specialj67

Tanith seemed concerned that the Shibs got dinged again in the technical score for the required dance pattern.

Since gold and silver seems pretty locked up between Papadakis/Cizeron and Virtue/Moir in whatever order, I’m most excited for the competition for bronze. I really enjoy watching both the Shibs and Hubbell/Donohue. On a purely personal or emotional level, I’d like to see the Shibs on that podium at the end. But if H/D skate to their full potential, it would be nice to see them medal. I enjoy how different they are as performers. I know it’s kind of silly, but I only hope the judging politics don’t taint the medal-winning performances—whichever ones they end up being.

Upon rewatching large chunks of the men’s free skate (I just had to skip the guys who really tanked it), I am so impressed with the level of talent in this field as compared to what it was in Sochi. Maybe it’s recency bias, I don’t know. This also gave me a chance to watch Nathan’s program with more scrutiny, and the knocks against him in the PCS dept. are totally fair. Outside of the step and choreo sequences, there wasn’t a whole lot there to call high quality artistry. If he competes at Worlds next month, and I hope he (and Vincent and Adam), will, I would like to see some more personality between the insane jumps. We know he’s more than capable of it because he does it in the SP pretty well. Upon re-watching the 3rd group, I would have placed Kolyada below Adam. In that instance, I would have liked to see cleanliness and near-perfection placed higher than difficult but messy. I think that’s my only quibble with the scoring. Also? It’s bananas that a 10th place score in this event would have won in the 2010 Games.

Th closeness of the scores between Bobrova/Soloviev and the Shibs in the team event, particularly in the PCS, has me concerned. If the judges find a way to put B/S ahead of whichever US team is highest ranked in the competition, I’ll be miffed. And watching NBC’s morning show just now, they showed Nathan Chen’s parents off to the side while Nathan’s being interviewed—what sorcery is happening there?! They do not look like people old enough to have an 18 year old kid!

Josie Chuinard! Oh, that magneta and orange outfit with the inexplicable matching gloves...

Uno’s was my fave performance of the medal winners. His absolute commitment to the music and ability to fill out the ice is wonderful to watch. I wonder if Hanyu is even considering retirement yet? He’s still young-ish, though will really be pushing it—for an elite male singles skater— by the time the Beijing Olympics roll around. Particularly if the technical content demands remain at their current level for men who want to medal in singles.

Oh yeah! His speed across the ice is one of his greatest assets. It’s one of the reasons he can fit in so many little choreography bits and bobs flying down the rink and rack up points even when he splats multiple times.

I can’t imagine what the experience for Aliev was like to end up in the final flight. He is my fave of the Russian men by A LOT—expressive in this long program in a way I really enjoy. I hope we see great things from him in the coming years.

So all 3 US men will be in the top 10? Well done!

Oh, no doubt Tessa and Scott are in a league of their own! I suppose I was thing relative to how he’s done this program earlier in the season. I was really digging it in a way I hadn’t previously. Also, I’m a real sucker for a well done spread eagle move.

Moulin Rouge is as overdone as cafeteria meatloaf, but Vincent sells the hell out of it. He has come such a long way as a performer the past couple of seasons. Yay for him for doing so well!

The Australian commentator on the livestream (the actually useful commentator) was all about Keegan’s skating skills and sit spin positions. And so am I. That long program is so well constructed and balanced and lovely.

I am a fan of Jorik Hendrickx!

The South Korean skater was quite impressive in his performance and expression for a 16 year old. I look forward to seeing what he might do in the next Olympic cycle.

I see where’s you’re coming from with Hanyu and Fernandez. Javier is the type to perform outward from the start and actively invite the audience in. Yuzuru, in my view, goes out and gives off a vibe of “I am now going to demonstrate my complete mastery of this sport”. He’s going to do him, whether you, as an audience member, get on board or not. Sometimes it works for me, if all of the jumps are landed and I’m feeling his music choice. Sometimes it doesn’t.

He skated lights out in the short program. Set a world record score at the time for it. Both he and Patrick Chan had excellent short program performances and rougher long programs.

Adam hasn’t been getting the kind of gold medal hype Nathan has. Even though Adam has worked incredibly hard to get where he is and is one of the most experienced competitors in this field of men, the tone of the media stories about him is decidedly not about his medal prospects here.

I recall Evan Lysacek being in a similar, if less numerically dire, situation in the 2006 Olympics. He bombed—for him—and placed 10th in the short, had the skate of his life in the long, and finished in 4th (thanks in part to the mistakes of many ahead of him). And then he went on to win it 2010. There are worse paths to an OGM that Nathan could emulate.

Yeah, he’ll be in the second group to skate tomorrow.

Holy shit, Patrick Chan managed to make it to the final flight in the free.

Shoma lands so low that it makes me nervous every time!

I had the same thought about Hanyu’s performance. I wish he was the last to skate just so we could end on that.

I can only hope he goes out in the free, like Mao Asada did in Sochi, and skate lights out just for himself.

It’s bonkers that 4 years ago, Jason Brown was in the final flight of skaters for the free skate at Sochi with a score in the mid-80s. And this time around they’re all probably going to be at least in the mid-90s.

I feel like there was a minute in the run-up to Sochi where he was hitting it more than not? Wasn’t he the first to crack 100 in the short in that season’s Grad Prix? I would have loved to see this program performed totally clean just once. I dig everything about it.