#backloaded difficulty always is

[goomeow]

decade is gonna be an annoying fc

[comfybirdie]

Some of the Supers in my figure skating Au

Clark: in the previous post, @ambroseandmox said that it would be fun if he was the Orser to Bruce's Boitano for the old rivalry. And I really like this idea because Orser would fit Clark so well. Orser was a really consistent jumper in his days, and he jumped relatively a lot compared to the other skaters. And while I haven't met the man, it is said that he's one of the nicest people in the figure skating world, which I would think fits Superman really well.

Kon: I said it previously that I thought of him a hockey player, but I sat with the idea of him figure skating and I came to the conclusion that I like it. I think he is more raw talent than technique and Lex started coaching him with the specific idea of having him become the next Clark Kent, only focusing on jumps than to really hone his skills. Clark had a hard time coming to terms with this (especially when the media really took the idea on board) because he was still an active skater then, and why look for another him when he was right there? So he really hated it and he kind of took it out on Kon first. And because Kon also disliked constantly being compared to someone else and not being seen as himself, he started being really reckless with his jumps. He would change them up halfway into his routine during competitions, adding and taking away rotations on a whim, upping the difficulty in the second half of his programs, always practicing jumps he was not supposed to do yet, overdoing it, etc. Then he broke his leg on a fall, which set his head straight, and he and Clark eventually made up, and he switched over to his camp after this incident.

Jon: Jon's just a baby. He's not yet allowed to do competitions, because Clark doesn't want him to burn out young, but he's usually there to collect the flowers and plushies thrown on the ice. He looks up to Damian a lot, because Dami is not that much older than him and he's already doing jumps Clark doesn't let Jon try and he wins a lot. His favourite skater of all time (besides his dad) is Dick and he really wants to train with him one day.

Kara: I really like the idea of Kara keeping the Supergirl nickname. She would get it because of the sheer amount of jumps she has in her routine and how high her jumps are. (I imagine her with Trusova type of programs, maybe even completely backloading them like Zagitova used to) She was in competitions with Barbara.

Bizarro: was a hockey player, but had a serious head injury which left him getting confused a lot, and having a hard time keeping his balance on the blades. He, however, loves being on ice and loves driving the Zamboni, so Clark hired him as a caretaker. His favourite figure skater is Jason and his favourite hockey player is Artemis, both of who always make sure to say hi to him and spend some time with him when they're around for competitions or just in general.

[jennibeultimate]

I don’t know a whole lot about the technical side of figure skating, usually I choose favorite skaters just on whose performances I enjoy the most, but I’m curious since a lot of people seem to really dislike her: what do you think of Evgenia Medvedeva? since you seem to know a lot and be very invested in the figure skating world, I’m interested to know your opinion

Oh wow. I am very honored to have someone want my opinion 👀

First of all I am by no means an expert on the technical sides of figure skating - still learning - but I give it a try and your observation is correct that I am very invested in this sport and I know how (shitty) the fandom can be. And to warn you you're in for a long read. 😅

I will give my opinion on both, the aspects of her skating and the person Evgenia Medvedeva. And on why I think ppl may dislike her/hate on her.

1. About Evgenia Medvedeva - the skater

I hope you understand at least the basic terms of the technical aspects in figure skating as I will refer to them a lot in this part.

Jumps - Zhenya is a better edge than toe jumper. Her 3Loop and her 3Salchow are one of the best in the field and imo extremely pretty. Her 2Axel is usually her biggest problem, she muscles the jump. Her toe jumps have issues too. Zhenya has a wrong edge on the Lutz, called a "Flutz", she is working on it but it's still the wrong edge. She mostly didn't get an edge call on it though by the judges. The other aspect ppl often talk about is the "prerotation" in her toe jumps, especially the Flip. She does prerotate more than some other skaters. She is often criticized for it. But to make it short imo the rules about prerotation are a bit blurry (at what point is prerotation normal and when is it excessive prerotation?) and in fact judges doesn't seem to penalize prerotation at all. Some fans like to nitpick on this matter a lot. For some it's almost some sort of crime. Let's just say it's not easy to fix it and I think Zhenya improved on this matter with time. I think Zhenya definitely has some issues on her toe jumps and Axel, but I don't think just because someone has a flawed technique the person is a bad skater. So there are things you can rightfully criticize but also things to love in her jumps like not only are Salchow and Loop beautiful, but also her leg extension on landing is good and she usually has good flow in her jumps. The Tanos (one arm over the head while jumping) aren't my cup of tea but they have a positive influence the GOEs.

Her Salchow:

Her Loop:

Spins - I think she has beautiful spins, but they are not the fastest. And I think her spins were better in the early senior years. The back that is bothering her is making the Bielmann spin not doable for her anymore, which is a shame.

Programs and performance - I think Zhenya does portray characters exceptionally well. Yes some ppl don't like the excessive pantomime in her earlier programs and I also think less is more, but she always captures the audience with her charm and personality on ice and her programs always have a concept she can bring across (even sometimes with questionable theme). She has some very beautiful programs, I recommend her "Anna Karenina" 2017-2018 program and her "Memoirs of a Geisha" 2019-2020 program. What stands out of Zhenya and also has been a reason she has earned high PCS - especially in her first senior years - is that her programs are full of difficult transitions between the elements. I don't want to pick all of the PCS categories apart, just that I think she is selling her skating exceptionally well. (She doesn't have thousands of fans for no reason. 😉)

Scoring - I think this is actually the main point why some skating fans didn't like her in the first place. She emerged to a scene with extremely high scores for being a first year senior, scores that matched past heroes of skating like Yuna Kim and Mao Asada. Even though Zhenya never skated against Yuna and shared only few competitions with Mao, ppl always referred to the old scores of them. (which were former world records) Zhenya's consistency made her get world record after world record and flaws in jumps have often been overlooked like not calling the Flutz and her PCS seemed super high in comparison to other skaters of the same level. Even though the scoring is hardly her fault, she got the flack for it and tbh the way she was scored was also turning me off for a while but Zhenya captured me with her performance. Her high scores also have some justification. Zhenya had the most difficulty in her programs in 2015-2017. She was the skater to start the trend to backload the jumps to the 2nd half to get the bonus points (rules have been changed after 2018 because of this). Her PCS being high can also be justified to some extent, like she does have a lot of transitions and her skating is clear (turns and steps are recognizable and mostly of high quality) etc. I still do think especially after her coaching change to Brian Orser that her scores have been worth a discussion and I think that in comparison her scores were too high, but I don't think there is any doubt that she deserved the world titles she got. (Just look at those comps and tell me who was better?) Also her consistency between 2015 and 2017 is unmatched and is admirable. I think Zhenya has been overscored in her career a lot, but not to the extent that made her "unrightfully" claiming the titles and again that's hardly her fault.

I actually like Zhenya's skating a lot. I wasn’t a fan the first time I saw her but she grew on me a lot, especially in the last two years. She can create magic. 😊

If you want to know more about Zhenya and the technical aspects of her skating you can go through the Evgenia Medvedeva tag on @the-real-xmonster (the blog is not active anymore but has tons of technical explanations)

About the person Evgenia Medvedeva

I personally admire Zhenya for her guts to keep competing in a country where a lot of ppl think she is "too old" for the sport. I also admired her for the coaching change to Brian to go a different way (I hate how she had to return to Eteri because of the pandemic). I like that she is speaking up towards online bullying she and others received. She keeps on sharing on Instagram though she has been harassed there a lot. I think in her interviews she is thoughtful (she is speaking her mind, which I like), but she can also be goofy and funny and her love for anime and being an "Otaku" is making her relatable.

Her Sailor Moon exhibition is such a fun program I can recommend to everyone.

(GIF by @the-real-xmonster)

About the "hate" towards Zhenya:

Some of the criticism Zhenya is receiving is understandable in my opinion. For example lately traveling during a pandemic to another country is something worth talking about or her mother letting a fan into TCC or some of the statements towards media can be criticised. But some "critic" is not criticism but hate for example when she changed to Brian Orser, calling her a traitor, badmouthing her for being ungrateful or being an attention seeker or making assumptions about her relationships with other skaters to the extent she deleted all the pictures with Yuzuru Hanyu from her Instagram etc. (especially when Eteribots or some Fanyus are involved things can turn ugly in the fandom) I also don't think ppl should put all some media is reporting as truth and stalking her Instagram backgrounds to see if she violated her quarantine is crossing personal boundaries. I think these are things that are not ok at all. (and to hate someone for their scores is really stupid imo)

However I think part of the problem why ppl dislike/hate her is her popularity (She has 700k followers on Instagram) . If she would be a no name skater her actions or scores wouldn't be discussed across the fandom. But actually most of the time you can follow the hate back to a few accounts...

Just to be clear it's totally fine to not get into Zhenya's skating, to point out flaws in scoring and in her technique, to not like some of her actions or criticize them, but I don't think it's fair to hate on her or make fun of her injuries or bad performances, she is human and deserves respect. The tone is important. Be kind and respectful! We don't know any of those skaters personally, so what does it cost to be a bit kind? Figure skating is a small fandom and believe me skaters see what ppl write. And it can hurt an actual human being. So please be considerate.

I am not sure if this is the kind of answer you were looking for anon, but here are some of my opinions on Zhenya 😊 You're welcome to ask more if something is unclear or you want to know something about another skater.

Anyone who read 'til the end should have a cookie! Have a good day! Thanks for reading!

Let's end this long read with a happy Zhenya!

[sakamotokaori]

Hello, this is the anonymous lurker! I saw you active in the figure skating tag and now you have to give your opinion on future of the ladies discipline.

kaori sakamoto five year undefeated streak starting at worlds 2019

on a serious note, i think the trends will be similar to what we’ve observed over the past 4-5 yrs or so; sadly, judging will most likely remain as awful as always in this discipline, but the difficulty and intricacies in ladies will continue to develop and evolve, as they have been so beautifully even with… selective recognition.

i can see the frequency at which we see 3A and quads will, for better or for worse, increase. it’ll mostly be due to the score boost backloading gave being taken away imo – if rules were the same as before i think it’d probably be on the back burner / limited to those extraordinarily capable physically and the incredibly determined, like kihira and trusova. however, since its one of the final remaining ways to undeniably boost your score since tes and pcs go hand in hand and there’s no point in improving pcs alone because its fake, i think they’ll be brought into practice and later competition at a much higher rate.

[axelsandwich]

Thanks for your nuanced discussion of Eteri and her relation to larger, troubling aspects of the sport. I was appalled at Russian Nationals, not simply because of the questionable scoring but because of the very unsubtle demonstration that recent ladies champions are disposable, infinitely replaceable with fresher, younger bodies. While that’s always part of sports to a degree, the gender and power dynamics here are disturbing. The best skaters are those who have a chance to reach maturity.

I think it’s amplified because each ‘generation’ of Russian ladies has been pushing technical boundaries to an unprecedented degree, especially Eteri’s with Zhenya’s incredible, freakish consistency that became normalised, then Alina’s 3Lz3Lo fully backloaded programs -- all of which were incredibly rewarded internationally despite the fact both girls had room to grow in their PCS -- and then before that even had time for the dust to settle, we have the quad arms race. Can I blame Eteri for taking advantage of the trend she saw? If her girls - who are, despite any problems in their technique, quite incredible - were able to do quads and they weren’t getting penalised for poor technique or dinged on PCS and she knew puberty is a ‘time bomb’ of sorts for her girls, I can see why the strategy may just be ‘win as much as you can while you can do this’. 

But what’s next? Where’s Yulia? Adelina? Anna? Elena? All effectively dropped because of injuries and - in Anna’s case especially - untreated for so long. Zhenya and Alina now injured too, struggling under the frankly toxic environment of pressure (and Alina being downplayed left and right by actual Russian media and coaches). Liza having a second wind and coming back has frankly been astounding. Maybe it was merely an unlucky combination of factors - because these girls come from different coaches - but it’s harrowing to see so many of them flare so bright and then just...disappear. 

The Russian field is so deep and full of girls who can eke out these difficult technical elements. The judging doesn’t always reward those with good PCS components (including good IN/PE that comes with maturity) and good technique, and harshly punishes inconsistency and lower technical difficulty, which leads to incredible pressure to go clean, to go as difficult as possible. 

It’s a wider statement of what the sport prioritises right now and while I can absolutely understand that it’s easy to be blown away by tiny prodigious girls landing quads and I can appreciate we’re in an unchartered area of FS history, I think this is the most dangerous and riskiest path they’re treading right now, if we have the long term welfare of the girls in mind. The coaches, I imagine, also don’t know. It’s just...so tough all around. There’s no easy answer. 

[gwidener]

Kingdom Hearts III - Some Thoughts

I am coming to KH3 as a pretty big KH fan. I have followed Nomura's Wild Ride for a long time - multiple clears on KH1, then Chain of Memories KH2, KH2FM+, and BbS all comfortably under my belt. I tried 358/2 Days but it never clicked for me, got frustrated with Dream Drop Distance, and have never played the mobile game (but it looks like everyone is going to be checking it out, so maybe SE got what they wanted!); I am not a speed runner or everything, but have comfortably finished the games on their hardest difficulties and beaten most of the secret bosses (I actually still need to go back to KH2FM+ and finish the Data fights, but I have that save file on PS3, which is kind of a pain to go back to now. ANYWAY)

Going to try to go through gameplay first, then story stuff, so the major spoilers should be backloaded? 

One of my better notes is that KH3 plays more like a KH2 than KH2. I stand behind this now, another 10 hours later; KH2 is much more refined and takes the battle system in subtly more interesting directions than 3 does. To beat the hardest fights in KH2 (and also BbS) I sometimes found myself taking combo extensions off and working my way back in the abilities to find which ones were leaving me open to new attack chains from these harder fights. KH3 does not have this. Turn everything on and level a bit and you will get through fine; I need to start running through the gates but from what I have seen this is going to pretty much be the case all around, and that is disappointing from a series that has given high-level combat a puzzle box in the past.

For someone who lost their strength and abilities, Sora is pretty powerful even early on. Formchanges are really good and probably the one thing I think this game handles better than past titles - KH2s forms often felt random in terms of triggering and not always very useful until they were leveled up. 

That leads me to the attractions: they aren't really possible to use in a really strategic way other than giving you time where it is hard for enemies to hit you to let your MP recharge. I often used my formchange animations in the same way; free hits from an animation that leaves Sora in an invincible state. These are a big part of why the game feels so easy. (Kupo coins also make the game feel really really easy, but when you can just hit retry on the battle anyway, I don't think it really is actually easier.)

Outside of combat, I don't know how much really needs to be deeply looked at in a wrap-up post anyway: the gummi ship design is disappointingly regressive, but a good source of extra stuff to do; the secret emblems could have been really cool but end up being frustrating and a bad gate to the secret movie; the worlds are mostly really well-built and designed but some are way too long (Arendelle, for example, has a ton of variation in feel and how the player is guided but it is wasted when you are spending so long looking at the same color palette) and some are so disappointingly short - in particular, it is fun to run around in San Fransokyo but it is so small and really should have had a little more to it or been moved back in the game so that you feel more like you accomplished something heading into the game putting you on the track to the ending. Still, though, the worlds are far above what they have been in the past, to the point where I noted the Map Directors name in the credits (shoutouts to Yoh Miyazaki!)

One more thing I think I can get away with without being an explicit story spoiler is after 0.2 and KH3 I never, ever want to fight a Demon Tower again.

Alright, story spoilers follow.

Last warning.

Kairi is completely fucking wasted. I could write at least five paragraphs about how frustrating all the other keyblade wielders not really being a part of the majority of the game is but Kairi's story still being the same as it has been forever despite her being empowered with a Keyblade is just infuriating. Someone slap Nomura for this shit. It is glaringly bad in the face of almost everything else.

KH3 is as poorly paced as any of the previous games, but it is more frustrating here for some reason. A lot of this has to do with how much of this act of the overall KH story being in previous games - Dream Drop Distance and BbS 0.2 really are the first big chunk of KH3, which is extra comical because KH3 opens claiming itself as KH2.9. But really, the player and Sora do not achieve anything until the journey through the Disney worlds is over; the only real reason to have the recovery of these other characters start occurring in the final moments of the game is to stack emotion on top of emotion to ensure the reaction they want from the player. But these moments are going to be stacked with gravity wherever they fall in the game. If Kairi and Axel were to join up with Sora, Donald, and Goofy midway to tackle a considerable enemy or something, it would push the player more while giving them some reward halfway. Ultimately you get sick of the carrot on the stick only being at the very end of this journey.

Speaking of DDD and 0.2, the 2.9 portion of this - and those moments being split into their own games - feel like Nomura way overcorrecting from criticism of the KH2 opening being too long and somewhat boring. It *was* too long and kinda boring but that let Roxas build as a real mystery and something intriguing; KH3 forgoes that, putting those mysteries in other places, so that it can focus on a bombastic opening that draws players in from a gameplay sense. And it works! Olympus is really cool! But it is just one of several long pieces of nothing in terms of the overall story.

Similarly, stacking all of the real boss fights in the endgame kind of cheapens them as characters with regards to 3. I know the fight against Xemnas, Ansem, and Young Xehanort is cool as fuck because I have played the games to know that but if you are just coming to 3, these guys showed up to tease you a couple times and said some vaguely threatening shit in cutscenes. Not giving active confrontation to these enemies earlier on torpedoes the emotional resonance of the fights later, instead of adding to them which could have been the idea behind holding them all back.

So much of what happens in the end is not just predictable but the game straight up tells you it is coming. And any conclusion in this vein will feel like that, so it seems like I am grading it on a curve when I tell you that I did ultimately like the game and how it carried itself despite the above. But if it pulls too many twists on you, it would feel like it is moving the goalposts away from you but both you and the game know it has to go down.

It feels like I am being a little more negative than I mean so let me dive into something real quick that I absolutely enjoyed: the emphasis on Sora, Donald, and Goofy as a team and that being the way you spend the majority of your time in the KH universe. It feels like Nomura and his team read my exact criticism of old KH games for always having a final battle that is so laden with new mechanics and loss of abilities; having Donald and Goofy along when you go to Scala ad Caelum and for the majority of the final run of battles really makes it feel like you have come all this way together and that Sora draws strength from that (which buoys that as a theme as well.)

Finally (for now, I may revisit my notes later) so much of what happens before the credits roll feels kind of crappy. If you have played BbS, you kind of know Xehanort hasn't always been irredeemable shit, but having Eraqus show up and essentially forgive him, and having Xehanort hand Sora the x-blade, put positive feelings on a character that absolutely doesn't deserve it. He has murdered for his goals and had others do the same, throughout fucking time. He is a shithead and him getting to stand up and somewhat willingly hand power over after his defeat knocks the wind out of Sora as the powerful figure he is and should be at this point of his journey. Make no mistake: at the end of KH3, Sora is by far the most powerful character we have seen in Kingdom Hearts. He takes down a Xehanort over multiple forms who has the x-blade and has opened Kingdom Hearts; he reassembles his own consciousness and heart and body which is something nobody should be able to do, according to Chirithy. Xehanort does acknowledge this, but it still plays at deference to Xehanort instead of glorifying Sora and his success.

I know I said finally but secret ending stuff too:

I hope you like long stories is A HILARIOUS LINE in a KH ending. Looking forward to learning why Riku and Sora are in the Shibuya from The World Ends With You and why on earth the dude from Verum Rex and YET ANOTHER PERSON IN THAT COAT are there like what the fuck. Is this the only way Nomura can get to make another TWEWY because *I am okay with this*

[sywtwfs]

is there anyone who has 3F+3T and 3Lz+3T (or +3Lo) in one program or competition?

I don’t know if it has been done in the same program, but in the same competition, yes. It’s more common in juniors, because junior short programs have a required solo jump. For example, this season the required solo jump is the lutz, so many juniors will do 3F3T and 3Lz in the SP, but they might do 3Lz3T in the FS instead. Skaters will usually stick with the combo they’re most comfortable with whenever they can, and most skaters favor either the flip or lutz. There aren’t too many skaters who are equally good at both.

which of the 6 gp events has generally the fairest judging, do you think? i've heard that skate canada is the most inflated and nhk the fairest. (i know scoring is subjective and the judges/panels are always different, so i'm asking for your and other fans' opinions)

That’s a bit hard to say. General fan consensus is that Skate Canada and Cup of Russia are the most inflated for Canadian and Russian skaters, but like you said, it depends on the panels.

Can a program begin on a step sequence? I dont remember ever watching one that does

Elements in a program can be arranged in any order. Off the top of my head, Kanako Murakami’s 2012-13 SP started with a step sequence. Starting with a step sequence or spin isn’t so rare in ladies’ skating nowadays, because many skaters backload their jumps. Alina Zagitova’s FS this season begins with a choreo sequence.

do you know of any souce where i might be able to find data and analysis of components in the mens skaters discipline? like comparisons of their difficulty from a technical point of view? // from the ask about data and analysis: sorry, i thought i should clarify that i meant for each of their programs specifically, not comparisons of how hard each individual components are

SkatingScores has some data and score comparisons, but no written analyses of individual programs. If anyone can help anon out, we’d appreciate it!

do junior skaters who are of senior age have to announce they're turning senior to get gp spots, or are the gp spots announced first then they decide whether or not they want to move up to senior or stay in junior that season?

They need to tell their federation that they want to compete on the senior GP, in order to have their name submitted into the pool.

are olympic practices officially livestreamed anywhere?

NBC will livestream some practices. The streams are blocked outside of the US, though.

[jinlian]

Sorry if this is a stupid question. I am new to figure skating and I heard that even Yurio throws his hands up the highest score he can get is 115 because of the composition. I wonder if this is true as people always praise for yoi's accuracy

okay! sorry it took me all day to get back to you, i was out with my nephew, but i just reblogged two posts from back when those episodes aired that breaks down the issues with the scoring pretty well.

yoi is on the whole fairly faithful, but it’s correct that there’s no way that yurio could have achieved the score that he did. the thing about tano/rippon jumping  is that because it’s more difficult to balance in the air with raised arms, when pulled off correctly it looks impressive and can lead to higher GOE, or grade of execution. however, a +3 GOE doesn’t actually need raised arms. remember yuuri declaring that he would land a quad flip with a +3 GOE never even attempted it, and victor, who was definitely a jumper considering his repertoire, didn’t bother with them either.

tano/rippon jumping seems to be favored among russian skaters right now. evgenia medvedeva puts them in the majority of her jumping passes. personally, i don’t like such a high number of tanos – they just look gimmicky.  that’s just personal preference! i saw someone somewhere describe an overuse of tano/rippon jumps as “too many exclamation points” and that’s a great way to put it. a raised arm jump imo can look fantastic when it’s an anomaly or a surprise. but again, they’re put in for flourish and for a greater chance at a +3 GOE, but you don’t have to perform it to get that GOE. a lot goes into that score: entry into the jump, position in the air, landing, there’s a lot factored in. raised arms can just be part of it.

each jump also has a base value of points relying on difficulty. a quad toe loop for example has a lower base value than a quad flip, 9.8 compared to 11.3. yuuri performed his 4F with only a one hand touchdown on the ice, which gives him only a GOE -1.

the calculation for yurio’s highest possible score would have been assuming levels 4s on his elements, high PCS, and +3 GOEs but there’s still a maximum number that he could have reached with that composition. 118 should not have happened.

yuuri has a higher jumping base value than yurio. he entirely backloads his programs, is known for having better footwork and spins than yurio, and i honestly do not buy that someone who’s been completely capable of closing gaps with his presentation component scores his whole career would struggle that much more (i know the story explanation is that he struggled with eros presentation, which i buy, but remember judges already know him and can be biased with scoring) especially when compared w someone who takes an entire half season to find some semblance of presentation for one program sfdhkjgsd i just don’t buy it, that scoring was bullshit

[shslshortie]

I’m so stressed for this Olympic team announcement

I am choosing to bite my tounge in regards to 3rd and 4th because I have an obvious bias (but I can support my decision and choice and ANGER with facts) but I am stressed.

IN OTHER NEWS

I am so so so so so happy for Bradie Tennell and Mirai Nagasu. Both of them were so incredible in their short and free. I cried and gave both of them standing ovations from my home, and then proceeded to cry again and be even more shocked and amazed after the score announcements.

I cried when I saw Bradie Tennell at Skate America, and I knew she had what it took to be where she proved she could be today. She is technical perfection, and if you look at her 219.51, she would literally be getting the 5th highest personal best ever in the world (if it were a sanctioned ISU event). If she can keep this up, as well as improve her transitions, musicality and maturity a bit... or even start backloading or tanoing on a few jumps (which, if you saw, SHE HASNT AND SHE STILL EARNED THAT SCORE) she could be the next great American figure skater. She is so absolutely solid, and graceful, and it doesn’t even seem like competition or pressure phases her. She went out there like she had nothing to lose, and she DID IT.

Here are the links for her phenomenal programs:

SP: https://youtu.be/_I3NHssIalk

FS: https://youtu.be/4vFOcOPq2O0

—————————————————

I was very hesitant about Mirai Nagasu going into the Olympic season. She has worked SO HARD for SO LONG, but she hasn’t always been able to pull out results. Throughout the season, her Triple Axel hasn’t been consistent but her undereotations have been. I wanted an Olympic spot for her more than anything, but I had NO IDEA how well she was going to do. Her short program was great, but the long program was stellar. Outside of her slightly bobbled axels and her two-footed landings, it was so technically dense and very well performed. But the look on her face when she landed her last loop (it could have been a lutz? I don’t remember right now) was so EMOTIONAL and I almost started crying before she even finished her spins. With the crowd, I was already on my feet. But seeing her in the kiss and cry pushed it over the top. If anyone tries to deny her her rightful victory and her spot that she worked so hard for, I will fight them. She has proved almos an entire country wrong and I am so proud to have her represent the US.

Here are the links to her stellar programs:

SP: https://youtu.be/G0jhUie-u0M

FS: https://youtu.be/IJ_lqPdXNYs

—————————————————-

Special shout out to the third lady that made me emotional and outstandingly excited for the future of figure skating: Starr Andrews.

I absolutely loved her Beyoncé short program, although I would have chosen a different outfit or song, because it seemed a little mature for her at age 16.

But her FREE SKATE. Although at 16 she does not have the difficulty level of the other top skaters, she was flawless tonight. Her outfit choice: perfect. HER SINGING A COVER OF WHITNEY HOUSTON FOR HER OWN FREE SKATE MUSIC????? I-C-O-N-I-C.

Seeing her skate made me excited to see her grow. She has the flexibility and she has the technique. She has the confidence to try out difficult and unique programs. She has a wow-factor, or should I say, Starr-quality. Once she has a bit more dance training and can fill up the rink more, as well as hold her extensions for longer without losing balance, and finish her movements in the choreography she will be a FORCE to be reckoned with.

SP: https://youtu.be/hAF8ix84eMs

FS: https://youtu.be/YSu5KZorAH4