World Figure Skating Championships 2015- Ladies (Part 2- Freeskate Group 4)

Zijun Li was fantastic in the short. I would have had her quite a bit higher after the short. She really was fantastic in the short. She knows what works for her, and she does it really well in the short.

Her Freeskate, though was nowhere near as good. She wasn't able to hold it together, whether it was the pressure of skating in her home country, or exhaustion, or a lack of focus, she just fell apart a little, which was extremely disappointing. Her freeskate can be excellent when she does it well, but there were just too many mistakes.

Satoko Miyahara skated two good programs. She's small, and her jumps are small, but she manages everything. She has a commanding presence. She had a few small issues in the middle of the free, but she recovered very well.

Elena Radionova was not as strong as she has been. Her freeskate was not strong. Her short was great, only behind Tuktamysheva with the triple axel. She just wasn't able to maintain the energy she needed for the free. Apparently she has been sick, which certainly would explain why she didn't skate as well as she can.

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva could have won the World Championships without the triple axel, and with it, she was unstoppable. She didn't need to worry too much about the freeskate. The freeskate wasn't as good as it has been, but it didn't matter. She delivered what she needed to to win. She didn't need the triple axel in the free, even though I would have loved to see it again.

Rika Hongo had a fantastic freeskate. Her short program was not as good, but as sick as I am with Carmen, there's no denying she skated well. She gave everything, but the fact that she skated after Tuktamysheva and was skating to Carmen, I almost didn't care. She looked a little unsteady in the step sequence, but all of the jumps were strong, and the spins were solid enough. But the judges were not kind to her.

This season, Kanako Murakami is not my favourite. She has some serious technical issues, the mistakes in the free, and also the mule kick she has on the flip. Skating to the same music as most of the Japanese skaters does not help her. Between the bad music choice and the technical mistakes and the just okay choreography and interpretation she really didn't stand a great chance at the podium here.