Irina's short program

[redvispa]

wow -- I just downloaded Irina's short and that girls jumps look fantastic!! I don't know if it was just the camera angle, but they were looking enormous --It's hard to tell on the computer sometimes because the speed looks a lot faster then when you see it on tv, but from the online vid., she was looking pretty fast.

That being said, the program overall is not what I'd call a masterpiece. It's exciting, and has a 'powerful' feel to it, especially with the choice of music, but compared to say Sasha's or Rochette's short, I don't think it's overall, the best program we will see this year.

ETA -- and as a side note -- I'm sooooooo not impressed with Mao -- after all the hype I was expecting greatness. Alissa is easily the better overall package. Sure Mao can consistently jump and she's bendy ala' Sasha, but that's about it.

[Forever Loyal]

Funny isn't it that her meds are suppose to make her sluggish and tired. By the size of those jumps you can't tell me she doesn't have an advantage. Sorry, I know that this has been discussed but if you ask me the medication she is taking does enhance her performance.

[aaronts]

while i haven't seen it, it sounds like most of her other SPs - fast w good jumps(not necessarily good technique).

if she deserved to win the SP good for her. the problem i've had from the beginning is that outside from the placeholding system, this means of giving her 1st is scary~

[attyfan]

Irina's medication does not enhance her performance:

www.drmirkin.com/fitness/9891.html

However, there may be a tremendous mental burst of energy that she gets from not being in constant pain -- or maybe, from being the reigning World Champion. Or, it could be that, while she's in China, she's seeing a really good acupuncturist.

[KwanBoy23]

Yah I love it how people keep thinking that just cause Irina is taking a steroid it automatically is giving her an advantage. :rolleyes Yah. Keep dreaming folks. This steroid she is taking is cleared by IOC I believe. It is not, I repeat, is NOT a performance-enhancing drug. Sheesh. Give it a rest already.

Edited to add: Yeah, these are the list of know side-effects as reported at www.nlm.nih.gov/medlinepl...01102.html This is what she could experience from taking this medication:

upset stomach
stomach irritation
vomiting
headache
dizziness
insomnia
restlessness
depression
anxiety
acne
increased hair growth
easy bruising
irregular or absent menstrual periods

I'm sure those are DEFINITELY enhancing her performance. Don't forget it lowers the efficiency of her immune system as well. I'm sure that's an added enhancement.

[weir1]

Okay, I have just finished watching her program...
Two words came to my mouth : GOD AWFUL

A clean Michelle program can beat this performance anytime, even with the judges' blindness.......

70? What happened? the lottery was on Chinese TV and the numbers were: 38, 32.....

BTW, the jumps were really not that good, especially the flip, watch the landing, not so clean....

[Addicted2MKsk8ing]

i just watched the program. they should rename SP to Bielmann (sp?) feast, just for her. she has Bielmann in EVERYTHING. middle of the program spinning has bielmann, spirals is bielmann left and right. final spins, you guess it, bielmann AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! there's so little variations in the whole program. how she got these PCS points is totally beyond me.

i have no problem if judges want to give out high scores, but they have to do it fairly across the board to ALL skaters. or do they add bonus points just because her name is Irina Slutskya (sp?)

[redvispa]

Like I said before, it wasn't a masterpiece -- but I still think it was very well done. But I wouldn't call it awful. Yes there are many bielmanns in her program -- but it's not her fault that the bielmann gets soo many points under the new system. If I was a competitive skater, and if I could do a bielmann well, then I certainly would be putting it in my program every chance I could because that move will get me extra points.

And I seriously doubt that the medication she is taking is having any effect on her skating. She looks very fit and her jumps have always been great.

[lavender]

Nothing special. Her jumps were good but nothing special about this program. Whatever to the scores.

[SincerelyYours]

IS has always been a technical skater. It was a good performance (jump wise), but I agree with those who dislike the overuse of biellmans!!! I can stand seeing it two or three times in a program, but...OMG...it was a biellman fest!!!





---
For me, it's MK all the way!!!

[missmarysgarden]

I vote for "God-awful." PCS 8's?? For that? Give me a break. The judges should hang their cheating heads in shame.

[iloveskating]

Thank you attyfan & kwanboy for reminding people of the FACTS, not what they want to believe.

[Crizzy]

Hey, I watch this program already. Yep siree, 2005 Worlds Moscow:rolleyes

Ok, I'm kwanfused, I thought that each edge on spirals must be held for a minimum of 3 seconds. I counted and she held the second spiral for 2 secs. So did Irina still get a level 4? I thought that CoP is suppose to reward variation, but there wasn't much variation that I saw.

Another question for the CoP experts- did I miss the choreography and musical interpretation?????? scratching head. I might be CoP illiterate but I could have sworn I didn't see any choreography.

[ceap]

PCS scores in the 8's????

There was not a lot of choreography or interpretation. Good jumps, yes.

C'mon people. CLEARLY, you CAN NOT agree with those high PCS scores!

This is disgusting.

[KwanBoy23]

Sometimes I wish people would BACK UP what they say instead of just putting pointless, biased dribble out there. Irina's marks were knocked up a "tad" based upon the rules. Her 8+ in SS was deserved, and on second viewing I can understand the 8+ is P/E. The IN should have been at least 0.5 lower, and CH and TR should have been lower to, especially in comparison to her competitors, but c'mon?

You don't like her? Fine. No need to call a well-executed, energetic, and athletic short program that lacked finesse "god awful".

If anyone was God-awful at this event it was Amber. She didn't even land a single jump. :p

[Crizzy]

kwanboy, could you please answer my question. I thought that the spirals suppose to be held min 3 secs per edge but I counted her second spiral, it was less than 3, so did she get the full credit and why? I also thought that Cop encourages variation but her spins/spirals didn't have much variation. Her FW was so so. I agree she had the energy and speed and maximized her points to the fullest and you can't go wrong with a Biellman attached somewhere.

Another question, I thought we should be seeing harder entrances to jumps, so where is it? Could you please point it out so I can compare with other skaters and programs?

It's not really god-awful but it wasn't memorable either.

ETA: what I mean by variation is that her spin did have many positions but they always end with a biellman. she has no sitspin at all.

[probativev]

Well, so Irina's blowing the roof off for now. But like they say "It's not over till it's over."

I'm hoping Michelle will recover from her injury soon and return to her top training form, regaining all her jumps. And,

I'm remembering Nagano and, while the OGM is ready to be carved with Irina's name on it, maybe, just maybe, karma and galaxial alignment of the stars may influence the skate order to IS being first to skate in the last group, and Michelle being the last to skate of the OGM contenders, putting out her own skate of her life, and then the judges get carried away with emotions of the moment.....

I'm at a point where I think the skate order in the high-energy charged atmostphere if the ice rink during the Ladies LP in Turino is the one thing that may still give Michelle a chance to break through all the forces working against her.

[ceap]

Crizzy,
I agree with your points. Irina did not hold the position for 3 seconds and her spins and spirals have little variation. It's Biellman after Biellman. She has good jumps and a flexible Biellman, but even that isn't a good position. How is she following the COP???

I thought VARIATION and INTERPRETATION were two things the COP demanded, not just jumps.

That said, I admire Irina's talent, but she is overscored too many times. The judges are abusing this damn COP system in Irina's favor. It is so obvious after watching her program and I am very frustrated. In my opinion, it was not worthy of those high scores.

[Dave]

Kwanboy, I appreciate your perspective and my point of view has nothing to do with me "not liking her", but I will just as adamantly state the scores are grossly high for what I observed as they have always been for Irina. The only way to truly settle this is we could see the identical skate from another skater, which is not possible, and then see how she is scored. I cannot prove, but strongly support, the theory that an identical skate from an American skater would receive considerably lower scores. Do you also support the 6.0s she received in her free skate at 2002 Worlds?

[debbwin]

i just wanted to add my 2 cents that the steroids that irina and others take for their health are NOT anabolic steroids which are done for muscle strength, etc.... prednisone et.al. is an anti-inflammatory steroid used to treat many conditions and also has serious side effects for prolonged use. i'm just sick of all this steroid advantage talk with irina and wanted to squash that talk now. thanks.
deb

[gatzbee]

hmm lets see, i think irina did a good job, so good for her for having a good SP showing. however i do believe that her PCS are a bit inflated. if michelle showed up with an awesome SP, up'd the ante on her spins and some transitional moves and had good coverage of the ice and speed, im of the belief that she would not be showered with such high PCS for her program.

[debbwin]

that being said, irina looked in great shape and had energy and lift on her jumps. i don't care for the unitard, however, it seems to work for her i guess...but it's not ladylike imo, but then, skating is changing too....oh well.....

also, like, well, why don't they limit the number of bielman positions one can do in a skate?, my goodness...anyway....although i don't care for her skating, i do like her and she looks pretty, pretty, pretty darn good for this early in the season...seems like she's on a mission...

[mzheng]

also, like, well, why don't they limit the number of bielman positions one can do in a skate?,

Well, if ISU tech commit had to go out of way to specifically stress Bielman position as THE difficult position (no other positions are specifically mentioned), they are not going to put the limit number of it.

I see those PCS scores become 9's when European and Olympics come around.

[debbwin]

thanks, mzheng. it is quite perturbing, tho, imo...so many looked so strained doing it....maybe one day they'll come up with the biellmann rule...like the zayak rule...:rollin :rollin :rollin

[mzheng]

thanks, mzheng. it is quite perturbing, tho, imo...so many looked so strained doing it....maybe one day they'll come up with the biellmann rule...like the zayak rule...

lol, may be after this Olympics. And I suspect the rule will not be called as "Biellmann" rule (just like Zayak rule is not called as the name of repeated elements "triple toe" rules) It will be "Irina" rule.....after all, did she say something like "Now every ones trying copy what I'm doing" in a recent interview? Although Bielmann position is not named after her, but the way she was using it is qualifying for an Irina rule. lol