You’ve seen Samodelkina’s 3A attempt in the warmup?
yeah I did see the video. The jump is definitely still short of rotation, but mostly, I’m not convinced by the way she uses her upper body on the axel takeoff? It looks a bit muscled. I really like her, but I’ve noticed some ? things lately, such as her Lutz going flat on 3Lz3Lo combos and I wish they worked on these things right now first. That said, I do think she has the potential to work and perfect the axel.
ladywisteri asked: What are your thoughts on the new changes made to Rika’s Beautiful Storm choreo? :)
if someone’s curious, a fan made a series of video comparisons between the program in the summer and through the season.
so, there were two things that I hoped would be back: the exit out of the solo 3A and the high kick out of the 3F. Rika did the exit out of the solo 3A in practice so I hope that one will be back (I really love it ;;), but the 3F exit seems to be gone (I guess she gets better goe with a running edge out of it).
As for the things they added, I really love the beginning. I feel like it’s smoother, more fluid. The movement is a bit less mechanic and it flows better, even tho it still hits all the accents in the music.
I don’t mind the change of movement at the end of the StSq, tho I’m not sure if I like it more than the old one. One thing I really like is how the worked on the expression. Rika mentioned Tom gave her a series of images to differentiate between the differents mood and parts of the program (like “happy here”, “dark here”) and I think it showed. The beginning is more intense than before imo.
Not to be that person but I still can’t believe Evgenia broke Mao and Yuna’s WRs…………………
Oh boy, we are going down this road XD
In general, I think Evgenia’s scores were definitely inflated, as were Alina’s, but I don’t think they ever won something they shouldn’t have (perhaps besides NHK17, where Polina should have won, imo). Do I think at least the SP WR should have been historical? Yeah probably (also can’t say I’m not mad at the fact that the FP WR should have been Rika’s all season lol) but also food for thought: Evgenia and Alina’s programs were designed to milk the IJS. They lacked in quality on some elements and I think there scores did not reflect the quality of the elements in some ways, but their programs were designed to tick the bullets and hide the weaknesses.
Eteri understanding and exploiting (not meant in a negative way) the system also changed ladies’ skating. There’s a middle level between empty programs and overly busy ones, and I do think several ladies in this field are finding it and I can’t hide I like ladies’ skating as it is right now. Not the scores, but this field is all kinds of amazing.
That said, can’t tell you her scores were ok, because in my opinion they weren’t, but I wanted to give a more complex reply.
not sure if it’s been asked before but something light: your fave costumes this season?
Mmm. Yuzuru’s Origin costume, Rika’s Beautiful Storm and Mai’s Mission costumes…and Alyona Kanysheva’s FP costume. These are my favorites I’d say.
Also didn’t mind Wakaba’s blue costume for her FP.
What are your thoughts on Nathan’s FP? I’ve only seen it for US Nats so I know I can’t judge the scoring there. Is he unbeatable like they want me to believe?
No, he’s not unbeatable at all. Clean Yuzuru should still be unbeatable. And tbh if the system was actually used properly even not-so-clean Yuzuru should be.
As far as his program goes, I don’t have much to say. His last season SP had potential for example, but his programs are just…too empty for me. Especially the FP, both last and this year, because there’s simply too long of a set up into every jump. He’s sacrificing everything that is choreography in order to get the jumps done to me.
Who do you think will make the Russian team for Worlds if that hasn’t been decided versus who should?
who should make the team: Alina, Sofia, Elizaveta
the most likely team: Alina, Sofia, Elizaveta. Does Evgenia have a chance? Probably? But it’s very rare to see rusfed change their team after Russian cup final. Polina had the chance, Yulia as well before and no one ever made it. I think Evgenia will have to be amazing to be considered.
What’re your thoughts on Tatiana Tarasova?
Very interesting figure, legendary coach and choreographer for sure (and looking at Polina’s FP she hasn’t lost her touch), but I can’t say I like her commentary (the things she says about weight and such are simply gross most of the time) nor her…choices re politcking. I mean, she said Stasya should have won nats? That’s an alarm big enough for me not to trust her lol
Tfw Rika’s technique is so impeccable that not even KK can bitch about it... 😍🤧😭
Too bad Rika has her own crazy youtuber, a JP Mao uber who hates her and posts lies about her underrotating and prerotating every jump .___. sigh impeccable technique, but some crazy ppl nonetheless