Top 6 U.S. Ladies- Top 6 Canadian Ladies- Comparison?

[unafaluna]

As I sat here this weekend watching on the edge of my seat and going from U.S nationals to Canadian nationals, I couldn't help wondering where the top Canadian ladies would fare if they skated in the U.S. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Cynthia, but where would she rank at U.S nationals? Top three? Any thoughts?

[Oracle]

I didn't see Canadians but I am going to be very interested in the '04 Jr. Worlds results as I understand Phaneuf (sp.?) will compete there. I did see Meissner (our Jr. champ) in the Exhibition skate shown on TV on Sunday & she was spot on with her jumps & has a very pleasant style for a 14 yr. old. She has all of her triple jumps as does the silver medalist at US nationals. Can't remember her name. If Phaneuf can medal at Jr. Worlds than I imagine she might be able to place in the top 10 at US Sr. Nationals. A lot depends on the difficulty of her programs & her presentation skills as I assume she is consistent with all 5 triple jumps?

[ceceB]

Cynthia is very pleasant to watch, and seems to be very musical (at least to me). I'm not sure about her consistency, other than her jumps were awesome in both her short and long programs.

[Gaela]

I'm probably way out of line here, but I think that, skating as she did last week, Cynthia would be right up there with Kirk behind Kwan and Sasha. Kirk made mistakes in her LP, right? Well, Cynthia did not make any, and to me there is something unique in her skating, a lightness and artistry that I don't see in the American ladies below the top three.

But, she's only laid it down once. And whether that would get her up the ranks of US ladies I don't know. Most likely it would be harder for her to climb the ranks in the US?

I think she's 'just super', to use a Buttonism. Glad she's Canadian, she'll get out there in the world sooner.

[barnita]

Originally posted by Gaela
Kirk made mistakes in her LP, right? Well, Cynthia did not make any,


Not to sound picky here, but one of Cynthia's 3 lutz attempts was landed on 2 feet. She did land one though in the LP>

I think she's a lovely skater and I'm so happy for her but I heard/read somewhere the 3 lutz and 3 flip are new jumps for her and the first time she has landed them in compeition was at Canadians? ( I don't think she is near the top 3 US ladies yet, but she's only 16 (or will be in a few days.) She's Cynthia, with her own style, who seems to feel the music and dances to it. Isn't it great? I hope she does well at Junior Worlds.

[2footedquad]

Originally posted by Oracle
I didn't see Canadians but I am going to be very interested in the '04 Jr. Worlds results as I understand Phaneuf (sp.?) will compete there. I did see Meissner (our Jr. champ) in the Exhibition skate shown on TV on Sunday & she was spot on with her jumps & has a very pleasant style for a 14 yr. old. She has all of her triple jumps as does the silver medalist at US nationals. Can't remember her name. If Phaneuf can medal at Jr. Worlds than I imagine she might be able to place in the top 10 at US Sr. Nationals. A lot depends on the difficulty of her programs & her presentation skills as I assume she is consistent with all 5 triple jumps?

Don't forget: there are 6 triple jumps to be had, not 5 -- we don't want to set our sights too low for the ladies, especially the next generation! ;)

[Oracle]

Originally posted by 2footedquad
Don't forget: there are 6 triple jumps to be had, not 5 -- we don't want to set our sights too low for the ladies, especially the next generation! ;)

LOL! I hadn't forgotten the triple axle. I just didn't think any of the NA girls were using one in competition.

[hebequeen]

I think Joannie Rochette is a better skater than the US's bronze medalist of this year.

[barnita]

Originally posted by hebequeen
I think Joannie Rochette is a better skater than the US's bronze medalist of this year.

Joannie has to get the triple lutz consistent. I don't think she landed it at Canadians. Jenny is landing 3lutz, as well triple triples.

[leap of faith]

Joannie did land 2 triple triple series in her LP at nationals. She's also working to have a lutz and not a flutz as 90% of the US ladies do.

[Dustin]

Originally posted by Oracle
I did see Meissner (our Jr. champ) in the Exhibition skate shown on TV on Sunday & she was spot on with her jumps & has a very pleasant style for a 14 yr. old. She has all of her triple jumps as does the silver medalist at US nationals. Can't remember her name.

Meissner also has a very nice 3lutz/turn/3toe that she did in her LP at Nationals. Katy Taylor was the silver medalist with another very impressive performance (and two clean 3 lutzes, like Meissner, if I am not mistaken).

[Tony Wheeler]

Based on how they skated at Nationals, I'd say in the free skate that the top three Canadian women from that portion (Rochette, Phaneuf, and Bellemare) would have each been able to fit into 4th place in the US, maybe 3rd for Rochette. The short programs, however, would probably have Phaneuf in about 5th/6th, Bellemare around 7th/8th, and Rochette quite possibly out of the top 10. Overall, that would mean none of them would be in the top 3 overall in the US, but still, it was great to see the top 5 US ladies SPs and then the top 3 Canadian ladies LPs..

[Justine_R]

I really like Cynthia, she is young and has a great future ahead of her.I think she will do well there and she is also a great inspiration to younger skaters like me to show that with hard work and perseverance you can make it to be one of the best!

[Sk8n Mama]

I think our Canadian girls could be in the top 6 but I don't think they'd topple Kwan, Cohen or Kirk. I think, in time, Joannie and Cynthia will be better skaters than Jenny Kirk, but not at present. As for Kwan and Cohen, they have a special magic that we can only hope one of our Canadian women reach one day.

[hebequeen]

Originally posted by barnita
Joannie has to get the triple lutz consistent. I don't think she landed it at Canadians. Jenny is landing 3lutz, as well triple triples.
Not like Kirk has a real lutz either. And Rochette has greater height, more ice coverage, and better flow out to her jumps. Also Kirk is no where near Rochette in the speed department. I think Rochette and Phanuef just need more experience and need to learn how stay relatively consistent, then they can be really competitive. In terms of pure skating quality/ability, I think Rochette could easily fit in the top 3 in the US, and Phanuef is better than Liang and about on par with Kirk, though I do think Kirk is the slightly more polished skater at this point. But while IMO Jenny's been on a plateau and is not likely to go anywhere (in terms of both presentation and technique), I see Cynthia having the deeper talent to go much further, just because she has this sensitivity to music and is versatile, and Kirk isn't really. Just MHO.

[bcskater]

Originally posted by leap of faith
Joannie did land 2 triple triple series in her LP at nationals. She's also working to have a lutz and not a flutz as 90% of the US ladies do.
I totally agree... emphasis on the fact that joannie, cynthia, jennifer, annie AND mira do not have flutzs... while kwan (tho hardly), sasha, jenny, angela AND AP have flutzes. not that the lutz is the only thing that matters.. but jump for jump i think the candian ladies have improved immensely and im glad they all showed their stuff.
ranking the top.. if each skated thier current long programs clean ...
1 michelle
2 sasha
3 joannie
4 cynthia
5 jenny
6 jennifer
7 angela
8 annie
9 AP
10 mira

[Tony Wheeler]

I totally agree... emphasis on the fact that joannie, cynthia, jennifer, annie AND mira do not have flutzs... while kwan (tho hardly), sasha, jenny, angela AND AP have flutzes. not that the lutz is the only thing that matters.. but jump for jump i think the candian ladies have improved immensely and im glad they all showed their stuff.

AP has a horrible lip, not a flutz. Angela more or less does a true lutz as well, but yes, with most of the American ladies, it's either the flip or lutz that isn't done right.

ranking the top.. if each skated thier current long programs clean ...
1 michelle
2 sasha
3 joannie
4 cynthia
5 jenny
6 jennifer
7 angela
8 annie
9 AP
10 mira

Clean is a kind of relative term, since, for example, again with McDonough, her 'clean' triples are mostly all 2.5-2.75 revolutions. I'd agree with your top 3, but Nikodinov's choreography is probably the strongest out of any of these ladies, so she'd probably fit in 4th, or maybe even 3rd, if she went clean, IMO. And finally, even though I much prefer Kwan, I really think Cohen is going to be unbeatable if she ever goes clean (by far on the CoP, probably much closer on 6.0.)

[FollowYourHeart]

I really enjoyed Cynthia's skating as I downloaded her LP on soulseek but she would not have beaten Jenny Kirk had they skated the same LP's as they did in their respective National competitions.

Cynthia's only combination was a 3toe/2toe whereas Jenny had a 3toe/3toe and a flawed 3flip/2toe.

Also, Cynthia's 2nd lutz attempt was totally botched, she only got around 2 rotations and she landed heavily on two feet.

I would have gone:

Jenny Kirk 5.6/5.7
Cynthia P. 5.5/5.6