Grand Prix Final 2008!!!

Aww... It looks like Yukiko is going through a growth spurt... She looked taller at Japanese Junior Nationals and she didn't skate up to her potential. I hope she'll get her jumps back.
I also hope Kanako skates strong in the free.


I found some practice photos with Mao:

http://okami.follownet.pl/fs/upload/gpf2008/03.jpg
http://okami.follownet.pl/fs/upload/gpf2008/04lb.jpg
http://okami.follownet.pl/fs/upload/gpf2008/05lb.jpg
http://okami.follownet.pl/fs/upload/gpf2008/06suit.jpg
http://okami.follownet.pl/fs/upload/gpf2008/08blm.jpg
http://okami.follownet.pl/fs/upload/gpf2008/11laov.jpg


And do you recognize this suit?

It was apparently designed as a practice suit for ballerinas...

Okami, that is great!!

From yesterday's practice, Mao seemed to be in good condition, and she said herself that the practice was good. Apparently she did like 6 or 7 3Lz jumps, and on one of them she took off on the wrong edge, so she stopped the rotation, but the rest were fine. She also landed the 3A and 3A+2T.

Another article I read said that Mao got a blister? [the article called it a "bean", so I'm guessing here] on the little toe on her right foot after she changed her boots at the end of October. She iced it after practice but she said it was fine.

Apparently Mao's been eating lots of bulgogi (Korean barbecue beef) and yakiniku (more grilled meat). I don't know if that's a great idea before the competition , but it's making her happy, so I guess it's a good thing!

Well, I'm going to go to sleep early and wake up early to watch the SP!

Goo MAO!!!

Senior events under way! Looks like Yu-Na as well as a bunch of Juniors are watching in the "close-up seats" (the ones directly in front of the ice. I wonder if those are reserved?).

I love the Korean crowd. They cheer and clap for just about everything, including the introduction of the judges. You don't see Ice Dance get that much enthusiasm from the crowd so it's a nice change.

K/N withdrew last minute...Novitski had food poisoning, apparently (at least according to GS posters). Pretty satisfied with the results so far: Del/Schoe were definitely the best tonight. I love DomShab, but I thought their scores were a bit generous, since they were out of unison in both the footwork and the twizzles...

ETA: Men's SP now done too.

1 Takahiko KOZUKA JPN 83.90 1
2 Jeremy ABBOTT USA 78.26 2
3 Brian JOUBERT FRA 74.55 3
4 Johnny WEIR USA 72.50 4
5 Tomas VERNER CZE 69.34 5
6 Patrick CHAN CAN 68.00 6

Well, that was very interesting, to say the least. Only Takahiko and Jeremy skated clean, and they incidentally were the least known and less publicized of the male skaters (by the Korean media, that is) - they received the least applause when introduced yet here they are, in 1st and 2nd, with a pretty big margin in front of the rest. PatChan was way off today - his jump axis were leaning like mad. Hmm. Crowd loved Joubert and his hip movement in his SP though, haha.

We need to assign a nickname to Takahiko. He remains so calm and composed even in competitions with so much energy in the crowd - I feel like he's a male version of Shizuka, in a way.

Let's hope the lady's competition isn't as shaky, and GO MAO!

OMG, ladies warmup going on now. I'm going to disappear now because I think I'll be too nervous to post, but wow, the Korean crowd is LOOUUUDDD!!

Beautiful, clean skate from Mao! Waves of presents, and Tat is VERY pleased.

Oh, I hope they ratify the 3-3...looks UR by a small tad though.
65.38 and currently first. Yup, they dinged her combo. Aww...

1 Yu-Na KIM KOR 65.94 1
2 Mao ASADA JPN 65.38 2
3 Yukari NAKANO JPN 62.08 3
4 Carolina KOSTNER ITA 55.88 4
5 Miki ANDO JPN 55.44 5
6 Joannie ROCHETTE CAN 50.48 6

Result Details
1 Yu-Na KIM KOR 65.94 35.50 30.44 7.80 7.30 7.65 7.65 7.65 0.00 #6
2 Mao ASADA JPN 65.38 35.70 29.68 7.65 7.10 7.45 7.55 7.35 0.00 #4
3 Yukari NAKANO JPN 62.08 34.20 27.88 7.15 6.70 7.00 7.05 6.95 0.00 #2
4 Carolina KOSTNER ITA 55.88 28.80 28.08 7.30 6.75 7.05 6.95 7.05 1.00 #3
5 Miki ANDO JPN 55.44 28.60 27.84 7.15 6.60 7.00 7.10 6.95 1.00 #1
6 Joannie ROCHETTE CAN 50.48 23.00 27.48 7.20 6.55 6.75 7.00 6.85 0.00 #5

...You've GOT to be kidding me.
A program with a popped lutz scores slightly higher than one with a DG 3-3? Well, this is exactly why the scoring system needs to address underrotation PRONTO! Good job to Mao and Yukari anyway, I feel for Miki, Joannie, and Carolina. I don't know what to say about Yu-Na's scores. She skated expressively and had the 3fl-3toe, but seriously now...

Good job Mao!!!

But gah, the underrotation call really hurt Mao. Yu-Na Kim popped her 3Lz but she's still leading over Mao by less than a point!

Today, I wanna be mad about the placement... Mao should be first..

coconut wrote:

Today, I wanna be mad about the placement... Mao should be first..

I totally agree coconut. Mao's PCs should've been higher!!

But I hope Mao's clean skate today (even though she looked so nervous beforehand) just pushes her to just kill her LP tomorrow!! Go Mao!!!

If she can win this uphill battle, "in enemy territory," then all the more power to her!!

http://www.mediafire.com/?kmj0jdovtuu - Mao's SP
I won't be encoding and uploading to DM yet, since I want to record the Pairs' SP as well. My apologies in advance, everyone.

I'll upload every single senior SP/OD + jr. ladies' SP once pairs is over in the next hour. Good job Mao! I'm still going with the results, hope I'll cool down the next time I post, haha. (Mao is about to skate in the TV Asahi broadcast. Oh, I can't wait to see how Midori will react to all this...)

Batsuchan wrote:

But I hope Mao's clean skate today (even though she looked so nervous beforehand) just pushes her to just kill her LP tomorrow!! Go Mao!!!

Yeah, I hope Mao will skate well in the FS tomorrow too. In a way, it's kinda good for her to skate before Yu-na since there will be full of things on the ice if mao has to skate last. But still... poor mao and TAT

@clovera
I can't thank you enough for uploading. I had no chance watching the programs

I'm thrilled to see how Mao did. Lots of people say the loop was underrotated again
She needs to fix this immediately..

What's the... Oh, gosh, maybe judges are blame or just don't want to see. I don't understand the results of ladies sp

I'm happy with how Mao skated!

3-3 will get better. She changed her jumping technique and her jumps became more powerful - and I think that's why she has the problems with the timing of the loop combo. She launches 3L a bit too late because of how powerful 3F has become. I think that's why so few guys attempt 3L combo. But I think Mao will get the timing right eventually.
Also people say that her sit spin might have been short on revolutions and she might have gotten a low level. This is the first time out with a new spin layout...

I'm not really surprised about PCS... Powerful programs almost always score better than lyrical ones. At Worlds, Brian scored higher than Jeff in PCS, in spite of the fact that Jeff had better skating skills, better interpretation and way more complex choreography. Also, YuNa came into this event as a favourite, winning 2 events. And she is skating on the home ice. And she skated very well.

Mao's scores will go up if she proves she's consistent. I have good feeling for the LP. The gap is very close, and I'm sure Mao and TAT won't leave anything to chance tommorow.

Are there any protocolls up yet? I'm interested in the Lutz, I hope it was clean again..
And I still don't know how the judges examined the loop.
At worlds this year Mao hat the same value in TE and back then her 3-3 was fully rotated..

I heard that a commentator said Mao got +0.80 GOEs on her 3Lz, so I'm guessing it was clean! That's really an amazing accomplishment.

I got so caught up in the judging that I forgot to say just how amazing that performance was! Mao looked so nervous, and even TAT and Shanetta looked nervous, and I thought, "Oh no, TEB all over again," but NO! Mao did a gorgeous, gorgeous job!

Mao, we love you! Keep on fighting!!

Pairs has ended. Probably the best competition in the GPF so far - except for K/S the couples really did a great job. The judges were very point happy too, many of the pairs had SB scores. I find it very odd that Ms. Zhang fell on a non-element AGAIN - that's the second competition in a row now.

She's still getting DG for it, but I hope Mao will stick to her 3loop in the end of the combo (and Miki as well). It's really rare to see these days, and it's so hard to control and perfect, but it's just so exhilarating to watch (and I loved it ever since seeing Tara Lipinski and Irina land them in competition!)

I'll now upload the WebTV vids in order of Ladies Men Pairs Ice Dance Junior Ladies.

ETA - Mao's SP now up on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YnmzfNoGLg

Now that you've mention it Okami, I almost never see a 3 loop in combination for the men...(the most recent one I can remember is Nobu's)

@Batsuchan
Thanks for the information
Wow - the Lutz problem seems to be solved. Congrats Mao and TAT

Mao's program was as beautiful and breath-taking as usual. It's just the loop she needs to work on.. Everything else is as good as it should be.

I'd also like to know which level she got for her spirals this time..

@clovera
I think Kevin Van der Perren also has a 3loop at the end of his lovely 3-3-3 combination. But I think this is an exception anyway.
Usually the men only do 3f-3t. It's quite boring I must say, I wish some would vary more.

Can't wait for the vids! Thank you

I'm so happy that Mao skated clean. The program was fantastic, by far the best she has skated so far.

I loved the layback. The added arm gestures made it even more beautiful.

Maya wrote:

@clovera
I think Kevin Van der Perren also has a 3loop at the end of his lovely 3-3-3 combination. But I think this is an exception anyway.
Usually the men only do 3f-3t. It\'s quite boring I must say, I wish some would vary more.Can\'t wait for the vids! Thank you

Thanks for the info Maya! So it looks like both Nobu and KVDP did their 3-loop as the last jump in combination for their 3-3-3. This is really fascinating, I have to admit. Maybe strong jumps and the delayed timing are indeed the reason why we see so little of it in the men's event, like Okami hypothesized.

Ladies SP+Warm-up: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=88ac9ba3858c88f991b20cc0d07ba4d200f53deebdbfaa00

for Domnina Shabalin and for Mao! Except the results I'm very happy! Mao did super job, I'm very proud of her! She's the Queen!!!!!!!!!

I finally watched Mao's peformance peacefully! My previous post was sent from my University's library, and I felt distracted by the stern, inquiring gaze of the librarian on by back...

"Claire de Lune" was wonderful. Great flow and amazing spins... I just loved Tatiana's reaction!

@clovera: Yes, it's very rare to see men doing 3L combos. Daisuke practiced it, but unfortunately he didn't get it consistent... In the practice clips he either underrotated them, or fell down very hard. He managed to land one or two at Festa on Ice, but he fell on one and underrotated the other.
Nobu can do many kinds of 3L combos in practice, judging from reports and practice clips... I love his 3Lz-3L combo, he has lovely knee bend going into the second jump, and the loop looks exactly the same as when he does it as a solo jump:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h95n83KoBTY
But I think he prefers to get nearly +2 GoE for his 3Lz-3T combo than risk having it downgraded or getting low GoEs. I really think that the judges do not appreciate combos ending with a loop... Yes, they cover less distance than toe combos, but have wondeful spring when done properly. And are really insanely difficult. The mere point difference between 3T and 3L does not really reflect how much more difficult it is to control the edge of the first jump in order to launch 3L (or even 2L).

Okami wrote:

All

That was an excellent 3Lz-3Lp combo! It really is a shame the judges seem to show no concern for the increased difficulty of this element. The average viewer also don't usually find it as impressive as a 3T in combination, probably due to the lack of jump length. I'll always appreciate it though! Japanese skating fans also appreciate it too (one of many reasons why Tara Lipinski and Irina is still remembered by them over skaters like Kwan, as unbelievable as that may sound to American fans ), and some Japanese fans nickname it the "drill" because of the fast snapping motion and the spring it has.

More vids:
Men: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=88ac9ba3858c88f991b20cc0d07ba4d22178b75627a0233e
Pairs: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=88ac9ba3858c88f991b20cc0d07ba4d24b192eebebe05ad6
Ice Dance: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=88ac9ba3858c88f991b20cc0d07ba4d2fc8cd1b9ae9d9d19
Jr. Ladies: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=88ac9ba3858c88f991b20cc0d07ba4d25d4c74fa5c35f8ed
Enjoy!

I just woke up and saw Mao's SP! I was soooo nervous because I didn't see the results before. She was marvelous! I like this SP so much!! She tried her 3flip-3loop and she landed successfully her triple lutz ! That's amazing! I thought the other elements were good too...now I can't wait to see the protocols... because I can't imagine that, althought I really like Yu Na's Skating, she is in first place with a Popped LutZ!! Please someone... explain me!!

Mao's SP was BEAUUUUUUTIFUL!!
To be honest, the first impression was a "?" to me at TEB compared to the super impact of the LP, but after watching it for several times, it grew on me. It just gets better and better. I LOVE the entry to the 2A (eagle) and the flow after she lands it. Just beautiful!
The scores... oh, well... I wish ISU would realize how weird the double deduction for UR jumps are...
I wish her good luck on the LP . Go, Mao!!

inskate wrote:

And I just heard that Patrick withdrew! I wonder if it was an injury, or if he ate the same stuff as Sergei..?

OMG... I hope it's not a serious problem.