I have a gif of Anna's lutz from her SP on my phone but have no idea how to uplaod it here.
Though I think the slowmo replay on video will do quite enough, so providing a gif will change no one's opinion.
My opinion is, it was no way an "e" lutz but ! would have been justified.
But whatever, I‘m happy for her. And Anna‘s getting a small gold for the FS so all is well.I knew it would start as soon as I saw Aliona won.
biggrin Savchenko were cheering her on!(Real scandal...Cough cough ice dance)
Okay, off-topic.
Now, back on topic: Liam Cross congratulating Aliona, saying he and Aljona
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7wgFqLI5sm/?igshid=gpcmzjppvrxx
Alena and Anna probably safe in the last group at Worlds but Sasha is not. There is Rika, Satoko, Bradie, Alena and Anna above her and there is Mariah and Eunsoo who could move up above Sasha with a 6th place in 4CC which is doable for Mariah at least, especially after how she skate at US nats. Higuchi also could move above Sasha with 5th place at 4CC.
I disagree. Alyona is million times better than Anna. Alyona is the full package, she is very fluid, has very good technique and the best skating skills. Also she has outside edge on her lutz (even though it is not deep outside edge) and the prerotation on her lutz is about 90 degrees. She rotates 2,75 rotations in the air when she jumps her triple lutz. Anna, on the other hand, prerotates a lot on her lutz jumps - more than 220 degrees on her quad lutz. She rotates 2,75 in the air and 0,5 on the ice for her quad lutz... the other 0,5 is missing completely... Not only that, but her lutz edge is flat. I think she should receive unclear edge for her lutz jumps, especially that she jumps 4 lutzes in her FS! And the GOE for her lutz jumps should go down since she prerotates a lot.I'll preface this by saying that I've always loved all of the 3A but have always held a soft spot for Anna, so I may be biased, but:
Anna deserved to win today.
None of the 3A were flawless today, so the win can't go to the one who was clean. Anna and Alena each had one fall, Anna on a quad lutz and Alena on a triple lutz. Each landed two difficult elements - Anna the 4Lz and 4F, and Alena a pair of incredible 3As. Anna backed up her skate with a 3Lz-3Lo and 3F-Eu-3S, while Alena had a (stunning) but easier 3F-3T. Both had level 3 steps with good GOE, and both have amazing spins, although Anna has more flexibility in her Biellmann and Alena more innovative positions. So, Anna wins technically for me - both with one fall, two ultra-difficult elements, and two exquisite combinations, but Anna with a harder element that she fell on.
Since both had a fall, their PCS was lower than in the past. I agree that Alena should have a higher score for skating skills, but today I think Anna was much better in interpretation and performance. That wasn't reflected in the scores. In the end, though, it's a sport, and with each skater having a fall, the one who produced the more difficult of their beautiful elements should've won. That's Anna.
It seems that Anna has to be completely clean (or have a minor error) with three quads to beat Alena with three triple axels and a mistake. That to me is critically unfair, and I think the problem stems from the SP rules. Triple axels and quads are both incredibly difficult, and yet only triple axels are allowed in the short. The reasoning for that aside, it would appear that the ISU is discouraging quads - discouraging harder elements - by having these rules and scoring Anna and Alena the way they did today. That's not progress for the sport, and it's disheartening. Fall on the second quad lutz aside, this was one of Anna's best performances (she's clearly grown into this program and it's so exciting to see!) but it seems like what she's doing isn't enough. And as a fan, it makes me upset and sad for her.
All this aside, she seems to do best when she's the underdog, so maybe this will let her go in and win Worlds decisively.
