Other Nationals

I've just watched the top four ladies SP on youtube. I don't like competitions being held in America because it's usually very late here in Europe  

Ashley seemed to be off. I'm not a fan of her program but I always appreciate the enthusiasm with which she skates. However, I didn't see her usual fire here and, without that, she's not a very interesting skater for me (just my opinion, though).

I'm happy for Mirai, I want her to do well since she was such a promising skater and it has been sad for me to see her struggle this last few seasons. I know it's just her body type but I can't help but find her a little heavy when she skates. I prefer skaters looking slim and light (not because of their appearance, don't get me wrong, it's just that I prefer that type of skating) , and I guess that's why I prefer Mao and Yuna above all the others.

I liked Polina, but she has to polish her skating, although I think she's quite impressive for a 15 year old. After all, the program and the music itself didn't allow her to look neither polished nor elegant, so I'll wait until I see her FS.

Finally, I was impressed by Gracie, especially by her huuuuggee triple lutz. I still find something awkward about her posture but I cannot say exactly what it is. Probably her body still looks too rigid for my taste or maybe it is her arm movement, I'm not sure. Just as an example, in spite of being really big, her triple-triple didn't look beautiful to me. The axis on the first lutz reminded me of Tonya Harding's triple axel, if you know what I mean...it was too vertical, IMO a little inclination always makes the jump look nicer. Then, on the the triple toe loop, she uses her right arm to gain momentum as if she was doing a lutz again, I suppose that's what makes her combination look a little awkward to me, too much "arm waving" and not enough knee bend.

I don't know what happened to me but it looks like I was very nit-picking this time   . I'm a little tired so maybe after some rest I'll appreciate this ladies more  

BTW, I've just seen Gracie practice her LP. She's looking really strong. Her 2A-3T in particular looked great! I sometimes wonder what Mao's problem with 3T is. I think she should have worked on it more when she was younger since it has turned out to be a really important jump now that combinations ending with loop are being marked as underotated all the time. You know, her 2A-3T is looking better now, but the toe loop still looks very close some times.

Iceriver wrote:

a little inclination always makes the jump look nicer.
too much "arm waving" and not enough knee bend.

Not for me, I prefer jumps more verticals, it looks so beautiful, and I agree totally about the arm waving, just like Miki, I don´t understand why is so difficult for her fix it   

does anyone have any stream for US nationals, I can't find any

chapis wrote:

ladies is tomorrow 6:45pm Boston time, today is men, ladies are only practicing for tomorrow  

eta. 1 Gracie´s LP is  
eta 2  Very good practice for Mirai    

Thanks for the info chapis.

shar wrote:

chapis wrote:

ladies is tomorrow 6:45pm Boston time, today is men, ladies are only practicing for tomorrow  

eta. 1 Gracie´s LP is  
eta 2  Very good practice for Mirai    

Thanks for the info chapis.

oh i see thanks for the info, i thought the fs already began   

Iceriver wrote:

I've just watched the top four ladies SP on youtube. I don't like competitions being held in America because it's usually very late here in Europe  

Ashley seemed to be off. I'm not a fan of her program but I always appreciate the enthusiasm with which she skates. However, I didn't see her usual fire here and, without that, she's not a very interesting skater for me (just my opinion, though).

I'm happy for Mirai, I want her to do well since she was such a promising skater and it has been sad for me to see her struggle this last few seasons. I know it's just her body type but I can't help but find her a little heavy when she skates. I prefer skaters looking slim and light (not because of their appearance, don't get me wrong, it's just that I prefer that type of skating) , and I guess that's why I prefer Mao and Yuna above all the others.

I liked Polina, but she has to polish her skating, although I think she's quite impressive for a 15 year old. After all, the program and the music itself didn't allow her to look neither polished nor elegant, so I'll wait until I see her FS.

Finally, I was impressed by Gracie, especially by her huuuuggee triple lutz. I still find something awkward about her posture but I cannot say exactly what it is. Probably her body still looks too rigid for my taste or maybe it is her arm movement, I'm not sure. Just as an example, in spite of being really big, her triple-triple didn't look beautiful to me. The axis on the first lutz reminded me of Tonya Harding's triple axel, if you know what I mean...it was too vertical, IMO a little inclination always makes the jump look nicer. Then, on the the triple toe loop, she uses her right arm to gain momentum as if she was doing a lutz again, I suppose that's what makes her combination look a little awkward to me, too much "arm waving" and not enough knee bend.

I don't know what happened to me but it looks like I was very nit-picking this time   . I'm a little tired so maybe after some rest I'll appreciate this ladies more  

BTW, I've just seen Gracie practice her LP. She's looking really strong. Her 2A-3T in particular looked great! I sometimes wonder what Mao's problem with 3T is. I think she should have worked on it more when she was younger since it has turned out to be a really important jump now that combinations ending with loop are being marked as underotated all the time. You know, her 2A-3T is looking better now, but the toe loop still looks very close some times.

I used to call Tonya's axel, the triple vertical, because her jump were never on an axel. It was always so awkward looking to me.

As for mao's 3T, I just think toe jumps aren't her strong suit. Just like edge jumps tend to be Yuna's nemesis. I think her first coach(s) made her focus too much on her axels, and not enough on her weaker jumps. So even if she's perfecting them now, it will take more than the 4 years that she has been relearning them. If she decides to compete until 2018, that is when her jumps will be perfected. Because it took from the age of 6 to 19 to learn the wrong format.

chapis wrote:

Iceriver wrote:

a little inclination always makes the jump look nicer.
too much "arm waving" and not enough knee bend.

Not for me, I prefer jumps more verticals, it looks so beautiful,  and I agree totally about the arm waving, just like Miki, I don´t understand why is so difficult for her fix it   

Sorry if I didn't explain it well. I don't mean a lot of inclination, just the natural inclination derived from the fact that the take off imply leaning you body forward a little bit. Mao's jumps have a beautiful position in the air but they are not completely vertical. To me, Gracie's first lutz looks a little awkward. She leans forward preparing to take off and suddenly the jump changes the axis inclination abruptly to become completely vertical (I say "vertical" but it's difficult to say for sure because it depends on the camera angle). Its difficult to explain, I'm trying my best but I'm not sure that I'm explaining myself.

ElleluvsL wrote:

I don't know if this is on topic or not, but during US nationals, Christina Gao was asked by Michael Buckley who her favorite international skater was, and she named both Yuna and Mao and when asked which one would win in Sochi, she said that she thought that Mao was going to win the Olympics this time    I was pleasantly surprised because before that she usually only mentioned Yuna as being her favorite.  She was really cute throughout the interview, hope she is able to have a better result in the free skate.    

Also, fingers crossed that Mirai will be clean and full of spark and energy for her free skate as well   

Yay. I know Christina also likes Mao. I''ve seen it mentioned somewhere. I can't imagine how Christina managed to juggle between studying at Harvard and skating full-time.  

Just watched Gracie's SP. I don't like Gracie but she's improved a lot. Frank is truly a fantastic worker. I wish Mirai still stayed with Frank. If Mirai and Gracie train together, they can help push each other forward. Fran seems to be a very strict, no-nonsense coach.

shar wrote:

Iceriver wrote:

I've just watched the top four ladies SP on youtube. I don't like competitions being held in America because it's usually very late here in Europe  

Ashley seemed to be off. I'm not a fan of her program but I always appreciate the enthusiasm with which she skates. However, I didn't see her usual fire here and, without that, she's not a very interesting skater for me (just my opinion, though).

I'm happy for Mirai, I want her to do well since she was such a promising skater and it has been sad for me to see her struggle this last few seasons. I know it's just her body type but I can't help but find her a little heavy when she skates. I prefer skaters looking slim and light (not because of their appearance, don't get me wrong, it's just that I prefer that type of skating) , and I guess that's why I prefer Mao and Yuna above all the others.

I liked Polina, but she has to polish her skating, although I think she's quite impressive for a 15 year old. After all, the program and the music itself didn't allow her to look neither polished nor elegant, so I'll wait until I see her FS.

Finally, I was impressed by Gracie, especially by her huuuuggee triple lutz. I still find something awkward about her posture but I cannot say exactly what it is. Probably her body still looks too rigid for my taste or maybe it is her arm movement, I'm not sure. Just as an example, in spite of being really big, her triple-triple didn't look beautiful to me. The axis on the first lutz reminded me of Tonya Harding's triple axel, if you know what I mean...it was too vertical, IMO a little inclination always makes the jump look nicer. Then, on the the triple toe loop, she uses her right arm to gain momentum as if she was doing a lutz again, I suppose that's what makes her combination look a little awkward to me, too much "arm waving" and not enough knee bend.

I don't know what happened to me but it looks like I was very nit-picking this time   . I'm a little tired so maybe after some rest I'll appreciate this ladies more  

BTW, I've just seen Gracie practice her LP. She's looking really strong. Her 2A-3T in particular looked great! I sometimes wonder what Mao's problem with 3T is. I think she should have worked on it more when she was younger since it has turned out to be a really important jump now that combinations ending with loop are being marked as underotated all the time. You know, her 2A-3T is looking better now, but the toe loop still looks very close some times.

I used to call Tonya's axel, the triple vertical, because her jump were never on an axel. It was always so awkward looking to me.

As for mao's 3T, I just think toe jumps aren't her strong suit. Just like edge jumps tend to be Yuna's nemesis. I think her first coach(s) made her focus too much on her axels, and not enough on her weaker jumps. So even if she's perfecting them now, it will take more than the 4 years that she has been relearning them. If she decides to compete until 2018, that is when her jumps will be perfected. Because it took from the age of 6 to 19 to learn the wrong format.

I personally don't agree with these statements, first she didn't learn her jumps between the age of 6-19, she had mastered them, competed with them internationally, and doing them on regular basis at an very early age. it also didn't take her 4 years to relearn her jumps, it's only been three years since she began reworking her jumps, and on top of it, after 1-2 seasons she showed up and demonstrated every kind of jump relearned with a new technique even the 3A.
consistency is a complete different issue, and is caused by different factors the most apparent one in Mao's case is her content/difficulty which increases the chances of mistake alot compared to other skaters. and Mao focusing on the 3A and more difficult combo's is a very natural thing to do, which i expect every skater to do, since the difficult elements need more time and focus. but I agree that reworking jumps is time consuming, and even more so when the skater is working on more at the same time, but the way she overcame it, with hard work and patience is astonishing.

ballerinamao wrote:

I personally don't agree with these statements, first she didn't learn her jumps between the age of 6-19, she had mastered them, competed with them internationally, and doing them on regular basis at an very early age. it also didn't take her 4 years to relearn her jumps, it's only been three years since she began reworking her jumps, and on top of it, after 1-2 seasons she showed up and demonstrated every kind of jump relearned with a new technique even the 3A.
consistency is a complete different issue, and is caused by different factors the most apparent one in Mao's case is her content/difficulty which increases the chances of mistake alot compared to other skaters. and Mao focusing on the 3A and more difficult combo's is a very natural thing to do, which i expect every skater to do, since the difficult elements need more time and focus.  but I agree that reworking jumps is time consuming, and even more so when the skater is working on more at the same time, but the way she overcame it, with hard work and patience is astonishing.

I didn't mean she was learning them for that long. I worded that statement wrong. I meant that from the age of 6-19, she has been jumping with the same format, thus we can't expect her not to revert to doing a flutz every now and then. When she does it in practice, she has the right edge, but in an actual competition, she'd revert slitely back to a flutz. And yes it has only been 3 years, I forgot that she didn't start training under Sato until towards the end of 2010. And yes, her achievement on the changes in her jumps is astounding.

This is why i'm such a fan of Mao. What other lady would have the balls after winning a silver medal at the olympics, follow that up with a gold medal win at worlds, go back to the drawing boards and risk losing everything she's achieved thus far, all in the name of doing the right thing, and reworking and correcting her jumps. (Even the queen quits on jumps she can't master, 3a and 3l). That kind of dedication and perserverance is why I consider Mao a goddess on ice.    Because she is willing and able to confront, tackle and master what is her weakness. I'm praying that everything she has learned these past 3 years align themselves to work perfectly for Mao in Sochi.    

shar wrote:

ballerinamao wrote:

I personally don't agree with these statements, first she didn't learn her jumps between the age of 6-19, she had mastered them, competed with them internationally, and doing them on regular basis at an very early age. it also didn't take her 4 years to relearn her jumps, it's only been three years since she began reworking her jumps, and on top of it, after 1-2 seasons she showed up and demonstrated every kind of jump relearned with a new technique even the 3A.
consistency is a complete different issue, and is caused by different factors the most apparent one in Mao's case is her content/difficulty which increases the chances of mistake alot compared to other skaters. and Mao focusing on the 3A and more difficult combo's is a very natural thing to do, which i expect every skater to do, since the difficult elements need more time and focus.  but I agree that reworking jumps is time consuming, and even more so when the skater is working on more at the same time, but the way she overcame it, with hard work and patience is astonishing.

I didn't mean she was learning them for that long. I worded that statement wrong. I meant that from the age of 6-19, she has been jumping with the same format, thus  we can't expect her not to revert to doing a flutz every now and then. When she does it in practice, she has the right edge, but in an actual competition, she'd revert slitely back to a flutz. And yes it has only been 3 years, I forgot that she didn't start training under Sato until towards the end of 2010. And yes, her achievement on the changes in her jumps is astounding.

This is why i'm such a fan of Mao. What other lady would have the balls after winning a silver medal at the olympics, follow that up with a gold medal win at worlds, go back to the drawing boards and risk losing everything she's achieved thus far, all in the name of doing the right thing, and reworking and correcting her jumps. (Even the queen quits on jumps she can't master, 3a and 3l). That kind of dedication and perserverance is why I consider Mao a goddess on ice.    Because she is willing and able to confront, tackle and master what is her weakness. I'm praying that everything she has learned these past 3 years align themselves to work perfectly for Mao in Sochi.    

ITA, and i really hope so too

shar wrote:

I didn't mean she was learning them for that long. I worded that statement wrong. I meant that from the age of 6-19, she has been jumping with the same format, thus  we can't expect her not to revert to doing a flutz every now and then. When she does it in practice, she has the right edge, but in an actual competition, she'd revert slitely back to a flutz. And yes it has only been 3 years, I forgot that she didn't start training under Sato until towards the end of 2010. And yes, her achievement on the changes in her jumps is astounding.

This is why i'm such a fan of Mao. What other lady would have the balls after winning a silver medal at the olympics, follow that up with a gold medal win at worlds, go back to the drawing boards and risk losing everything she's achieved thus far, all in the name of doing the right thing, and reworking and correcting her jumps. (Even the queen quits on jumps she can't master, 3a and 3l). That kind of dedication and perserverance is why I consider Mao a goddess on ice.    Because she is willing and able to confront, tackle and master what is her weakness. I'm praying that everything she has learned these past 3 years align themselves to work perfectly for Mao in Sochi.    

Did Yuna use to train the 3A? Mao is born to be a champion, literally or figurativelly speaking. I've seen so many people quit on mastering their weaknesses and fear and it's kinda upsetting, since they're capable of conquering them if they're willing to open their mind.

pearlyriver wrote:

Did Yuna use to train the 3A? Mao is born to be a champion, literally or figurativelly speaking. I've seen so many people quit on mastering their weaknesses and fear and it's kinda upsetting, since they're capable of conquering them if they're willing to open their mind.

Yes she did. There's videos on youtube showing Yuna practicing 3A's while attached to a harness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZosIIEz2GS8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZosIIEz2GS8

Congrats on your triple axel pearlyriver...one more star to go.

shar wrote:

Yes she did. There's videos on youtube showing Yuna practicing 3A's while attached to a harness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZosIIEz2GS8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZosIIEz2GS8

Oh, it's the first time I've ever seen the harness. She must be around 15 or 16 in this video. Yay, I've got the 3A *feeling important*   

Iceriver wrote:

chapis wrote:

Iceriver wrote:

a little inclination always makes the jump look nicer.
too much "arm waving" and not enough knee bend.

Not for me, I prefer jumps more verticals, it looks so beautiful,  and I agree totally about the arm waving, just like Miki, I don´t understand why is so difficult for her fix it   

Sorry if I didn't explain it well. I don't mean a lot of inclination, just the natural inclination derived from the fact that the take off imply leaning you body forward a little bit. Mao's jumps have a beautiful position in the air but they are not completely vertical. To me, Gracie's first lutz looks a little awkward. She leans forward preparing to take off and suddenly the jump changes the axis inclination abruptly to become completely vertical (I say "vertical" but it's difficult to say for sure because it depends on the camera angle). Its difficult to explain, I'm trying my best but I'm not sure that I'm explaining myself.

ok, I understand you   , but I like Gracie´s jumps.

ElleluvsL wrote:

I don't know if this is on topic or not, but during US nationals, Christina Gao was asked by Michael Buckley who her favorite international skater was, and she named both Yuna and Mao and when asked which one would win in Sochi, she said that she thought that Mao was going to win the Olympics this time    I was pleasantly surprised because before that she usually only mentioned Yuna as being her favorite.  She was really cute throughout the interview, hope she is able to have a better result in the free skate.    

Also, fingers crossed that Mirai will be clean and full of spark and energy for her free skate as well   

This is surprising because I remember her being a huge Yuna fan, especially since they used to train together. Well, it just goes to show that skaters are normal people too. Their likes/preferences change with time.  

Alokya wrote:

They are, indeed, packaging her properly for once! I still cannot deal with her interviews/comments/sense of entitlement, but if Gracie stays consistent, USFS is smart to put their bets on her.

I am so happy that Mirai did well! And now that she isn't in first, she might not have a meltdown in the free skate, meaning she might be able to make that Olympic team if she skates well on Saturday!!

THIS.      I hope she'll pull it off, or to say it better, i hope USFSA will allow her to pull it off.

I agree with you on Gracie. I wish she'd gone to Frank in the summer, this way they'd be able to change her horrible FS as well. Now, there's not enough time.
I have to say, after everything I've heard about Gracie, I must say, she's learned to conceal her arrogance somewhat, during the interviews. But then this is coming from me, who always thought that there's more to Kwan then meets the eye and that alot of her personality during the media stuff was just a PR, and she wasn't as humble and down to earth as she appeared. However, many disagree with this, so I'm not sure I'm the right person to judge someone's character.

is anyone watching US nationals, I know it has already started but can't find any link? any luck with any of you guys

I tried to watch it on TV but they're showing men

http://www.fengyunzhibo.com/tv/380789_1361122413288.htm

here!

but the link is keeping on loading for me. The 1st two groups are done. The 3rd group will start at 2 minutes passing the nearest round hour.

COHK wrote:

http://www.fengyunzhibo.com/tv/380789_1361122413288.htm

here!

but the link is keeping on loading for me. The 1st two groups are done. The 3rd group will start at 2 minutes passing the nearest round hour.

thank you soo much  

Angela Wang was having problems, but she is a lovely skater, just not her day today

Hanna Miller was beautiful too watch, her jumps didn't look so good in the air and not very good height, but her performance was really moving

ballerinamao wrote:

is anyone watching US nationals, I know it has already started but can't find any link? any luck with any of you guys

I'm watching it live on NBC, and I can only do that when the events are here in USA. I wonder if NBC will show Sochi's FS live.