olympic
07-07-2010, 09:29 PM
1. Yu Na 2010- an incredible skater skating perfectly at the olympics under CoP.
2. Kwan 1998 - I know that this was anti-climactic after her Nats. performance, but she executed 7 triples including 2 3z's and 2 3l's with only a wonky but completed 3f, utilizing grace and beauty, always hitting an edge or position. But Arakawa in '06 under CoP with more attack/jumps would be ahead of her.
3. Arakawa 2006 - only 5 triples, beautiful and silky smooth edges, a beautiful 3z-2l, 3-2-2 near the end, signature Ina Bauer. If she had skated with a little more attack and perhaps executed another triple or 3-3, I'd rank this ahead of Kwan '98 and only behind Yu Na, but 5 triples in '06 was just a little too conservative and paled in comparison to her '04 worlds performance.
4. Lipinski 1998 - I put this behind Kwan '98. She executed 7 triples including 2 3-3s, a 3l-3l and 3t-3s seq. at the end, which is probably one of the most ambitious program I've seen and that put her high on the list, but held back by the flutz, smallish skating and horrific axel technique.
5. Asada 2010 - 2 3x's made history. She made a program not suited for her finally work somehow. Skating a CoP program was harder than under 6.0, IMO. However, no lutz which is a trademark for ladies at this level and the fumbled jumps at the end marred the program. If clean, I would put only behind Yu-Na.
6. Rochette 2010- I give her credit for skating one of her best performances under dire circumstances with good technique, good music, great use of CoP which for me was tougher than skating under 6.0, so that is why I ranked JR higher.
7. Ito 1992 -I would rank this ahead of Yamaguchi in '92. She really had one glaring error - fall on the 3x which she did later in the program. The 2z-3t didn't break rhythm. Her artistry was decent by this point in time.
8. Kerrigan 1994 - 5 triples. Should've won in 1994. Only mistake was doubling the 3f at the beginning. But executed a 3-3, spread eagle-3s-2t, BO Spiral-3l, and 3z at the end of the performance, also probably had the best spiral up to that point in skating history. She was at her ceiling, though. Yamaguchi ['92] and Cohen ['06] both clean would be ahead of her.
9. Yamaguchi 1992 - 5 triples. 3z-3t to start but weak on edge jumps, falling on 3l and doubling the 3sal. She had quick rotations and got the job done, but I didn't think she had great or outstanding jump or spinning technique. If she would've just landed the 3l, I'd still have her ahead of NK '94. It's a shame we can't rank her '91 Worlds LP or '92 Nats 7 triple LP here. Those would be much higher
10. Cohen 2006 - 5 triples. Disastrous beginning on her two harder jumps keeps her lower in the rankings for me. Additionally, she flutzed and her hardest 3-3 was a 2-footed 3-3 seq., still she never really ur'd anything and the rest of the jumps were there, the great spins, the incredible spiral seq., and overall feel of the program utilizing CoP was majestic.
11. Chen 1994 - 5 triples. But only 3z-2t seq. due to bad landing on opening 3z, then hand down on her other hard jump - 3f. Decently executed otherwise. I have this behind Cohen due to weak spins, nearly non-existent spiral, and Cohen was doing everything under CoP. I wasn't a fan of Chen's posture, either.
12. Hughes 2002 - 7 triple winning program with 2 3-3s so low? Well, it has to do with IMO mediocre skating skills, the most horrendous flutz among them all, ur'd 3-3s and a front-loaded program. I rank this ahead of Kwan and Slute '02 just because she was picked as the winner by the judges. All the '02 performances weren't that great in retrospect, were they? OK. She had a pretty layback spin and 2x.
13. Kwan 2002 - 5 triples, a good spiral, and she did her hardest lutz combo in competition: 3z-2l, but the weirdest fall on the 3f, tight 3l, 2-footed 3t-2t only, and this performance overall for me was so 'phoned-in', perhaps this really stands out because she is Kwan and you expect greatness. I have this ahead of Slute '02 though.
14. Chen 1998 - This LP is saved by its emotional impact. It saddens me to say but the jumps were not that great - bad ur's on 3z and final 3t plus bad fallout of her 3f, plus her spins were never the best.
15. Slutskaya 2006 - I rank this ahead of Slutskaya 2002 just because 1) she had developed her power style by '06 and was secure in it, skating with gravitas and we no longer had to suffer watching her shake bees out of her hair. 2) It had mistakes, but was done under CoP which is more difficult. Still, you probably could interchange Slute '02 and '06
16. Slutskaya 2002 - This performance in retrospect wasn't so bad jump-wise. 2 big 3z's [but one may have been 2-footed], 3-2-2 seq. The only glaring jump error was the bad landing on the 3f [what's with the 3f for top ladies under pressure?] but like Kwan it was so 'phoned-in'. It was like the 2 of them were on automatic pilot. But what killed Slutskaya's programs in this time frame [prior to CoP] was when she was slow and tentative and that happened here. It completely ruined the overall effect because she didn't quite have her unique power style developed yet. She was skating to unsuitable bombastic opera music or pretty ballerina music in this time period
17. Kerrigan 1992 - This was one of Nancy's better-constructed programs but she lost all her hard jumps in the performance, popped the 2d jump of the 3-3 and had 2 other major errors that I can recall.
18. Baiul 1994 -Sad. I can't find anything good to say about this program.
2. Kwan 1998 - I know that this was anti-climactic after her Nats. performance, but she executed 7 triples including 2 3z's and 2 3l's with only a wonky but completed 3f, utilizing grace and beauty, always hitting an edge or position. But Arakawa in '06 under CoP with more attack/jumps would be ahead of her.
3. Arakawa 2006 - only 5 triples, beautiful and silky smooth edges, a beautiful 3z-2l, 3-2-2 near the end, signature Ina Bauer. If she had skated with a little more attack and perhaps executed another triple or 3-3, I'd rank this ahead of Kwan '98 and only behind Yu Na, but 5 triples in '06 was just a little too conservative and paled in comparison to her '04 worlds performance.
4. Lipinski 1998 - I put this behind Kwan '98. She executed 7 triples including 2 3-3s, a 3l-3l and 3t-3s seq. at the end, which is probably one of the most ambitious program I've seen and that put her high on the list, but held back by the flutz, smallish skating and horrific axel technique.
5. Asada 2010 - 2 3x's made history. She made a program not suited for her finally work somehow. Skating a CoP program was harder than under 6.0, IMO. However, no lutz which is a trademark for ladies at this level and the fumbled jumps at the end marred the program. If clean, I would put only behind Yu-Na.
6. Rochette 2010- I give her credit for skating one of her best performances under dire circumstances with good technique, good music, great use of CoP which for me was tougher than skating under 6.0, so that is why I ranked JR higher.
7. Ito 1992 -I would rank this ahead of Yamaguchi in '92. She really had one glaring error - fall on the 3x which she did later in the program. The 2z-3t didn't break rhythm. Her artistry was decent by this point in time.
8. Kerrigan 1994 - 5 triples. Should've won in 1994. Only mistake was doubling the 3f at the beginning. But executed a 3-3, spread eagle-3s-2t, BO Spiral-3l, and 3z at the end of the performance, also probably had the best spiral up to that point in skating history. She was at her ceiling, though. Yamaguchi ['92] and Cohen ['06] both clean would be ahead of her.
9. Yamaguchi 1992 - 5 triples. 3z-3t to start but weak on edge jumps, falling on 3l and doubling the 3sal. She had quick rotations and got the job done, but I didn't think she had great or outstanding jump or spinning technique. If she would've just landed the 3l, I'd still have her ahead of NK '94. It's a shame we can't rank her '91 Worlds LP or '92 Nats 7 triple LP here. Those would be much higher
10. Cohen 2006 - 5 triples. Disastrous beginning on her two harder jumps keeps her lower in the rankings for me. Additionally, she flutzed and her hardest 3-3 was a 2-footed 3-3 seq., still she never really ur'd anything and the rest of the jumps were there, the great spins, the incredible spiral seq., and overall feel of the program utilizing CoP was majestic.
11. Chen 1994 - 5 triples. But only 3z-2t seq. due to bad landing on opening 3z, then hand down on her other hard jump - 3f. Decently executed otherwise. I have this behind Cohen due to weak spins, nearly non-existent spiral, and Cohen was doing everything under CoP. I wasn't a fan of Chen's posture, either.
12. Hughes 2002 - 7 triple winning program with 2 3-3s so low? Well, it has to do with IMO mediocre skating skills, the most horrendous flutz among them all, ur'd 3-3s and a front-loaded program. I rank this ahead of Kwan and Slute '02 just because she was picked as the winner by the judges. All the '02 performances weren't that great in retrospect, were they? OK. She had a pretty layback spin and 2x.
13. Kwan 2002 - 5 triples, a good spiral, and she did her hardest lutz combo in competition: 3z-2l, but the weirdest fall on the 3f, tight 3l, 2-footed 3t-2t only, and this performance overall for me was so 'phoned-in', perhaps this really stands out because she is Kwan and you expect greatness. I have this ahead of Slute '02 though.
14. Chen 1998 - This LP is saved by its emotional impact. It saddens me to say but the jumps were not that great - bad ur's on 3z and final 3t plus bad fallout of her 3f, plus her spins were never the best.
15. Slutskaya 2006 - I rank this ahead of Slutskaya 2002 just because 1) she had developed her power style by '06 and was secure in it, skating with gravitas and we no longer had to suffer watching her shake bees out of her hair. 2) It had mistakes, but was done under CoP which is more difficult. Still, you probably could interchange Slute '02 and '06
16. Slutskaya 2002 - This performance in retrospect wasn't so bad jump-wise. 2 big 3z's [but one may have been 2-footed], 3-2-2 seq. The only glaring jump error was the bad landing on the 3f [what's with the 3f for top ladies under pressure?] but like Kwan it was so 'phoned-in'. It was like the 2 of them were on automatic pilot. But what killed Slutskaya's programs in this time frame [prior to CoP] was when she was slow and tentative and that happened here. It completely ruined the overall effect because she didn't quite have her unique power style developed yet. She was skating to unsuitable bombastic opera music or pretty ballerina music in this time period
17. Kerrigan 1992 - This was one of Nancy's better-constructed programs but she lost all her hard jumps in the performance, popped the 2d jump of the 3-3 and had 2 other major errors that I can recall.
18. Baiul 1994 -Sad. I can't find anything good to say about this program.