Akiko Suzuki JPN
2012 NHK Trophy free skate
If you’ve been following my commentary this season, then you’ll know this was an outcome that I did not, neither objectively nor subjectively, agree with.
Akiko Suzuki skated one of the best programs of her career at NHK Trophy – technically strong, musically expressive – and somehow managed to not win the gold. Yes, she was behind Mao Asada by over nine points in the short program. But this free skate should have beaten Asada’s very flawed performance by double digits. When it was all said and done, Suzuki lost the gold by 0.05.
But back to this free skate – six clean triples and a two-footed, underrotated seventh. Suzuki has the tendency to fall apart at the end of free skates, and she avoided that here. Add to that the airiness of her skating throughout the program and the way that she invites the viewer into her world, and you’ve got yourself one of the best ladies’ free skates of this season so far.
So emotional she was shaking in her closing pose. Brilliant.
NEXT: #22 Yeah, I’m the World champ
PREVIOUS: #24 If you like a good comeback story
Comments