Skate Canada 2015- Ladies

Like in Skate America, the ladies event was full of less than stellar skates, except, unlike in Skate America, the judges here were far tougher.

I saw more spins invalidated at Skate Canada than I have at the senior level I think ever.

The short program was pretty disastrous.

Ashley Wagner had a surprise upset, winning the Ladies event. She won the short, and had a strong free, finishing second behind Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. I'm a fan of the short, but it has been no secret that I am no fan of the Moulin Rouge free. If anything, it may have gotten worse. She said she was working on the transitions in the free, but there were really no transitions in the program. Where she has added 'transitions' it is just arm movements, and the prayer hands make no sense for Moulin Rouge.

Elizaveta Tuktaysheva had a disappointing skate here. Her short program was a complete disaster. She wasn't able to complete basically any of her jumps successfully, and without the jumps her programs don't have much of anything left. Her choreography isn't much of anything, so she relies on the jumps which were less than stellar in Alberta.

Yuka Nagai is a new lady on the scene, coming out of Japan, and she had a stellar display here. She's still young, fresh out of junior, and so she needs some more refinement. Her jumps are pretty good, but her choreography is still a little more simple than is ideal at the senior level.

The other ladies were overall pretty dismal. Kaetlyn Osmond had a really rough weekend. Her short program placed her in fourth, but that doesn't mean it was good. She missed a spin and her double axel. She had a rough freeskate as well, but everyone else had better freeskates, and she finished overall in 11th, but had the lowest freeskate.

Polina Edmunds had a rough short program. It looked good on the surface, but she had two underrotation calls and had a spin invalidated (I'm still not sure why), which put her behind Kaetlyn Osmond in the short. She also had four underrotation calls in the free. Her biggest problem this season is the jumps, but the new style is helping her PCSs.

Elizabet Tursynabeva had a disastrous short program. She finished in 12th in the short, and though she had the 4th best free, she finished overall in 7th.

Autumn Classic International- Ladies

Overall, the ladies were less than amazing. I've got to be honest, I was bored half to death during the first flight of the freeskate. I missed most of the short programs, but I did watch all the freeskates. From what I've seen, it doesn't look like I missed much that first day.

Obviously, the highlights were Elizabet Tursynbayeva, Haruka Imai, and Angela Wang.

Elizabet is really making waves in the senior ranks. I've seen her at 2 senior internationals and she's won both, and really deserved to.

She's a really strong skater. She has good musicality, interpretation, and skating skills and her jumps are almost always strong. She had a few jump errors at both competitions, but overall her jumps are substantially better than the others.

I'm very curious to see what is going to happen with her at Skate America, she's ranked near the middle of the ladies overall (in the second column of the USFSA fantasy skating) but I really think she could easily contend for  medal if she skates anything like she did here and at summer skate.

The other two medalists were less interesting.

Haruka Imai is very good, but I don't find her programs to be engaging. Her skating skills aren't fantastic, and the PCS is where you really get me or lose me.

I know a lot of people who care a whole lot about the jumps when they watch a program, and they matter, but I really think there's far too much emphasis on the jumps compared to everything else.

I would genuinely rather watch a program with good choreography, interpretation and skating skills but bad jumps than a program that feels like a jump drill.

Haruka Imai is not that bad, but it's still not great, which is probably why I don't really remember her programs.

Angela Wang was also very good, but her programs are a bit of a snooze.

The other ladies were overall pretty disappointing. They don't have the best choreo, and on top of that the jumps were sloppy in the free.