Ladies SP thread - skating talk only

Talking about the scores is not allowed.

What did you all think of Elena's jumps? I thought they looked pretty bad, honestly, which breaks my heart. The 3T on her combo looked UR to me as well. They're just so muscled - which makes them not too pretty to look at. Even though she's prettier than ever, and it's obvious her body has filled out a lot since last season. But she's got fire and grit and knows how to sell a program. And I haven't even watched it with sound yet! I understand why she is the CoR darling for sure.

How do you think she'll do in the LP? More jumps = more problems?

I was very impressed with Yulia. Gorgeous, unique spin positions, and her jumps looked rather fluid, if small. She also wins best-dressed for the SP here, IMO.

Anna is a queen. Awkward landing or two, but still totally clean. She held on. And her confidence out there was great.

Lilibet's fall! But her stone-face in the K&C is my everything. What a warrior.

Soooo since I haven't watched them with music yet, what programs musically/choreographically impressed the most? The least?

I thought Elizabet's skate was so great! Lovely choreo and interpretation, fast and fluid. Shame about the fall. It looked like she landed it and then went tooo fast out of the balance position.

I haven't been a big fan of the women for the last few years, but I genuinely enjoyed all the programs on some level or another. I haven't watched the men yet, but the women were far more entertaining that either dance or pairs, which I generally found to be a bit lackluster. A genuinely nice surprise.

I liked Anna's until that horrendous travesty of a remix blasted out for the music. Then I was too busy face palming and weeping for my lovely Por Una Cabeza. I am annoyed. She has enough drama to sell the unadorned music with sensuality and flair. It didn't need that bombastic cut.

I really, really, REALLY enjoyed Lips' skate. I thought she looked more mature than before, more confident, and her dress was gorgeous. I look forward to her long/

WeakAnkles said:

I haven't been a big fan of the women for the last few years, but I genuinely enjoyed all the programs on some level or another. I haven't watched the men yet, but the women were far more entertaining that either dance or pairs, which I generally found to be a bit lackluster. A genuinely nice surprise.

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Yeah, usually ladiezzzzzz for me. But not today!

TheGrandSophy said:

I liked Anna's until that horrendous travesty of a remix blasted out for the music. Then I was too busy face palming and weeping for my lovely Por Una Cabeza. I am annoyed. She has enough drama to sell the unadorned music with sensuality and flair. It didn't need that bombastic cut.

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I was having horrifying flashbacks to the Eurotrash Tosca Bob/Sol welded onto the end of their otherwise lovely Man with the Harmonica FD of a few years ago.

Completely ruined the lovely mood she had set up to that point.

I was impressed by Yulia. However, I wish she'd slow her arm movements to be more thoughtful and deliberate rather than so rushed and meaningless.

Unpopular opinion: I love Anna's music cut! There's something so modern and edgy about it, though that edginess could also be called "trashy." Lol. On a skater with less sophistication than Anna that music wouldn't work, but I think she pulls it off.

I'm glad the non-ladies lovers liked the skating today. It's the best discipline at RC this year for sure. Not only the Russian ladies, but Elisabet and Zijun throwing down in the SP as well. One of them could podium if Yulia or Elena makes too many mistakes in the LP. I'm not expecting either to be at 100% - so a clean Zijun or Elisabet can contend.

There was some discussion of Zijun's coaching situation in the other thread so I just wanted to remark here that WOW - she skates delicate, but she is a fighter. I hope she proves herself this season with some good results.

I think Lijun still needed more drive in this skate for her to match the music. It felt like it overwhelmed her a little. However, she seemed faster than when I saw her at Worlds. She was very lovely, but she moved like treacle by the end of her programmes then. She seems very sweet so I'm rooting for her to do well.

andromache said:

Talking about the scores is not allowed.

What did you all think of Elena's jumps? I thought they looked pretty bad, honestly, which breaks my heart. The 3T on her combo looked UR to me as well. They're just so muscled - which makes them not too pretty to look at. Even though she's prettier than ever, and it's obvious her body has filled out a lot since last season.

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How many times do you write this? Elena's jumps ALREADY was cracky in the last season. At Euro 2016 and Worlds 2016 it was pretty painful to watch her jumps. (no words about music) Nothing has changed. And it's sad. I was hoping that she makes some improvements unlike last season. But... ugh. What I was noticed she became more slow. This is very bad.

Elena's jumps don't bother me as much as her bad posture does, but probably those issues are connected in a way. Do you see how she pulls her shoulders up when she jumps? She's a tall beautiful lady now and she shouldn't skate with a hunched back. Flowing fabrics could have hidden her posture to a certain degree, this black dress really is the worst possible choice. But I like the concept of the program and her interpretation. I don't think there's an easy solution for Elena's problems - she should have worked on ther posture years ago and now as she's struggling with her jumps is obviously not the time to work on it.
Anna wasn't perfect but good enough, she's a fighter and I enjoyed her program. Julia was very beautiful and elegant, her combo was very good, but she looks very thin, probably she needs to keep her weight down to have consistent jumps? She looks almost fragile.
Dark Zijun and Courtney were enjoyable as well (due to different reasons). Elizabet's SP really suits her, but I'd have wished for a different dress, a more mature styling overall.
I hope for all the ladies that they'll have enough energy for the FS. I don't doubt that Anna has, she looks very strong physically, but I'm not so sure about Elena and Julia.

Elizabet's short seems to get better every time she skates it. She was really selling it out there and even cracked a smile despite the fall. The step sequence is brilliant.

Zijun is so courageous – making the decision to leave her coach, train alone, and still come out there and skate a clean programme with great presentation and choreography. She's the new hero in our household!

Miss Pogirilaya has a horrible music cuts, but she is a diva and she sells it. I hope she cleans up her jumping technique a bit.

Miss Radionova is a disappointment to me, she has not improved much ever since her first senior season. Her landings are bad all the same.

Miss Lipnitkaya has improved a lot, however I am afraid she needs longer time than just 2 years to work herself back to the top, and I am afraid time is running out for her.

Miss Li has improved. But again it's her stamina in the free skate the issue, so not much difference for now.

I was totally smashed by Yulia. Wow, wow, and wow! Everything: her looks, her posture, her spins, her skating - just not from this world. I understand she has to work on her reputation and to start to skate good FPs. But she is the queen of short programs already.

I also liked Anna a lot. Speed, confidence, jumps, beauty. Tsareva was happy - she looks different now. I was happy as well as I adore Pogo.

I enjoyed Lena's program - a big step forward since the last year. I think her posture has in fact improved. If last season, I think, they were similar in that respect with Rika, this time I would argue that Lena is much more elegant. And her skating has become more fluid. Her jumps do not look secure but there is no deterioration since the last season. Especially knowing that it is her first competition.

I liked Zijun. She looks much faster than before. And she has been always elegant and stylish.

As for Elizabeth, one cannot deny her technical abilities. She is fast and she manages to do so many different movements - I think she has twice the density of movements of an average skater. But all in all I would agree with TAT it looks very juniorish - I guess, she even said "childish".

In general quite a good event. Let's see what happens tomorrow. The biggest question for me if Yulia can show a clean Kill Bill with at least 5 (better 7) triples.

How was Courtney Hicks? I am really excited that she's in the top six and in striking distance of placing 4th. If that happens, I personally, would see it as a huge victory for her. This field of ladies is as deep as the ocean and I'll be proud of her if she has a solid skate. I'm also want to send good vibes out to Max and hope he has another brilliant Free Program like he at Lomdardia and comes home happy.

I've only been able to watch Anna, Elena, and Yulia so here are my thoughts for the 3 Russians:

Anna- I love her speed across the ice, her intensity and newfound confidence. She has really grown since the beginning of last season. If she continues this trajectory, I can see her being the new Russian and World #1. The pop/hiphop mix at the end I was not fond of, but Anna sold it and made it work!

Elena- my favorite, so of course I'm biased. Still a bit coltish compared to the other two, but this is her first competition so I'm hoping she looks more polished as the season goes on. She is charming and charismatic as usual, and this program is a pleasure to watch. I'm relieved her jumps look OK, but this is just the SP, so I guess the real test will be the FS.

Yulia- she was just mesmerizing on the ice. I always thought her Schindler's List program was a bit overrated, and her later programs with Eteri just seemed like similar versions of that. I honestly did not get the hype around her. But wow, she has matured so much since switching coaches. I totally get the hype now.

andromache said:

Talking about the scores is not allowed.

What did you all think of Elena's jumps? I thought they looked pretty bad, honestly, which breaks my heart. The 3T on her combo looked UR to me as well. They're just so muscled - which makes them not too pretty to look at. Even though she's prettier than ever, and it's obvious her body has filled out a lot since last season. But she's got fire and grit and knows how to sell a program. And I haven't even watched it with sound yet! I understand why she is the CoR darling for sure.

How do you think she'll do in the LP? More jumps = more problems?

I was very impressed with Yulia. Gorgeous, unique spin positions, and her jumps looked rather fluid, if small. She also wins best-dressed for the SP here, IMO.

Anna is a queen. Awkward landing or two, but still totally clean. She held on. And her confidence out there was great.

Lilibet's fall! But her stone-face in the K&C is my everything. What a warrior.

Soooo since I haven't watched them with music yet, what programs musically/choreographically impressed the most? The least?

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Elena's jumps are the same as last year at worlds: she needs a little more height and more control on the landing, the only thing the 2a is becoming a problem (i guess because of her weird entrance)

We know very little about her after Test skates, i guess she worked hard to get back on track for the Rostelecom cup so likely she will skate relatively clean even in the FS: i don't think we will see a different layout or different combo just because the bv of her LP last season was already good to beat Evgenia on paper, but watch out for the style of this program and the artistry. (because this is where she is trying to improve)

Yulia makes me more concerned: the 3t-3t was beautiful but she is capable to do the Ltz-toe or even backload T-T combo so i guess the changes are made because she is still not at her best; plus the 3F doesn't convince me so much. The program is beautiful as it was at Russian test skates, but in the long program she has to pull out those jumps (even with the mistakes on the edge) otherwise Elizabet will overtake her.

Anna surprised me more than anyone else: there were few mistakes on the landings but she had the confidence of the champion, she sold the program beautifully (i've no problems with the remix) and even Anna Tsareva was much happier than usual.

Elizabet was absolutely great and i think she could even overtake Julia in the SP with a clean performance: the posture though is still junior level, and i liked the previous dress more than this one.

I don't know if Zijun is trained by Mishin now but i can definitely see improvements in her jumps: beautiful 3t-3t (bigger than what we saw at worlds), 3F okay, 2a maybe little UR. Love the program, much more mature than her previous balletic classical pieces.

Courtney Hicks -> same as Mirai: love the skater but not her programs, she deserves better choreographers in my opinion (even though this SP is not as bad as the previous one).

Tolstoj said:

Yulia makes me more concerned: the 3t-3t was beautiful but she is capable to do the Ltz-toe or even backload T-T combo so i guess the changes are made because she is still not at her best; plus the 3F doesn't convince me so much. The program is beautiful as it was at Russian test skates, but in the long program she has to pull out those jumps (even with the mistakes on the edge) otherwise Elizabet will overtake her.

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This reminds me...does anyone know why Yulia is doing a flip in the SP if it gets "!"? Why not a Lz instead?

andromache said:

This reminds me...does anyone know why Yulia is doing a flip in the SP if it gets "!"? Why not a Lz instead?

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Miss Lipnitkaya has questionable edge in both Lutz and Flip.