Figure Skating

[HartofDixie]

Evgenia Medvedeva SP Open Skates

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urWLxxfab4g

Evgenia Medvedeva FS Open Skates

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5_YNEvF4kQ

[Darknight]

Alexandra doing quads at 14. Wow. Alina's program wasn't to my liking. Evgenia looks good but I'm scared for her

[Enero]

I didn’t see any real improvement with Evgenia, but that’s to be expected. She’s only been working with Brian for a few weeks. Her jumps still look rather labored and some even looked underrotated. I was hoping she would get rid of all the jumps with her hands over head, but unfortunately that hasn’t happened. 

Her tano looked great though and I think these programs have potential. 

 

16 minutes ago, Darknight said:

Alexandra doing quads at 14. Wow. Alina's program wasn't to my liking. Evgenia looks good but I'm scared for her

Really? Why?

[Mellowyellow]

Interesting they added two Lutzes considering she's always criticised for flutzing.

I really enjoyed Evgenia's SP. It was bright, fun and she looked so adorable skating it.

The LP is a bit dull and I'm not really feeling it. One thing I loved about her was her transitions which I always thought were beautiful, no random hopping about (in my eyes). This LP seemed like it had too much skating around.

I can't bear to watch Alina's LP yet since I heard that she fell a couple of times! Love her, can't handle seeing her fall especially since her jumps were good in the SP. Come on Alina! Get it together! 

It's kinda freaking me out that they both fell since they seemed so invincible at the Olympics. 

[Darknight]

On 9/9/2018 at 8:19 PM, Enero said:

I didn’t see any real improvement with Evgenia, but that’s to be expected. She’s only been working with Brian for a few weeks. Her jumps still look rather labored and some even looked underrotated. I was hoping she would get rid of all the jumps with her hands over head, but unfortunately that hasn’t happened. 

Her tano looked great though and I think these programs have potential. 

 

Really? Why?

 

 

Pressure to do well and be well. Next year, she'll be fighting for her spot. The juniors in Russia are doing quads and triple axles. Especially Alexandra Trusova. Alina looks so sad too. It seems like Russia still doesn't see her as OGM. 

On 9/10/2018 at 12:12 AM, Mellowyellow said:

Interesting they added two Lutzes considering she's always criticised for flutzing.

I really enjoyed Evgenia's SP. It was bright, fun and she looked so adorable skating it.

The LP is a bit dull and I'm not really feeling it. One thing I loved about her was her transitions which I always thought were beautiful, no random hopping about (in my eyes). This LP seemed like it had too much skating around.

I can't bear to watch Alina's LP yet since I heard that she fell a couple of times! Love her, can't handle seeing her fall especially since her jumps were good in the SP. Come on Alina! Get it together! 

It's kinda freaking me out that they both fell since they seemed so invincible at the Olympics. 

I hate Alina's program. It's a mess. She deserves better

[Tippi]

On 9/8/2018 at 5:41 PM, SeanC said:

Biggest discovery of the JGP Lithuania event for me was definitely ice dance.  Count me as a fan of Oona and Gage Brown; will be excited to see how they develop.

I just checked out their performances at JGP Lithuania, and count me as a fan too.  She's 13, he is 15, and they already have impressive skating skills and musicality.  I enjoyed their choreography.  They did some cool hydroblading moves (I think that is what it is called) and some very inventive lifts.

There seem to be a lot of up and coming dance teams right now.  I'd like to see some of them emerge and really mount a challenge to P/C internationally (and to C/B and H/D in the US.)

[annzeepark914]

On 9/12/2018 at 1:36 AM, Tippi said:

I just checked out their performances at JGP Lithuania, and count me as a fan too.  She's 13, he is 15, and they already have impressive skating skills and musicality.  I enjoyed their choreography.  They did some cool hydroblading moves (I think that is what it is called) and some very inventive lifts.

There seem to be a lot of up and coming dance teams right now.  I'd like to see some of them emerge and really mount a challenge to P/C internationally (and to C/B and H/D in the US.)

Their music and choreography were very good.  Loved the hydroblading.  I just really got caught up in this team's presence on the ice. And because they're siblings, we didn't have to see all that steamy passion that certain teams love to overemote.  Thanks to SeanC for the link.

[Jaded]

I got an email about a $60 season pass NBC is offering. I'm not going to sign up but thought I might share in case others wanted to take a look.

[Good Queen Jane]

On ‎9‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 3:13 AM, Jaded said:

I got an email about a $60 season pass NBC is offering. I'm not going to sign up but thought I might share in case others wanted to take a look.

I did get it and watched The International Classic at Salt Lake City this past weekend. They just had a camera showing the skaters without any commentators or graphics. So it was a lot like being at  a competition. I assume that it will be fancier for the Grand Prix and US Nationals since NBC will be showing parts of those.

Edited September 17, 2018 by Good Queen Jane

[Tippi]

Bradie pulled off a big win at the Autumn Classic.  I like both her programs this year, especially her short.  It's to music I've never heard before...reminds me of something that could be from GOT or Hunger Games.  It's pretty fierce!

In other news, Jason Brown has gotten a hair cut.  He has short hair now. 

[Mellowyellow]

Here is Bradie's short. It was pretty awesome! I cannot believe this is the same girl I saw at the Olympics! 

She was clean too! I like clean skating! When they fall it just takes me out of the program. 

 

[doodlebug]

13 hours ago, Tippi said:

Bradie pulled off a big win at the Autumn Classic.  I like both her programs this year, especially her short.  It's to music I've never heard before...reminds me of something that could be from GOT or Hunger Games.  It's pretty fierce!

In other news, Jason Brown has gotten a hair cut.  He has short hair now. 

It looks like her music is by Hi Finesse.  They're a music production company in LA who do a lot of work for the Marvel films.  I imagine her music is from one of them.

[MostlyC]

I liked Bradie’s short a lot.  The long...not so much.  

[Mellowyellow]

I'm worried about Evgenia. She seems to have gone off the rails and her LP is the pits.

I'm kinda wondering what the hell happened! She was the queen of consistency and now she's falling and stepping out. Trust me to start following figure skating when my favourites start to fall apart!  

[Enero]

17 hours ago, Mellowyellow said:

I'm worried about Evgenia. She seems to have gone off the rails and her LP is the pits.

I'm kinda wondering what the hell happened! She was the queen of consistency and now she's falling and stepping out. Trust me to start following figure skating when my favourites start to fall apart!  

I agree. Her long program isn’t that great. However, her skate wasn’t that bad. She seems to be consistently having trouble with her double axel, not sure why. Perhaps they’re trying to improve her technique which is causing issues? She only had one fall. 

As I understand she was still recovering from a serious injury when she arrived at TCC. I think maybe her skating ie lack of consistency is reflecting the limited training time she’s had due her recovery. 

[Tippi]

I have been checking out some of the programs throughout these early competitions, and I've seen a lot of falls.  Shoma, Yuzu, Jason, Wakaba, Kolyada all had falls or pops in their programs.  It is very early in the season, so I wouldn't be too concerned about falls at this point. 

A skater to watch for is Junhwan Cha.  He trains with the Orser group and is very young, maybe 17?  He has some impressive quads and also very good presentation skills.  I liked his style very much.

[MostlyC]

I wonder what Evegnia’s injury is, and if it was something she was dealing with at the Olympics last year.  After watching some of the clips of everyone’s performances, I think it’s safe to say that almost all the programs, long and short, are still in the early days.  It will be interesting to see how they grow.

[Mellowyellow]

I'm just a bit sad because as a fan I was really hoping she would have a good shot at the next olympics. Going to Orser seemed to be such a good move but that FS program was the pits!!!!!

I hate to say it but the Russian team had better programs for her, miming and all.

One thing I do find amusing (and disconcerting at the same time) is that to me Evgenia's FS program looks so empty and doesn't have much in it. Alina on the other hand has this overpacked programs full of stuff (I finally psyched myself up to watch her Russian test skate vid where she fell). I saw random leg lifts which had me thinking "Why are you lifting your leg suddenly?"

Will be an interesting 4 years. Sentimental me really wants to see Evgenia and Alina at the next Olympics but I think the new wave of super quad jumping juniors are coming.

[SeanC]

On 9/22/2018 at 12:41 PM, Mellowyellow said:

I'm worried about Evgenia. She seems to have gone off the rails and her LP is the pits.

I'm kinda wondering what the hell happened! She was the queen of consistency and now she's falling and stepping out. Trust me to start following figure skating when my favourites start to fall apart!  

She's revamping her entire skating technique at the TCC, a process that will take a long time.

[Mellowyellow]

The choreography is a hot mess (still think there is too much leg lifting) but somehow she manages to sell it to me! I find her very graceful despite having to mow through a choppy routine. Love this girl and hope she nails the LP! 

That entrance and exit in the double axel *insert heart eyes*

 

[SeanC]

Looking at the Nebelhorn ice dance competition, Piper and Paul have a very nice set of programs this year (RD, FD).  It does seem like they're toning down the quirk factor a bit -- perhaps because they did so well with the James Bond routine, which was easily their most conventional free skate of the last quad -- but still plenty of interesting bits, particularly all the twizzle variations.

In the men's short program, Artur Dmitriev did a 3 Lutz + 3 Flip combination with some creativity on the land foot.

Over in JGP Czech Republic, Emmy Bronsard and Aissa Bouaraguia had a really terrific international debut, placing fourth (RD, FD).  These two were pre-novice medalists in Canada two seasons ago, but didn't compete last year.  She's a real dynamo, and only 13 (he's 17, and kind of fades into the background beside her, which is something they'll have to work on, considering you'd expect she's only going to get better still).

[Mellowyellow]

She did it!!!! Squeeeeeee!!!! 

I know it's only a small competition but I have read that she's notorious for botching up new routines early on so I am THRILLED she did well. Not as good as the SP (aiii the random leg lifts) but I was happy to see her land stuff given that she's grown like 7cm according to reports.

Broke my heart to see her so sad after her terrible test skates  so it was nice to see her all smiles this time.

I don't know what it is about her (besides her awesome technical ability) but her skating is very rewatchable and exciting for me. It makes me smile.

 

5 hours ago, SeanC said:

In the men's short program, Artur Dmitriev did a 3 Lutz + 3 Flip combination with some creativity on the land foot.

Thanks for posting this! I was actually going to ask if this was possible! I just had a random thought one day ad wondered if people would do it or why they wouldn't do it! 

[MostlyC]

Zagitova's coach seems to like her more this season.  That's good to see.  

At the Olympics, it seemed that her coach wanted nothing to do with her.  She looked all alone in her victory.

[carrier76]

I just wish Zagitova would hold some of those positions. I kept waiting for an awesome spiral or Ina Bauer, and she got out of the position in the blink of an eye.

[Enero]

7 hours ago, carrier76 said:

I just wish Zagitova would hold some of those positions. I kept waiting for an awesome spiral or Ina Bauer, and she got out of the position in the blink of an eye.

Exactly! Though her aura on the ice is more mature. She still looks to be rushing through her positions. She really should hold them longer. It will certainly improve the overall presentation of the program. 

Here’s James/Cripes short and long. Even though their programs generally have the same theme and they always wear the same costumes it seems. They are so dynamic and have such chemistry I don’t care. Lol. I think these programs have a lot of potential. Hope they get even better as the season progresses. These are the most exciting programs for me thus far this season. 

 

Short Program

 

 

Long Program 

[HartofDixie]

https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2018/10/01/figure-skating-tv-schedule-nbc/

[sweeks]

For people who are fans of Tessa and Scott, they have a new edition of their book coming out in October. Shelf Awareness is giving 10 signed copies of the book. Go to http://apps.shelf-awareness.com/signup/382 to enter the drawing. 

[Chaser]

On ‎9‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 7:41 AM, Mellowyellow said:

Here is Bradie's short. It was pretty awesome! I cannot believe this is the same girl I saw at the Olympics! 

She was clean too! I like clean skating! When they fall it just takes me out of the program. 

 

I got Nathan Chen short program vibes off of this. I think Bradie (and Nathan) is more suited to choreography that's more angular and little quirky. Classical, balletic doesn't suit them. 

Does anyone know what Gracie's programs look like? I'm so curious and haven't been able to find anything. 

[HartofDixie]

[Mellowyellow]

I'm not fond of the Carmen music but I have to say I'm enjoying watching Alina land her jumps on the dramatic bits. Very impressive.

[Darknight]

On 9/9/2018 at 8:19 PM, Enero said:

I didn’t see any real improvement with Evgenia, but that’s to be expected. She’s only been working with Brian for a few weeks. Her jumps still look rather labored and some even looked underrotated. I was hoping she would get rid of all the jumps with her hands over head, but unfortunately that hasn’t happened. 

Her tano looked great though and I think these programs have potential. 

 

Really? Why?

The Russians have juniors doing quads. At least Tatiana supports her

On 9/29/2018 at 1:44 PM, MostlyC said:

Zagitova's coach seems to like her more this season.  That's good to see.  

At the Olympics, it seemed that her coach wanted nothing to do with her.  She looked all alone in her victory.

Because her favorite student left. Eteri said she was hurt by it all. Yet, she bashed Evegenia 

On 9/22/2018 at 11:41 AM, Mellowyellow said:

I'm worried about Evgenia. She seems to have gone off the rails and her LP is the pits.

I'm kinda wondering what the hell happened! She was the queen of consistency and now she's falling and stepping out. Trust me to start following figure skating when my favourites start to fall apart!  

She has to relearn everything. On top of that she is in a new country. 

I hate Alina's programs. I love her and her costume but the programs don't do anything for me. I wish she would skate to something different 

[SeanC]

With the JGP qualifying rounds concluded, the finalists are all set.  Russia dominated three of the four disciplines, as you'd expect -- the exception being men, where there's only one Russian in six, as opposed to five of the six pairs teams (the only reason it wasn't six out of six is that Russia only give five teams multiple assignments), five of the six ladies (Kim Ye-lim of South Korea squeaked out two silver medals to thwart an all-Russian group), and three of the six ice dance teams (four, really, since the Georgian team is really a Russian team that switched countries).

Excited to see what Lajoie and Lagha can do in the JGP Final.  There hasn't been a Canadian junior team medaling there since Virtue and Moir won way back when.

[specialj67]

I was so pleased to see Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc medal at Skate America. They seemed to have improved a lot in the performance aspect. I hope they keep it up and improve even more for the rest of the season.

[Jaded]

Here's the NBC Schedule for what their airing and where (channels, subscription) for Skate America.

https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2018/10/01/figure-skating-tv-schedule-nbc/

https://www.nbcsports.com/live

Edited October 21, 2018 by Jaded

[legaleagle53]

So the Knierims are splitting from their coach and will be looking for a new one when they get back:

But Chris just assured me that he and Alexa are NOT splitting up themselves!

[Chaser]

Sounds like Drama Drama Drama. The other American teams looked good. 

Glad to see Nathan Chen do well. I like his approach this season. Felt really bad for Vincent. They are going to have to do some serious reworking for these judges. Oh poor Jimmy. 

[Jeddah]

Did the Knierims leave Aljona or did she decide she was done with them? Honestly, I could see it going either way. I think they’re all crazy to give up on working together so quickly. It seemed like a good set up that could have led to good results if they all really committed to it.

I’m glad Nathan won. I want him to be able to rock Yale and the Grand Prix at the same time. That being said, I hate his short program. It doesn’t suit him. It’s like one of those programs that are supposed to show off a skater’s personality, but he isn’t actually using his real personality. Obviously, I don’t know him personally, but he does not seem that smiley and free-spirited in real life. His short program persona seems painfully forced, and I’d rather see the real Nathan. On a petty note: the gelled hair was a terrible look!

I wanted Julian Yee to keep his short program momentum going. I like his skating.

Bychenko’s shirt with blood on it? Why? Why did an actual costume designer think that was a good idea? Even if skating to Dracula, that’s just a gross idea.

How awkward was it when Terry called out Tara for saying it just wasn’t Nathan’s time to win the Olympics because he was so young and can now mature as an artist? That was hilarious (and I say that as someone who did always like Tara’s skating).

[Chaser]

I heard they got into a blow out a little over a week ago. Some people have said they heard stuff about Alexa, some said they heard stuff about Alijona. Who knows? How awkward. 

My feed didn’t include Tara and Johnny’s commentary but I read something about Terry throwing some low key shade at Tara. Was that it? Dang. Also something about Johnny insulting woman’s skating?

Im not as sold on Nathan’s short program as some seem to me. It comes across as manic. I preferred his SP program last year. I like his FP more this year. Love the emphasis on the step sequences in both programs.

I hate the blood on the shirt thing. When I heard about it, I wondered if he was supposed to be murdered (before I found out his music was Dracula) which reminded me of Denis Ten. No no no. 

[redpencil]

I actually really love Nathan's short program and think it does suit him (and the choreography itself is fantastic--he and Shae-Lynn Bourne seem to mesh well, it seems). I loved last year's short too, but this feels like a worthy follow up. His gala performances seem to show off a similar personality and none of it has felt forced to me. Also, that triple axel he did in his short was sublime. To think I used to be terrified every time he did one, and now I don't really worry much at all. If I recall correctly, they changed his technique at some point last season, and after a transition period of getting used to it, seems like it's now more reliable for him.

I like his LP a lot too, but for some reason I had a hard time hearing the music on my feed, which lessened the impact a bit. Did anyone else notice that? In any case, his LP also has great choreography, and I think I like it a lot more than last year's LP.

[specialj67]

14 hours ago, Chaser said:

I heard they got into a blow out a little over a week ago. Some people have said they heard stuff about Alexa, some said they heard stuff about Alijona. Who knows? How awkward. 

My feed didn’t include Tara and Johnny’s commentary but I read something about Terry throwing some low key shade at Tara. Was that it? Dang. Also something about Johnny insulting woman’s skating?

Im not as sold on Nathan’s short program as some seem to me. It comes across as manic. I preferred his SP program last year. I like his FP more this year. Love the emphasis on the step sequences in both programs.

I hate the blood on the shirt thing. When I heard about it, I wondered if he was supposed to be murdered (before I found out his music was Dracula) which reminded me of Denis Ten. No no no. 

That’s too bad about the Knierims. It seems like they’ve been trying to get their mojo back ever since Alexa had that serious medical situation. I want to root for them because they wouldn’t still be putting themselves through all of this if they didn’t still enjoy it on some level, but whatever they’re trying ain’t working, or they aren’t giving it enough time to see if it can work.

Regarding Johnny’s comment about the womens discipline, I think he was talking about the new rule changes? It was either that or he or Tara talking about the teen girls doing quads on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, and taking the entire length of the ice to build up enough steam to do one, which takes valuable seconds away from including other program content? One of them made a comment about how much more ice/time a female skater needs to build up enough steam to execute a quad compared to a male skater.

[Mellowyellow]

I enjoyed both of Nathan's programs. The long was very good but I actually preferred the short. It is a little manic but I thought he sold manic quite well and looked like he was very committed to the performance.

He's so different to the Olympics! He looks like he's way more committed to his music now! Really enjoyed his skating! 

[Silver Raven]

Did Nathan do any quads?  The article I read only mentioned triples.

[Chaser]

I believe he did three. 

[annzeepark914]

19 hours ago, Jeddah said:

How awkward was it when Terry called out Tara for saying it just wasn’t Nathan’s time to win the Olympics because he was so young and can now mature as an artist? 

Oh me oh my was that interesting.  And it reminded me how irritated I get when Tara makes remarks about someone's lack of artistry.  I immediately have a vision of a gawky 15 year old girl skating lights out around the rink, nailing her jumps but landing with a clunk of each skate back onto the ice, no artistry except for a big smile.  IMO, Nathan had a ton more artistry at this past O's than Tara had back in '98.

[Chaser]

I get and agree with a lot of criticism about Tara’s commentaries. But tbh I don’t understand why people harp on this with Tara. It happens with every comment on artistry or when a jump is a flutz. The idea that she isn’t allowed to remark on something if she struggled with it as a skater doesn’t make sense. 

[ombelico]

12 minutes ago, Chaser said:

I get and agree with a lot of criticism about Tara’s commentaries. But tbh I don’t understand why people harp on this with Tara. It happens with every comment on artistry or when a jump is a flutz. The idea that she isn’t allowed to remark on something if she struggled with it as a skater doesn’t make sense. 

The point is that it seems a bit hypocritical for Tara to be saying that someone is too young to win the Olympics because they need more time to develop their artistry, when she won the Olympics at an extremely young age without a lot of artistry to her skating (YMMV). Now it's fine if she comments on a skater's lack of artistry (after all that's part of her job as a commentator), but this particular line of commentary just seems to lack some self-awareness.

[Jeddah]

13 minutes ago, Chaser said:

I get and agree with a lot of criticism about Tara’s commentaries. But tbh I don’t understand why people harp on this with Tara. It happens with every comment on artistry or when a jump is a flutz. The idea that she isn’t allowed to remark on something if she struggled with it as a skater doesn’t make sense. 

I wasn’t criticizing Tara! I always liked her skating and I really like her commentating too. I was more amused that Terry jumped in to point out she won at 15. I never expect snark from Terry!

I’m also sure Nathan doesn’t want to hear from Tara (or anyone really) that it just wasn’t his time yet.

[Chaser]

9 minutes ago, ombelico said:

The point is that it seems a bit hypocritical for Tara to be saying that someone is too young to win the Olympics because they need more time to develop their artistry, when she won the Olympics at an extremely young age without a lot of artistry to her skating (YMMV). Now it's fine if she comments on a skater's lack of artistry (after all that's part of her job as a commentator), but this particular line of commentary just seems to lack some self-awareness.

In that insistent I agree, she isn’t being self aware given the age she won (I won’t comment on the artistry). I’ve just seen it everytime she makes a comment. I think that’s a bit overkill. 

[HartofDixie]

I believe Terry also made a comment to Tara when she brought up skating the season after the Olympics...something along the lines of how would she know?!

[annzeepark914]

4 hours ago, HartofDixie said:

I believe Terry also made a comment to Tara when she brought up skating the season after the Olympics...something along the lines of how would she know?!

Really?  How did I miss that gem?  Terry's a nice guy and I can't imagine him being mean to Tara. But yeah...how would she know what it's like to return to competition after competing in the Olympics.  She went straight to Stars on Ice, bypassing Worlds.  I need to listen more carefully from now on ;>)