2014 World Championships - Ladies' Short Programme
With as many as four great skaters trying to claim the World title in Saitama, the ladies' event is bound to be quite the spectacle. Here's the first part:
Making up for the mistakes in Sochi, Mao Asada is absolutely sublime. This is her last competition and judging by the flood of flowers and gifts she's just received, there is at least one country in the world that will miss her dearly. Her score: 78.66.
Kanako Murakami strikes you as delicate and emotional even before entering the ice, so it's no surprise that her chosen music for the short is Violin Muse. She's great technically and so powerful artistically that you can read the sadness in her eyes throughout the routine. 2013/2014 hasn't been the best of seasons for her, so it's good to see her firm on her skates. She gets 60.86 points.
Another skater whose grace we will miss after this season is Akiko Suzuki. Hymne de l'Amour is her music and this performance is the perfect ending to her short programme career. The crowd explodes in cheer for the third time and rightly so. Her score: 71.02.
From the costume to the music to the arm-work, Carolina Kostner pulls off a divine Ave Maria. She seems carefree for the first time in quite a while and that makes her shine out there. She gets 77.24 points.
Zijun Li steps out of the Triple Flip, but the real big mistake is that she doesn't try a combination afterwards. Skating on Danzarin, she doesn't interpret the tango for most of the programme and instead, you can see the shock caused by that first mistake. Her score: 54.37.
Gracie Gold sure lives up to her name. With flawless elements and an elegant presentation, she is fantastical today. The dress is also very beautiful and just the tinniest Christmas-y. The music is a piano concerto by Edvard Grieg. She gets 70.31 points.
Already famous for her facial expressions, Ashley Wagner brings poise to Saitama. She has a small mistake on the Triple Toeloop, which she double-foots. Her song is Shine on You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd. Her score: 63.64.
At only 16, Julia Lipnitskaia paints a picture so vividly that you can see it all: a dreamy-eyed girl drawing a heart in the snow while war is raging all around her. The way she manages to bring out the tragic fragility of that picture is second to none. No technical flaws either. She gets 74.54 points.
Valentina Marchei is the type of skater who slips easily into character and once she's in, stays faithful to the role no matter how big the struggle with the elements is. She proves that here, when after a failed Lutz and an over-rotated Double Axel, her smile stays as strong as ever. She does however finish behind the music. Her score: 50.27.
Joshi Helgesson kept her Cirque du Soleil theme from last year, but changed the costume. She's very pleasant to watch artistically (that final pose is just awesome!), but she steps out of the Triple Lutz. She gets 54.96 points.
Mao Asada seems to finally be on her way to the highest step of the World podium after four years of absence. Her impeccable routine sets the mood for an astonishing event, unique in its high number of flawless performances. If what we saw today says anything, it's that the final must not, under any circumstances, be missed.
Making up for the mistakes in Sochi, Mao Asada is absolutely sublime. This is her last competition and judging by the flood of flowers and gifts she's just received, there is at least one country in the world that will miss her dearly. Her score: 78.66.
Kanako Murakami strikes you as delicate and emotional even before entering the ice, so it's no surprise that her chosen music for the short is Violin Muse. She's great technically and so powerful artistically that you can read the sadness in her eyes throughout the routine. 2013/2014 hasn't been the best of seasons for her, so it's good to see her firm on her skates. She gets 60.86 points.
Another skater whose grace we will miss after this season is Akiko Suzuki. Hymne de l'Amour is her music and this performance is the perfect ending to her short programme career. The crowd explodes in cheer for the third time and rightly so. Her score: 71.02.From the costume to the music to the arm-work, Carolina Kostner pulls off a divine Ave Maria. She seems carefree for the first time in quite a while and that makes her shine out there. She gets 77.24 points.
Zijun Li steps out of the Triple Flip, but the real big mistake is that she doesn't try a combination afterwards. Skating on Danzarin, she doesn't interpret the tango for most of the programme and instead, you can see the shock caused by that first mistake. Her score: 54.37.
Gracie Gold sure lives up to her name. With flawless elements and an elegant presentation, she is fantastical today. The dress is also very beautiful and just the tinniest Christmas-y. The music is a piano concerto by Edvard Grieg. She gets 70.31 points.
Already famous for her facial expressions, Ashley Wagner brings poise to Saitama. She has a small mistake on the Triple Toeloop, which she double-foots. Her song is Shine on You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd. Her score: 63.64.
At only 16, Julia Lipnitskaia paints a picture so vividly that you can see it all: a dreamy-eyed girl drawing a heart in the snow while war is raging all around her. The way she manages to bring out the tragic fragility of that picture is second to none. No technical flaws either. She gets 74.54 points.
Joshi Helgesson kept her Cirque du Soleil theme from last year, but changed the costume. She's very pleasant to watch artistically (that final pose is just awesome!), but she steps out of the Triple Lutz. She gets 54.96 points.
Mao Asada seems to finally be on her way to the highest step of the World podium after four years of absence. Her impeccable routine sets the mood for an astonishing event, unique in its high number of flawless performances. If what we saw today says anything, it's that the final must not, under any circumstances, be missed.
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