2016 Skate Canada Ladies SP

[Sweet Dream]

I don't want to trash some skater to hold up someone else, but I just get lost over the ongoing overly-heated debate here... Why are you all so excited?

 

[andyjo24]

Not sure if you've already known, but Yuka is reworking her jumps from the basics and her team is eyeing Beijing Olympics. Her practice is not good either. I guess you have to hit the bottom first and then rise back :scard7:

May I ask why they are reworking her jumps? Her jumps were fine to me. Her 3Lz-3T was huge...

Was she going for a 3S-3T in the SP btw?

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Yuka Nagai had an epic meltdown. It was very hard watching her in the KnC, you could see she was holding back tears. She opened up her triple triple combi and the axel didn't work. It was hard to watch. But probably even harder to skate that to the end.

Thanks for the heads up. I was curious as to why her scores were so low and wanted to watch hoping it was just boneheadedness. That makes me a sad panda .


Hoping for some redemption for her in the Restricted....err...um Free Program

 

[skateluver]

I loved Kaetlyn's SP and I am super happy that she can finally skate to her full potential. She has star quality and I truly hope that she can stay healthy this year and be consistent. Evgenia is a great talent, but I didn't enjoy her program as much as Kaetlyn's, although I understand why she is leading. In my opinion Satoko should be in 3rd place. Despite of Liza's wonderful jumps, her other skating especially piruets was lacking. I am excited about the FS.

 

[lyndichee]

Kaetlyn was amazing! Except for that stumble after the combination, I think she must have just been really happy to do it and lost focus. Her program is so much better than Medvedeva's.

I was really happy to see Rika Hongo deliver and as usual she was underscored.

Satako Miyahara's program remains underwhelming, sigh. It tries so hard too, the elements themselves are intelligently structured, but there is no real build or meaning to the program. It's just continuous, segregated march of random "nice"-ness. But with flawed jumps, that she got scored correctly for here (although full 'e' on the Flip was overly harsh, but the underrotation was blatant). Very disappointing considering this source music and how wonderful a program could be to it, particular for a skater like Satako.

I had to work during the event but when I showed up to the arena and started discussing with some people, everybody was telling me Satoko was criminally underscored.

 

[randomfan]

Alright, finally I can write my review after a long day. This was a bizarre day of skating for me - pretty much everyone got too high or too low on their scores...

1. Evgenia Medvedeva: Why judges, why? Evgenia has so much talent and I want to enjoy her skating, but every time I watch her I just get distracted. I can't help but only think about how her scores will turn out. Honestly, I say that this SP is not better than her last season's, so there isn't a good reason why this is higher than her best PCS before. If her clean skate score is already this ridiculously high than we are looking towards a crazy season waiting ahead...
2. Kaetlyn Osmond: While I don't agree with her score at all either, Kaetlyn managed to present her charm and great performance skills to the audience which I enjoyed a lot. I'm not a fan of the music, but her way of presenting the program saves it all. Now, the big question is if she could maintain her position in the FS.
3. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva: Nice skate from her. Liza's jumps are still as good as they always were and I'm glad to see that she is finally in the mix after the SP at a tough field again. I'm on the fence for both her programs - I don't see either of them as good nor bad. If she delivers in the FS, this could turn out interesting.
4. Rika Hongo: I wish the judges would stop underscoring her so much. Yes, she skated first, but it's always been like this for Rika, getting low scores compared to the others, even if she skates late (ex: 2016 Worlds). I'm not even a fan of this program, but she sells it very well and IMO her P/E score should've been higher than Evgenia's. Hopefully we'll see the judges give more love to Rika in the FS...
5. Satoko Miyahara: It's sad to see that Satoko is sitting all the way in 5th even after delivering a good performance. She got two URs and an edge call, which really hosed down her BV. And sadly, this program isn't helping much either. She presents it well but the program itself is a bit disappointing. It's the first time this is my opinion of Satoko's programs, as her other ones were always good and I can tell many others think the same. Again, hoping for more love in the FS...
6. Alaine Chartrand: I love watching Alaine skate, but in all honesty I do think Na Hyun should've been ahead by a bit. This program from Alaine does not reach the brilliance of her Pina SP, but it's still a nice program to watch. When Alaine is on fire, she is an awesome skater to watch, so I hope she has a memorable finish in this event.
7. Na Hyun Kim: She deserved to be ahead of Alaine. I'm not sure why her GOEs are generally low. Her jumps get good spring too. Na Hyun does tend to skate well in the FS so if one of the skaters in the top 6 mess up, Na Hyun can sneak in ahead.
8. Da Bin Choi: Again, another underscored skater, but not by much this time. It's nice to see her presentation improving a lot, but it's still not close to the top field. I think she should work on adding more excitement and flair to this SP.
9. Mirai Nagasu: Poor Mirai , after looking so good in the practice. She's most likely out of podium contention, so she'll need to carry a different mindset for the FS.
10. Joshi Helgesson and 11. Yuka Nagai
Devastated for both of them...

Also this scoring issue is seriously out of control at this point. I'd say that the top 8 should've rather been
1. Kaetlyn 69-low71
2. Evgenia 69-70
3. Rika 67-68
4. Liza 67
5. Satoko 66-high67
6. Na Hyun 62-63
7. Alaine 61
8. Da Bin 55-57

 

[largeman]

can we all agree Evgenia is a Hanyu level ladies skater ?

I was thinking Zhenya might be more of a Javi than a Yuzu?

Infectious smile and charming personality... check
Shows up (in a major way) when it counts... check
Questionable technique on certain toe jumps... check
"Uh... is that the same program from last year?"... check

 

[Krunchii]

Evgenia spent the first half of the program in the middle third of the ice in front of the judges, her ice coverage was not that great and I could see her prerotation on the toe jumps. The 3Lo was very armsy but the landing was very clean, good flow out of jumps. I found the skipping really weird. The change of direction on the spiral is as pretty in real life as it is on screen.

I was absolutely in love with Kaetlyn, she has a fantastic presence on ice and she's the whole package. Very fast and commanding, the jumps are huge, no question about it. I'd have her in second rightfully because of the that tiny stumble. I'm just elated to see her finally perform to her potential.

Satoko's program did't have enough impact but I found her underscored, she should have the highest SS score, her flow and glide across the ice was definitely the best. Beautiful arms as per usual. Combination was definitely under but her jumps are really not that bad? Overall her SP last season was way better, wish I got to see it live. Rika was also underscored, it sucks to go first but I'm surprised the judges had Liza over her. Liza's ice coverage was pretty bad and there wasn't much choreography going on at all.

Also I didn't realize how stunning Mirai is in real life, she's very beautiful, and no I was not blinded by all the bling. I hope she bounces back tomorrow.

 

[Sugarpova]

Yaaaay Liza 3rd!!! What happy news to wake up to! Hopefully Cleopatra will come & slay in the lp as well! Osmonds scores I expected so I won't compplain too much + I'm her fan. Some scores indeed inflated. Don't see it as a constructive way
Poor Mirai tho There's still the free to come so I won't give up on her!

 

[marusya19]

So I come here to say! I'm russian and I like Kaetlyn Osmond! She is lovely girl! What a stupid info has wtitten here!

 

[itoja]

Kaetlyn was all sorts of amazing!!! So good to see her back like that.

Evgenia - I actually like this SP, rope skipping and all... but... just imagine how awesome this could be if it was a real goodbye to her girlhood, her last program in that style... and then in the FS she emerges as a grownup lady with something suitably different!
As it is now, yep, it's getting too much sameness. But I love her blue dress!

Satoko - uh, I blame it on the dress... just when I thought that finally this season she is impeccably dressed, she's gotten back to her 'bathing suits for babies' Please, Satoko, if you want to be taken as a serious contender by judges (and you don't have big jumps or politicking behind you) you need to look the part!

Liza - another one here - Mozart&Tango how can this be treated seriously?! Why they don't trust her? She is perfectly capable to handle Mozart, in her own quirky way of course, sure they could find some Mozart music for steps???
Her jumps start to look great again tho!!!

Rika was underscored per usual. I hope she's not getting discouraged.

Mirai - well there is tomorrow...

 

[OS]

Love Kaetlyn's outing, other than that tiny stumble out of no where, love to see her go out attack her program like that! Totally delivered.. Overscored a tad? Certainly, but let's face it, if the same performances by Liza, Kaetyn and Evegenia had happened last year in Skate Canada, the score may have been

1. Kaetlyn (Around 70?)
2. Liza (way to go)
3. Evegenia

This is how fickle this sport is.

I'd compare Evegenia to Jason Brown actually... careful packaged, great technicality and charm, PCS is wholly overmarked and over hyped determined by their power federation #1 status. The music in Evegenia's program is always carefully chosen, packed full of transitions just pleasant enough to mask her inadequacy, the clumsiness and the unrefineness of her choreographic movements, interpretation missing various subtlety and sensitivity that usually has little to do with the music intention. To have real engagement with express the music as it was intended and reflect the highs and lows, nuances and facets. They are great technical skaters with great charisma, but there is no filter, little intellect in their skating, juniorish in their interpretation. IMO Kaetlyn should be ahead of Evegenia in interpreting her program/music and how she attacks her program like no tomorrow. Both over scored consider how far apart from the rest of the field and in general in figure skating history.

Mirai.. fingers crossed for you.

 

[Lota]

Rika was underscored per usual. I hope she's not getting discouraged.

That's actually something I'm afraid of. It's very sad and disappointing for us fans when out favourite skaters get repeatedly underscored, but I cannot imagine how disheartening that must be for the skaters themselves :no:

It's like the judges are saying "look, Rika, there are younger and more elegant skaters in your own country to fill in the top 3 spots, not to mention all the superior ladies from other countries, so you can step back a little". And then she still keeps coming back, all guns blazing (in the predictions, many didn't put her in the top 6 at all) and, to see those scores... Plese don't give up!

 

[Tolstoj]

I have better joke. One person broke the world record cheatin' and pretend to know how to make lutz.

Yes, evgenia is very consistent. In every way. Especially In doing flutzes

I dont think there's more americans and canadaians hating Evgenia than russians Osmond. Russians think that when their skaters get high scores, they are always deserved, but when some skater from other country get high one either , they think it is mostly overscored.Scores of their skater are always justified, they cannot see any mistakes in their athletes. Others are always overscored by judges and "home cooked"

Troll?

Because the edge of Kaetlyn's lutz is wrong too, and actually much easier to identify than Evgenia's edge on the lutz.

About the haters, to be fair a lot of people disliked many videos of her performances. Why? well at Skate Canada she has always received big scores no matter what, last year with 2 falls and a completely missed spin she received 59 beating so many skaters who actually were so much better. You can see a lot of disklikes also from other channels, much like so many people disliked Gracie's programs at Worlds, and Sotnikova's performances at Sochi (but i guess that was right for you). Japanese or Korean fans could have much more reasons to dislike a video of Kaetlyn's SP.

I'm actually shocked to see how many people upvoted this comment, wow i've discovered a new level of disappointment from this forum.

 

[Skinny80]

Why are you treating it so personally?whey you hmm. hate on others skater thats not trolling? Do i have to have your permission to write in here?Did Osmond do lutzes whole last season and got very high scores and broke WR winning worlds?You know that if Medviedeva compete in russia yesterday she would broke WR.
You are such a haters on Miyahara that she prerotates jumps, and judges does not see it,but Evgenia does it as well. So Satoko got lower score yesterday,what about E. Medviedeva?So please, dont blame Osmond for such a high scores in Canada. In Sochi all russians got overscored You dont mind home cooking in your own country ,do you ?
Many people do not like medviedeva skating. Live with it.She spends 1/3 of her time on ice doing pantomime and those funny faces. Her programs are all the same to me. And i cant see any differece. She could change the music i wouldnt notice. The same moves all the time.And russians say her combos are great- which one? 2a2t2t .Its painful to watch. I noticed no one is able to say anything wrong about the winners , the same is with D/R when one would like to talk about them with canadians .

 

[andromache]

Kaetlyn was all sorts of amazing!!! So good to see her back like that.

Evgenia - I actually like this SP, rope skipping and all... but... just imagine how awesome this could be if it was a real goodbye to her girlhood, her last program in that style... and then in the FS she emerges as a grownup lady with something suitably different!
As it is now, yep, it's getting too much sameness. But I love her blue dress!

Ahhhh now that you've said this, I love this concept and I am so disappointed they didn't go this route. Goodbye to girlhood in the short, then coming out in the LP in a black dress with a red lip to something dramatic and romantic. What a missed opportunity.

Btw Evgenia in the Kiss and Cry either the Sailor Moon Luna plushies was sooooo cute.

 

[Skinny80]

Mao got her 78 for fantastic program, with 3a. Mesmerizing skating, no dumb faces and all those stuff. Evgenia got high scores because of jumps in 2nd half of the program, but its not a point of figures skating . If Medviedeva got 76 for this piece of... program ,childish, junior program I dont what what we will see on Worlds.If anyone of you can tell me why I read it,

 

[Osmiumnitrate]

Looking at how high Evgenia's scores are at such early stage of the season, I wouldn't be surprised if she breaks the world record for SP at the next few competitions. If Evgenia was seeded for Rostelecom, I wouldn't be surprised at a 80+ SP Score either.
The issue I have against her is always about how overscored Evgenia is in terms of PCS. She should have gotten at most 33 for her PCS. Her programs are at best admirable but often forgettable and gives off the typical juniorish vibes. I don't blame her for this, but judges should fully recognise how even PCS is perfectly gamed in a way such that flailing arm movements give off an impression of better choreography and interpretation. Compared to many other skaters that actually bother to feel the true essence of their music (e.g: Wagner)....

As for Osmond: Overscored too, but not as bad at Evgenia. At least, Kaitlyn sells her program well. In fact, Evgenia and Kaitlyn should have gotten closer and more similar scores. In fact, I would even give the score advantage to Kaitlyn for executing more difficult jumps (3Lz vs 3Lo), with higher and more powerful jumps. But then again Evgenia backloads her jumps and does the tanos so I guess that evens out things mostly. I love the incredible speed Kaitlyn has for her layback spin which I felt should have been given higher GOEs than Evgenia, if not at least similar. However, this is judging based on the youtube videos that have been uploaded and I wasn't there personally to see both skaters at the actual venue.

For Liza: Underscored slightly in terms of PCS. I love how effortless and light her jumps appear to be as usual (if she doesn't fall). Too bad she had a 'meh' jump combo (3T+3T) albeit a decent point collector 3Lz. I don't understand the rationale of using 3T+3T in the SP since it doesn't give you much points even with GOE and backloading. Skaters lose that precious 1-2 TES scores because of 3T+3T in their SP. Nevertheless, its the safest jump combo to go for especially for inconsistent skaters, but a 3F+3T combo instead of 3Lz+3T followed by a 3F would have given her the TES edge.
Low PCS is given to her due to bad music choice (When can they start realising this?) which is hard to skate to and sell. The GOEs given for Liza's 3Lz is too low considering Liza has one of the best 3Lz in the current ladies field if landed cleanly as many judges gave her 0 GOE for that jump.

For Rika: She has been underscored for the entirety of her senior career and her SP at this competition is no exception. Probably because the Japanese Federation wasn't too keen to sell her as the flagship Japanese lady compared to that of Satoko or even the forever inconsistent Mao. Sad to say this, but this would probably continue for the rest of her career unless she starts to show something spectacular where people would actually start taking notice of her.

For Satoko: I am worried for this lady. Evgenia's rise has clearly knocked her status in the field as one of the top three ladies down to the fields of the top ten. It doesn't help that Russian skaters always appear to receive higher PCS despite Satoko having one of the better skating skills, choreography and skating skills in the field comparable with the likes of Wagner. Sadly, its more of her TES that affected her rankings rather than her PCS, since she received the third highest PCS for the SP.

For Alaine: I just want her 2016 Nationals performance back.

 

[Osmiumnitrate]

Mao got her 78 for fantastic program, with 3a. Mesmerizing skating, no dumb faces and all those stuff. She got high scores because of jumps in 2nd half of the program, but its not a point of figures skating . If Medviedeva got 76 for this piece of... program ,childish program I dont what what we will see on Worlds.If anyone of you can tell me why I read it,

I agree. Though they always say scores for different competitions cannot be compared, but since they're based on the same scoring system they should still be a basis for comparison. If Evgenia shatters Mao's record later this season, I just.... I don't know. I am not jumping to conclusions here, but based on how higher her scores already are so early in the season, it shouldn't come as a surprise if it happens.

 

[Tolstoj]

Why are you treating it so personally? Do i have to have your permission to write in here?Did Osmond do lutzes whole last season and got very high scores and broke WR winning worlds?You know that if Medviedeva compete in russia yesterday she would broke WR.

Many people do not like medviedeva skating. Live with it.She spends 1/3 of her time on ice doing pantomime and those funny faces. Her programs are all the same to me. And i cant see any differece. She could change the music i wouldnt notice. The same moves all the time.And russians say her combos are great- which one? 2a2t2t .Its painful to watch. I noticed no one is able to say anything wrong about the winners , the same is with D/R when one would like to talk about them with canadians

First of all Evgenia does the lutz just one time and in the Long program: they know the lutz isn't her best jump and they don't show this that often, while other skaters does their wrongly executed lutz and flip in both the short and the long program pretending no one will notice it, and as a judge i would call the edge everytime since you are doing this on purpose. Plus as i said it before i've seen worse flutzes from other skaters and it is not even that easy to recognize the wrong edge on Zhenya's lutz (if there is), but hey the haters watch only Evgenia's performances.

Second, Evgenia didn't win everything last season because of her lutz, sorry you are completely wrong. In the short program she has always received big scores because she is the only senior female skater to be able to skate a fully backloaded program, no one has the courage to replicate this at the senior circuit because it is so difficult. Satoko tried yesterday to backload her combo and it was clearly underrotated.

While in the long program she does two 3-3 combo, one of them at the very end of the program. Those are incredibily difficult programs from a bv standpoint, plus i've never seen an UR jump from her so the execution is always perfect, and she actually skates between those elements showing great SS, transitions, flexibility on the spins and her unique spiral...

Third, Medvedeva last season was actually beaten by Elena Radionova at the Rostelecom Cup, and she received coherent scores from what we had seen previously at Skate America. What are you talking about? These conspiracy theories against Russia and Russians skaters are soo annoying. Likely Evgenia can break the WR in the SP and she will deserved it at a certain point.

About her skating, you are talking about tastes: personally i love watching Evgenia's programs, and last season a lot of people praised her successess, even NBC and CBC commentators said great things about her talent. The choreo of the free skate is actually very different, and i really like some arms movements, while she raises the arm on the I-spin so even in the spins we see something different. Honestly i don't get these complains from you, there are skaters who recycles their programs much more.