2016 JGP Ljubljana Cup Ladies FS

[liv]

Marin really does have a quality that sets her apart from her peers. Maybe it is her lack of awkwardness which you often see in the juniors... or the softness she has on the ice when she skates. She is gentle... whatever it is, it is very enjoyable to watch. Not as great here, but still my favourite to watch perform.

Also loved the young Korean girl... bright future with her, if she continues this way.

Loved the 3A. I doubt anyone will ever jump higher than Midori, or Tonya for that matter, but it is still nice to see progress. It took years after Kurt's quad for it to become standard and now look at it...so maybe this is the start of that for the women's 3A... everything else is pretty close between the ladies these days.

And when did Miki Ando land a 3A?

 

[Crossover]

Marin really does have a quality that sets her apart from her peers. Maybe it is her lack of awkwardness which you often see in the juniors... or the softness she has on the ice when she skates. She is gentle... whatever it is, it is very enjoyable to watch. Not as great here, but still my favourite to watch perform.

Also loved the young Korean girl... bright future with her, if she continues this way.

Loved the 3A. I doubt anyone will ever jump higher than Midori, or Tonya for that matter, but it is still nice to see progress. It took years after Kurt's quad for it to become standard and now look at it...so maybe this is the start of that for the women's 3A... everything else is pretty close between the ladies these days.

And when did Miki Ando land a 3A?

Not for 3A ratification but for Miki's 4S ratification.

 

[kalee]

ps2. I'm not sure how will I manage to watch Dresden, because I like Stasya very very much as well.[/SIZE]

While I am also rooting for Stasya to have a good season, missing JGPF by one spot probably won't put too much of a dent in her or Marin's prospects to turn senior next year.

What really matters for Stasya is to keep her scores consistently ahead of Alena Leonova and Sima this year. Artemieva was already taken out of Skate Canada, and if Alena & Sima do not show some rapid improvement, there could well be 4 senior GP spots opening up next year = enough to give 2 to Polina and 1 each to Stasya & Alisa Fedichkina.

And if Stasya kicks Marin out of JGPF, it will only happen if she has a clean FS and out-performs at least 3 of the following: Nastia Gubanova, Yuna Shiraiwa, Vivian Le, and Eun Soo Lim (who should be stoked enough by this weekend to better her performance there). Would not be a bad show either!

 

[bosskil]

You're right, she might have big chance for the GP assignment next year due to others problems.
I don't believe in those three skaters' improvement, still Stasya should keep her focus and fight for every point!

 

[Layback11]

I just wrote a thing! https://salchowsandswarovskis.wordpress.com/2016/09/25/jgp-ljubljana-ladies-recap/

 

[lavoix]

So what will it take for Honda to make it to the final? I just think there won't be a spark in the JGP final if Honda is not there.

As much as I love Lozko, her coaches better do something about her jumps! She's a future star.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I agree Alisa had some close calls but I thought the TP went a bit overboard with their chopping block and the judges could have given her a bit of PCS love to ease the slaughter. :whack:

 

[Interspectator]

I agree Alisa had some close calls but I thought the TP went a bit overboard with their chopping block and the judges could have given her a bit of PCS love to ease the slaughter. :whack:

I agree, but I don't know if it's because it's actually true or because of wishful thinking. I thought her URs were worse in her last JGP but the judges don't seem to think so.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I agree, but I don't know if it's because it's actually true or because of wishful thinking. I thought her URs were worse in her last JGP but the judges don't seem to think so.

I thought some of them were good enough to just warrant -GOE but I tend to lean more lenient in most cases especially where the panel's tend to be so inconsistent not only in event to event but sometimes just from skater to skater. It would be maddening if it wasn't so expected

 

[Interspectator]

It's clear that she's now firmly listed in the minds of Judges as an UNDERROTATOR so she's going to have to be extra clean in the future to get full credit for her jumps.

 

[nikros]

I like Honda very much, and i'm glad that he has a chance for final. And i'm glad for Alexandra Feigin. But TES of Alexandra 54.68 vs TES of Alina 54.11-do you think it is fair?
The true that Honda is inconsistent. This time she flunked both SP and LP. Alina also was not perfect, but any way hes jumps and combinations were much harder than Alexandra's, and her URs are not so huge as <<.
The judges just pulled Marin into the final.
She is gorgeous and beautiful, and i will be glad to see her in the final. But the scores of Alina are absolutely unfair!

 

[AprilS]

Huh? I thought Alina's scores were totally fair. She did kinda bomb (for her standards)... Her total competition BV was 87.21 while Honda's was 84.20. This is a difference of 3.1. Then if you count the fall deduction, that brings the difference to 2.1. Then she got more negative GOE than Honda - the negative GOE for the >> fall was about -2 (yes, Honda also got negative GOE for 2 jumps, but I'd say it cancels out with the other two botched jumps Alina did, one of which was a fall). So the difference is now about 0. Lastly, I think Honda deserved more PCS across both programs... so yeah, I do think Honda totally deserved silver over Alina.

That being said, her strong showing in Ostrava practically guarantees Alina into the Final, so hopefully we can see her at her best there!

Edit: If you're disagreeing with the tech panel on the > and >> calls, I can see that for one of the jumps, but personally I'd call it as the tech panel did. Then again, I'm pretty harsh on UR calls myself soooo...

 

[chuckm]

It's clear that she's now firmly listed in the minds of Judges as an UNDERROTATOR so she's going to have to be extra clean in the future to get full credit for her jumps.

The caller at this event was CLAUDIA UNGER. She handed out more URs, DGs and edge calls than any caller in recent memory. Many of the skaters that got those URs/DG have skated before in the JGP without getting such severe treatment. These are very young girls, and it has to be devastating to read a protocol that says most of their jumps aren't rotated.

 

[chuckm]

If you want Honda in the final, hope for TSURSKAYA and GUBANOVA to win their events. In Germany, KONSTANTINOVA has 13 points, but if she finishes 2nd she has to score 187.67 or higher to beat out Honda on points.

The one scenario where Honda loses out is if in Germany, KONSTANTINOVA wins and GUBANOVA is 2nd. Then they would both have 28 points and Honda is gone. This is unlikely to happen, but ice is slippery....

 

[Art&Sport]

I thought the Japanese ladies were outstanding. Rika Kihira performed that 3-axel with great ease. And she is so precocious with her confident presence and attack. Kihira also has such wonderful choreography in both programs. Kihira is amazing for someone so young. I don't feel Kihira was perfect because she landed back on a couple of jumps and slightly forward on one. However, both Kihira and Honda were determined in their fp performances. Kihira was great in the sp too, and IMHO she deserved to be in first after the sp. The judges appear to be holding back a bit on PCS for Kihira due to her age. If Kihira is this good now, I can't imagine what she is going to be like if she continues to develop at a strong pace. I find Honda to have a great deal of joie de vivre and a light quality about her skating. Honda had miscues in her sp, but she was on a mission in the fp. I didn't notice any under-rotations in Honda's fp at full speed, but I guess the tech caller examined the slo-mo closely with a microscope.

IMO, the Japanese junior ladies are so good, I can see them dominating in seniors, if they all make it to that level intact. Rika Kihira, Wakaba Higuchi, Marin Honda, and Satoko Miyahara who is already doing well in seniors. Miyahara is very elegant and so consistent, but the only thing that tends to hold her back is the small height she gets on her jumps. The junior Japanese ladies may well surpass Miyahara at some point.

I find Alina Zagitova and and Alisa Lozko of Russia to be competent skaters, with Alisa perhaps a bit more balletic, and Alina better technically. Both Alina and Alisa remind me of the same Russian aesthetic I have seen before that is not fresh or new, just one note and unexciting. Alina is also rather overbusy and flingy with her arms and legs. She has a jerky, acrobatic quality reminiscent of young Lipnitskaya. Of the current young Russian junior ladies, I think Polina Tsurskaya is seemingly the most promising, or at the least the most interesting to watch, for me.

Eunsoo Lim of Korea is quite lovely and talented. However, unfortunately she appears to have adopted Yuna Kim's bad habit of not making much effort to point her feet. Ashley Lin of the U.S. is also talented, but at this stage of her development she has rather gangly limbs. I enjoyed Sarah Tamura of Canada, but she skates more like a young girl at this point (which is to be expected, and is not a bad thing). Sarah has obvious huge talent, but she will need to gain more speed, finesse and power as she matures.

 

[Lys]

These are very young girls, and it has to be devastating to read a protocol that says most of their jumps aren't rotated.

An underrotation, a downgrade or an edge call is not a moral judgement over these very young girls. Nor a closed door over their future.
Those protocols just say to these very young girls and their team that either they had a bad day (it happens, they are not machine) or they need to work to improve their technique (they are very young girls, they have all the time to work on it!)

I was very glad to see all those calls and I hope for more strict panels in the future.

A strict panel is the first step towards a more fair result for any given competition, a stronger push for coaches to really work on technique, a better quality on their elements for these young girls in the future.

 

[chuckm]

I find Alina Zagitova and and Alisa Lozko of Russia to be competent skaters, with Alisa perhaps a bit more balletic, and Alina better technically. Both Alina and Alisa remind me of the same Russian aesthetic I have seen before that is not fresh or new, just one note and unexciting. Alina is also rather overbusy and flingy with her arms and legs. She has a jerky, acrobatic quality reminiscent of young Lipnitskaya. Of the current young Russian junior ladies, I think Polina Tsurskaya is seemingly the most promising, or at the least the most interesting to watch, for me.

Alina has a posture problem: she pikes at the waist as she enters a jump, and yes, she flails her arms, which may help to distract attention from the bent back.

Ashley Lin of the U.S. is also talented, but at this stage of her development she has rather gangly limbs. I enjoyed Sarah Tamura of Canada, but she skates more like a young girl at this point (which is to be expected, and is not a bad thing). Sarah has obvious huge talent, but she will need to gain more speed, finesse and power as she matures.

Ashley will soon grow past her gangliness---she is only 13! Sarah is an excellent jumper, but she isn't paying any attention to the music. Speed, finesse and power are important, but so is expression.

 

[Tolstoj]

I find Alina Zagitova and and Alisa Lozko of Russia to be competent skaters, with Alisa perhaps a bit more balletic, and Alina better technically. Both Alina and Alisa remind me of the same Russian aesthetic I have seen before that is not fresh or new, just one note and unexciting. Alina is also rather overbusy and flingy with her arms and legs. She has a jerky, acrobatic quality reminiscent of young Lipnitskaya. Of the current young Russian junior ladies, I think Polina Tsurskaya is seemingly the most promising, or at the least the most interesting to watch, for me.

The fact that isn't new doesn't make their styles unexciting, Russian ballet will never get old, it is part of their traditions and their culture and you have to respect that, like it or not.

Personally i find Alisa Lozko the most interesting skater to watch this season, even with all these underrotations: i like her programs, so classy and unique, she has a fine posture, her spins are simply a state of the art, and i like how this year Russian Junior skaters are so diverse: you can find the spinners like Alisa or Liza Nugumanova, the jumper like Polina Tsurskaya, the princesses like Alisa Fedichkina, Anastasiia Gubanova,...

Alina was nervous here, but when she is on like in St.Gervais, she has the potential to be the strongest junior lady this season: she dares to do all the jumps of both SP&LP and it's incredibly difficult (no one ever done that before), especially when you have a 3ltz-3loop scheduled and all this rippon variations, she will fight for a medal at JGPF for sure.

 

[Biellmann]

I like Honda very much, and i'm glad that he has a chance for final. And i'm glad for Alexandra Feigin. But TES of Alexandra 54.68 vs TES of Alina 54.11-do you think it is fair?
The true that Honda is inconsistent. This time she flunked both SP and LP. Alina also was not perfect, but any way hes jumps and combinations were much harder than Alexandra's, and her URs are not so huge as <<.
The judges just pulled Marin into the final.
She is gorgeous and beautiful, and i will be glad to see her in the final. But the scores of Alina are absolutely unfair!

Marin is growing fast, ofc she has jump problems. I can't wait to se these russian girls, who are Eteri's students, next year and how their jumps will look like :confused2:

 

[Meoima]

Marin has same kind of technique as Satoko, aka a lot of pre rotation. Her PR is less than Satoko but still..