Sarah Hughes' jump landings

[Josef]

I was just watching the Hershey's Kisses repeat on the Family channel a few days ago and while wathcing Sarah Hughes I noticed something that really bugged me. I couldn't get over how jarring and "un-pretty" her landings were. Am I the only one who is bothered by this? She always seems to have her landing leg bent severely at the knee, and overcompensates for this by sticking her free leg back in what she probably considers to be a pretty position.. In the end it just looks extremely awkward to me..

Am I off my rocker or have others noticed this??

[loveskating]

Sarah is left handed...so she looks a bit different...maybe that's what you are seeing.

When anyone underrotates a jump but not enough to two foot it or miss it, they move the blade of the landing foot ON the ice and also whip the free leg around very noticeably. There is necessarily some compensation of the rest of the body in this.

Her runout on her 2 axel is really good, IMHO.

[somechick]

Actually, Sarah is right-handed but just rotates clockwise, which is more typical of someone left-handed:D


I actually think Sarah has very nice landings, especially campared to some other skaters who have virtually no flow out and very jerky landings. One thing that also may contribute to them looking strange to you is that Sarah has extremely long legs so everything is exaggerated. I notice this with Maria B. too, even though she tends to have stiff landing to begin with, they always look moree awkward because she has such long legs.

[lisabelle]

not really, most of the clockwise jumpers i know are right handed, while i am left handed and jump counter clockwise.

i think sarah has funny landing sometimes and really good landing other times. it doesn't seem to be a constant problem, more of an occasional thing. a lot of the skaters were a little off at hershey because of the ice, so that could account for it. she could have been trying really hard not to fall and ended up with jerky landings.

oh and i dont intend to be mean or critical (it's JMO), but i find it to be rude to comment on what skaters "probably" think. we dont know that sarah thinks her leg position is attractive or whatever, so i think it's better to just not say that she does. :)

[FSWer]

If she can rotate clockwise and it's not a right handed person's natual thing. I prase her with being so gifted.

[Amandah]

Todd Eldredge is another right-handed skater who rotates clockwise, and it seems I've heard of several more. Judging from some early high jumping experiences, I think I might also do that if I could skate! So it's not an uncommon skill or one that requires a particular gift!

Vis a vis Sarah, it's the very bent knee and the extension of the following leg, especially by one with very long legs, as someone has stated. Sarah's tendency to carry her upper body almost parallel to the ground at times may also tend to magnify it. I'm not sure how it affects me aestheticically speaking...I only really began to notice it this year.

Amanda

[AxelAnnie22]

IMO - Sarah looks "gangly" in her movements. Loveskating had a link to a picture of Sarah, next to one of Sasha, and it kinds of sums it up.

There are two different things that I find troublesome.

1. Sarah does not exhibit the strength/tension within her limbs that Sasha or the other top skaters have. Sarah has that bent leg in her spiral as an example. A finished or polished movement or pose would have a straight leg with energy flowing from her "core" right out her boot, and beyond. With Sarah, the "connection" stops at about the knee.

2. With her pick assisted jumps, the problem is most obvious. Her technique is poor here (note the height of the pick), and the lack of "finish" to the moves is most apparant. She is akward when she picks in, cheats the rotation, and swings the bent leg around to finish the move.

I hope she does some detail work on this.As far as I am concerned, it detracts from the overall look.

With Sasha and Angela, and Michelle, the entire jump from entrance to exit, is a series of finished and polished parts. If you looked in slo mo, you would see perfection at each frame. Not so with Sarah. And, when she lands, the sum of the "gangly-ness" is most apparant.

Her Axel and edge jumps are quite lovely. There, she her technique is so much better.