Lights and Shadows at the Scandinavium by Sonia Bianchetti Garbato
Ladies FreeskateIn the final free, only three skaters out of 24 performed “nearly” clean programs: Sarah Meier, from Switzerland ( she had a wrong take off in the triple Lutz) ; Yukari Nakano ( whose triple Axel and triple Flip were downgraded) and Yu-Na-Kim, although she had a small mistake in the landing of the triple Salchow. The rest of the skating was more or less a disaster.
Carolina Kostner placed third in the Free Skate and ended up second overall, missing the gold medal by only 0.88 points. She started off with a nicely executed triple flip /triple toe- loop/ double loop combination, but she put a hand down on the triple Lutz and had a step out of the triple flip. Then she nearly fell on a triple Salchow/ double toe- loop combination. Carolina also had a hand down on the toe- loop in the double Axel/ triple toe-loop combination, and was also scored slightly negative on a double Axel with an awkward landing. Even with all these errors she was only 0.01 point behind Asada in technical score and only three points behind Kim.
Mao Asada’s first jump was supposed to be a triple Axel. She had landed a perfect one during the warm up. She started off her program with speed and determination but as she approached the takeoff of the planned triple Axel, she leaned back, stumbled badly, slipped off the edge and went sliding across the ice towards the barrier. Her heart just stopped, and so did the hearts of the 8000 spectators. She got up and looked astonished but she pulled herself together, and with unbelievable determination she was able to perform an outstanding program. She has beautiful step sequences and spins and she is very expressive and artistic too. The fall on the Axel, however, was not her only error in the elements. She had an edge call on the triple Lutz and a downgrade on the loop in the triple flip/ triple loop combination. Asada had the second best technical score, by 0.01 point over Carolina Kostner, while in Program Components she was scored best, with a total of 60.57 points.
Yu-Na Kim won the free skating with a splendid performance. She opened with a gorgeous triple flip/ triple toe- loop combination and landed a total of five triples, ending the program with a double Axel and a beautiful change foot combination spin. Her program was nearly clean. She only had a couple of minor errors: a poorly controlled landing on a triple Salchow and a singled planned triple Lutz. Her technique is pure and she moves beautifully on the ice. She is a joy to watch. In my opinion she was by far the best skater that night. Still, her marks in the components did not reflect this. Her total score was 58.56, just 0.4 ahead of Kostner and almost 1.03 less than Asada. Had she been marked correctly, although she was only fifth in the short program, she might have won the World title.
Reprinted With Permission - soniabianchetti.com
March 30, 2008
