Figure Skating

[scarynikki12]

Now Kagiyama's music is on point for me. Make sure your music has some trumpets and I'll be satisfied.

[SeanC]

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2023 World champion.

[galaxygirl76]

He really skated lights out. Very, very good skate.

[Lady Whistleup]

Yuma Kagiyama is absolutely awesome. Japanese men and women have such a tradition of excellence in figure skating.

[honeywest]

I love this kid!

[specialj67]

Go, Yuma!!

[Sarahsmile416]

Just now, SeanC said:

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2023 World champion.

How do you follow that lol

[Fostersmom]

These boys all look like they are going to have a heart attack on the ice. 

[Crs97]

I recorded this so am only up to the Russian.  Who in the world thought that costume was appropriate?!?

[Lady Whistleup]

Oh no. Vincent has started the popping.

[Chaser]

Whatever was in the water for USA the first night, is not there tonight. 

[Lady Whistleup]

Aww I love seeing family watch parties. Gives me a lump in the throat every time to know that Olympians always have an incredibly devoted family cheering for them.

[KittenPokerCheater]

The US is going to get a bronze in the team event....again.  Wish they could turn it around for the silver.  Fingers crossed for the women/dance/pairs tomorrow.

[BlackberryJam]

Well, that was not pleasing. Zhou seemed to be tilting in the air and then running out of steam. Poor guy.

 

 

[Daisy]

Did the Canadian guy fall something? I was getting foods.

[justmehere]

Surprised to see Vincent not skating to Vincent.

[Chaser]

9 minutes ago, SeanC said:

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2023 World champion.

If he skates like that in the Individual Event, Nathan and Hanyu better watch out. 

[SeanC]

Just now, justmehere said:

Surprised to see Vincent not skating to Vincent.

That's his short program.

[Lady Whistleup]

Vincent's always been a bit of a headcase. 

[Jeddah]

That wasn’t a disaster, so that’s good!

I wish Tara would stop saying this is a dress rehearsal. Olympic medals are on the line! This shouldn’t be a dress rehearsal.

13 minutes ago, SeanC said:

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2023 World champion.

Why not 2022? He’s got the goods right now!

[specialj67]

I do give Vincent credit for doing better than he did at his nationals free skate. 

[SeanC]

1 minute ago, Jeddah said:

Why not 2022? He’s got the goods right now!

The assumption is that Nathan is going to 2022 Worlds.

[galaxygirl76]

Just now, Jeddah said:

That wasn’t a disaster, so that’s good!

I wish Tara would stop saying this is a dress rehearsal. Olympic medals are on the line! This shouldn’t be a dress rehearsal.

That's like calling the team event at gymnastics the dress rehearsal. You are absolutely right, there are medals to be had so people will bring their best.

[justmehere]

Just now, SeanC said:

That's his short program.

Oops - OK. Thanks.

[Crs97]

I wasn’t as enthralled with Yuma as they clearly were.  Maybe I’m in a mood and don’t know it, but that was an extremely underwhelming evening.

[Good Queen Jane]

The US should have had Jason do the short and Nathan do the long. 

[Lady Whistleup]

3 minutes ago, Good Queen Jane said:

The US should have had Jason do the short and Nathan do the long. 

Nathan didn't want to do the long. Apparently his hip is bothering him.

[Lovecat]

1 hour ago, Daisy said:

Did the Canadian guy fall something? I was getting foods.

He had a big, sloppy meltdown.  It was not pretty, and seemed to go on forever.  I felt so bad for him.

Edited February 6, 2022 by Lovecat

[SophiaD]

Kagiyama was the highlight of the evening for me.  I'm bummed for Vincent.  And for Karen.  The Russians are pretty much a lock for gold, so now it's just a question of whether the USA can maintain their lead over Japan.

Kamila really is an incredible skater.  So much difficulty and she made it look very easy.

[Lady Whistleup]

Here is Kamila's skate:

She;s incredible and I'm pulling for her to win gold, but I hate the two shoulder drapes on her dress.

[Jillibean]

So mathematically speaking, with a comfortable lead, might Russia switch to D/S for dance now? They probably only sacrifice 2 points there, which they easily will make back up in their other events. I wonder though if they're more likely to sub pairs to eliminate the possibility that Sui/Han beat M/G in both the short and long here. 

Looking ahead--the US has 3 points over Japan. Japan is likely going to gain back 1-2 of those in the ladies' free, depending on how well Karen rebounds (best case scenario she finishes 3rd but even if she doesn't, the worst she can really do is 4th because she's going to beat the skater from China). So ultimately I guess what they really need is for K/F to stay right behind M/K (I think the chances K/F beat them again are slim) and ahead of the Canadian team so that they're at worst even going into the ice dance where they'll get at least a point back. But they might only get one if C/B don't beat G/P, so where K/F place could be really crucial. It's going to be tight. Did I do the math on that correctly?

It was frustrating to watch what seemed like a mental meltdown tonight, but I don't know what the team could have done differently. Nathan didn't want to do the long. Jason likely would have placed the same as Vincent even if he had been totally clean. Alysa wasn't available and she hasn't been skating cleanly anyway. Mariah is as inconsistent as Karen if not more. For a team that has apparent depth, there weren't a lot of stronger options. 

[Daisy]

8 minutes ago, Lovecat said:

He had a bis, sloppy meltdown.  It was not pretty, and seemed to go on forever.  I felt so bad for him.

thanks. that's sucky. i retroactively feeel bad for him too

[CeeBeeGee]

38 minutes ago, Crs97 said:

I recorded this so am only up to the Russian.  Who in the world thought that costume was appropriate?!?

Ugh, he and his costume and his complexion (wear some effing foundation! You're going to be broadcast all over the GD world in high def!) were not to my taste.

[Lady Whistleup]

If Kamila wins, it will be the second consecutive OGM who is a Tatar Muslim. Alina Zagitova was as well.

[BlackberryJam]

If Valieva were three years older, I'd ship her with Kagiyama. They are both the future of their sport and it was an absolute delight watching both of them today.

I love Nathan Chen and I like Shoma Uno, but Kagiyama is dripping with charm.

I don't think there is any woman competing right now that can compete with Valieva in artistry, technique or content. She's the best for a reason, and she seems just like a lovely young girl. Johnny mentioned that one of her past times is sleeping and Kagiyama said the same thing, his hobby is sleeping. 

They are adorable, and in ten years. can be adorable together with some romantic "Met at the Olympics and reconnected years later story."

ETA: I'll say it. I'm happy to never see Jason Brown fail at international competition again. He doesn't have the skills and it was painful to watch him try.

Edited February 6, 2022 by BlackberryJam

[emma675]

29 minutes ago, Crs97 said:

I wasn’t as enthralled with Yuma as they clearly were.  Maybe I’m in a mood and don’t know it, but that was an extremely underwhelming evening.

Same. I feel like his jumps were incredible, but that was kind of all there was. For me, half of his skate was him just prepping for his next jump. Very little artistry.

Yesterday's skating was great, today was just lackluster (with the exception of Kamila).

[Lady Whistleup]

Kamila and her dog:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CXLgIFjI844/

She seems to be a nice young lady.

[ShellsandCheese]

I’m still pissed that Trusova is skating the long for the team event and not Anna. Anna is the reigning world champion and the three time Russia National champion and they go with Trusova? The hell? Anna’s long program at Euro’s was really good. 

[Jeddah]

29 minutes ago, Jillibean said:

It was frustrating to watch what seemed like a mental meltdown tonight, but I don't know what the team could have done differently. Nathan didn't want to do the long. Jason likely would have placed the same as Vincent even if he had been totally clean.

Where would Ilia Malinin have placed?

Even if they had sent him instead of Jason, I think they still would have used Vincent for the team. But it’s hard not to wonder where Ilia could have placed. Both Japan and Russia had their young, up and comers deliver when it counted, so it makes me wonder what Ilia could have done.

I do love Jason though! I’m sure the minute I see Sinnerman I will be enraptured and feel guilty for even entertaining the idea of someone else in his place!

[Lady Whistleup]

I mean, they pretty much had to go with Vincent because Jason is a lovely skater whose jump content probably wouldn't have been strong enough to win gold in 1998.

[SeanC]

Current standings
45 - ROC
42 - USA
39 - Japan
30 - Canada
29 - China

The remain segments by season's best:

Free dance
10 - Sinitsina/Katsalapov (130.07)
9 - Chock/Bates (125.68)
8 - Gilles/Poirier (125.62)
7 - Wang/Liu (111.31)
6 - Komatsubara/Koleto (104.07)

Pairs free
10 - Mishina/Galliamov or Boikova/Kozlovskii or Tarasova/Morozov
9 - Knierim/Frazier (136.60)
8 - Miura/Kihara (135.57)
7 - Peng/Jin (135.15)
6 - James/Radford (130.83)

Women's free
10 - Valieva or Trusova or Shcherbakova
9 - Sakamoto (146.78)
8 - Chen (134.99)
7 - Schizas (125.44)
6 - Zhu (111.25)

75 - ROC (45+10+10+10)
68 - USA (42+9+9+8)
62 - Japan (39+6+8+9)
51 - Canada (30+8+6+7)
49 - China (29+7+7+6)

Now, there's a bit of wiggle room for a lot of these, though.

In ice dance the bottom two are locked in, I'd say, but given how shaky S/K looked in the rhythm dance and that having been their better program for most of this season, I don't think first place is a given for them. The Russian pair finishing first is pretty close to a given, and I expect J/R to finish last, but the middle three could really be in any order. For the women I think the order of the top two and the last-place finisher are also set, but it's vaguely possible that Maddie could catch up to Karen depending on how things go.

Realistically I think Komatsubara/Koleto would need to somehow move up an ordinal or two for Japan to have a shot at silver.

[CeeBeeGee]

Karen Chen is doing both?! Why?

[SeanC]

10 minutes ago, CeeBeeGee said:

Karen Chen is doing both?! Why?

Countries can only switch out skaters in two of the four disciplines, and for the US the men and dance teams had first dibs because they're the most successful.

Edited February 6, 2022 by SeanC

[annzeepark914]

2 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

Well, that was not pleasing. Zhou seemed to be tilting in the air and then running out of steam. Poor guy.

 

 

To me, Zhou looked stiff (as if his legs had frozen).  I was expecting a much worse performance so...whew! 

[absnow54]

5 hours ago, SeanC said:

Current standings
45 - ROC
42 - USA
39 - Japan
30 - Canada
29 - China

The remain segments by season's best:

Free dance
10 - Sinitsina/Katsalapov (130.07)
9 - Chock/Bates (125.68)
8 - Gilles/Poirier (125.62)
7 - Wang/Liu (111.31)
6 - Komatsubara/Koleto (104.07)

Pairs free
10 - Mishina/Galliamov or Boikova/Kozlovskii or Tarasova/Morozov
9 - Knierim/Frazier (136.60)
8 - Miura/Kihara (135.57)
7 - Peng/Jin (135.15)
6 - James/Radford (130.83)

Women's free
10 - Valieva or Trusova or Shcherbakova
9 - Sakamoto (146.78)
8 - Chen (134.99)
7 - Schizas (125.44)
6 - Zhu (111.25)

75 - ROC (45+10+10+10)
68 - USA (42+9+9+8)
62 - Japan (39+6+8+9)
51 - Canada (30+8+6+7)
49 - China (29+7+7+6)

I think it’ll be closer, but I think the US still has the edge over Japan

Ice Dance: + 2-3

Pairs: +/- 1-2

Ladies: - 1-2

So even worst case with C/B getting 3rd, K/F placing 2 behind Japan, and Karen placing 4th, they’d still be up by a point. 

[alexa]

9 hours ago, honeywest said:

I wish there were a limit to how many jumps a skater could do with arms overhead.

I know at least one year they had reduced the amount you could do or the point value with it, but I guess that is no longer in place,

[SeanC]

1 hour ago, alexa said:

I know at least one year they had reduced the amount you could do or the point value with it, but I guess that is no longer in place,

It’s not a GOE or level feature so you don’t get points for doing it.

[Jeddah]

https://www.nbcolympics.com/videos/collision-mars-pairs-practice-skate
 

I hope they’re all okay. That was bad. The Italian pair’s music was playing which means they have the right of way. Other teams should be getting out of their way when it’s their run through. It’s so dangerous.

[jrzy]

10 hours ago, KittenPokerCheater said:

Tara and Johnny are the worst.

I wish they would just stop with the worship of all things Russia,  we get it, they have a good team.   No mention whatsoever of what happens to all those young skaters when the new flavor comes up the pipeline.  Johnny ought to just apply for a job with Russia Media Group.   

[jrzy]

9 hours ago, Good Queen Jane said:

The US should have had Jason do the short and Nathan do the long. 

I was thinking that too,  Jason is such a beautiful skater and Nathan can bring those jumps.  I wonder if they wanted Nathan to be the first one in order to shake off that vibes from the last Olympics, get his nerves settled.