Canadian Ladies 2017-18 season news & updates

[Rock2]

Only one fall to interrupt the flow, true.

But she's like Nagasu in the sense that a slight break in confidence and it's a UR and neg GoE festival.
Mirai wasn't perfect here but you could see the difference in attack given both were likely disappointed with first GP.

 

[kwanfan1818]

It doesn't matter if Chartrand's SP is good or not: she died in it here like at Skate Canada, and it leaves her in a ditch for the FS. Her FS at Skate Canada was night and day presentation wise, even with the mistakes.

 

[coppertop1]

Wow. I know our third spot won't be thrilling but how about being a bit more supportive?

 

[honey]

Is Alaine injured or something? On all three jumps she was so slow getting into the air position. She had no snap or oomph (for lack of a better word) at all in any of those jumps.

This is maybe a result of Krall changing her technique and not injury though because she was jumping similarly at Skate Canada.

Anyway, let’s hope for a better free tomorrow from her. And I reiterate my comment from last week: go all in on the coaching from Krall for the next two months. Her spot is not in jeopardy but something is clearly not working right now and she has time to fix it.

 

[manhn]

The 3rd spot is less about the actual 3rd lady, and more about a cushion for Osmond and Daleman in case either pulls a Chouinard a la 1996. I fail to see what the Japanese ladies are doing this season to make me think otherwise.

 

[danafan]

It's so frustrating to watch Alaine. I have never seen her have this trouble on the triple lutz. She seems lost. If she skates this poorly at nationals, she should be beat by someone for the third spot. But I fear with the other skaters in the running thinking they have a chance we're going to have a real splat fest

 

[mag]

So let’s give a round of applause to Sarah Tamara for pulling it together at Sections and landing all her jumps, including 3Lz+3T and scoring 56.79 (and that is without the usual PCS inflation some other Canadian ladies get from Canadian judges at home competitions.)

http://www.skatinginbc.com/sites/de...mpionships/results/18secseniorwomensp1dro.pdf

I know Sarah has a lot to work on, but she has shown continued improvement over the last few years. She fights for her programs, learns from her mistakes, and doesn’t back down from a challenge. She along with Alicia Pineault are the immediate future.

 

[Rock2]

So let’s give a round of applause to Sarah Tamara for pulling it together at Sections and landing all her jumps, including 3Lz+3T and scoring 56.79 (and that is without the usual PCS inflation some other Canadian ladies get from Canadian judges at home competitions.)

Other than judge #2 who had her PCS in the 8s...umm, what?

Good for her. I hope she skates a strong long.

Glad to see Gran back, too! Hope this event goes well for her in juniors.

 

[barbarafan]

I saw Aurora Cotop compete in person at the ISU JGP of Brisbane. She is a very strong jumper who is fast across the ice.

Waiting to see what Emy Decelles looks like at Warsaw.-scored 160.58 at Sectionals

 

[skatingguy]

Oh Lord somebody please, make it stop.
(Just watched ladies SP at NHK)

I'm not joking. Someone at JSF, call SC and negotiate a trade - our 3rd ladies spot for their 3rd men's spot.
Stat.

We don't know need a 3rd spot in men's - we'll give our votes for Uno & Hanyu to finish 1+2 in men's if the Japanese vote to give us the team Gold medal.

 

[Sylvia]

Top 4 finishers at BC/YK Sectionals in Senior this weekend:
1 Kelsey Wong Champs International SC of BC BC/YK 52.95 (2) 105.53 (1) 158.48
2 Sarah Tamura Champs International SC of BC BC/YK 56.79 (1) 95.81 (2) 152.60
3 Emily Bausback Champs International SC of BC BC/YK 45.87 (4) 88.62 (3) 134.49
4 Megan Yim Champs International SC of BC BC/YK 52.41 (3) 73.67 (4) 126.08
SP protocols: http://www.skatinginbc.com/sites/de...mpionships/results/18secseniorwomensp1dro.pdf
FS protocols: http://www.skatinginbc.com/sites/de...mpionships/results/18secseniorwomenfp2dro.pdf

Just watched archived video of Olivia Gran's Junior FS - she skated to the same music ("Walking in the Air" sung by Chloë) with which she won the Jr. silver medal at Challenge Cup in The Hague back in late February 2017. Her jumps today: 2A+2T, 3Lz fall, 3Lz hand, 3T, 3Lo, 3S hand/fell out, 2A. Announced scores were 82.60, FS, 128.61 and 3rd overall. Glad to see her back skating/competing!
Vasilisa Matantseva won (99.66 FS, 149.61) and Emma Bulawka was 2nd (95.11 FS, 147.50).

 

[danafan]

Well I managed to catch Emy Decelles' short program from Warsaw this morning, and she skated pretty well. Hand down on the triple toe so she turned the triple flip into her combo. She only scored 48.69 but her TES was 24.05 which is above the 4CC/Olympic minimum.

 

[danafan]

Emy Decelles posted this on instgram after her skate today: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bbmj472jgK0/?hl=en&taken-by=emydecelles

Her triple flip was under rotated.

Good luck to her in the free skate! If she can get the Olympics/4CC minimums again it will set her up nicely for nationals. I could see her making the national team and/or getting to go to 4CC this year.

 

[barbarafan]

Well I managed to catch Emy Decelles' short program from Warsaw this morning, and she skated pretty well. Hand down on the triple toe so she turned the triple flip into her combo. She only scored 48.69 but her TES was 24.05 which is above the 4CC/Olympic minimum.

She seemed pretty tight this morning and I have seen her skate much better. I think she had 4th place PCS although Tes was low due to the 2 mistakes. I am sure she will be more relaxed tomorrow in the long. I saw Yvans Desjardins in the Kiss n Cry. Was he always her coach or is this new?

 

[aftershocks]

ETA: Sorry @barbarafan, I didn't realize you were talking about Emy Decelles, and not Kaetlyn at the GP in France (sp), until it was pointed out by @ChiquitaBanana.

Anyway, I can't sugarcoat Kaetlyn's sp result. I know figure skating is not easy, and the pressure has got to be tremendous. But when your major competition has practically taken themselves out, you've got to go for the jugular! Kaetlyn has lost a psychological edge over Zagitova by not slam-dunking the sp after Zagitova's errors. I'm sorry, the judges helped out some skaters here, including Kaetlyn. I was looking for Kaetlyn to simply do what she can do with some confidence! This is a program that Kaetlyn knows by heart and can absolutely do in her sleep. She can't go out there nervous and tentative and expect the judges to save her based on PCS every time. Champions have got to bring it! Kaetlyn is the absolute class of this field, and she needed to show it with much more self-assurance and certainty. Kaetlyn should have easily scored in the 70s and taken Zagitova out completely. This is not even the Olympics yet. If not now, when? The nervous way Kaetlyn skated and only doing a 3/2 and then reaching forward awkwardly on her solo jump is not good.

Some of the U.S. ladies are usually crucified by the judges for under-performing, not gifted. I even thought the judges might slot Kaetlyn behind Sotskova who only had a turnout, but granted that Sotskova isn't better than Kaetlyn aesthetically (still the judges seem to think Sotskova's aesthetics are better than they actually are). Politics is as usual in full force based on who is well-liked or given breaks because of their talent and past results. Meanwhile, skaters without political clout, rep, favor, or top ranking status will be clobbered for the smallest mistake or under-performance.

In fact, it was Shiraiwa who skated better than everybody, so a case could be made that Shiraiwa should be in first, Sotskova second, and Kaetlyn third. Regardless though, Sotskova does NOT have exceptional presentation skills in the way the judges appear to think she has. No matter that Shiraiwa scored slightly highest on TES than everyone else. Shiraiwa's presentation marks should have been higher and even her technical marks should show a bit higher gap based on what she completed vs everyone else. Clearly, the scores were being manipulated, and as usual kept within a range in order to facilitate desired placements.

TBH, I realize that Polina's rep has suffered and she did not start out the season in great form. But skating first, the judges kept Polina's scores way down at IDF. Polina should at the least have better presentation marks than she was given. Polina did not make a hugely terrible error on the second triple, especially not compared with some of the messes of other performances. Tursynbaeva popped her first jumping pass into a single, and there's no way that Tursynbaeva should be scored so much higher than Polina on presentation. A case could be made for Polina to be in at least 7th place with a score around 61. I'm not saying that Polina has completely overcome her difficulties, but she did look at lot better here, and a lot of other ladies underperformed. With Zagitova making two egregious errors on tech elements, the judges were unable to ignore and overly gift her like they did at Zagitova's first GP when she had a similar fall in the sp. The judges' positioning applecart was upset because of Zagitova's errors, and because they lowballed Polina as the first to skate. Polina overall completed her elements better than Zagitova, and Polina has very competitive aesthetic skills (although of course Polina is not 100% back to full strength).

For some reason, the judges are not as kind to Mai Mihara who skated well at Cup of China, and should have come away there with a bronze medal. At IDF in the sp, Mai had a fluke run-in with the boards, but she landed the second jump in the 3/3 combo. I'm not sure if she got credit for the full rotation on the second jump, which could be the reason why Mihara was taken down so far on her technical elements. Still the judges don't seem to be giving Mai much credit for her strengths so far this season.

If Zagitova skates clean, the judges will do everything in their power to help her onto the podium. Clearly Kaetlyn is respected and favored, so hopefully she will stand up and perform the way she can in the fp with some brilliance, confidence and panache. More than likely, Sotskova will take a podium spot too, although I think both of the Japanese ladies are a step better than Sotskova and also competitive with Zagitova.

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

Hopefully, but I can't sugarcoat this sp result...

It’s frustrating when the skater you want to do well does not or doesn’t skate the way you would like to. If someone has that magic skating wand that would let the skaters skate the way I feel they should, please tell me, I’d lay down the money.

You have given us your analysis, which is pretty accurate to me. But I find it somehow disturbing you took one’s reply about skater X and turned it into skater Y. Emy Decelles deserves to keep her posts about her!

 

[honey]

While I am sure there will be a flood of people who say she does not suit this music or theme, I like what I see of the program so far. A lot. Beautiful use of her arms during the footwork sequence and finally they are highlighting those gorgeous spread eagles. We're all going to be white knuckling that last double axel at the end of the program, though aren't we?

Quoting myself here from the summer, but seriously that double axel at the very end is going to be a problem all season. You can just tell. It builds to such a great ending with it, but I just want to look away every time she gets to the axel.

Lots of good things in the skate today, but she's going to have to better if she wants to be in this for medal later in the season. No two ways about it. And she can't afford any more mistakes because she's killing any momentum she was building from last season. Still love her and the programs, but the mistakes....

 

[danafan]

She seemed pretty tight this morning and I have seen her skate much better. I think she had 4th place PCS although Tes was low due to the 2 mistakes. I am sure she will be more relaxed tomorrow in the long. I saw Yvans Desjardins in the Kiss n Cry. Was he always her coach or is this new?

Kim and Emy Decelles have been working with Desjardins for a while now, maybe since before the start of last season? Not sure but I think his influence is starting to pay off. Emy used to pop and splat a lot and she's a lot more controlled now. Hopefully Kim will come back strong after her hip surgery too. I'd love to see them skating and improving towards a possible Olympic spot in 2022. I've always enjoyed their skating.

 

[barbarafan]

Kim and Emy Decelles have been working with Desjardins for a while now, maybe since before the start of last season? Not sure but I think his influence is starting to pay off. Emy used to pop and splat a lot and she's a lot more controlled now. Hopefully Kim will come back strong after her hip surgery too. I'd love to see them skating and improving towards a possible Olympic spot in 2022. I've always enjoyed their skating.

They were not skaters that I followed but I was watching live stream at a local competition and Emy was beautifully floating in and out of jumps and I was totally impressed. She is starting to get good PCS marks.The international judges do not know her but they still gave her not bad marks although she had mistakes.

 

[coppertop1]

Kaetlyn Osmond wasn't consistent last season then skated free skate of her life to win the silver medal at Worlds. She seems to be a skater who struggles throughout the season and puts it together at Worlds

 

[Rafter]

Is it nerves or conditioning for KO? Maybe a combo of both? She seemed really nervous and seemed slow and cautious today.

 

[Prancer]

YBut I find it somehow disturbing you took one’s reply about skater X and turned it into skater Y. Emy Decelles deserves to keep her posts about her!

And discussions about Grand Prix performances belong in the Kiss and Cry.

 

[wickedwitch]

Kaetlyn Osmond wasn't consistent last season then skated free skate of her life to win the silver medal at Worlds. She seems to be a skater who struggles throughout the season and puts it together at Worlds

That's not my memory of the season. She qualified for the GPF and then had a relatively strong performance there.

 

[Rafter]

Kim and Emy Decelles have been working with Desjardins for a while now, maybe since before the start of last season? Not sure but I think his influence is starting to pay off. Emy used to pop and splat a lot and she's a lot more controlled now. Hopefully Kim will come back strong after her hip surgery too. I'd love to see them skating and improving towards a possible Olympic spot in 2022. I've always enjoyed their skating.

Are they twins?

 

[danafan]

Are they twins?

Yes

 

[Sylvia]

Kim and Emy Decelles have been working with Desjardins for a while now, maybe since before the start of last season? Not sure but I think his influence is starting to pay off. Emy used to pop and splat a lot and she's a lot more controlled now. Hopefully Kim will come back strong after her hip surgery too. I'd love to see them skating and improving towards a possible Olympic spot in 2022. I've always enjoyed their skating.

Are they twins?

Yes. Identical, I believe?

Cute off-topic: I happened to notice that Emy tagged Kim in Adam Rippon's Instagram post last week about being grateful to have recovered from his injury (broken bone in his foot). Emy's comment to Kim in French was "he was injured a year ago" and Kim's reply in English was "goals."

 

[danafan]

Yes! Despite a couple of pops Emy got the 4CC/Olympics TES minimums! And she got solid 6s in PCS.

That means heading into nationals, we have 8 skaters with the Olympics/4CC minimums compared to, IIRC, 6 last time: Osmond, Daleman, Chartrand, Austman, Tamura, Pineault, Long, E Decelles. Kudos to Skate Canada for giving these women a chance to compete.

 

[Zazy]

Kim and Emy Decelles have been working with Desjardins for a while now, maybe since before the start of last season? Not sure but I think his influence is starting to pay off. Emy used to pop and splat a lot and she's a lot more controlled now. Hopefully Kim will come back strong after her hip surgery too. I'd love to see them skating and improving towards a possible Olympic spot in 2022. I've always enjoyed their skating.

According to an article from last year's nationals, Kim trained with her mother in Baie-Comeau for 3 weeks a month, and with Yvan one week a month. And Emy trained with Yvan pretty much full time but would occasionally go back home.

Things may have changed since then, however.

 

[barbarafan]

Yes! Despite a couple of pops Emy got the 4CC/Olympics TES minimums! And she got solid 6s in PCS.

That means heading into nationals, we have 8 skaters with the Olympics/4CC minimums compared to, IIRC, 6 last time: Osmond, Daleman, Chartrand, Austman, Tamura, Pineault, Long, E Decelles. Kudos to Skate Canada for giving these women a chance to compete.

That is fantastic. You just never know what might happen at nationals. These girls need to be sent to international competition so that they get used to it. I am glad new management at Skate Canada is starting to do things better.

 

[ichiro]

Here's hoping that Gabbie drops the LP. I'd take last year program or somehow if she decided to stick with Gladiator. Try adding more dramatic cuts towards the midway point of her current LP.

She has such great power and speed, seems to be wasted on this zzz track.