specialj67

Plus both quad toes were in combination, one of which was after the half way point. And she did a triple lutz-triple loop in the back half as well.

Piper and Paul beat Madison and Zach! And Lilah and Lewis finished third! The results were pleasantly surprising but warranted given the performances today. I feel bad for Hawayek and Baker; their free dance is an interesting and different look for them, which is good, but it doesn’t feel fully formed yet.

Watching Trusova felt like watching a junior skating—both because of her tiny size and her presence on the ice. She doesn’t seem as musical as her fellow pint-sized compatriot who won SA last week. The ice dance event was thoroughly enjoyable. Even H/D were okay after I turned down the sound on the first part of their program so I wouldn’t have to hear “da-da-da-da-da-daddy!” again. I wish I could feel anything when I watch Tarasova and Morozov. Objectively, they have many great skating qualities, many of their elements are big and well-executed, and their music and costuming for the short this season compliments everything they do well. But I feel nothing—nothing toward them and nothing coming from them. Compared to Hanyu, all the other dudes this week seem...also-rans. Personally, I don’t like that he’s reusing last season’s short program, but he delivered it well. I’m looking forward to seeing how the other guys do. I could feel Nam and Camden’s joy radiating through my screen, and I’m so excited for them.

Purely as a viewer, I was quite impressed with Scherbakova’s quads—less so with the triple-triples later in her free skate, and her artistry in general. Also very impressed with Bradie’s skating in general, and that her performance ability and skating skills are nearing parity with her technical scores. Her competitive spirit is admirable. I am looking forward to watching her more this season. Watching Tuktamysheva feels like watching a show skater—which is both good and bad. She’s very good at winning over the audience, but her programs aren’t very interesting when she’s not jumping. The choreography is minimal to nonexistent outside of a couple of neat moves in the field moments in the back half of her free skate. And because this is a competition program and not a show program, she doesn’t do more fun and crowd-pleasing things that audiences love because they don’t get much, if any, points in a competition.

The men’s free skate was rough. Is the Skate America men’s event always this iffy—since this is usually the first GP event of the season? Kudos to Nathan for only doubling one planned quad and to Jason for only doubling one planned triple today. They have wildly different performance energies, and I love that. Though their good cannot outweigh the rest of whatever the hell was happening with most of the other competitors. The free dance just finished, and wowee, the judges are not effing around with putting H/D on notice with that free dance. Personally, I didn’t think Stepanova and Bukin were better in the free, even by that small of a fraction of a point, but I do think their program has more potential to grow. It serves them way better than that what they did last season. I was very impressed with the two lower ranked US teams—especially Carreira and Ponomarenko. Their flamenco free skate was my fave of the event.

I do, and watching on demand has never been an issue for me. I prefer their feed a lot of the time, because there is no commentary for the ISU events.

After watching the top Russian ladies test skates, I must say that while Alina Zagitova’s hunching still drives me nuts, and her choreography is almost uniformly terrible, her energy and presence on the ice was a refreshing surprise after last season. I may not be a fan of the actual content of her program, but I am a fan of her demeanor when delivering it. The music at the end of Alena Kostornaia’s program is awful and does a huge disservice to her musicality. She is the only Eteri skater who seem to actually hear the music, and it’s like they’re trying to hide that? As much fun as Elizaveta Tuktamysheva is as a jumper, the actual non jumping portions of her programs are a complete snooze and seem like they were recycled from last year. She seems like a natural performer, but the programs always lack any nuance or depth. Evgenia is my sentimental fave because she seems to be the scrappy fighter of the bunch, but I’m concerned that the improvements she’s working on just won’t be enough to keep her in world team contention if the other top Russian skaters stay healthy and competitive.

NBC has ruined domestic coverage for international skating events. It’s hard to generate interest or viewership when you air content at weird times, and often only parts of some events, and put nearly all of it behind at least one paywall. I know I stopped watching regularly for a couple of years after ESPN gave up the broadcast rights for ISU events, because NBC made it impossible for me to legally watch stuff in an affordable way.

Now that the season is finished, was was everyone’s favorite new discovery? Mine was, hands down, Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson and their disco/‘70s free dance. So much fun, and absolute commitment to the choreography and performance. I really look forward to seeing how they progress during this next Olympic cycle.

I think it’s because the speed of rotation required for a successful quad favors those with a smaller hips to waist to chest ratio. Also, many of the most well-known female skaters currently doing quads are from Eteri Tutberidze’s rink, who seems to emphasize jumping technique that favors smaller skaters—more emphasis on faster rotation than greater height/power.

Jason wasn’t a 100% disaster in the free, but pretty close to one for him. Fell on the quad salchow—as usual—had less than great landings on the next 1 or 2 jumps, messy landing on the first triple axel, and completely missed the second triple axel in combination. He popped it to a single and missed the combo. I know from hearing other skaters in interviews that going last is a group can be difficult since you have so much time between the warmup and competing. And I can’t even imagine how it would feel to go after the 2 best skaters in your discipline in the world, who both gave awesome performances. It was going to be a a tough flight for him anyway, considering who else was in it. It’s too bad he wasn’t able to deliver what he’s capable of.

Props to all of the medalists in the men’s competition. Vincent Zhou winning a world bronze? Would never have predicted that at the start of this season.

If the judges are going to unnecessarily elevate someone, I wish they’d stick with Samoduorva over Tursynbaeva. Sofia is tacky, but fun—like her compatriot Tuktamysheva.

I though USFSA’s selection process was convoluted/sketchy, but the Russian Federation is a whole different level. Given how deep the Russian senior girls/women field is right now, there was no chance that there weren’t going to be hurt feelings over who did or did not get selected.

The quality of competition in the top 2 groups in the ice dance field at 4CC was so much higher, to me, than Euros this year. But seriously, what the hell happened to Hubbell and Donohue’s free dance score? I looked at the judges scores and saw their first lift was score way low compared to all of the other top teams. Everyone else was given a level 4 on their stationary lift, but Hubbell and Donohue weren’t even at a level 3. Does someone with some knowledge know what happened there? As cool as it was to see Chock and Bates win, what a WTF ending to the competition...

It seems the 12 point lead he had over Messing after the short is what kept him on the podium.d I really hope Vincent works on improving his skating skills and general performance quality in the off season this spring/summer. Watching his free skates this year...they feel interminable.

Does some of the inconsistency in calling jumps UR and whatnot have to do with the fact that there aren’t multiple camera angles for the technical caller/specialist to review jumps? I seem to recall that being discussed on The Skating Lesson at one point—that there is only one camera angle used for reviewing jumps. I’m all for UR and edge calls, but what’s the point of they’re not using multiple camera angles to ensure greater accuracy in their calls.

It really is too bad about the final result for Bradie and Kaori at 4CC. Outside of the single jump error each made, their programs were otherwise very nice. Honestly, even with those errors, I would have placed either of them in the podium instead of Elizabet.

While I fully understand both teams have their technical and/or artistic limitations, I have been enjoying Kayne/O’Shea and Cain/Le Duc this season waaay more than the Knierims for, like, the past 3 seasons. Also, Kirsten Moore-Towers deserves to win all of the medals. That is all.

As far as I know, he’ll be at Four Continents (which is next week!) and Worlds.

If anyone is interested in re-watching any of the Nationals coverage and has the NBC Sports Gold pass, I recommend it. It is 100% Johnny- and Tara-free. Charlie White and Michael Weiss did the Nationals commentary for all disciplines expected dance (Charlie was joined by Ben Agosto for part of that). They are GREAT at not talking over the performances. And if they do, it was usually Michael giving a quick explanation in how or why a skater might have missed an element. They have an easy enough back-and-forth with each other, which mostly makes up for the predictable nature of Charlie talking more about the skating skills and performance and Michael talking about the jumps.

That makes a lot of sense—thanks! On the real, even though it was jarring, it was an improvement over his designer penguin scuba suit thing from the SP.

The scoring for all 3 of them was kinda ridiculous, although who else in the current US men’s field can realistically compete with them for a world team spot? Props for Vincent getting properly scrutinized for URs. I hope he works super hard in the off season improving his general skating skills and spins, in addition to the jump technique. Given the UR issue, I’m miffed at the score difference between him and Jason. It should not be that great. I suppose part of it is Vincent getting “rewarded” for trying the most difficult elements, even if he rarely executes them cleanly. On a purely aesthetic matter, WTF with Nathan’s free skate shirt?! Did he forget to pack it, and, like, find the nearest Runner’s World to get a replacement?

The Euros men’s free skate was WILD. Congrats to the medalists for managing to stay upright the most! Heavy side eye, though, to Alexander Samarin’s PCS. That was not 8 points better than Matteo Rizzo. Javi’s performance was nowhere near his best, but still admirable considering it’s been nearly a year since he last competed. Does anyone know why he came back for this last competition. Was it mainly to secure men’s spots for Spain at next year’s Euros?

Add me to the chorus of loving this new, fun incarnation of Chock and Bates. This was one of the most fun Nationals ice dancing competitions to watch! There were so many legit contenders ready to step in if one of the big name teams made a mistake! Like, all of the top 7 teams were fun to watch in their own way! I ain’t even mad Hubbell and Donohue won by a ridiculous margin! This field is as much an embarrassment of riches for the US as the pairs field is not.