Sunday, November 28, 2010

Sunday Morning: Figure Skating

Here, watch a video of Kim Yu Na that actually makes me think there is something good left in figure skating, after all.

My absolute favorite bit is the spin that begins at 3:50 or so.

Also, I love that her technical elements just materialize out of nowhere. Her tech is part of her style. Far too many skaters visibly transition from one to the other. I hate when I'm watching a skater and I can tell that they're setting up for something. Most of the time in figure skating, you can see it coming a mile away. It's not so bad in slalom, but then again, we're all about footwork, which is kind of a mindscrew anyway and doesn't really allow the brain to see what's about to happen and in some cases what did just happen.

Personally I am at the point where I can watch a slalom skater and in close to all cases see exactly what's going on in the cones. There are a few exceptions...Kim Sung Jin, Kim Tae Bin and some others in the same vein do some stuff that I'm still like "Whaaaaa?" Of course this is part of the reason why their skating is so fascinating. But under ordinary circumstances I can pretty well tell you exactly what a person did, even if I can't do it myself. Videos that I watched two years ago wracking my brain with "How the heck are they doing that?" I can watch now and say, "Huh. It's this move connected to this move. I'ma go try that." 

And on another side note, I think this should be the criteria people should meet when they are judging a slalom competition. People who know slalom inside and out should be the only ones sitting behind that table. Because if the skating is still by and large mysterious, then one can't possibly judge it correctly. Not to mention taking into account the fluidity with which one incorporates high-tech maneuvers.

Happy Sunday everybody!

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