Four Continents Championships 2009

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:06 am

Thanks for the update Batsuchan! Jeeze, it looks like everyone in Japan has a public blog of some kind (ameblo especially, with its celebrity users that number in the hundreds).

I think it's excellent that Mao is choosing to focus on her 3fl-3lp the most, since it is the de facto biggest point getter in her jump arsenal. I'm never too comfortable with smaller rinks though, because it only reminds me of Midori (Worlds at '90, going over them in '91). silent

I wonder if the rink at Vancouver is going to remain small when its time for Olys, or if they'll enlargen it to an Olympic-level rink by then. Surprised

Triple Axel Posts : 994 Join date : 2007-09-22 Age : 39

Just woke up... Unconscious

2009 0204 Mao practice clip:
http://www.savefile.com/files/1994339

The Mainishi 4CC photos page was updated: http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/graph/2009/FourContinents2009/?inb=yt
Mao donut: Wub

Four Continents Championships 2009 - Page 2 Maodonut01

A quick update from the men practice today: Nobu was on fire (clean SP runthrough), Kozu fell on 3A (SP runthrough),Patrick struggled with 3A and Combo, Jeremy had an "OK" practice, Evan was clean but possibly UR 3A.

An article about men: http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20090204-00000067-mai-spo
Nobu challenged 4-3-3 and 4T, but mostly had trouble with those jumps. He said he was landing them with 90% consistency before coming to Vancouver. He doesn't want to overdo things in practice, but rather jump lightly and do what comes naturally, without forcing anything.
Kozu fell on his 4T attempts. He likes skating on North American Ice. Former World Champion Yuka Sato advices him on his programs and steps.
Yasuharu Nanri injured his foot two weeks ago and skates in pain. He struggled with all his jumps. Sad

clovera wrote:: I wonder if the rink at Vancouver is going to remain small when its time for Olys, or if they'll enlargen it to an Olympic-level rink by then.

They plan to enlarge it! flower

Triple Axel Posts : 994 Join date : 2007-09-22 Age : 39

Mao SP practice [partial]
http://www.savefile.com/files/1994413

YuNa SP practice [partial] (+other Korean skaters)
http://www.savefile.com/files/1994415

2009 0204 CX Mezamashi TV Mao practice:
http://www.savefile.com/files/1994421

Dedicated Mao Fan Posts : 1298 Join date : 2007-10-29

Thanks for the links and videos! Daisies for you

Mao's donut spins is Wub

!

I hope all the skaters adjusted to the narrow rink by now! Worship

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 5:34 am

Thanks Okami for all the clips and updates!! Daisies for you

Where do you find those videos? I'm impressed... Worship

In the flv practice vids, Mao's 3F-3Lo looked so pretty... Wub

Could anyone tell if they were fully rotated? I certainly can't.

Yay, competition is tonight! And yay, IceNetwork is showing it live! Thumbs up!

Gooo Mao!!! Cheering

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:28 am

Batsuchan wrote:: In the flv practice vids, Mao's 3F-3Lo looked so pretty... Could anyone tell if they were fully rotated? I certainly can't.

It certainly looks like it is - i.e., she doesn't complete the rotation on the ice as much compared to the beginning of the year and at Nats. It's going to be the judges' call though, as usual... Surprised

That said, she looks like she is doing OK, and the Mao donut is quite lovely! She gets the rotations faster with that position too, so I'm pretty sure the broken camel is no longer going to appear in her programs (the Masquerade step encores in all the recent ice shows have her doing the donut too in the final combination spin). I love you

What's interesting to me is Kozu's comment on North American skating rinks having ice that is "easier to skate over." He mentions he glides 1.3 ~ 1.5x faster/smoother here compared to Japanese rinks. But then there was Johnny who mentioned the Chukyo rink having the best ice condition he has ever experienced. Razz

It's really fascinating to read all the different comments by skaters on the ice surface and rink they favor the most.

Posts : 88 Join date : 2008-10-30

Triple Flip Posts : 263 Join date : 2008-03-11

GODD LUCK TO MAO FOR THE SP! Cheering

I'm so excited ~~and anxious~~ for her! Good luck!

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:51 am

Korean news about Yu-Na and Mao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtpwb8nqOjo

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:28 am

Judging from reports and clips all the skaters seem to have problems with something... I'm getting nervous! affraid

Mirai wrote:: GOOD LUCK TO MAO FOR THE SP!

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:37 am

polosatik wrote:: Korean news about Yu-Na and Mao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtpwb8nqOjo

The height on her second 3loop is back! Thumbs up!

Good luck Mao! I can't believe the event is going to start in half a day... Whirly

Triple Axel Posts : 994 Join date : 2007-09-22 Age : 39

Batsuchan wrote:: Thanks Okami for all the clips and updates!! Where do you find those videos?

Mostly on Dcinside (a Korean forum), Rinkside (a figure skating DC++ hub) or from links posted on blogs. Smile

Today's practice - YuNa and Mao: flower

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12V3Jfnz09Y

...and because of 4CC I can't concentrate on my research paper at all! Sweatdrop

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 8:07 am

clovera wrote:

polosatik wrote:: Korean news about Yu-Na and Mao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtpwb8nqOjo

The height on her second 3loop is back! Thumbs up!

Good luck Mao! I can't believe the event is going to start in half a day... Whirly

Yes the height seems better, but you can see that Mao completes the rotation on the ice, so IMHO it's slightly underrotated.
And I think the judges will be very harsh again Sad

When is it the ladies turn for the sp and lp? I know that the event's beginning today, but I have no idea who skates tomorrow...

Posts : 88 Join date : 2008-10-30

photos:
http://image.sports.livedoor.com/photo/f/0/f07a7c7649fd92371cecd9df1618f090-o.jpg
http://image.sports.livedoor.com/photo/4/e/4e11f4254511acf012f0cc1eabf84c2b-o.jpg
http://image.sports.livedoor.com/photo/1/8/18bfbd4159384739b6165c08bbd213e0-o.jpg
http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/sports/news/images/PK2009020402100122_size0.jpg

video:
http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00148788.html

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:29 am

Maya wrote:: Yes the height seems better, but you can see that Mao completes the rotation on the ice, so IMHO it's slightly underrotated.
And I think the judges will be very harsh again

When is it the ladies turn for the sp and lp? I know that the event's beginning today, but I have no idea who skates tomorrow...

We'll just have to wish for the best. Wink

In all honesty though, more or less all female skaters finish part of the rotation ON the ice (never mind prerotation) in combos so it's going to be a matter of how the tech caller is going to interpret the "up to 1/4 cheat is allowed" rule, as usual. silent

The Ladies SP begins at 6:15 PM PST on 02/04; the free skate takes place on 02/06 and begins at 6:00 PM PST.

Double Axel Posts : 179 Join date : 2008-06-11

Good luck to all of the skaters!!!

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 10:32 am

clovera wrote:: We'll just have to wish for the best. In all honesty though, more or less all female skaters finish part of the rotation ON the ice (never mind prerotation) in combos so it's going to be a matter of how the tech caller is going to interpret the "up to 1/4 cheat is allowed" rule, as usual.

The Ladies SP begins at 6:15 PM PST on 02/04; the free skate takes place on 02/06 and begins at 6:00 PM PST.

Thank you clovera Smile

So this means that the ladies will skate in a few hours! Yay, that's pretty soon. I wish them all the best and I'd love to see a clean skate from Mao.

And I think you're right with the UR. Mao certainly isn't the only one who has some rotations which finish on the ice.
To punish obvious UR is fine with me, but in the last few months I felt like this rule is really overused and exaggerated.
I think Maos 3-3 at Nats for example was clean, but well.. Let's just hope she'll do fine in a few hours

Cheering

Dedicated Mao Fan Posts : 1298 Join date : 2007-10-29

CD has started! Good luck to V/M and D/W! Cheering

Live results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/fc2009/SEG007.HTM

The Reeds withdrew... Sad

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 3:38 pm

Compulsory Dance Results
1 VIRTUE Tessa / MOIR Scott CAN 36.40
2 DAVIS Meryl / WHITE Charlie USA 35.23
3 CRONE Vanessa / POIRIER Paul CAN 32.43
4 SAMUELSON Emily / BATES Evan USA 31.41
5 WEAVER Kaitlyn / POJE Andrew CAN 30.62
6 NAVARRO Kimberly / BOMMENTRE Brent USA 30.59
7 HUANG Xintong / ZHENG Xun CHN 27.56
8 YU Xiaoyang / WANG Chen CHN 24.65
9 WANG Jiayue / GAO Chongbo CHN 23.31
10 OBRIEN Danielle / MERRIMAN Gregory AUS 19.70
11 BOROUNOV Maria / BOROUNOV Evgeni AUS 17.51

But seriously, I don't think a single couple went entirely clean. I know nothing about ice dance, but there was always a slight stumble or a timing issue with the twizzles. I gotta love PJ Kwong's commentaries on CBC Bold or I'd have no idea of what happened.

Dedicated Mao Fan Posts : 1298 Join date : 2007-10-29

Yay V/M!

chiyori wrote:: But seriously, I don't think a single couple went entirely clean. I know nothing about ice dance, but there was always a slight stumble or a timing issue with the twizzles. I gotta love PJ Kwong's commentaries on CBC Bold or I'd have no idea of what happened.

Well, the Finnstep is a very new CD (I think most of the couples skated it for the first time ever) and will probably never be used again, so I'm not surprised that the couples were possibly a bit unpolished (I haven't watched the competition, so I don't know exactly how unpolished Sweatdrop

). I doubt the skaters were particularly eager to spend a lot of precious training time on a compulsory that they might never skate again. (Though I really hope that the ISU will keep the compulsories AND the Finnstep). Worship

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:11 pm

Quote :: I doubt the skaters were particularly eager to spend a lot of precious training time on a compulsory that they might never skate again. (Though I really hope that the ISU will keep the compulsories AND the Finnstep).

I agree. I thought the first four teams were actually very polished considering it was the first time they skated that CD, especially the first two (when are they not...) but that's clearly reflected in the scores. And I kinda like compulsory dances too. Since they all do the exact same dance, I think it gives unknowledgeable viewers like me a clearer idea of where each couple stands.

Triple Axel Posts : 994 Join date : 2007-09-22 Age : 39

Congrats to Tessa and Scott! flower

And wow, Mao has a new SP costume!

Four Continents Championships 2009 - Page 2 Maonew23tp9

Four Continents Championships 2009 - Page 2 Maonew24dq6

Four Continents Championships 2009 - Page 2 W386

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 5:03 pm

Love it love it LOVE IT!! The colour is absolutely gorgeous Swoon

Thanks Okami. I can't wait for the Ladies' SP now

Triple Axel Posts : 994 Join date : 2007-09-22 Age : 39

2009 0205 Dress rehearsal video: Like a Star @ heaven

http://news.naver.com/vod/vod.nhn?office_id=001&article_id=0002486120&section_id=001

The dress looks gorgeous in motion! Swoon

It's so sparkly and shiny, like a sky during a summer night... I love you

And it looked like a fully rotated 3F-3L... Thumbs up!

I'm a bit worried about 3Lz - it looks like Mao repeatedly comes too close to the boards and pops it or skips altogether... It reminds me of of GPF 2007 SP... I hope she'll get the timing right in time for SP! Worship

In the meantime, an article about the male skaters:
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20090205-00000035-spn-spo
In a nutshell, Nobu has adjusted to the narrower rink and Kozu is in good condition. flower

Four Continents Championships 2009 - Page 2 20090205-00000035-spn-spo-thum-000

<- Nobu ascending Wink

ETA: Men starting order is up!
http://www.isuresults.com/results/fc2009/SEG001.HTM
Group 5 is quite packed (Kozu, Jeremy, Patrick), and Nobu will be the last one to skate in the final group!

Subject: Re: Four Continents Championships 2009 Wed Feb 04, 2009 5:47 pm

Ohh! I love her new dress!!
Can'T wait for her SP...but I can't believe that I'll have to go to bed and wait for tomorrow...nooo!! I want to see her live!! But I have school... Sad

Anyway, i'll be dreaming about that ahahaha!
GOOD LUCK!!

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