Friday, October 22, 2010

NHK Trophy - Ladies Short

Well, unfortunately, the ladies definitely had the roughest competition of the disciplines that have shown so far. Here are my thoughts.

Lena Marrocco (France): I love the fact she used music from the Blues Brothers, but I was a little concerned she'd have a deduction because of the vocalizations. Shaky triple lutz and fell on her triple flip. Her double axel was okay, but not particularly great. Hers spins in general were nice, but she could work on turning out the free foot on her layback. Footwork went with the music well. 22.99 TE 19.68 PC - 1.00 Deductions = 41.67 Total

 Diane Szmiett (Canada): Fall on triple toe, doubled the flip, leaving her without a combination. Went on to pop her axel into a single and was just generally sluggish. 14.04 TE 18.86 PC - 1.00 Deduction = 31.90 Total

Viktoria Helgesson (Sweden): Fall on an underrotated triple flip. She had good skating skills and speed.  Triple loop and double axel were fine. Nice, fast spins. 21.49 TE 23.17 PC - 1.00 Deduction = 43.66 Total

Jenna McCorkell (Great Britain): Heinous, tacky costume that was rather unflattering. Double axel and triple lutz - double toe were good. Really overdramatic music and interpretation of it. Hand down on triple flip and slow footwork. 26.36 TE 22.71 PC = 49.07 Total

 Ashley Wagner ( United States): Triple flip - double toe was okay, as well as the triple lutz. Nice spin with good speed. Her double axel out of a spiral was a little lacking in height. Her layback spin is lovely though. Good overall skate. 27.34 TE 25.59 PC = 52.93 Total

Kanako Murakami (Japan): Triple toe- triple toe was fine, as well as her triple flip and double axel. This program is fun, but I feel like her attempts to be playful are ruining her skating skills in this program. She isn't skating smoothly. 29.91 TE 26.29 PC = 56.10 Total

Elene Gedevanishvili (Georgia): Man. That dress is not suited for a girl as top heavy as she is... it emphasizes it. I feel like everytime she bends over that she is going to pop out, despite the mesh. Triple lutz was fine, but she fell out of her attempted triple toe- double toe, so the combo probably didn't count. Singled the axel. Meh. 18.65 TE 25.86 PC = 44.51 Total

Caroline Zhang (United States): All the talk about Caroline improving her technique has actually proven to be more than just talk! The horrific highkick is gone, ladies and gentlemen! That said, while her triple flip-double toe combo and her triple loop were perfectly fine, she went into her double axel so slowly that it's amazing she landed it at all. Her layback and biellmann spins are absolutely fabulous. Overall, a really nice skate for her. Obviously, the speed could use some more improvement, but I'm just thrilled that that highkick is gone!  25.93 TE 24.78 PC = 50.71 Total

Rachael Flatt (United States): Apologies for bringing up the costumes up again but... that haircut is aging her a lot and the dress, while okay on it's own, is NOT helping at all. Right... the skating... anyway, triple lutz-double toe with her kind of odd technique. Meh. The triple flip had some of Caroline's former highkick in it, though thankfully not to that extent. Her layback and double axel were both nice, but the attempt at artistry isn't really appealing to me. It's cheesetastic and the "sexy" movements weirded me out. 28.29 TE 25.40 PC = 53.69 Total

Kiira Korpi (Finland): Doubled the first jump in her triple toe-triple toe combo. Triple loop was alright. Her sit spin and variations on it are really nice.  Double axel was okay. She's pleasant enough to watch, but kind of dull. I would have put Caroline ahead of this. 23.89 TE 28.71 PC = 52.60 Total

 Carolina Kostner (Italy): Triple toe- double toe, might have been underrotated. Same with her triple loop, which she had to hang on to. The double axel was fine. Blah. I've never been a fan of hers. 27.52 TE 29.75 PC = 57. 27 Total

Mao Asada (Japan): Oh, Mao... Triple axel was underrotated and she ended up on two feet. Triple loop-double loop was good enough.  Triple flip was popped into a wide open single. The end of the footwork was pretty cool and I love her biellmann spin. But overall... ouch. Poor Mao. 20.00 TE 28.95 PC - 1.00 Deduction = 47.95

Wow. I can't believe Carolina is in first after that, and that they actually put Mao into 8th place. Hopefully she has a much better freeskate.  The American girls actually skated pretty well though. I certainly hope to see some movement in the standings in the free!

ISU results page for Ladies Short

No comments: