Great way to build her confidence for the rest of the season. Funny, I was never really worried about her doing well here. Her skating has improved so much, that I didn't doubt her ability to pull it off. I was a little disappointed that she didn't attempt the 3loop in the Free though. She's going to need it for Skate Canada, and I would have liked to see her do one cleanly in competition before then.
I think I read somewhere that she had a minor injury just prior to this, and that was why she didn't attempt it at this competition. And based on one of the after competition interviews, the loop is apparently one of her "best jumps" now, after having to relearn much of the jump technique post injury. I also saw a practice clip from Nebelhorn of her doing a very nice one with a running 3 entry, great pop and all. I hope we will finally see it at Skate Canada.
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Given that it was her landing leg that was taped on Saturday, and what it was reported that CTV said about the number of treatments she had on hip/groin between the SP on Friday and the LP on Saturday, I'm not surprised there was no control on the landings in the free. Just thinking how my inner quads can hurt after a good strength-training session, I can only imagine how tender that was on Saturday when she was trying to land with some kneebend. My legs hurt for her...She did two nice double axels in the gala (one in the program and one in the finale). She certainly wasn't holding back with the speed in the program and wasn't skating like there was further injury. Who knows though...I worry psychologically what that long program might mean though. I don't see how there cannot be some fear in her that this will happen again. She just had no control over her jumps and I can imagine the next time she goes out there it will be tough to shake that from her mind.
But she seems like a very positive young lady so hopefully she will bounce back. Still was great to see her out there again. The first two jumping passes in the sp were
I'd call her facial expression unflattering, since Kaetlyn is otherwise so adorably cute. 'Crotch shots' are ubiquitous to the sport, just google for 'Julia Lipnitskaia' and 'bendy' to see what I mean. As for her performance, I am sorry for her. To be off the ice for a year due to injury, and to have such a wonderful comeback in Nebelhorn, only to be followed by this.
