When Alena Leonova is at her best, she's hit her technical elements and then sells, sells, sells...that's exactly what she did today! She had me in the palm of her hand...and that's a lot considering I've been so over POTC for about two years now. The judges put her in first and I couldn't agree with the placement more. Murakami and Kostner in 2nd/3rd...neither really did it for me but I guess I get it; Murakami was clean and Kostner is, well, Kostner. Mao Asada is very lucky to be in 4th after what could have been a disaster missing that triple axel...luckily all the ladies behind her decided to make errors themselves.
Speaking of errors, let's talk about Ashley and Alissa...I'm not ready to write the obituary just yet, but this is not going well to this point for the American Ladies. The saving grace is, while Ashley is in 8th, she's only 5.5 points or so from the podium. If you look at her 4CC free, she can get there if things happen. Alissa...poor Alissa...the old Alissa is back. The one from a couple years ago that doubted everything, looked frail, and once one mistake happened...down came the domino's. For the free she needs to forget about competing and just go enjoy skating. Skate for herself and let the chips fall...if she puts the pressure of having to better her placement I feel the bottom will come from under her...this is about her now, not the placement.As I watched these SP's, it became abundantly clear I miss some things in skating. I miss spiral sequences in the short program, I miss ladies 'having' to have a lutz and flip in the short in order to crack the top 6 (Costner is 3rd with a triple toe/triple toe, double axel, and double loop), I miss not having the luxury to wander to any seat in the arena because every seat was filled, and just a little...I miss the 6.0 system, but most of all - I miss Michelle Kwan.
Sorry...couldn't help myself:
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