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This is nothing but the truth. Agreed to every words :agree:
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I totally agree with Chan. Tara and Alexi are perfect examples. One might even say Michele too. But have to agree that those Quads are sure nice to see in competition.
probably feels like he has to, if hes in any shot of podium
Patrick has been on more Podiums than every active male skater outside of Hanyu. He is nearing the end of his career and I think after all his time in rinks, he knows what he's talking about. I'll be "Over" 50 on the 25th of April and there are times that I still feel it in my hip flexor when I climb a lot of stairs and I injured it when I was in 10th grade. I saw a retired skater (I think it was Karen Magnussen) at Worlds in 2001 and she had a noticeable limp. I have no idea why, but she wasn't on crutches so I was thinking it may have been a result of long skating career.
Two years to land 4S with any kind of consistency? Patrick has taken a very careful approach to regain and improve on his technical difficulty since his comeback last season and the progress has been amazing. He started out with one quad and one 3A in his LP and by 4CC he landed two quads and two 3A beautifully even though Worlds 2016 was a mess. He started this season with two quads and two 3A but started including 4S in his LP at Skate Canada, and by Worlds he landed a text book 4S in a three quad two 3A LP. Not bad for an old guy, eh?
If and when Chan adds a quad to his program, it is always a carefully thought out process. There wouldn't be great sacrifice of program components that he values but as his fan I would advocate for him to add difficulty safely even with a small degree of reducing the not so essential program components. These days PCS comes with quads anyway. Patrick has most likely another year of competition to go and there wouldn't be years of multiple quad practices and performances after that. So if he can do it safely and not incur injury next season, I say go ahead to show us a beautiful 4F his fans have been hoping for. Then he will still have years of artistic performances to bring us. As fans, we are very happy and supportive that he is careful with his health and also about his ability to balance technical difficulty with artistry.
Chan has been on the podium regularly since his comeback. However, winning medals is no longer the top priority with him and his fans. He has been very successful in achieving his personal goals, and in due process, medals are won. We celebrate the progress, the medals, and especially the performances. I will be extremely happy for him to win the big titles but am very happy if he just keep on being the all round wonderful skater who brings us truly amazing and memorable performances. I think that's where his mind is at too these days. After all, he has had medals galore in his career.
The difference with the youngsters is that one needs to hurry to be the first in some new accomplishment. Yet they are still physically growing with years of training and competing ahead if they can stay healthy. There is much gambling with injuries, both immediate and long term, and longevity against learning and executing the most demanding, risky, and high scoring elements sooner and more than anybody else.
to clarify, i meant to podium in the new season, as everyones technical is getting higher, Chan's PCS might not be enough... sorry for any confusion, i didn't mean to 'put down' the extreme success he's had prior to his 'break' and in his comeback..
He has been on the podium multiple times these two seasons since his comeback, just not Worlds. What most don't know about is the equally amazing mental progress he's made since his very nervous comeback debut. He's still a contender not to be written off, especially when his gets comfortable with his new quads in the programs.
Now gather 'round people, wherever you roam,
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And you better start swimmin' or be chilled to the bone,
For the times, they are a-changin'. -- Bob Dylan
For very young skaters like Uno and Jin
There's a slight disconnect 'twixt the body and brain
And their bodies don't know they are feelin' the pain,
But the times, they are a-changin'. -- Patrick Chan
Alexei had a congenital problem.
Took him almost two years to land 4s with any kind of consistency. 4f is much harder---he thinks he can land it consistently in 9 months? It won't matter anyway. Chan needs clean programs to beat the multiquad guys who can skate clean programs. Adding more jumps he hasn't quite mastered is a sure way to not have clean programs.
Two years to land 4S with any kind of consistency? Patrick has taken a very careful approach to regain and improve on his technical difficulty since his comeback last season and the progress has been amazing. He started out with one quad and one 3A in his LP and by 4CC he landed two quads and two 3A beautifully even though Worlds 2016 was a mess. He started this season with two quads and two 3A but started including 4S in his LP at Skate Canada, and by the Canadian Nationals and Worlds he was landing text book 4S in a three quad two 3A LP. Not bad for an old guy, eh?
If and when Chan adds a quad to his program, it is always a carefully thought out process. There wouldn't be great sacrifice of program components that he values but as his fan I would advocate for him to add difficulty safely even with a small degree of reducing the not so essential program components. These days PCS comes with quads anyway. Patrick has most likely another year of competition to go and there wouldn't be years of multiple quad practices and performances after that. So if he can do it safely and not incur injury next season, I say go ahead to show us a beautiful 4F his fans have been hoping for and the rest what he at 26 can add and do that would put most young skaters to shame. Then he will still have years of artistic performances to bring us. As fans, we are very happy and supportive that he is careful with his health and also about his ability to balance technical difficulty with artistry.
Chan has been on the podium regularly since his comeback. However, winning medals is no longer the top priority with him and his fans.
If "winning medals is no longer the top priority with him", then why is he planning on adding 4F to his repertoire? He could easily injure himself while trying to practice this jump. The few men who are doing this jump (Jin, Chen and Uno) have done 4z as well, and they are all quite young (19, 17, 19). It is much easier to acquire new technical skills in the teen years than the late twenties.
As far as 4F landing consistently in 9 months... Uno, Jin, and Chen are examples of skaters who have been landing difficult quads pretty much right off the bat. Granted, it's much harder for Chan to do that given his age compared to them, but if he wants to win gold, he needs to add greater difficulty.
James Richards, a biomechanist at the University of Delaware who studies the mechanics of figure-skating jumps, does not think a quintuple is feasible for the human body. To stay in the air long enough and spin fast enough to achieve five spins would require a skater to be extremely strong and extremely lean, Richards said.
"The quad is the physical limit," Richards told Live Science. "To do a quint, we would have to have somebody built like a pencil, and they can't get much smaller than they already are."
I dunno. Chan could have easily injured himself learning the 4S which he hadn't regularly competed up until this season.
And older skaters try hard elements all the time. Why did Carolina Kostner add 3F+3T in Sochi? Why did Mao Asada continue to attempt the 3A? Why did Kavaguti/Duhamel/Savchenko attempt quad/3A throws when they're 30+?
Also, Jin isn't doing 4F (or at least he hasn't attempted one in competition, yet).
And Chan has repeatedly said that winning medals isn't a top priority for him. Nor should it be, trying to keep up with skaters a decade younger than him. The fact that he's still winning medals (including a win this season over the eventual World champion) is impressive, but the important thing is that he's bring a level of interest and sophistication to his skating that he hasn't previously done, while challenging himself technically.
Very very rarely do you see a skater performing at their very best, including getting personal bests and the like, in the twilight of their careers. It's particularly rare in men where the competition has amped up so much technically.
If "winning medals is no longer the top priority with him", then why is he planning on adding 4F to his repertoire? He could easily injure himself while trying to practice this jump. The few men who are doing this jump (Jin, Chen and Uno) have done 4z as well, and they are all quite young (19, 17, 19). It is much easier to acquire new technical skills in the teen years than the late twenties.
His concern can be more effectively expressed by one of the pioneering and early quadsters such as Browning, Plushenko or Stojko, some of which advocated the importance of quads in men's field.
"I think it's awesome," said Stojko, who was working in Mississauga as Skate Canada's ambassador. "People say the sport's going too gymnastics. But if you take out the jumps and you limit the guys, then it just becomes a recital. You've got the art form, but you need that athletic side to blend them together. To have a clear-cut winner, you've got to have that technical side."
"Look at hockey. Look at football. Look at all these other sports where they push the body," Stojko said. "People come to watch that excitement. If you take all the quads out, you're going to see a lot of perfect performances, but it's going to end up being boring again."
Browning has said he completely disagree with limiting quads on CBC podcast and that you can't limit human's evolution and progress.
Stojko is actually the one who advise Patrick to put the 4S, he said it in this article --> here and I quote his statement here
While Plushenko always celebrate the quad revolution, you can just scroll his instagram posts, he said, "this is men's skating!".