- Joined
- Sep 14, 2008
- Country
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None of the programs were great, which is usual these days, but still sad to see. The artistry is so lacking.
Zagitova's program is one of the most mechanical interpretations of Carmen ever from a top lady. I don't think a single choreographic passage was ever fully extended or given serious treatment in creating a striking picture or conveying a real story/character/emotion on the ice. Her basic posture and stroking never has a clean line (her basic skating skill not the best either), she's continually hunched, although she certainly does a lot of movement. She deserved this win by virtue of the jumps, but even those are overrated here. Her 3Lutz+3Loop combo was lacking rotation on both of the jumps and didn't have the pop off the ice she used to get, plus a pulled landing edge. Her other jumps were all rather small too, except for the 3Lutz+3Toe, which was "okay". Her GOE's should have been much lower: +3 for the 3Toe combo, 0 for the 3Loop combo, and no higher than +2 for every other jump element.
Turysnbaeva skated nicely and the Quad attempt was solid. Still 1/4 turn short, there's yet to be any lady who has ever done a "full" quad, but she actually got off the ice quite well on it, so I'm fine with considering this the first quad by a senior lady. Overall she has nice energy and basic skating, but her program lacks the amount of transitions others do, while at the same time feeling a little rushed and incomplete, because she's stick stuck in the overall mode of current figure skating - which means a lack of longer edges, pleasing positions, meaningful choreography, and great musical interpretation.
Medvedeva gave a very determined and spray-tanned performance, but I do not think she deserved to be on the podium. It was a mature performance, no excessive flailing around from her, but lacked anything particularly special. I like that she upgraded to the +3Loop combo this season, but it's not great quality, and why is she still doing a +2Toe+2Toe combo? Her continued axel problem is what really knocks her off the podium for me though (she also still has a Lutz edge issue that has yet again been ignored). Also in the SP, her 3Flip+3Toe should have been called underrotated. So while she visibly skated cleaner than Kihira, it's not the same level of skill.
Kihara did not skate her best, but it needs to be considered how she was attempting the highest level of content. Her only actual mistakes were on 3Axel, a jump nobody else was doing, and she still landed one in the competition! With the current state of figure skating, I think she generally shows more meaningful movement than the other girls too. The overall picture is hurt because of the mistake (and she never hit that ending pose perfectly all season), but her choreography is slightly more pleasing.
Sakamota was pleasant as always and shows an improvement in her line, along with generally higher quality jumps than the others, but you can't pop a triple into a single when the competition is this strong.
Miyahara had the best program but the weakest jumps. Life is unfair.
Tennell did a good job and has improved in her performing, but there's still an aspect of gangliness to her skating that need to be worked on.
Samodurova was solid and has some personality to her skating, but she should sell it even more, and needs to improve her basic skating to be on the same level as the others.
Mariah Bell has one of my favorite Long Programs this season, but she seemed a bit tentative here, despite it being her cleanest skate of the season. I also dislike the foot stomp at the end of the program, detracting from the character of music. This problem plagues modern skating in general; people don't even try to stay in character at the end anymore. It's indicative of how much less people are caring about the choreography and performance as a whole, instead treating the individual elements and transitions as if they are everything.
Eunsoo Lim is a skater with so much talent, I wish she was getting better artistic direction. I think she has range to do many styles and create truly beautiful performances, but unfortunately nobody is putting their full attention into that anymore in skating.
Zagitova's program is one of the most mechanical interpretations of Carmen ever from a top lady. I don't think a single choreographic passage was ever fully extended or given serious treatment in creating a striking picture or conveying a real story/character/emotion on the ice. Her basic posture and stroking never has a clean line (her basic skating skill not the best either), she's continually hunched, although she certainly does a lot of movement. She deserved this win by virtue of the jumps, but even those are overrated here. Her 3Lutz+3Loop combo was lacking rotation on both of the jumps and didn't have the pop off the ice she used to get, plus a pulled landing edge. Her other jumps were all rather small too, except for the 3Lutz+3Toe, which was "okay". Her GOE's should have been much lower: +3 for the 3Toe combo, 0 for the 3Loop combo, and no higher than +2 for every other jump element.
Turysnbaeva skated nicely and the Quad attempt was solid. Still 1/4 turn short, there's yet to be any lady who has ever done a "full" quad, but she actually got off the ice quite well on it, so I'm fine with considering this the first quad by a senior lady. Overall she has nice energy and basic skating, but her program lacks the amount of transitions others do, while at the same time feeling a little rushed and incomplete, because she's stick stuck in the overall mode of current figure skating - which means a lack of longer edges, pleasing positions, meaningful choreography, and great musical interpretation.
Medvedeva gave a very determined and spray-tanned performance, but I do not think she deserved to be on the podium. It was a mature performance, no excessive flailing around from her, but lacked anything particularly special. I like that she upgraded to the +3Loop combo this season, but it's not great quality, and why is she still doing a +2Toe+2Toe combo? Her continued axel problem is what really knocks her off the podium for me though (she also still has a Lutz edge issue that has yet again been ignored). Also in the SP, her 3Flip+3Toe should have been called underrotated. So while she visibly skated cleaner than Kihira, it's not the same level of skill.
Kihara did not skate her best, but it needs to be considered how she was attempting the highest level of content. Her only actual mistakes were on 3Axel, a jump nobody else was doing, and she still landed one in the competition! With the current state of figure skating, I think she generally shows more meaningful movement than the other girls too. The overall picture is hurt because of the mistake (and she never hit that ending pose perfectly all season), but her choreography is slightly more pleasing.
Sakamota was pleasant as always and shows an improvement in her line, along with generally higher quality jumps than the others, but you can't pop a triple into a single when the competition is this strong.
Miyahara had the best program but the weakest jumps. Life is unfair.
Tennell did a good job and has improved in her performing, but there's still an aspect of gangliness to her skating that need to be worked on.
Samodurova was solid and has some personality to her skating, but she should sell it even more, and needs to improve her basic skating to be on the same level as the others.
Mariah Bell has one of my favorite Long Programs this season, but she seemed a bit tentative here, despite it being her cleanest skate of the season. I also dislike the foot stomp at the end of the program, detracting from the character of music. This problem plagues modern skating in general; people don't even try to stay in character at the end anymore. It's indicative of how much less people are caring about the choreography and performance as a whole, instead treating the individual elements and transitions as if they are everything.
Eunsoo Lim is a skater with so much talent, I wish she was getting better artistic direction. I think she has range to do many styles and create truly beautiful performances, but unfortunately nobody is putting their full attention into that anymore in skating.
so many high quality skaters could've made the podium and in the end it was the ones with the strongest nerves. 
but at least they got a couple small medals and im looking forward to some redemption for them next year
Hopefully she'll only improve more.
I knew she'd land that 4S. I just knew it. Soooo glad I was right. From the moment I laid eyes on her at Pyeongchang, I just knew she was something special. Everyone says she's improved so much, but I honestly don't see where she's improved much more than any skater does with experience. She was always great, but few people saw it. I'm glad more are now. ELIZABET FOR GOLD 2020! 
