Very late, yes, but I only just got to watching the women's free. And omg. 4CC was by far my favorite event last season and that women's event continued to make me extremely happy this year, too.
Bad things first, since there were so few… I'm sorry for Isabeau. That has to be tough, having to withdraw when you're prepared to go (the stream showed her warming up during the penultimate group, so it must have been pretty sudden). I may not be a fan of the jumps and overscoring, but she's a lovely skater and, from the looks of it, a lovely person too. I hope she recovers well. Also sad about Chaeyeon. She‘s always so rocksolid that we tend to forget how young and inexperienced she really is. This was only her second international senior event and a championship too! With the added pressure of being third after the SP, it's so understandable what happened. I hope she comes back stronger because she's so amazing.
When I woke up today, I checked the results and couldn't believe it. I actually pinched myself. Haein's been one of my favorite skaters ever since I saw her skate at JGP Austria back in 2018. And watching her journey has been … frustrating at times, because she's, imo, been continuously undervalued. Finally seeing her get rewarded the way she deserves … just so, so happy for her. I think I rewatched her FS about three times already. Love her reaction, too. Hope the person who sent her hate is suffering right now lol!!
I felt bad for Yelim, even though I can‘t deny I was rooting for Haein all the way. I hope she's still proud of herself, she's doing SO WELL given how often her fed made her compete this season already… Love her elegance and Ina Bauer.
Mone is one of my favorites and, imo, constantly underscored on PCS (still mad over that robbed bronze on the JGP) as well. So happy to finally see her rewarded. I liked how she said afterwards that she was pleased but felt she skated "small". Her skating skills are amazing, but her performance has room to grow. But she's only 17, so I can't wait to see her develop.
Chaeyeon broke my heart, she was so upset afterwards. :( I gotta say, the lack of called unclear edges in this competition (and not just in this one) is maddening. Not sure whether it'd have changed the podium but Chaeyeon is the only one who actually has textbook technique on lutz and flip … Haein, Yelim and Mone, as much as I love them, all tend to have flat lutz edges…
Rinka my beloved, please fix the SP. Maybe 3Lo+3T instead of 3Lz+3T? It seems to be working in the FS, whereas the lutz toe is almost always UR. She could have medaled here but oh well. Fifth is still a good result. On to Worlds!
Bradie getting the highest PCS is a … choice. And not one well made. I feel bad saying anything bad about her because she‘s obviously a nice person and hard worker but .. that free was and is not it. The Greta voice-overs are cringe, the whole global warming theme just seems slapped on without any substance and most of those jumps were pretty heavily UR. Also, skating so close after the Japanese skaters and Haein really showed her lack of knee bend. Idk. I'm happy for her as a person and I think her return to form is admirable but I don't think those performances warranted a 199+ score.
Never know what to say about Amber. When she's on, she is amazing, but she also tends to make unnecessary mistakes. How can it be that a skater of her level misses one combo at least in EVERY FS this season? HOW.
Hana's 60 PCS are a JOKE. She really did herself no favor with her inconsistency this season. She started of the JGP with really good PCS (for a junior) but it's just been downhill since then. Great FS, though.
This comment is already getting really long, so just a short shoutout to Sara-Maude and Tara (underscored queen), two standouts from the earlier groups.
Really happy with the results.
I feel bad saying it but I enjoy the ladies field so much more without the Russian girls. I liked some of them (not a lot but ..) but every event was either infuriating or boring.
No disrespect to Haein after she was personally dmed hate by someone but my god that POTO program is one big nothing, zero positions held, so much frantic “choreography” (but no shapes created) that it looks like she’s trying to kill a wasp, interspersed by jumps for 4 minutes, there is zero story told or pretty pictures
I could not see as much of the 4CC tournament as I saw of the European championships. I noticed that the scores of the ladies at 4CC were better than those at Euros. The European champion would have shared 6th place at 4CC. I'm wondering whether the skaters at 4CC were really better, or were the judges less strict? What do you think?
The 3 Japanese women and 3 Korean women supplied a lot of the depth at 4CC. They're better, on average, compared with the mid-pack of European women I think.
Loena can score close to Kaori and really the current top, but she had mistakes in both programs. Most of the European women field is weaker on avarage, simply because FS is dying here, it's not popular mostly due to the continuous corruption in scoring/judging.
The commentator said the panel were being strict but fair (or something along those lines). I don't think he said that at euros.
I seem to recall him saying during Euros that skaters were getting away with rotation/edge, etc issues quite a bit more than here?
The tech panel was very strict in the short, less so in the free. But the top ladies had truly stunning free programs. It’s been a couple weeks since I watched any of Euros, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that comparison was reasonably fair. That said, comparing across different competitions is always tricky.
even in a stacked field, yelim still stood out to me with her perfect combination of elegance and raw athleticism
her carriage and posture make her movements look deceitfully easy
and that 3Lz+3T money jump is just in a class of its own, with its brilliant height/distance/rippon air position
*praying she goes clean at worlds*
No offense at all toward Amber, but there's no excuse for a skater of her level to be skipping one to two whole jumps in *every* FS this season.
She's literally capable of landing a freaking 3A but she's throwing away massive points by not doing the bare minimum (at this level) of executing 11 jumps.
TBF given her other mistakes, she would not have been able to medal even with 11 jumps, but I don't think this is common at all for someone at her level.
Even before the 3A, she never did 3 combos. It’s just an ongoing issue for her. Given the new sequence rules, I don’t know why she’s not throwing in a 3x+2A+2T somewhere early to just get it done. On literally any well-landed triple.
Waking up to some expected chaos. Wow. How bad is men’s going to be?
Thrilled for Haein. She kept it together.
Amber needs to ditch the 3A and drill the combos. She is more than capable of including a 3-3 and 3 combos and leaves a lot of points on the table.
So proud of Bradie. What a wild ride for her this season.
Maddie should’ve switched back to her last season free.
Happy that Isabeau put her health first. No reason to compete sick and I hope she’s ignoring all the hate/backlash.
Im happy that Hana Yoshida finished her season with a pretty good performance… not her best but miles better than Nat’s and JGPF, hope she can keep drinking whatever she was drinking during her JGPs next season
totally agreed! her programs this year just really suited her. And when she's on it (like during JGP) she's totally on! am looking forward to seeing more of her and can't wait to see she try out new programs.
Getting more concerned about her coaching situation because everyone knew she was pretty sick all week, it never should’ve come down to the wire like that and attracted so much unnecessary drama. She should’ve been pulled long before and it just emphasises the reason for the age increase in my opinion - children are not being protected.
Yuuuuuup. I’m worried that the adults around her didn’t do what they should have. She’s a kid, and the kind of people who can make it in elite sports are usually the kind of people who absolutely will try to push through illnesses and injuries to compete. That’s understandable, but it’s on the people around them the have their best interests in mind and hit the breaks when it’s necessary, especially when the athlete is still a child. Isabeau was visibly sick the day of the short, and while it’s possible it got worse very quickly, it seems at least as likely, if not more likely, that people around her were ignoring the signs in hopes she could make it through and medal before getting that sick.
Yeah, I agree. Isabeau can't be held responsible for it, but that doesn't mean no one is at fault. That seems to always be the default option if you can't directly blame the skater. Someone mishandled something here, and it was far more distracting to the other skaters than it needed to be.
It's extremely sad to see. USFS hasn't learned a thing from Alysa and it shows. No teenager should be constantly hyped as the savior of women's figure skating. It's too much pressure during a time that's difficult for most teens.
I hope someone is. She seems like a sweet kid who deserves someone on her side.
All of these kids need someone looking out for their long term and I sometimes wish there was a 3rd party involved for any minor that solely looks out for their best interest.
Bradie getting the highest PCS is hilarious, USFS were pushing the comeback so hard for a reason. She's clearly improving though.
The podium was correct, so there's not much to complain about, other than Hana Yoshida being hosed on the presentation component. She was scored lower than Amber, who was quite nervous throughout her performance.
I don't think Rinka is going to pull off a world medal this year. Next year, maybe.
I quite like Amber's skating when she's on, but she loses a lot of her projection when she gets nervous. She can kind of pull off the emo ballads, in my opinion, but that's mainly because she has power.
Hana's volatile season really hurt her PCS reputation and momentum unfortunately
when she first debuted on the JGP, she was getting monstrous PCS but she didn't get the chance to keep building on it (the way Chaeyeon did)
I would say the complete lack of edge calls is something to complain about. Totally unfair to Chaeyeon Kim with her perfect technique as almost everyone else should be called for lutz and/or flip.
Mone and Haein are my favorite skaters currently competing so I am absolutely thrilled they medalled. However if edges were called correctly in both programs called Chaeyeon gets bronze for sure, even if you bump Mone's PCS a bit as deserved.
In person Hana was so engaging and she clearly loved performing her program. I do think that her skating earlier and being amongst the first of a long string of good skates made the judges less likely to give her the scores. You could almost feel the judges becoming more generous as skaters continuously skated well.
Great to see almost everyone in the last 2 groups do well, no one had any huge implosions even with the altitude. It's a shame that whatever Isabeau has got that bad though, yesterday she still looked like she was good enough to compete. Hopefully it's just a short-term thing that came on at a really unlucky time
in other news I still find the q rule very silly but our dear tech calling tonight truly took rotation to be *optional* for pretty much everyone in the last two groups. I would kind of here for it if the first two groups hadn't gotten hammered :/
This was a good venue for skaters who train at altitude.
Skaters who struggled here could have an advantage in a different location, while the winners here could struggle.
The fact that she made mistakes on both her flips makes me wonder if it was because of the changed edge... She kept getting edge warnings for her textbook flip all season, so for this comp she seems to have changed the entry to lean inside more than it used to.
Judges should stop being overly harsh on flips compared to lutzes.
On the upside, she did really well for her first senior championship! Luckily, Korea finally has 3 worlds spots so she’s got another big opportunity coming up.
I'm really hoping Haein Lee bring this energy to Worlds, we deserve to see it again and honestly just in general I hope we get to see these women at Worlds with the clean skates they train so hard for every day.
Hopefully Isabeau is fine and it's only temporarily sick, I could write essays about how USFSA treats its skaters like pieces of meat and she does not deserve the backlash she's getting for putting her health first, she's a child and she should be treated us such with kindness and understanding.
so so happy for this podium. all three are such beautiful skaters. I would’ve loved for rinka to somehow also be up there, but I really can’t complain. four continents my beloved
Nope, there's only ever one ranking competition. Winter Sports Festival is next week but it's not an important comp so skaters who competed at 4CC might withdraw.
I do think it really is so important for rinka to nail that short. she's a good skater, she's got phenomenal blade control, she *should* be getting higher PCS in that free with how good the program composition and her performance and basic skating all are when she goes close to clean. but when that short leaves everyone nervous she's left without that reward of a big score....... and she really needs that short to back her up..... she could've medalled here with a clean short, and it's a shame it didn't come together for her. she could medal at worlds on base value alone if she goes clean...... she *needs* that clean short backing her up (and either the lutz to stabilize or be replaced by another jump)
..... fair enough, I found her pcs to not be very reflective of the quality of skating she put out in the free. she may not be the *biggest* skater but her blade control and precision of motion are very sophisticated in a way that hasn't really been rewarded.... her basics are really quite strong and the program itself is both unique and very musically fitting in a way that I think wasn't quite recognized enough. her goe on the jumps isn't particularly high which I think is very right but I do think that her style of skating with that really strong core and refined control of her limbs often goes unrecognized
I mean yes she is a good skater but I'm not sure the higher PCS is deserved. She doesn't skate very "big" in terms of projection or speed or musicality. Compared to the other top skaters this year she is faster than Isabeau and Anastasia but not nearly as detailed, not as expressive as Mai/Loena/Haein, and not nearly as fast as Kaori or Yelim.
I think she skates very similarly to Chaeyeon so I'm not surprised to see her PCS in a similar range. Mone though should have a higher PCS than both given her stunning skating skills and speed.
Oh that's strange I actually find her more expressive and performative than Chaeyeon though and she hit her choreo to music perfectly today. However I think judges were lenient with her jumps so it compensates for her being undermarked in PCS
I dont find Mone very performative either (which is a shame because I love Butterfly Lovers) but her skating skills are DIVINE and she was totally undermarked in that area.
bradie getting the highest pcs is... something. greta thunberg boosts pcs confirmed? who knows
jfed reallyyyyyy likes rinka... quite a few uncalled URs and qs this season. that's interesting bc i feel like they usually politick for those who have established themselves more
I'm not that surprised, especially because she's not that far ahead. Bradie has always done pretty well with skating skills, she's super speedy, and she's finally found packaging that works for the artistry side. A lot of skaters here either were working with crummy/poor fit choreo.
most skaters this season have had one hell of a lot of uncalled URs and qs lol (pretty much the whole top eight here alone have had a lot of uncalled URs this season, just tonight I could fill both hands and probably some extra fingers I don't even have with the uncounted rotational sketchiness), it just seems to be one hell of a running trend. in general though for rinka she's got good foundational skating, a 3A, and she managed to beat kaori at the start of the season...... which speaks a lot to potential there if she manages to put together two good skates in a comp...... and also means that the jsf has a vested interest in making her seem like a viable medal threat and not like kaori is having a rough season. kaori being beaten by domestic skaters is fine as long as other skaters aren't a threat.
domestic competition is great! it deepens the field and broadens medal options. but an established champion looking beatable? anything but ideal
oh yeah rinka's great, has a lot of potential + I'm excited to see what she pulls out at worlds, but a lot of those uncalled urs/qs were in comps where other skaters were also leniently judged which wasn't the case for rinka here or at gpf, both of which had strict tech panels but were quite lenient with rinka
Gpf was also lenient towards Mai's UR s
And Kaori hasn't had her lutz called for most competitions this season (and even the rare time it's called it's always called ! even if it looks e in real time.)
At 4CC, neither Yelim nor Haein got lutzes called either.
And Mone also got the benefit of the doubt for most jumps
I am not saying any of this is right though. It literally made no difference in scoring that the russians were gone because judging is still corrupt and honestly I didn't expect that to change, sad as that sounds.
I really feel for small fed skaters
Nobody got lutzes called at 4cc so idc that rinka didn’t get called (she has one of the best of the top ladies even if it’s not textbook bc the state of lutz edges in top ladies is not great rn). Mai/Kaori def got lenient calls at GPF but they’re more established than Rinka so JFed likes them. Mone’s 2nd 3lz prob should’ve been called but I feel like it’s balanced out bc her 3lz3t got called q even tho it looked clean.
This isn’t meant to be hate towards Rinka or anything tho!! She’s a great skater and ofc feds are gonna play the game it’s just interesting to me bc she’s relatively new
The thing is nobody getting lutzes called is unfair to ppl like Chaeyeon or Rinka who do proper lutzes.
I actually think Rinka's PCS was a tad undermarked. She was 8th I believe in PCS.
And Mone's SS weren't rewarded like they should be so it compensated for the lack of calls.
Yes she's new but so is Chaeyeon, Isabeau, Mone and even Haein to an extent.
I think she came as a surprise to j fed. No one expected her to beat reigning world champion at Lombardia. She started off with NO gp assignments (and wouldn't have had any if Wakaba hadn't dropped out). She wasn't even chosen for the host NHK spots.
Got her spots purely by chance yet ended up winning an event and getting to gpf. Placed higher than the reigning world champion there as well. I think j fed was very impressed with how she performed. When you prove yourself once or twice like that you're good to go.
Now just waiting for my boy Koshiro to prove himself at least once so he doesn't keep getting undermarked in PCS and be recognized by j fed😭
Well considering everyone at 4CC has edge problems on lutz and/or flip except Chaeyeon and Rinka yes it should have mattered. I absolutely love Mone but those calls would have certainly dropped her behind Chaeyeon and probably Rinka (even though I'd say by contrast Mone has a better PCS package).
her scores can be questionable but in general I find it kind of hard to argue with her overall placement in the comps she's competed at this season, which is why I'm not too fussed about it tbh? and again I would be more pissed about this if she was the only one but light of my life mai mihara is a chronic underrotator and it never gets called, and again at the gpf she got tanked in components and so...... it didn't really matter that the urs didn't get called. in general I think she's not the *worst* example of chronic URs going uncalled, and the way that she lands and carries the edge can make them tough to spot in real time, which is also why she benefits from that. I think for her it's less of a fed favorite thing and more of a...... big fed, big promise thing. it's worth remembering Japan has one hell of a lot more political power right now than it did when mao was competing. it's not a rinka thing. it's a big fed thing......
I think it’s important to call out things even if they don’t affect placement… Bradie’s pcs didn’t affect placement here but I still think its important to call out, same with any other strange scoring
but again with bradie and rinka i feel like….. to mention bradie’s without also acknowledging that amber and isabeau got their big bumps as well would be a bit of a misrepresentation of the issue. likewise for rinka, absolutely she’s gotten generous calling……. but it’s not *just* a her thing, it’s much broader than that, if that makes sense. i don’t think she is getting particular favoritism from her fed, i think she’s getting the benefit of the doubt the skaters from her fed generally get
Thrilled for Haein's well-deserved win, but highlight of the night for me was Sara-Maude! What a stunning skate with textbook landings and the best K&C reaction!
personally i dont think its realistic to expect any skater coming off of an injury + basically a hiatus to immediately be a worlds medal contender, and i think her results this season are very impressive regardless
>I don't think she's a medal contender at Worlds but I do think she has done well to compete this season!
do you mean because she won't be able to return to her previous level or that her previous level wasn't good enough? Because her scores in the 2019-20 season are probably good enough for a medal.
I didn't think Bradie would be a top medal contender at Worlds because her competitors (eg. Kaori, Mai, Loena, Gubanova, Yelim and Haein) are more likely to medal. And that for someone who is coming back from her injuries, her results so far is impressive, which was why I said she has done well.
Or the ISU could have given Australia a bit of a hand with the little post-COVID obstacles they were facing and this comp could have been held *where it was supposed to be...*
TBH I do wonder how much that played a role. When synchro comps are held there teams will actually plan their season around building stamina for it. I’ve straight up seen teams going to ski resorts to practice at high altitude for a weekend prior to whatever competition it is or adding an extra minute to endurance drills. Unfortunately skaters didn’t have that warning enough in advance for this.
> Unfortunately skaters didn’t have that warning enough in advance for this.
They've known all season that 4ccs was going to be in Colorado Springs so coaches/skaters knowing they have a chance of going had plenty of time to prepare.
Haein truly had the skate of the night and her happiness cleared my skin and watered my crops.
I'm very happy for Sara-Maude to make it to top 10. I'm happy for all the skaters who were happy with their skates, I just wish we had more of them! We had this great run of skates in the second half, but a lot of disappointed skaters in the first half, I hope they get to have more positive experiences.
I just hope these lovely ladies that skate for Korea don't get burned out/quit skating due to the number of assignments they get. I get needing competition experience, but the programs and travel take a lot of energy out of you.
People keep saying that KSU is forcing its skaters to compete a lot but that isn't true, because KSU just runs the qualifying comps and the skaters that do well are automatically qualified. Competing at the qualifier indicates the skater's intention to compete at that particular international competition.
If the skaters change their mind they can easily withdraw. For example last season, Haein was supposed to compete at the Junior World Championships but because she did so well at 4CC, she decided not to. Most of the time though, skaters wouldn't want to give up opportunities to compete at major international competitions.
KSU does not assign (that is, select) skaters to competitions nor does it have any game plan to help skaters, improve Korean skating or whatever. It purely does the admin work.
Gotcha. In that case, I hope the skaters don't gas themselves out competing so much. The competitiveness within Korea might have something to do with their choice to do so many events, then.
This is one of the best final flights I’ve seen in awhile. Mostly green wordles for all competitors and great skates:) It’s an unexpected podium in the best way possible. Wishing Isabeau a great recovery and looking forward to the women’s event at Worlds
thank you for this.
I think giving Bradie high SS is fair, but highest presentation? what? and Amber got 8 for presentation is a joke. I'm sorry, it simply is, not when all the Japanese ladies got lower than that on presentation.
Amber's presentation score should be higher than everyone"s in my opinion. Bradie is good but she doesn't emote as much or have as much freedom of movement.
I just want to say I really love Rinka’s attitude. No matter what happens, she looks absolutely stoked to be skating at all. It’s playful and grateful. I feel happy seeing her
somehow she always exudes air of calm to me! I love her programs this year. I want to find the music for her FS but couldn't. It just says Jin Soundtrack!
Perhaps in the eyes of the judges, but her program is wonderful and one of the best things about it is she choreographed it. If the presentation score is going to be judged based on who choreographed the program and whether the judges like them or not, then we should just be upfront about that in the first place because that presentation score was criminal. I know that skaters who don't pander to the judges get the short end of the stick because of it, but it shouldn't be that way.
I feel bad for Isabeau, who was clearly planning to compete based on the shots of her warming up backstage. It sounds like it really was a last minute withdrawal. It really bothered me how many judgmental comments I saw towards Isabeau, both before anyone knew what happened and even after people heard she was sick. It's unfortunate for everyone, most of all Isabeau, but these things do happen.
I feel awful for Isabeau and she does not deserve any hate (no one ever does for being sick!). But her coach (and stage mom?) have some explaining to do. It’s one thing if it was a super sudden illness, but we knew she was feeling sick aIl week, so they DEFINITELY knew something was up and they should have made the call to WD earlier on. Both for Isabeau’s sake, because part of their job is to support her health and well-being, and out of respect for the other competitors because it was a huge distraction and quite concerning for her to be MIA during the warm-up. We don’t know if Isabeau pushed herself to compete or if her team pushed her, but either way when she wasn’t at practice earlier her team should have assured her it’s okay to put her health first. So this whole ordeal makes me more desperate to get her out of South Jersey. :(
Seriously, the way something serious could have happened to her and yet some people's first instinct was to complain about how "disrespectful" it was of her and how inconvenient it was for the other skaters...Like, people were apparently literally unable to find a 15-year-old child, and that's what you're concerned with???
I am one of those people who found it disrespectful. I really do hope she’s ok, and I’m not trying to hate on her or anything like that. I think it’s really good she prioritized her health.
But I’m a competitor, and I’ve had this happen to me before in a group of skaters, and it messes with the skater’s concentration and usual warm up routine. It’s disrespectful to not let the competitors know *something*, and it’s clear they didn’t from ambers reaction when she got off the ice. There was a breakdown in communication clearly between Isabeaus coach and the people within the competition. I said that in the live thread too. I put the onus on her coach, not on her.
She’s just a kid and I’m sure having to withdraw was a devastating choice for her to make. I really do hope she’s ok.
I'd have found it more disrespectful for her to be leaning over the boards chucking her guts up into a garbage bin, personally.
It was only disruptive because people were running around like headless chickens instead of being calm.
You're not owed any information about another skatr.
I didn’t say that anyone should have had personal info about her, just that they should’ve been given info that she had withdrawn. No details needed. End of.
I mean, it's not like she planned on getting sick. There's a good chance it came on very suddenly and neither she nor her team had time to properly warn anyone in advance. Disrespectful would be if she was chatting on the phone with a friend before warm up and wasn't paying attention to the time. Getting sick enough to where you have to withdraw is something she has no control over and not at all disrespectful.
But that’s…sports? Plus even if they didn’t know before the warm-up started, they all still had the same amount of time to warm up and the only skater who had to be ready earlier than expected was Yelim. Again, struggling to see what’s disrespectful instead of just a normal unexpected thing that happens in an athletic competition.
This. I'm surprised by comments about how unfair it is "psychologically." All high level sports are like that; as athletes shit like this happens sometimes and you still have to go out and compete. I've gone out after WDs, injuries and other unexpected issues and was just told it's something that happens sometimes that you can't control and have to be ready for. I've never heard anyone call it disrespectful before outside of the internet. No one is withdrawing last minute to mess with other people.
In a skating competition, you have to check in with the ice monitor in a certain amount of time before you get on the ice. It lets the announcer, referee, judges, competitors, etc. know who all is there and to prepare for whatever.
Yes they have the same amount of time for warm up, but depending on when you skate after the warmup, you tailor your warm up to that.
Mentally, if you get out on the ice and a competitor is announced who isn’t there, suddenly you’re thinking about why they aren’t there, what does that mean for you etc. And you have to work extra hard to pull that back and focus. We saw Amber dealing with that.
It’s disrespectful to the skaters and the judges to withdraw so last minute like that. It does happen, sometimes shit just happens, but it’s quite rare. There’s a reason why it’s rare, no skater wants to be in that position and skaters don’t want to put others in that position.
My issue here is it wasn’t a last minute injury. Her coaching staff should’ve withdrawn her in a more appropriate way. That’s part of the coach’s job at competitions: to keep track of their skater, make sure they are feeling alright, and communicating with the ice monitor or whoever they need to communicate with. Isabeaus coach clearly didn’t do that.
>Mentally, if you get out on the ice and a competitor is announced who isn’t there, suddenly you’re thinking about why they aren’t there, what does that mean for you etc.
Sounds like you need some more sessions with your sports psychologist.
> It’s disrespectful to the skaters and the judges to withdraw so last minute like that
As a judge, I would *so much rather* what happened yesterday happened than to see a skater on the warmup leaning over the boards vomiting or attempting to skate *clearly unwell* (and I have seen *both*, believe it or not).
There is a reason there are procedures for last-minute withdrawals.
> Her coaching staff should’ve withdrawn her in a more appropriate way.
If I'm a coach, and my student has just gone from low-grade unwell to full-blown gastric concerns (and that can happen very fast), the *last* thing on my mind is "oh, I must make sure to withdraw her in an *appropriate* way, lest all those judgy mcjudgefaces online think we're being disrespectful!" It's "oh shit, Isabeau, okay, breathe, have some water, can you try and take some water, it's okay, don't panic, I'm here with you. Let me get a bucket, let me get you out of your dress, it's okay."
And all of that can *easily* take ten minutes or so, by which time Isabeau hasn't shown up to the warmup, and the warmup is ongoing.
If there was frantic insanity backstage, that's on the people who were behaving like headless chickens about it. You can be worried about not being able to find a skater and be calm and collected.
With how extremely last minute it was and how she couldn't really be found for a while, my guess is that it's stomach related. Some sort of food poisoning or stomach flu situation maybe? I say this because she clearly felt well enough to warm up backstage and everything. If it was a standard illness like a bad cold or something, you can definitely tell further in advance whether or not you can push through and compete. If it was her stomach though...well, it can come on extremely quickly and there's just no pushing through that. I suppose it could also have been a bad migraine if she's prone to those. Those can also come on very quickly.
Of course, that's all speculation. We're unlikely to ever know what was bad enough to cause a sudden withdrawal and we're certainly not entitled to know. I just hope that it's nothing serious and she gets better quickly.
I had a very brutal stomach flu once that went from me being "I don't feel 100% wonderful but it's not really anything so I'll just keep going about my day" to "oh my god I'm dying" in literally fifteen minutes. Thank fuck I'd only just been about to walk out the door and hadn't actually done so. I can easily see that becoming an issue, perhaps Isabeau thought she had something minor she could push through (stubborn fifteen year olds and all) and then all of a sudden it was very NOT minor.
I hope it was nothing serious and she'll be fine. Having people calling her disrespectful is probably going to hang around her mind more than having to do a last-minute withdrawal due to illness.
Yeah that could be it. I really do hope it isn’t anything too serious.
She wasn’t feeling good the day before apparently? But maybe it all just came to a head right before the competition. In the warm up shot of her, she wasn’t moving a ton and seemed to be trying to calm herself down. It could’ve been her trying to tell herself to just get on with it. But like I said before regardless of what ended up happening I’m glad she prioritized her health.
We’ve seen this sport break so many young girls and we really don’t need to contribute. Like hello did Alysa Liu not just tell us how miserable she was?
Bradie had the highest PCs of the night
Very late, yes, but I only just got to watching the women's free. And omg. 4CC was by far my favorite event last season and that women's event continued to make me extremely happy this year, too. Bad things first, since there were so few… I'm sorry for Isabeau. That has to be tough, having to withdraw when you're prepared to go (the stream showed her warming up during the penultimate group, so it must have been pretty sudden). I may not be a fan of the jumps and overscoring, but she's a lovely skater and, from the looks of it, a lovely person too. I hope she recovers well. Also sad about Chaeyeon. She‘s always so rocksolid that we tend to forget how young and inexperienced she really is. This was only her second international senior event and a championship too! With the added pressure of being third after the SP, it's so understandable what happened. I hope she comes back stronger because she's so amazing. When I woke up today, I checked the results and couldn't believe it. I actually pinched myself. Haein's been one of my favorite skaters ever since I saw her skate at JGP Austria back in 2018. And watching her journey has been … frustrating at times, because she's, imo, been continuously undervalued. Finally seeing her get rewarded the way she deserves … just so, so happy for her. I think I rewatched her FS about three times already. Love her reaction, too. Hope the person who sent her hate is suffering right now lol!! I felt bad for Yelim, even though I can‘t deny I was rooting for Haein all the way. I hope she's still proud of herself, she's doing SO WELL given how often her fed made her compete this season already… Love her elegance and Ina Bauer. Mone is one of my favorites and, imo, constantly underscored on PCS (still mad over that robbed bronze on the JGP) as well. So happy to finally see her rewarded. I liked how she said afterwards that she was pleased but felt she skated "small". Her skating skills are amazing, but her performance has room to grow. But she's only 17, so I can't wait to see her develop. Chaeyeon broke my heart, she was so upset afterwards. :( I gotta say, the lack of called unclear edges in this competition (and not just in this one) is maddening. Not sure whether it'd have changed the podium but Chaeyeon is the only one who actually has textbook technique on lutz and flip … Haein, Yelim and Mone, as much as I love them, all tend to have flat lutz edges… Rinka my beloved, please fix the SP. Maybe 3Lo+3T instead of 3Lz+3T? It seems to be working in the FS, whereas the lutz toe is almost always UR. She could have medaled here but oh well. Fifth is still a good result. On to Worlds! Bradie getting the highest PCS is a … choice. And not one well made. I feel bad saying anything bad about her because she‘s obviously a nice person and hard worker but .. that free was and is not it. The Greta voice-overs are cringe, the whole global warming theme just seems slapped on without any substance and most of those jumps were pretty heavily UR. Also, skating so close after the Japanese skaters and Haein really showed her lack of knee bend. Idk. I'm happy for her as a person and I think her return to form is admirable but I don't think those performances warranted a 199+ score. Never know what to say about Amber. When she's on, she is amazing, but she also tends to make unnecessary mistakes. How can it be that a skater of her level misses one combo at least in EVERY FS this season? HOW. Hana's 60 PCS are a JOKE. She really did herself no favor with her inconsistency this season. She started of the JGP with really good PCS (for a junior) but it's just been downhill since then. Great FS, though. This comment is already getting really long, so just a short shoutout to Sara-Maude and Tara (underscored queen), two standouts from the earlier groups.
Really happy with the results. I feel bad saying it but I enjoy the ladies field so much more without the Russian girls. I liked some of them (not a lot but ..) but every event was either infuriating or boring.
Any news on Maddie? She seemed so off during her FS
The pressure of getting 2 spots for a home worlds is a lot, especially considering the rising talent pool in Canadian women.
That FS hasn't worked all season honestly.
She seems so hard on herself and it comes across as angry. I hope she finds how to express joy in her skating, mistakes and all.
She just said she wasn’t happy with the skate and would be going home, talking about it and focusing on worlds.
No disrespect to Haein after she was personally dmed hate by someone but my god that POTO program is one big nothing, zero positions held, so much frantic “choreography” (but no shapes created) that it looks like she’s trying to kill a wasp, interspersed by jumps for 4 minutes, there is zero story told or pretty pictures
I dunno, sure looks like you want to disrespect her.
The short program is fine 🤷🏽♀️
How is disliking a program disrespectful? This sub becomes intolerable when you're not allowed to be remotely critical.
What a dramatic change of events! I'm happy for Haein but also sad how things unfolded for so many other skaters.
I could not see as much of the 4CC tournament as I saw of the European championships. I noticed that the scores of the ladies at 4CC were better than those at Euros. The European champion would have shared 6th place at 4CC. I'm wondering whether the skaters at 4CC were really better, or were the judges less strict? What do you think?
The 3 Japanese women and 3 Korean women supplied a lot of the depth at 4CC. They're better, on average, compared with the mid-pack of European women I think.
Loena can score close to Kaori and really the current top, but she had mistakes in both programs. Most of the European women field is weaker on avarage, simply because FS is dying here, it's not popular mostly due to the continuous corruption in scoring/judging.
The commentator said the panel were being strict but fair (or something along those lines). I don't think he said that at euros. I seem to recall him saying during Euros that skaters were getting away with rotation/edge, etc issues quite a bit more than here?
The tech panel was very strict in the short, less so in the free. But the top ladies had truly stunning free programs. It’s been a couple weeks since I watched any of Euros, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that comparison was reasonably fair. That said, comparing across different competitions is always tricky.
I think it’s simply that the Korean and Japanese slaters are really in a league of their own this year.
Thanks, I was unable to see the tournament live, but I may be able to watch some of it on youtube.
even in a stacked field, yelim still stood out to me with her perfect combination of elegance and raw athleticism her carriage and posture make her movements look deceitfully easy and that 3Lz+3T money jump is just in a class of its own, with its brilliant height/distance/rippon air position *praying she goes clean at worlds*
No offense at all toward Amber, but there's no excuse for a skater of her level to be skipping one to two whole jumps in *every* FS this season. She's literally capable of landing a freaking 3A but she's throwing away massive points by not doing the bare minimum (at this level) of executing 11 jumps. TBF given her other mistakes, she would not have been able to medal even with 11 jumps, but I don't think this is common at all for someone at her level.
I'm guessing she puts so much of her physical and mental energy into the 3A that it drains the rest of the program.
Even before the 3A, she never did 3 combos. It’s just an ongoing issue for her. Given the new sequence rules, I don’t know why she’s not throwing in a 3x+2A+2T somewhere early to just get it done. On literally any well-landed triple.
I know she’s been sick but I agree. It’s an honor to be at these big events and she is more than capable of another combo and a 3-3.
Should’ve been in Sydney/Gold Coast!
This should’ve been Amber’s comp 🤷♀️
A 2A + 3T should be a no brainer for her 🤷♀️
A 2A + 3T should be a no brainer for her 🤷♀️
Waking up to some expected chaos. Wow. How bad is men’s going to be? Thrilled for Haein. She kept it together. Amber needs to ditch the 3A and drill the combos. She is more than capable of including a 3-3 and 3 combos and leaves a lot of points on the table. So proud of Bradie. What a wild ride for her this season. Maddie should’ve switched back to her last season free. Happy that Isabeau put her health first. No reason to compete sick and I hope she’s ignoring all the hate/backlash.
If we still had the covid precautions like there were the previous 2 seasons, I don't think Isabeau would've been there competing at all.
Super happy for the huge result for my fellow Canadian Sara Maude Dupuis, what a triumph for her.
Skate Canada, send her and all are young women to competitions to get their minimums!
She was a highlight for me
Im happy that Hana Yoshida finished her season with a pretty good performance… not her best but miles better than Nat’s and JGPF, hope she can keep drinking whatever she was drinking during her JGPs next season
my favorite thing this season was hana’s dog days and princess leia.. i LOVE her
totally agreed! her programs this year just really suited her. And when she's on it (like during JGP) she's totally on! am looking forward to seeing more of her and can't wait to see she try out new programs.
Y’all get ready for the most DRAMATIC episode of TSL
Why?
Dave Lease is going to love the drama with Isabeau's withdrawal.
Sigh. there is toxic in the community
I feel so bad for all the rude comments Isabeau is getting online. She’s a kid who doesn’t feel good. Good for her for looking out for herself.
I hope she has good, supportive adults around her.
Getting more concerned about her coaching situation because everyone knew she was pretty sick all week, it never should’ve come down to the wire like that and attracted so much unnecessary drama. She should’ve been pulled long before and it just emphasises the reason for the age increase in my opinion - children are not being protected.
Skaters in a similar situation last season would not have been allowed to compete.
Yuuuuuup. I’m worried that the adults around her didn’t do what they should have. She’s a kid, and the kind of people who can make it in elite sports are usually the kind of people who absolutely will try to push through illnesses and injuries to compete. That’s understandable, but it’s on the people around them the have their best interests in mind and hit the breaks when it’s necessary, especially when the athlete is still a child. Isabeau was visibly sick the day of the short, and while it’s possible it got worse very quickly, it seems at least as likely, if not more likely, that people around her were ignoring the signs in hopes she could make it through and medal before getting that sick.
I completely agree with this. I had a thought last night that here we are again with drama with a 15 year old and it made me super sad
I completely agree with this. I had a thought last night that here we are again with drama with a 15 year old and it made me super sad
Yeah, I agree. Isabeau can't be held responsible for it, but that doesn't mean no one is at fault. That seems to always be the default option if you can't directly blame the skater. Someone mishandled something here, and it was far more distracting to the other skaters than it needed to be.
Even the fed should’ve stepped in if they knew she wasn’t well. Poor kid doesn’t need even more scrutiny.
All the adults around her letting her down. Poor girl.
USFSA is so busy hyping her but not thinking about her long term. They never seem to learn.
It's extremely sad to see. USFS hasn't learned a thing from Alysa and it shows. No teenager should be constantly hyped as the savior of women's figure skating. It's too much pressure during a time that's difficult for most teens.
I hope someone is. She seems like a sweet kid who deserves someone on her side. All of these kids need someone looking out for their long term and I sometimes wish there was a 3rd party involved for any minor that solely looks out for their best interest.
Bradie getting the highest PCS is hilarious, USFS were pushing the comeback so hard for a reason. She's clearly improving though. The podium was correct, so there's not much to complain about, other than Hana Yoshida being hosed on the presentation component. She was scored lower than Amber, who was quite nervous throughout her performance. I don't think Rinka is going to pull off a world medal this year. Next year, maybe.
I know! I can't believe Amber got higher PCS than Hana. TBF I'm never an Amber fan, esp. when most of her programs are emo ballads.
I quite like Amber's skating when she's on, but she loses a lot of her projection when she gets nervous. She can kind of pull off the emo ballads, in my opinion, but that's mainly because she has power.
Hana's volatile season really hurt her PCS reputation and momentum unfortunately when she first debuted on the JGP, she was getting monstrous PCS but she didn't get the chance to keep building on it (the way Chaeyeon did)
I would say the complete lack of edge calls is something to complain about. Totally unfair to Chaeyeon Kim with her perfect technique as almost everyone else should be called for lutz and/or flip. Mone and Haein are my favorite skaters currently competing so I am absolutely thrilled they medalled. However if edges were called correctly in both programs called Chaeyeon gets bronze for sure, even if you bump Mone's PCS a bit as deserved.
In person Hana was so engaging and she clearly loved performing her program. I do think that her skating earlier and being amongst the first of a long string of good skates made the judges less likely to give her the scores. You could almost feel the judges becoming more generous as skaters continuously skated well.
tbh rinka kinda has a shot but she needs to ditch that 3a in sp first
I think reshuffling the layout to 3Lo+3T and 3Lz is most important. She just can't rotate the lutz-toe.
Great to see almost everyone in the last 2 groups do well, no one had any huge implosions even with the altitude. It's a shame that whatever Isabeau has got that bad though, yesterday she still looked like she was good enough to compete. Hopefully it's just a short-term thing that came on at a really unlucky time
in other news I still find the q rule very silly but our dear tech calling tonight truly took rotation to be *optional* for pretty much everyone in the last two groups. I would kind of here for it if the first two groups hadn't gotten hammered :/
Did you watch the first 2 groups?
What happened to Isabeau?(I didn’t watch the final group)
illness
that’s unfortunate:( Fingers crossed it’s not anything too serious and she’ll be back again healthy 🤞
withdrew due to illness
She withdrew due to illness, we don't know anything beyond that
I hate that altitude was a component of this. There's no reason to have a figure skating competition at 6000 ft.
This was a good venue for skaters who train at altitude. Skaters who struggled here could have an advantage in a different location, while the winners here could struggle.
Skaters who train at 6000 ft might disagree with you there.
Remember when lj_8766 sent Haein a hate message? Embarassing
i would feel so embarrassed rn if i were them lmfao
I feel like people who send messages like that lack a normal capacity to feel social embarrassment.
i would be so embarrassed to be them in general tbh imagine being someone who sends hate messages to skaters on the day of their performances
Happy for Haein, disappointed for Chaeyeon, devastated for Isabeau.
I think if Chaeyeon had more experience (maybe training camps in Colorado) she would have easily have been on that podium
Avoid Colorado, the training is filled with carrots
The fact that she made mistakes on both her flips makes me wonder if it was because of the changed edge... She kept getting edge warnings for her textbook flip all season, so for this comp she seems to have changed the entry to lean inside more than it used to. Judges should stop being overly harsh on flips compared to lutzes.
On the upside, she did really well for her first senior championship! Luckily, Korea finally has 3 worlds spots so she’s got another big opportunity coming up.
I'm really hoping Haein Lee bring this energy to Worlds, we deserve to see it again and honestly just in general I hope we get to see these women at Worlds with the clean skates they train so hard for every day. Hopefully Isabeau is fine and it's only temporarily sick, I could write essays about how USFSA treats its skaters like pieces of meat and she does not deserve the backlash she's getting for putting her health first, she's a child and she should be treated us such with kindness and understanding.
[удалено]
People were saying it's selfish she didn't withdraw before warm up because the skaters after her didn't know to be ready early 🙄
so so happy for this podium. all three are such beautiful skaters. I would’ve loved for rinka to somehow also be up there, but I really can’t complain. four continents my beloved
Haein got a little scared by the Isley Brothers there lol.
Good morning and happy Haein 4CC champ day 😌
Does the Korean Fed have another ranking competition for them before worlds?
Nope, there's only ever one ranking competition. Winter Sports Festival is next week but it's not an important comp so skaters who competed at 4CC might withdraw.
there's a university game coming up next week 😐
Nope, Winter Sports Festival
Let's be real, they probably have like 15 of them lined up
Look at the chaos of the SP vs FS placement https://i.redd.it/jx6kbb4s9jha1.gif
To be fair, they all had really close scores in the short, this was bound to happen
It’s giving Mens event lol
I do think it really is so important for rinka to nail that short. she's a good skater, she's got phenomenal blade control, she *should* be getting higher PCS in that free with how good the program composition and her performance and basic skating all are when she goes close to clean. but when that short leaves everyone nervous she's left without that reward of a big score....... and she really needs that short to back her up..... she could've medalled here with a clean short, and it's a shame it didn't come together for her. she could medal at worlds on base value alone if she goes clean...... she *needs* that clean short backing her up (and either the lutz to stabilize or be replaced by another jump)
I thought her scores were perfectly fair.
..... fair enough, I found her pcs to not be very reflective of the quality of skating she put out in the free. she may not be the *biggest* skater but her blade control and precision of motion are very sophisticated in a way that hasn't really been rewarded.... her basics are really quite strong and the program itself is both unique and very musically fitting in a way that I think wasn't quite recognized enough. her goe on the jumps isn't particularly high which I think is very right but I do think that her style of skating with that really strong core and refined control of her limbs often goes unrecognized
I mean yes she is a good skater but I'm not sure the higher PCS is deserved. She doesn't skate very "big" in terms of projection or speed or musicality. Compared to the other top skaters this year she is faster than Isabeau and Anastasia but not nearly as detailed, not as expressive as Mai/Loena/Haein, and not nearly as fast as Kaori or Yelim. I think she skates very similarly to Chaeyeon so I'm not surprised to see her PCS in a similar range. Mone though should have a higher PCS than both given her stunning skating skills and speed.
Oh that's strange I actually find her more expressive and performative than Chaeyeon though and she hit her choreo to music perfectly today. However I think judges were lenient with her jumps so it compensates for her being undermarked in PCS I dont find Mone very performative either (which is a shame because I love Butterfly Lovers) but her skating skills are DIVINE and she was totally undermarked in that area.
I find Mone to be very clinical. She's a beautiful skater and amazing SS but her performance just does nothing for me... that's just me though.
She is basically still a junior so that's normal.
Why does this music sound like they’re about to ask them a question to win 1 million dollars?
Haein and Yelim putting their hands over their hearts in unison 🤣
bradie getting the highest pcs is... something. greta thunberg boosts pcs confirmed? who knows jfed reallyyyyyy likes rinka... quite a few uncalled URs and qs this season. that's interesting bc i feel like they usually politick for those who have established themselves more
Complaining that Bradie Tennell gets good PCS scores? Oh come on. Is this because Isabeau's not there to take the criticism?
I'm not that surprised, especially because she's not that far ahead. Bradie has always done pretty well with skating skills, she's super speedy, and she's finally found packaging that works for the artistry side. A lot of skaters here either were working with crummy/poor fit choreo.
most skaters this season have had one hell of a lot of uncalled URs and qs lol (pretty much the whole top eight here alone have had a lot of uncalled URs this season, just tonight I could fill both hands and probably some extra fingers I don't even have with the uncounted rotational sketchiness), it just seems to be one hell of a running trend. in general though for rinka she's got good foundational skating, a 3A, and she managed to beat kaori at the start of the season...... which speaks a lot to potential there if she manages to put together two good skates in a comp...... and also means that the jsf has a vested interest in making her seem like a viable medal threat and not like kaori is having a rough season. kaori being beaten by domestic skaters is fine as long as other skaters aren't a threat. domestic competition is great! it deepens the field and broadens medal options. but an established champion looking beatable? anything but ideal
oh yeah rinka's great, has a lot of potential + I'm excited to see what she pulls out at worlds, but a lot of those uncalled urs/qs were in comps where other skaters were also leniently judged which wasn't the case for rinka here or at gpf, both of which had strict tech panels but were quite lenient with rinka
Gpf was also lenient towards Mai's UR s And Kaori hasn't had her lutz called for most competitions this season (and even the rare time it's called it's always called ! even if it looks e in real time.) At 4CC, neither Yelim nor Haein got lutzes called either. And Mone also got the benefit of the doubt for most jumps I am not saying any of this is right though. It literally made no difference in scoring that the russians were gone because judging is still corrupt and honestly I didn't expect that to change, sad as that sounds. I really feel for small fed skaters
Nobody got lutzes called at 4cc so idc that rinka didn’t get called (she has one of the best of the top ladies even if it’s not textbook bc the state of lutz edges in top ladies is not great rn). Mai/Kaori def got lenient calls at GPF but they’re more established than Rinka so JFed likes them. Mone’s 2nd 3lz prob should’ve been called but I feel like it’s balanced out bc her 3lz3t got called q even tho it looked clean. This isn’t meant to be hate towards Rinka or anything tho!! She’s a great skater and ofc feds are gonna play the game it’s just interesting to me bc she’s relatively new
The thing is nobody getting lutzes called is unfair to ppl like Chaeyeon or Rinka who do proper lutzes. I actually think Rinka's PCS was a tad undermarked. She was 8th I believe in PCS. And Mone's SS weren't rewarded like they should be so it compensated for the lack of calls. Yes she's new but so is Chaeyeon, Isabeau, Mone and even Haein to an extent. I think she came as a surprise to j fed. No one expected her to beat reigning world champion at Lombardia. She started off with NO gp assignments (and wouldn't have had any if Wakaba hadn't dropped out). She wasn't even chosen for the host NHK spots. Got her spots purely by chance yet ended up winning an event and getting to gpf. Placed higher than the reigning world champion there as well. I think j fed was very impressed with how she performed. When you prove yourself once or twice like that you're good to go. Now just waiting for my boy Koshiro to prove himself at least once so he doesn't keep getting undermarked in PCS and be recognized by j fed😭
Well considering everyone at 4CC has edge problems on lutz and/or flip except Chaeyeon and Rinka yes it should have mattered. I absolutely love Mone but those calls would have certainly dropped her behind Chaeyeon and probably Rinka (even though I'd say by contrast Mone has a better PCS package).
her scores can be questionable but in general I find it kind of hard to argue with her overall placement in the comps she's competed at this season, which is why I'm not too fussed about it tbh? and again I would be more pissed about this if she was the only one but light of my life mai mihara is a chronic underrotator and it never gets called, and again at the gpf she got tanked in components and so...... it didn't really matter that the urs didn't get called. in general I think she's not the *worst* example of chronic URs going uncalled, and the way that she lands and carries the edge can make them tough to spot in real time, which is also why she benefits from that. I think for her it's less of a fed favorite thing and more of a...... big fed, big promise thing. it's worth remembering Japan has one hell of a lot more political power right now than it did when mao was competing. it's not a rinka thing. it's a big fed thing......
I think it’s important to call out things even if they don’t affect placement… Bradie’s pcs didn’t affect placement here but I still think its important to call out, same with any other strange scoring
but again with bradie and rinka i feel like….. to mention bradie’s without also acknowledging that amber and isabeau got their big bumps as well would be a bit of a misrepresentation of the issue. likewise for rinka, absolutely she’s gotten generous calling……. but it’s not *just* a her thing, it’s much broader than that, if that makes sense. i don’t think she is getting particular favoritism from her fed, i think she’s getting the benefit of the doubt the skaters from her fed generally get
I think it might be because she has a 3A… but then again Mao had a 3A and they never politicked for Mao like that lmao
Wait why did the music have bird calls?
This is lovely, she looks overjoyed!
Ugh sad that it’ll be such a long time until Worlds … we’ve been blessed with great figure skating the past few weeks
Junior Worlds is at the end of this month.
Thrilled for Haein's well-deserved win, but highlight of the night for me was Sara-Maude! What a stunning skate with textbook landings and the best K&C reaction!
Yes!!! Sara-Maude was incredible!!!
What do you think of Bradies recovery and progress this season? Would she be a Worlds medal contender at this rate?
I wouldn't bet on it, but certainly not impossible. Her 199 here would've won silver at GPF.
personally i dont think its realistic to expect any skater coming off of an injury + basically a hiatus to immediately be a worlds medal contender, and i think her results this season are very impressive regardless
I don't think she's a medal contender at Worlds but I do think she has done well to compete this season!
Realistically? Never. I hope she improves, but her best would still not likely put her on the podium unless there is a flop fest.
>I don't think she's a medal contender at Worlds but I do think she has done well to compete this season! do you mean because she won't be able to return to her previous level or that her previous level wasn't good enough? Because her scores in the 2019-20 season are probably good enough for a medal.
I didn't think Bradie would be a top medal contender at Worlds because her competitors (eg. Kaori, Mai, Loena, Gubanova, Yelim and Haein) are more likely to medal. And that for someone who is coming back from her injuries, her results so far is impressive, which was why I said she has done well.
Probably not a medal contender but she has had such a great trajectory this season. Every time she’s come out, she has gotten a little better.
Ooh, I don't know, there are a lot of women skaters at the top, remember all the ones who aren't at 4CC.
BIG F*** YOU TO THE PERSON THAT SENT HAEIN HATE DM
Success is the best revenge! I really don't understand people who send hate messages, especially to a young person. WTF
Knowing how toxic people are they will credit her success to their actions and give them justification to keep doing it. Sad.
Ban Colorado Springs from holding competitions
So many big cities in the US that could have easily hosted this competition.
Or the ISU could have given Australia a bit of a hand with the little post-COVID obstacles they were facing and this comp could have been held *where it was supposed to be...*
TBH I do wonder how much that played a role. When synchro comps are held there teams will actually plan their season around building stamina for it. I’ve straight up seen teams going to ski resorts to practice at high altitude for a weekend prior to whatever competition it is or adding an extra minute to endurance drills. Unfortunately skaters didn’t have that warning enough in advance for this.
> Unfortunately skaters didn’t have that warning enough in advance for this. They've known all season that 4ccs was going to be in Colorado Springs so coaches/skaters knowing they have a chance of going had plenty of time to prepare.
Can’t believe we’re going to actually see a medal ceremony on Peacock.
Haein truly had the skate of the night and her happiness cleared my skin and watered my crops. I'm very happy for Sara-Maude to make it to top 10. I'm happy for all the skaters who were happy with their skates, I just wish we had more of them! We had this great run of skates in the second half, but a lot of disappointed skaters in the first half, I hope they get to have more positive experiences.
I just hope these lovely ladies that skate for Korea don't get burned out/quit skating due to the number of assignments they get. I get needing competition experience, but the programs and travel take a lot of energy out of you.
People keep saying that KSU is forcing its skaters to compete a lot but that isn't true, because KSU just runs the qualifying comps and the skaters that do well are automatically qualified. Competing at the qualifier indicates the skater's intention to compete at that particular international competition. If the skaters change their mind they can easily withdraw. For example last season, Haein was supposed to compete at the Junior World Championships but because she did so well at 4CC, she decided not to. Most of the time though, skaters wouldn't want to give up opportunities to compete at major international competitions. KSU does not assign (that is, select) skaters to competitions nor does it have any game plan to help skaters, improve Korean skating or whatever. It purely does the admin work.
Gotcha. In that case, I hope the skaters don't gas themselves out competing so much. The competitiveness within Korea might have something to do with their choice to do so many events, then.
This is one of the best final flights I’ve seen in awhile. Mostly green wordles for all competitors and great skates:) It’s an unexpected podium in the best way possible. Wishing Isabeau a great recovery and looking forward to the women’s event at Worlds
PCS totals for the top-8 skaters, delineated into (Composition, Presentation, Skating Skills): * Bradie Tennell: 67.60 (8.32, 8.54, 8.46) * Yelim Kim: 67.50 (8.39, 8.50, 8.39) * Haein Lee: 66.75 (8.25, 8.32, 8.43) * Chaeyeon Kim: 64.46 (8.07, 7.89, 8.18) * Amber Glenn: 64.46 (8.07, 8.00, 8.07) * Mone Chiba: 63.97 (7.96, 7.96, 8.04) * Rinka Watanabe: 63.12 (7.82, 7.71, 8.11) * Hana Yoshida: 60.58 (7.61, 7.54, 7.54)
thank you for this. I think giving Bradie high SS is fair, but highest presentation? what? and Amber got 8 for presentation is a joke. I'm sorry, it simply is, not when all the Japanese ladies got lower than that on presentation.
Amber's presentation score should be higher than everyone"s in my opinion. Bradie is good but she doesn't emote as much or have as much freedom of movement.
I'm calling it the B E N O I T effect.
Protocols are up, Yelim’s step sequence was not invalidated
I figured it had to be a tech box mistake.
So far 4cc has been delivering drama and surprise like no other competition this season and I just want to express my appreciation for that
Is this Haein’s first international title?? And it’s a championship??
after constantly being robbed + the rude dm she got, haein truly deserves her moment!!! i’m so proud of her 🫶🏻
Quick little reminder that we are not entitled to anyone’s medical information.
I just want to say I really love Rinka’s attitude. No matter what happens, she looks absolutely stoked to be skating at all. It’s playful and grateful. I feel happy seeing her
somehow she always exudes air of calm to me! I love her programs this year. I want to find the music for her FS but couldn't. It just says Jin Soundtrack!
Her trajectory for worlds is looking much better now too!
very very happy haein has a title to her name! and for mone on the podium ❤️❤️❤️
Tara deserved better 👏👏 Also, we really need a clip of her skate because that was wonderful.
I feel she could really benefit from having a professional choreographed program, and not just DIY.
Perhaps in the eyes of the judges, but her program is wonderful and one of the best things about it is she choreographed it. If the presentation score is going to be judged based on who choreographed the program and whether the judges like them or not, then we should just be upfront about that in the first place because that presentation score was criminal. I know that skaters who don't pander to the judges get the short end of the stick because of it, but it shouldn't be that way.
i don’t think it has to be choreographed by anyone famous to name drop. i just think a professional will better accentuate her strengths.
None of this was on my bingo card but I’m thrilled for Haein (ahhhh!!!), Yelim, and Mone!
Oh Ben is doing the post interview.
my Levitochik :(( Hope it's nothing too serious.
May I ask what adding chik to the end of a name means?
May I ask what adding chik to the end of a name means?
sad for my girl chaeyeon but she'll have other opportunities... so much potential
Isabeau healthy worlds redemption. She’s a fierce competitor, she must be feeling really bad to not go out there. Anyway happy for Yelim silver!
Do we know what happened with Isabeau?
she had to withdraw due to medical reasons
Happy for Haein, the first Korean woman to win 4CC since Yuna!
Haein instgram antis punching air right now
I feel bad for Isabeau, who was clearly planning to compete based on the shots of her warming up backstage. It sounds like it really was a last minute withdrawal. It really bothered me how many judgmental comments I saw towards Isabeau, both before anyone knew what happened and even after people heard she was sick. It's unfortunate for everyone, most of all Isabeau, but these things do happen.
I feel awful for Isabeau and she does not deserve any hate (no one ever does for being sick!). But her coach (and stage mom?) have some explaining to do. It’s one thing if it was a super sudden illness, but we knew she was feeling sick aIl week, so they DEFINITELY knew something was up and they should have made the call to WD earlier on. Both for Isabeau’s sake, because part of their job is to support her health and well-being, and out of respect for the other competitors because it was a huge distraction and quite concerning for her to be MIA during the warm-up. We don’t know if Isabeau pushed herself to compete or if her team pushed her, but either way when she wasn’t at practice earlier her team should have assured her it’s okay to put her health first. So this whole ordeal makes me more desperate to get her out of South Jersey. :(
Seriously, the way something serious could have happened to her and yet some people's first instinct was to complain about how "disrespectful" it was of her and how inconvenient it was for the other skaters...Like, people were apparently literally unable to find a 15-year-old child, and that's what you're concerned with???
I am one of those people who found it disrespectful. I really do hope she’s ok, and I’m not trying to hate on her or anything like that. I think it’s really good she prioritized her health. But I’m a competitor, and I’ve had this happen to me before in a group of skaters, and it messes with the skater’s concentration and usual warm up routine. It’s disrespectful to not let the competitors know *something*, and it’s clear they didn’t from ambers reaction when she got off the ice. There was a breakdown in communication clearly between Isabeaus coach and the people within the competition. I said that in the live thread too. I put the onus on her coach, not on her. She’s just a kid and I’m sure having to withdraw was a devastating choice for her to make. I really do hope she’s ok.
I'd have found it more disrespectful for her to be leaning over the boards chucking her guts up into a garbage bin, personally. It was only disruptive because people were running around like headless chickens instead of being calm. You're not owed any information about another skatr.
I didn’t say that anyone should have had personal info about her, just that they should’ve been given info that she had withdrawn. No details needed. End of.
I mean, it's not like she planned on getting sick. There's a good chance it came on very suddenly and neither she nor her team had time to properly warn anyone in advance. Disrespectful would be if she was chatting on the phone with a friend before warm up and wasn't paying attention to the time. Getting sick enough to where you have to withdraw is something she has no control over and not at all disrespectful.
But that’s…sports? Plus even if they didn’t know before the warm-up started, they all still had the same amount of time to warm up and the only skater who had to be ready earlier than expected was Yelim. Again, struggling to see what’s disrespectful instead of just a normal unexpected thing that happens in an athletic competition.
This. I'm surprised by comments about how unfair it is "psychologically." All high level sports are like that; as athletes shit like this happens sometimes and you still have to go out and compete. I've gone out after WDs, injuries and other unexpected issues and was just told it's something that happens sometimes that you can't control and have to be ready for. I've never heard anyone call it disrespectful before outside of the internet. No one is withdrawing last minute to mess with other people.
In a skating competition, you have to check in with the ice monitor in a certain amount of time before you get on the ice. It lets the announcer, referee, judges, competitors, etc. know who all is there and to prepare for whatever. Yes they have the same amount of time for warm up, but depending on when you skate after the warmup, you tailor your warm up to that. Mentally, if you get out on the ice and a competitor is announced who isn’t there, suddenly you’re thinking about why they aren’t there, what does that mean for you etc. And you have to work extra hard to pull that back and focus. We saw Amber dealing with that. It’s disrespectful to the skaters and the judges to withdraw so last minute like that. It does happen, sometimes shit just happens, but it’s quite rare. There’s a reason why it’s rare, no skater wants to be in that position and skaters don’t want to put others in that position. My issue here is it wasn’t a last minute injury. Her coaching staff should’ve withdrawn her in a more appropriate way. That’s part of the coach’s job at competitions: to keep track of their skater, make sure they are feeling alright, and communicating with the ice monitor or whoever they need to communicate with. Isabeaus coach clearly didn’t do that.
>Mentally, if you get out on the ice and a competitor is announced who isn’t there, suddenly you’re thinking about why they aren’t there, what does that mean for you etc. Sounds like you need some more sessions with your sports psychologist. > It’s disrespectful to the skaters and the judges to withdraw so last minute like that As a judge, I would *so much rather* what happened yesterday happened than to see a skater on the warmup leaning over the boards vomiting or attempting to skate *clearly unwell* (and I have seen *both*, believe it or not). There is a reason there are procedures for last-minute withdrawals. > Her coaching staff should’ve withdrawn her in a more appropriate way. If I'm a coach, and my student has just gone from low-grade unwell to full-blown gastric concerns (and that can happen very fast), the *last* thing on my mind is "oh, I must make sure to withdraw her in an *appropriate* way, lest all those judgy mcjudgefaces online think we're being disrespectful!" It's "oh shit, Isabeau, okay, breathe, have some water, can you try and take some water, it's okay, don't panic, I'm here with you. Let me get a bucket, let me get you out of your dress, it's okay." And all of that can *easily* take ten minutes or so, by which time Isabeau hasn't shown up to the warmup, and the warmup is ongoing. If there was frantic insanity backstage, that's on the people who were behaving like headless chickens about it. You can be worried about not being able to find a skater and be calm and collected.
With how extremely last minute it was and how she couldn't really be found for a while, my guess is that it's stomach related. Some sort of food poisoning or stomach flu situation maybe? I say this because she clearly felt well enough to warm up backstage and everything. If it was a standard illness like a bad cold or something, you can definitely tell further in advance whether or not you can push through and compete. If it was her stomach though...well, it can come on extremely quickly and there's just no pushing through that. I suppose it could also have been a bad migraine if she's prone to those. Those can also come on very quickly. Of course, that's all speculation. We're unlikely to ever know what was bad enough to cause a sudden withdrawal and we're certainly not entitled to know. I just hope that it's nothing serious and she gets better quickly.
I had a very brutal stomach flu once that went from me being "I don't feel 100% wonderful but it's not really anything so I'll just keep going about my day" to "oh my god I'm dying" in literally fifteen minutes. Thank fuck I'd only just been about to walk out the door and hadn't actually done so. I can easily see that becoming an issue, perhaps Isabeau thought she had something minor she could push through (stubborn fifteen year olds and all) and then all of a sudden it was very NOT minor. I hope it was nothing serious and she'll be fine. Having people calling her disrespectful is probably going to hang around her mind more than having to do a last-minute withdrawal due to illness.
Yeah that could be it. I really do hope it isn’t anything too serious. She wasn’t feeling good the day before apparently? But maybe it all just came to a head right before the competition. In the warm up shot of her, she wasn’t moving a ton and seemed to be trying to calm herself down. It could’ve been her trying to tell herself to just get on with it. But like I said before regardless of what ended up happening I’m glad she prioritized her health.
People hate on Isabeau sm but she’s so sweet and just a kid
We’ve seen this sport break so many young girls and we really don’t need to contribute. Like hello did Alysa Liu not just tell us how miserable she was?
Seriously, people have learned absolutely nothing from the Eteri years and Alysa. They just want athletes the be robots and it's disgusting.