2018 Europeans Mens SP

[TunaKeem]

I am in the camp of disliking Javier's SP style. I get that he has a different comedic style but I think the "Aw Shucks!" type of skating looks silly. When he's like stumbling around the ice on purpose as part of his choreography it just makes me cringe so hard. In the same way Jin Boyang is starting to show his artistry by being more comedic, it just makes me cringe.

 

[mrrice]

Kolyada reminds me of a less consistent Kaetlyn Osmond. If either of them ever went clean, gold could be very real for them. It’s just not likely to happen that way. But it would be exciting if it did.

I think this is a good example. I have often thought of Kaetlyn as the Canadian Version of Maria Butyrskaya. Hence my complete and total devotion to her career....If she goes clean, the sky's the limit. Kind of like Mirai and Bradie. Mirai has a much more mature style but, Bradie rarely makes a mistake.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I imagine Voronov at home in the dark with candles and a voodoo doll of Samarin filled with needles

There's still the FS but given how the Russian men (save for Aliev) have skated at this pre-Olympic Euros so far, I imagine that Plushenko is at home calling his friends to arrange a "closed doors test skate".

Oops, did I say Plushenko? I meant Voronov.

I guess Voronov could try the classic "We need someone on the team with experience" card?

 

[whatif]

I feel like Samarin will pull up to the podium. Dima is very poorly conditioned and still recovering from injury.
So I say:
Fernandez
Kolyada
Samarin

 

[matmuh]

still not over how gorgeous Daniel Albert's skating is, love stsq so happy Matteo is in top 6!! and Irakli and Daniel made it to LP

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I feel like Samarin will pull up to the podium. Dima is very poorly conditioned and still recovering from injury.
So I say:
Fernandez
Kolyada
Samarin

And yet Dima skated clean with a quad and is ahead of Kolyada and Samarin.

I think Samarin is too far behind Aliev, and PCS-wise the judges (correctly) acknowledge that Aliev is a vastly superior skater overall and Samarin is just all jumps and (evidently) will get buried when he doesn't land them.

 

[JustMe]

Interesting to note (from looking at the protocols), only 4 men (out of 36) were awarded all level 4's on their spins and steps:
Vasiljevs (3), Rizzo (6), Reznichenko (17), and Belohradsky (28).

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Interesting to note (from looking at the protocols), only 4 men (out of 36) were awarded all level 4's on their spins and steps:
Vasiljevs (3), Rizzo (6), Reznichenko (17), and Belohradsky (28).

Yeah the tech panel was definitely scrutinizing and doing their job! This is how it should be done instead of just giving de facto level 4s to the top skaters.

 

[Jaana]

I really like Rizzo's performance and the music, wonderful! And of course my favourite sp was that from Fernandez.

 

[beki]

Rizzo is an exciting talent. I just wish he would get a little deeper into his knees.

 

[Alexz]

Del

 

[Alifyre]

Well, I'm a young person and I love it


Not that I don't like also Jason or Elladj, but Javi is in a whole different level. I like his short because while it is Chaplin it feels totally different than his previous one, or any other Chaplin program, really. More mature and melancholic, and not the usual mimics and theatricals (while it does have the small touches, that light the program up).
I sure hope more "young people" feel like I do!!

(But get that sseq to 4 for all that is dear to you, Javi!!!)

I'll admit as a "young person" the Chaplin program doesn't really speak to me beyond the fact that Javi is good at acting out what I can only imagine is something like Chaplin would have been like if you put him on skates. It's not that I dislike it, it's more like "wow Javi is good and there is music playing," for me. But a lot of young folk are still very enamored of broadway and I honestly feel like the most crit I've seen of Javi and his free are from people are than me. I may be an odd one out but I love the Man of La Mancha program (can you blame me, I was once a theater kid!).

That said, I do wish some skaters would ditch the old classical warhorses that really don't speak to me much. I'd much rather see a contemporary piece of music than yet another Turandot, Carmen, Mozart anything, etc. (and I say this as a classical musician, the fact is not much has been done to endear the genre to the majority of young folks, even if there are a percentage of us who like it). There's plenty of neoclassical music, even, that works better. But I agree, more musical experimentation! More pop, more theatre music, more exploration and boundary pushing! The last time I successfully introduced a friend to skating, it was with Jason Brown's "Dear Evan Hansen" ex -- contemporary music skated with feeling.

 

[Off My Rocker]

Managed to crawl out of bed to catch the last two groups – special thanks to YouTube uploaders so I’ll be able to go back to watch others! From what I’ve seen so far (and realize there may be other highlights I've not yet seen), my most enjoyed:

Fernandez: charming, engaging, as classy as a Chaplin program can get
Vasiljevs: elegance, intricately woven and well-delivered choreography
Kolyada: beautiful body line and flow of skating, evident even with the jump oops

The K&C area is STUNNING (!!!) with the live view of Red Square.

 

[NoNameFace]

And yet Dima skated clean with a quad and is ahead of Kolyada and Samarin.

I think Samarin is too far behind Aliev, and PCS-wise the judges (correctly) acknowledge that Aliev is a vastly superior skater overall and Samarin is just all jumps and (evidently) will get buried when he doesn't land them.

Funny that I was walking back from work and thought pretty much the same

Looking even at season's best FS scores, the SP gap seems really significant for final results, even taking into account Aliev's problems with stamina. It is about 17 points - however, we have see this season quite bizarre scenarios and leads blown up after SP, so I do not rule out anything. Me thinks that Aliev will be more motivated than nervous and could play a real spoiler here, which would be good for him and interesting point made just before Olympics; his only problem could be stamina being not in par with his will. Samarin OTOH looks for me kind of nervy and unsure all the time, so it is hard to tell decisively how it will go in FS. Interstingly, he has had so far more successful SPs than FS in competitions this season I think, so this could be something interesting to see. These errors today were most of all costly overall in terms of 'closing the gap'/keeping the distance kind of thing, it was nothing like level lost on a spin or steps. The key is not repeat them in free.

With Mikhail, I am in pain to see him headcasing so much... It shows probably that he still needs to adjust mentally to Russia no. 1 Man, to have this kind of leading/commanding quality about not only his skating, but also about his competitions in general, more 'authority' and confidence about what he can put on ice than reservation over what he cannot yet do, which shows more frequent in his stance.

 

[mrrice]

I would love to see Misha Ge and Mikhail Kolyada collaborate after Misha retires. I think they could create some very cool programs together. Kind of like Bryan and Javi.

 

[Jedi]

I think this is a good example. I have often thought of Kaetlyn as the Canadian Version of Maria Butyrskaya. Hence my complete and total devotion to her career....If she goes clean, the sky's the limit. Kind of like Mirai and Bradie. Mirai has a much more mature style but, Bradie rarely makes a mistake.

I usually agree with MRRICE's assessment this one I am a bit off. I am not sure Bradie has show the artistic potential Mirai, Maria or Kaetlyn or Kolyada have shown.

 

[NoNameFace]

I would love to see Misha Ge and Mikhail Kolyada collaborate after Misha retires. I think they could create some very cool programs together. Kind of like Bryan and Javi.

Yes please! What I miss in Mikhail's skating this season is this kind of quirkiness and particularity imprinted i his material, getting out more his personality and being so genuine and plainly likeable as a performer. This season they have groomed him with those programs to appear more like Russian no. 1, having supposedly more 'sophisticated' and streamlined, universally appealing programs, but it all looks kinda artificial for me... He seems to be sometimes chocked up and restrained performance-wise over this status he got and that affects his skating in many areas I feel. I don't expect him to do Baba Yaga type of program in competition, but something more personally-fitted, more related to his aesthetic could be beneficiary than those posh programs that are supposed to do Mikhail favours and 'elevate' him, style him to appear mature and as a real contender. Thing is that as SP can be defended to some extend by his skills, FS is a total misopportunity for me; Mikhail is a skater with ability to elevate and enrich the program, if allowed to, not the other way around in my opinion.

 

[Florian]

It's sad to see the low quality of the men's competition at Euros, although it is not surprising. Almost no skaters with consistent quads and most can't even sell programs without a quad. Only 4 skaters over 80 points and that in a time of points inflation and an enormous bonus for Russian skaters. Once Javi retires, we will have all Russian podiums forever, and at Worlds, Europeans will have no chance to medal anymore. No promising talents, neither in Germany and France nor in Scandinavia nor in Eastern Europe. No creativity to see either. Always the same old programs, even in an Olympic season. I agree that Javi should finally try something new. He's capable of more and of something different. But of course, one hardly abandons what has worked for one. It doesn't have to be something modern though. That's not the point. Just something different and new.

As for the positive things, Rizzo was the only skater I saw that positively surprised me. I believe that Javi will win ahead of Kolyada and Aliev.

 

[NoNameFace]

Managed to crawl out of bed to catch the last two groups – special thanks to YouTube uploaders so I’ll be able to go back to watch others! From what I’ve seen so far (and realize there may be other highlights I've not yet seen), my most enjoyed:

Fernandez: charming, engaging, as classy as a Chaplin program can get
Vasiljevs: elegance, intricately woven and well-delivered choreography
Kolyada: beautiful body line and flow of skating, evident even with the jump oops

The K&C area is STUNNING (!!!) with the live view of Red Square.

Seeing your opinion over Kolyada and Vasiljevs I realize that my impression is while Deniss' programs are doing him and his skills a real lift, favour and highlight the best of him, the opposite is with Mikhail in my opinion - those programs kind of create the image that Mikhail is supposed to be than skater he is and project/promote his great skills quite poorly... I would love to see e.g. Lambiel's choreography for Mikhail one day, using in full those lines, edges, intricacy and flow...

 

[TontoK]

It's sad to see the low quality of the men's competition at Euros, although it is not surprising. Almost no skaters with consistent quads and most can't even sell programs without a quad. Only 4 skaters over 80 points and that in a time of points inflation and an enormous bonus for Russian skaters. Once Javi retires, we will have all Russian podiums forever, and at Worlds, Europeans will have no chance to medal anymore. No promising talents, neither in Germany and France nor in Scandinavia nor in Eastern Europe. No creativity to see either. Always the same old programs, even in an Olympic season. I agree that Javi should finally try something new. He's capable of more and of something different. But of course, one hardly abandons what has worked for one. It doesn't have to be something modern though. That's not the point. Just something different and new.

As for the positive things, Rizzo was the only skater I saw that positively surprised me. I believe that Javi will win ahead of Kolyada and Aliev.

This is too pessimistic an outlook. You never know when the next talent is going to breeze onto the rink and shake things up.

European men are at an ebb right now, but that can change in a season.