It is refreshing to find skaters like Sasha Cohen who can inject life experience into their choreography. I love to watch Sasha. Her presence on the ice is one of pristine and incredible beauty.
The leg extension, the spiral, the elasticity, the fluidity she displays as she glides across the ice are just marvelous.
It is such a pleasure to watch Sasha skates, and I am very glad she wants to come back, and she has as much chance as any of the skaters to get the crown. Under the Code of Points scoring system, Cohen often scored more points in the free skate than other ladies scored during the entire competition. She skates with grace and elegance. Her presentation and connecting moves are just outstanding, including her gorgeous Charlotte. She just has to have two good clean skates. While Yu Na Kim may appear invincible, don't get me wrong, I find her to be one of the best skaters yet; however, all of the expectations may rattle her, or anyone for that matter. As a result, she may have a not so stellar skate, and "we" may in turn be surprise yet again. Someone unknown, from out of no where may come and snatch the spotlight. It has happened in our own backyard. Remember Mirai Nagasu? when all of the attention were on Zhang and Meissner, and Nagasu took the crown. She became the "future of figure skating." Then again Yu Na never disappoints. She is the best skater in the world right now, maybe the best ever. She has jumps, flexibility, artistry, flair, fluidity and most important: consistency. If she skates her best which we know she will, there is no doubt that the crown will be hers.
This season Asada has attempted two triple Axels, in her Long Program and let's not disregard the judges' imposition on those skaters. Skaters are being penalized for incomplete rotations, or wrong edges entry. Sasha, may just finally have that stellar competition that she's been missing from her amateur career days. She has a very hard road ahead of her however. I've always felt that Miss Cohen is one of the greatest talents to ever glide on the ice; but she lacks consistency and the focus, a huge hindrance in any sport, even more in figure skating.
The problem with Sasha is her lack of consistency in her jumps; as a result, it may lower her base value to a point where winning can almost be impossible. Sasha has it all: grace, elegance, and she knows how to interpret her music. Her focus should be on securing her jumps. She'll have to work hard on clean entries and clean landing of her jumps. Her incredible flexibility, artistry and flair will take care of the rest. She will be unbeatable then.
I have always been a huge fan of Sasha's and am very excited to see her come back. She will bring a lot of excitement to skating nationally and internationally. If only there were three spots available, it would be a marvel to see Meissner, Cohen, and Flatt in action. There is a distinctive charm to their skating. Those three have what audiences enjoy.
Sasha had not been very consistent with her jumps during the height of her competitive career. Strong spirals and great flexibility are great assets; however, they are not enough. The International Figure Skating Union (ISU) Technical Panels regularly awards Level 4 designation to many ladies' spiral sequences at any given high level competition such as Worlds for instance. The value of Spin Sequence, even at Level 4 is only worth 2.9, the difference will come down to the Grade of Execution (GOE) which may be minimal. Flexibility may earn some extra points for Sasha, but mental toughness is what will lead to the gold medal. In the Ladies' event, the difference between victory and crushed dreams is often how one handles the pressure of this Olympic main event. Sasha cannot let nerves get the best of her. Her spins and spirals might be high levels. However, the jumps have to be clean.
The women long program at the Olympic Games may be the hardest moment to deal with. Sasha is a great skater, but she has not been a clean skater. She had either a clean short program and a bad long program or a bad short program and a good long program. Before she considers returning to competitive figure skating, Sasha would need concentrate on two clean programs.
Sasha has good spins and great flexibility however she is limited (as far as landing the jumps)when compared against a Triple Axel or a consistent and very well executed Triple Flip-Triple Toe combos that her competitors will be doing. Her Charlotte is an absolutely gorgeous move. Our team would be solid with Cohen Meissner, and/or Flatt, or perhaps Wagner and/or Hacker on the scene.
Sasha is the most artistic skater in the world today. She brings a quality to skating that most skaters sought after. Cohen would bring considerable experience to the United States team. She has unparalleled spins, spirals and lovely positions. Cohen is a mesmerizing skater who charms crowds. She has shown that she can make up her athletic shortcomings with wowing artistry; Cohen knows very well what is expected of her - and what she expects of herself.
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