stamina/poor conditioning, or blind luck-more chances to make mistakes in the FS), but if it's the fact that Ljubljana is at a slight altitude and/or lack of stamina, that can be fixed. If it's just because there are more chances to mess up in a free skate, that's harder. I don't really know what the cause is, in any case. It's a problem on the senior level for sure, but there have been successful skaters who have this problem: I immediately thought of Sasha Cohen, and I'm sure there are others.
7. The skater who had to follow Rika Kihara's perfect FS, Alina Zagitova, had an uncharacteristically shaky skate. Do you think that having to follow a great performance is universally always going to mess up a skater, no matter how consistent, or does it have something to do with mental strength? How can skaters make a situation like this less nerve-wracking? It's going to be daunting for anyone to skate after a really fantastic performance, but some will be more affected by it than others. That part depends on mental strength. Since this could happen at any given event, and the skaters really have no idea until the person before them in the start order goes, it's hard to prepare for. The Russian system of having the skaters go through loads of domestic qualifying competitions is a good way to get used to it-if you do enough competitions, it's inevitably going to happen to you eventually. The more competitions you do, the more likely you are to encounter a situation like this and learn how to deal with it. But in other countries where that isn't an option, maybe some kind of competition stimulations would help? A kind of "dress rehersal"? What I'm thinking is something like a practice session where the skaters do full run-throughs in costume with various scenarios acted out to get them used to competing under different circumstances. (Examples: the skater before you did really well and got a huge score, the sound system glitched and your music messed up, you had a wardrobe malfunction, etc.) That way, they would learn how to handle different mishaps in a low-pressure environment, so it wouldn't be as scary in a real event. Just a thought.
None of these questions are meant to encourage people to bash skaters-actually, bashing anyone in this thread is discouraged. I picked some wide-ranging topics that came up at this event and related them to unusual occurrences at this event in hopes of starting an insightful discussion. (Notice that I left out "did you agree with the scoring at this event?"
.) That being said, discuss away!
1. Rika Kihara landed a 3A in the FS at this event. At her previous JGP, she fell on it. Clearly, she's capable of landing it, but it's still a big risk to take. Do you think it is worth the risk to have such a difficult element in a program when a skater already has what it takes to win without it?
Even if she doesn't need it to win, it's awesome that she's trying something most people aren't, and it gives her a certain prestige, so I say yes. It's not necessary, but it's worth the risk.
2. McNamara/Carpenter were the heavy favorites in the dance event, and they won, but with scores that are much lower than what they've shown they can get. They dominated the JGP last season and they were expected to do so again, so this outcome is rather surprising. What do you think happened?
Honestly, I have no idea. I think it's probably a freak thing, if it isn't because of an injury or illness we don't know about. It's just one competition, I wouldn't sound the alarm bells yet. I hope it was a random incident, because about fifteen of the alternative possibilities would make me cry.
3. Are you at all surprised by the outcome of the men's event? Why or why not? Very much so. I, like a lot of people, thought Dmitri would win, and never in a million years would I have predicted he wouldn't even medal. Ditto Alexei winning. But I suppose I shouldn't be so sure when it comes to junior men...
4. Alisa Lozko is a great example of a promising skater who is held back by frequent underrotations. She has many great qualities, but underrotations often drag her scores down so much that she can't medal. We've also seen this with Anastasia Gubanova and Elizaveta Nugumanova. In a case like any of those, where URs are holding a skater back, what do you think should be done to correct them? In this era of strict technical judging, can a skater have success at the senior level with a reputation for URs going back this far in their career? This is a really common problem at all levels, and in my opinion, it needs to be corrected as soon as it can be or it could be disastrous for a skater's career. (Look at what it did to Mirai Nagasu.) Switch coaches, rework your technique, whatever-just get it dealt with before it becomes even more of a problem. However, there have been skaters who had UR issues and were successful anyway-Mao Asada, Ashley Wagner, Satoko Miyahara, etc.-so it can be done. I really hope Alisa can find a way to improve her jumps, because she has a lot of things going for her.
5. Marin Honda has had subpar SPs and strong FSes at all three of her most recent competitions. Do you think this will be a problem for her later on in the season, and her career, if the pattern continues? Can you think of any "Free Skate Skaters" who have been successful at the senior level despite often making mistakes in the SP? In a field full of really consistent skaters, yes, this can be a problem. It may work at a JGP event where you're not up against all of your main rivals, but how is it going to treat you at the JGPF if you make it? Junior Worlds? Nationals? I love Marin, and it's awesome that she often has strong free skates, but eventually, messing up her SPs is probably going to become an issue. (Lookin' at you, Gracie...) As for whether or not there are successful skaters who rely on the free skate to pull up in the standings, yes, there are-Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner were the first I thought of, although I'm sure there are more. However, as both of them have shown repeatedly, it's not a good strategy, so it's best to not dig yourself into a hole after the SP.
6. Conversely, Dmitri Aliev has shown a pattern this season of very strong SPs and disappointing FSes. Will this be a problem for him in the future if the pattern continues? Can you think of any "Short Program Skaters" who have had success as seniors even though they're prone to mistake-filled free skates? This is equally problematic: instead of digging themselves into a hole, skaters like this create a hole between themselves and the competition with a good SP, and then fill it back in with a bad free skate. I don't really know why this is a problem for Dmitri (I would guess the most likely cause was either lack of stamina/poor conditioning, or blind luck-more chances to make mistakes in the FS), but if it's the fact that Ljubljana is at a slight altitude and/or lack of stamina, that can be fixed. If it's just because there are more chances to mess up in a free skate, that's harder. I don't really know what the cause is, in any case. It's a problem on the senior level for sure, but there have been successful skaters who have this problem: I immediately thought of Sasha Cohen, and I'm sure there are others.
7. The skater who had to follow Rika Kihara's perfect FS, Alina Zagitova, had an uncharacteristically shaky skate. Do you think that having to follow a great performance is universally always going to mess up a skater, no matter how consistent, or does it have something to do with mental strength? How can skaters make a situation like this less nerve-wracking? It's going to be daunting for anyone to skate after a really fantastic performance, but some will be more affected by it than others. That part depends on mental strength. Since this could happen at any given event, and the skaters really have no idea until the person before them in the start order goes, it's hard to prepare for. The Russian system of having the skaters go through loads of domestic qualifying competitions is a good way to get used to it-if you do enough competitions, it's inevitably going to happen to you eventually. The more competitions you do, the more likely you are to encounter a situation like this and learn how to deal with it. But in other countries where that isn't an option, maybe some kind of competition stimulations would help? A kind of "dress rehersal"? What I'm thinking is something like a practice session where the skaters do full run-throughs in costume with various scenarios acted out to get them used to competing under different circumstances. (Examples: the skater before you did really well and got a huge score, the sound system glitched and your music messed up, you had a wardrobe malfunction, etc.) That way, they would learn how to handle different mishaps in a low-pressure environment, so it wouldn't be as scary in a real event. Just a thought.
None of these questions are meant to encourage people to bash skaters-actually, bashing anyone in this thread is discouraged. I picked some wide-ranging topics that came up at this event and related them to unusual occurrences at this event in hopes of starting an insightful discussion. (Notice that I left out "did you agree with the scoring at this event?"
.) That being said, discuss away! 
