U.S. Ladies [#5]: All That Glitters Is Not Gold

[smarts1]

^ Her spins have gotten slower ever since she's gone to Nicks. Priscilla was better in that department for her IMO.

[burntBREAD]

Here's another angle of Mirai's LP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXdIw...hannel&list=UL

I think the lutz went off a flat/slight inside.

[demetriosj]

[QUOTE=icellist;3705583]

This is a girl that wants to get better and working hard to it.

OK, but isn't everybody?! I seriously don't think there are any skaters out there who don't want to improve and aren't working hard to improve? (barring injury, illness, etc.)

[Jammers]

[QUOTE=demetriosj;3706004]

This is a girl that wants to get better and working hard to it.

OK, but isn't everybody?! I seriously don't think there are any skaters out there who don't want to improve and aren't working hard to improve? (barring injury, illness, etc.)

I think that person meant that Gracie has a good head on her shoulders and will work hard to do whatever it takes to get better. We've seen some skaters over the last few years who didn't seem to work nearly hard enough and they never got better and stagnated.

[victoriaheidi]

OK, but isn't everybody?! I seriously don't think there are any skaters out there who don't want to improve and aren't working hard to improve? (barring injury, illness, etc.)

Of course they want to do well, but Gracie's legitimately taking the criticisms of and weaknesses in her skating and tackling them head-on. That's not always so common.

[olympic]

In another thread, it's noted that Miki Ando is out of the GP!

Any hope that Mirai, finally, will be considered for another GP slot, based on her Finlandia performances

[love_skate2011]

Caroline Zhang FS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJSb9...&feature=g-u-u

is it just me or her mule kick has gotten back to basic ?

[Vagabond]

Now that was a mule kick.

[Sylvia]

Ashley Wagner has starting blogging for espnW.com - link to the thread I started in GSD: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?t=85226

[MysticHaze]

Oh gosh the mule kick is back in full force

[orbitz]

I think the lutz's mule kick has been the same for the past few seasons. It's just seeing it from a different angle in the video linked by love_skate2011 that make it seems much worse. Well, it is bad, but it's the same kick she has been doing.

[chipso1]

As of last season, Caroline had only eliminated the high kick from her 3F, not her 3Lz. I assume that jump is still a work in progress.

[Marco]

As of last season, Caroline had only eliminated the high kick from her 3F, not her 3Lz. I assume that jump is still a work in progress.

Me too. The flip is much better, so is the axel.

[olympic]

That performance was

But hopefully, it will 'happen' later in the season. She's a fighter! It looks like Team Zhang is putting in a 3sal, but wonder if it will go the way of Alissa's ...

[orbitz]

That attempt at the 3sal was weird; It had no height at all when she went into the air. It'll be interesting to see if she can pull at least one clean 3sal this season.

Overall I don't think Zhang has improved at all since last season. Her skating still look painfully slow and the choice of music doesn't do anything to help lighten it up. Even if she hits all the jumps, the program will still be very ZZZ.

[mgobluegirl]

Overall I don't think Zhang has improved at all since last season. Her skating still look painfully slow and the choice of music doesn't do anything to help lighten it up. Even if she hits all the jumps, the program will still be very ZZZ.

There isn't really any choreography to speak of. She just strokes around with her head and eyes looking down at the ice.

[worldsnice12]

That performance was

But hopefully, it will 'happen' later in the season. She's a fighter! It looks like Team Zhang is putting in a 3sal, but wonder if it will go the way of Alissa's ...

It is just that the whole program felt very empty at this point...I am not so sure it would feel more interesting even if the jumps were there

However, I did not think she was painfully slow and had rather good speed (for her standards) into her jumps. She just did not look very motivated out there and I hope she will have a few good weeks of practice before her first GP.

[Marco]

It looks like Team Zhang is putting in a 3sal, but wonder if it will go the way of Alissa's ...

Up til 2010, the sal was her best jump, technique wise.

[UGG]

Caroline looked soooo slow. I mean I know she is faster than she used to be but still...

I hope she improves a lot. her spins were not even that great. They looked slow too.

[DimaToe]

I know that Caroline isn't an early season skater, but I can't help but wonder if the back problems That Oppegard said she was experiencing is taking a bigger toll on her skating than expected... Hopefully it was just an off competition for Caroline though.