2015 NHK Ladies Free Skate

[Ophelia]

^Satoko has the best artistry and is the most polished lady skater of the current field besides Mao. Everything about her movement and lines is beautiful.

 

[andyjo24]

Satoko has great artistry and great SS. I absolutely loved her FS.

But her jumps. Omg... This competition just shows that no matter how high and long your jumps are, if you don't get them consistent, you're going to lose to someone who literally jumps two inches off the ice.... I mean, the judges are going to award Satoko GOE on her jumps, so what's the necessity for high jumps?? There is no incentive anymore. All you need to do is land everything...

 

[Caustica]

Satoko has great artistry and great SS. I absolutely loved her FS.

But her jumps. Omg... This competition just shows that no matter how high and long your jumps are, if you don't get them consistent, you're going to lose to someone who literally jumps two inches off the ice.... I mean, the judges are going to award Satoko GOE on her jumps, so what's the necessity for high jumps?? There is no incentive anymore. All you need to do is land everything...

I'm sure if other skaters were able to gain consistency by going for smaller jumps they would as well. It's always been "all you need to do is land everything". Satoko is able to get away with small jumps because she rotates very fast in the air. That is difficult to do too.

 

[jg2000]

I'm sure if other skaters were able to gain consistency by going for smaller jumps they would as well. It's always been "all you need to do is land everything". Satoko is able to get away with small jumps because she rotates very fast in the air. That is difficult to do too.

I think it is the pre rotation that bothers people more (her jump height does not really bother me at least); not that other skaters don't pre rotate their jumps, but Satoko is a more obvious case I guess. She has worked to improve it though, and I imagine her jumping ability was hindered by her being forced to jump the other way. According to ISU rules, jumps are given up to 1/2 a rotation leeway on the takeoff (those with good technique will only pre rotate about 1/4), but some of Satoko's jumps go to around 3/4 pre rotation, so it often seems unfair when she gets full rotation credited.

To her credit, the issue has improved since last year.

 

[largeman]

Mao did NOT twofoot her landing on the 2a-3t combo, i just rewatched her freeskate several time, and no such thing happened, the combo was solid and clean. This is not the first time I hear certain people fabricate mistakes that never happened, and everytime i read it, it makes me want to vomit!

I share your love for Mao's skating, but in order defend against baseless attacks or wrongful claims regarding Mao, it is important to recognize her actual mistakes. The 2A-3T was nice and had better rotation than in the past, but the landing was clearly two-footed.

I know being an ardent fan of Mao's it is sometimes frustrating to be on these boards, because some people look for every chance to put her down, including claiming a 3A should be called UR when it is themselves that don't know how to correctly count rotation. That's all the more reason we need to be extra attentive to facts from a technical perspective and make fair statements, so that our defense carry weight.

 

[Barb]

Yes, I think it was fully roated but two footed.

 

[mirai4life]

i want satoko to teach mirai a pre rotate lesson or two.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Just starting on British Eurosport 2 with Pogo

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Well Done Anna!!!

So good to finally see her not fall during a routine this season.

Tsareva is back to normal, though. It must be contagious, because Pogo has the exact same expression as her!

Come on, Anna! You're gorgeous! Give us a smile!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Boys, but that was a brave jump. We went from the first to skate (Anna Pogo) to the 7[SUP]th[/SUP] to skate (Mirai Nagasu)!

Was it the same for those of you that watched on Eurosport 2 International yeterday afternoon?

Thank goodness they didn't skip then Mao. She was beautiful (...as always!) That really made up for the SP, and should hopefully climb her up a few places

CaroLiza_fan

 

[mary01]

I share your love for Mao's skating, but in order defend against baseless attacks or wrongful claims regarding Mao, it is important to recognize her actual mistakes. The 2A-3T was nice and had better rotation than in the past, but the landing was clearly two-footed.

I know being an ardent fan of Mao's it is sometimes frustrating to be on these boards, because some people look for every chance to put her down, including claiming a 3A should be called UR when it is themselves that don't know how to correctly count rotation. That's all the more reason we need to be extra attentive to facts from a technical perspective and make fair statements, so that our defense carry weight.

sorry but I did not see any twofoot at all, maybe people with a microscope were able too, but if it was a real twofoot she would leaned her weight on the other leg to hold the landing, and that did not happen, her blade tip may have slightly touched the ice, but i wouldn't count that as a twofoot at all!

 

[OS]

If both blades touch the ground (even the slightest brush) it is called two footed landing.

Send your complaints to Eurosport perhaps... the commentator here clearly stated "just a double on two feet" on her 3A attempt. They also mentioned her two foot landing in the 2A3T in the replay which is suppose to impact on the GOEs, but she got a +2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzGq4dCb49Q

 

[Art&Sport]

Satoko is a lovely skater and she's very consistent but it looks to me as if she pre-rotates before she is in the air in order to be able to get around on her rotations before landing. I'm not sure that's the best technique that should be as highly rewarded or not. I suppose if she didn't have such admirable presentation skills, they might not give her so much credit.

But OMG, what a messy scoring competition overall, especially in singles events. Mirai suffers from bad reputation, or she would have scored higher, particularly on PCS. After the overall poor skating and mistakes by ladies in front of her, I think Mirai should at least have been in third. What to say about Ashley and Mao though? Ash looks as if she psyched herself out, expecting to battle Mao and then just faltering along with Mao as if contagiously. :noshake:

I could be happy for Hicks, if she actually had skated better than Mirai, but she did not! Clearly Mao was given a lot of credit on PCS, because I don't think she really skated well enough to medal here.

ETA:: Okay, so I see it is reported that Mao is sick. Hope she feels better soon. Still not great re the scoring for many ladies. Except for a few skaters in each of the events except dance, many competitors were not very sharp, numerous errors; the judging was not sharp either.

 

[OS]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9b_TSdZqdM

Oh Anna.. wow, if only! Massive PCS drop from Cup of China considering she didn't do that badly in comparison other than miss her big combos, but huge drop of PCS from 65 to 58.
CoC TES 59.56 PCS 65.03 (4th after Mao)
NHK TES 58.30 PCS 58.98

What a difference a day make, skating order and where the competition is. She seems a bit lowballed... she could have been 2nd or 3rd if skated in the final group. Good fight! Good luck at Russia Nationals.

And uhh... since we are talking about PCS, yeah Mirai, Zijun, Maria's PCS is all sort of funny throughout this competition for me.

 

[leafygreens]

And on a shallow note, does Satoko have the hottest coach in the business or what?!! She should get extra points just for that!! (JK, lest anyone takes me seriously)

Adelina's is hot.

The highlight of the competition is a changed Mirai. She is in a good shape, perhaps two size down in her waistline, which makes her movement much sharper, lighter, and she looks happy. I did not expect I would enjoy Mirai this much again, and I don't want to say anything on other skaters.

I think she was in pretty good shape last year, but hitting the board at nationals really took the wind out of her sails. Oh and I hope she beats Ashley but US judges would never let that happen again, most likely.

 

[andyjo24]

I'm sure if other skaters were able to gain consistency by going for smaller jumps they would as well. It's always been "all you need to do is land everything". Satoko is able to get away with small jumps because she rotates very fast in the air. That is difficult to do too.

But what's the incentive for skaters to aim for high jumps? There is none anymore because small jumps will get similar GOE to big jumps anyway...

 

[Caustica]

But what's the incentive for skaters to aim for high jumps? There is none anymore because small jumps will get similar GOE to big jumps anyway...

Well, high jumps are give you one GOE bullet point. So some skaters may aim for that in order to get high GOE. But it's not necessary to have high jumps, no. Small jumps will get similar GOE to big jumps only if they fulfil other GOE bullet points. It's not as though the judges are rewarding Satoko for small jumps. They're rewarding her for other reasons (difficult entry, secure landing, etc.)

If the only difference between two skaters' jumps were their jump heights, then the skater with the higher jumps would get higher GOE. But that's not the case with Satoko vs other skaters. Satoko's jumps don't have height, but in other aspects they are superior to other skaters' jumps.

 

[andyjo24]

Well, high jumps are give you one GOE bullet point. So some skaters may aim for that in order to get high GOE. But it's not necessary to have high jumps, no. Small jumps will get similar GOE to big jumps only if they fulfil other GOE bullet points. It's not as though the judges are rewarding Satoko for small jumps. They're rewarding her for other reasons (difficult entry, secure landing, etc.)

If the only difference between two skaters' jumps were their jump heights, then the skater with the higher jumps would get higher GOE. But that's not the case with Satoko vs other skaters. Satoko's jumps don't have height, but in other aspects they are superior to other skaters' jumps.

Yes. You're right about there being other elements making up the jump's GOE, but is it fair to give Satoko more GOE on her jumps than skaters like Rika Hongo who also have the difficult entries, secure landing, etc. Judges are giving Satoko more GOE on her triple-triple combo than Rika (when she doesn't get a UR call) who jumps way higher and also has the difficult entry, speed, and secure landing.

Personally, I would give Satoko's jumps 0 GOE for all Her "cleanly" landed jumps.

But I would give her slightly higher PCS scores.

 

[creaturelover]

Yes, Because Hongo is 7th in the rankings

Tuk's 8th

Unless there's some super unfair loophole in the newly created guidelines that says even if you're 8th due to loosing a tie breaker you can still go

Ah ok I wasn't sure of the standings

 

[David21]

Well, high jumps are give you one GOE bullet point. So some skaters may aim for that in order to get high GOE. But it's not necessary to have high jumps, no. Small jumps will get similar GOE to big jumps only if they fulfil other GOE bullet points. It's not as though the judges are rewarding Satoko for small jumps. They're rewarding her for other reasons (difficult entry, secure landing, etc.)

Judges can reduce the the GOE by 2 for jumps with poor height so it should be necessary to have decent height.