Japanese Nationals 2013

☆Genie wrote:

Does the JSF really have nobody else other than Amano to be a technical specialist/controller?
Like, you'd expect the JSF to at least have ONE more person other than Amano to judge....

& who are the judges for the events in the olympics? It'll be horrific if Amano gets chosen again.

He won't. None of the top 5? (i'm not sure on which number) finishers at 2013 Worlds will have a judge/tech specialist from their home country at Sochi. So Japan, Korea, Italy, Canada, and USA is out. Yea, no Amano!   

Wait..!
Didnt Nobu qualify for Sochi with his medal at the GPF? Like Yuzuru?
I just wish, Daisuke would have qualified already, that would make the next weekend easier for me   

Haidogirl wrote:

Wait..!
Didnt Nobu qualify for Sochi with his medal at the GPF? Like Yuzuru?
I just wish, Daisuke would have qualified already, that would make the next weekend easier for me   

Inskate posted about selection:
1st berth: winner of the Japanese Nationals
2nd berth: selected from the 2nd place winner at Nationals, the 3rd place winner at Nationals, and the skater who has placed the highest on the GPF podium
3rd berth: selected from whoever qualified for the 2nd berth, but was rejected, the top 3 Japanese skaters in the ISU ranking at the moment of the end of the Japanese Nationals and the owners of the top 3 ISU season's best score.

And don´t worry, I don´t think they leave Dai out of the selection, they are not crazy, basically this competition is for the 3rd place between Machida, Nobu, Mura and Taka. Yuzu and Dai are in the team unless japanese federation had lost their minds.

shar wrote:

☆Genie wrote:

Does the JSF really have nobody else other than Amano to be a technical specialist/controller?
Like, you'd expect the JSF to at least have ONE more person other than Amano to judge....

& who are the judges for the events in the olympics? It'll be horrific if Amano gets chosen again.

He won't. None of the top 5? (i'm not sure on which number) finishers at 2013 Worlds will have a judge/tech specialist from their home country at Sochi. So Japan, Korea, Italy, Canada, and USA is out. Yea, no Amano!   

Wait...but does this mean that they could be Russian?? Wouldn't that be unfair given the possibility of podium finish for the Russian ladies?

sapphiresky wrote:

shar wrote:

☆Genie wrote:

Does the JSF really have nobody else other than Amano to be a technical specialist/controller?
Like, you'd expect the JSF to at least have ONE more person other than Amano to judge....

& who are the judges for the events in the olympics? It'll be horrific if Amano gets chosen again.

He won't. None of the top 5? (i'm not sure on which number) finishers at 2013 Worlds will have a judge/tech specialist from their home country at Sochi. So Japan, Korea, Italy, Canada, and USA is out. Yea, no Amano!   

Wait...but does this mean that they could be Russian?? Wouldn't that be unfair given the possibility of podium finish for the Russian ladies?

Oooh...that's a good question. I hope the judges are more fair in Sochi than the ones in Vancouver, because while the right person won, that 150 score was a travesty.   

shar wrote:

sapphiresky wrote:

shar wrote:

☆Genie wrote:

Does the JSF really have nobody else other than Amano to be a technical specialist/controller?
Like, you'd expect the JSF to at least have ONE more person other than Amano to judge....

& who are the judges for the events in the olympics? It'll be horrific if Amano gets chosen again.

He won't. None of the top 5? (i'm not sure on which number) finishers at 2013 Worlds will have a judge/tech specialist from their home country at Sochi. So Japan, Korea, Italy, Canada, and USA is out. Yea, no Amano!   

Wait...but does this mean that they could be Russian?? Wouldn't that be unfair given the possibility of podium finish for the Russian ladies?

Oooh...that's a good question. I hope the judges are more fair in Sochi than the ones in Vancouver, because while the right person won, that 150 score was a travesty.   

THIS.

IMO, they won't put a russsian as a Tech speciallist, I think they'll go for a "neutral" nationality.

The way things stand at the moment, the fight for the gold will be between Mao and Yuna, with Julia in the mix if one of them fails, so if others want to grab the bronze, they either need to produce the skate of their lives and still hope that these three have a mishap, or, hope that one of them or more, have a meltdown. IMO.

Unless Julia has a repat of CoR, she's getting a medal in Sochi, what colour, it depends on how Mao and Yuna will skate.

zarinaballerina wrote:

shar wrote:

Oooh...that's a good question. I hope the judges are more fair in Sochi than the ones in Vancouver, because while the right person won, that 150 score was a travesty.   

THIS.

IMO, they won't put a russsian as a Tech speciallist, I think they'll go for a "neutral" nationality.

The way things stand at the moment, the fight for the gold will be between Mao and Yuna, with Julia in the mix if one of them fails, so if others want to grab the bronze, they either need to produce the skate of their lives and still hope that these three have a mishap, or, hope that one of them or more, have a meltdown. IMO.

Unless Julia has a repat of CoR, she's getting a medal in Sochi, what colour, it depends on how Mao and Yuna will skate.

I agree on all points regarding the medal hopeful. I think Sochi is really Mao's to lose. If she goes clean, she will win. IOC should know by now that in order for FS to remain popular worldwide, they have to keep it competitive, yet fair and neutral. Making the same person win with ridiculous scores on a good but not out of this world performances will only alienate FS fans (besides fans of the queen or Patty). Which was one of the main reason the Mao-Yuna rivalry of 2010 didn't increase viewers for NBC like they wanted. They (esp. Scott Hamilton) kept telling us who won before the competition even started.

Once Mao and Dai retires, I doubt Japan level of interest in FS will be as high as it is now, even with Hanyu and Co. still competing. We already know how Korea feels about FS outside of their queen. They won't even broadcast the nationals if she's not competing.   USA is  Italy won't have anyone when Kostner retires. Germany's pair probably will retire after Sochi. China has no one in the ladies, and only 1-2  promising mens.

That only leaves Russia with their top 4 ladies to carry the torch, and none of them have the wow factor that Mao, Yuna, and Caro has. Julia is ok, but the way her height on her jumps is now, I can't imagine what they will be like after her growth spurt. We might have another Mirai on our hands.

Let's not predict who will win Olympics with a high probability because... we might expect too much. If anything, we should have Mao's mindset to take things as one competition at a time.

Since Japanese Nationals are now, I think Mao will take risks with her 3A. I'm hoping to see a 3-3 in her FS. I always hoped that she would have a 3A and 3-3 in her SP, but I highly doubt she'll make that decision. For now, I'm hoping that a 3A and a somewhat stable 3-3 will be technically strategic. If her 3A's are stable enough, then two 3A's will be good with one as a combo.

shar wrote:

zarinaballerina wrote:

shar wrote:

Oooh...that's a good question. I hope the judges are more fair in Sochi than the ones in Vancouver, because while the right person won, that 150 score was a travesty.   

THIS.

IMO, they won't put a russsian as a Tech speciallist, I think they'll go for a "neutral" nationality.

The way things stand at the moment, the fight for the gold will be between Mao and Yuna, with Julia in the mix if one of them fails, so if others want to grab the bronze, they either need to produce the skate of their lives and still hope that these three have a mishap, or, hope that one of them or more, have a meltdown. IMO.

Unless Julia has a repat of CoR, she's getting a medal in Sochi, what colour, it depends on how Mao and Yuna will skate.

I agree on all points regarding the medal hopeful. I think Sochi is really Mao's to lose. If she goes clean, she will win. IOC should know by now that in order for FS to remain popular worldwide, they have to keep it competitive, yet fair and neutral. Making the same person win with ridiculous scores on a good but not out of this world performances will only alienate FS fans (besides fans of the queen or Patty). Which was one of the main reason the Mao-Yuna rivalry of 2010 didn't increase viewers for NBC like they wanted. They (esp. Scott Hamilton) kept telling us who won before the competition even started.

Once Mao and Dai retires, I doubt Japan level of interest in FS will be as high as it is now, even with Hanyu and Co. still competing. We already know how Korea feels about FS outside of their queen. They won't even broadcast the nationals if she's not competing.    USA is  Italy won't have anyone when Kostner retires. Germany's pair probably will retire after Sochi. China has no one in the ladies, and only 1-2  promising mens.

That only leaves Russia with their top 4 ladies to carry the torch, and none of them have the wow factor that Mao, Yuna, and Caro has. Julia is ok, but the way her height on her jumps is now, I can't imagine what they will be like after her growth spurt. We might have another Mirai on our hands.

I feel like the ISU shouldn't just award Mao because FS is popular in Japan though.
That's just extra shady and I doubt they would stoop to that level in order to preserve the popularity of figure skating in Japan.
Whoever performs the best will win at the end of the day. I agree with all of the results from the 2010 Olympics as the people who went clean and performed their jumps to a high quality earned the gold. Evan might not have had the most difficult program, but he beat Plushenko who had a quad but other jumps of lower quality and bad landings.

I feel like Mao right now is mirroring Plushenko - she should really focus on working on getting more flow and height on her jumps in order to boost that GOE. Mao should also try to diversify her jumps in preparation for the games as judges have shown throughout the past few years - doing something easier but in a GOOD quality is always the best choice.

☆Genie wrote:

I feel like Mao right now is mirroring Plushenko - she should really focus on working on getting more flow and height on her jumps in order to boost that GOE. Mao should also try to diversify her jumps in preparation for the games as judges have shown throughout the past few years - doing something easier but in a GOOD quality is always the best choice.

Plushenko only had his jumps   , Mao has really good quality in her overall skating, posture, centered spins and good positions, excellent step seq, good speed, she is not super fast but she has really good speed, her coreographies this year are great and  she has excellent timing with the music.

(diversify jumps    ?) Mao has 3s, 3t, 3f, 3a, 3l, sometimes 3Lz (fz) (5 different jumps, sometimes 6)        
Yuna has 3s, 3t, 3f, 3lz (only 4)

And Mao´s jumps have good quality, but 3lz,  I agree Yuna´s jumps are better but Mao´s are good. Yuna´s 2a and 3s are not better than Mao´s, but jugdes are prejudiced to give her crazy goes, same with pcs.
I doubt Mao can get more height in her jumps in two months, she already has good flow, I can´t to say the same about Yuna.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-LuRoxUhQw Look her 3s-2t 1:39 the landing definitly has not flow but she recivied +1+1+2, only one 0, of course if Mao has this type of landing you can imagine the score she will obtain, in replay is more obvious 7:22, and Yuna does this kind of landing frequently, but judges are not interested in this .

I feel like I am in GSF    defending to Mao

chapis wrote:

Haidogirl wrote:

Wait..!
Didnt Nobu qualify for Sochi with his medal at the GPF? Like Yuzuru?
I just wish, Daisuke would have qualified already, that would make the next weekend easier for me   

Inskate posted about selection:
1st berth: winner of the Japanese Nationals
2nd berth: selected from the 2nd place winner at Nationals, the 3rd place winner at Nationals, and the skater who has placed the highest on the GPF podium
3rd berth: selected from whoever qualified for the 2nd berth, but was rejected, the top 3 Japanese skaters in the ISU ranking at the moment of the end of the Japanese Nationals and the owners of the top 3 ISU season's best score.

And don´t worry, I don´t think they leave Dai out of the selection, they are not crazy, basically this competition is for the 3rd place between Machida, Nobu, Mura and Taka.  Yuzu and Dai are in the team unless japanese federation had lost their minds.

Thank you, Chapis!
I hope so too! I cant imagine olympics without Daisuke   

chapis wrote:

☆Genie wrote:

I feel like Mao right now is mirroring Plushenko - she should really focus on working on getting more flow and height on her jumps in order to boost that GOE. Mao should also try to diversify her jumps in preparation for the games as judges have shown throughout the past few years - doing something easier but in a GOOD quality is always the best choice.

Plushenko only had his jumps   , Mao has really good quality in her overall skating, posture, centered spins and good positions, excellent step seq, good speed, she is not super fast but she has really good speed, her coreographies this year are great and  she has excellent timing with the music.

(diversify jumps    ?) Mao has 3s, 3t, 3f, 3a, 3l, sometimes 3Lz (fz) (5 different jumps, sometimes 6)        
Yuna has 3s, 3t, 3f, 3lz (only 4)

And Mao´s jumps have good quality, but 3lz,  I agree Yuna´s jumps are better but Mao´s are good. Yuna´s 2a and 3s are not better than Mao´s, but jugdes are prejudiced to give her crazy goes, same with pcs.
I doubt Mao can get more height in her jumps in two months, she already has good flow, I can´t to say the same about Yuna.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-LuRoxUhQw Look her 3s-2t  1:39 the landing definitly has not flow but she recivied +1+1+2, only one 0, of course if Mao has this type of landing you can imagine the score she will obtain, in replay is more obvious  7:22, and Yuna does this kind of landing frequently, but judges are not interested in this .

I feel like I am in GSF    defending to Mao

Well what I am trying to emphasis here is that the two triple axels in Vancouver did not work.
Mao's team need to learn from the past and make adjustments.

☆Genie wrote:

Well what I am trying to emphasis here is that the two triple axels in Vancouver did not work.
Mao's team need to learn from the past and make adjustments.

Actually, I think the 3x3A strategy did work. ^^Maybe not for getting the gold medal - but for making the best of Mao's condition at that time, making history and influencing the CoP system.

We didn't hear any details from team Mao about her jumps during the pre-Vancouver season, but afterwards a documentary about the Olympic season was released. A lot of practice clips were included. And actually Mao didn't practice many triple Axels. She landed them a couple of times, but it seemed to me like she was more "checking" them, rather than working on improving them. Aside from minor UR issues, they didn't seem problematic.
She really struggled with her 3F, though. About 80% of the attempted jumps in the documentary were flips - popped, doubled, with a fall. Her body position on the take-off was really odd sometimes. It was just as Mao said in an interview later - she was losing the jump. Only by practicing really hard she managed to land it at the Olympics somehow, but even them all of her flips weren't perfect. 3Lz was in even worse state, and she spent so much time practicing 3F that there was no time left to work on 3S (she didn't attempt them during the season anymore). It was too late to fix 3F completely from the scratch - it took 3 seasons of work with a full-time coach to make it as consistent as it is now.

With no 3Lz, 3S or 3-3 (3F was too weak to attempt 3F-3T or 3F-3L), two 3As were probably Mao's only bet to win at least silver (as Joannie, who was 3rd, had 7 triples with repeated 3Lz and 3S  in her LP.

Besides, if it wasn't for Mao landing 3A three times, it's likely that the ISU officials wouldn't think of altering the rules to allow to use 3A as the axel jump in the ladies' SP. :)The re-balancing of GoE factoring and base values of certain jumps was probably also partially inspired by the results in Vancouver. There was a lot of "3A is not worth enough" from the coaches and commentators.  


I'd prefer for Mao to go for the LP with one 3A this time, though. However, I'm afraid we might not know all the facts again. Perhaps practicing 3F-3L is simply harder on Mao's back than doing two 3As? All in all, I hope Team Mao will choose whatever is the best for her health & confidence.   

inskate wrote:

All in all, I hope Team Mao will choose whatever is the best for her health & confidence.   

I'm not too much worrying about Team Mao at the moment...I think there's no denying that the team has done a fantastic work packaging Mao so far this season.

BTW: according to the news --
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20131220-00000040-spnannex-spo

Mao will attend the official practice today, the practice is scheduled at 16:45-19:00 local time.

Mao ready for official practice!

COHK wrote:

Mao ready for official practice!

   COHK. Please keep us posted with news/pics/videos. I'm having Mao news withdrawals.      

can anyone give it a try to this link:
http://www.fengyunzhibo.com/tv/380789_1361122311044.htm
I think they're broadcasting practice live now, but I might be wrong.
(I'm at work, so I can't link to check. I'm getting most of the info from twitter now...)

another photo from twitter:

COHK wrote:

can anyone give it a try to this link:
http://www.fengyunzhibo.com/tv/380789_1361122311044.htm
I think they're broadcasting practice live now, but I might be wrong.
(I'm at work, so I can't link to check. I'm getting most of the info from twitter now...)

I don't know, but all I'm seeing is ads.

pearlyriver wrote:

COHK wrote:

can anyone give it a try to this link:
http://www.fengyunzhibo.com/tv/380789_1361122311044.htm
I think they're broadcasting practice live now, but I might be wrong.
(I'm at work, so I can't link to check. I'm getting most of the info from twitter now...)

I don't know, but all I'm seeing is ads.

Not seeing anything but a universe backdrop with a voiceover in Chinese.

thanks for trying, I'm not sure...perhaps they broadcast the men's practices and skip the ladies' part, or it was just fluff by Fuji. My twitter info source has photos up until Mao checking the condition of ice (seems like the beginning of the the practice) then nothing more....

For men's practices: there's already news that Dai seems to struggle with his quad...  

Nooo, I wish all the best to DAi   
When will the Chinese Championship take place? Last year, it took place around this time. I can't wait to see how Zijun is doing.

COHK wrote:

thanks for trying, I'm not sure...perhaps they broadcast the men's practices and skip the ladies' part, or it was just fluff by Fuji. My twitter info source has photos up until Mao checking the condition of ice (seems like the beginning of the the practice) then nothing more....

For men's practices: there's already news that Dai seems to struggle with his quad...  

If he's not at his best yet, Dai should stick to landing all of his triples, especially his 3a's. With his overall grade A skating techniques, that should keep him in 2nd or 3rd to make it to the Olympics. He should worry about his quads after Nationals.

Fuji video: (the beginning of the practice)
http://t.co/0irObDZTSA

Adding: practices with 3As
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0VCG3CgqOc#t=39

COHK wrote:

Fuji video: (the beginning of the practice)
http://t.co/0irObDZTSA

Adding: practices with 3As
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0VCG3CgqOc#t=39

Thanks again COHK for all of the updates.