Yukina Ota better than Michelle and Sasha Cohen

[mark_alarcio]

I watched Yukina Ota at the Junior Worlds and the Jr Grand Prix Final and she is amazing, people were raving she is better than Sasha Cohen and Michelle Kwan maybe that is because she is really amazing and next year she is one the biggest skaters to arrive in the sport!!!!

I mean if you watch her her moves are all exquisite!!! She is like Michelle Kwan, Naomi Nari Nam, Sasha Cohen and Fumie Suguri, Yuka Sato all rolled into one!!!

Her presentation is simply breath taking, simply amazing!!!
She has so much joy in her skating as well as her choreography!!!
Her spirals are all exquisite, her spins especially her layback is superior in the world at par or even better than the best in the world and her Ina Bauer is breath taking so is her spread eagle, she has superb musicality and is simply superb!!!!

So all the skaters should watch out especially in Japan this girl has the future written all over her she may hinder Sasha's dreams of coveting 2006!!!! and maybe one of the hot shots for the Worlds next year!!!
Dont think im bluffing she is simply amazing!!!!

[mark_alarcio]

Ota won her qualifying group in a close battle with the USA's Ye Bin Mok. Using the "Violin Fantasie" from Puccini's "Turandot", she landed a triple lutz/double toe, a triple toe/double toe and four more triples to go with a superb layback spin and crisp elements
program that included a triple loop/double loop, a triple lutz from footwork and a double axel. Ota took second using a triple flip/double toe combination in her "Danse Macabre" program
Japan swept the long. Ota won with a repeat of her qualifying performance, which included an Ina Bauer to a spread-eagle to spirals and fast centered spins to go with the jumps. Ando barely landed a quad salchow and included five more clean triples, a double axel, and a Biellmann spin to finish second. Asada was third, completing a triple axel/double toe, a triple lutz/double toe, and four more triples. Ota was ecstatic with her win. "Last year, the other two girls skated in the exhibition and I didn't," she said. "That made me work harder this season because I really wanted to do the exhibition." Both Ota and Ando stated that they had worked to improve their presentation since last year. "There are many skaters in Japan with dreams of the Olympics," Ando added. "It makes a good rivalry

[mark_alarcio]

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Hollywood/7387/ladies/yukina.htm
At Japan's National Championships, held December 20-22 in AquArena Kyoto, the ladies were the stars. Yoshie Onda, who took the gold medal at Bofrost Cup in Gelsenkirchen and NHK Trophy in Kyoto, won the short program with a good performance. The 20 year-old landed a triple Lutz-double toe loop combination, triple flip, and double Axel. Onda's marks ranged from 5.6 to 5.8 for technical merit, and 5.4 to 5.8 for presentation.

Yukari Nakano, who landed a triple Axel at Skate America last October, went for that jump here, but stepped out of it. "This season I have tried the triple Axel in every short program, because I am not good at triple Lutz and I think it is worthwhile to try triple Axel (rather) than Lutz," she said.

Miki Ando, who, at the Junior Grand Prix Final, became the first lady in history to land a quadruple Salchow, also gave a good performance in the short program. The fifteen year-old landed a triple Lutz-triple loop combination, triple flip, and double Axel. The judges awarded her marks from 5.4 to 5.7 for required elements, and 5.3 to 5.7 for presentation, placing her second. "I performed just like practices and enjoyed skating today. I felt this was the best (program I've done) in competition this season. I am very surprised at such high marks," she said.

Two experienced skaters, World bronze medalist Fumie Suguri and Shizuka Arakawa, delivered short programs that were rather shaky. Suguri doubled the Lutz in her combination and missed the triple flip. Her marks ranged from 5.0 to 5.4 for required elements, and 5.4 to 5.9 for presentation. The 22 year-old earned high marks for presentation, but she left the kiss-and-cry without smiling to her fans. She ranked behind Ando.

Arakawa, who skated to "Swan Lake," landed a triple Lutz-double loop combination but missed other jumps. The 21 year-old earned marks from 4.6 to 4.9 for required elements, and 5.3 to 5.7 for presentation and stood in seventh place after the short program.

The JGP Final gold medalist Yukina Ota delivered a clean performance and stood in fourth place. "Kyoto is my hometown. It was very big pressure for me to perform in front of home crowd, but I would like to show (my) best performance in free program," she said.

The leader, Yoshie Onda, did not look satisfied at the press conference following the ladies short program. "I was worried about my jumps before I skated," she said. "I never worry about junior skaters being a threat to me. I rather just concentrate on my skating."

The ladies free skate was the highlight of the competition. The 12 year-old Mao Asada, who stood in ninth place after the short program, opened her program to Inca Dance Andes with a triple Axel, which was later ratified by the event referee, Mieko Fujimori. Then she went on to land a triple flip-triple loop-triple toe loop combination, becoming the first lady to perform this sequence in the world.

Arakawa put out a solid program to the "Titanic" soundtrack. She hit a triple Lutz-double toe loop, triple Salchow-triple loop, triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination, and two more triple jumps. Her only mistake came when she doubled her second Lutz.

In the final group, every skater pulled out a strong performance, making it a close battle for the title. Ando went down on the quadruple Salchow as her fourth jump in her free program and touched the ice on the triple loop, but hit her other seven jumps, including a triple Lutz-triple loop combination. Her scores ranged from 5.3 to 5.6 for technical merit, and 5.2 to 5.5 for presentation. "I was third place last year at this competition and I performed better last year than this year. I was not happy with my performance today," she said.

Nakano, who went on the ice right after Ando, crashed on her first jump combination, the triple Axel-double toe loop. Then the 17 year-old tried the same combination again and successfully landed it. Nakano went on to hit a triple flip and triple loop, but stepped out the triple toe loop and doubled her Lutz.

Onda produced a strong performance. The leader after the short program went for the triple Axel as her first jump, but missed it. However, she landed all her other jumps-seven triples including a Lutz-double toe loop combination, and two double Axels. She completed her program with strong spins. The judges awarded Onda marks ranging from 5.5 to 5.8 for technical merit, and 5.4 to 5.6 for presentation. She was ranked first and Arakawa second at that point. When Onda's marks went up, the crowd felt sure she had won her first national title, but it was too early.

Defending champion Suguri was up next. She doubled her Lutz and Salchow, but hit the remaining seven jumps, including a triple Lutz-double toe loop and triple toe loop-double toe loop combination. The World bronze medalist skated with flow and elegance to the music from the ballet Swan Lake. She earned marks from 5.4 to 5.7 for technical merit, and 5.6 to 5.9 for presentation. Suguri moved up from third place to first.

The final competitor, Ota, produced an elegant performance as well. She completed five kinds of triple jumps and excellent spins, performing to Violin Fantasy from Puccini's Turandot. Her marks ranged from 5.3 to 5.6 for technical merit, and 5.5 to 5.9 for presentation. The 16 year-old ranked fourth behind Arakawa, and Ando finished fifth.

"This season my condition has not been so good because I have not had enough time for training. I concentrated on each element today but I still could have skated better," said Suguri, who has won three years in a row. "Young skaters put up their best performances. I also have to learn something from their skating."

[mark_alarcio]

Yukina OTA from Japan produced the best performance in the ladies category. She performed a strong short program including an excellent triple lutz. Her free skating program to the "Violin Fantasy" from Puccini's "Turandot" was the strongest program in the field and included five clean triple jumps. Her performance also featured fast spins and good connecting moves. The marks for OTA reached 5.5 for technical merit and up to 5.6 for presentation. All nine judges awarded first place ordinals to OTA.
Yukina Ota won her first world junior figure skating title Saturday after a near flawless performance in the free program.

The teenager from Japan landed five triples, including two in combination with double jumps. Ota finished ninth at last year's competition in Hamar, Norway.

Yukina Ota of Japan skated right after her. Performing to 'Violin Fantasy' of the Opera Turandot, the 16-year-old put out a strong program. She skated with flow and ease, completing six triples (including two Lutzes) and excellent spins. The judges awarded Ota marks ranging from 5.0. to 5.5 for technical merit and from 5.3 to 5.7 for presentation. Ota moved up from the third place to take the gold
Ladies, the Japanese team won two of the three medals. Skating to Puccini's " "Turandot" Yukina Ota delivered an almost flawless performance to win the gold medal. Silver medallist Miki Ando once again tried the quad Salchow but it was overrotated. And relative newcomer Carolina Kostner of Italy moved up after demonstrating a triple flip/triple toe loop combination to take the bronze medal. Japan's Mai Asada attempted a triple Axel in her long program but it was overrotated. She placed fourth. American Ye Bin Mok, who had been second in her qualifying group, dropped to fifth overall after two shaky performances while teammate Beatrisa Liang climbed from ninth in the short program to sixth place overall with the fourth best free program. Third U.S. team member Louann Donovan placed 10th

[Smiley]

I totally agree with you!! :D
Yukina is one of the best skaters in the World, senior and junior, if not THE BEST!! Her skating just blows me away and I can't wait to see what she will do as a senior competitor at international events!!! :D:D

[AxelAnnie22]

She is lovely - thanks for the link to the pictures.

Is this the young lady for whom I found a video clip in one of the threads? It was a clip of the entire lp.

[roogu]

While there's no argument that Yukina is a beautiful skater ....... I'd hardly call her better than Kwan or Cohen at this moment. Unfortunately, Ota has a huge tendency to flutz but then again, so do kwan and coehn ....... but Ota's jumps are under-rotated a good percentage of times. But having said that, she is only 15 years old and will only get better with age .......... in a year or two, she could become a real powerhouse ... great spins, awesome field moves, terrific musicality. The only thing I have a real problem with in her program this year is that footwork sequence in the long program ........ it's got hardly any footwork in it. But she certainly makes up for it with that bauer or hers!

[yogurtslinger]

Scott said something about Oksana once that I think rings true-- you could take a picture of her any given moment during her program, and she would never be "out of place"-- just naturally good posture (as opposed to the concentrated imposing of posture over a body that seems to be rebelling ala Hughes..) I think that's really true-- just by the pictures, Yukina seems to be a great dancer- balletic, beautiful posture. Not quite as perfect as Sasha's perhaps; then again, she is quite young. When will we be able to see her on TV??

[emyh]

is there a clip of Ota skating available to see?

[sashafras]

Kind of premature to say she is better than Michelle Kwan or Sasha Cohen, isn't it?

From her pictures she looks lovely, and poised, but like I said, until she can compete on the Senior Level with Kwan, Cohen, Hughes and Slute, she is not 'better than'.

[missmarysgarden]

Finally someone I can follow when Michelle is done!