Saturday, September 18, 2010

Ms. Gao


Christina Gao's short at JGP Austria.



Christina Gao's long. (Adelina Sotnikova's long will be posted when available.)

16 comments:

  1. wow. she just gets better and better. Mirai will face some stiff competition at Nationals this year!

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  2. her posture needs serious work.

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  3. She's listed at 5'2", but seems taller.

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  4. She still needs to work on her lines, posture, etc, a lot, but she's genuinely improving and she is a great jumper.

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  5. Right now, she's good; in a few years, however, she's going to be great. I'm glad that she has several years before Sochi to refine her stretch and polish and to maintain (what appears to be) her good jump technique.

    On a completely unrelated note, I adore her skating dress. It's so simple and elegant - one of the prettiest that I've seen in a while.

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  6. [Quote
    Right now, she's good; in a few years, however, she's going to be great. I'm glad that she has several years before Sochi to refine her stretch and polish and to maintain (what appears to be) her good jump technique[/Quote]

    Maybe the thing though is Christina isn't THAT young, I'm not sure her stretch or extension is ever going to be spectacular. And I'm equally not sure those areas are Brian's strongest points.

    I feel like Christina is a solid skater with nice jumps. But I don't think there's anything that truly stands out about her. She has nice soft/gentle look to her but that effect is kind of hurt by some of her line issues.

    Felt she WAS a bit overscored here especially in the long. A lot of people felt the Chinese girl in the long was underscored in PCS in comparision to Christina.

    Watching her back to back against Adelina, really stresses how I feel. Sotnikova at 14 has much better line, extension, posture and more star quality too. They both have great jumps but Adelina's are bigger and more explosive. Better spins too. Also Adelina's basic skating is better too.

    The only thing is Christina has gone through puberty and Adelina hasn't.

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  7. Yeah... I'm not really that impressed. I mean, good job, but... plenty of work to do. and NO height or speed on the double axel!

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  8. I'm not really very impressed either. Her toe jumps are excellent. speed is ok and she has improved her posture. But, her skatings skills are nothing special, her edge jumps are nothing special (horrid technique on the axel - not Zhang level, but bad) and her lines and posture need a lot of work still. Her step sequence really highlighted her weak edging and poor posture. Her presentation is nothing special, either. Meh from me.

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  9. Gao reminds me of Michelle in her junior years plus Yu-na in 2006. Wonderfully lyrical with maturity beyond her age. And her consistency keeps improving. I hope she nails her LP too.

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  10. Uh, I doubt Gao is fully through puberty yet. She's still scrawny looking, and I think a little more meat on her bones may even help the look of her. But I'm not expecting her to have wonderful lines.. She's just not that type. But I do think she's getting better at genuinely feeling the music and expressing herself a little out there rather than just going through the motions. Her jumping technique is fine for now, and can continue to be improved and adjusted as she gets older. She made a good choice doing JGP another year!

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  11. Why does she do the 1-handed beillman when she's not that flexible? It slows her spin down a lot.

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  12. And the bent leg camel spin. Why?

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  13. I am so glad she is American. We need her.

    That said, why is she so unoriginal? She needs to do something new if she wants to be noticed. Right now, I think Mirai has more interesting programs and style.

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  14. I am not super impressed with her, but I do adore her style. I think she's a very likable skater and hope that she will only continue to improve.

    And I love that fringe of hers ;)

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  15. I think she's good for where she's at growth wise. She's not finished. She's still at the "all knees and elbows" phase of puberty, so she's not finished. It's very difficult to look graceful at this stage, but she's doing it. Technique on her toe jumps is wonderful. Such a gentle pick gets great height. I see lots of potential here. She reminds me more of a young Yu-Na because of her long legs than she does a young Kwan, though it was music that Michelle used early on.

    Debbi

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  16. I met her recently. I think she's grown since the 5'2" was listed, I'd have her more at 5'3"-5'4", but her legs are really long so that may be why she looks taller. Her skating is even better live - she's very fast and quite expressive :)

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