Ondrej Nepela Memorial: ladies free review [+video]
Yesterday I didn’t have enough nerves to watch live streaming from Bratislava…..amazing quality….here should be a note ‘sarcasm’. Thank you kind people who upload videos to youtube. I’d like to share my opinion.
Maria Sotskova
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKYfH-bFP0w
Congratulations to Maria on her first victory on the senior level. It was great and solid performance. I like the free program more than her short, I think it better shows her delicaсy and youth. I think Maria has good chances to win the spot to European and maybe even World Championships this season.
Julia Lipnitskaya
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWz7dGAwPso
Oh I think it was a heartbreaking performance for Julia’s fans. First after the short….fifth in the free. Again she’s struggling with the free program. But previously she at least had lovely free programs. This one is empty, with poor music composition…..Such a contrast in quality of choreography between sp anf fp…..Actually I don’t know what to say, it’s hard to comment….
Mariah Bell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTl4bjbyydI
Other girls helped Mariah a lot to get on the podium. But I like this program. Maybe it’s not so difficult in terms of transitions compared with her last season’s programs, but at least it doesn’t look like her programs consists of moves that didn’t get into Jason Brown’s programs. It’s a nice girlish program, and she feels it and feels the music. This season I like both her programs and both her dresses.
Dabin Choi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o3V_LoK4LE
Dabin made a heroic come back in the free program. 10th in the short, 2nd in the free. Another lovely girlish program. I think she improved in the second mark, she’s more in the music now, her arms look more polished. It’ll be interesting to watch her progress during the season.
Nicole Rajicova
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcFKDDUWTDQ
I think at least in the free program Nicole managed to please the home audience. Rain in your black eyes) Brave choice, because no matter that it’s single skating I still think of Papadakis and Cizeron skating to it. But Nicole’s program is beautiful and I really hope to see it skated clean!
my review of the short program is here.
Related topics: Da Bin Choi, ISU Senior B event, Julia Lipnitskaya, ladies, Maria Sotskova, Mariah Bell, Nicole Rajicova, Ondrej Nepela Trophy
It was sad to see that Julia felt dissapointed to the end of the programm, she could not hide it. I hope they’ll change the free programm,maybe it’s still possible to do it in this season.
I think she can use her last season’s fp…..as a backup plan.
I feel like Julia isn’t going to have the grand comeback we’re hoping for. She’s such a talented girl (they all are!) but she’s not 15-year-old Julia anymore.
I think she needs to channel some of that tragic character that made her such a star. I would like to see her skate to Les Miserables as Eponine, the character is tragic and dark, but still a young girl.
Your thoughts?
As much as I’m tired of Les Miserables in figure skating……I’d agree on any nicely choreographed program for Julia that she’ll be able to skate with jumps. But as she confessed she “afraid to jump” and I think it’s a issue for sports psychologist…
The jumps are what they are, and I don’t know if she can get past her fear or not.
I think Julia would skate well to something tragic. I suppose they could find something more original than Les Miserables, but I would stay with something in that direction. Tragic opera, maybe.
Crazy idea, but maybe even something related to Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”? I think she could pull off being a dark, insane Lady Macbeth. She has such intense eyes and if she had a regal black costume, she could be a very interesting character on ice.
Just some ideas…
I just had an idea for Julia’s program – she could skate to the soundtrack from the Broadway show “Wicked”. It’s very dramatic but has some softer parts as well. And it hasn’t been used a whole heck of a lot…maybe someone will think of it.
I just got a new idea for a program: the soundtrack from the musical “Wicked”.
Sorry I thought the comment didn’t go through so I posted again. Oops!
I think if she skates with lots of mistakes, dramatic program will look even more heartbreaking (
Oh, you mean like when Yuzuru Hanyu skated his Phantom of the Opera at 2014 CoC after the collision in warm-up and fell 5 times? I see.
I think no matter what the program, if she can’t land the jumps, she isn’t going to get anywhere. You can’t make a program full of mistakes look beautiful no matter how well it’s choreographed.
Frankly, I think her time is up. Evgenia Medvedeva, Polina Tsurskaya, and lots of other little girls are just biting at the bit to win the Olympics. I feel like Julia and Adelina are together getting squeezed out of the team, and while it’s sad because they’re both young, in Russia you get one big year when you’re 15 or 16, and by 18 you’re out for good. If you try to stick around, you end up in the same boat as Alena Leonova; great skater at one time, but not anymore compared to the little girls who reel off 3-3 combos with their eyes closed.
I didn’t refer to any particular skater or performance….I can remember Mao Asada’s Tango to Schnittke when she wasn’t in her best shape – dark music….mistakes….Sad impression. Or Daisuke Takahashi’s Pagliacci after Konstantin Menshov’s awful fall and withdrawal from competition was also heartbreaking. But you’re right, no matter how good the program is lot’s of mistakes will ruin it.