Junior Grand prix 2011-2012

This is your Sasha Cohen, but with jumps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxHKwdlbNMI&feature=channel_video_title

Great job from Julia and Satoko, their scores are very impressive. I was worried that Satoko might score lower due to being so tiny and not yet havinf the speed and presence of more physically developed skaters.

Off to watch the rest!

Congrats Julia ! Her biellman spin is amazing. Her and Elizaveta are my favorite young russian prodigies.

The protocols are up! Another smart thing ISU does this season, aside from uploading the videos on YT, is uploading the protocols after each segment of the competition is done, and not after the competition is over.

Satoko was the only lady to attempt both flip and Lutz and receive no edge deductions! She needs to work on her spin levels. He rpositions are nice and I love that she does the combo spin in both directions, but she was prone to losing speed/centering in this event.

Julia should start working on her Lutz. Otherwise her jumps are looking good so far, and it seems to me that out of the young Russian ladies she is the most likely to survive a growth spurt without loosing consistency. She has really good edges and control.

This lady's costume: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wawXEH3CHo8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL reminds me a bit of Mao's Bells outfir, except in fuchsia.

Shouma-kun is already on the JGP!! His ISU bio says he's 140 cm... lol he must look like a little squirt out there! Most of these guys are 16 or over and some are even 18. Go Shouma! I hope you have a good long program and place well!!

ETA: Here's his SP... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BdmMPkGwis
Fufufu... he's like barely taller than the boards but he's just soo adorable... Too bad about the fall, and on the combination too... His TES really did take a huge hit, but his PCS is very respectable for one so young (and even younger looking).

chiyori wrote:

Shouma-kun is already on the JGP!! His ISU bio says he's 140 cm... lol he must look like a little squirt out there! Some of these guys are 16, 17 and 18. Go Shouma! I hope you have a good long program and place well!!

ETA: Here's his SP... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BdmMPkGwis
Fufufu... he's like barely taller than the boards but he's just soo adorable... Too bad about the fall, and on the combination too... His TES really did take a huge hit, but his PCS is very respectable for one so young (and even younger looking).

Aww. I watched his program just after Joshua's, and Shouma seemed to be about half his size. He's such a great performer, though!

chiyori wrote:

Fufufu... he's like barely taller than the boards but he's just soo adorable... Too bad about the fall, and on the combination too... His TES really did take a huge hit, but his PCS is very respectable for one so young (and even younger looking).

Leave it to Shouma to have a step sequence that puts most of his other (older) competitors to shame.

I was half-expecting the judges to lowball Julia and Satoko's PCS - and I guess Shouma's as well - but I'm glad that this was not the case. Really impressive debut from the two girls!

Well well not too bad. Shouma finishes the SP in 8 place, despite a huge mistake and has the 6th highest PCS. Not too shabby!

Heh, here I was talking about the junior ladies and the +3Lo the other day and out comes Dmitriev, who ends the seven year 3loop-in-combo drought for the men, just like that.
Not that I'm complaining but why now, skaters?

clovera wrote:

Heh, here I was talking about the junior ladies and the +3Lo the other day and out comes Dmitriev, who ends the seven year 3loop-in-combo drought for the men, just like that.
Not that I'm complaining but why now, skaters?

Actually, some male skater (the name slipped my mind) landed a 3-3L combo a few weeks ago in one of the summer competitions in the U.S.. But yeah, it's nice to see them back.

I think the fact that the base value of 3L has increased and the skaters no longer can do 3 double axels in the LP has a lot to do with the sudden popularity of 3L combos.
Well, that, and hopefully the fact that after the technique flaws became more severely penalized the coachest started to finally pay more attention to the quality of their pupils' jumps, and more solid technique translated into more 3-3 attempts.

There's certainly more triple-triples of all types this season than I've seen among juniors in a long time.

Okami wrote:

clovera wrote:

Heh, here I was talking about the junior ladies and the +3Lo the other day and out comes Dmitriev, who ends the seven year 3loop-in-combo drought for the men, just like that.
Not that I'm complaining but why now, skaters?

Actually, some male skater (the name slipped my mind) landed a 3-3L combo a few weeks ago in one of the summer competitions in the U.S.. But yeah, it's nice to see them back.

I think the fact that the base value of 3L has increased and the skaters no longer can do 3 double axels in the LP has a lot to do with the sudden popularity of 3L combos.
Well, that, and hopefully the fact that after the technique flaws became more severely penalized the coachest started to finally pay more attention to the quality of their pupils' jumps, and more solid technique translated into more 3-3 attempts.

There's certainly more triple-triples of all types this season than I've seen among juniors in a long time.

And here I was thinking Dennis Phan's 3-3Lo at JGPF 2004 was the last of its kind (for the men, anyway) until this event. Thanks, Okami, I need to start checking the summer comp vids again, then!

I guess we'll find out sooner or later if the men will adopt the +3Lo more but it's nice to see that the judges are willing to give it +GoE like they have with Dmitriev here. I was honestly not expecting the judges to be handing out +1s and +2s to his at all. The sheer variety of 3-3 this season is indeed refreshing and impressive.

Very impressed with Satoko as well... so far this year, I don't think I've seen another lady get by without a single "e" or < in the SP. Plus she went for the flip and the lutz and landed an upper tier 3-3 with +GOE... I hope she can keep it up in the LP. These last 2 GPs, the LP has been littered with < and <<... It's a bit depressing really, though I guess it's to be expected. The UR rule allows them to try more difficult (and less consistent) jumps without fear of getting penalized twice if they fall. I'm very happy this new rule has brought out a new generation of bold younger skaters that do go for the harder stuff, and I hope it translates to seniors in a couple of years. How awesome would it be if the entire top 5 or even 10 had some kind of consistent 3-3. But for that, all these little girls first have to make sure their technique is sound enough to survive a couple inches more width around the hips!

Looking at Satoko, she does not get a lot of height, but she has very good ice coverage on her jumps, despite her tiny size. And she really charges down the ice when she goes for them. It reminds me a bit of Yu-Na's technique, which is very promising for the future.

clovera wrote:

And here I was thinking Dennis Phan's 3-3Lo at JGPF 2004 was the last of its kind (for the men, anyway) until this event. Thanks, Okami, I need to start checking the summer comp vids again, then!

I found it! It was 3Lz-3L, landed by Wesley Campbell at Liberty 2011:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX7_z6WPeCU
(1:10)

Another skater who occassionally attempts 3L as a second jump is Daisuke Murakami. I remember that he landed 3F-3L in SP at Moran Memorial 2008 (in the juniors), but struggled with his jumps for the next few seasons. However, he recently skated a clean SP @Golden West, landing 4S+2T, 3A, and 3F, so hopefully he's getting back on track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5RqMCinj88&feature=feedu Yulia won this event Thank you so much Yulia! I missed awesome flexibility, great presence and ballet lines in figure skating since Sasha retired.

This girl is trully awesome, however I wish she wouldn't be so erratic with her amazing extentions and hold them longer in position. But for her age AMAZING!!!

Okami wrote:

clovera wrote:

And here I was thinking Dennis Phan's 3-3Lo at JGPF 2004 was the last of its kind (for the men, anyway) until this event. Thanks, Okami, I need to start checking the summer comp vids again, then!

I found it! It was 3Lz-3L, landed by Wesley Campbell at Liberty 2011:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX7_z6WPeCU
(1:10)

Another skater who occassionally attempts 3L as a second jump is Daisuke Murakami. I remember that he landed 3F-3L in SP at Moran Memorial 2008 (in the juniors), but struggled with his jumps for the next few seasons. However, he recently skated a clean SP @Golden West, landing 4S+2T, 3A, and 3F, so hopefully he's getting back on track.

+Sotnikova.

Wow! Shouma finished 3rd in the free skate and 4th overall. He is 10 points behind Ryuichi Kihara overall and that's about what the fall in the SP cost him. With a cleaner SP, he would have maybe stood on that podium. I'm pretty sure his PCS would have been a bit better too (though it's still pretty good), if he's been higher than 8 after the SP. But I'm so happy to see judges giving him scores based on what he does on the ice, and not what he looks like! Same goes for Satoko. So far, these junior GPs have been very promising for the future of skating in Japan!

Julia has improved. It is amazing how she can be both very flexible and a good jumper. Her choreography could be better though. I still prefer Risa's style for now but Julia is definitely the best technically out of these new skaters.

Julia's final score - 172.51
Wow, that's almost as high as Adelina's 178.97 in Austria last year...
and Satoko's score would have equaled gold in Latvia and Australia...
What an event

Now I'm hoping that Skate America this year doesn't end up like last year's NHK trophy where Carolina won with a not-so-intimidating 164.61

chiyori wrote:

So far, these junior GPs have been very promising for the future of skating in Japan!

I've been happy about that so far as well, they are definitely holding their own against the competition

I hate to post right after myself but OMG, it's Mao's dress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNOIMHD4KVU&feature=player_detailpage#t=93s

and that fall...

ElleluvsL wrote:

I hate to post right after myself but OMG, it's Mao's dress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNOIMHD4KVU&feature=player_detailpage#t=93s

and that fall...

ouch ... but OMG, Forest Gump theme song!!! love love love

So far, this makes it 2 skaters spotted wearing a copy/remake of one of Mao's dresses at that particular JGP; there was also Elizaveta Ukolova in the SP, wearing what looks like a neon pink version of Mao's Bells dress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wawXEH3CHo8

And do you remember the almost exact copy of Mao's Ladies in Lavender World's dress that was discussed here some time ago?
I can't rememeber who the girl was, I though it was Ivana Reitmayerová but couldn't find any proof on youtube. Maybe it was somebody else after all.
Anyway, Mao certainly seems to be an inspiration for lots of these young girls.

edit: So it was Ivana, I found the link in the archive: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xahyqe_ivana-reitmyerova-svk-isu-jgp-toruy_sport

Apparently, it's not all that uncommon that the juniors copy some famous skater's dresses viz. this link originally posted by bibi:

http://web.icenetwork.com/gen/photogallery/year_2009/month_08/day_28/cf6661634.html