Friday, October 30, 2009

COC Ladies SP Commentary

Here is my commentary for the ladies SP which took place earlier today in Beijing. I am watching this event without knowing the results beforehand and this page will be updated as I see the competitors skate.

Skate Order:
Warm-Up Group 1
1.) Bingwa Geng (China)
2.) Binshu Xu (China)
3.) Yan Liu (China)
4.) Diane Szmiett (Canada)
5.) Beatrisa Liang (USA)
6.) Mirai Nagasu (USA)

Arena is about half full. Same arena as last year's Cup of China. Binshu Xu in pink top with blue skirt. Yan Liu in light blue. Szmiett in red; Liang in black; Nagasu in black and gold.

Liang looks a little out of shape but just landed a triple toe. Nagasu did a triple flip which looked slightly UR. Yan Liu stumbled out of her triple loop slightly.

Nagasu did a triple lutz with a slight fall out and inside edge takeoff. Liu (I believe) did a 3Z at the end of the warm-up.


Bingwa Geng (China)
Purple dress
Looks like a young Caroline Zhang, and is skating to Meditation from Thais
3S-good steps before, entrance was long but the jump had great height and a good landing
3Z-fall out, +1T-won't get credit for 2nd jump, put her foot down in-between, takeoff edge looked clean
2A-lovely
spiral-extension is good, not great
Footwork-nice
Good donut spin
Layback position is too turned in but her Bielmann is great
Nice ending pose
She will get marked down quite a bit for her mistake on the triple lutz but otherwise a very nice performance. Geng could be a legitimate contender at major competitions in the future. Good choreography, nice use of arms, and did express herself well in places.

TES: 28.20
PCS: 19.44
Total: 47.64
PCS are a little low IMO but scores at this event were rather tight last year.


Binshu Xu (China)
3T-fall; likely UR
3S-solid; slightly UR
spin combo-good speed; weak positions on layback and Bielmann
spiral-extension is decent; skating edge is very wobbly
2A-nice
last spin combo-good speed but traveled
Very weak projection to the audience.

TES: 19.36
PCS: 18.72
Ded: -1.00
Total: 37.08
Rank: 2


Yan Liu (China)
IIRC the same as last year's SP
3Z+2T-a little slow coming out of 3Z and possibly flutzed; otherwise clean
3R-good
Rough transition from standard spiral to catch-foot spiral
2A-coming after front spiral; very good
good layback to catch-foot spin
footwork-relatively easy and not very continuous
Very flat program artistically; she is a mature skater but has no relation to the audience whatsoever. However, it was a very fluid, clean skate, and it was certainly one of her best short programs as of late.

TES: 30.00
PCS: 21.28
Total: 51.28
Rank: 1


Diane Szmiett (Canada)
Skating to West Side Story
3F+2T-long entrance but otherwise good
3Z-two footed first and then fell
2A-fell out of
spin combo-traveled in beginning but centered it afterward
Very poor attempt at Charlotte Spiral (if that was even what she was trying)
Relatively slow footwork
Great speed in catch foot spin at the end
No emotional depth to program; speed is decent.

TES: 25.08
PCS: 21.16
Ded: -2.00
Total: 44.24
Rank: 3


Beatrisa Liang (USA)
Tango de Roxanne
3Z+2T-good
3F-little wobbly, very slight UR
layback to catch foot spin combo-very good
spiral-good extension
2A- step out
good spin combo
footwork-fall
This program is a great one for her and really enables her to showcase expression, drama, and musicality. A shame about the mistakes at the end but at least it started off well.

TES: 29.04
PCS: 22.72
Ded: -1.00
Total: 50.76
Rank: 2


Mirai Nagasu (USA)
Pirates of the Carribean soundtrack
3Z(likely UR)+2T-landed; also looked flutzed
3F-good
Spiral-great extension and speed
layback to catch-foot to Bielmann spin-excellent
2A-from Ina Bauer-very good
footwork-good energy
Good last spin combo
Her growth spurt has caused her to under rotate jumps more so than when she was tinier but it has helped her out tremendously with speed. She travels across the rink very quickly no matter if it is stroking, footwork, or gliding across the ice. Good skate.

TES: 37.40 ( I guess she got the lutz credited?)
PCS: 24.80
Total: 62.20 (Nice!)
Rank: 1


Warm-Up Group 2
7.) Akiko Suzuki (Japan)
8.) Fumie Suguri (Japan)
9.) Kiira Korpi (Finland)
10.) Rachael Flatt (USA)
11.) Joannie Rochette (Canada)
12.) Carolina Kostner (Italy)

Flatt in pink; Korpi in a light green/yellow; Rochette in black.

Flatt did 2A; landed but looked low. It looked like Rochette did 3Z+3T with a slight wobble on the landing of the 2nd jump. Flatt doubled her lutz. Flatt just did 3Z; looked lower than usual but landed.


Akiko Suzuki (Japan)
3Z+2T-slight loss of speed coming out of 3Z but otherwise good
3F-good
flying camel-slightly off balance but got her centering back
Spiral sequence-adequate
2A-good control on the landing edge
spin combo-good speed but traveled towards the end
footwork-very fluid, creative, and fast
Good last spin combo
Very nice performance. Suzuki has great expression and she is very musical. Great attack with the footwork and showed a lot of character in the section immediately following the triple flip. Spins and spirals were not nearly as strong as Nagasu's.

TES: 34.40
PCS: 25.12
Total: 59.52
Rank: 2


Fumie Suguri (Japan)
Good expression at the start
3F(slight UR)+2T-good speed coming out
3Z-flutz, double-footed, possible UR
Spiral sequence-adequate
2A-great height; slight wobble on landing
Combo spin-good speed but lost speed when grabbing her leg in the catch foot layback position
Footwork-good movements but slow
Finished after music

TES: 30.38
PCS: 25.08
Total: 55.46
Rank: 3


Kiira Korpi (Finland)
3Z(possible flutz; hand down)+2T
3R-good; three-turn entrance
Good continuous speed in spin combo
2A-solid
Spiral sequence-decent
Flying sit spin-nice low position
footwork-good
Good speed in final spin
Improved expression but still bland in places.

TES: 34.80
PCS: 26.40
Total: 61.20
Rank: 2
Score is higher than she deserved in my opinion. Her PCS should be in line with those received by Nagasu and Suzuki, not ahead of.


Rachael Flatt (USA)
3F(forward on landing, possible UR)+2T
3Z-solid
flying camel
Spiral sequence-adequate
Good position on layback; speed could be improved
2A-forward on landing; held on
Improved footwork from previous seasons
A cute program that has potential but Flatt will need to sell it even more to bring the entertaining concept home. All of her jumps looked lower.

TES: 33.40
PCS: 25.40
Total: 58.80
Rank: 4


Joannie Rochette (Canada)
Music is to La Cumparsita
2Z-opened up in air
3F-good but didn't add in a combo
1A
Adequate spiral
Footwork a bit slow in places
Spins were all OK
The program is very well choreographed, and she does have the most mature presentation that we have seen today. Perhaps this whole battle with landing the 3-3 is messing with her nerves? In that case, she should just stick to a triple lutz+double toe, something she does consistently in the long.

TES: 23.92
PCS: 28.20
Total: 52.12
Rank: 6


Carolina Kostner (Italy)
3F+2T-good
3T-solid
Spiral-great speed and extension
2A-solid
Spin combo a little slow
Flying deathdrop-sit spin position should be lower
Good attack in footwork
Good presentation.
Interesting jump layout! She seems to be saying to hell with the 3/3 and is putting the triple toe in as a solo jump. It will put her behind in base value but a clean program will keep her competitive because of her high PCS scores.

TES: 31.80
PCS: 29.32
Total: 61.12
Rank: 3

Good thing I didn't have any money riding on this competition. Also, AKIKO SUZUKI WAS ROBBED!!!!!.

That is all.

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