2022 Olympics Team Event Day2: Men's Free Skate

[RatedPG]

I just finished watching.

Romsky for CAN - He got to the Olympics and forgot how to skate. It is like he just forgot how to land his ultra-c elements, the 4S and the 3A. Good on him for sticking the 3Lz 3T combo he usually struggles with. But, when I saw him on the ice during the warm up, he looked like a deer staring into headlights. Popped jumps and then falling on the ice. This is the worst he has ever skated. I think the best I can ask for, is for him to skate a good enough short program just to place in the top 24. That was an embarrassing skate and I was cringing during his performance.

Zhou was pretty dull for me. I’m glad he placed behind Mark. All his jumps were under review and I think he actually solidified himself as the fourth best American when there is a strict technical panel. I don’t expect to find him on the podium in the individual event. Maybe, a small medal after the SP, which is a masterpiece. During this performance, I missed Ilia and wish Ilia was here as the #2 American Skater instead

Mark is just solid and this free skate guaranteed the gold medal for Russia and to me, he is now the #5 best skater in the world behind 3 men from Japan and Nathan Chen. I wonder which two substitutions will be made tomorrow. Will Eteri decide between ladies, dance and pairs? Is it up to her? Diana Davis can skate now that they have a cushion. I kinda hope it will be Anna & Stepanova with Bukin in ice dance. Also, Kamila, next to Mishin….. be careful girl…… I don’t trust Mishin next to the star of the night

Yuma, wow! He is a relevation and the star of the night in the Men’s field. He added and tried out his 4Lo and I love his Loop combo. Hanyu, I hope you are watching as these are the two elements you need to add to your program, not the 4A. He deserved those high marks and I’m beginning to see it as Chen versus the three Japanese men. Shoma and Yuma were fantastic in the team event. Japan, specifically has been great at this ice rink. If the Japanese Pairs team was placed higher than the American team like they deserved to be, they would have been one point away from the silver medal

 

[CrazyKittenLady]

I don't get why people act as if Vincent had a disaster skate. It was a solid FS of high technical standard with a pop and some other errors, but still enjoyable to watch. Looking forward to seeing it again in the individual event!

 

[Haikush]

I don’t think Yuma is perturbed by who he skates against. His technique is just so solid that all he needs is confidence in himself.

I’m actually really astonished at the lack of +5s for Yuma’s jumps. Some of them were literal perfection. How his 3A+3T was only a +3 and those same judges gave +3 to Mark’s axels is just completely wrong.

Agree..if he doesn't get +5 no one should....the beauty of those jumps is art itself....astonishing

 

[yctomi]

Yeah, I don't care. I would have preferred seeing Jason. Actually, Mark was over-scored. Jason at his most exquisite best has scored very high on the strength of his exquisite artistic abilities and superb polish. He does what no one else has done before or since. He could have blown Kondriatiuk's gutty but non-polished performance out of the water. Jason has reached the top of the podiium over quad guys, ya know.

In any case, as I said earlier, the damage was done at U.S. Nat'ls when the quad-obsessed selection committee and judging panel decided to give Vincent extra points to place third over Jason, after Vincent's dismal showing in the fp. Send Ilia, Nathan, and Jason. We might have enjoyed a better evening of figure skating here had Ilia performed after Kagiyama. But we never really know, until it happens. Anyway, that would have been my preference.

I hope Jason skates his best ever in the individual events here, all you quad-obsessed fans who enjoy dissing Jason.

LOL so pathetic. As much as I love watching Jason and his program all those crazy Jason fans should realise that his program is not competitive at all without quads and he even bombs his triples at times. In terms of presentation and skating skills he’s certainly not the level of yuzuru hanyu and not even shoma uno. So I don’t get why he is ‘robbed’ by Vincent/USFS/etc. If anything it’s him who robbed Ilya for the future. Thanks.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Agree..if he doesn't get +5 no one should....the beauty of those jumps is art itself....astonishing

Maybe an unpopular opinion, since he lacks the fan base of Chen and Hanyu and Brown, but Yuma really does have the best jumps in the field IMO.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

that 3a-3t and the 3f-3l combos OMG... beautiful.. .give him all the GOES !

I’m low key furious at the 3F+3L not getting +5s (or at least straight +4S) when it was arguably the best 3F+3L ever executed.

 

[*~RussianBleux~*]

No, he wouldn't. He doesn't have the incredible SS of Yuma and he has no reputation. He also URs some of his quads. He may have scored what Vincent got with a clean skate but he likely wouldn't have been second since the judges went with Mark. ( A bit too much imho/ though he certainly deserved 2nd place)

Vincent probably would have wanted to place one or two places higher but he didn't implode. So, good for him! I think he'll do better in the individual event. His choice was in harmony with selection criteria.

Anyway, I trust the US pairs and ice dancers to deliver in the FS. So, it will really come down to Karen whether the US gets it's Olympic silver or not. Nothing against Karen, but it is ironic that the one skater who was selected despite the criteria not being in her favor is the one who imploded. That's a good message for the USFS. I don't care what criteria they have, I do care if they follow it or not... And they didn't in this one case after being loyal to it in all other instances.

Which skater did the criteria favor?

 

[RatedPG]

Maybe an unpopular opinion, since he lacks the fan base of Chen and Hanyu and Brown, but Yuma really does have the best jumps in the field IMO.

I agree with you. I love his technique and he should get the best GOEs on his jump elements

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

LOL so pathetic. As much as I love watching Jason and his program all those crazy Jason fans should realise that his program is not competitive at all without quads and he even bombs his triples at times. In terms of presentation and skating skills he’s certainly not the level of yuzuru hanyu and not even shoma uno. So I don’t get why he is ‘robbed’ by Vincent/USFS/etc. If anything it’s him who robbed Ilya for the future. Thanks.

Your opinion, which doesn't hold up because Jason has beat quadsters before. In this case, sure he would have placed behind Mark w/o quads, but I would have enjoyed Jason's skating better than Vincent's. Ideally, they should have dumped Vincent after his poor Nationals showing in the fp and sent Ilia over Vincent. It would have been an NBC p.r. dream and a viewing pleasure to have witnessed young gun Ilia skating after precocious Kagiyama. Their talents are different, but what a great delight for the eyes it would have been.

 

[RatedPG]

Which skater did the criteria favor?

I think Alysa because she skated a 219 at Lombardia or Mariah due to being the US National champion and also scoring over 210 this year. Alysa would have placed 3rd…. As she usually scores a bit above 70 and was so consistent this year. Mariah, I’m not sure would have done any better than Chen. In the end, the USA was destined for the silver medal anyways.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Your opinion, which doesn't hold up because Jason has beat quadsters before. In this case, sure he would have placed behind Mark w/o quads, but I would have enjoyed Jason's skating better than Vincent's. Ideally, they should have dumped Vincent after his poor Nationals showing in the fp and sent Ilia over Vincent. It would have been an NBC p.r. dream and a viewing pleasure to have witnessed young gun Ilia skating after precocious Kagiyama. Their talents are different, but what a great delight for the eyes it would have been.

Let’s remember that Ilia was left off the team for Brown not Zhou. Results matter and Zhou’s were far better this season… he was ranked even higher than Chen on the GP and is the only guy in the past four years to get a win on him.

 

[4everchan]

I’m low key furious at the 3F+3L not getting +5s (or at least straight +4S) when it was arguably the best 3F+3L ever executed.

there is nothing low key about you my dearest !

 

[*~RussianBleux~*]

I think Alysa because she skated a 219 at Lombardia or Mariah due to being the US National champion and also scoring over 210 this year. Alysa would have placed 3rd…. As she usually scores a bit above 70 and was so consistent this year. Mariah, I’m not sure would have done any better than Chen. In the end, the USA was destined for the silver medal anyways.

At this point I’d like some kind of statement on Alysa’s condition. This has to have something to do with her having Covid and not being in form. She didn’t even need to do a 3A (and probably smart to leave it out for team like Higuchi). People underestimate the importance of her incredible consistency on the basic triples and ability to backload multiple 3-3s.

 

[readernick]

Which skater did the criteria favor?

Alysa. Mariah should have been second choice if Alysa couldn't do it for some reason. Alysa has consistently scored well in the SP this year and almost certainly would have been 3rd. Mariah is a bit more risky ( she had one bad SP) but she doesn't UR as much as Karen and I think she likely could have beaten Gubanova/ Madeline. She scored 69+ points with a 3-2 internationally this year.

 

[lurkz2]

yup... if a team wants gold at this point they need to show up for it... i got a lot of flack for saying Nathan should skate this.. but the proof is in the pudding.

Maybe if Karen had done better in the short it would have been worth the risk to put Nathan in. But afterwards, well, IMO the damage had been done.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Alysa. Mariah should have been second choice if Alysa couldn't do it for some reason. Alysa has consistently scored well in the SP this year and almost certainly would have been 3rd. Mariah is a bit more risky ( she had one bad SP) but she doesn't UR as much as Karen and I think she likely could have beaten Gubanova/ Madeline. She scored 69+ points with a 3-2 internationally this year.

Alysa has scored consistently above 70. The narrative better be about Liu not making the SP to be safe and ensure she gets individual, but team USA done messed up using Karen. Karen’s last international got 64.67. With a fall and UR it’s a huge miracle that it got 65.20.

 

[GabrielleBaker]

So glad Yuma skated so well. If Hanyu doesn’t get the individual gold I hope he gets it. I wonder if the US are regretting the decision to not include Illia in their team.

A shame Wakaba didn’t do her triple axel. I hope she does it in her individual programs. I was gutted when she missed out a place at the last Olympics.

I don’t like the onscreen technical score box they use at the Olympics, as it relies on the commentator to call the jumps, which the Australian one didn’t do consistently. I find it difficult to tell some apart where it is the edge difference and are used to the technical score box they use in ISU events. Though I must admit the Olympics one is good for showing what components are still under review.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Let’s remember that Ilia was left off the team for Brown not Zhou. Results matter and Zhou’s were far better this season… he was ranked even higher than Chen on the GP and is the only guy in the past four years to get a win on him.

I mean, you apparently didn't see my previous posts where I asked people to not start laying it on Jason for being the reason Ilia wasn't selected. Jason skated better than Vincent at Nationals, and Jason should not have missed out on staying in third by that small percentage. No way. Quads are not everything. If they were, Jason would not have even have had the career at the top that he's had.

Jason would have won multiple championships with better quad abilities, but the fact he's still been on podiums, sometimes at the top, goes to show what tremendous, extraordinary talent he has. Please, quad-obsessed fans, stop with the dissing. Figure skating is not all about quads, which is just an extra revolution, that sometimes you can barely see with the naked eye. For me, figure skating is about blade mastery, and athleticism combined with great presentation skills and storytelling ability. That's when it is uplifting beyond measure. Vincent just plods through with occasional great showings, a flurry of poor performances, and so-so with URs. Blah.

Respect for Vincent when he manages to live up to his personal challenges, but he didn't live up to what he was capable of here, and neither did Karen. What K & V put out along with generosity from judges has kept U.S. in silver position. But it was nothing exciting like Mirai, Adam, and the Shibs in the 2018 team event.

Fortunately, it wasn't that bad a hit, because Canada is crippled in several disciplines this time around, and Japan doesn't have stellar ice dance talent. China is mainly proficient in pairs and decent in ice dance and men, without a top-level lady. It wasn't expected for the U.S. to challenge for gold. And they likely would have fell short anyway. But there was a distinct possibility for a finger-biting tie to happen overall. They could have been tied for first with Russia right now had Vincent been at least second and Karen at least third, which wasn't too much to expect from them.

Team Event

results.isu.org

But as we can see, it wasn't too bad of a hit. Russia is ahead by three points. Karen has a chance to redeem herself in the team fp and individual event, or do worse. Vincent has a chance to redeem himself or do worse in the individual event. We shall see. The U.S. still has a chance to retain silver. But it just wasn't the greatest rah rah team effort by Vincent or Karen. It would have been so interesting had there been a tie with Russia at the end of competition, and to see how it might have been broken. This result just takes all the drama and excitement out the pairs and ice dance team finals.

And too bad for Roman. I saw someone say that Roman was going to be last anyway. Nope, skating at the top of his ability, which he has managed to do on a few occasions, Roman could have placed ahead of Boyang, who made mistakes. At least Schizas gave Canada a lift, and they're likely happy about that. I'm not sure why Roman felt so nervous. He just needed to center himself and try to have fun. I wonder what's wrong with him? Will he later talk about it on his blog?

 

[gioccia]

Ilia and Alisa should have been on the team. Young, fresh, ambitious. The older you get, the more pressure you feel and become insecure.
I think USA messed up picking Olympians in the first place by turning a blind eye on under rotations at Nationals and giving poor goe and PCs to those who are the future and could have potentially scored higher both Vincent and Karen.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Congratulations on sinking to a new low in unnecessary harshness against skaters.

Yes, Karen and Vincent underperformed tonight. My heart goes out to both of them.

If you are not interested in watching them again, that is your choice to make.

But I hope that they will stay in the sport for as long as THEY wish to -- and will shut out the noise from naysayers.

Karen has lovely qualities, and I enjoy watching her when she isn't nervous and under pressure and under-performing. Vincent's skating I will not miss. It's nothing about either of them personally. I don't know them personally, but they seem like nice young people, especially Karen. It's one of those things where I enjoy rooting for them at their best, but I'm not that emotionally invested in their skating, so it's underwhelming when they perform underwhelmingly. I'm sure both will be successful in whatever and wherever their lives take them when they retire from competing. Since both are academically-minded, I can see them enjoying fascinating careers in the fields they are majoring in academically.

Frankly, I don't see either of them deciding to continue after their second Olympics. They likely both want to hang up the skates (still skate professionally in shows perhaps), but most likely take up their studies again at their respective universities. Of course, it's their individual decisions to make. I was just wishing each of them well because I doubt that either are going to desire to continue after going to the Olympics twice. Both will likely be getting an Olympic silver team medal to cap off their careers, if the U.S. manages to hold onto silver in the team event.