That lutz - on a clear outside edge and the height and distance Midori covers is just incredible. Now all we have are wobbly edges that flip flop between the inside and outside and end up on a straight edge. Midori was amazing.
THAT TRIPLE LUTZ IS OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She vaults she does not jump. She literally transfers her speed into height and just lets the momentum carry her into and THROUGH the air. It's almost reckless in the best way possible the way she jumps. She has to wrap her leg just to be able to control the rotation.
Midori Ito is a real class act. She was worried about the camera man that she fell into in one of her competitions. I love to watch her skate and she never ceases to amaze me with her JUMPS! It's hard to believe that she is truly a flesh and blood human being. I love her love her love her!!! The other posters are right in saying that Midori Ito is truly one of a kind and in a class by herself.
Screw the artistry part...she has all the joy in the world! And since Midori retired from amateur competition in 92, 15 years and counting not one skater has been able to match the jumping and spinning quality of this young lady!
Other than the ordinary-looking spiral sequence, what a great program! It almost looks speeded up, how fast she covers the ice, and how much height she gets on her jumps!
What bothered me about this time was that artistry for ladies seemed to mean long legs, femininity, and vanity. Remember, the second mark is for "presentation," not "artistry." Midori Ito was one of the best presenters EVER, as she always had the audience in the palm of her hand, and was simply joyous to watch. Was she as graceful as Michelle Kwan? No... but, imo, she was as graceful as Witt, Thomas and Manley, for sure.
Midori's artistry was in her athleticism. There was never a skater more exciting or riveting than she was and she was bursting with charisma. She skated like a wild animal. She was a 6.0 presentation skater. The judges just did not understand what they were seeing.
This program was really nice, and the music suits her style. I love Midori That spiral sequence was not so good though :( Undsteady edges, unsteady free leg, okay extension, but not held nearly long enough.
It's ridiculous that a skater of this caliber was ever in 10th place (I doubt she was ever that bad in figures). After an entire generation has passed, we still don't have a replacement for Midori Ito.
What other skater had triple lutz double toe , besides yamauchi, and yamauchi her triple lutz double toe was much smaller . Midori should have received all 5.9 across the board..
@skaterdude1962 you are right about Midori's spiral and occasional lack of finesse. However, Jill's win was outrageous! No triple in the short program and overall a performance that was just not on the level of a senior lady. Jill was graceful, yes, but she lacked the technical punch to be a World Champion. They didn't go and immediately change the rules - eliminating the figures for no reason - it's because all in power (not to mention the audience) were outraged midori lost.
@SkateNater Actually, by this time, Midori improved her figures trememdously. Everybody expected her to be at the 6th place or above, but she did a drastic mistake this year on a figure. Also the cause of her bad figures was mainly financial. Practicing figures costed a lot. Her basic skating skills were superb, according to Yuka Sato's dad. Midori's mom struggled to pay even for lessons. Actually, Midori's first international competition (World Jr.) was supposed to be her last one.
Jonathan Partridge I don’t think she had any issues with taking off on the wrong edge. If she does she wouldn’t be able to launch herself with that much spring action. As long as your free leg does not take off from the inside edge, your fine.
@Gedevanishvili- She did not win this competition because she absolutely bombed in figures. She was never good in figures ever but in this competition she made a huge mistake. Otherwise, she probably would've won.
@thomstephens they did not get rid of figures because Jill Trenary won worlds...that was decided years before to reduce them from 30 to 20 percent in 89 and then eliminate them in 91. People were not outraged that Jill won worlds, there was more controversy about getting rid of the figures. Midori's ONLY world title was with figures, once they elimated them, she never won again, so....
Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call Kristi a cow. Certainly "good artistry" has evolved over the years and Kristi embodied it at the time. But I do think they made too much of Midori's supposed inability to be artistic and expressive. That was a terrific program and she sold it very well. What more could you really ask from a skater?
She had great technical ability, but this program for me wasnt anywhere near her best ever. Kristi surpassed her in all areas, because execution is a big part of technical skating, in case you didnt know. Extensions, toe point, raised feet and unwrapped jumps are all part of that program. Artistically I never cared for her skating, but however, seeing how weak the field was, I can understand how she got those marks. And dont call anyone's comments "dumb" just cause you disagree. Get a life~
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I feel she didnt always have great edges or landing positions. The choreography is better than she usually did, but I didnt find anything that showed she interepreted this music; she could have skated to anything and it would have looked the same. Yes, I am aware it was double lutz, okay, and her landing on that wasnt extended nor were her combination landing...execution is part of technical just in case you didnt know.
the positions and choreograpahy were very medicore in this program, the double flip landing was weak, the spiral sequence was awful and she was independent of the music, the landings on the combination were rushed and weak also; this deserved 5.7 for technical at most and 5.6 at most for technical. Anything more would be crazy
I don't think her combination was weak-it's got the speed, height and flowing edge on the landing. It was executed in sync with the music which is rather fast paced. Certainly there's room for improvement for her spiral and her artistry, but not her jumps in this case.
