Who has the best chance of beating Yu na Kim at the 2013 worlds?

[Lainerb]

Judgejudy is a very interesting person.

[AliasJohnDoe]

Yuna has to make it out of Nationals first.

[AndyWarhol]

Yuna has to make it out of Nationals first.

[Macassar88]

Only one who could "beat" Yuna would be Tonya Harding... Then the rest of the girls in the competition would have half a chance.

[kittyjake5]

I voted for Caro. If Yuna returns to her Olympic form I am not sure she is beatable, but I think that
a clean Caro can come closer than Mao or Ashley.

[dawnie]

Kostner just scored 65 points in the Golden Spin SP with a 3T-3T and a 3 loop. I think she just proved she doesn't need to up her technical difficulty at all to remain a contender. And really, why would she now with the scores she's getting?

This is why I'm glad Kim is back. We should NOT be seeing 1980s jump content win World titles in this day and age!

[os168]

Kostner just scored 65 points in the Golden Spin SP with a 3T-3T and a 3 loop. I think she just proved she doesn't need to up her technical difficulty at all to remain a contender. And really, why would she now with the scores she's getting?

This is why I'm glad Kim is back. We should NOT be seeing 1980s jump content win World titles in this day and age!

Good luck to all ladies, ice is slippery and unpredictable. Anything can happen!

I like the fact Carolina attempted a 3Lutz during her latest FS, hopefully other ladies will slowly upgrade their content so this can be a serious sport again.

However, I strongly disagree with this acceptance to win by PCS approach. We generally don't accept this for the men, so why should we accept for the ladies?

Consider Kostner's latest FS that consist of just 1 clean 3T, 2 <, a 3Lutz step out (not even qualify for minimum TES), yet she still received higher PCS for that skate than Akiko from NHK who had the FS of her life there. Do you still think the system got the balance right? Does it make a fair competition? Would this be acceptable during the Olympics under even greater scrutiny and watchful eye of a world wide audience beyond this figure skating board?

[PeterG]

Only one who could "beat" Yuna would be Tonya Harding... Then the rest of the girls in the competition would have half a chance.

[Vash01]

Kostner just scored 65 points in the Golden Spin SP with a 3T-3T and a 3 loop. I think she just proved she doesn't need to up her technical difficulty at all to remain a contender. And really, why would she now with the scores she's getting?

This is why I'm glad Kim is back. We should NOT be seeing 1980s jump content win World titles in this day and age!

There is a big difference between Golden spin and worlds/Olympics scoring. Look at who she was competing against. COP is not perfectly objective, as we have known for sometime.

[BigB08822]

I am not sure why Yu Na Kim even worries about doing the 3/3 in the SP any more. It is clearly not needed. She will easily get the PCS to boost her score. She should just do a 3lutz/2toe, 2axel and 3flip. She could even do a solo 3toe and still be right there. I would hate to see her punished for actually attempting technical content and lose to these ladies doing content from the early 90s.

[os168]

By the way... why isn't Michelle Kwan on this poll... I am disgusted!!

[Vash01]

I am not sure why Yu Na Kim even worries about doing the 3/3 in the SP any more. It is clearly not needed. She will easily get the PCS to boost her score. She should just do a 3lutz/2toe, 2axel and 3flip. She could even do a solo 3toe and still be right there. I would hate to see her punished for actually attempting technical content and lose to these ladies doing content from the early 90s.

May be she likes to challenge herself to do the most difficult things she is able to do. It's like what Elvis Stojko said (about the quad)- "because I can"

Your comment about the ladies from the early 90's is laughable. Some of those ladies were doing fully rotated 3Lutz-3toe, 3A-2t, 3A, etc. which is a stronger content than what they are doing now. Most of them were attempting at least a 3lutz without a combination.

[judgejudy27]

Yu Na has never been the most consistent LP skater, even in her glory days. Best to do what she does best, kill the opposition in the SP, not just beat them, and give herself a cushion for potential errors/problems in the LP. It would be silly to drop the 3/3 from her SP, it is actually very consistent for her over the years, and she should want to give herself the biggest leads she can.

[RunnersHigh]

I am not sure why Yu Na Kim even worries about doing the 3/3 in the SP any more.

Did she? I saw her SP warm-up, SP, FS dress-rehearsal, FS warm-up and FS *LIVE* in Dortmund.
And I couldn't find it on her face.
Her success rate on 3/3, 3Lz, 3S, 3S-2T, 2A-2T-2L and 2A during the warm-up and dress-rehearsal was 100%.
Finding her own entry route, popped 3F twice at first but then hit them all.

It is clearly not needed. She will easily get the PCS to boost her score.

Well... may be right on the basis of doing 3-3 is nothing to do with PCS and if she could deliver *IT* factors concerned with PCS to crowds and judges.

She should just do a 3lutz/2toe, 2axel and 3flip. She could even do a solo 3toe and still be right there.

Do everything hard you can execute is the fundamental principle in any sports. (Love Shaun White cuz of the reason.)


Back to the topic, I believe everybody, whethere on the list or not, has the chance if her performance could be the best in the competition.

[kosjenka]

Too cute. Yu Na's scores from her first event back would have won the Grand Prix final quite easily, and would have been about 20 points over 2nd place Wagner. At this event she had a mistake filled long program and was quite mediocre for her standards. She doesnt have to promise anything, anyone knows she is not coming back to just be top 5, and unless she breaks her leg early in her long program she wont ever be down in 4th or 5th against the current crop of girls (although even then her usual short program would probably have her way ahead of the field, and able to win atleast bronze even with a 1 or 2 triple long, especialy seeing Asada winning events with only 3 triples).

Scores from International B Competitions are not comparable with those on GP, Worlds, Euros.

[michiruwater]

Kostner just scored 65 points in the Golden Spin SP with a 3T-3T and a 3 loop. I think she just proved she doesn't need to up her technical difficulty at all to remain a contender. And really, why would she now with the scores she's getting?

That's 13 points below what Yu Na is capable of though. So, either Kostner ups her content or she very possibly has a large deficit to make up in the LP. And Caro is a less consistent LP skaters than Yu Na is.

[BigB08822]

May be she likes to challenge herself to do the most difficult things she is able to do. It's like what Elvis Stojko said (about the quad)- "because I can"

Your comment about the ladies from the early 90's is laughable. Some of those ladies were doing fully rotated 3Lutz-3toe, 3A-2t, 3A, etc. which is a stronger content than what they are doing now. Most of them were attempting at least a 3lutz without a combination.

I was being quite sarcastic while making a serious point at the same time. You are right about the comment about the early 90's being laughable and that illustrates my point even more. I should correct it to say "content from the 80s." Who thought this would be ladies skating in the year 2012?

[kwanatic]

The technical content has regressed quite a bit in the absence of Yu-Na but the upside is we're seeing more complete programs in terms of artistry, presentation, musicality, etc. I like harder content but (being a fan of 6.0 skating) I'd much rather see an inspired performance of lovely choreography performed with a decent spread of jumps...rather than a program full of perfunctory choreography that basically equates to skating from end to end reeling off as many triple jumps as allowed.

I'll take 6 or 7 triples without a 3-3 if the program is great and the jumps are clean. I'm not as concerned with 3-3s as some people are. Yu-Na's consistent 3-3 is a threat to everyone b/c she hits it more than 90% of the time and it immediately gives her a boost everywhere else. Without some sort of 3-3, no one really stands a chance against her technically unless she makes a mistake. If she goes clean, she'll win without question...if she makes mistakes, she opens the door but whoever steps through will have to be nearly perfect (if not 100%) to beat her and the only people who can beat a flawed Yu-Na right now are are Mao, Carolina and I'd say Ashley too...if they are 100%.

[Vash01]

I was being quite sarcastic while making a serious point at the same time. You are right about the comment about the early 90's being laughable and that illustrates my point even more. I should correct it to say "content from the 80s." Who thought this would be ladies skating in the year 2012?

Point well taken. The sarcasm didn't come through, hence my misinterpretation of your post. I will stand by my comment about the 90's ladies though.

[dawnie]

Yu Na has never been the most consistent LP skater, even in her glory days. Best to do what she does best, kill the opposition in the SP, not just beat them, and give herself a cushion for potential errors/problems in the LP. It would be silly to drop the 3/3 from her SP, it is actually very consistent for her over the years, and she should want to give herself the biggest leads she can.

IIRC, the only time she botched the 3-3 in the SP at Worlds was in 2011 and she still placed 1st. The two times she hit the 3-3 but messed something else up, she was down in 5th (2008) or out of the final group (2010). So go figure.

I agree, she ain't dropping it from the SP. She's been including a 3-3 in the SP her entire senior career and she doesn't seem like the type to play it safe even though most of her competitors are attempting easier jumps.