Carolina Kostner's short program to Allegretto from Trio No. 2 earned her 61.30 with zero deductions. Her opening triple triple combination was just amazing! A triple triple combination has become practically a necessity in ladies Figure Skating. Three of the top five ladies in the short had triple triples. Kostner's skating skills, transitions, and execution made the program "look" effortless. Making figure skating look effortless is not an easy thing to do. Overall Carolina's short program was the best ladies short program of the competition.
In the long program Kostner's program was well choreographed and just seemed more polished to me than the other ladies programs. Alissa Czisny who finished 5th in the long program was injured causing her program to be riddled with errors. I give her an A+ for effort though. To skate with an injury and still place in the top 5 is excellent. Her ending level 4 layback spin was perfectly centered and very fast. I would suggest watching her long program if you haven't seen it yet just to see her layback spin.
I did get a chance to watch parts of the men's competition. Although he did not place first Jeremy Abott had one of the best triple Axels I have ever seen in his short program. But in Yuzuru HANY's long program was the best triple Axel I have ever seen period. Also isn't his outfit gorgeous?
I only saw Julia LIPNITSKAIA's (RUS) free skate of the Junior Grand Prix Final and her program could compete with the best senior ladies. If you liked Alissa Czisny's layback you will definitely love Julia's layback spin. Her Beilmann spin was in a split. Which reminds me I need to go stretch.
