Grand Prix de France 2023 Women FS - “Gone with the Ouiiiiiiiii”

[zigzig]

Isabeau - got a bunch of generous calls but still think overall she's the best of this field, even with those weird mistakes.

Pinzarone - do. not. get. her. at. all. if she was a Japanese or Korean skater her score sheet would be littered with q's and <'s but somehow her spinny, barely leaving the ice, quarter jumps are getting +2 and +3. Total crap.

Rion - the full credit on her quad was generous but even then she's lowballed on GOE on her other jumps. Also loved her program. Too bad about the 2A in the short otherwise she should have won the whole event.

Haein - just generally looked kind of out of shape here. Hopefully she's focused on peaking at worlds. Like her Notre Dame program though and her dress.

Wakaba - don't love the Coldplay long but nice to see her back and in good form. Drives me nuts she gets < on her 3Lz + 3T when we all know other skaters would probably barely get a q.

Gubanova - girl needs a refresh. Her short was a step in the right direction but that long was FRUMP. Jumps meh and why are her spins so bad?

Serna - love her! Would have been a great 90s skater. Born too late.

Schild - reminds of Laurine Lecavalier. Gets the job done but her stiff legs and gawky, ungainly jumps are an eyesore.

Chiba - wtf is wrong with her jump technique. She's a powerful jumper and should not be getting q and < on everything (although gotta say the panel was extra HARSH on her given some of their other sus calls).

Repond - do not get her at all. Tiny spinny jumps in the mold of Nina but we all know the ISU loves to exalt their western Euro skaters. Like that she resembles Julia Roberts FWTW.

Mazzara - program does not suit her at all. Like her vibe but not much going on with her skating.

Janna - feel like there are stronger Finnish skaters to be sending but maybe not. Bla fest in any case.

 

[viennese]

Gubanova wanted to storm out of the kiss and cry but Evgeni is holding her back

I really wish they would do away with being forced to sit until the camera leaves. I think the storm outs would make for more entertaining KnC moments.

Skate Canada K&C with Madeline Schizas made me fan. She made mistakes in the short and got off the ice barely containing the urge to, I don't know, whip stuffed animals at the camera. You knew from her reaction she would come back and kill it in the free skate.

And she slayed.

 

[skatingguy]

From personal experience, it's actually very, very difficult to land a jump with any kind of 'nice' and smooth landing when you have zero speed going into it like Isabeau does, especially when she goes way down with her upper body to generate the ability to rotate.

Most others in the same conditions would likely come down with a loud thud and swing their leg around awkwardly (see Thorngren's Lutz, actually).

So more her deep knee bend on the landing that creates the soft landing. Her knee bend in the landings seems very deep compared to average, or is it just that my eye is drawn to it because of the technical flaws in the take off?

 

[tony]

So more her deep knee bend on the landing that creates the soft landing. Her knee bend in the landings seems very deep compared to average, or is it just that my eye is drawn to it because of the technical flaws in the take off?

She has to absorb into the landings, absolutely, because of the way she's going into most of her jumps. Think of it like a spring- she's reaching forward with her upper body to go low and get the oomph to go up, and she needs to do the same on the landing in order to get any flow at all.

If I had to guess, it's probably fairly easy for her to sink down into the landings because the take-offs have been the same for so long. Plus, her line outside of those jumps is really beautiful, so it's not a foreign way of holding her body.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Notes group 1

Repond. What a shame. I actually had her as a potential medalist here.

Serna. Wow such a much better relationship with Michael than she ever had with Brian Joubert. So good to see her perform well. At first I was wondering if she wasn’t going to have any combinations

Schild. I actually really love her body type for figure skating crew. You don’t see it that often. She looks like a tall version of Emily Hughes out there. I thought she would actually be ahead of Lea. Although this free program music put me to sleep by the end.

Group 2 warm up on the ice, love the way, Isabeau raises her eyebrows and smiles to the camera

Higuchi, oh wow that speed. Welcome back! Although I’m getting way over this war horse. Great program, it seems like she’s right where she was.

Rion. Starting off effortlessly, great quad toe. This program is going to shoot right to the top, how much of a lead did Isabeau have over this. Great program, great speed, I don’t think PCS will be that high yet, but I can see this going into first maybe.

Nina. Like Loena her facial expression as always, all business. She really impressed me on the junior Grand Prix circuit two years ago and then last year I believe she was mostly injured. Oh now she’s really connecting to her music. Love it. Two elements to go and she still right there with Rion score wise. I would probably give higher PCS to her. Wow tied at the score for technical at the moment. wow, she squeaks it out, this is an exciting ladies event.

Lee. I enjoy her skating, excited to watch. Not enjoying the music. But I like the dress. Yeah this music is not really going anywhere. I prefer last years program.

Rachel McAdams look alike. Familiar figure skating music, but I don’t mind it. Did both Loena and Caro do this? So far getting the job done. I think you need to skate with a bit more passion if you’re going to choose this music. it was OK, I need more passion for this.

wow, are we gonna have two Belgian ladies skaters that medal on the Grand Prix circuit?

Levito. this dress still looks so heavy. Oh wow, this 2nd triple triple had no speed going into it. That’s my thing for her, I wish she would get more speed. Even the next combo after that, still no speed. I don’t know if this is going to go into first. Starting to wonder if we’re going to have another Belgian skater that takes a gold. Could you imagine if Isabeau gets beaten by two different Belgian skaters? Oh no, she fell out of her spin.

O..M..G. Is Nina going to win this?

I have to fast forward to her score, I can’t watch the replay, lol

OK I need to go to the poll in the trashcan to see if anybody predicted this podium

131 points? I love her, but I did not see that score coming… Really? OK then…

I thought for sure Nina had this in the bag, oh my gosh, what a competition

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

As someone who loves USA ladies figure skating I’m just gonna say this, I think Nina should’ve had a gold here.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Schild - reminds of Laurine Lecavalier

Emily Hughes for me with a body like Victoria Volchkova or Agnes Z

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Hm, Nina was grossly overscored

I don’t think so at all. In fact, I have her as the winner.

 

[mtnskater]

Wow…just watched. What a roller coaster. Nail biter! I’m exhausted!!

I’m a new Nina Pinzarrone fan! She has the total package with lovely posture, line, use of soft arms, extension. Solid jumping, spinning and highlight flexibility moves. Good program and music. Of course she didn’t have the pressure the top ladies had to make the GPF.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Isabeau makes so many mistakes. She is usually very reliable. Making the GPF must have gotten into her head too much, plus needing more training time after Skate America. I HATE the dress for her. Her lines are so gorgeous and she weaves in and out of her movements with lovely curving deep edges and beautiful extension. I want to see it….not a bunch of wickety wacky busy beading and fabric. She did hit a number of elements well in the program, despite several mistakes. And I’m liking the program more for her. Maybe she will burn the dress after two somewhat subpar (for her) free skates in it

Gubanova has such lovely, mature movement and expression I kind of forget her weaknesses, especially her spinning and lack of speed. Judges definitely noticed. Still I do appreciate her style.

Haein Lee’s free program is awful for her. But I loved the short. No GPF for her, but look out for her at worlds if she gets the jump rotations sorted out. Really dislike her flailing arm footwork…among the worst offenders for flailing arms.

Nice to see Higuchi back, but very tight skate understandably.

Mark said Sumioshi’s quad was ratified???? On the slo-mo, the rotation on the ice was obvious. I never remember her skating. Still say I would love Mone Chiba if she could skate cleaner….felt so bad for her.

The French women’s show down was fun! Home audience loved it. I would have given it to Serna too.

 

[mtnskater]

I don’t think so at all. In fact, I have her as the winner.

She did rightfully win the free skate! All Isabeau needed was about 126 and change for the win, added to her large lead in the short program. I did think she was going to get that before the scores came up.

 

[Hedwig]

Pinzarrone I loved her since her junior days and very happy for her now. She was a bit low-balled on PCS but hopefully that will change in the next few months with more and more successes. Very impressed with her coach for bringing up such a well-rounded skater!

Rion was kind of borin and the call on the 4toe over generous

But I also thought the second 3flip of Isabeau was at least a quarter short so call me Amano now.

Not impressed at all with Gubanova's reactions to both her scores. It was not the skate she was not impressed with but clearly the scores. Especially her kind of ironic clapping of her SP score was kind of disgusting. Work on your weaknesses and don't blame the judges for scoring you as you skate

Loved Serna - she looks much fresher on the ice this season. I kind of feared how she would be devastated after such a great skate if Lorine would still beat her but then she did not (Nothing against Lorine but she is the fresh newcomer so I think losing to Lea was less devastating for her)

 

[Wyliefan]

Not impressed at all with Gubanova's reactions to both her scores. It was not the skate she was not impressed with but clearly the scores. Especially her kind of ironic clapping of her SP score was kind of disgusting. Work on your weaknesses and don't blame the judges for scoring you as you skate

Immediately after finishing the free, she didn't look impressed with the skate, either. (I don't remember how she looked after the short.)

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Hunchback Disney! My favorite not-for-kids movie.

Ah I thought it was hunchback of notre dame at first, someone should skate to the musical soundtrack though it’s gorgeous.

OKAY IT WAS THOUGH. Like the first FIVE SECONDS were either the Disney movie or the musical adapted from it. I would know that music anywhere. And I got SO EXCITED and then... Effing Notre Dame de Paris.

I agree, though, the musical is full of great music and should be skated to.

 

[leilaofpaper]

OKAY IT WAS THOUGH. Like the first FIVE SECONDS were either the Disney movie or the musical adapted from it. I would know that music anywhere. And I got SO EXCITED and then... Effing Notre Dame de Paris.

I agree, though, the musical is full of great music and should be skated to.

It’s my favourite musical. I’d put money on it being from the musical soundtrack though.

 

[PRlady]

It’s my favourite musical. I’d put money on it being from the musical soundtrack though.

I know that Heaven’sLight/Hellfire song in its first three notes. I remember sitting in the movie theatre with my 8-year-old daughter, wondering how I was going to explain hate-lust. It was a great film.

 

[leilaofpaper]

If you wanted to do an Esmerelda piece, God Help the Outcasts into Someday (the music version) would work great. They flow into each other really nicely since the instrumentation is extremely similar.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

It’s my favourite musical. I’d put money on it being from the musical soundtrack though.

Right, that's what I was saying. The first few seconds were Bells of Notre Dame and then it turned into Notre Dame de Paris.