2017 World Team Trophy - Day 1

[novalisa]

Very happy for Jason Brown but sad for yuzuru, I felt something was going to go wrong when he spoke to Patrick chan in the green room during worlds and it seemed like he was very tired both physically and mentally , Japanese fans are great but the media are the worst, they don't help with building up the pressure, this event is supposed to be fun but it seems like the Jfed and the media put too much pressure on Their skaters though they have no chance of winning

 

[MaiKatze]

He didn't say he didn't want to do WTT, but he talked with Patrick about needing to go to WTT because he had won worlds. He did say that he didn't want to do 'nationals' in a joking way to Chan, after seeing Shoma's scores. --The connection is not really there for me. An off day, is an off day. Something may have caused it, but that happens to athletes from time to time, they just need to figure out what went wrong and fix it.

That sounds very much like not wanting to do something, to me. It is his right. As is his right to not do Worlds after the Olympics for example. I think he's under a lot of pressure and Brian Orser knows how to handle that pressure better. But he wasn't here. Anyway, he still can work it out in the free.

 

[TontoK]

I haven't watched all of the videos yet, but it seems like no one was really into this competition.

Nathan, although he skated very well, seemed a tad disinterested. If, as has been reported, he's nursing an ankle injury, I can see why he just really doesn't want to be there.

I had not seen that 4F/3T combination before. I thought it was glorious.

I had forgotten how much I dislike the phony team "rah-rah" aspect of this competition. Especially the costumes.

These are adult men and women. Does anyone really believe they want to be acting like they're at a middle school pep rally?

 

[andromache]

Haven't watched, just looked at the protocols.

WOW, Elena is a fighter. I'm excited to watch this performance. Love her SP this season (though her LP is a disaster) and it fits her perfectly. I didn't think she deserved to be sent to Worlds this year, but she's clearly out to show everyone that she should have been.

It seems like Wakaba skated well, but her PCS make me :noshake:. Let's hope that 3A finally gets her the love she deserves from the judges.

Karen Chen is a hot, inconsistent mess. Oh well. At least she bombed here and not at Worlds.

Why is this entire thread about Hanyu? He had an off day after an exhausting season? It's just a fluff competition. But is Chafik really that much worse of a skater than Hanyu?

Yay Jason!

Surprised to see Nathan not do the 4Lz, but man, even when he makes his content easier, he's a force.

I'm excited to watch Mikhail. Looks like he had a fabulous skate.

Nice to see WeaPo and C/B battling it out. I look forward to watching them, as it looks like they both skated fabulously. Interesting that none of the World medalists are here when they are in singles. Thankfully B/S did not get higher PCS than either team this time.

 

[Interspectator]

That sounds very much like not wanting to do something, to me. It is his right. As is his right to not do Worlds after the Olympics for example. I think he's under a lot of pressure and Brian Orser knows how to handle that pressure better. But he wasn't here. Anyway, he still can work it out in the free.

Well, a difference of opinion on something we'll probably never know for sure about.
I went to the last WTT, and although I had a great time and got to see Yuzu live and I'll never regret it, there's a disconnect between the intent of this competition as a fun and lighthearted fluff comp and the way it plays out in real life.
On the one hand we have delightful bunny hats and masks and costumes and goofiness, on the other the media and fans and Japanese skaters take it very seriously because their whole country is watching them intently, expecting them to do well, giving the impression in news clips that they are expected to win this thing, and then the disappointment that they aren't having much 'fun' like the other countries are. So yes, they do try their best, but the disappointment on Yuzu's face when he didn't do well, is the same kind of disappointment he'd have in a major competition like Worlds or 4CC. He can't feel like 'oh this was just a silly fluff competition, it's ok to mess up' when the pressure he puts on himself, and the expectations of the media and fans are so large. (It's a natural thing of course, the more fans, the more medals, the more pressure) -I'm not making excuses for him doing badly here, but acknowledging that yes, he is treated differently than other skaters. He gets more praise and more pressure, more scrutiny and less privacy, than other skaters, because he's won so much and is a star in the sport.
All that to say, I wish WTT was a bit MORE unofficial, so that team Japan, the host team, could really let loose and have fun, and the media wouldn't hound them so much about winning. Wasn't silver and gold at worlds enough?

 

[MaiKatze]

I haven't watched all of the videos yet, but it seems like no one was really into this competition.

Nathan, although he skated very well, seemed a tad disinterested. If, as has been reported, he's nursing an ankle injury, I can see why he just really doesn't want to be there.

I had not seen that 4F/3T combination before. I thought it was glorious.

I had forgotten how much I dislike the phony team "rah-rah" aspect of this competition. Especially the costumes.

These are adult men and women. Does anyone really believe they want to be acting like they're at a middle school pep rally?

Mmmh, most of them seemed to enjoy that - at least Team Russia had fun.

 

[Anyasnake]

Haven't watched, just looked at the protocols.

WOW, Elena is a fighter. I'm excited to watch this performance. Love her SP this season (though her LP is a disaster) and it fits her perfectly. I didn't think she deserved to be sent to Worlds this year, but she's clearly out to show everyone that she should have been.

It seems like Wakaba skated well, but her PCS make me :noshake:. Let's hope that 3A finally gets her the love she deserves from the judges.

Karen Chen is a hot, inconsistent mess. Oh well. At least she bombed here and not at Worlds.

Why is this entire thread about Hanyu? He had an off day after an exhausting season? It's just a fluff competition. But is Chafik really that much worse of a skater than Hanyu?

Yay Jason!

Surprised to see Nathan not do the 4Lz, but man, even when he makes his content easier, he's a force.

I'm excited to watch Mikhail. Looks like he had a fabulous skate.

Nice to see WeaPo and C/B battling it out. I look forward to watching them, as it looks like they both skated fabulously. Interesting that none of the World medalists are here when they are in singles. Thankfully B/S did not get higher PCS than either team this time.

Yes for Elena ! Redemption ! She's going to train hard for that olympic spot for sure. Happy to see her here and do well.

Chafik skated clean, I would have him higher tbh. But he needs to be cleaner with steps and transistions.

Well Hanyu bombed this time, it happens, but he looked like he was crawling under pressure and I think people are worried about him on the forum :/

For the Ice dance, B/S couldn't get better PCS this time because they did not skate well. They looked so exhausted and dima messed up the twizzle (element which they's usually clean at). I hope for better program for them next season.
I thought it would be less exciting without the ID medallist but thinking about it, it's like that 2014-2015 battle between C/B and Weapo. I like that !

 

[Pamigena]

I had forgotten how much I dislike the phony team "rah-rah" aspect of this competition. Especially the costumes.

These are adult men and women. Does anyone really believe they want to be acting like they're at a middle school pep rally?

most of them are teenagers or twentysomething. Not everybody ditches their youthful glee into the trash when they hit 18. Not sure what's so weird about people having innocent stupid fun at an event that shouldn't be taken too seriously anyway. Oh well.....

 

[MaiKatze]

Well, a difference of opinion on something we'll probably never know for sure about.
I went to the last WTT, and although I had a great time and got to see Yuzu live and I'll never regret it, there's a disconnect between the intent of this competition as a fun and lighthearted fluff comp and the way it plays out in real life.
On the one hand we have delightful bunny hats and masks and costumes and goofiness, on the other the media and fans and Japanese skaters take it very seriously because their whole country is watching them intently, expecting them to do well, giving the impression in news clips that they are expected to win this thing, and then the disappointment that they aren't having much 'fun' like the other countries are. So yes, they do try their best, but the disappointment on Yuzu's face when he didn't do well, is the same kind of disappointment he'd have in a major competition like Worlds or 4CC. He can't feel like 'oh this was just a silly fluff competition, it's ok to mess up' when the pressure he puts on himself, and the expectations of the media and fans are so large. (It's a natural thing of course, the more fans, the more medals, the more pressure) -I'm not making excuses for him doing badly here, but acknowledging that yes, he is treated differently than other skaters. He gets more praise and more pressure, more scrutiny and less privacy, than other skaters, because he's won so much and is a star in the sport.
All that to say, I wish WTT was a bit MORE unofficial, so that team Japan, the host team, could really let loose and have fun, and the media wouldn't hound them so much about winning. Wasn't silver and gold at worlds enough?

The solution is probably to not have this competition in Japan. As soon as it is in Japan, the pressure is on. Or maybe...not count the scores towards personal best. Or do it like the Olympics where the responsibilities are shared? Let Shoma skate the SP and Yuzuru the LP or something? Then it seems more like a Team effort.

 

[apgold]

I was only able to watch a few videos this AM (since the competition happened overnight where I live), I thought that Ashley and Jason looked very into their performances, so they got SB's. Karen is still learning how to handle pressure, let's hope she's better in the FS.

I'm not surprised that Evgenia got over 80 here, but her 2A looked really dodgy this time.

Happy that Elena, Wakaba and Mai got some redemption here. The FS will be a battle among the 70+ crew with Evgenia being untouchable.

 

[MaiKatze]

Yuzuru needs to lose to Shoma now. Everybody knows it's going to happen at some point. Better now in front of the home crowd so that:

1. He realizes it's not the end of the world and moves on
2. Some pressure gets off him and on Shoma from the jsf and the fans



A crying emoji and that second sentence... it was irony right?

1. He already knows that, as it's not the first time he lost the SP to Shoma.
2. As if Shoma has no pressure from the fed....and the fans? If you're a Yuzuru fan you want him to do well and don't suddenly go like, oh Yuzuru messed up, let's put our expectations on Shoma instead. Well maybe if you're a nationalist who doesn't care for individuals and only for Japan's glory.

 

[atsumiri]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTHCHXLD_IR/ :hpull::hpull::hpull:
that was really funny from Rus-team
"DedTaxi"

 

[Art&Sport]

Any videos to be found anywhere?

 

[Barb]

Since the presentation of the teams, what for me was very obvious, is that for Yuzuru the main objective was to make everyone realize that something was bothering him and that he did not want to be there, he got it.

 

[Li'Kitsu]

Since the presentation of the teams, what for me was very obvious, is that for Yuzuru the main objective was to make everyone realize that something was bothering him and that he did not want to be there, he got it.

I don't think so...? I'm not sitting in his head, so I can only speculate as much as anyone else, but I don't think it's fair to say Yuzu mainly wanted to make it clear that he didn't want to be there... that seems unusally rude and inconsiderate for him. I think whatever showed on his face was general nervousness, pressure, trouble with dealing with high expactations or whatever. He's a pretty open person and usually cannot hide what he thinks or feels (you can always read it in his face, IMO). To me, he looked nervous and as if the pressure got to him (yes, this is a fluff competition, but the Japanese media is doing their best to make it a tough one for the Japanese skaters, especially the guys with all that rivalry ra ra).
He looked off and way too tense/intense to me, but that's what he looks like when he's off. It's not as if Yuzu was ever all smiles before competitions.

 

[Nika09]

I don't think Shoma would like to take advantage over Hanyu that way. He looks sad in K&C after Hanyu's program and barely could smile to support him.

And after program there was even some relief on Yuzurus face. He could smile at least.

I think it's okay to speculate a bit. I mean, that's the fun in a discussion. Let's look at the introduction before the warm up: Yuzuru looked angry. I don't think it was intenseness, it looked like anger to me. Shoma looked scared. Like someone scolded him. Who knows what happened before, backstage. Brian Orser wasn't here, so he couldn't do his magic with Yuzuru, so it seemed like Yuzuru was still in that mindset when he took the ice. While Fluffy for example was with Shoma and he was all smiles again after being with her at the boards. When Yuzuru has a simple 'off' day he doesn't act like this. And didn't he say at Worlds he doesn't want to do WTT? Maybe some higher up person did say something to him and Shoma....

Whole team looks kind of concerned to me. Even Mihara was without her sweet smile. No one knows the true story of backstage but there's obviously huge pressure. Especially on poor guys.
Anyways I hope they and Yuzuru particularly could handle it, hold together in LP and really relax before next season.

 

[Crossover]

Watched some clips. Happy to see Weaver and Poje make a nice performance again. Their twizzle parts are always a cliff-hanger for me. This time Kaitlin could've missed the first set of the twizzles by rotating too fast while Andrew was fine, lol. Please conquer the twizzle demon! Though they managed the element somehow. I'll definitely miss Kaitlin's futuristic eye make-up and power suit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDWLUbPtNJ0

 

[Crossover]

Chock and Bates got 79. I don't agree with the score as Madison made some minor errors. This competition is not a serious competition, so I see general inflation on all dance teams. Nevertheless, I enjoyed their SD a lot. They have tried to do other things this season and the upbeat SD worked pretty well which I highly appreciate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk08dBdli7c

 

[Sabrina]

I just wonder was Alaine's combi (3L3T) accepted as a combination? Maybe downgraded...

 

[Tolstoj]

Does someone have the video of Xiangning Li's SP? I really enjoyed her programs at Worlds, her spins are