2023 World Figure Skating Championships Women's Short Program

[Skater Boy]

I knew both of those, and completely blanked on it, lol.

Didn't Oksana Baiul also win on her first try WGM?

 

[16Olympics]

Say anything you like about Isabeau. The girl doesn't beat herself. She's been consistent all season and if her coaches can fix her posture, which is great until she sets up for a jump. She's a beautiful young lady and with Alysa retiring, it's a good thing we have Isabeau to fill her shoes.

I thought her posture was a little better today. The jump prep didn't annoy me as much but she did skate a steely short with grace and composure.

 

[RafaelAstro]

Rinka she is not ready for this kind of competition yet, the same with Mana last year, I hope she redeem herself in the free

 

[liv]

Yup, Oksana baiul won on her first try... as did Gordeeva/Grinkov in pairs. It's rare!!

 

[CoyoteChris]

Rinka she is not ready for this kind of competition yet, the same with Mana last year, I hope she redeem herself in the free

I really enjoyed her at Four Conts....

 

[CoyoteChris]

I thought her posture was a little better today. The jump prep didn't annoy me as much but she did skate a steely short with grace and composure.

Her skating comes from the Russian school of ballet skating. But what makes her better than the Russians is her facial artistic expression. The Emperess Liza had this also. They both know how to connect to the audience and have ice presence. But for me also, the ballet posture of bending this and that is annoying. JMTC

 

[badknees]

Though is pains me to say this, Peacock did a good job. No one talked who though the sound of their own voice was more important than the skaters' performances. Quality was excellent and the Japanese did their usual high level of photography and video switching and stats. You could even here the nose a skate blade protector makes when it is put on.
The best part was waking up at 3 am for the last two groups, I could quickly and easily go watch Amber and Bradie and Chaeyeon before Madeline at 3:24:50
Its been a long grueling season and for Kaori, Haein and Mai to deliver those short programs was
Kaori has now blown past champion , through legend, to Goddess....in a world where skater life expenctancy has dramatically fallen.
Feel free to chose your own Goddess.
They all deserve me to drag my butt out of bed at Oh dark thirty and watch the Lady's Free.

Interesting. I watched the replay (thank you Peacock) but it was not what they are calling the International feed.
All they had for replay was the "NBC" feed with Johnny and Tara. Unfortunately she indeed did talk through the entire competition.
It was pretty bad.

 

[liv]

I like ballet posture, just not how Isabeau is doing it. I keep wanting her to straighten her knees a tiny bit because she looks like she's sitting on a chair. She certainly delivers, though. You have to beat her, she won't give it away.

Kaori... strong!!! It's hers unless she falls apart. I'm no fan of her spins or positions, but her power, speed, jumps and flow are just beyond everyone else.

I think Loena was gifted considering the fall. I think the judges are ready to reward her handsomely if she skates fairly decently. It's always good to have a European near the top .

And, Mai... my favourite. Glorious skate for her but, she can't give points away by doing a q. I love her free, i prefer it to anyone else's, but to podium she has to be clean and hope for errors by others because everyone is close here and 2 Japanese on the podium might be unacceptable. I just want her to be the absolute best she can be and then whatever the result, she'll know she did her best. The season was amazing as it is.

It's World's... there's politics here. Kaori will get the marks unless she bombs, the rest is too close.

 

[badknees]

there are different cultural norms in the US vs somewhere like Japan. that's pretty normal for US nationals as many families and friends of the skaters and also skating clubs filled with kids from around the country attend. it's generally not seen as disrespectful, but is a less serious way of showing support and can help take the edge off for competitors. some competitors even try to view nationals as a big party in order to not bog themselves down with stress.

Sorry I don't agree. Maybe I'm an old fart but the constant screaming at this years Nationals was beyond what has come before.
I don't view skating competitions as football games. This is a more elegant and refined sport. Yes, to loud applause, cheering and bravo's but No to screaming after every jump. Big party, I agree, flags, posters, banners, cheering as the skater hits the ice, cheering after with stuffed animals thrown but not screaming. At times the screaming covered up the music and commentators. It is especially rude to those sitting around the screamers. Anyway, what a relief for me to have the enthusiatic Japan audience showing tons of support just not screaming during the performance.

 

[Jeanie19]

Sorry I don't agree. Maybe I'm an old fart but the constant screaming at this years Nationals was beyond what has come before.
I don't view skating competitions as football games. This is a more elegant and refined sport. Yes, to loud applause, cheering and bravo's but No to screaming after every jump. Big party, I agree, flags, posters, banners, cheering as the skater hits the ice, cheering after with stuffed animals thrown but not screaming. At times the screaming covered up the music and commentators. It is especially rude to those sitting around the screamers. Anyway, what a relief for me to have the enthusiatic Japan audience showing tons of support just not screaming during the performance.

I totally agree with you. The screaming is unnerving.

 

[yuumagical]

Impressions from the arena yesterday:

Sadly didn't get to see Rinka, as I tried using the ice resurfacing break to get dinner.

Isabeau is cute, but needs a little refinement somewhere.

Mai really laid down an amazing performance! I had expected her to get more points than she did, but with a q, it makes sense...

Really happy with Haein too!

Yelim Kim's Ina Bauer is gorgeous and really covers a lot of the rink!

Kaori is freaking awesome! Though I say this as someone who really enjoys Kaori's style of skating to begin with.

 

[slider11]

I love Kaori's fierce and magnetizing skating! She is committed to the technical and artistic side of the sport and it shows!

 

[Skater Boy]

I was impressed by the top 3. And while Janet Jackson may not be the best vehicle for kaori like a true champ she worked it and good for her. The top3 well top 6 or so were impressive. Missing some drama but sometimes life is like that. Loena was held up and still in good position to recapture the silver. Its a battle for silver to say 6th or so. I am not sure Kaori deserves to score this high but it doesn't matter because it is who is here and competing and all relative I thought the American ladies were all solid. Levito looks poised to podium - it's so close. Good job by Amber and Bradie. However, if you added 3 Russians you could see how some of the standings wouldn't look so good probably. Its like our new Alysa is here. It is good or nice to see Nina and Nicole and Gubanova do so well. I fear if the Canadian girl's change in the free skate doesn't work she may be given the boot by Skate Canada. I thinks this is her third world championship to earn 2 spots. 16th isn't great; she has not had a good Grand Prix. She won Nationals kind of by the fact there was no one else in Canada. (like the Jennifer Robinson days) I feel sorry for Yelim; to be down so far. Still some decent skating.

 

[Alex D]

This was a great competition, I have written down some notes (11 pages) and will post it shortly.

 

[Jontor]

This was a great competition, I have written down some notes (11 pages) and will post it shortly.

You note beast...
It will be very interesting to see them!

 

[Zora]

I just caught up watching. My favorites were Haein Lee and Isabeau Levito. I thought their programs were the best, polished, expressive, great looks. But I think Isabeau is so so lucky she isn't affected by the new age rule. She reminds me a lot of Medvedeva, everything is so fun and easy until it isn't anymore. I just don't believe her jump technique will last through puberty, even if she thinks it won't affect her.
Mai Mihara is good, but there's always something childish about her skating. I think it's the way she uses her arms, because Satoko didn't have that problem, even though she is also a tiny skater.
Kaori's jumps today were fantastic, but I'm not sad to see this short program go. I just don't think she ever truly felt that music. To be fair though, it's a lot more demanding to skate to this kind of music than Haein Lee's music for example.

 

[Alex D]

You note beast...
It will be very interesting to see them!

Haha, I used to do this back in the days for all competitions.

Anways, I have posted my review in a new thread. I felt its just too long and some people may not like having to scroll through all of it here at this thread.

So here it is,

Ladies Short, personal review

Ladies Short, as it happened The last competition I saw was the Olympics and before that Worlds in 2021, so this was going to be a meeting with lots of new faces for me. It was brilliant to see that there have also been some familiar faces, like Amber Glenn or Daša Grm who did look as sharp...

www.goldenskate.com

 

[msteach3]

Absolutely loving the Japanese audience. NO cat calling, yelling or screaming as the U.S. audience did for the U.S. nationals.
I so wish the screaming thing had not taken hold as what appears to be the new "proper" conduct for many types of performances.

I agree. The screaming at US competitions has taken on a life of its own. Those screaming are young skaters themselves who think they are simply encouraging their friends/teammates. It gets louder every year and is distracting to others. What I don't understand is why their coaches or parents let it continue.

 

[Olympic]

This well-skated competition shows that Eteri et al are not necessary for the women's competition to be interesting.

Though, most of the ladies attempting 2A, 3Z-3T, 3F or 3L, was similar to the situation in SLC 2002 where all the women were attempting the same jump layout, except 3-2 instead of 3-3

 

[JimR]

I agree. The screaming at US competitions has taken on a life of its own. Those screaming are young skaters themselves who think they are simply encouraging their friends/teammates. It gets louder every year and is distracting to others. What I don't understand is why their coaches or parents let it continue.

It's not even screaming it's full on squealing from US crowds. It's like teenage girls from the 1960's watching the Beatles.

It's so embarrassing for the skaters.

At this point it doesn't actually annoy me, just makes me wonder what is going on with these people.

The squealing is so incongruous with what's going on I find it fascinating. It's a bizarre cultural phenomenon.

But there needs to be some kind of medium between respectful support so quiet it detracts from the grandeur of the event, and the over the top Beatlemania of US events.