2015 JGP J&T Banka Aug 21 Ladies Free Skate

[satine]

1. Polina TSURSKAYA ..........66.08+123.42=189.50
   [*]Mai MIHARA ...................60.81+118.55=179.36
   [*]Vivian LE .......................61.45+114.85=176.30
2. Rin NITAYA .....................47.19+103.16=150.35
3. Valeriya MIKHAILOVA ........53.44+87.88=141.32
4. Emily CHAN .....................49.60+89.28=138.88
5. Lucrezia GENNARO ............43.30+86.17=129.47
6. So Hyun AN ....................40.29+85.78=126.07
7. Kim CHEREMSKY ...............45.53+78.92=124.45
8. Hee Soo CHO ..................43.63+80.61=124.24
9. Nicole SCHOTT ................38.39+77.17=115.56
10. Marina POPOV .................38.05+71.34=109.39
11. Shaline RUEGGER ..............40.06+68.23=108.29
12. Alexandra HAGAROVA ........37.80+67.85=105.65
13. Shuran YU ......................36.78+65.29=102.07
14. Fruzsina MEDGYESI ...........38.46+60.99=99.45
15. Aleksandra BUTKO ............38.26+58.47=96.73
16. Elzbieta KROPA ................37.43+54.68=92.11
17. Natalie KLOTZ .................29.55+60.53=90.08
18. Amanda STAN .................33.25+55.86=89.11
19. Kristen SPOURS ...............28.13+60.93=89.06
20. Nina LETENAYOVA ............34.83+50.40=85.23
21. Emma JANG .....................31.90+53.06=84.96
22. Jana COUFALOVA .............35.65+48.72=84.37
23. Anna GORDIENKO .............30.86+52.57=83.43
24. Zhansaya ADYKHANOVA ....29.85+45.44=75.29
25. Malika SHARSHENBAEVA ....26.73+48.08=74.81
26. Cindy Yu XIA ..................28.82+41.94=70.76
27. Shokhsanam TOKHIROVA ...21.15+40.27=61.42
28. Louwee SHIBATA .............18.40+36.09=54.49

Congratulations!

 

[apgold]

Wow, Polina won by 10 points, congrats to her!

The top 3 were really head and shoulders above the rest. Congrats to Mai and Vivian, too!

 

[invisiblespiral]

What's Tsurskaya's second event? And Le's? Mai was a nice surprise, and I don't think Mikhailova's keeping her 2nd slot... nor is Rin getting another one...

 

[Chemistry66]

I misspoke. I meant for now. But it couldn't have been easy for her knowing that she doesn't have a coach to be by her side. I wonder if figure skating with benefit for having a program like gymnastics for you have a head coach supporting the whole team like Béla Károlyi.

I think that gymnastics lends itself to a National Team program better than FS because of the facilities required (since multiple gymnasts can be easily working without worrying about interference from other gymnasts, whereas skating on the same rink requires more attention to not bump into each other.) Having someone like Marta is useful there. And usually major gym events have multiple coaches on the floor who take responsibility for the athletes even if every single coach can't be there.

But I thought that most of the time, there was a team leader for a USA delegation to international FS events. So even if the one coach was busy with the skater about to skate, I agree that SOMEONE should have been with Emily.

 

[frida80]

Not a bad start for team USA. Vivian got a bronze medal for her very first international competition. And Emily got sixth place for her very first competition. Hope the rest of the girls can keep up this momentum.

Looks like there's going to be a team Russia versus team japan versus team USA thing going on here.

 

[StitchMonkey]

Yes, it was the Men's free skate Kiss and Cry in SLC. IIRC, the skater represented Mexico ... and I think the coach was unable to travel to SLC.
Coughlin reached out to the skater after noticing that he had been alone in the SP Kiss and Cry.

I am wondering whether it is possible that the JGP has stricter rules (compared to SLC/Challenger) about who is permitted to sit in the Kiss and Cry with each skater?? Maybe the JGP doesn't allow anyone except the skater's own coach or choreographer of record??

That is certainly possible. It is also possible she did not care. I was a bit of a smart aleck weirdo growing up and could easily see myself rather enjoying being the werido who was in the K&C alone... i may have liked having my own spot light so to speak.

 

[Forpost]

Easy win for Polina.

 

[NaVi]

IMO Polina, Mai and Vivian were overscored. They were good, but not that good.

Comparing to last year's juniors(Vivian to say Sotskova at the Jr Grand Prix Final, Polina to Evgenia/Sima) I agree.

 

[sabinfire]

Yes, it was the Men's free skate Kiss and Cry in SLC. IIRC, the skater represented Mexico ... and I think the coach was unable to travel to SLC.
Coughlin reached out to the skater after noticing that he had been alone in the SP Kiss and Cry.

I am wondering whether it is possible that the JGP has stricter rules (compared to SLC/Challenger) about who is permitted to sit in the Kiss and Cry with each skater?? Maybe the JGP doesn't allow anyone except the skater's own coach or choreographer of record??

I'm curious about this, too. I'm actually rather upset at seeing that. Maybe Emily didn't mind? Seems really odd to have a JGP with young girls, and have 'rules' force one to sit by herself in the K&C. Still, it was a very unusual thing to see.

 

[Chemistry66]

What's Tsurskaya's second event? And Le's? Mai was a nice surprise, and I don't think Mikhailova's keeping her 2nd slot... nor is Rin getting another one...

Le currently is assigned to Colorado Springs, and Tsurskaya doesn't have a second assignment yet since all the event lists aren't up.

 

[invisiblespiral]

Le currently is assigned to Colorado Springs, and Tsurskaya doesn't have a second assignment yet since all the event lists aren't up.

Thanks. I wonder if she can get to the JGPF? :scratch:

 

[NaVi]

Tsurskaya will almost certainly go to Austria since it doesn't really matter if she loses to Wakaba(or even get 3rd) she'd make the Junior Grand Prix Final.

 

[Lydia1703]

Yes, it was the Men's free skate Kiss and Cry in SLC. IIRC, the skater represented Mexico ... and I think the coach was unable to travel to SLC.
Coughlin reached out to the skater after noticing that he had been alone in the SP Kiss and Cry.

I am wondering whether it is possible that the JGP has stricter rules (compared to SLC/Challenger) about who is permitted to sit in the Kiss and Cry with each skater?? Maybe the JGP doesn't allow anyone except the skater's own coach or choreographer of record??

Last year Elizabet Tursynbaeva sat with her mom in the K&C while Orser was busy with another skater (Netta, IIRC), but maybe there was a rule change this year

 

[samm22]

IMO Polina, Mai and Vivian were overscored. They were good, but not that good.

I have to agree there. I feel like vivian was a little overscored and then they had to overscore the last 2 in order for the placements to be how they wanted (which is the order that I would have put them in). I really like polina's jumps, but i didn't really get her program tbh. I thought she should have been closer to mai. Also, polina would have beaten wakaba at junior worlds last season with these scores (189 for polina and 185 for wakaba) and I don't agree with that.

 

[frida80]

I think that gymnastics lends itself to a National Team program better than FS because of the facilities required (since multiple gymnasts can be easily working without worrying about interference from other gymnasts, whereas skating on the same rink requires more attention to not bump into each other.) Having someone like Marta is useful there. And usually major gym events have multiple coaches on the floor who take responsibility for the athletes even if every single coach can't be there.

But I thought that most of the time, there was a team leader for a USA delegation to international FS events. So even if the one coach was busy with the skater about to skate, I agree that SOMEONE should have been with Emily.

You got me thinking about the mechanics and the benefits of this. I think it's still doable to have head coaches. But I think I'd rather make a new thread because I don't want to derail this one.

 

[Bufo viridis]

The top three girls were pretty much the only ones that I enjoyed this time... But they definitely were great. Polina's jumps were incredible! She and Vivian left very strong impressions.

 

[frida80]

Last year Elizabet Tursynbaeva sat with her mom in the K&C while Orser was busy with another skater (Netta, IIRC), but maybe there was a rule change this year

That sounds like a much better idea. What mother wouldn't want to sit by her child after's skate. She's been doing it since she started skating.

 

[Chemistry66]

Thanks. I wonder if she can get to the JGPF? :scratch:

It's definitely possible, but there's a bunch of unknowns there at Colorado Springs. Both JPN girls are new JGP skaters. The other Russian girl (since Mikhailova is also there) is new. She definitely has potential to win/medal or at least position herself with good tiebreakers if it comes down to that. But so many unknowns make it difficult to tell this far out, after only one event.

 

[chuckm]

No, Tsurskaya won't go to Austria---Sotskova is going there. Makes no sense to send 2 top skaters there, it kills one of their chances.

I just don't want Tsurskaya to go to the US and kill Vivian's chances of making the JGPF. Although it's at altitude which Vivian is accustomed to and Tsurskaya almost certainly is not. Tsurskaya will probably go to Poland.

Tsurskaya, like Radionova, has a short neck. Her costumes shouldn't call attention to it, e.g. the red ruff around the neck of her Chess costume.

 

[Mrs. P]

Given the heaps of praise that the ISU announcer gave to the top three, I think perhaps the scores to the top three were justified. The ISU announcer kept emphasizing how FAST Vivian was and the power that Polina had. Granted I don't think the ISU announcer was so outspoken last season, but I have a feeling that there are things the judges saw in person that might have merited the higher scores.

But all that said, a different technical/judging panel might have opted to give different, i.e. lower, scores watching the same skates.

And that said, if you compare the level of the top three with that of the top three of the folks at JGP Couchavel, which occurred this time last year, I think it's pretty clear the level of quality was much higher here.