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.

4 Continents Championships- Ladies

The surprise of Four Continents was Polina Edmunds' victory. Based on her skating all season, no one expected her to skate nearly as well as she did here.

The short program has been her biggest issue all season, and now that she finally has the combo in the program under control she has a far greater chance at success. This short program is definitely the better of her two programs. Even when she skates the freeskate cleanly it is not of the same maturity level of other women in the world.

Polina had pretty good skates here, but her chances of landing on the podium at Worlds are slim with the kind of programs she has and the way that she skates. However, this was a huge achievement for her.

For Satoko Miyahara, this event was hers to lose. After the short program she had a decent lead, but fell apart in the freeskate and was unable to hold onto her lead.

Her skating is less emotive and tends to be more technical, so when she can't hold the technical elements together, like here she doesn't have the quality in the second mark to make up for a mistake. However a freeskate like this one could not be saved, regardless of the quality of skating between elements and the performance quality.

Her jumps aren't that big, so there is less room for error, so when her jumps are off, the mistakes can be disastrous. There is a chance for her to take the third spot on the podium, but she is going to have to forget this skate happened and skate at her best for any chance at all.

Rika Hongo skated well, but I find her bad posture to be extremely distracting. She lets her shoulders ride up and loses her neck when she goes into her jumps and sometimes during footwork. These little details make it more difficult to focus on the good aspects of her skating, especially when she isn't the greatest performer either. She's a good enough skater, but I don't see her finishing on the podium at Worlds.

Gracie Gold was a bit of a disappointment. I think everyone expected her to skate better than she did, but she wasn't able to hold it together through the freeskate. Her programs are boring, and it's obvious that she thinks so too.

These programs really aren't anything special, and it's obvious she is just going through the motions, unlike with her exhibition number. Now that she has the chance to skate to any music she wants, it's time to start skating to something she actually enjoys so that she can really commit to the performance. At this point it's too late to do anything for Worlds, so I don't think these programs are enough to get her on the podium, unless others, like Ashley Wagner and Satoko Miyahara make significant mistakes.

US Nationals 2015- Senior Ladies

Ashley Wagner reclaimed her national title in Greensboro North Carolina, taking a victory over Gracie Gold by a wide margin. Though I am personally not a fan of her freeskate this season, with much of the same choreography this season as the program she used in the last two seasons with the past freeskate, it is clear that she has the best programs in terms of PCSs, and her technical flaws have lessened significantly over the course of the season. However, the judges still seemed generous in her technical judging.

Gracie Gold finished in a solid second place well behind Ashley Wagner and with a solid 6 point lead over Karen Chen. It seems that Gold's performance, especially in the short program was judged more harshly than Wagner's. Though Gold's programs this season were less enticing and with the freeskate she fell into the trap of skating to The Phantom of the Opera, like far too many skaters this season. The programs tend to fall a little flat, they don't have anything to entice the judges into being more forgiving, like they are with Wagner's programs, despite the fact that the choreography in Wagner's freeskate in recycled from the past 2 years.

Karen Chen was a bit of a surprise to those of us who did not watch the US sectionals before nationals. She is still competing at the Junior level, and will stand a great chance at taking the Junior World title this year, and in the future, should she continue to skate like she did at nationals, she may be one of the US ladies looking for a world title in the next few seasons.

Polina Edmunds has not been as good this season as she has in the past, a growth spurt has been a major setback this season, and the greatest testament to her future in the sport will be how she recovers next season. She is beginning to recover now, and has managed to peak at just the right time, but her consistency this season has not been good, and her programs feel very young and do not fit the profile of a senior ladies competitor. The freeskate in particular feels very much like a program that would be given to young girls as they start competing, which is a style most girls grow out of quickly. Edmunds is younger than most of the other ladies competing internationally for the US, and rather than creating mature programs that suit the style of senior ladies and pushing Polina to mature as a performer, her freeskate this year is far too young and stands out in a negative way in many international competitions. As she gets older, the programs will need to mature, and the sooner that happens, the better.

Mirai Nagasu had a tragic free skate, after a collision with the boards continuing to skate, but losing the performance and the jumps. Though she appeared to be in significant pain, even pausing to grab her leg mid-performance, she did not stop her program and take the three point deduction, which likely would have made a huge difference in her overall score. She has not been the most consistent skater, and her jumps are not as good as they could be, so the loss of performance quality as well as the loss of technical points from all of the mistakes she made left her with a dismal score and a
10th place finish overall, placing 12th in the freeskate. Her finish is well below her potential and she could have been far closer to the top had she made the decision to take the three point deduction to recover from her fall.