2015 Four Continents Men's Short Program Feb 12 Seoul Time

[Mrs. P]

But... who cares if Michelle and Kurt didn't win Olympic gold? They will always be remembered among the all-time greats. I'd much rather have Jason have a career like Michelle or Kurt (or even Irina Slutskaya, if we're to be realistic) rather than being Sarah Hughes and peaking at one Olympics.

And gearing your whole career toward one peak moment doesn't always work out. Machida was in the shape of his life last season; however, he still didn't skate well at the Olympics and didn't make the podium.

I understand what Jason's team is going for. But I also understand why some people feel differently. Carpe diem, as they say.

I guess my point is that sometimes you can't control how many medals you win or the circumstances to win those medals. What you can control is the physical condition you're in for those big competitions or the preparations you make leading up to those big events.

That said, I don't think having a 2018 goal precludes Jason from other opportunities he could seize along the way. I mean he is the national champion (yes, yes, whether you disagreed or not). He is not apologetic about getting the title despite his lack of quad. He's not apologetic about getting a Sochi berth without one. (in fact Jason had totally put the idea of 2014 out of his head and Kori had to convince him that he could be part of that Sochi team).

I think he would love to win a gazillion world and national titles in his career, but I also think he is aware there is a certain foundation he needs to establish first. The reason that Kurt and Michelle won so many titles is because they had the basics.

 

[cooper]

heh.. the crowd was rooting for dennis ten.. he had the biggest applause..

 

[Rissa]

heh.. the crowd was rooting for dennis ten.. he had the biggest applause..

To be fair, that was the best skate of them all and coming at the very end of the event; no wonder he got the biggest applause!

 

[silverfoxes]

Denis is ethnically Korean, so it's not really surprising that they would like him there (besides the fact that he skated very well).

 

[Rissa]

Denis is ethnically Korean, so it's not really surprising that they would like him there (besides the fact that he skated very well).

Oh thank you, I didn't know that; I don't follow Denis closely enough to get these details. It's great that the Korean crowd got such a treat from almost-one of their own! I can just imagine support during the free skate when the audience will be bigger!

 

[snowflake]

I enjoyed Denis much more than I've had before. Great performance to epic music! Shoma impressed me again. Glad Han Yan is back in good form. Overall a lot of fine performances.

My predicted top six are in the final group (though not giving me that much points). Denis will probably win(I had him 5th), but I'm sure the following places will change a lot in the free skate.

I watched the chinese channel, which worked very well for me. Don't know who first posted it… but thanks!!!

It's really weird how similar the 3A and 4T scenarios are. You'd think getting his 3A and proving people wrong would earn him the benefit of the doubt - but no, it didn't. His 3A is also still being overly scrutinized because he was "the guy without a 3A" for so long.

Kudos Jason for trying the quad, though his 3-axel is evidently not yet stable with UR and minus GOE in this short program.

 

[Mrs. P]

Kudos Jason for trying the quad, though his 3-axel is evidently not yet stable with UR and minus GOE in this short program.

I don't know if it's an indicator of stability. I really think the 3A was impacted by the mistake on the quad. The fact is, being off on the timing of a jump like the quad could affect other jumps as well. We see that happen with a lot of skaters.

 

[Li'Kitsu]

Kudos Jason for trying the quad, though his 3-axel is evidently not yet stable with UR and minus GOE in this short program.

Additionally to what Mrs.P said, the 3A is a difficult jump and a lot of skaters regularly make mistake on it. People just don't care as much about it as they do with Jason...

 

[jenaj]

heh.. the crowd was rooting for dennis ten.. he had the biggest applause..

The height on Denis' triple axel was in Midori Ito territory.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Additionally to what Mrs.P said, the 3A is a difficult jump and a lot of skaters regularly make mistake on it. People just don't care as much about it as they do with Jason...

I think it's because for Jason, if he's going to attempt a quad, the rest of his elements have to be pristine. Especially if he's going for it in the second half, which is not normal for him in SPs. He and Nam unfortunately had the same issue... couldn't put the quad behind them and messed up the axel which they're normally more consistent on.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

That's what I noticed too. Unless it was just an angled fall, I really felt it would have been better if he hadn't gone for what looks like an attempted tano lutz. hwell:

But overall this was the most pleasantly predictable competition this year. As for Denis Ten's Triple axle. I certainly didn't expect to see an axel that size when I saw it.

Agreed! I was also astounded by the height on his axel. Initially I was iffy about the axel given he omitted them from his LP runthrough in practice, but maybe he just wanted to wow everyone. Most skaters with a stable 3A don't really improve it a whole lot (IMO), but that was definitely a better axel than we've seen from him previously.

 

[cheerknithanson]

I did notice when I saw the video on YouTube that Jason looked too slow going into the quad. I'm not a skater, but I feel like the lack of speed and momentum affected it. I'm a cheerleader and I compare cheerleading with skating a LOT. I'll compare his 4T to me doing a round-off double back handspring. I have to get enough forward momentum and speed from my running round-off or else I'll only do one back handspring or perhaps undercut it.

I don't know if that was a good comparison.

 

[snowflake]

I don't know if it's an indicator of stability. I really think the 3A was impacted by the mistake on the quad. The fact is, being off on the timing of a jump like the quad could affect other jumps as well. We see that happen with a lot of skaters.

Yeah, seems like it's impossible to put a failed quad behind and skate like it didn't happen. Not good for Jason this time: Losing a lot of points on the single jump and then losing almost 4 points on the 3-axel.

 

[zschultz1986]

I did notice when I saw the video on YouTube that Jason looked too slow going into the quad. I'm not a skater, but I feel like the lack of speed and momentum affected it. I'm a cheerleader and I compare cheerleading with skating a LOT. I'll compare his 4T to me doing a round-off double back handspring. I have to get enough forward momentum and speed from my running round-off or else I'll only do one back handspring or perhaps undercut it.

I don't know if that was a good comparison.

That is his MO. He gets slow when he's nervous or doesn't have it, which, as you said, impacts jumps.

You saw it at this competition when he was putting out the quad, as well as at the Olympics Long. The good thing is, Jason seems to always learn very well from past experiences, and improves. I have full confidence he will do it this time as well.

 

[GF2445]

Jason nonetheless was very composed. At least he tried and he paid a huge price in the points but i think it could help him to know that he was still upright after the quad attempt. As he grows older and gains more strength. He will get that quad.

Look on the bright side, if he popped he would've gotten nothing, if he fell, his quad wouldve been worth pretty much nothing.

 

[cheerknithanson]

Jason nonetheless was very composed. At least he tried and he paid a huge price in the points but i think it could help him to know that he was still upright after the quad attempt. As he grows older and gains more strength. He will get that quad.

Look on the bright side, if he popped he would've gotten nothing, if he fell, his quad wouldve been worth pretty much nothing.

That's true. At least he stayed on his feet. It could have been worse. And it was his first time doing it in a competition.

 

[Crossover]

Denis' performance there was worthy of getting the biggest applause from the audience. The performance was one of the best performances this season. The Japanese Mura and Murakami were also well received from the audience, and especially Shoma seemed to have a lot of fans for him. I notice that Adam and Jason got a bigger applause than Joshua when they were introduced to the audience before delivering their program, which is understandable given that Joshua is relatively new to international audiences. However at the end of their respective performance, Joshua got a lot of standing ovations and cheers from the audience. I guess people are not blind to a good performance regardless of their nationality/ethnicity/reputation. Misha Ge is also partially ethnic Korean, but not many figure skating fans there would know of this due to his appearance more like a Caucasian. I'm pleasantly surprised that Yan Han has a lot of fans in the audience waving the Chinese flags even though the overall seats were not filled much. Anyway, the men's event was one of the most entertaining real competitions so far this season. I hope to see that everyone can bring their A-game in the FS.

 

[aa456]

great performance by D10! I hope he brings it in the long but I'm too scared

 

[kresslia]

Thoughts on the results and a couple videos.

Shoma - always cool to see promising new skaters! Happy for him.
D10 - finally! That score, wow. Hold on Denis!

What in the world happened to Nam? 63? I don't know if I even wanna watch that. After demolishing them at Nationals, he's behind Firus by 7 points and Ten by 14? Wow. This is so disappointing...

 

[cheerknithanson]

Thoughts on the results and a couple videos.

Shoma - always cool to see promising new skaters! Happy for him.
D10 - finally! That score, wow. Hold on Denis!

What in the world happened to Nam? 63? I don't know if I even wanna watch that. After demolishing them at Nationals, he's behind Firus by 7 points and Ten by 14? Wow. This is so disappointing...

Nam tried a 4S but doubled it making it invalid and he fell on his 3A.