World Championships 2012 - Pre-competition thread

babayaga wrote:

I found another news clip, with 2A-3T. Also a little tight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SojwRAawNPg&feature=channel

It's all from her first practice. Everyone was a little tight, Yuzuru had many falls, Dai was tight, Taka was just very careful. I hope they all will get used to the ice soon

her axel looks really good in the recent clips, like you said i think she is getting used to the ice

polosatik wrote:

babayaga wrote:

I found another news clip, with 2A-3T. Also a little tight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SojwRAawNPg&feature=channel

It's all from her first practice. Everyone was a little tight, Yuzuru had many falls, Dai was tight, Taka was just very careful. I hope they all will get used to the ice soon

You are right, yes The reports were that most people struggled a little with jumps at first ...

ETA: Today's practice I think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uisafvahaU&feature=channel
Many thanks to the youtube user who is uploading all of these!!

Thank you so much for all the wonderful updates, shikure & babayaga! Like how the Japanese girls can laugh together before practice

linglang wrote:

Is Mao going to attempt 3A in SP? I thought she practiced 3A for her LP in Nice. Japanese media focus only on 3A from Mao because they think Japanese audience love big tricks.

I wonder if Mr. Sato will stop her or not. He may let her decide herself again. In that case, I think Mao will attempt it in SP too because as she said earlier this season, she's not focusing on winning now. She's a two-time world champion. If she wins her third title, I'm sure she wants to win with clean performances with difficult triple jumps (7, 8 triples?). It seems to me she's working her way towards that day.

I have a feeling Sato-sensei will advise her to not do the 3A in the SP, but like you pointed out he may give her the option of utlimately deciding on her own depending on what her objective at this competition is. I got the impression she's going to feel it out and decide whether to include the 3A in the SP and/or LP based on the day of.

ddmm wrote:

I am more worried about her 3Sal, 3Lutz and especially the 3Loop at the end of her FP that she hasn't succeeded in a while now although Loop is one of her favorite jump. Looks like it's the stamina problem so I am afraid that by trying a 3A (and maybe a 3-3), she'll be more exausted at the end and pop her Loop again.
What do you guys think ?

I really don't think Mao will go for a 3-3 in the LP, especially if she decides to put the 3A in the LP. About the 3S and 3L...hmmm...I just don't want Mao to overthink those jumps because when she popped them I thought that was what she was doing. I hope she finds a happy medium because on the other extreme, if she's too relaxed or out of stamina she's more likely to two-foot the landings. I think the key for Mao in the LP is to execute her elements cleanly in the first half of the program and that, in it of itself, could kind of help her mentally and emotionally put her in the right frame of mind to do those edge jumps at the end of her program. I think if she makes small mistakes here and there early on in it could drain her on a mental level that could lead to a concentration lapse.

Personally, I want Mao to end this competition with a real feeling of satisfaction like she did everything in her program she could and she did it well

pj kwong from cbc just picked carolina kostner to win gold at nice.. so i guess this is a good sign for mao..

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/figureskating/opinion/2012/03/who-can-challenge-patrick-chan-at-the-world-championships.html

The clips I've currently seen of Mao's 3As are currently not that good. I think she needs more height. But, It could be she landed other good ones in Nice. I'm just wondering why the Japanese media prefer to air videos with not so good jumps?!

All her 3A attempts I saw would have been << by Amano. Tha 2A-3T too. I am getting worried.

I'm worried for Mao. That's all I'm going to say.

I wonder why JM showing only bad jumps, our girls who were at practice today said Mao was good. But as yesterday everyone wasn't perfect.

I understand you guys are talking about this clip.
It says Mao tried 3A 5 times and all of them were not clean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uisafvahaU

Japanese media believes Mao wins only by her 3A. So they talk only about her 3A. On top of that, this clip is from a Fuji TV's morning show. As you may know, Fuji has been very nasty to Mao when they cover her. One thing very clear is they want to boost viewing rate by any means. They do whatever they think works. So, this may be a part of their tactics again.

roma wrote:

The clips I've currently seen of Mao's 3As are currently not that good. I think she needs more height. But, It could be she landed other good ones in Nice. I'm just wondering why the Japanese media prefer to air videos with not so good jumps?!

because then they can talk alot more about it!

To me it looked like Mao by herself can't figure out what is wrong with her 3a, since she said it was almost perfect at home. I hope she won't be too hard on herself, relax a little bit and then I'm sure everything will be great

Our girls taped yesterday Mao practice, so I will give you a link as soon as they upload it)

ballerinamao wrote:

roma wrote:

The clips I've currently seen of Mao's 3As are currently not that good. I think she needs more height. But, It could be she landed other good ones in Nice. I'm just wondering why the Japanese media prefer to air videos with not so good jumps?!

because then they can talk alot more about it!

True. However, I don't think it's helping their skaters at all. Critics who already have negative opinion on them will have even more to say, I'm afraid.

polosatik wrote:

To me it looked like Mao by herself can't figure out what is wrong with her 3a, since she said it was almost perfect at home. I hope she won't be too hard on herself, relax a little bit and then I'm sure everything will be great

I agree. I think she thinks to much about 3A, and the fact that her every move (especially 3A) is getting scrutinized by the media isn't helping. At home, she could messed up her 3A and worked on it in peace. Maybe the training schedule doesn't suit her (only 45 minutes for the past two days). But to be honest, I rather see her having some troubles at practice and then nailing the competition, than the other way around.
I have faith in our girl. She can do it, screw Amano!

As for Fuji, this is all I'm going to say. Seriously, what's their problem? And the same goes for all japanese media. Anywhere I look it's 3A this, 3A that. I guess, they still haven't realized that Mao is so much more than just a girl with 3A.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fproeLGOC_8&feature=youtu.be yesterday evening Mao practice
So it seems last 3a wasn't from today practice, it was from yesterday)

polosatik wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fproeLGOC_8&feature=youtu.be yesterday evening Mao practice
So it seems last 3a wasn't from today practice, it was from yesterday)

Thanks for the clip!
Today, Mao has a pretice at 14:00-14:35 and at 21:15-21:50 I hope there will be videos.

A poster from a national forum has a blog, he/she is at Nisa and was at practices this morning. According to he/she, Mao focused 80% entirely on the 3A which is still not good, most of her attempts were two footed. She also tried the 3Lz several times, but I don't know her success rate.

Also Daisuke is in good shape, practiced his LP with jumps, 4T was landed with a hand down and the rest was clean

zarinaballerina wrote:

polosatik wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fproeLGOC_8&feature=youtu.be yesterday evening Mao practice
So it seems last 3a wasn't from today practice, it was from yesterday)

Thanks for the clip!
Today, Mao has a pretice at 14:00-14:35 and at 21:15-21:50 I hope there will be videos.

Since all Russian forum cheer for Mao, I hope they will come to today practice))) Or maybe they decided to scare Patrick again!

Lady_in_black wrote:

A poster from a national forum has a blog, he/she is at Nisa and was at practices this morning. According to he/she, Mao focused 80% entirely on the 3A which is still not good, most of her attempts were two footed. She also tried the 3Lz several times, but I don't know her success rate.

Also Daisuke is in good shape, practiced his LP with jumps, 4T was landed with a hand down and the rest was clean

Our girls said the rest of her jumps were clean

I didn't say her other jumps aren't clean, I only read about her 3A and 3Lz.(that she tried several 3Lz, but I don't know about the success rate). I am glad to hear that beside the 3A she is in good shape.
The poster also said Ashley is in top shape and Alissa has problems with her 3Lz.

Found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbG75F5zYoA - Daisuke

Lady_in_black wrote:

I didn't say her other jumps aren't clean, I only read about her 3A and 3Lz.(that she tried several 3Lz, but I don't know about the success rate). I am glad to hear that beside the 3A she is in good shape.
The poster also said Ashley is in top shape and Alissa has problems with her 3Lz.

Found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbG75F5zYoA - Daisuke

But in the end Alissa did her 3 lutz Caro still hasn't entered practice yet and Alena too. I don't mind about the Caro, but I don't like Alena's attitude she's already there and what she's doing? Russian girls make me very sad On the contrary I'm not worried about Mao, cause I know she will be fine at the competition.

polosatik wrote:

zarinaballerina wrote:

polosatik wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fproeLGOC_8&feature=youtu.be yesterday evening Mao practice
So it seems last 3a wasn't from today practice, it was from yesterday)

Thanks for the clip!
Today, Mao has a pretice at 14:00-14:35 and at 21:15-21:50 I hope there will be videos.

Since all Russian forum cheer for Mao, I hope they will come to today practice))) Or maybe they decided to scare Patrick again!

That's a good one. Did it work?


Lady_in_black thanks for Dai's clip! Gosh I hope he will be able to beat Patrick!
I wish Mao wouldn't spend so much of her practice time focusing on 3A, but then again what do I know. Coach Sato is the expert.

zarinaballerina wrote:

polosatik wrote:

zarinaballerina wrote:

polosatik wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fproeLGOC_8&feature=youtu.be yesterday evening Mao practice
So it seems last 3a wasn't from today practice, it was from yesterday)

Thanks for the clip!
Today, Mao has a pretice at 14:00-14:35 and at 21:15-21:50 I hope there will be videos.

Since all Russian forum cheer for Mao, I hope they will come to today practice))) Or maybe they decided to scare Patrick again!

That's a good one. Did it work?


Lady_in_black thanks for Dai's clip! Gosh I hope he will be able to beat Patrick!
I wish Mao wouldn't spend so much of her practice time focusing on 3A, but then again what do I know. Coach Sato is the expert.

Yep, Somehow our three ladies spent 2 hours in the same tourist bus as Patrick. But at first they didn't recognize him. He was in the big sunglasses and sitted right next to one of our super girls. When she turned her head to the window and saw him, she was so surprised and shouted right in his face "Paaaaaaaaaaaaatrick!!!!" Patrick almost jumped out of the bus from the 2nd floor. I think it was worth seeing

polosatik wrote:

Yep, Somehow our three ladies spent 2 hours in the same tourist bus as Patrick. But at first they didn't recognize him. He was in the big sunglasses and sitted right next to one of our super girls. When she turned her head to the window and saw him, she was so surprised and shouted right in his face "Paaaaaaaaaaaaatrick!!!!" Patrick almost jumped out of the bus from the 2nd floor. I think it was worth seeing

OMG I wish I were there!

I agree with you abou Alena. Unless she just arrived in Nice, why the heck isn't she practising? Do you know how Ksenia is doing? And poor Polina, there are rumours that she is in Nice without any coach and has been without one for a month now. This does not bode well for keeping 3 spots.