2024 NHK Trophy Womens FS PBP - MacArthur Perk

[Tak]

I am so happy to see Yuna on the podium. When she was Junior newbie, the top three girls in Japan were, IMHO, Marin, Wakaba and Yuna! Series of injuries really truncated Yuna's career, up till now. It was so sad to see her not even making it to free skate at Nationals in the intervening years. Welcome back, Yuna.
As to Kaori's "Chicago", I think this is a deliberate attempt to see if Kaori can adapt to totally different type of program. You can see the same type of attempt in Mone's SP. If skated clean, both programs are "Showstoppers".

 

[annie_mg]

I am again in awe of Yuna. She reminds me of Miyahara in some ways (with similar jump issues unfortunately).

Chiba is wonderful and she gets the job done, but she feels juniorish to me. There's no mature quality in her movement. I don't think that'll change.

I'm just so sad we will only see 3 Japanese women at worlds. I want all 6 (or more!) of them there.

Kaori's overscoring is getting ridiculous. If she doesn't make mistakes we all know she will win.

 

[PRlady]

I am again in awe of Yuna. She reminds me of Miyahara in some ways (with similar jump issues unfortunately).

Chiba is wonderful and she gets the job done, but she feels juniorish to me. There's no mature quality in her movement. I don't think that'll change.

I'm just so sad we will only see 3 Japanese women at worlds. I want all 6 (or more!) of them there.

Kaori's overscoring is getting ridiculous. If she doesn't make mistakes we all know she will win.

I can’t believe I’m saying this as a Kaori uber but those programs are such a bad fit for her that she could lose Worlds. To Amber if she’s on or one of her teammates (Wakaba? Rion with her big jumps? Rino with that gorgeous FS?)

 

[Private Citizen]

I can’t believe I’m saying this as a Kaori uber but those programs are such a bad fit for her that she could lose Worlds.

Not with the crazy scores she's getting. The panel is taking a blind eye to so much, and the judges seem to start every element from +3 and go up from there.

There's no way Glenn or anyone else can equal those scores.

 

[Wyliefan]

Glenn already beat her once this season. So did Everhardt.

 

[Sylvia]

Women
Result
FPl. Name Nation Points SP FS
1 Kaori SAKAMOTO JPN 231.88 1 1
2 Mone CHIBA JPN 212.54 2 2
3 Yuna AOKI JPN 195.07 3 5
4 Alysa LIU USA 190.75 4 4
5 Bradie TENNELL USA 190.25 5 3
6 Lara Naki GUTMANN ITA 180.28 6 6
7 Seoyeong WI KOR 173.77 7 9
8 Olga MIKUTINA AUT 169.93 8 10
9 Lindsay THORNGREN USA 169.03 10 7
10 Niina PETROKINA EST 165.84 11 8
11 Ekaterina KURAKOVA POL 157.14 9 12
12 Yelim KIM KOR 152.84 12 11

FS protocols: https://www.isuresults.com/results/...------FNL-000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS =	TES +		PCS +	CO	PR	SK	Ded. -	StN.
1​	Kaori SAKAMOTO	JPN	152.95​	76.75​		76.20​	9.43​	9.57​	9.54​	0.00​	#12​
2​	Mone CHIBA	JPN	140.85​	71.62​		69.23​	8.54​	8.75​	8.64​	0.00​	#11​
3​	Bradie TENNELL	USA	128.20​	62.93​		66.27​	8.32​	8.25​	8.25​	1.00​	#8​
4​	Alysa LIU	USA	125.72​	61.45​		64.27​	7.93​	8.25​	7.89​	0.00​	#9​
5​	Yuna AOKI	JPN	125.29​	58.25​		67.04​	8.43​	8.36​	8.32​	0.00​	#10​
6​	Lara Naki GUTMANN	ITA	118.77​	56.69​		62.08​	7.82​	7.75​	7.68​	0.00​	#7​
7​	Lindsay THORNGREN	USA	114.24​	55.69​		58.55​	7.43​	7.18​	7.32​	0.00​	#3​
8​	Niina PETROKINA	EST	112.86​	53.70​		60.16​	7.64​	7.46​	7.43​	1.00​	#2​
9​	Seoyeong WI	KOR	112.34​	56.56​		55.78​	7.00​	6.64​	7.25​	0.00​	#6​
10​	Olga MIKUTINA	AUT	108.99​	49.29​		59.70​	7.61​	7.43​	7.32​	0.00​	#5​
11​	Yelim KIM	KOR	101.52​	45.59​		56.93​	7.07​	6.89​	7.36​	1.00​	#1​
12​	Ekaterina KURAKOVA	POL	100.68​	42.04​		58.64​	7.43​	7.46​	7.07​	0.00​	#4​

 

[her grace]

The LP almost worked for Sakamoto—she got the crowd into it and skated cleanly, it does build to the end. OTOH, she seemed to be mistiming her choreography to the musical beat. She really needs to hit that to give the program an artistic punch. Otherwise, it’s just a generic program that will score well because judges love her, but doesn’t leave a memorable impact.

 

[Coco]

Holy < , Batman!

 

[Frau Muller]

Lindsay up to 7th on ea. Unable to 9th! Moving up!!!

 

[viennese]

It must be great to compete at NHK. The audience is so enthusiastic, and it's a big arena, filled to the rafters.

 

[zigzig]

Great competition, great crowd/audience! Carrot police out in FULL FORCE but fairly applied to everyone. Thrilling event.

Sakamoto - she's warming to the program, finally seeing more expression. Love her crack up on almost falling on her ending pose - need more of THAT spirit throughout the program.

Chiba - lovely lovely lovely

Aoki - 5th below Liu and Tennell in the long was pretty harsh but glad she hung on to a bronze

Liu - bad music/program for her. makes her look really slow and plodding. jumps continue to be suss.

Tennell - not bad. not great.

Gutmann - love her but she needs to ditch the tano/rippon jumps. they really destabilize her jumps and I think more traditional technique might give her jumps more security and consistency. love to see her on the euros podium but just don't think that's realistic with the way her jumps currently are.

Wi - was fine. what happened to the korean women? seemed like they were going to rival the japanese women for dominance once upon a time but they all seem to have faded over the past few seasons. tech panels have been unfairly harsh on them and have really singled them out in the past but these days they seem to be causing their own problems.

Mikutina - love her skating but jumps just not there.

Thorngren - don't understand the musical choice/program here at all. skating like the song is just warm up music playing in the background - and a horrible song to boot. what was anyone on her team thinking? jumps still very weak.

Petrokina - love her vibe but the choreo and jumps all meh.

Kurakova - what happened to her jumps? they were S C A R Y out there.

Kim - glad she improved. maybe her strategy is to peak later in the season.

 

[peibeck]

Watched the women this morning and my basic impressions:

Sakamoto: Much better than at Skate Canada, but egads the choreography of this program is a complete miss. There is nothing jazzy or Fosse-eque to the movement. Still, I could watch her jump those incredible 2As covering a third of the rink all day.

Chiba: Like the SP, her jumps and spins are impressive, but she's Korean-lady emotionally flat for me. Sorry.

Akoi: Love her style, emotion, delicacy, and glide over the ice. Not as steady on getting the jumps all the way around today, but the callers at this comp were TOUGH with everyone but Kaori, imo.

Liu: I'm "meh" on the program itself, but she seems to be actually enjoying being back and that makes watching her such a pleasure. Stamina seems to be the biggest issue now, as the last minute she seemed a lot notably slower.

Tennell: Bradie gets my "most improved" award. Although some issues, the jumps seemed more secure than in a long time. And her camel spin positions are to die for gorgeous.

Gutmann: I really, really like the choreography of this piece. Her jumps were a bit all over, but some were extremely impressive with their height and her snappy rotation. Definitely looking forward to seeing this at Worlds.

Thorngren: Glad to see improvement over the SP in terms of her FS standing, if not final standing. Her skating is quality, but she really needs to trust in her technique and get those jumps around.

Wi: Heaven help me, but she must have the worst posture of any major lady competing right now. Glad to see improvement from her first GP, but I don't enjoy her. Sorry.

Kurakova: It's obvious that her body has developed and taken the jumps, so seeing her still doing a program that is part juniorish and then trying to morph into the more serious, soprano version of "Memory" from "Cats," just really doesn't gel. I don't know that Amodio is the person to help her relearn her technique either.

Mikutina and Petrokina seemed to get some of the harshest calls here, obviously some jumps were under, but the tech panel really seemed aggressive to me (on almost all the skaters) today.

(((Yelim))) That is all.

Now to finish my laundry then catch the men.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Starting ladies competition now, Lindsay, wow this Sam Smith or Hozier song is horrendous. Goes nowhere. It does nothing … music is forgettable. She skates slow. I can understand I think why there are under rotations. Is there a way to teach students to skate faster?

Ekaterina I just can’t with the cat ears. This looks like it should be in juniors. This costume does not resemble cats. Oh dear, there is a costume reveal? I did not notice this previously. Although this version doesn’t resemble cats anymore than the first. I don’t feel like the reveal had a purpose for the program. Keeps putting hands up in the air for the jumps but they’re not rotated so I don’t understand why you do this.

For some reason, Olga always kind of reminds me of niece of Isabelle Brasseur. Why modern day warhorse music?

Lara I appreciate she gives us music I’ve never heard of before, so I enjoy it. Nice dress. Her jumps are starting to come together.

Bradie shame about the fall on a double axle. Otherwise step up from skate America. No triple triple any more in the free program? Maybe this is the best decision for now?

Alysa audience is going along with it …. it’s so good but my gosh she is running out of steam as the free program goes on. Slowing down a lot. Maybe more conditioning is needed? Otherwise, if she could do that I’d have her perhaps on the world team. Technical came down about 7 points? But yeah, more conditioning I think is needed to sell the second half of the program.

I need to watch the top three in a bit

 

[MacMadame]

Not with the crazy scores she's getting. The panel is taking a blind eye to so much, and the judges seem to start every element from +3 and go up from there.

There's no way Glenn or anyone else can equal those scores.

You are assuming that (a) this judging will continue throughout the season and (b) will continue when all the top contenders are competing against each other. I don't think that is the case historically so I'm expecting the judging to get tougher in the second half of the season. And hopefully fairer when you can see them all skate in the same flight. I'm less sanguine about the later but I do think the judging will at least tighten up.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Maybe the panel is tired

The software gets pre-loaded with a fixed number of "!"s, "e"'s, "<"'s, and "q"'s. By the time they get to the last skaters, they've run out.

That's my story, and I'm sticking with it.

She's constantly making fists, pumping around the ice, and her shoulders are everywhere

She should be force-fed Pirinen videos on tape loop to see how to hold one's shoulders and hands still until there's a reason to do something with them.

 

[PRlady]

Well, finally got to watch. A deserved Japanese sweep, no one wuzrobbed. I agree Kaori, as lovable as she is, was not meant for Fosse. Chiba is not as interesting as Yoshiba or as musical as Aoki and Matsuike, not sure what her identity is but she was solid.

With more speed and stamina, Alysa is a much better bet than Tennell who is 7 years older, now prone to URs and never an artistic skater.

I’d love someone to fix Olga’s jumps, she’s one of my favorite OES.

 

[jlai]

But Liu is a college student and her performance is reliant on college schedule.

 

[beckab81]

But Liu is a college students and her performance is reliant on college schedule.

She took this year off to focus on skating

 

[Sylvia]

She took this year off to focus on skating

Do you have a source link for this? Hersh’s article said Alysa had returned to UCLA this September: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...ming-back-in-2024.109609/page-17#post-6660391
Did she change her mind recently?

 

[mtnskater]

Kaori is such a character in the medal ceremony. She has so much confidence to fully be herself, which I love. Still dislike the program for her. Best women’s double axel of all time. Wish the callers would treat her equally.

Yuna Aoki is my new find. I don’t remember her before, but if she was skating juniors with Marin Honda I would not have noticed her because I was a Marin Honda uber. Weaknesses in her jump technique showed up in the program like getting loose in the air and a leg wrap on some jumps. Otherwise style and quality devine!!

Great job for Bradie on the comeback after a broken ankle. She is one hard worker and determined. Very admirable!
at 26 no less.

I’m starting to fall back in love with Alysa Liu. The joy and charisma. Amazing how well she is doing after literally no training or skating for so long. She has a head for competition. I enjoyed this program but much prefer her short for her. She was clearly gassed. But she has completely exceeded my expectations this fall. She should be proud. Keep it going!

 

[skatfan]

I’m starting to fall back in love with Alysa Liu. The joy and charisma. Amazing how well she is doing after literally no training or skating for so long. She has a head for competition. I enjoyed this program but much prefer her short for her. She was clearly gassed. But she has completely exceeded my expectations this fall. She should be proud. Keep it going!

I love this program, it makes me smile sand she’s getting the dancer stuff in her footwork (Scali was there this time to remind her?)

What a strong return she’s had! I have to say that she is more enjoyable to watch than Bradie, who still looks awkward to me.

 

[Aceon6]

What a strong return she’s had! I have to say that she is more enjoyable to watch than Bradie, who still looks awkward to me.

There’s something about Bradie’s shoulders that makes it look like she can’t relax them without losing her posture. Most of the skaters I like best seem to relax into their programs after the first 2 jumping passes. I never see that with Bradie.

 

[4rkidz]

Finally finished.. to really appreciate Bradie you have to see her live, I didn’t appreciate how much she engages you live unless you see her, which is why such a big standing ovation here.

Alysa just makes me smile I am loving her journey back on her terms. I would have loved to have seen her at the GPG but alas..

However, I am absolutely fine with having a mainly Japanese final because they are the class of the field and love them all, especially Kaori, plus lot cheaper for me to go to France than Japan!

But back to Alysa .. she is the epitome of the “joy of skating” and if she can clean up her jumps.. watch out!

 

[beckab81]

Do you have a source link for this? Hersh’s article said Alysa had returned to UCLA this September: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...ming-back-in-2024.109609/page-17#post-6660391
Did she change her mind recently?

In the Loop's mixed zone interview with Alysa after practice -

https://twitter.com/x/status/1849473698689896541

Last tweet in the thread states she's deferred school for this year.

From Alyssa's fan tread/In The Loop twitter

 

[Coco]

Alyssa's smile is sooooo bright these days.

Yelim's results have been rough, but when she does something well, it's as well as she's ever done it. I hope she's not too disheartened and make the progress she needs.

That said, when someone is coming back or adjusting to significant change in height, why do skaters and their teams insist on going for nearly full difficulty? If there is a physical reason this makes sense, fine. But if there are concerns about goe and pcs driving this, it's a failure of the scoring system.

It's such a difficult sport. I can't imagine how it feels to be asked to compete when half of the jumps in your program you can't do cleanly in a practice runthrough.

 

[Sylvia]

From Alyssa's fan tread/In The Loop twitter

Thank you! I had a feeling I had seen a reference to Alysa taking a break from UCLA right now but couldn’t recall where.

 

[LilJen]

VERY important observations and questions.
1. Why is Bradie dressed like a fancy assassin? Is there an assassination in Turandot?
2.Love Alyssa’s joy in skating.
3. Why does Lara NG always cup her hands in jumps? Her hands are totally fine otherwise. Going into jumps she goes into cuppy mitten mode.
4. Wayyyyyyy too much extra fabric whickety whack on Aoki’s dress.
5. Kaori could power 10,000 homes with her 2a. Amazing.

 

[skatfan]

I'm glad to hear that Alyssa felt comfortable in deferring school. If she wants to go to Milan, she really needs to make the case this year. So far, it looks like a good call - she seems pretty happy with skating.

 

[skateboy]

VERY important observations and questions.
1. Why is Bradie dressed like a fancy assassin? Is there an assassination in Turandot?

Not an assassination per se, put the Prince of Persia is executed for failing to answer Turandot's riddles correctly. (And Liu stabs herself later in the show.)

Not sure which character Bradie is supposed to be portraying, lol.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

The sequined one