World Championship 2009, Ladies event

World Championship 2009, Ladies event - My review

Wow, It was quite fun seeing Ladies event this season and the result made me a big surprise !

I also watched men’s event for a few skaters on TV but I was unable to make extra time for pair and ice dance.

Yu Na’s victory was quite sure for me before it started , so it was not a big surprise but her performance was amazing, especially her SP !

And what made me and Ray happy and excitement the most was Miki Ando got on the podium !!!!

Great comeback from disappointed last season!

We didn’t expect her to be on the podium even though we really wished.

Seeing the whole season’s result and performances for top ladies, my original prediction was

1. Yu Na
2. Mao
3. Joanne

I was hoping if Miki could get on the podium but I thought it may be difficult so at least if she could be placed within 5th, because we love her.

So this result was a big surprise for me !

1. Yu Na
2. Joanne
3. Miki
4. Mao
5. Rachel
And Ray and I are so happy for Miki. She was the only medallist from Japan in this worlds and it reminds me of Johnny’s situation in last Worlds, he was the only medallist from America.

I was guessing that Japan gets two medals ( Men & Ladies ) and men for Oda or Kozuka, and ladies for Mao.

However, reading some Japanese sites, Japanese media looks like they are more making reports calling it Mao’s failure, more than praising for Miki.

I didn’t think Mao skated that bad at all.

Yu Na Kim

She was fantastic ! Especially for her SP ! This must be one of the
masterpiece in my favorite collection. Full of fire and passion with amazing speed, her facial & body expression , interesting choreography, all her movements were great !!!

She is just amazing. Technically, her 3F-3T combination jumps were so huge with distance and powerful, and her 3lz was awesome.
And her straight line step sequence in it was my favorite part. And her ending facial expression was so cool.

I really love this one and will watch it over and over. I got a lot of high energy from it.

Somehow, her facial expression reminds me of my favorite model “ Sayoko Yamaguchi ’s facial expression “. I don’t know why. Although I don't say they are really the same because Sayoko Yamaguchi to me is an incredible artist.

I noticed that Yu Na’s birth day is September 5, same as Freddie Mercury. And the sign is Virgo same as Sayoko Yamaguchi.

There must be some common between them.

For scores .. I’m avoiding to think about that since there are many rule which I don’t agree. So I just enjoy the performances.

I’m happy for her to have grabbed her first Worlds title finally. I love people who has passion for their own life and getting what they want in their life.

It’s so inspiring. She made it happen , no matter what anyone says.

Miki Ando

She was awesome ! Both of her programs, SP & FP !
I love both of them, but maybe I was even more excited when I saw her FP, and I was jumping and was doing standing ovation same as the crowd at the arena.

For LP, I loved Miki’s the best ! I realized how talented she is. Many people can not get her style and had been calling her a jumping bean, but I always thought when she is on, she has her own artistry and has natural artistic talent seeing her way of using her hands and arms.

Her best parts are of course her jumps , very powerful, fast , high, and also elegant and looks easy. When I saw she did 2A+3T in her second jump, I was just “ Wow “ ! She was so cool.

Miki, Yuna and Mao, I call those three’s jumps are very high quality and jumps also have some influence on the whole artistic impression as well, so it‘s important.

It was wonderful to see her came back to the world podium again after the disappointed end at last Worlds. We can not really read her.

She is still one of the tough contender in the world. I thought she was pretty consistent whole season, even though many of her jumps were judged as downgraded, especially in GPF, I thought she did good job, too. Also in this worlds, she looked more relax, and less pressure.

I also loved her SP even though, I’m not so crazy for the music, I thought it’s a sentimental music and she was emotional ( in my view ) , and did great job. Her 3Lz-3 loop combo looked powerful, big and high, fast and elegant.

But the second one 3Lo was downgraded, so she didn’t get full credit for it . And her spin, especially her last spin, which looked like a flower turning and made me feel like seeing her own world and illusion.

It was just gorgeous to watch. I love her costume in it.

That makes her look even more gorgeous and stunning. I think the way how she use her body and arms are artistic. I truly think when she is on, she is one of the most emotional skaters in all the Japanese ladies skaters.

Her FP, again I’m not crazy for the music.
But I found her body expression and choreography was interesting in it. Seems like she created it herself.

It was also nice to hear that the crowds in LA loved it and she got standing ovation. I’ve heard that several people who were there said Miki was very pretty and they were impressed with how big her jumps were.
I would have given her Silver medal for this competition.

Mao Asada

Her costume for FP was my favorite of all the ladies skaters in this event. I love the design, and the color and it made her look elegant and fit with her slender body.

I usually like her skating, she is a beautiful, smooth, soft skater and I much preferred to see Mao’s skating to Yu Na until last season but this season’s both of her programs were not for me.
I can see those are very difficult programs.

But as an entertainment, nothing attractive to watch to me. It’s a sport. Maybe that how the COP works. But I thought she at least earned to be on the podium. I would give her bronze for this competition.

I thought she was much better in EX gala number “ tango” all the way. Poor Mao, she must be disappointed , but I always think how difficult to keep the title and keep winning.

She must have been so much pressure from Japanese media and audience, and expectation from her fans. Come back stronger next season ! She can do it.

Elene GEDEVANISHVILI

Both of her performances SP & LP were quite fun to watch. I hadn’t been inspiring with her skating since Trino Olympics but I thought she is a great artist on ice seeing her movements.

She performed very well with the South American music , even though she made a mistake on a jump, her musicality was balancing and made me joy.

For other skaters, I could see Rachel Flatt’s improvement from her arm & hands movements in her FP. I have never impressed with her skating because all her movements were always too casual, no expression, her bad posture & form, and thought only good point of her skating was consistency of her jumps.

So it was nice to see her to start care for her arm & hand movements.

Also, Sara Meier,
While I know she is a graceful skater with ballet style, I always thought some
parts of her movements were good but not connected to all the movements, and some parts of her hands movements looked like she was putting too much power in her hands, that’s bothered me.

But this time, in her FP, I thought she was more connected with music , and all her movements looked more natural than before including all her body & arms.
I may be too picky for graceful movements.

Carolina Kostoner - I know she didn’t skate well and got meltdown, most of her jumps became single in her Free program.

Somehow, I discovered her artistic movements which I have never impressed in the past in it and I enjoyed with it. So her disaster of jumps didn’t bother me much. I love the music.

How much important to land all the jumps to make people good impression ?

Clean program = land all the jumps.

1. Land all the jumps
2. Speed & complicated steps
3. Interesting choreography, transition
4. Maximize the jumps structure
5. Spin position, speed , centered position
6. Deep edge or not.

People seem to be checking those elements while watching.

And in my case, I look for

1. How they use their body, arms ,hands. ( instead of what they are doing )
2. Facial expression & emotional level.
3. Connecting with music or not.
4. Interesting Choreography,
5. Energy level, speed.
6. Land all the jumps

I don’t care for whether skaters maximize the jumps structure or not but to win under COP, it’s necessary.

My favorite moment while watching the Ladies SP was Oxygen broadcast showed Johnny during the break time before the final group.

They invited Johnny as one of skating legend for Ladies skating discussion.
It was so nice to see him even though it was not the skating competition.
( even though it must be hard to accept this request for him. )

He was funny in it and Ray and I really enjoyed it. We thought he is really good at talking in public, seeing their discussion , he is very intelligent , his brain works so fast, with sense of humor and he can be a great commentator also.

He was asked about his feeling about Lysacek‘s win the worlds title, his plan for his next season, relationship between Yuna Kim and him during the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEx4R8kyfP8

I ignore all the nasty comments in you tube.

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