Saturday, November 14, 2009

2009 Skate America Ladies SP Live Commentary

Starting Order

Warm-Up Group 1
1 Emily HUGHES USA
2 Tugba KARADEMIR TUR
3 Alexe GILLES USA
4 Elena GLEBOVA EST
5 Sarah HECKEN GER
6 Susanna POYKIO FIN

Warm-Up Group 2
7 Joshi HELGESSON SWE
8 Fumie SUGURI JPN
9 Elene GEDEVANISHVILI GEO
10 Julia SEBESTYEN HUN
11 Rachael FLATT USA
12 Yu-Na KIM KOR

5:59 CT Judges have been announced. Warm-Up Group 1 about to take ice. Gilles in pink; Glebova in green.
Gilles joking with Tom Z.
6:00 Competitors take ice.
Emily Hughes gets big ovation; one noticeably louder than compatriot Alexe Gilles.
Hughes is in black dress.
Gilles-clean 2A
Glebova-good 3T; Tara Lipinski commentating and mentions Glebova struggling in practice.
Hecken needs greater than a 128 total score to make Olympic team for Germany.
Poykio in blue dress with rhinestones.
Hecken-Clean 3S
6:07 Warm-up concluded.



Emily Hughes (USA)
1Z+2T-big mistake; very slow entrance
3F-landed well but likely UR
2A-good height and controlled landing
Spiral-good height of the free leg but leg is slightly bent. Back is too dropped.
Great layback to catch-foot layback to Bielmann
Good straight line step sequence
Decent final spin; a tad slow on the last few revolutions
Good expression and speed


TES: 21.56
PCS: 23.72
Total: 45.32



Tugba Karademir (Turkey)
2F+2T-didn't get down into ice on takeoff and big toe-axel on 2T
3S-OK; possible UR
Turned-in layback position
Spiral Sequence-nice leg line
2A-good
Good spin combo
Footwork a bit simplistic
Last spin combo-well centered but a tad slow

FYI: Lipinski's commentary is awful.

TES: 27.50
PCS: 21.92
Total: 49.42
Rank: 1



Alexe Gilles (USA)
3Z+1T-possible UR on 3Z; double footed first jump
1F-weight off in air
2A-nice; good transition preceding it
Good layback but slow and poorly extended Bielmann
Nice spiral
Flying sit spin-not much amplitude; leg in sit spin not extended fully
Footwork starts off well but gets slower
Very elegant program but not nearly as strong as her SP from TEB.


TES: 24.04
PCS: 22.52
Total: 46.56
Rank: 2



Elena Glebova (Estonia)
3S-good but intended 3F
Spiral-relatively poor extension
3T+3T-very nice
Sit spin/pancake variation-well centered but a tad slow
Footwork-good in places but bland overall
2A-low but landed
Completely missed her flying sit
Decent final spins
Relatively bland program; she skated to a strong piece of music of which she had trouble living up to in her skating. I enjoyed her "Songs My Mother Taught Me" SP from last year more. Good skate technically aside from unusual spin error.


TES: 28.80
PCS: 23.48
Total: 52.28
Rank: 1



Sarah Hecken (Germany)
2T-intended 3T+3T but slow entrance; legs loose in air; forward on landing of 2T and didn't do combo
3S-nice
2A-nice
Slow spin
Very poor spiral
Decent catchfoot layback
Footwork-needs more speed; moves not finished; decent expression
Camel extension poor
Facial expression is decent but other than that her movements are very unpolished and slow. First jumping pass was off but the second and third were very clean.


TES: 24.10
PCS: 19.76
Total: 43.86
Rank: 5



Susanna Poykio (Finland)
3Z(very slow; leaning in the air, hand down and likely UR)+2T-landed
2F-fall out
Turned-in layback position
2A-good
Spiral-dropped back; relatively poor free leg extension
Footwork slow
Finished after music
One of the worst skates I can recall seeing from her. Extremely bland, slow program


TES: 22.80
PCS: 23.92
Total: 46.72
Rank: 3


Warm-Up Group 2 on ice. Kim from same dress as TEB. Suguri from same dress from COC. Lipinski mentions Suguri having issues in practice.
Flatt in pink (I believe same one as COC)
Kim-Good 3F
Kim-Another good 3F.
Kim-good 3Z+3T
Flatt-Good but likely UR 3F+3T.
Warm-up concluded.



Joshi Helgesson (Sweden)
Nice expression at start
3T-landed well
3Z+2T-good height; landed; slight loss of speed coming out of 3Z
2A-good; spiral coming out
Spiral sequence-extension poor
Footwork a bit slow, lots of twizzle-esque movements
Turned-in layback position
Weak Bielmann
Very quirky presentation and a clean program; really needs to work on both polishing all of her positions and improving her transitions from element to element


TES: 29.48
PCS: 21.84
Total: 51.32
Rank: 2



Fumie Suguri (Japan)
3Z(slightly flutzed; free leg very crossed over on landing; possible UR)+2T-landed
3F-good control and height; slight cheat
Good speed in spin but positions are weak
Spiral extension relatively poor
2A-good
Deathdrop-traveled slightly; sit spin could be lower
Footwork a bit slow; good expression
Finished slightly after music
Better attention to the music and the choreography than she has done in several previous programs. This program is quite a bit better than her LP.


TES: 29.28
PCS: 26.76
Total: 56.04
Rank: 1
3F apparently got downgraded



Elene Gedevanishvilli (Georgia)
2Z-legs too loose upon propeling up into the air
3T(forward)+2T-landed
Nice spiral extension
Spiral immediately into 2A-slightly forward but controlled well
Good combo spin
Good use of edges in footwork; not as expressive as she is capable of
Nice sit spin/pancake variation
Not as much spark as she is capable; a good program overall but the technical mistakes seem to diminish her interest in the performance


TES: 27.90
PCS: 24.28
Total: 52.18
Rank: 3



Julia Sebestyen (Hungary)
3Z+2T-great height and control
3F-good height; possible slight cheat
Good donut spin
Spiral extension relatively poor
2A-good
Traveling in layback; poor position; slow
Footwork-decent energy; a bit slow
Lacks flexibility and polish but has great height on her jumps and good speed. Decent energy.


TES: 32.10
PCS: 26.44
Total: 58.54
Rank: 1



Rachael Flatt (USA)
3F+3T(leaning to the right; fall; possible slight UR)
3Z-leaning to the side; didn't hold landing very long but clean
Spiral sequence-adequate
Good layback; a tad slow
2A-low but landed
Great energy in footwork
Good speed in final spin
Actually a very nice program aside from the opening fall. Much improved musicality and personality from COC.


TES: 33.40
PCS: 26.40
Ded: -1.00
Total: 55.80
Rank: 1



Yu-Na Kim (South Korea)
3Z+3T-superb
3F-very good
Layback through to Bielmann-good speed; positions not great but improved
Spiral-good speed; position not great but improved
2A-good
Good deathdrop to sit spin
Footwork-very good expression; a tad slow in places
Good final spin
Excellent expression and speed; she really got into the character of the program even more so than at TEB. Fabulous.


TES: 44.00
PCS: 32.28
Total: 76.28 (New World Record!!!)
Rank: 1



Standings Entering LP:
1 Yu-Na KIM KOR 76.28 1
2 Rachael FLATT USA 58.80 2
3 Julia SEBESTYEN HUN 58.54 3
4 Fumie SUGURI JPN 56.04 4
5 Elena GLEBOVA EST 52.28 5
6 Elene GEDEVANISHVILI GEO 52.18 6
7 Joshi HELGESSON SWE 51.32 7
8 Tugba KARADEMIR TUR49.42 8
9 Susanna PÖYKIÖ FIN 46.72 9
10 Alexe GILLES USA 46.56 10
11 Emily HUGHES USA 45.32 11
12 Sarah HECKEN GER 43.86 12


Commentary of men's free to start in 25 minutes.

3 comments:

Amy said...

Who is the female commentator?

Anonymous said...

OMG Terror Lipinski. Isn't her 15 minutes of fame up?

Amy said...

I feel that Yu Na Kim is really similar to Jeffrey Buttle. They both do the technical elements very well and their "artistic elements" are at a high level. They put together programs that are designed to rank up points. However there is very little spirit, passion or emotion in the skating. I find her very boring to watch. Many skaters who are less skillful are more enjoyable to watch. It is interesting that Buttle is Canadian and Kim is coached by a Canadian.