2014 Worlds - Men Free Program

[jace93]

I think that we disagree on our definition of complete... I think a complete skater should be able to be at the top of BOTH technical and interpretative elements...

 

[Meoima]

Patrick Chan is the biggest hole in my heart. I heard he is still having nightmare about Sochi. I was rooting for him to win in Sochi because...he is at his peak, he is all-rounded and he isn't getting younger. Hanyu is still young and he is not yet a complete skater yet so I hope next time for him. Then it turned out THAT way. Meh, Sochi is a complete nightmare. I don't know what or whom should we shut put the blame on. The team event that happened right away individual events? Or the judging (well it's hard to blame the judging in men event because our men were so horrendous that day). I hope they put some limits to the number of quads and jumps each program though.
Compare to Sochi, worlds this year, which happened after a month has just showed us tremendous effort from the skaters. I am so happy for them, regretful for some, though.
Side notes: it's true that PCS has become a joke now, I don't understand the inflations anymore.

 

[StellaCampo]

Patrick Chan is the biggest hole in my heart. I heard he is still having nightmare about Sochi. I was rooting for him to win in Sochi because...he is at his peak, he is all-rounded and he isn't getting younger. Hanyu is still young and he is not yet a complete skater yet so I hope next time for him. Side notes: it's true that PCS has become a joke now, I don't understand the inflations anymore.

If Patrick is having a nightmare about Sochi, I'm terribly sorry. The PCS inflation with Hanyu is completely beyond me. I cannot believe his skating has improved that much during the season. He still goes through most of the transitions looking like a daddy long leg, as if he didn't have any core muscles around his backbone. Hanyu is determined to master other quads. He seems to be only concerned about jumps. I wish he would learn to skate like Patrick. I think Hanyu is overrated. I missed Patrick at Saitama.

 

[moviechick]

Patrick Chan is the biggest hole in my heart. I heard he is still having nightmare about Sochi. I was rooting for him to win in Sochi because...he is at his peak, he is all-rounded and he isn't getting younger. Hanyu is still young and he is not yet a complete skater yet so I hope next time for him. Then it turned out THAT way. Meh, Sochi is a complete nightmare. I don't know what or whom should we shut put the blame on. The team event that happened right away individual events? Or the judging (well it's hard to blame the judging in men event because our men were so horrendous that day). I hope they put some limits to the number of quads and jumps each program though.
Compare to Sochi, worlds this year, which happened after a month has just showed us tremendous effort from the skaters. I am so happy for them, regretful for some, though.
Side notes: it's true that PCS has become a joke now, I don't understand the inflations anymore.

The men had several days between the team event and their individual. Also, Chan did not do well in the team SP and had a mistake in the individual SP too. Whatever happened to him was probably something no amount of extra down time could fix (mental/nerves/deterioration of his 3 axel).

Worlds was a fun and well-skated event for once, I certainly don't miss anything about 2013 or 2012 here. I'm just glad Yuzuru won with a solid performance with such high jump content since the last thing he needed was to become Patrick Chan 2.0.

 

[Meoima]

If Patrick is having a nightmare about Sochi, I'm terribly sorry. The PCS inflation with Hanyu is completely beyond me. I cannot believe his skating has improved that much during the season. He still goes through most of the transitions looking like a daddy long leg, as if he didn't have any core muscles around his backbone. Hanyu is determined to master other quads. He seems to be only concerned about jumps. I wish he would learn to skate like Patrick. I think Hanyu is overrated. I missed Patrick at Saitama.

Even the fans have nightmares about Sochi, so it's not only P.chan. I think even Hanyu still has nightmare about that time. When he came out in worlds for His SP, he looked like he was about to faint. anyways it's their faults that they fell, can't blame anyone.

The thing is, PCS inflation do not only apply for Hanyu. Machida got PCS 90s for that flappy bird performance with the saint saya cosplay, Javi almost got 92 PCS for his LP, as high as Hanyu's.

Seriously I think the placement at world is alright (I would like Javi to be second or first but well... he made mistakes) but the scores, especially the PCS are unbelievable. So now everyone has the PCS of a clean PChan already. :scratch: what the hell...

I can understand Hanyu's PCS as he is the Olympic champ, his excellent SP is quite deserved, and finally he was clean on that 4S. But personally I would only give him 86-88 PCS at most. If he skated in his LP like in his SP, then I would give him 92-95 but that doesn't happen. As for Machida and Javi, their sudden raise in PCS from 80s to 90s is also...incomprehensible.

 

[statmam]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beOeHFJ1ci0

Machida: Congrats! (hug) I lost!!
Yuzuru: But it was super close!! Let's get on the podium together, like this! (small jump)
Machida: I'm regrettable, but thank you.
Yuzuru: But you pulled both programs together, didn't you? I didn't!
Machida: Well, but we had a great fight.
Yuzuru: I had fun, thank you very much.

Press conference

Yuzuru: Actually I am better being a chaser in FP, I was nervous but I had a good feeling toward FP. This program (R&J) is filled with many difficult elements and I also have had hard time to land two different kinds of quad through past two seasons. I am very happy to land them finally in the last competition of this season. I was glad, I gave it all, that's all I feel.

Machida: I am happy with the sense of accomplishment. I had been very encouraged by success of Hanyu-senshu this season and hoping that I wanted to keep going strong like him. I had been trying chasing his back and I am here in this position. It was very close to win but I will try to go forward together with him and to be a good rival of him in the next season.

As far as Yuzuru hasn't stated anything about his injury officially (apparently he was in pain though), the news came from only one article and the commentator in the Japanese broadcasting. Hope we'll have more info.

Congratulations to all the medalists :yay:

Thank you for the translation, Yude.

 

[frogonthelily]

Hello

Hi Mrs P. Are you talking about Romeo + Juliet 1.0? I've only seen the one he skated for WC at Nice, and there he had one slip, but I thought the rest of it was amazing. i don't really know enough (or much) about figure skating, but as someone mentioned above about a winning performance being more than the scores or the technical skills, and I think the 1st version just nails it emotionally.

and I've watched it many times now and I'm still moved by his passion and his fight, and how it goes perfectly with the music. Okay I just can't keep saying how much I LOVED that programme.

In comparison to the previous programme, I've.. grown to accept the 2.0 programme, and in this competition you can really tell he fought hard to keep it together (I'm so glad he got the clean skate after Sochi!), however choreography, music, costume, all pale in comparison to 2012 for me, I do wonder if this drive to make things super technically difficult and ramming a programme full of jumps is ruining the choreography, sometimes it does appear like there just happens to be incidental music while skaters move through jumps. (Yuzuru's Ina Bauer moment was perfect though)

I look back at older skates like Dai Takahashi's Blues for Klooks and in the garden of souls, and look at this years, and everything seems rather uninspired in comparison.

I may not have watched enough performances. I wonder what everyone else thinks?

:thumbsup:

Seriously, what is people's problem? Last year we had a skater who fell twice, had a major step out on another jump and popped a fourth jump who still won because of a lead in the short program.

This year we have a skater who manage to not fall AT ALL, save for a few close landings and now we're complaining he wasn't clean enough.

I'm going to stand up for him because I remember seeing him in 2012 in the FS where he was an ABSOLUTE mess -- fell three times and completely botched his step sequence and spin. It was obviously that back then he couldn't handle the challenging programs but yet Orser was willing to work with him to increase his stamina and look at him now--he stood up for the entire program DESPITE INJURY.

Geez people. Yuzuru should be getting praise for his effort not disdain. He doesn't deserve this vitriol.

 

[MaiKatze]

I look back at older skates like Dai Takahashi's Blues for Klooks and in the garden of souls, and look at this years, and everything seems rather uninspired in comparison.

No one does it like Daisuke does. Even though he wasn't in form in Sochi, I still prefer the Sochi LP to the Worlds LP because for me a competition without Daisuke seems lacklustre. He left the biggest gap in Men's figure skating.

I agree with you in that 2012 was my favourite year in terms of Men's programs certainly.

 

[AliceInWonderland]

Congrats to all the medallists and congrats to Kovtun for dragging his butt out of 17th place and into the top 5!

 

[Ryan O]

IMHO, Jeremy's scores should have been much higher, but the judges don't value Jeremy's worth because of his past record under pressure (and probably they were leaving room, but no excuse for not giving Jeremy better tech and PCS points). Javi Fernandez in NO WAY deserves higher PCS scores than Jeremy Abbott!!! Absolutely glaring problem with the scoring system, the way the judges throw out undeserved PCS when skaters do the technical tricks.

Part of that may be the politics of Fernandez being a reigning World medalist, and who is also coached by a two-time Olympic medalist. Fernandez is a rising star, whereas Abbott is a skater who is on the way to retirement and who has been much more inconsistent. Those factors end up having an effect on your placement after a while. Consistency gets results. Davis & White are 2 of the most consistent skaters out there. They rarely make mistakes, and that eventually led them to an Olympic gold medal.

It may not be right, but once you are pushing 30 and have not yet been on the World podium, judges begin to overlook you, even when you might have a really strong skate.

 

[chloepoco]

Joshua Farris has asthma too. I don't see him using it as an excuse every time he doesn't perform well. Nor do his fans - I certainly don't.

Joshua also has a life-threatening allergy to dairy. He doesn't use it as an excuse. Nor do his fans. On two occasions only has it directly affected his performance. But he did not offer it as an excuse...his coach had to reveal it later.

Joshua also once skated with a broken leg. He broke it on the third jumping pass of a long program and finished the program, spins, steps and jumps all.

I just feel like Hanyu's fans really really overblow his health issues. LOTS of people have asthma. Hanyu's not the only skater in the world with asthma, and he's certainly not the only skater in the world who's skated through injuries.

When has Hanyu ever used his asthma as an excuse for anything?

And as someone else pointed out, yes, many people have asthma. However, the severity of it differs from person to person.

 

[Interspectator]

Why must we always find something to complain about? I guess that's just the nature of people. Someone shows too much drama, or not enough emotion, too overstated, or too understated, too injured or too stoic -there will always be people who disagree.
Here's something I LOVED about the men's competition this year: The friendly rivalry between the final men was great to see. They each really wanted the top spot but they all respected one another and seemed to really enjoy just being there together.
Hanyu motioned the crowed to be quiet so Fernandez could warm up.
Fernandez and Hanyu clapping to each other over the TV.
Machida thanking Hanyu for a great competition.
Group hug before going out for the medal ceremony.
-And just to show that they really do have a rivalry going on and haven't gone 'soft' Machida vows to CRUSH Hanyu next year.

 

[Maria Victoria]

^Good for Tatsuki! No mincing words. I was right to suppose there is fire in him. Some think it is beyond him but if he continues to show the same kind of improvement he did this season he can be consistently competitive with Yuzuru and figure skating will all be the better for it.

 

[Pamigena]

Here's something I LOVED about the men's competition this year: The friendly rivalry between the final men was great to see. They each really wanted the top spot but they all respected one another and seemed to really enjoy just being there together.
Hanyu motioned the crowed to be quiet so Fernandez could warm up.
Fernandez and Hanyu clapping to each other over the TV.
Machida thanking Hanyu for a great competition.
Group hug before going out for the medal ceremony.
-And just to show that they really do have a rivalry going on and haven't gone 'soft' Machida vows to CRUSH Hanyu next year.

:agree: I second that!

 

[Kalina]

Yuzuru mentioned having asthma once in all of the interviews he's ever given in the past four years, and not as an excuse, but as a statement. In fact if I remember correctly it was in the interview he gave to Goldenskate when he was 16 Even when he is injured, he never brings it up, it's the media who does it. No one even knew that he was injured in Nice until a week after the competition was over, when he was forced to withdraw from World Team Trophy; and if it hadn't been for Orser who mentioned it in passing in a interview to a Canadian newspaper, we wouldn't have knows that he was during Worlds 2013.
Anyway, it's not like he's injured this time around, he just had a very bad fall in practice which left him hurting. Nothing major, no reason to fuss.

To tell you the truth, misskarne, I've noticed that it's not even us fans who talk about asthma, it's everyone else. People who follow skating but don't follow him specifically. They see him skate in competition, see that he's struggling for breath at the end and does not have stamina, and always assume that it is because he has asthma (I see it mentioned often in the competition threads on FSU for example). But his fans know that asthma is only partly an issue and that the main reason he lacked in stamina is because he used to have very little time for practice and didn't do any off-ice training. So it's almost never brought up. You may want to spread the word around to the general skating fandom if you wish.

I don't see the point of bringing up Joshua. He doesn't complain about it, and as we've discerned, nor does Yuzuru. It's an argument about whose fanbase is better, and I can think of more useful things to do in my spare time.

 

[whatif]

Congrats to all the medallists and congrats to Kovtun for dragging his butt out of 17th place and into the top 5!

top 4

 

[giulia95]

But his fans know that asthma is only partly an issue and that the main reason he lacked in stamina is because he used to have very little time for practice and didn't do any off-ice training. .

I am a fan who disagrees with this explanation about Yuzuru's stamina.

Last year, after Yuzu moved to Canada and his new team increased his on ice training and introduced off ice trainig consistently , he collapsed on the ice at Finland Throphy at the very beginning of the season , remained in a miserable physical condition and heavily underweight like a zombie throughout the season and collapsed on the ice at London Worlds, after a terrible scream that many fans didn’t forget. In that period rumors about his retirement in 2014 started on this forum.

 

[Meoima]

I am a fan who disagrees with this explanation about Yuzuru's stamina.

Last year, after Yuzu moved to Canada and his new team increased his on ice training and introduced off ice trainig consistently , he collapsed on the ice at Finland Throphy at the very beginning of the season , remained in a miserable physical condition and heavily underweight like a zombie throughout the season and collapsed on the ice at London Worlds, after a terrible scream that many fans didn’t forget. In that period rumors about his retirement in 2014 started on this forum.

I've heard he had some serious asthma attacks when moved to Canada, maybe because of allergy or something, I don't know about this condition. The last season is totally horrendous for him. He always look like he need oxy tank after the free skate. But it seems he has improved his health and stamina this season. Even at the beginning of this season, he looked so tedious. That's why I didn't believe that he could pull through the free skate in WC. Big improvement for him. I hope his health will get better next season.

 

[hurrah]

I remember reading somewhere that Yuzuru has a naturally small appetite and so they had some kind of a medical checkup to determine what would be a suitable eating habit for him to adopt to maintain his condition properly and it came out that he simply wasn't eating enough. Thereafter he got advice from a nutritionist about what and how he should be eating and by following it, his stamina improved. Something like that.

 

[giulia95]

in the whole last season Yuzu’s miserable health always remained the same, the new training policy wasn’t changed because of it . Yuzuru was very closed to withdraw from Worlds.

Now we know he has a japanese nutritionist which seems to have improved Yuzu's condition dramatically and a japanese trainer /doctor (I don’t know) who finally appeared at the boards during Saitama Worlds for the very first time.