Ups and Downs of the Ladies Free Skate

I'm not quite sure what to think of the ladies event yet, but at least I had a chance to watch the last 2 groups live. So here is the event as I saw it. Be warned- Subjective opinions abound!

Kanako Murakami: This young thing is a talent and a joy to watch. She looked very ready in the rehearsals and was (according to the commentators) gutted to be in 10th after the short programme. Her free skate was full of energy and performed up to the crowd. She won't reach the podium this year, but bet she will in the future.

Mao Asada: This programme is beautiful and Mao's skating quality is virtuoso. Unfortunately her technical weaknesses caught up with her again, her triple axel was under-rotated as it has been much of the week, the 3Salchow deserted and she had a flukey entry into one of her spins. Thankfully she didn't look too disappointed in the kiss and cry. It wasn't to be for Mao this year. Would it have been different had the event been in Tokyo?

Mae-Berenice Miete: This young lady has risen quickly to be the leader for France. She deservedly won the qualifying round here. The jumps were a bit of a disaster in the free skate today but she has promise because she performs her programme well. Her interpretation seemed real and not simply regurgitated from memory. She's not ready yet but she has scope to improve.

Rachael Flatt: The first time we've seen the consistent Flatt have a disaster out on the ice in competition. The reasion is obvious. She has a stress fracture of her tibia and a foot injury which were playing on her mentally and physically. The question is, why was she sent out to compete in that state. She earned her spot back in January after narrowly beating Mirai Nagasu back at US nationals. But Mirai would likely have been much more competition ready and if things had been different, the USA might have their prized 3 spots back for next year. I feel for Flatt (particularly as she put off attending Stanford to focus on skating this year) but why have alternates and not use them?

Miki Ando: Skated her socks off. The technical content was all there and she put effort into her choreography. I may be biased and many will likely disagree with me, but she would win more fans if she put more real expression into her performance and threw it out to the audience. Her arm movements are pretty, but they still seem to be there for the sake of it and not because they add to the programme. That said, she says she came here to make the people of Japan smile and she has don that. She deserved her high marks and her win on the day today.

Alena Leonova: There have been many nay-sayers to this skater but all credit to her. She picked her theme and she SOLD IT. She will never be the most graceful skater with the best lines (just as her number 1 fan in Moscow, Irina Slutskaya never was) but she performed her programme the best of any skater today and who can blame her. It may be her last chance to skate a major championships in front of an adoring home crowd, with the strength of Russia's tiny teens coming up from the junior ranks. This (in my humble opinion) was the performance of the night.

Yu-Na Kim: is likely kicking herself right now. Her Homage to Korea programme is a piece of skating art and should be appreciated on its own merit. But the jumps that she has been hitting consistently all week let her down just enough to see gold slip from her fingers. One mistake and she still would have pipped Miki Ando, but two was too much to get away with. She popped the double toe on the end of combination, popped her nemesis flip jump and recieved a level 1 on one of her spins. Whether she was let down by a lack of training, a mental blip or something else we may never know. I hope we see this gorgeous programme and gorgeous skater back in competition again soon though.


Alissa Czisny: I thought for a second the Czisny of old was back in  the building. She fell on her first triple lutz and it could have all gone horribly wrong from there, but it didn't. Czisny should be very proud of her US and Grand Prix titles this season, and of the vast improvements she has made in consistency and artistry. We're not sure yet how much we'll see of her next season. But I certainly wouldn't be sad to see her back.

Carolina Kostner: She wasn't perfect, but that was the most consistent we've seen Carolina Kostner in a long long time. The people of Russia may never forgive her for pipping Alena Leonova to the bronze (I too would have Alena ahead, but what can you do?) Still, congratulations Carolina on a long-awaited return to form.

Ksenia Makarova: Russsia wanted a world medal, and they wanted it bad! Makarova is a lovely skater with great performance quality. But with her lack of technical difficulty (she doesn't do a lutz) she had to be perfect and she wasn't today. Her triple-triple was under-rotated and several other errors knocked her score down the pack. Keep at it though Ksenia, and keep working on that Lutz for the future!

So it's Ando, Kim and Kostner. Not how many expected this podium to look, but good news for Japan at last.

Oh dear Jenna, oh dear :-(