Which of these 3 skaters is most likely to win the Olympic Ladies competition?

[judgejudy27]

The results of this season's NHK Trophy is proof positive that the ISU judges do not value Akiko Suzuki as a skater, let alone an Olympic medal contender. She even gets duped in a GP event held in her own country even when she out-skates everyone. To hold a 6 triple Suzuki behind Mao despite Asada singling 1 triple, doubling 3 triples, and only achieving 3 triples in her LP was a travesty. Forget about Chanflation . . . at least when Patrick is held up, he actually attempted the 3 or 4 rotations despite falling. Mao doesn't even have to attempt the 3 rotations to win. What indeed were the judges watching and judging at this event? . . . absolutely frustrating and more reason why the public shouldn't take figure skating seriously as a sport.

Very true and that is why I cant see Suzuki as one of the top contenders for the OGM, and is a long shot at best for any Olympic medal. She was never a judges favorite, nor the favorite of her federation, she was only up there last year since the field was so weak and she was skating so well they had no choice. As she gets older she is unlikely to improve, and definitely not likely to garner the support she didnt ever have before.

[Marco]

The results of this season's NHK Trophy is proof positive that the ISU judges do not value Akiko Suzuki as a skater, let alone an Olympic medal contender. She even gets duped in a GP event held in her own country even when she out-skates everyone. To hold a 6 triple Suzuki behind Mao despite Asada singling 1 triple, doubling 3 triples, and only achieving 3 triples in her LP was a travesty. Forget about Chanflation . . . at least when Patrick is held up, he actually attempted the 3 or 4 rotations despite falling. Mao doesn't even have to attempt the 3 rotations to win. What indeed were the judges watching and judging at this event? . . . absolutely frustrating and more reason why the public shouldn't take figure skating seriously as a sport.

The math makes sense. Asada narrowed the TES gap with steps, spins and GOEs.

The problem really is that she isn't getting the PCS she deserves because somehow she does not give out an aura of being a top tier skater.

Another problem is that callers at different events seem to have differing opinions on her lutz and flip. Sometimes she gets flutz calls, and sometimes lip calls. Ultimately she almost always gets e calls on the jump she repeats.

[love_skate2011]

we should start a thread about how a half ready Yuna would beat any of these contenders ? , this is really possible especially with the worst state of ladies
and with the youngsters still lacking experience, I don't believe Yuna has lost most of her technical merits, It's only been less than 2 Years and there have been many successful comebacks

[judgejudy27]

Yu Na lost the World gold by a sliver to Miki Ando in 2011 at about 55% of her old self. It is arguable there isnt even someone now skating at the same level as Ando did at the 2011 Worlds, maybe Ashley is skating at a roughly equal level at best.

[pinky166]

Yu Na lost the World gold by a sliver to Miki Ando in 2011 at about 55% of her old self. It is arguable there isnt even someone now skating at the same level as Ando did at the 2011 Worlds, maybe Ashley is skating at a roughly equal level at best.

I sort of agree. Look at the skates put out by the last two world champions and at how Ashley is dominating now. The level of skating is not that high, 3-3s aren't necessary, so Mao winning a GP, barely, with a 3 triple FS is not that shocking. She scored 117 for 3 triples, jumps only Ando was scoring 130ish for 5 triple FS, as was Kostner with no lutz, and Wagner is getting close to that with 6 triple programs (but with just 1 2a). Lepisto got similar scores for the content Mao put out at NHK. Suzuki's issue is bombing the SP, I'm sure her score would have been higher had she been say 2nd after the SP and wasn't the first skater in the final group. If Akiko wants to start winning, she needs to start skating clean SPs, the FS content is less important, we saw how she was able to win World bronze with pops in her FS, she has managed very good FS scores before with popping jumps. Her reputation and PCS will improve when she shows she can skate a good SP free from obvious errors that scores above mid-50s.

[judgejudy27]

Agree, Suzuki definitely needs to start doing clean short programs if she is to be taken more seriously by the judges.