Alaine Chartrand won the title, and it is very well-deserved. She needs more flow out of her jumps, but overall, taking the triple axel out of the free program made vast improvements in the free. She was able to focus on a clean skate, and therefore stands a better chance on the world stage. I do really think she was shafted in the short, that is a great program with great choreography and transitions, and it shows off the best of her skating skills. I don't think the difference between her PCS and Kaetlyn Osmond's should have been even remotely significant. Really, Alaine should have won this a little more definitively than she did, but I do think the outcome was the way it should've been, based on the way they skated here.
Gabrielle Daleman skated well enough, but compared to Alaine Chartrand, she fell a little short. The biggest problem with Gabby is the lack of connection to the music. She doesn't seem to connect strongly with her music, and so she ends up skating over the music. With the depth of the ladies field, since she doesn't have anything exceptional technically, so she can't afford to not have the PCS to make her more competitive in the field.
Kaetlyn Osmond was propped up significantly in the short. She's a good skater, but technically, she didn't meet the standards set by Chartrand and Daleman, and she has good PCSs, but not so much better than Alaine especially to justify her winning the short. Her score was horrendously inflated, even for nationals, and it appears that she skated far better than she actually did. She fell back to where I saw her finishing in the free. Considering her struggles with injury, she made a good comeback, and it's not a a bad start for her comeback. She doesn't look like she has the confidence she needed to take back her title.
Veronik Mallet is a skater I like, but doesn't have the technical prowess to become ultra competitive in the world. I like her style, and when she nails the jumps, she's pretty amazing, but unfortunately she can't be counted on to land the jumps, which is beyond unfortunate, because I really am a fan of her.
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