2015 Four Continents: Zijun Li and Satoko Miyahara

Satoko Miyahara is another example of juniorism.

You may wonder what exactly juniorism is, and how we can deal with it correctly in order to establish a desirable boundary for senior figure skating.

Age is the first thing that may come across when you hear "junior." That's because many aspects of older skater's skating cannot be done by the younger.

But juniorism is not about age; the younger skaters may skate like older ones.

At the same time, age includes several features such as height, weight, strength, etc.

What about height? Shall we put a restriction to how tall a skater should be in senior competition?

Maybe not. It's true that we all expect some height, but regulating height of skaters is neither practical nor ethical.

Then in what way Satoko's skating is problematic? Satoko's juniorism is thankfully not about fractured moves. Despite her physiological conditions, Satoko's shows a remarkable balance in her skating.

But what critically lacks in her skating is edge, power and speed. These elements in her skating appear much worse - which results in elements of compromised scale - than other skaters whose power and speed I have often criticized.

Her tiny jump and subsequent dwarfed height, speed and weak edge are by no means tolerable in senior competition.

It is reasonable to assume that her size is only fit to the level of junior, but her height cannot disqualify her from senior competition.

That's a wrong discrimination.

If Polina Edmunds' lowest PCS is about 6.5, Satoko's lowest PCS has to be lower than 6.0.

The judges didn't reflect on the protocols Satoko's compromised elements resulted from deficiency of power, speed and edge.

That's egregiously wrong and that's what the judges messed around in the 2015 Four Continents.

The most notable features in the 2015 Four Continent is that while Satoko received higher PCS than her dues, Hongo received lower PCS than her dues.

Apparently the judges decided that Satoko's program quality is better than Hongo's. If they are equal skaters, yes, the finding may stand valid. However, they are not.

Here, Satoko's free program has a similar problem like Edmunds'; her speed and power appear significantly compromised compared to her short program.

Her jumps are -2,-3,0,-3,0,0 and -1. I think I marked generously for her GOE.

Her TES is 53 and her PCS is 50 which gives her 103 in total.

Satoko's skating is a miniature version of senior skating. The problem is that the scale of her elements is much inferior to other senior skaters.

You may want to think that's because she is too tiny. Yes, that's the point. If you don't properly sanction the scale, you are actually penalizing other normal skaters.

If you approve Satoko's proportional skating, that is, her low jump height, distance, speed and power is acceptable proportionally based on her physical conditions, you have no cause to reward difficulty in elements.

For example, flexibility must be measured for its superiority, and judged accordingly thereby. Say, some senior skaters, due to age, don't do difficult moves while the younger are capable of doing amazing stunts.

Then you can easily brush it off, saying "That's because they are old unlike younger ones."

You have no ground to reward or penalize qualities.

Here I am showing a logic, but the real reason why Satoko's skating, the so called miniature skating, is not validated in senior figure skating is due to its grave quality deficiency stemmed from her physiological disadvantages.

Juniorism is like black death theses days, rampant in the sport.

Satoko's skating is disqualified for senior skating due to its elemental deficiency of critical factors such as speed, power, height, distance, etc.

Her default PCS is 6.0 to 6.5 when her speed reaches adequately. Usually even lower.

The PCS abuse is the most comprehensive crime by current ISU and the judges. In Sochi, it was a deliberate and criminally minded act.

And the PCS hike for Russian skaters represented by Julia Lipnitskaia, Liza Tuktameshyva , etc, is an ongoing fraud, willfully designed. Today there is no Russian skater who can go over 6.75 in PCS average except Anna Pogorilaya.

But in Satoko's case, I think or hope, it is PCS misuse or judging incompetence.

Satoko's short program is better than free program.

Her jumps are 0, -1, and -1. Her TES is 31 and her PCS is 24, which gives her 55 in total

In the short program, Satoko's PCS average is 6.0 while her free program 6.25 while Gold's PCS average is 7.5.

But in free program, I find that Gold's superiority to Satoko has much dissipated; thus Gold's PCS average in the free program is 7.25 while Satoko's 6.25.

So now where Zijun Li is in the level of PCS?

Li appears competent and able to spin out connected performances in the 2015 Four Continents. However, Li's major problem is also about power and speed.

In addition, Li is not able to show distinct edge throughout the program.

Li did great, considering the level of competition she faced. Especially the flow of her program was quite impressive though power, speed and skill are desired.

Her jumps are -1, 0,-2,-1,-1,-1 and 0.

Her TEs is 53 while she earns 54 for her PCS, which gives her 107 in total.

Li's jumps are -1,0,and -1. Her TES is 28 and her PCS is 26, which gives her 54 in total.

Li's program lacks of power and speed, but well executed; it's smooth and flowing.

It was carefully managed, but how to place Li's PCS is a delicate thing.

Although Li's skating is superior to Satoko's in terms of PCS, her skating are not yet in the level of 7.0 PCS.