Yay, Mai!!!! 

 

After a stellar short program, the ladies' free program comp was disappointing. Eery skater had issues. Mai delivered until her last jump, but Kaori had a bad, bad outing.  It was a tiring few weeks and every skater looked out of energy. I wonder how they will perform at J Nats, just a couple of weeks away.....

 

I think with this result Mai has done enough that JSF will have to pick her for the world team, at least, I hope so... and Kaori will def be chosen... I would love a world podium with both on it....

 

Shoma skated well, and so did Sota. Glad they both delivered and Ilia got bronze. The J skaters just skate so much better overall. 

10 hours ago, ccy said:

shoma just need olympic gold to achieve super slam. 

1. I doubt he'll last 4 more years 

2. He's highly inconsistent and that's not going to get better with age 

3. At that point skaters like ilia, yuma, kao, sota will have developed more (hopefully) and will be younger so they have a better shot at gold

17 hours ago, liv said:

Yay, Mai!!!! 

 

After a stellar short program, the ladies' free program comp was disappointing. Eery skater had issues. Mai delivered until her last jump, but Kaori had a bad, bad outing.  It was a tiring few weeks and every skater looked out of energy. I wonder how they will perform at J Nats, just a couple of weeks away.....

 

I think with this result Mai has done enough that JSF will have to pick her for the world team, at least, I hope so... and Kaori will def be chosen... I would love a world podium with both on it....

 

Shoma skated well, and so did Sota. Glad they both delivered and Ilia got bronze. The J skaters just skate so much better overall. 

I need to have a word with the ISU and the Italian fed because WTF

Also high key same concern. I did say it would be super challenging for those competing at GPF and much easier for those who did not coming JNats. This is giving me Yuzu circa 2019 all over again. Alas...

Wow, what a messy Women's FS. I think they all might have had some nerves, since SP 1st-4th or even 5th place were so close in points. They all probably knew it would come down to who skated cleanest, and then all made a lot of mistakes.

 

Some thoughts:

 

Mai

I'm so happy for her! She has made a strong case for herself this season to make the Worlds team. Top qualifier to the GPF and GPF champion!

She wasn't as consistent as her usual self here and at Finland, but overall, I still do think she keeps them under control well enough that she doesn't make too many mistakes. She is normally clean but when something is at stake like the title (GP Finland, GPF) or Olympics berth (last 2 Olympics), bigger mistakes tend to creep in. I think her strengths are her consistency, competitive nerves and her levels which are almost always level 4 no matter how she skates. This is a big advantage as it can hold her up if she makes mistakes and others do too. Her weakness now is the flip and some questionable rotations. It seems she has trouble with the rotation on 3T on the back end of the combinations, so I'm wondering if it's good if her team can change the 2A+3T combo to a 2A sequence since her 2A seems pretty solid? Her TES will go up too if combined with 3S or 3Lo. I hope she can get them under control and do well at JNats as she had the worst schedule in the past month.

 

Isabeau

Hmm, nothing much to comment on her as I didn't watch her before this. But she will definitely get the push from her fed, I think. Her jump layout puzzles me a bit.

 

Loena

Consistency was also her strength, but she's faltering a bit, like Mai, but more so. Her strength was also usually getting level 4s on spins and steps, but she didn't this time on the StSq. Her weakness in the free is only having six triples vs the rest of the women, so going clean is very important for her. Rotations were also an issue for her here.

 

Rinka
Needs to manage her consistency a bit for the jumps after the 3A. The reward for the 3A is completely outweighed by the mistakes in the rest of the program, even more so if she doesn't land the 3A. But I think she's had a stellar senior debut so far. Definitely caught the attention of many people this season and is someone to watch out for in the future.

 

Kaori

Ahh, what luck for her re the drug test dragging on and her being sleep deprived. Which is a shame, because she usually delivers when it matters, but so far she's been a bit on and off this season. Let's see how it goes, as she's usually a slow starter. I hope she overcomes it by JNats though, as her key strength lies in her jumps (usually no question about rotation), and delivering when it counts. Her weaknesses though. She has no room for mistakes, literally. Her flutz means that her tech is already lower and hard for her to use as a combo. It also seems to be difficult for her to improvise yolo combinations when she misses, since her final jump is the spiral 3Lo, which she also doesn't hit 100% of the time, and that's about the only jump she can hope to tack an extra combo on. I've also not seen her combo her 3S. In addition, she doesn't have 2Lo combinations and did not realize she would zayak here. At least when Mai missed a combo once, I've seen her tack a 3T, though UR, onto her 3F which is some breathing room. Her spins were also a bit problematic at this comp, as 1 spin each in the SP & FS were marked level 2 in real time, but later upgraded to level 3. Overall, Kaori has quite a few things on her plate to work on before the next comp.

 

Yelim

When she missed the 2A in the SP I felt for her, because everyone has to be clean at this comp. Then she went down on the opening jump of the FS, and you could see the ridiculously low GOEs on her 2A and 3Lo. I think she's a beautiful skater though, and capitalizes on the 3F+2A sequence to up her BV. She has a lot of potential and has scored 140+. Needs to work a bit on the consistency.

 

 

 

7 hours ago, Kizuna said:

Wow, what a messy Women's FS. I think they all might have had some nerves, since SP 1st-4th or even 5th place were so close in points. They all probably knew it would come down to who skated cleanest, and then all made a lot of mistakes.

 

Some thoughts:

 

Mai

I'm so happy for her! She has made a strong case for herself this season to make the Worlds team. Top qualifier to the GPF and GPF champion!

She wasn't as consistent as her usual self here and at Finland, but overall, I still do think she keeps them under control well enough that she doesn't make too many mistakes. She is normally clean but when something is at stake like the title (GP Finland, GPF) or Olympics berth (last 2 Olympics), bigger mistakes tend to creep in. I think her strengths are her consistency, competitive nerves and her levels which are almost always level 4 no matter how she skates. This is a big advantage as it can hold her up if she makes mistakes and others do too. Her weakness now is the flip and some questionable rotations. It seems she has trouble with the rotation on 3T on the back end of the combinations, so I'm wondering if it's good if her team can change the 2A+3T combo to a 2A sequence since her 2A seems pretty solid? Her TES will go up too if combined with 3S or 3Lo. I hope she can get them under control and do well at JNats as she had the worst schedule in the past month.

 

Isabeau

Hmm, nothing much to comment on her as I didn't watch her before this. But she will definitely get the push from her fed, I think. Her jump layout puzzles me a bit.

 

Loena

Consistency was also her strength, but she's faltering a bit, like Mai, but more so. Her strength was also usually getting level 4s on spins and steps, but she didn't this time on the StSq. Her weakness in the free is only having six triples vs the rest of the women, so going clean is very important for her. Rotations were also an issue for her here.

 

Rinka
Needs to manage her consistency a bit for the jumps after the 3A. The reward for the 3A is completely outweighed by the mistakes in the rest of the program, even more so if she doesn't land the 3A. But I think she's had a stellar senior debut so far. Definitely caught the attention of many people this season and is someone to watch out for in the future.

 

Kaori

Ahh, what luck for her re the drug test dragging on and her being sleep deprived. Which is a shame, because she usually delivers when it matters, but so far she's been a bit on and off this season. Let's see how it goes, as she's usually a slow starter. I hope she overcomes it by JNats though, as her key strength lies in her jumps (usually no question about rotation), and delivering when it counts. Her weaknesses though. She has no room for mistakes, literally. Her flutz means that her tech is already lower and hard for her to use as a combo. It also seems to be difficult for her to improvise yolo combinations when she misses, since her final jump is the spiral 3Lo, which she also doesn't hit 100% of the time, and that's about the only jump she can hope to tack an extra combo on. I've also not seen her combo her 3S. In addition, she doesn't have 2Lo combinations and did not realize she would zayak here. At least when Mai missed a combo once, I've seen her tack a 3T, though UR, onto her 3F which is some breathing room. Her spins were also a bit problematic at this comp, as 1 spin each in the SP & FS were marked level 2 in real time, but later upgraded to level 3. Overall, Kaori has quite a few things on her plate to work on before the next comp.

 

Yelim

When she missed the 2A in the SP I felt for her, because everyone has to be clean at this comp. Then she went down on the opening jump of the FS, and you could see the ridiculously low GOEs on her 2A and 3Lo. I think she's a beautiful skater though, and capitalizes on the 3F+2A sequence to up her BV. She has a lot of potential and has scored 140+. Needs to work a bit on the consistency.

 

 

 

They have all had it rough. Mai and Loena have both been having some health issues since GP Espoo, Yelim has just competed some days ago, Rinka has not found her foot as a top skater yet and Isabeau is a fresh senior skater. Kaori has the worst luck of them all; she has not felt well since after SkAM; she has that madness of a drug test schedule and I fear she is having burnout as well. It was a messy event given all those, but Mai came out on top of the unlucky skaters, so congrats to her still.

 

For Kaori's sake, I hope she can bounce back for JNats and then the second half of the season. I don't think the idiots at JSF are going to support her as much (worst yet, dropping her like a sack of potato) if she remains like this or if she drops out like Wakaba.