2020 Four Continents: Ladies' Short Program

[skylark]

Rika Kihira and Bradie Tennell were the most complete skaters in this SP competition, and for that reason theirs were my favorite performances. They both have it all, and they both gave all they had! It was wonderful to see Rika's 3Lutz again. It goes to show the wisdom of her coaches in not letting her perform or practice them until they could be sure that she wasn't going to re-injure her leg or prolong the healing process. Rika may have lost some momentum in terms of world competition, but she's playing a long game. I also feel that she and her team are more interested in putting out quality skates, with attention to expression and music, than they are in results. Which I think is wonderful.

After those two, my favorite skaters were Amber Glenn and Karen Chen. Again, they both are showing with their content what qualities they value most in their skating. I like most of all to feel something when a skater performs, and these two really fulfilled that mission for me. I'm just thrilled for Amber and the strides she's making.

Performance honorable mentions: Alicia Pineault and Kailani Crane. Alicia is new to me; Kailani is an old "friend" who I can always count on to give a sparkling performance!

I usually enjoy Kaori's joy and abandon, but to me those weren't in evidence as much as usual. Perhaps I don't favor her SP music so much.

 

[brightphoton]

The formatting on this article is "interesting", lots of random

line breaks and spac ings

22-year-old, U.S. bronze medalist, 2019 Skate America silver medalist, 2019-20 Grand Prix finalist,

You stepped out of her triple Axel and her triple flip received an edge call, but the triple Lutz-triple toe was solid, receiving many positive GOES. Two spins were graded a level 4 and the 2019 Skate Canada bronze medalist placed third with 73.55 points for her routine to music from the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack.

Interesting that even the basic software of this forum auto-corrects the random double spacing to proper spacing.

and what's with the avoidance of using skaters' names in quotes, like Tennell said or You said or Kihira said

“Except for my triple Axel, the rest of the jumps were good, so I am satisfied with it,” said the three-time and current national champion. “My triple Axel was not working well, so I was very disappointed in myself. But the free program is left, so I will concentrate until the end.”

“I’m overall pleased with my performance,” said the 2019-20 Grand Prix finalist. “I think just the minor error on the spin was a silly mistake and I’m disappointed in myself for letting that go, but overall, I am pleased with myself. I have a process that works for me and I want to stick to it what helps me go through each performance and each season.”

“I was in a good condition,” said the 19-year-old, “so, I was able to perform well and I’m about 80 percent satisfied. This is because I did one mistake, so it was a bit disappointing. I was really upset that the triple loop was overrotated, so that’s the only thing I regret, so I want to correct it in my free program.”

it's so painful to read

 

[Joekaz]

Rika Kihira and Bradie Tennell were the most complete skaters in this SP competition, and for that reason theirs were my favorite performances. They both have it all, and they both gave all they had! It was wonderful to see Rika's 3Lutz again. It goes to show the wisdom of her coaches in not letting her perform or practice them until they could be sure that she wasn't going to re-injure her leg or prolong the healing process. Rika may have lost some momentum in terms of world competition, but she's playing a long game. I also feel that she and her team are more interested in putting out quality skates, with attention to expression and music, than they are in results. Which I think is wonderful.

After those two, my favorite skaters were Amber Glenn and Karen Chen. Again, they both are showing with their content what qualities they value most in their skating. I like most of all to feel something when a skater performs, and these two really fulfilled that mission for me. I'm just thrilled for Amber and the strides she's making.

Performance honorable mentions: Alicia Pineault and Kailani Crane. Alicia is new to me; Kailani is an old "friend" who I can always count on to give a sparkling performance!

I usually enjoy Kaori's joy and abandon, but to me those weren't in evidence as much as usual. Perhaps I don't favor her SP music so much.

You must have missed Higuchi skate. Lol

 

[skylark]

You must have missed Higuchi skate. Lol

There are a few occasions on which Wakaba's skating moves me, but this wasn't one of them, sorry. I can appreciate her power, but it doesn't float my particular boat.

 

[el henry]

The formatting on this article is "interesting", lots of random

line breaks and spac ings



Interesting that even the basic software of this forum auto-corrects the random double spacing to proper spacing.

and what's with the avoidance of using skaters' names in quotes, like Tennell said or You said or Kihira said







it's so painful to read

I think you might need a new phone or iPad. Spacing and quotation marks and everything else in the article looks great to me.:thumbsup:

Having spent a hot minute as a professional sportswriter many moons ago, it is a commonly accepted journalistic convention to use “replacements” or descriptors instead of repeating the name. Nothing more boring in an article than blah de blah said, and blah de blah said and furthermore blah de blah said again....

Article looks good and lots of good info:yes:

 

[brightphoton]

I think you might need a new phone or iPad. Spacing and quotation marks and everything else in the article looks great to me.:thumbsup:

Having spent a hot minute as a professional sportswriter many moons ago, it is a commonly accepted journalistic convention to use “replacements” or descriptors instead of repeating the name. Nothing more boring in an article than blah de blah said, and blah de blah said and furthermore blah de blah said again....

Article looks good and lots of good info:yes:

Using desktop, and the spacing and line breaks is weird for me. So no, it's not ok.

I've been reading newspaper articles for more than a hot minute and I've never seen people use "descriptors" in the way that these articles have been using it. Clarity is important.

just read a random Super Bowl post-victory article, and they write the normal human way
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kansas...ade-rally-watch-live-stream-today-2020-02-05/

But why stop at competition facts about a skater? Next article, they should use descriptors like

• said the skater who likes of Pooh bears
• said the skater whose favorite color is blue
• said the skater whose dress was designed by the same designer who designed some other dress

 

[brightphoton]

Ahhhh there's even a mistake in the quote they used in the opening post

"... for the free skating," said the shared the 2019-20 Grand Prix finalist. "I still have ..."

What is a "the shared the 2019-20 Grand Prix finalist"

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[el henry]

Using desktop, and the spacing and line breaks is weird for me. So no, it's not ok.

I've been reading newspaper articles for more than a hot minute and I've never seen people use "descriptors" in the way that these articles have been using it. Clarity is important.

just read a random Super Bowl post-victory article, and they write the normal human way
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kansas...ade-rally-watch-live-stream-today-2020-02-05/

But why stop at competition facts about a skater? Next article, they should use descriptors like

• said the skater who likes of Pooh bears
• said the skater whose favorite color is blue
• said the skater whose dress was designed by the same designer who designed some other dress

It’s OK on my desktop too, And I’m sorry you don’t like descriptors. I’ve been actually *reading* newspapers for 55 years, and I like them, and have seen them for just as long.

De gustibus non est disputandum:confused2:

 

[gsk8]

The formatting on this article is "interesting", lots of random

line breaks and spac ings

Interesting that even the basic software of this forum auto-corrects the random double spacing to proper spacing.

and what's with the avoidance of using skaters' names in quotes, like Tennell said or You said or Kihira said

it's so painful to read

Thanks for pointing out the spacings. This was corrected.

I personally like to use their ages and achievements when possible. Names are fine, but they get redundant

 

[skateluvr]

I scrolled through and I don’t think anyone questioned why gorgeous Karen is in 8 place? Am I not seeing wrong edges or ur calls? Is she being underscored because she’s not a full timer in the fs world? Scoring wonks please tell me if she was scored fairly here? She is truly a total package skater. I loved her sp.

 

[curious]

The girls you are talking about are pushing the envelop with more difficult programs than rika. Is obvious that rika is very intimidated by the Russians big three. Her jumps are suffering because she is trying so hard to match the Russians with quads.wakaba and bradie deserved the top spots here.

 

[skateluvr]

What about Karen????

 

[readernick]

What about Karen????

Ur ( clear in real time) on her 3Lo. It was called. The 2A looked UR, too. It wasn't called but she didn't get high GOE on it.. Thus, her TES was lower. The PCS was also rather low.. but that is a separate discussion.

 

[lzxnl]

The girls you are talking about are pushing the envelop with more difficult programs than rika. Is obvious that rika is very intimidated by the Russians big three. Her jumps are suffering because she is trying so hard to match the Russians with quads.wakaba and bradie deserved the top spots here.

Lol? Rika was seen trying quads back in 2016/2017. Also, three triple axels and a quad salchow (8*3 + 9.7 = 33.7) are harder than two quad lutzes and two double axels (2*(11.5 + 3.3) = 29.6). Only Sasha can actually claim to have a more difficult program than Rika, and look at what attempting five quads has done to her.

Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbkYpCI5Jyk
Look at 2:40:05. One moment, you see Rika gliding along and smiling. A few seconds later, Bradie comes along and Rika instinctively flinches. Bradie is literally turning right into Rika's path here. Right after, you can see Eunsoo Lim braking to a halt as she sees Bradie. I'm sure Bradie sees everyone; she's just inconsiderate and self-centred here.

 

[readernick]

Lol? Rika was seen trying quads back in 2016/2017. Also, three triple axels and a quad salchow (8*3 + 9.7 = 33.7) are harder than two quad lutzes and two double axels (2*(11.5 + 3.3) = 29.6). Only Sasha can actually claim to have a more difficult program than Rika, and look at what attempting five quads has done to her.

Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbkYpCI5Jyk
Look at 2:40:05. One moment, you see Rika gliding along and smiling. A few seconds later, Bradie comes along and Rika instinctively flinches. Bradie is literally turning right into Rika's path here. Right after, you can see Eunsoo Lim braking to a halt as she sees Bradie. I'm sure Bradie sees everyone; she's just inconsiderate and self-centred here.

Agree totally about Rika.

However, I think the incident with Bradie is made up drama. She does lack spatial awareness and she is always focused on her own performance but I don't think there is any evil intent. She should pay more attention and her coach should remind her to be more alert. But, no rational skater would purposefully try to cause an accident. I think people are Twitter are just showing their sexism when they make big deals out of things like this. Women can compete and still have respect for each other.

 

[randomfan]

Agree totally about Rika.

However, I think the incident with Bradie is made up drama. She does lack spatial awareness and she is always focused on her own performance but I don't think there is any evil intent. She should pay more attention and her coach should remind her to be more alert. But, no rational skater would purposefully try to cause an accident. I think people are Twitter are just showing their sexism when they make big deals out of things like this. Women can compete and still have respect for each other.

I agree with you. It IS true that Bradie tends to get in the way of skaters pretty often, notably more often than other skaters, whether she's jumping or just stroking. I still remember watching a fancam of 2018 US Nationals warm-up where Mirai and Ashley had to stop what they're doing a few times because Bradie suddenly came in the way. A couple of other warm-ups involved other skaters being forced to do the same, but I don't remember which ones right now.

But yeah, I don't think people should start jumping into conclusions. As you said, it doesn't look like evil intent but just a relative lack of spatial awareness. Hopefully she and/or her coach can catch on and work on it.

 

[lzxnl]

I don't believe Bradie does it intentionally of maliciously. Rather, I claim that she is not valuing the space of other skaters by repeatedly getting uncomfortably close. Multiple skaters have had to avoid her in practice sessions.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Good for you. I just can't enjoy the competition where all top skaters have immunity to UR calls. I want to see real fair fight between strong competitors - not judging circus. How exciting can be to anticipate podium placements when they are determined by judges before? Rika will win if she don't fall more than once or twice. Quality of her jumps won't matter. Good luck enjoying rigged judging - it seems soon ice dance will look more unpredictable for me.

Your avatar makes this post particularly interesting. Considering the skater depicted in it got a personal best PCS at Euros with a blatant error.

Kihira’s judging was perfectly fine. Don’t get salty because it surpassed Trusova - she had a 3A after all.

 

[readernick]

Your avatar makes this post particularly interesting. Considering the skater depicted in it got a personal best PCS at Euros with a blatant error.

Kihira’s judging was perfectly fine. Don’t get salty because it surpassed Trusova - she had a 3A after all.

I wouldn't argue with this poster. They always like to point out the issues with the judging of non- Russian skaters and point out fake URs this person but they complain when a real UR called against a Russian skater. Don't waste your time arguing. Ignoring is best !

 

[Mathman]

I've been reading newspaper articles for more than a hot minute and I've never seen people use "descriptors" in the way that these articles have been using it. Clarity is important.

It's a way to work in more information in a compact and stylish way. Compare:

Bradie Tennell came in second. Bradie Tennell skated to the music Mechanisms by Kirill Richter. Bradie Tennell said, "I gave it my all." Bradey Tennell is the 2018 U.S. champion.

Bradie Tennell, who skated to the music Mechanisms by Kirill Richter, finished second. The 2018 U.S. champion said, "I gave it my all."