Miho's favorites

Happy New Year ! Finally I was able to watch most of GPS events for men and ladies. But could not make some time for ice dancing and pair, so I can only comment for those two. My favorite programs and performances which made me to watch over and over were .. Men Johnny Weir FP ( NHK Trophy & GPF ) Seems like many people hasn’t been impress for both of his programs this season. But I really loved his FP and is still enjoy watching it for NHK Trophy and GPF. Jumps mistakes in it were not so big deal to me. Because other parts such as his whole body movements, especially his upper body , arms, hands and also his facial expression ! I thought this program is great. The choreography he did in the middle of the program was very impressive, it had deep emotion and his natural facial expression with his body language was interesting and was very emotional, and also straight line sequence was powerful, with every artistic movements were well balanced. In GPF, it was a lit...

Skating Competition is mostly like a mind game , and it’s like who has the most mind toughness ,most successful for their mind setting. Exceptional example of this may be Plushenko.  Most skaters can be inconsistent depending on the situation and I can really see how difficult it is to keep winning. Once a skater wins, he/she gets high expectation from audience, and gets high pressure for next competition. And many can not handle the pressure and nerves.  A skater who has less expectation from audience may be more relaxed and show their best at every competition. Also even small things can bother a skater’s mind, such as ice condition , blade problem , personal life issue , health condition etc.. Some skaters are stronger at SP than FP, and after SP, I always think it’s one of the most important times for mind-setting which influences the final result. Some are weak at SP, and might get less expectation from audience, and that makes them less pressure and make...

Whoa !  So many things have been in my mind since my last blog , but finally, I got to write about my impression of Skate America. This season I may not be able to spend much time for my hobby though I will try to take a time for it. I thought it won’t be shown in the US broadcast for all the GPS competitions anymore except for ladies LP, but somehow, Ray happened to turn on the TV on Sunday afternoon, and found a Japanese skater Kozuka had just finished his FP. And we were able to see Johnny’s FP in NBC broadcast. They often change the schedule, so we may need to constantly check the info about it to watch it. During the live competitions, I was at my computer with nerve , and after seeing the result of Johnny and placed in behind Kozuka , I had a bad feeling , … really bad feeling.. But after seeing Lysacek’s result, suddenly my feeling became much better. Yes ! 1. Takahiko Kozuka - Gold 2. Johnny Weir - Silver 3. Evan Lysacek - Bronze Takahiko Kozuka I onl...

Since I started watching figure skating competitions, I found it’s fun to make predictions for the medallists every event besides enjoy watching all the performances. It’s a game. People always make predictions based on the past results. But this is also a skater’s mind toughness competition, besides things are often changing every season, every event, so anything can happen, Also judging system changed some parts since this season again, so it’s more difficult to predict. I think there is always no sure prediction. It’s just prediction. It’s also scary to predict for my favorite skater Johnny Weir since I seriously wish him to be on the top of the podium every event from bottom of my heart. I get so nervous whenever he is at COP. And from my analysis , when many people were expecting him to win, it didn’t happen. Now I feel more scary since I saw many people are predicting him to win. So I try not to think about it. Here is the list of skaters for Skate America, Men...

It’s really a shame to hear Lambiel's retirement… I still can not get it in my mind, and it will surely hit me and will miss him when COP starts especially in Skate Canada. Lambiel is always one of my second favorite skaters who gave me fun and excitement since 2006 Worlds. My favorite is his Dralion he did in worlds 2006. His unique creative artistic dance in it inspired me a lot , I call it the Lambiel dance. Even though I was guessing he may not be in next Olympics seeing his health condition in past two years, when the time came, and have to face and accept the reality, it’s sad. Hope he will have a great life and hopefully will have an opportunity to see his skating again. There was also an article about " Brian Joubert speaks about Stephane's retirement: The french skater has an idea about the reasons that pushed Lambiel to stop. "Since his second world title, he was not well anymore mentaly" said Joubert, who also pointed out a physical problem. ...

Johnny’s new teleconference with U.S. media is up, and he sounds like very well focused and fired-up for this season ! And his training sounds going well. ( Article ) “ I work every day in Russian which is a foreign language for me,” he said. “For Soviet and Russian sportsmen there was always a sense of determination and need that people felt through sport, so if you were not the best you would not achieve very much in life,” Weir said. “The Russian coaches, especially of those of Galina’s era, all teach in a very Soviet way and if you are not doing the maximum to achieve a result you may as well stop training. “Of course, sometimes it is a little stressful training in the Russian system because they have a very different way of teaching and communicating than it was with my American coach. But, I am thriving under the system and I hope to continue to grow and keep getting better and better. “In America people have the chance to be lazy because we have never had to sacrifice one a...

Seems like Stephane Lambiel is going to have a press conference for his new announcement “ crucial change” in Switzerland on Thursday and people are worrying he may retire or take a season off . And According to GPS lists in Skate Canada and TEB, He has been crossed off for both of the events SC and TEB. It means that it’s surely he is not going to compete in GPS this season. I won’t miss Jeffrey Buttle’s skating much, but Lambiel is my second favorite skater who often gave me fun with his unique creative artistic speedy skating, so surely I will miss his skating. It also hurts to watch him being placed in lower place with his disappointed face, struggling with his injury though. .. His injury sounded bad and even though his mind wants to compete, his body doesn’t want to. When we got injury or felt pain or had illness, I’ve read that it’s a sign to take a break. And is doing something wrong, unbalancing and it also may come from stress. Hopefully Johnny is fine. My ideal podium i...