Miki Ando won the championship, exceeding 200 points for the first time

[pinky166]

I'm also one of the few, she just not expressive in the way people expect but I think she interpret her LP music really well. However I wish she skate faster, I would make her LP to be wonderful.

Miki is pretty fast live. On screen, she seems slow, but really she isn't. Of course she doesn't have the speed of Yuna, but she is certainly faster than Alissa and Rachael, and about the same speed as Mao (although recently I've heard a lot of reports that Mao skates "slow" too, although again I think that is just in comparison to Yuna).

[bardtoob]

Miki used to be far more flexible, including the Biellman ...

Errr, Miki not doing the beillmann has nothing to do with her flexibility. She pulled her shoulder out of socket during that spin at 2006-07 Japanese Nationals and now does not want to risk dislocating it again.

[essence_of_soy]

I really like Miki's programs this year. Hope she skates them clean at Worlds and can win a medal for Japan.

[Macassar88]

I wonder if Miki will ever try the quad sal again.
I don't really like her programs. But that is mainly because I don't like the music she picks. However, if you look at the individual elements, I like her.

[Akira Andrea]

Errr, Miki not doing the beillmann has nothing to do with her flexibility. She pulled her shoulder out of socket during that spin at 2006-07 Japanese Nationals and now does not want to risk dislocating it again.

Reference:
Miki Ando in FS of 2006 Japan Nationals in December, 2006 on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGhb8Cxa6pg

03:00
Falling in the triple Flip-double Loop, the dislocation of her right shoulder became obvious for the first time.
03:19
Unable to bear the pang of right shoulder, she was about to stop the acting on the way of Combination Spin, but, being encouraged by Morozov coach, saying "Go on!", she continued the acting again.
04:30
In the CCoSp, this is the Biellmann Spin of Miki Ando which was the last we saw.

The Judges Details of the FS in Japan Nationals in December, 2006 (The result of Miki Ando is the 3rd place)
http://www.skatingjapan.jp/National/...J/data0205.pdf


Mki Ando who was healthy.
Miki Ando in FS of 2006 Skate America in October, 2006 on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grYoQfnCHHc

The Judges Details of FS in Skate America in October, 2006 (The result of Miki Ando is the 1st place)
http://www.isuresults.com/results/gp..._FS_Scores.pdf

[Akira Andrea]

I wonder if Miki will ever try the quad sal again.
I don't really like her programs. But that is mainly because I don't like the music she picks. However, if you look at the individual elements, I like her.

I, too, look forward to the day we can watch her quad Salchow again.
I hope that the too severe rule of ISU until now had not become her second nature as a disincentive to attempt the quad Salchow.

She is the only quad jumper in Ladies so far.
At 2002, she jumped the quad Salchow for the first time in the ISU official competition of Ladies.
She attempted to jump the quad Salchow even in 2008 GP Final and her result was authorized as the quad Salchow of lack of rotation, but nobody has been able to jump even the quad Salchow of lack of rotation except her so far.
She is a very world cultural heritage. (lol)

Reference:
Miki Ando in FS of 2008 GP Final in December, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FHyrC1fjys

00:54
Her first jump was the quadruple Salchow although it was judged as the lack of rotation. Without tumbling or even a few confusion, she took off and landed the Salchow with fine flow.
She jumped the quad Salchow so easily that even Midori Ito carelessly mistook it for the triple Salchow, in the comment of TV in Japan.

06:13
re-play

The Judges Details in FS of 2008 GP Final (The result of Miki Ando is the 5th place) in December, 2008
http://www.isuresults.com/results/gp..._FS_Scores.pdf

[Marco]

Hard to fault Ando's element GOEs. She doesn't have the best positions but she has great speed and control on her spins and spirals (and maintains the speed).

I do find her jump GOEs confusing because she takes a long time to set up her jumps and doesn't exhibit great control over her air position or landing. (look at Yuna's jump set ups and landings during her Olympic free skate and those only got +2s) Given the good speed going into the jumps and the good height, I would have given her jumps +1 tops.

[wonderlen]

I think the only jump kindda telegraph is her Lutz jump, but still its no where near long telegraph of Kostner. But Miki has a ture Lutz and her jump cover huge ice distance too and height and I think it deserve more than +1GOE.

The problem is judges can only give 1, 2 or 0. If they can give GOE in therm of 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2, it will make more sense now that the new rule eliminated +3.

[l'etoile]

I think the only jump kindda telegraph is her Lutz jump, but still its no where near long telegraph of Kostner. But Miki has a ture Lutz and her jump cover huge ice distance too and height and I think it deserve more than +1GOE.

The problem is judges can only give 1, 2 or 0. If they can give GOE in therm of 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2, it will make more sense now that the new rule eliminated +3.

if we're talking about height, ice coverage and distance of jumps then I guess Yuna's lutz jump should get more than 2 points lol
(NYT even featured the qualities of her jump at the olympic season)

And the new rule eliminated goe 3? I saw some of them in the protocols this season.

[shine]

I'm really not a fan of her skating, but it's hard to not love her endearing personality. What a sweet girl she is!

[Macassar88]

What is a telegraphed jump?

[burntBREAD]

What is a telegraphed jump?

When a skater skates straight across the ice simply setting up for a jump and not doing much else, Slutskaya did it a lot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKQRXNj772s

[AJ Skatefan]

The worst telegrapher was Elena Liashenko (aka Freakin' Liashenko):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP5gh-Scfgg

[Lainerb]

I think the only jump kindda telegraph is her Lutz jump, but still its no where near long telegraph of Kostner. But Miki has a ture Lutz and her jump cover huge ice distance too and height and I think it deserve more than +1GOE.

The problem is judges can only give 1, 2 or 0. If they can give GOE in therm of 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2, it will make more sense now that the new rule eliminated +3.

Miki actually has steps into her 2nd 3lutz and has since last season. The only jumping passes that are entered from direct cross overs this season are the 3lutz+2loop, 2axel+3toe and 3toe. Most of her jumps also have some sort of linking steps after the landing so that counts towards the GOE as well.

[Sasha'sSpins]

What is a telegraphed jump?

When a skater skates straight across the ice simply setting up for a jump and not doing much else, Slutskaya did it a lot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKQRXNj772s

The worst telegrapher was Elena Liashenko (aka Freakin' Liashenko):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP5gh-Scfgg

Surya Bonaly gets my vote for worst telegrapher ever:

Surya Bonaly 1994 Olympic LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HlTU1MwVRU

One of my first memories of her skate is Scott Hamilton pointing out how she stopped, braked, then when into the jump. Blech.

Surya Bonaly 1998 Olympic LP - still telegraphing 4 years later but impressive skate after coming back from an achilles injury:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC7yJ...eature=related

And Scott's still saying 'you'll be able to see a jump coming, and the judges DON'T like that!'.

[RussianDream]

I don't understand the trash talk about Miki's spins and spirals. Sure, they used to be really bad but now they are actually quite good. She has good flexibility in the I-spin and fully stretches/straightens her leg in her camel spin and spirals, and her extension and control in her spirals is much improved from 07. Now, she doesn't have the spins and spirals of Alissa, Mao, and Mirai, but neither does Yuna, and no one seems to think Yuna doesn't deserve to win competitions just because she isn't as flexible as some of the other skaters. Miki's strength is her jumps and consistency/conditioning, but her spins and spirals aren't a weakness like they are for someone like Rachael Flatt, they are adequate and earn the maximum levels and under COP that's enough.

What are you talking about... Yuna has very high level layback. Yuna may not have the best free leg position but her "layback" position is amazing...
You NEED TO compare the arch between Yuna kim Miki... BIG DIFFERENCE.. IMAO

[wonderlen]

What are you talking about... Yuna has very high level layback. Yuna may not have the best free leg position but her "layback" position is amazing...
You NEED TO compare the arch between Yuna kim Miki... BIG DIFFERENCE.. IMAO

Miki has a pretty decent layback when she was younger, n before her shoulder injury. Yuna hasn't done any layback since hip injury...these days everyone seem to be doing flying camel ....only Cizney, Mirai and Mao are exception

[burntBREAD]

Miki has a pretty decent layback when she was younger, n before her shoulder injury. Yuna hasn't done any layback since hip injury...these days everyone seem to be doing flying camel ....only Cizney, Mirai and Mao are exception

Mao hasn't done a layback in her LP for a while either. Most people have stopped after the amount of spins required went down, since the base value is so much lower and only those with good GOE on it will do it.

[pinky166]

What are you talking about... Yuna has very high level layback. Yuna may not have the best free leg position but her "layback" position is amazing...
You NEED TO compare the arch between Yuna kim Miki... BIG DIFFERENCE.. IMAO

I don't have issues with Yuna's layback but Dick Button trashes Yuna's layback position every chance he gets so clearly it's not that great.

And Miki actually used to have a pretty good classic layback position, but then she was injured and it hasn't come back. When she used to include the biellman, the position was pretty ugly anyway, so I think it's smart she doesn't include it now, especially if it bothers her back/shoulder. I really don't find biellman's appealing unless you get great stretch in it like Mirai, Alissa, Mao, Min-Jung, etc do. Yuna's biellman position is not particularly stretched and I realize she does it to get the level 4 but it's not the most asthetically pleasing, especially in comparison to her other spins which are lovely. I think skaters who grab the blade with both hands tend to get better stretch than those who just grab it with one hand and wrap the other hand around the wrist. I've noticed Yuna, Christina, Kanako, and even Adelina all do the biellman grabbing the blade with only one hand, and the stretch/position is not as great as those who grab the blade with both hands - Alissa, Mirai, Min-Jung.

[miki88]

I've noticed Yuna, Christina, Kanako, and even Adelina all do the biellman grabbing the blade with only one hand, and the stretch/position is not as great as those who grab the blade with both hands - Alissa, Mirai, Min-Jung.

Do you mean the cross-beillman position? I loved Mao's. Wish she would bring it back. Kanako's okay too.