Yogeeta: You’re In the Loop! We’re here to discuss the ups, downs and side-ways of the sport of Figure Skating and maybe give you +5 GOE along the way. Let’s introduce this weeks hosts.
Evie: Hi, I’m Evie and I made the bad decision to host this episode fully knowing that I would be dead tired after attending Australian Nationals all of this past week. I’m on Twitter @doubleflutz.
Yogeeta: Hi, I’m Yogeeta and this weekend has made me very sad, but there was some highlights. I’m on Twitter @liliorum.
Niamh: Hello, I’m Niamh and I’ve spent the past weekend looking for Golden Spin updates which are very few and far between. You can find me on Twitter @rivrdance.
Evie: So, the Junior Grand Prix Final. Oh boy, it was a whole thing. The Seniors were a bit of a mess all around and the Juniors were as well. I think this Grand Prix Final in general was a little bit of a mess.
Niamh: In summary, Italy why?
Evie: We’re going to get started off talking about the Juniors with obviously the Pairs. Our podium was, in gold, Apollinariia Panfilova and Dmitry Rylov of Russia, in silver, Diana Mukhametzianova and Ilya Mironov also of Russia, and in third, we had Kseniia Ahkanteva and Valerii Kolseov also of Russia. Russian sweep, not surprising.
Yogeeta: There were 5 Russians and 1 German. So, the odds were in their favour.
Niamh: I’m so impressed with how you got through those names.
Evie: I had too much practice, Niamh. That’s what doing all the JGP episodes will do to you! Yogeeta: I did all the JGP episodes, I just avoided saying the Russian names. [Hosts laugh] Niamh: I spent like 20 minutes earlier drilling Diana’s name.
Evie: [Laughs] It is a very tricky name. But yeah, like a lot of the other disciplines in both Seniors and Juniors, Junior Pairs was quite messy. Even Panfilova and Rylov, who have been really consistent this season, ended that streak because they had some pretty minor and major errors in both programs here which was disappointing to see because I absolutely love them. I'm very glad they still managed to win even though the margin was like a point. The errors were quite shocking to see, especially when they had the fall on the throw in the Free, which we don’t see very often with them. Nearly everyone else had minor errors as well, like shakey landings on throws and side-by-side errors. Lot’s of scary lift issues too, honestly, there were so many lifts I saw these past couple days that were either really slow or the position changes were really shaky. I always really worried that the guys were going to drop all of the girls.
Yogeeta: Please don’t speak those things. I don’t want to think about potential falls.
Evie: But in general, with the exception of Diana and Ilya, everyone had better skates in the qualifiers...
Yogeeta: Isn’t that just the theme of the Grand Prix and JGP?
Evie: Honestly, it could have just been down to nerves, since it is such a big arena to be in, with such a history as well. But all these teams have had over a month to prepare for the Grand Prix Final.
Yogeeta: They’ve had lots of time, since the Junior Grand Prix ended in September. I think for the most part, I kind of enjoyed the fact that who was going to win and podium here was in the air because I’m so used to being like “These are the teams that are going to be on the podium, maybe we’ll have one team not make the podium and someone else being a surprise,” but it was really close here. In that regard, it was an interesting competition to watch.
Evie: It was pretty much a given that Panfliova and Rylov would made it onto the podium, but the other two places were kind of a question mark because none of these teams are known for being consistent. The Russian teams other than Panfilova and Rylov are kind of all over the place, and have been for the qualifiers as well, so it was very much anything can happen. It was anyone’s to kind of step up to the plate and win, or at least podium. But let’s just go into talking about Panfliova and Rylov because it wasn’t their best performances here, but they did, finally, get a level 4 on their twist in their Short which I was really relieved to see.
Yogeeta: I love their twist. It's just so airy, and effortless and she seems like she's weightless. She gets so high up in the air too. I can just watch them do twists all day.
Evie: Especially in the Free, her dress in mid-air - the way that the skirt twirls - it's so good.
Yogeeta: Ugh, it's stunning. When she does land, because, unfortunately, she didn't land all her throws here, it also feels weightless. I just don't know how they do it, man. They're such a good team. They're so special in the Pairs field, where I feel like everybody is trying to go for the big and the drama, and they don't feel like they're going for the big and the drama, but they feel so ethereal. I don't get that feeling from a lot of other Pairs teams so it makes me remember the even more. I remember that feeling, and I remember watching them in amazement that like wow, they're truly making these things look so effortless.
Evie: They're clearly the class of the field here. There's no exception. They did have those errors, like I said. They had that fall on the throw and in the Short, they had the level 1 death spiral, because they really struggled to get into that position. Apollinariia's head was nowhere near the ice in the first couple of rotations, and the Free had errors as well. It was just a little bit messy all around - but their lifts guys, and the twist. They're so top-notch and so clearly ahead of all of the other Junior Pairs. But, right now, it's getting to that point where they're really going to need at least one set of triples, side-by-side triples, I'd say by Junior Worlds. The field at the moment looks like it's starting to close ranks around the top, especially with how Diana and Ilya performed here with their surprise silver medal.
Yogeeta: Everything else was a surprise in this event.
Evie: Because when Diana and Ilya are clean like they were here in the Free, they do side-by-side triple Lutzes and flips. That alone is crazy. Their throws are really nice, they have a really good twist. They kind of remind me of [Anastasia] Mishina and [Aleksandr] Galliamov, if they were slightly weaker in performance but with even crazier triples. They also have that similar issue with their lifts where they don't necessarily get as much speed as I would like them to, and the changes of position can get a bit scary. They really remind me of Mishina and Galliamov in that respect. I'm so upset that they ditched their old Short Program that they were doing on the Junior Grand Prix - their “Crack of Doom” Short - because that was one of my favorite Junior Pairs programs of the season and they got rid of it and I'm so upset. I like “Czardas,” I really like that music, but I think their old Short suited them so much better. I'm just like, “Guys, you were onto something good.”
Yogeeta: They were also so close, score-wise, to Panfilova and Rylov. I'm a little concerned that if Panfliova and Rylov don't get there side-by-side triples, Diana and Ilya can beat them, at Junior Worlds.
Evie: And Diana and Ilya weren't even clean in both programs. They had errors in the Short as well, and they still got between a point in the total.
Yogeeta: Because their tech content is just so crazy high. They were five points ahead in tech in the free. By this rate, if they consistently continue doing well, their component scores are going to go up as well. And components is where Panfliova and Rylov are truly shining, but as that gap starts to get closer and closer, smaller and smaller; they really need to up their side-by-sides to truly remain the top of their field.
Evie: They posted on their Instagram that they're training side-by-side triple Sals but, obviously, they're not going for it yet in the competition, but I'm really looking for the possibility that we might be able to see them soon. If they get at least one set, their scores are going to automatically jump quite a bit and I'm very excited for that. And then, our bronze medalists, Ahkanteva and Kolseov. Honestly, they did really well here all things considered. I think their Short Program was the best performance we've seen of it, so far, and they seemed really pleased with how they did here. They seemed really happy with their skates overall, at least they seemed happy with their Short. They did have quite a few issues in the Free that did cost them silver. In fact, it almost nearly knocked them off the podium. That three-point lead over Artemeva and Nazarychev in the Short only just managed to stave them off, it was very close.
Niamh: I'm just so meh on their Free. They're just kind of skating through the music if that makes sense. There's no performance, or connection which is fine. They're young, they're Juniors but it's just something I'd like to see them work on a bit more. Especially because it's Pink Floyd.
Evie: I think that the construction of the program is one of the main programs though in regards to that just because they're only using one song, and the cut that they chose of that song, because “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” is quite long, but they don't even use the chorus part of it, [Niamh: Yeah] where it actually gets upbeat and so it's quite repetitive and very same-y by the end of it.
Niamh: There's just so much more they could have done with a Pink Floyd program. Evie: There's so many good Pink Floyd songs that you could skate to.
Yogeeta: I'm kind of missing my crazy Junior Russians from last season.
Niamh: The Jungle Russians. [Polina Kostiukovich/Dmitrii Ialin]
Evie: I miss them so much. Junior [Nationals] isn't until the end of next month, and we're not sure if Kostiukovich and Ialin might be back then, and it's going to be interesting how they fit into the field because we have so many Russian teams who are inconsistent at this point that the Junior Worlds team is really up in the air. It's going to come down to how everyone did here at the Final, but also how Junior Nationals are going to fare. I think that if Kostiukovich and Ialin come back and skate anywhere close to where they were skating last season, they'll easily a spot on the team.
Yogeeta: I really hope they come back. I miss them and their crazy programs.
Evie: I miss their crazy programs, their crazy lifts, their crazy everything. Come back kids. Yogeeta: They can teach some lessons to Senior Pairs.
Niamh: Yes. They could.
-end segment-
START: Men
Niamh: And moving onto Junior Men, we had Shun Sato from Japan in first, Andrei Mozalev from Russia in second, and Daniil Samsonov, also from Russia, in third.
Evie: Shun Sato, Junior Grand Prix Final champion, was not something I was expecting.
Niamh: Shun saved this entire Grand Prix Final.
Yogeeta: Honestly, Shun was like the one shining hope for me after everything that happened.
Niamh: The only reason this Grand Prix Final is not completely and utterly erased from my memory.
Yogeeta: I'm so pleasantly surprised by Shun here. Honestly, coming into the Junior Grand Prix Final, I expected one Japanese man on this podium, and it was not Shun. I expected Yuma [Kagiyama] to be on the podium over Shun, and to have him win was mind-blowing for me.
Evie: It was a complete surprise in the best possible way. It's just so exciting to see someone just come out and skate so well and completely dominate over the field.
Yogeeta: He set 2 Junior world records. It wasn't like one point off - he blew away the other two records for the Free and overall score. This was incredible. This was not something I expected to see from a Junior.
Niamh: Especially because he had been skipped out on assignments last year, so we've only ever seen him on like the domestic scene.
Yogeeta: Throwback to all of my comments last season about how I was upset about JSF skipping out on Shun Sato.
Niamh: Even last year on the domestic scene, he was very jump orientated.
Evie: Yeah, he was very much focused on his elements rather than the performance side of things, and you can see how much of an improvement he's made over the past off-season in his performance. He's really matured as a skater.
Niamh: To see him come out on what's basically his international debut season, with genuine improvements then qualify to the final, and then win the final with record skates.
Yogeeta: I'm super impressed because this was not the Shun Sato we saw in the Junior Grand Prix either. The Shun Sato there was still pretty jump orientated. When I saw him in the Short, I was like “He's a lot faster than he was in the Junior Grand Prix.” What happened to you in two months, Shun?
Evie: Honestly, can somebody find a way for me to able to inject Shun's Free Skate here directly into my veins because I feel like I need my vitamin Shun “Romeo and Juliet” every day. That Free is going to be like my pump-up program to watch to get motivated to do stuff.
Yogeeta: I'm also really impressed because just a few weeks ago, he placed second at Junior Nationals, and he said in the press conference after the competition here that after Junior Nats he basically went back and practiced everything - he practiced his jumps, he practiced his spins, he practiced his skating. I'm very impressed that instead of just saying, "I went back and drilled my jumps" he drilled everything and really really showed that he was making efforts to improve.
Evie: His work ethic is just so admirable in that respect, and it's making me really excited to see, if he was that dedicated to improving his performance just in the span of a couple of weeks, how much is he going to grow in the gap between Japanese Senior Nats and Junior Worlds next year. The opportunity for growth is just exponential at this point.
Yogeeta: Can we talk about his quad Lutz? Evie: Oh yeah! It was gorgeous!
Niamh: So good.
Yogeeta: He said at the press conference that he was originally attempting to do a quad Sal, but then he tried a quad Lutz and thought it was easier than the quad Sal, so that's why he's doing a quad Lutz now.
Evie: It sounds like Sasha Trusova energy at this point - the quad Lutz is easier than the quad Sal. That's what it sounds like. Obviously, he's going to have a lot of time after Nationals. I hope he focuses in on his spins and steps because that's kind of a weakness at this point - he really needs to work on getting his levels. Because he only got a level 2 step sequence on both of his programs here, which is definitely a problem. He can very easily rectify that with the amount of time he's got in between the next couple major competitions he has.
Niamh: The fact that he's still getting world record skates with a level 2 step sequence.
Yogeeta: That's some Sendai energy flowing through his veins. He did say at the press conference that he's going to go back and practice more on the steps and spins and jumps, and I'm just like, “You do you. Can you also send some of that work ethic my way, please?”
Evie: Honestly I need it.
Yogeeta: With his win here, he's basically guaranteed his spot at Junior Worlds. Also, I have to make this parallel but, Yuzuru won Junior Grand Prix [Final] ten years ago, and now Shun won it, and they're both from Sendai, and Yuzuru's his idol - it just brings me joy.
Evie: Let's talk about Yuma, because he had some pretty uncharacteristic mistakes in both of his programs here. He wasn't as solid as we saw him on the circuit earlier.
Yogeeta: Yeah. It was really surprising that he missed that Axel in the Short because I don't think I've ever seen him miss that Axel in the Short. It was really weird, and that basically cost him the podium, honestly, because he was three points off of bronze. But I love Yuma, he's great. He has the best skating skills of any Junior Man - honestly, of most Senior Men too.
Evie: He's so fast and smooth.
Yogeeta: And even with his mistakes, he still sells his programs really really well. He had a fall in his free, but that didn't really stop him from performing and doing the best he could and he jumped from 6th to 4th and placed 3rd in the Free. So, he definitely has so much potential and he's also going to be at Junior Worlds because he's the [Japanese] Junior National Champion, so really excited to see how he performs there. But both he and Shun are going to be at Japanese [Senior] Nationals, and he said in an interview that he's planning on doing a quad Flip and quad Loop at Japanese Nationals so...
Niamh: He's already qualified to Junior Worlds, what's he got to lose at Senior Nats?
Yogeeta: I'm so excited for the state of Japanese men right now because they've gotten a really deep field in the past two years, so I don't actually know what's going to happen with Japanese men at Nationals, which is something I couldn't say last year.
Evie: Honestly, I want to give a little bit of a shout out - I wanna talk quickly about our silver medalist, Andrei Mozalev, because it's been a while since I've watched his programs. I haven't rewatched them since he was on the circuit and when I was watching the competitions live. And I honestly completely forgot about the music cut half way through his spin in the free skate from the “Gangster’s Paradise” and whatever he uses-
Yogeeta: "In this Shirt"?
Evie: Yeah, "In this Shirt" - I completely forgot about it and it was that moment of, I was half asleep watching this on my couch and going, “The hell is going on with this music cut?”
Yogeeta: I have to say that I'm impressed by Andrei and the programs he was able to put out here. He got the job done.
Evie: Especially because he qualified very highly because he won both of his Junior Grand Prix assignments, but probably out of the field, he got some of the easier assignments and so his overall total scores by which he was winning the events were a little bit lower on average. And so I wasn't really expecting him to come into the Final and actually end up on the podium, but he did really deliver two solid skates and obviously there is still a lot in his skating that he needs to work on, especially in performance because at the moment he is very much still a Junior in that respect.
Yogeeta: His Free Skate music isn't really helping him there.
Evie: No, it's not. But his overall consistency and his tech across this competition is really astounding and I'm excited to see where he'll go from here.
Yogeeta: Just briefly about this Men's event overall: Junior Men is easily way more chaotic than Senior Men. Because this was not the podium I expected at all, in any flavor.
Niamh: I expected Daniil.
Evie: Yeah, I expected Daniil to make it on the podium in some position.
Yogeeta: I expected Daniil to be gold or silver medalist, so even getting a bronze would've been surprising to me. And obviously I said I did not expect Shun, but bless his heart. Shun was clean - he had two clean skates, which for a Junior Man to have two clean skates with quads and triple Axels? Impossible in my mind. Hopefully he can lean on that consistency and actually make it a thing because if he can do that, then he's going to be unbeatable. Andrei came out, got the job done, and I'm really impressed that despite the fact that Yuma, who I was hoping to podium, didn't podium - everyone here tried their best.
-end segment- START: Ice Dance
Evie: Okay, moving onto Ice Dance. Our podium is, in gold, Maria Kazakova and Georgy Reviya of Georgia, in silver, Avonley Nguyen and Vadym Kolesnik of the US, and in bronze, we have Elizaveta Shanaeva and Devid Naryzhnyy of Russia. So, it was a bit of a surprise twist that Kazakova/Reviya ended up winning - not a twist that I am particularly upset with because they have really grown on me over the last season. But they're the first Georgian Ice Dance team to win a major international ISU competition, and the last time a non-North American or non-Russian team won the Junior Grand Prix Final was back in 2003 with a Hungarian team, Hoffman and Elek - so it's been a while since a team from a different fed has come and shook things up. And it's just great to see a smaller fed teams, even though Kazakova/Reviya do train in Russia, come out and win major titles, especially with the climate in Dance right now in regards to how federations politic with each other.
Yogeeta: Yeah, I'm happy they won and I'm also sad.
Evie: We knew you were gonna be sad, Yogs.
Yogeeta: Maybe you should talk about K/R first before I talk about being sad.
Evie: Maria and Georgy - they actually placed 6th last year at the Junior Grand Prix Final and now they come back and they have their first major gold medal.
Yogeeta: I stan a glow-up.
Evie: It's such an impressive glow-up over such a short period of time, over a single season, to see how much they've improved. We've talked about before on the other Junior Grand Prix episodes how much their programs this season really highlight their skating and how they really suit them in comparison to their more classical programs that they had last year. Especially in regards to their performance and interpretation, which I personally found a little bit lacking in last year - both of their programs, especially the Free, really allow them to kind of open up and connect with the audience a little bit more.
Yogeeta: Yeah, and that they're doing a lot of really cool elements in the Free as well, that you don't see a lot of the other ice dance teams doing, which make them stand out a lot, especially to an average viewer who doesn't know as much about ice dance -- you can put them side to side and they'll be one of the few that people actually remember.
Evie: They do that weird throw thing at the start of their program where he literally just throws her over his shoulder - it's so freaking rad. There are obviously some things that they do need to improve on as a team, mainly in regards to their levels, but most teams also have to work on that as well - especially in their patterns and one-foot step sequences. But they've got so much time from here to Junior Worlds to work on that that I'm not really worried at this point for them. Considering how much we've seen them grow in just the last couple of months, I have faith that they'll take what they've learned here to heart and come back in fighting form for Junior Worlds.
Niamh: Especially because having a really great result like this, it's only going to push them and motivate them more. Because now they know that they can compete with the Russian teams and Nguyen/Kolesnik and good results can only mean good things.
Yogeeta: I'm hoping they have a really good continued breakout season here because politicking for Juniors isn't as crazy as it is for Seniors, so they really need to make an impact as Juniors before they move into Seniors to actually go head to head with all the crazy politicking that happens in Senior Dance. [Niamh: Oh god]
Evie: You are very correct in that front. Okay, let's let Yogs go cry over N/K for a few minutes.
Yogeeta: I have to cry about N/K. So they placed silver and they did amazing, they did great and I love them. They were very close; the difference between gold and silver here was what, 0.14 points or something?
Evie: Something like that. It was a tiny, tiny difference.
Yogeeta: It was a very small margin and just looking at Avonley and Vadym, they have the best programs of all the US Dance teams, Junior and Senior. That's just the state of the game. But they're such a special team, guys. I don't know, they have this presence on the ice that just draws you in and I can't not watch them when they're on the ice. I think I just adopted them because they kind of remind me of the [Shibutanis] somehow, because both they and the Shibs are such amazing Free Dance skaters. And their Free Dances remind me of what the Shibs became really well known for. But work on your levels, children. This happened last season too - they are clearly amazing skaters, they have great skating skills, and really strong programs - but it all ultimately comes down to technical scores not being high enough to get them the gold because they aren't hitting their levels.
Evie: Yeah, and honestly they were at a base value disadvantage in both of their programs here, and it's the same kind of issue they had during the actual Junior Grand Prix. Because they had pretty easy assignments at both of their events - they didn't really have anyone there that could really challenge them technically. And also their PCS could make up for any kind of pitfalls they found themselves in back in their assignments. But here, the field was a lot closer and I wasn't expecting Kazakova and Reviya to be as clean as they were here, so they were naturally closer in scoring.
Yogeeta: It's still very interesting to see that like, Maria and Georgy, and Avonley and Vadym, versus the rest of the field here. These were clearly the two front-runners. They were ten points above the other teams. So, it was really close. It's going to be a really interesting showdown at Junior Worlds between these two teams to see who will come out on top. I honestly - obviously, I'm me. I would have probably given Avonley and Vadym the win here.
Niamh: [sarcastically] Really?
Evie: Unsurprisingly.
Yogeeta: Just because I think their components are so pretty much stronger. They only won PCS in the Free by 0.2 points, which I think is a little too small a margin because I think their skating skills and the compositions of their programs are a little bit better than Maria and Georgy, and they did win components by like a point in the Rhythm Dance. So I didn't really understand why that margin went down so much for the Free, but overall either team could've won and it was still an amazing competition to watch. Shall we talk about the Russians?
Evie: Let's do it, because honestly I was expecting the main match up to between Avonley and Vadym and Liza [Elizaveta] and Devid. Those were the two teams I was expecting to be vying for that gold position, but unfortunately Liza and Devid did have level issues. They got a lot of level 2s, which dragged down their TES quite a bit considering they got really pretty good scores in both their JGPs.
Yogeeta: I will say that the tech panel here was very strict.
Evie: At least they were consistently strict.
Yogeeta: It's a good thing, but it does really hurt some of the teams that we saw were having higher levels because of less strict tech panels, at other comp[etitions.] So hopefully, they take these results as a sign to go drill your patterns, children.
Evie: The same kind of thing happened last year though, at the Junior Grand Prix Final, because remember, the dance panels there were really, really strict, also. But honestly, can we talk about [Elizaveta] Khudaiberdeiva and [Andrey] Filatov placing fourth here, despite being basically a brand-new team?
Yogeeta: I'm so impressed with them. I think Andrey is such a better partner already for Liza. They work a lot better together. Given another year, they can easily be the top Junior Dance team.
Evie: I'm really, really happy that they did so well. And honestly, I think I would've probably put them in the bronze position over Devid and Liza. Only a point was between third and fourth.
Yogeeta: Probably here, it came down to a little bit of reputation.
Evie: Yeah, definitely. And Liza and Devid have been skating together for -- this is their second competitive season together, and obviously, Liza and Andrey were a bit of an outlier starting out the season because we weren't sure how this new partnership was going to go, and then there was that whole mystery about, wait, is Liza sick or not? And then she turned up to the second assignment and they weren't sick, so I don't know. It was a little bit of a question mark. I'm absolutely not surprised at the way those two placements turned out.
Yogeeta: This is going to be interesting to see what's going to happen at Russian Junior Nats for dance, because also [Arina] Ushakova and [Maksym] Nekrasov are back and they won at Golden Spin, and they are such a wildcard team that they can mess up any standings unexpectedly.
Evie: Especially because Ushakova and Nekrasov could contend for major medals, they can get really, really high scores, but at the same time, they had issues at their major events last season. Obviously, they had problems at the Final, they had problems at Junior Worlds, so it's so up and down that you never really know what you're gonna get with them.
Yogeeta: The Final last year was not really a problem. It was just really close, like 0.01 close. They did have issues at Junior Worlds.
Evie: Foreseeably, it's probably gonna end up being Shanaeva and Naryzhnyy, Khudaiberdieva and Filatov, and then Ushakova and Nekrasov for the Junior Worlds team, because honestly, I don't think that [Diana] Davis and [Gleb] Smolkin have made a strong enough case to be put on that team yet, even though they did make the Final. Their scores overall just haven't been as strong.
Yogeeta: And the federation probably trusts Ushakova and Nekrasov more than they do Davis and Smolkin, unfortunately.
Evie: Junior Dance is just in a whole the best discipline and I will continue to say this. It is the most valid discipline to watch because really, anything can happen at the end of the day.
Yogeeta: Anything can happen and also these teams are having so much fun. I like more junior dance programs than in Senior Dance.
Evie: They're allowed to experiment a bit more and get outside of the box. Yogeeta: And there's less politicking.
Evie: Exactly, so that's nice. Junior Dance. Everyone watch Junior Dance, please. They deserve. The Junior Dance teams deserve.
Yogeeta: They deserve the world. They're the best.
-end segment-
START: Ladies
Evie: Our final discipline for the Junior Grand Prix Final is the Ladies.
Yogeeta: In gold we had Kamila Valieva of Russia, in silver we had Alysa Liu of the US, and we had in bronze Daria Usacheva of Russia. Let's talk about tech.
Hosts: [singing] Let's talk about tech, baby! Let's talk about you and me.
Evie: You can see that the 3am delirium is setting in. [Hosts laugh] Alysa did some pretty crazy things in both of her programs here.
Yogeeta: Alysa did her triple Axel-triple toe in the short, like we saw her do at her [second] Junior Grand Prix assignment, and it didn't really give her the lead that she was looking for. She was attempting to use the higher-scoring jumps to offset the lower GOEs that she's been receiving on some of her elements compared to the other Junior Ladies, but she was only leading by one point after the Short.
Evie: In comparison, looking at Daria's backloaded triple flip-triple toe that she does in her Short, there was only a one-point difference in the scores they both got for those combos. It was 13.80 [for Alysa] versus 12.19 [for Daria]. That was the difference between the triple flip-triple toe in the second half versus the triple Axel-triple toe in the first half. Definitely not the kind of lead that Alysa was expecting or hoping for.
Yogeeta: Ultimately it comes down to the Grade of Execution.
Niamh: Especially because Kamila ended up winning, even without any quads.
Evie: Oh, yeah. Well, I'm very glad that she didn't do any quads considering that she was coming off an injury. I don't want her to push herself by doing the toe in the Free when she's coming off something as serious as an injury, and I hope that this won't be a re-occurring thing later down the track of the season.
Niamh: It was just interesting to see how she managed to take the top spot even without those jumps.
Yogeeta: Quality, Niamh. Quality. But the tech panel did not approve of Alysa's Free. [Niamh: No]
Evie: Yeah, they went to town on it.
Yogeeta: She fell on the first triple Axel, and then had her other triple Axel and her two Lutzes called under, but it's still really amazing to see the power that these elements have on the scoring even with them being called under. Even with the three underrotations and a fall, her technical score was still within 1.5 points of Kamila, who had skated clean.
Evie: And it was insane considering the overall quality of Kamila's elements. The fact that she skated a clean Free, even though there was no quad involved, and still only managed to barely overtake Alysa is quite surprising, at least to me.
Niamh: I hate that it's now surprising when someone without a quad wins. [Evie: I know!]
Yogeeta: Honestly, I'm happy that the tech panel actually called Alysa but I'm also kind of concerned that she's gonna see the scoring here and think like, “Even with my unders, I still did really well, so maybe I should keep doing it,” instead of focusing on improving the execution or improving her skating skills and her other components, because she's pretty slow. And there's so much skating-wise that she can improve on that I don't think she really should be focusing on these jumps.
Evie: At the end of the day, it's really gonna be beneficial for her to take a step back from the crazy technical improvements to really buckle down and focus on her skating skills, her quality of her transitions, things like that that really form the foundations and the basis for good skating.
Yogeeta: Let's talk about Kamila, who was still able to win despite the injury and put together two pretty solid programs.
Evie: She did have the error in the Short, where she basically had no speed coming out of the loop, but the Free was amazing.
Yogeeta: She's such a lovely skater burdened by terrible choreography. Niamh: As are most Eteri skaters.
Evie: Honestly, I hadn't rewatched this program since her last Junior Grand Prix appearance, and I don't know if it was just a me thing, but the choreography here looked even more rushed and packed to the brim than usual. I don't know if I just haven't seen the program in a while and honestly forgot-
Niamh: I don't know if I was just focused on the quads in the past.
Evie: Yeah, honestly. They just seemed like she was going from position to position or one after another after another, all the transitions into the elements and out of them, and there is something, obviously, to be said about the level of difficulty. It's really crazy and really cool that she's able to pack that much content into both of her programs, but they just feel so bloated and really rushed because she's not taking the time to highlight the fact that she can hit some amazing positions. Her flexibility is no joke.
Yogeeta: I just keep coming back to that half a second Ina Bauer. Why even have a half a second Ina Bauer if you're not gonna hold the Ina Bauer?
Niamh: What's the point?
Yogeeta: She's an amazing skater. You can have a very difficult program while still leaving the moments for brilliance and letting her breathe and live in the moment.
Niamh: I understand what they're trying to do going full ham with the transitions, but I find it more impressive if she was being able to take the time to fully extend on some of the Ina Bauers and some of the spiral positions.
Yogeeta: She has great lines, but they don't let her use it.
Niamh: You can't fully appreciate them because they're gone by the time you blink.
Evie: I'm really happy that she was able to put together such a solid skate considering the injury, and I'm interested to see what's gonna happen with both of these programs. Obviously, in her second Junior Grand Prix she was doing the quad toe in combo, and I wouldn't be at all shocked if she had other quads that she's been training because, you know, Eteri's camp with their tech content. I'm interested to see, especially, what will happen with Alysa at Nationals next month and if Kamila, in response, will potentially try and up her technical content even further, because that's always a possibility. It'll be interesting to keep an eye on the race towards Junior Worlds in that respect. So, Daria Usacheva came into the bronze position here, which for me was a little bit surprising, considering that on the Junior Grand Prix she wasn't clean at either of her assignments and was a little bit rough overall. But she came out here, did what she needed to do, had really good skates in both programs. I was quite pleasantly surprised with both of her performances here.
Yogeeta: Similarly with Kamila, Daria's also a lovely skater burdened by terrible choreography. When I watched her Short, I was just like, "Are you skating to music? Or are you just skating and there's music overlaid?" Because nothing matched.
Evie: Honestly, I think the main problem with it is not really a choreography or composition problem, it's specifically that the music itself isn't really suited to skating, or that cut of the music isn't. For lack of a better term, it's pretty sad, listening to a woman crone about how she doesn't want to love Dracula, because that's literally what the song is about. It doesn't have any kind of progression or build to it, and in some places it can be a little bit too soft, and while Daria is definitely more suited towards mature, refined program or music choices, I think this is a little bit bleak, honestly.
Niamh: Why is a 14 or 15-year-old skating to music by someone not loving Dracula? [Hosts laugh]
Yogeeta: We never said that Juniors were skating to age-appropriate music here.
Evie: I think her Free is a little bit better. I think the “Je suis Malade” works a little bit better for her, but I wish they amped up the drama a little bit more in the choreography, especially with her expressions. It's a little bit lackluster in that respect.
Niamh: I can't say I've ever watched her Free because I'm just too busy bopping and singing.
Yogeeta: I agree with the Free. I definitely think she has ample room to improve on performance points, but neither of these programs are really helping her do that.
Evie: It'll be interesting to see how she fares at Russian Junior Nats and to see if she'll get a place on that Junior Worlds team, because obviously with this placement at the Final, she definitely has a chance. I'm interested. I wish they would just give her new programs.
Yogeeta: Let's give a shoutout to Haein Lee for her comeback from the Short to the Free and having the best Ladies' Free Skate program of the season.
Evie: That step sequence, though. It is one of my favorite moments in Ladies' skating this year. It is just amazing.
Yogeeta: It's so good. It also just lets her personality shine through. I wish I could see more of it in the rest of the program, but God, she sells that step sequence.
Evie: And she looked so happy afterwards. She looked so proud of herself.
Yogeeta: I'm really excited. I see this as a path forward for her evolution and seeing how she'll grow, and that step sequence is just a glimpse of the potential she has for what she can do with her future programs and I'm just so excited to see her grow. And I'm hoping she has a much better Junior Worlds experience.
Evie: This whole Junior Grand Prix series has been such a wild ride from start to finish. It really is insane how much talent we have at the moment in the Juniors, and honestly, I really wish there were more Junior competitions in between the Final and Worlds.
Yogeeta: Why can't we have a Junior Euros and Junior Four Continents?
Evie: I honestly miss seeing all of my kids in that large gap. The desert wasteland of January and February.
-end segment-
START: Outro
Yogeeta: Thank you for listening. We hope to see you again for our next episode.
Niamh: And thank you to our transcribing and quality control team, and Evie for always wonderfully editing all of our episodes. Round of applause for Evie.
Evie: Oh, thank you.
Yogeeta: Applause!
Evie: Thank you, thank you. I will take this applause.
Niamh: And to the wonderful Gabb for all of our beautiful graphic design.
Evie: If you want to get in touch with us, if you want to let us know some stuff, some feedback, or just want to say hi, then please feel free to contact us via our website inthelopodcast.com, or on Twitter or Instagram. You can find our episodes on YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify. Wherever podcasts are sold, you can find us there.
Niamh: [laughs] Sold.
Evie: Sold for free. Let me clarify. Sold for free.
Niamh: Pop into your local record store for In The Loop records.
Evie: In The Loop on vinyl, available now.
Niamh: We also have Pop Funkos coming next.
Yogeeta: If you enjoy the show, and want to help support the team, then please consider making a donation to us on our ko-fi page or buying merch.
Evie: Or buying merch!
Yogeeta: And we'd like to give a huge thank-you to all the listeners who have contributed to our team thus far.
Niamh: You can also find all of the links to our social media pages and to our ko-fi on the website.
Evie: And if you're listening on iTunes, please consider leaving a rating and a review if you enjoyed the show. And thank you so much for listening. This has been Evie,
Niamh: Niamh,
Yogeeta: And Yogeeta. Thanks for listening. Bye!
Evie: See you soon, guys!