2015 Rostelecom Cup Ladies SP | Page 41 | Golden Skate

2015 Rostelecom Cup Ladies SP

Shayuki

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
I was really pleased to see her skate the jumps so cleanly, with absolutely no doubt about rotation and no two-footing. She needs to take that same aggressiveness into the LP. I was also pleasantly surprised by how musically sophisticated the choreography was. A real step up, lots of interesting phrasing and movement.

Yeah I've actually never even paid attention to her jumping specifically so it was strange realizing that she actually is very good at jumping, even though the PCS stuff is what I really enjoy about her... I also really love her SP music and choreography for this season. I also really like Medvedeva's music(The choreo feels a bit yawn yawn yawn -> bam bam bam -> end). On the other hand, I really like Radionova but her programs are the worst of the season once again... I miss like 2012-2014 when I actually loved her programs and music choices.

Performance / expressing the music isn't only about PCS btw, it affects levels and GOE of step sequence and you get +GOE for elements that fit music.
 
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MaiKatze

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
LOL, Radionova might actually ride that iceberg to a Grand Prix final spot. Too good, too good.

I think that was/is the plan. Gosh, I love Elena, she's my favourite from the russian skaters, alright. But was that her best short program ever? The judges think so, but I just don't see it.

All in all, this was the weirdest competition sonce a long time for me. Normally I usually have a feel for the placement and the points after a skater skates. Here I was surprised by the judging.
 
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Globetrotter

Medalist
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
I just rewatched the ladies SP's and I must say that I'm not overly happy with the scoring.
As much as I like Elena R., I can't see how she's getting 33+ PCS for this arm flailing engaging performance. Yes, she's fun to watch, but that's also a problem with this choice of music, she's kind of caricaturing the feeling of desperation in the music (She's suffering, but she's enjoying it a lot. So she enjoys suffering). I could live with 31+ PCS. But maybe she gets +2 for looking gorgeous.
When you look at Polina's PCS then it's kind of ... irritating. Polina's skating is slower, but everything else is more sophisticated. And she gets 30+? :scratch2: And Alaine and Rika are giving engaging performances too, the difference between the PCS of those four ladies shouldn't be 3 points in my opinion.

That is the intent of PCS to measure different components which are subjective - at least if they are actually scored properly. Even the more technical components of SS and TR are also subjective to an extent. I actually rewatched and reviewed the scores and reread the ISF description of the components. There has also been lots of discussion on this thread on the component scores. My take, totally personal.

SS. In the COR, the best SS lady is clearly Ade Sots. However, I still wouldn't say she has very good SS. Besides speed, SS also assesses edge work, using edge to gain speed, multidirectional skating and basic stroking. Sots is fast but I won't rate her high on multidirectional skating (she skates circular primarily) and edge work balance is just average. For that matter, I do think skaters like Medvedeva and Wagner are over scored in SS when their blade work and edges are weak. Besides Mao, Gracie Gold has the best SS. They are not as fast as Sots but the edge control and coverage and multi directional changes put them ahead IMO.

PE. Sots and Lena Radio are strongest. They emote well and certainly know how to work the audience. Being able to put audience and judges in a positive frame of mind and bring able to engage emotionally means they will unwittingly get generous scores. For that matter, Evgenya is also great in this aspect. PE has nothing to do with SS. Gracie has huge SS but PE wise is just flat for me. Personally, I think Evgenya deserves even higher PE in the low 8s. Just love her grit fighting back after the fall. Sots got what I think was deserved. That's why I dislike it that PChan gets huge PCS all across when his real strength is SS. Same that Javi hits it when PE, IN is his deserving areas but SS is weaker.

Ade Sots has the best IN n CR and she deserves higher IN component. In contrast, Evgenya is over scored in CR and also deserve lower IN. Her programme is structured to max out CoP points technically but she can essentially skate to any music - the elements do not correspond to the music structure n that frantic jump jump jump in the second half does not work for me. Especially since Melodii Beloj Nochi is a very beautiful piece to interpret and her team just have it there just as a piece of music. Her programme was not set to the music. Alaine to me was also underscored in IN. She was engaging and played the part well. I love Lena Radio as a performer but I can't say her IN of this music moved me much, so I think her scores should rightly be in the mid 7s for IN.

TR. Lena has the most transitions packed, along with Evgenya but I think nobody really impresses me in terms of TR. Certainly none of the current skaters are in the league of Caro or Mao in terms of TR.

Overall, I think the placement positions are appropriate. I just dislike how the components are almost scored similarly across within the skater herself when the skater clearly has very different strengths for the components.
 

IleK

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
I love Elena but I don't understand her score. She had the same program structure as Alaine with both having level 4 at everything and with Alaine having perfect jumps and spins and amazing coreography. On the other hand Elena's jumps were weaker especially the combo and the program is... what it is, yes she can sell anything we know that. But PCS aside because this is too subjective, I don't understand how Elena has better tech than Alaine.
For me Alaine had the best skate of the night and the best SP I've seen in a long time. I just love it, with or without the jumps.
As for the rest, it was a great competititon, a fierce one, I liked every single girl. In fact, I loved them. Joshi, Roberta, even Dasa, Polina, Adelina, Evghenia, Alaine, Rika, Yuka (oh Yuka, she is so heavenly beautiful), Elena, can I put all of them on the podium? The least I liked were Hannah and Riona. Too slow for my taste.
I hope Alaine can build on SP succes, she really needs to concentrate. I won't mind if she doesn't medal because it is a very high competition here but I would really mind to see her falling apart in the LP after such a great SP.
So If I really must choose, I am rooting for Alaine, Yuka and Adelina to show great LP that I haven't yet seen this season. And I think Roberta too, because even If I personally haven' t seen her LP, I think she hasn't had a clean one yet. And I bet is great. And I root for Evghenia, Elena and Rika to make the podium so that all of them can go to the GPF. I think 1.Elena, 2.Rika and 3.Evghenia would do:)
 

Art&Sport

Medalist
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
I really like Elena Radionova, and I think she has matured quite a bit, but the judges did some home-cooking with that score. Elena appeared to have slowed down her rushing in her first GP performance, but here she pressed more (maybe that works for her since she did not have any bad tech mistakes). However, the shoulder hunching really has to go, as does the too flingy arms.

Hongo is always consistent in landing the jumps, but her skating is a hot mess. Sotnikova was okay, and she's clearly more confident and mature. She has grown in different ways from her DWTS experience. Still, Sotnikova is not overly strong technically -- she has issues to work on. Scoring definitely uneven at this event.

Happy for Chartrand doing well here in the sp. We shall see how she holds up in fp. Chartrand has a lot of talent, but she needs to become more consistent in order to build momentum.

Unfortunate problem on the double axel for Hannah Miller. And when you are a newbie and make a mistake, you will be hammered. I hope she moves forward with confidence and performs to her best in the fp.

Polina met the challenge, and she is showing more maturity, as well as being determined as always.
 
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Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 29, 2013
Country
United-States
I love Elena but I don't understand her score. She had the same program structure as Alaine with both having level 4 at everything and with Alaine having perfect jumps and spins and amazing coreography. On the other hand Elena's jumps were weaker especially the combo and the program is... what it is, yes she can sell anything we know that. But PCS aside because this is too subjective, I don't understand how Elena has better tech than Alaine.
For me Alaine had the best skate of the night and the best SP I've seen in a long time. I just love it, with or without the jumps.


Strictly going by TES:
I noticed they are only 1pt apart and when I looked at the protocols. Lena scored half a point higher on the Layback Spin (Beilmann) and also a half point higher on the loop jump. That's pretty much the difference in TES.

Alaine scored higher on the 3z-3t but Lena caught up with other spins to square off that difference.
 
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solani

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 8, 2014
Country
Austria
That is the intent of PCS to measure different components which are subjective - at least if they are actually scored properly. Even the more technical components of SS and TR are also subjective to an extent. I actually rewatched and reviewed the scores and reread the ISF description of the components. There has also been lots of discussion on this thread on the component scores. My take, totally personal.

SS. In the COR, the best SS lady is clearly Ade Sots. However, I still wouldn't say she has very good SS. Besides speed, SS also assesses edge work, using edge to gain speed, multidirectional skating and basic stroking. Sots is fast but I won't rate her high on multidirectional skating (she skates circular primarily) and edge work balance is just average. For that matter, I do think skaters like Medvedeva and Wagner are over scored in SS when their blade work and edges are weak. Besides Mao, Gracie Gold has the best SS. They are not as fast as Sots but the edge control and coverage and multi directional changes put them ahead IMO.

PE. Sots and Lena Radio are strongest. They emote well and certainly know how to work the audience. Being able to put audience and judges in a positive frame of mind and bring able to engage emotionally means they will unwittingly get generous scores. For that matter, Evgenya is also great in this aspect. PE has nothing to do with SS. Gracie has huge SS but PE wise is just flat for me. Personally, I think Evgenya deserves even higher PE in the low 8s. Just love her grit fighting back after the fall. Sots got what I think was deserved. That's why I dislike it that PChan gets huge PCS all across when his real strength is SS. Same that Javi hits it when PE, IN is his deserving areas but SS is weaker.

Ade Sots has the best IN n CR and she deserves higher IN component. In contrast, Evgenya is over scored in CR and also deserve lower IN. Her programme is structured to max out CoP points technically but she can essentially skate to any music - the elements do not correspond to the music structure n that frantic jump jump jump in the second half does not work for me. Especially since Melodii Beloj Nochi is a very beautiful piece to interpret and her team just have it there just as a piece of music. Her programme was not set to the music. Alaine to me was also underscored in IN. She was engaging and played the part well. I love Lena Radio as a performer but I can't say her IN of this music moved me much, so I think her scores should rightly be in the mid 7s for IN.

TR. Lena has the most transitions packed, along with Evgenya but I think nobody really impresses me in terms of TR. Certainly none of the current skaters are in the league of Caro or Mao in terms of TR.

Overall, I think the placement positions are appropriate. I just dislike how the components are almost scored similarly across within the skater herself when the skater clearly has very different strengths for the components.
Our perception is not that different. I think that Adelina's PCS was well deserved, but Elena R. got a higher PCS than Adelina. Elena's PE score is weird to me, because of what I think about her performance (see my post above). Even if we say that Elena's SS are as good as Adelina's, this cannot really be, because Elena's posture isn't good (yet, she's better posture than last season, I see improvement there). It's easier to gain speed with a hunched back. I disagree on your perception of Gracie, because I think her PE this season is very good, she can relate to her programs and her performance is spot on. They got the packaging right this season, she's fierce.
 

Mirunna

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
Like i said, we don't know what they will do with TEB skaters. So Liza could get in if they decide to duplicate previous results

That will not happen. What do you mean duplicate previous results? Arbitrary awarding Liza with a silver at TEB? No, it won't happen.
Between Rika and Liza: both had so far a silver medal. Rika's total score from China is better than Liza's in Canada (Rika had superior performances). In Paris, Liza bombed her Sp. Rika's SP from Russia scored way better than Liza in Paris. If Rika skates well enough to get on the podium no way in hell ISU will send Liza instead. Like I've said, the only way Liza gets into the GPF is as a seventh competitor.
 

IleK

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Strictly going by TES:
I noticed they are only 1pt apart and when I looked at the protocols. Lena scored half a point higher on the Layback Spin (Beilmann) and also a half point higher on the loop jump. That's pretty much the difference in TES.

Alaine scored higher on the 3z-3t but Lena caught up with other spins to square off that difference.

Thank you. It was pretty close so they gave it to Lena. It would have been the other way around in Canada I suppose. Anyway, I like the fact that there is an open battle, there many young good skaters with their strenghts and weaknesses and still no one who is always in the lead like Mao and Yuna were. It makes figure skating more interesting, at least for me.
I am mad at Eurosport because there is no live broadcating of ladies LP, Manchester match is much more important. And I can't watch it later either becauze it is only on Eurosport HD and I don't have it:(
 
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