Quad and Triple Axel Battle Ahead for Ladies in Stockholm

[gsk8]

Review top six contenders ​

Quad and Triple Axel Battle Ahead for Ladies in Stockholm

A battle of quads and triple Axels is what is usually expected from the Men’s event at a major ISU competition, however, the Ladies’ discipline have now joined those ranks […]

www.goldenskate.com

Who else to watch?​

Japan’s powerful Kaori Sakamoto should not be overlooked and could be a dark horse. Yelim Kim travels as the new Korean Champion to Stockholm while Loena Hendrickx of Belgium recently won the Challenge Cup in The Hague with convincing performances. Other strong competitors include Karen Chen (USA) and Alexia Paganini (SUI).

Missing in action​

Youth Olympic Games Champion You Young (KOR) missed qualifying for the World team as she only finished fourth at the Korean Championships. 2019 World silver medalist Elizabet Tursynbaeva (KAZ) has not competed since winning her World medal. 2020 European Champion Alena Kostornaia (FSR) had a rough season and failed to qualify for Worlds.

Prediction Contest coming soon!​

 

[kirauza343]

How on earth is Satoko considered a top 6 contender ahead of Kaori??? Like I know we haven’t seen a lot of Satoko this season but what we’ve seen of Kaori is significantly stronger than anything Satoko has done this season or last and Kaori beat Satoko by a significant margin at Nationals.

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

How on earth is Satoko considered a top 6 contender ahead of Kaori??? Like I know we haven’t seen a lot of Satoko this season but what we’ve seen of Kaori is significantly stronger than anything Satoko has done this season or last and Kaori beat Satoko by a significant margin at Nationals.

I love Satoko, but I would have Kaori at fifth minimum. She's been incredible and very consistent this season.

 

[gsk8]

How on earth is Satoko considered a top 6 contender ahead of Kaori??? Like I know we haven’t seen a lot of Satoko this season but what we’ve seen of Kaori is significantly stronger than anything Satoko has done this season or last and Kaori beat Satoko by a significant margin at Nationals.

Right but if Satoko fixes her under-rotation issues, her chances are better than Kaori, don't you think?

 

[chuckm]

I find it hard to consider Karen Chen a strong competitor when she hasn't competed at this level since 2017. Loena Hendrickx may have won the recent Senior B, but that was her first and only competition since she placed 12th at Worlds 2019.

 

[kirauza343]

Right but if Satoko fixes her under-rotation issues, her chances are better than Kaori, don't you think?

That would require her to actually fix her underrotation issues. You can’t compare Kaori where she’s at to a hypothetically fully rotated Satoko especially when that isn’t a realistic assumption to make about Satoko. We’ve seen Kaori multiple times this season and she’s looked very strong. Satoko hasn’t had many opportunities to compete and did not look as strong the one time she did.

I like both skaters but there’s no way Satoko has a better shot at the top 6 than Kaori does.

 

[YuBluByMe]

The blurb on Rika is vaguely irritating in its lack of detail, especially compared to a few others. She didn't get the same treatment. I'm going to tweak it for you:

As the first woman to land a 3A+3T in international competition, Kihira will probably be the only woman at the championship that comes armed with not only a quad, but a triple Axel as well. In her free skate choreographed by coach Stephane Lambiel, the 18-year-old landed her first quad Salchow at this season’s Japanese Nationals to take her second consecutive title.

The two-time ISU Four Continents Champion has competed at Worlds before—she came in fourth in Saitama in 2019—and has a bit more experience than Shcherbakova and Trusova. The Nishinomiya native has an imaginative new SP – complete with difficult choreography by Benoit Richaud that includes a one-handed cartwheel - and if she is consistent with her strong technical content and quality skating, she has the best chances to challenge the Russian skaters.

See the difference a little tweaking makes? Sure, you have my permission to use it. You're welcome.

 

[ladyjane]

The Empress will be here. Finally, after 6 years.

 

[gsk8]

The blurb on Rika is vaguely irritating in its lack of detail, especially compared to a few others. She didn't get the same treatment. I'm going to tweak it for you:

As the first woman to land a 3A+3T in international competition, Kihira will probably be the only woman at the championship that comes armed with not only a quad, but a triple Axel as well. In her free skate choreographed by coach Stephane Lambiel, the 18-year-old landed her first quad Salchow at this season’s Japanese Nationals to take her second consecutive title.

The two-time ISU Four Continents Champion has competed at Worlds before—she came in fourth in Saitama in 2019—and has a bit more experience than Shcherbakova and Trusova. The Nishinomiya native has an imaginative new SP – complete with difficult choreography by Benoit Richaud that includes a one-handed cartwheel - and if she is consistent with her strong technical content and quality skating, she has the best chances to challenge the Russian skaters.

See the difference a little tweaking makes? Sure, you have my permission to use it. You're welcome.

Appreciate the time you took! Please keep in mind that we had four disciplines to work and wanted to keep it a minimum.

 

[ucrgirl]

It is amusing to read these previews. Most skates have competed so little that it is hard to guess what their best effort is let alone IF they can turn out their best in competition.

Next week will be fun.

 

[gsk8]

One can only hope everyone will skate their best and let the cards fall where they may

 

[alexocfp]

I have Empress for a farewell silver, Loena to improve on her Challenge Cup free skate and be 6th, and a top 10 for Mikutina.

Bet your houses and life savings on all the above.
I know I won’t. Haha

 

[bouncy]

I have Empress for a farewell silver, Loena to improve on her Challenge Cup free skate and be 6th, and a top 10 for Mikutina.

Bet your houses and life savings on all the above.
I know I won’t. Haha

I really hope this is not Liza's swan song! She still has a shot for Worlds 2022 if anyone on the OG team withdraws.

 

[RatedPG]

Of course they overlook Kaori.... not even a top 6 contender? I was looking forward to seeing what they would write about her. This only makes me root for her even more.

 

[lzxnl]

Appreciate the time you took! Please keep in mind that we had four disciplines to work and wanted to keep it a minimum.

Keep it to a minimum? That does not explain how you have disproportionately written more about the Russian skaters than any others.

 

[Myr]

I find it hard to consider Karen Chen a strong competitor when she hasn't competed at this level since 2017. Loena Hendrickx may have won the recent Senior B, but that was her first and only competition since she placed 12th at Worlds 2019.

Loena also participated at the Budapest trophy in autumn 2020, she won with 199 point, she improved on that score at Challenge Cup where she scored 205. So I do believe that this provides an accurate picture of her present condition. Moreover since both competitions were scored by an internation jury they are probably representative of the scores she will get at Worlds if she skates semi-clean.

Anayways, I am very much rooting for her to be in the top ten. Go Loena!!

 

[alexocfp]

Loena also participated at the Budapest trophy in autumn 2020, she won with 199 point, she improved on that score at Challenge Cup where she scored 205. So I do believe that this provides an accurate picture of her present condition. Moreover since both competitions were scored by an internation jury they are probably representative of the scores she will get at Worlds if she skates semi-clean.

Anayways, I am very much rooting for her to be in the top ten. Go Loena!!

I put her 6th in my predictions so I also have high hopes for her. Let’s see how high hopes translates into reality. Haha

 

[alexocfp]

Of course they overlook Kaori.... not even a top 6 contender? I was looking forward to seeing what they would write about her. This only makes me root for her even more.

If it makes you feel better I have her 5th in my predictions.

I absolutely love her matrix program. One of my favorite programs this year easily.

Also, I hope the international judges know that the Kaori bonus is a thing.

What’s that? It’s a 20 point bonus added to your score if your name is Kaori Sakamoto. They should actually put this bonus in the official scoring rules. Hahaha

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

Keep it to a minimum? That does not explain how you have disproportionately written more about the Russian skaters than any others.

The 3 Russian ladies have all competed 5 times this season which would give the writer more events and material to work with compared to Rika and Satoko competing once.

 

[kirauza343]

The 3 Russian ladies have all competed 5 times this season which would give the writer more events and material to work with compared to Rika and Satoko competing once.

Trusova’s entire first paragraph is solely about her past achievements and doesn’t mention this season’s competitions at all. There’s plenty to pull from for Rika (First lady to skate a clean 8 triple free skate, first to land a 3A3T in competition, the fact that she’s been landing triple axels for years...) which makes the difference very noticeable. Anna and Sasha aren’t the only ones that have pushed the sport technically.