Mao News - The 2012-2013 Season!

zarinaballerina wrote:

ballerinamao wrote:

I recently found this, I found it quite interesting through I didn't really understand a word they were saying

part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuPSLWxN-_0

part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ9pfw16uBI

it looks like a documentary about Mao and Kim!

Thank you for posting this!!!

LoL I never understand what they're saying but I love watching japanese documentaries about figure skating. To me they're the best.

I know, they just know how to show and highlight some really nice moments on the ice as well as backstage. The music editing is also done in a way that perfectly captures and conveys the emotion of the current situation, sometimes a picture can say more then a hundred spoken words. that's why I soo often find myself easily moved by montages

silenceisgolden wrote:

Mao, Yuzu and Pooh in "Arrietty".


"An anonymous artist posted it online"

Sorry if I posted the wrong thread.

for anyone who is interested, here is the original image. that's quite a transformation!

http://pinkrosesandfairydust.tumblr.com/post/40583273636

https://youtu.be/dsW8RtVhobs Mao in Nagoya Figure Skating Festival
sorry if it has been posted since every thread moved a little bit fast

shikure, thanks for posting this.
I love her Poppins program, and I think it's good that she's doing 3A in these shows, it gives her a clear picture of where she's at and for now, she's not ready to include it in her competitive programs.

Could anyone who understands japanese please summarize what she said in interviews.

I've just watched Mao's FS fromnationals, it was soooooo gorgeous!

Since I started to work I don't have too much time to write on the forum, but I follow all competitions. Can't wait 4CC! Hope Mao will be in her best

Thank you Shikure for the link, I haven;t seen it before. I hope she'll try to do 3A also in the competiton (but maybe not in the short ).

Thank you all for the links!

I think it's too early to judge whether Mao's 3A is ready basing it on the show performances. Not only the exhibition lights (JSC, Soi) and much smaller rink (Nagoya Fes) make it trickier to jump, but also Mao said that she'll need to make some choreographic changes (with Lori's help) to her SP if she wants to attempt 3A in the competition.

I wish the media would stop bothering Mao about the 3A, though. Although I thought it looked great in practices at the Japanese Nats, I'd rather she spent some more time strenghtening her leg muscles, improving her speed and working o the combos ending with 3T. Her 2A-3T improved so much recently, I think she could get a stable 3F-3T before Olympics.

Mao's 3A technique is good now, I think she just needs to get used to landing it in programs again... But I'm afraid she might get injured over-practicing it, like at Worlds last season.

And I'd really love it if her back/hips injury healed completely, so she'd be able to do this spin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Vsf31viaYlo#t=198s again... (But, of course, Mao's health is more important and I'd rather see her use a simple catchfoot than see her injured!)

I think that Mao is already trying to strengthen her leg muscles, but now that you mention it, I can't help but wonder if Mao's Weider team is doing enough, on that department. Earlier this season when Mao was in hungary her leg muscle looked much better and I'm wondering if that was due to her work with zoltan, if that is so hopefully she will work with him again before worlds.

by the way any news about Mao's trip to canada if i remember right it should be around this time she said she would go to canada and change her choreography according to her new layout?

http://www.weider-jp.com/supportproject/mao_asada/movie/index.html
Weider update

http://fskating.com/2013/02/asada-to-meet-suzuki-in-osaka.html

This article has nice things to say about Mao. :-)

I just want to post the link to a recent interview with Armin since it does mention his youtube tribute to Mao from a few years ago.

http://www.absoluteskating.com/index.php?cat=interviews&id=2013arminmahbanoozadeh

aoi88 wrote:

I just want to post the link to a recent interview with Armin since it does mention his youtube tribute to Mao from a few years ago.

http://www.absoluteskating.com/index.php?cat=interviews&id=2013arminmahbanoozadeh

Thanks Aoi for the link.
I am glad the interviewer brought question about Armin's youtube video to Mao. He seems to be a such a nice, honest and talented guy ! I hope to see more of his videos in the future.
BTW, there is a person named 'nmura' on FSU. Is it Armin himself ? I questioned myself because I remember his name of Youtube was the same (not sure about now thought).

Thank you aoi for the link!

ddmm wrote:

BTW, there is a person named 'nmura' on FSU. Is it Armin himself ? I questioned myself because I remember his name of Youtube was the same (not sure about now thought).

Almost!
Armin's user name is MrNimra not NMURA

https://www.youtube.com/user/MrNimra?feature=watch

Sadly I caught only the ending of Japan Super Challenge and blue team won again Is it me or Mao did triple axel? I hope there will be videos soon.

Here are the videos of JSC:

Mao's Mary Poppins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-pDppkL140

Dai:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGuRpRwHl6U

(This is really funny...try to see Dai imitating Mao's final movements in the background! )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZyKcUY-J2Q

Hanyu (woops!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61QKsyTGo0Y

silenceisgolden wrote:

Thank you aoi for the link!

ddmm wrote:

BTW, there is a person named 'nmura' on FSU. Is it Armin himself ? I questioned myself because I remember his name of Youtube was the same (not sure about now thought).

Almost!
Armin's user name is MrNimra not NMURA

https://www.youtube.com/user/MrNimra?feature=watch

Thanks ! I 'm actually very glad that it's not him because I saw some negative comments about Mao from this Nmura. Few!

Oh Mao had another show this weekend ? she must be exausted for having 2 'competitions' 2 weeks in a row. I don't see many top skaters besides Japanese that attend both 4cc and worlds. And with this show this weekend, I won't be surprised if the Japanese skaters will be too exausted by worlds.

I was wondering for Mao's SP layout, can't she go for a 2A-3T as an opening combo? She's not very consistent with it but her quality in this combo has improved a lot. And it's also makes much more sense than going for a 3A or a 3-3 combo, neither of which she has yet tried in competition this season. Also given her issues with her flip this season, it may be better to do it as a single jump in the short to avoid UR calls from a strict panel. I know Mao wants to go for the 3A but it is just too risky and she really really needs to place on the podium this year or else she will lose all or at least most of the momentum she has worked so hard to gain back from the judges. Besides Yuna and Carolina, there are also many younger skaters that may gain support if they do well leading up to Sochi, so she cannot afford to lost consistency at this point. I hope if she tries it at 4CC and it isn't successful, she realizes this and listens to her coaches, since I know Sato is more conservative (and rightfully I believe) regarding this jump.

ddmm wrote:

Oh Mao had another show this weekend ? she must be exausted for having 2 'competitions' 2 weeks in a row. I don't see many top skaters besides Japanese that attend both 4cc and worlds. And with this show this weekend, I won't be surprised if the Japanese skaters will be too exausted by worlds.

That's what I thought either.

Anyway, Mao's Mary Poppins is soooo cute

aoi88 wrote:

I was wondering for Mao's SP layout, can't she go for a 2A-3T as an opening combo?

Mao could do 2A-3T in SP only if she did 3A as her axel requirement. 2A-3T would fulfill "a triple in combination" requirement, and she could do 3F or 3L out of steps. SPs with 3A and 2A-3T were actually quite popular among male skaters before 3-3s and quads became a must.

Actually, just today I was thinking if Mao didn't consider this idea...

Her current base value for jumping passes (in SP) is 15.83, with 3A, 2A-3T and 3F it would be 21.73. That leaves some room for a small mistake (like UR or step out on 3A). Plus, if 2A-3T and 3F were clean, she would gain a bit in GoE, because the GoE factoring is different for jumping passes containing a triple.

I wouldn't suspect any other lady skater to try this, but Mao often prefers to challenge herself than to force herself to be perfect on an easier jumping layout, so who knows?


I'm definitely not too happy about Mao's (and Akiko's) schedule, though. There's little time to rest between their events, let alone to think about improving jumps/programs. Their most challenging competitors will be well rested by the Worlds...

inskate wrote:

aoi88 wrote:

I was wondering for Mao's SP layout, can't she go for a 2A-3T as an opening combo?

Mao could do 2A-3T in SP only if she did 3A as her axel requirement. 2A-3T would fulfill "a triple in combination" requirement, and she could do 3F or 3L out of steps. SPs with 3A and 2A-3T were actually quite popular among male skaters before 3-3s and quads became a must.

Actually, just today I was thinking if Mao didn't consider this idea...

Her current base value for jumping passes (in SP) is 15.83, with 3A, 2A-3T and 3F it would be 21.73. That leaves some room for a small mistake (like UR or step out on 3A). Plus, if 2A-3T and 3F were clean, she would gain a bit in GoE, because the GoE factoring is different for jumping passes containing a triple.

I wouldn't suspect any other lady skater to try this, but Mao often prefers to challenge herself than to force herself to be perfect on an easier jumping layout, so who knows?


I'm definitely not too happy about Mao's (and Akiko's) schedule, though. There's little time to rest between their events, let alone to think about improving jumps/programs. Their most challenging competitors will be well rested by the Worlds...

Thanks! That is an interesting layout for sure, but it would be quite challenging too. Personally, I think it's really important for Mao or any skater who wishes to be regarded as a serious medal contender for Sochi to do really well at the Worlds preceding the Olympics. That's why I actually think she should go for the layout she is most comfortable with at the moment and not take big risks. I think it would be smarter, if she really wants to bring those jumps back for Sochi, to practice them during the off-season and then try it out at GP season in the fall. She will have much more time to prepare and she and Sato can also have time to evaluate which big element (3A or 3-3) she will realistically be most likely to succeed landing in her programs. As much as I support her, I simply can't see her 3A being ready for Worlds this season. There is not much time and her schedule seems quite busy too. And she also need to focus on perfecting her other jumps.

To clarify: JSC didn't take place this passing weekend but was held in early Jan. The videos posted were from the broadcasting of the recorded version.

To add: 130204 浅田真央 mao asada 衣装の秘密
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3LhSfOhHHs
(Mao talks about the choices of her SP/FS costumes this season, she also talks a little about the choice of not covering the boots, if I understand the clip correctly )

COHK wrote:

To clarify: JSC didn't take place this passing weekend but was held in early Jan. The videos posted were from the broadcasting of the recorded version.

To add: 130204 浅田真央 mao asada 衣装の秘密
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3LhSfOhHHs
(Mao talks about the choices of her SP/FS costumes this season, she also talks a little about the choice of not covering the boots, if I understand the clip correctly )

Thanks so much for clarifying this, I was terrified when I saw Mao made that mistake in the show, that's why i'm relieved to hear that it's not a recent clip.

COHK wrote:

To clarify: JSC didn't take place this passing weekend but was held in early Jan. The videos posted were from the broadcasting of the recorded version.

Adding to this,
JSC was hosted in order to raise funds for the development of young skaters
on the date in between Stars on Ice Osaka and Tokyo.
And Nagoya is located on the way to the latter by Shinkansen (bullet train).

SOI (Osaka): Jan. 5, 6
JSC (Nagoya): Jan. 8
SOI (Tokyo): Jan. 12, 13, 14

This posting could really go either way, in 4C or in Mao news, but since 4C thread is crazy at the moment, I'll post it here.

Not a whole lot in this article we don't already know, but there is a quote from Mao:

"I've been saying I will include the triple axel at some point and was glad I did it today," Asada said. "I wasn't really sure it would be at this competition but I felt good in practice so decided this was the time to attempt it and I was very pleased with the result.

http://www.globalnews.ca/canada/sports/japans+mao+asada+leads+after+short+program+at+4+continents+figure+skating/6442805828/story.html

can anyone please tell me how long mao has been training a triple flip triple toe combination? i'm wondering because i don't recall ever seeing it and for the possibility of her bringing it into her short program. thanks.

swan wrote:

can anyone please tell me how long mao has been training a triple flip triple toe combination? i'm wondering because i don't recall ever seeing it and for the possibility of her bringing it into her short program. thanks.

I think the last time she attempted it was at 2008 Worlds where she got 1.43 GOE right after she slipped on that 3A. I can't remember her attempting that jump after that event. It's always been 3F+3Lo that we see in clips. Since they've mentioned Mao was seen practicing it again at 4CC I was actually hoping there'd be at least a single clip on it but so far... none.