Worlds: Ladies SP

The 2019 World Figure Skating Championships Ladies event was held in Saitama, Japan, on Wednesday evening. A total of 40 women skated the Short Program with Alina Zagitova of Russia taking the lead, followed by Japan's Kaori Sakamoto and Elizabet Tursynbaeva of Kazakhstan.

“The audience really helped me today,” said the European silver medalist. “It was a good performance. I didn’t always skate so well in the short program this season. There were some underrotations or other little errors. Here, I skated with joy, I didn’t have to hold back. The audience was great, I love to skate here. I know there are also Russian fans here and I heard their support and it helped me. I was calm. After my score, I was happy for a moment, but now I’m focusing on the free skating.”

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What are your thoughts on the event? Which were your favorite programs? Disappointments?

Sad Rika waxeled and is 11 points behind (!!), but it's just tradition at this point, you know. I hope her free skate will ascend her to gold - but considering the astonishing season she's had, I'll try not to be too greedy lol. I'm happy if she's happy.

Eunsoo and Kaori were truly spectacular. Some of the PCS marks were ?????? but IDK. I don't even know what we could do to fix it. :confused2: I just wish everyone good luck for the FS.

Absolutley great to see Lil Bet in the top 3 after the SP.

It was exciting. I was so nervous for the Russian ladies. I am happy they delivered. Eunsoo Lim was a pleasant surprise. Medvedeva's program is so much better than the program she had last autumn. Of course I am sad Emmi Peltonen fell and did not make it into the free. The FS will be very interesting. I think all top ten (or twelve) skated well.

Very, very surprised by the standings. :shocked: Get ready for a long post with lots of thoughts...

Alina looking so happy at the end of her skate made me relieved. She looked so stressed throughout this season and to finally see her crack a smile like that was heartwarming. Still overscored as usual, but she was definitely one of the best skaters of the night. :agree:

Another great skate from Kaori! She looked a bit more tentative here than usual, but that's understandable because it's her first Worlds and a home Worlds at that. The 2A wasn't the best from her (only because her regular 2As are just that amazing ) so she lost some points there. I hope Kaori can keep herself together this time and do a long program she can be proud of.

I think this was Elizabet's best SP performance ever. The jumps were on, the timing was on, and she interpreted a little more than usual. As a fan, I'm really proud to see her peak at the perfect time! That being said, the PCS is very questionable. Even if her artistry has improved, I still don't find it to be 33+ level. At first, I thought this sudden jump would be due to her being the 4CC silver medalist - but that wouldn't make much sense since Sofia - European Champion - still got relatively lower PCS. So I concluded that it's one of the following...
1) The judges are already rewarding her for her quad attempts despite not even doing the LP yet
2) Seeing Eteri FINALLY accompany her in the Kiss & Cry convinced the judges to go crazy
Either way, I'm disappointed by the odd scoring, but still really excited for Elizabet.

I know Evgenia already had a good SP in her last competition, but it was still relieving to see her do it cleanly again. While I'm still not too fond of the program, her passion and commitment into the character won me over. She has been through a lot this season, so I hope she can end the season on a good note!

Eunsoo making the top 6 was one of the biggest surprises of the night. To be honest, I was really hoping it would somehow happen and it did, but now I feel guilty about it! Anyways, Eunsoo's performance was lovely today, and she did extremely well considering the injury she got in practice. I hope being so high in the standings won't spook her too much in the FS, because whether or not she can skate it cleanly is the big question here.

Also a nice surprise to see Mariah in the final group. The combo was shaky, but she didn't let the performance go, which is a good mindset. I really hope the rumors surrounding her and Eunsoo aren't true - too much drama for me to bear. Hoping for a good skate in the free!

Rika...I was kinda expecting this to happen. She looked way too nervous when her name was called. Poor thing...so much pressure put onto her at her first Worlds, and it's in Japan too. We all know how much of a fighter Rika has become though, and a clean or even semi-clean performance in the FS should be enough for her to move up dramatically. I'll be cheering for her!

Satoko's TES was absolutely on point - they rightfully called the combo and her spins weren't as fast today. But the PCS is unacceptable. Yes, she was once again showing signs of nervousness today, but only 0.05 higher than Elizabet? And lower than GPF? I don't know what these judges were thinking here, and to think that if she got the PCS she deserved than she'd be in the final group. :curse:

Sofia doing her thing as usual. She didn't stand out in the midst of the more polished skaters, but she interprets her music well and I appreciate that greatly. As I said before, I was a little surprised that the European title didn't give her that big of a PCS boost. We'll see how this plays out in the FS.

Bradie also seemed very nervous today. It's a little sad to think that she changed her combo to 3Lz-3T for consistency and less risk, but it didn't work out that way here, and she's standing pretty far behind. The FS should be interesting.

A great redemption skate for Gabby, and just like Alina, to see her smile is so rewarding. I hope she can continue this momentum onto the FS and regardless of errors, be happy for what she put out there, because deciding to even compete here is a big decision for her - very impressive.

I laughed, I cried (ok, I didn't cry; I'm not much of a crier), I threw popcorn at the monitor over some of the usual idiotic scoring. But it was on the whole a very good competition. Good for Gabby to get back on that horse. Personal triumph for her.

The final flight is going to be super interesting, although I wish Mariah had gotten called on that UR.

Eunsoo was radiant and I'm glad Gabby is back, too. Considering the year she's had, her smile and fist pump at the end of her program really got to me. Kaori is the queen of my heart and I just want a flawless free from her considering her free is probably my favorite ladies' program of all time - I know it's a long shot for her to get even a medal considering Alina has the tech and PCS, Evgenia has the PCS, Elisabet has the 4S layout now on top of similar PCS, and Rika always has the 3As, but man, I just really want her to get something. She deserves it so much. Judges, please don't make me rant for hours tomorrow.

Will keep it short: there were great skates, there were sad skates, I get some of the scores and I have a lot of questions for some of the other scores. Eunsoo, my darling, made me weep with joy (and relief) with a stunning performance. I can't care about the rumors right now, I'm too busy worried about her not being overcome with being in the final flight with an injury to boot. Will probably be even more anxious for the free, I have no idea how I'm going to survive it.

What's with the wild 3F scoring? Hendrickx ranged from -1 to 4, and Tennell from -3 to 3.

Satoko's PCS keeps going down :sad4::sad4: Make it stop please... I swear if they don't reward her in the free when she has the best tango of the season, including all of Ice Dance...

Seriously disgusted with the scoring, once again turns me off ladies skating or figure skating as a whole, at least within the context of a competition.

Rika Rika Rika ..... I love that girl so much but she really has a mental block about the 3A in the short. She landed 3 perfect 3A in the warmup and then she popped it. I knew she was going to when I saw how nervous she was at the start of her program. Thankfully, that only puts her behind the other ladies a bit because the 2A is only worth 3.3 points but she is going to have to be perfect in the free to have any hope of winning and she will need a little help from Alina.

I am happy Alina had a good skate. I don’t enjoy her programs this year but I like her. She seems like such a kind hardworking, and beautiful young lady. I think the GOE and PCS are a bit too high but she is the Olympic Champion so that is par for the course.

Happy Elizabet did well. I am very confused by her PCS scores being higher than Eunsoo and Mariah who are ( in my opinion) far superior artistically to her. But, she is a hardworker and I admire her for that.

Kaori was beautiful. She flows across the ice. Happy for her! Deserved score

This was definitely the best short of the season for Evgenia. I felt she was finally performing! I think she should have been in 3rd place.

Eunsoo was breathtaking! Mariah was lovely! Bradie was struggling with nerves. Leona H. has so much potential. Gabby did great!

Satoko was robbed. She is really the only skater here who deserves 37 PCS and they gave her 34. I don’t understand what the judges are seeing. She is perfection. The TES was fair but the judges are crazy if they think Elizabet and Satoko are at the same level artistically.

I was happy to see the first two groups of girls skate well. There were so many smiles in the K&C.

Sam-Skwantch said:

Absolutley great to see Lil Bet in the top 3 after the SP.

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Yeah, she was phenomenal - super clean elements (only a bit of a wobble on the flying camel spin entrace). Definitely the right move for her from Orser to Tutberidze - she's looking way more solid and confident, and this is allowing her to interpret/perform more. For an Eteri program (where the choreo can be iffy/overworked on the transitions), I quite enjoyed the choreo, and there were some lovely highlights like the Besti into the 2A. Hoping she can medal here, or even win if she pulls off that 4S.

Eunsoo and Elizabeth were my favourite SP today. On a side note I do NOT like the TAT comment at the beginning of the performance of Eunsoo: "I don't understand how can a male (Arutyunyan) can work with such a beauty".

What is she implying with that comment, because that's so inappropriate and revolting to joke about, come on...

pororocheburashka said:

Eunsoo and Elizabeth were my favourite SP today. On a side note I do NOT like the TAT comment at the beginning of the performance of Eunsoo: "I don't understand how can a male (Arutyunyan) can work with such a beauty".

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OMG actually? Ew. TAT, come on...

what's with Elizabet and Sofia PCS? it's like judges swap their PCS, in EC Sofia got 33 almost 34 while Elizabet got 31-32 in 4CC iirc. aside from that i think everything is fine

Almost everyone did so well today.

I'm still stressed out about Rika popping her money jump but that's nothing new. XD In fact, it would be new if she landed it. LOL
Still rooting for her to win the free and win WC overall. She and her FS are just magnificent. I hope (and pray) that she'll be calmer in the free. She looked too nervous during the warmup so I wasn't surprised.

So proud of Alina to deliver so well today. She looked more relaxed. I felt so proud when she went off the ice and hugged Eteri. That sure was an emotional moment for her. Good job!! Overscored in PCS tho (by about 1 and a half but still)

Kaori was magnificent! I watched with my officemate and she was so amazed at Kaori. She said that everything she did flowed smoothly. That PCS was a bit low. She deserved more.

Satoko was more nervous and seemed a bit slower than usual but still, her skating is beautiful and her interpretation was on point. Deserved much higher PCS than she got.

Zhenya did so well. I'm so proud that she's getting back on track and proving to everyone that she deserved that spot. Although I would say she's still overscored in PCS (as always). I would argue that her performance today is not better than Kaori or Satoko.

I'm so proud of Eunsoo. After her injury, she went out there and did her best SP of the season. That's my girl!

I'm really happy to see Elizabet in the mix for a podium finish. Wow, this girl came from the lower ranks and bam! Top 3 in the SP! She worked hard for this moment. It's her time to shine. Go with the quad sal Lilbet!!
Although I do not agree that her PCS is virtually tied with Satoko and Kaori and better than Eunsoo. Nope.

Looking forward to the free skate. May the best lady win!

I do like surprises, and some were great to see: Mariah Bell, Evgenia Medvedeva (although I had a good feeling about Zhenya days ago, so more happy than surprised). Rika popping to a Single this time.

But I think the biggest surprise was my own response to Elizabet's skating. This was the first time I'd perceived much if any artistry from her. I do think her confidence that she'd come through with her technique (due to Eteri, or due to her strong showing at 4CC, or both) seems to have freed something up in her; perhaps the artistry has been there all along, but I didn't see it before. The quality of freedom in skating performance has a great effect on my enjoyment.

randomfan said:

I think this was Elizabet's best SP performance ever. The jumps were on, the timing was on, and she interpreted a little more than usual. As a fan, I'm really proud to see her peak at the perfect time! That being said, the PCS is very questionable. Even if her artistry has improved, I still don't find it to be 33+ level. At first, I thought this sudden jump would be due to her being the 4CC silver medalist - but that wouldn't make much sense since Sofia - European Champion - still got relatively lower PCS. So I concluded that it's one of the following...
1) The judges are already rewarding her for her quad attempts despite not even doing the LP yet

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That's how it seemed to me. But wait a minute ... what if some of the individual judges had a similar response to her skating as I did? What if each of those wanted to reward her artistic quality, but didn't really expect the other judges to be affected that way? (I realize they've been watching her practices all week, and may not have been as surprised as I was, but you get the idea.) There may have been something spontaneous at work here ... and the judges really have very little time to consider this. I think the power of a performance creates an impulse to reward it.

So that's my Random Thought for the day. Suffice it to say that I always enjoy seeing something new in a skater that I hadn't seen before. :hap93:

I was so pleased for Gabby Daleman. Attagirl!

So, how many points can Rika Kihira make up in the long program if she hits both triple Axels? She can't catch Alina Zagitova unless Alina makes some mistakes. But the podium is not out of reach for Rika.

On the other hand, Elizabet T can't be denied if she lands a 4S.