Lomardia Trophy onsite reports

[YesWay]

Perhaps a few final thoughts...

I've seen Shoma live many times, and I think this was surely the best I've seen him. His score here reflected that. It wasn't exactly perfect, but it was extremely impressive, he had tremendous speed and commitment throughout. He has thrown down the gauntlet, and staked an early claim as a serious contender for the Olympic podium.

There is much to admire in Shoma's skating, many aspects extremely impressive... and yet, I'm afraid he is one of those skaters (one of a great many, to be clear) who doesn't really "interest" me, despite great technical prowess. This is entirely subjective of course... but I just don't feel any "personality" in his skating (or off-ice either, actually. Most skaters are quite "approachable" epecially Team Japan, but Shoma typically looks "disinterested" and "kurai" as they say in Japan). To me, his skating feels too clinical, too much "what the choreographer instructed". I want to feel something from within a skater, coming out in their skating - but with Shoma I'm afraid I don't. (I felt the same about Zagitova here too). He also nearly always wears the same "serious face" when skating, with just an occasional change to "angry serious face". So he tends to leave me cold, and his programs end up feeling "samey" to me. Sorry Shoma fans, I'm just telling it as I see it... it's only my opinion, and I accept that others will see things completely differently.

Jason skated right after Shoma. I love how he cheered for Shoma as he came off the ice before him. (BTW, he also similarly did low-5 with Jordan, when Jordan was leaving the ice after his SP). For me, Jason has more personality and showmanship than he knows what to do with... and inevitably, irrepressibly, it comes out in his skating. He was fabulous and amazing as always, beautiful skating like a dancer. And he throws such BIG shapes, he is a photographer's dream - you just can't fail to come away with lots of spectacular photos!

Sadly though, by the end of the competition... I must have seen him attempt his quad about 20 times, and none of the ones I saw were clean. It's almost like he has trained himself to fall - he seems to have become very good at it - he does it almost gracefully.

...

I made some high speed (4x) full-HD videos of many skaters, with a long zoom lens. These then play back as "super slow motion", which is cool by itself - but you can also step through the video frame-by-frame to see movements in much finer resolution and detail than a regular video. It makes impressive elements, look really impressive... but they're also really good for spotting "issues" a skater may have.

I made several of Jason's quad attempts, and looking through them at the time (I didn't keep them), I thought he still needs a lot of work, but he was "getting there". He seems to make the rotation on some attempts, and axis OK... in those instances, it looked to me, like he just needed to control the landing, and he'd make it. But like I said, he looks like he's "trained to fall" now - as if he falls because he's expecting to fall... and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy :-/

By the way, my super-slow-mo videos also showed that Wakaba has a UR issue with her combo 3T's she needs to fix... Shoma continues to have a 1/2 turn or more pre-rotation on 4F before take-off... Graham Newberry needs to be careful of UR on his combo 1/2 loops... etc etc. My hope had been to get some impressive super-slo-mos of clean elements, but instead what I got was a demonstration of the fact that no skater is perfect! Seems they all have things they can/should improve! LOL

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I saw Marien de La Asuncion here, he was wearing a pass that said "coach" and he was mostly with the French skaters. Interesting.

It was great to see how well most of the skaters got along, off ice. Many skaters came to watch and cheer after they skated - not just for their team mates, but also for their rivals.

Did I mention how cold it was in that rink? I measure it by how many layers I have to wear to keep warm, and it was a lot compared to other venues! And we were seated a few m back and above the ice... so it must have really cold for the judges, ice-level right next to the rink! 7 hours of Ladies competitions? I almost felt sorry for them ;-D

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Regarding the location, for future reference...

The facility is clean and modern, but clearly not geared up for a lot of spectators - seating is "harsh", low capacity, and very few toilets.

The site is actually behind a bunch of derelict factory-type buildings, at the end of a road that is quite dark at night. I'd be wary of leaving late, alone.

There is a cafe/restuarant - they served cooked food the day I arrived (practice day) but seemed to give up on that during competition - but there were still hot and cold drinks, fresh fruit, pastries, sandwiches and the like... huge pizzas delivered, cut into slices and "toasted" onsite.

There is a big supermarket 10-15 minutes walk down the main road (near the railway tracks), and several restaurants on the way. I got most of my food and drink from the supermarket (they sell hot cooked food, as well as the usual groceries, fruit etc) - and there were no restrictions taking food/drink into the rink. No restrictions on camera gear either it seemed, and although they kept announcing that video recording was banned, lots of people were openly doing it anyway (I don't think anybody really cares, except over-protective Japanese media)

There are several hotels within about 20-25 minutes walk.

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Well. All in all, a very worthwhile trip... I took a lot of photos, I'll start sorting them and uploding soon...

 

[MaiKatze]

Would love to see any live reports from the men fs/ice dance fd!!

There are a few posters reporting about their experience in the Shoma FanFest. About Shoma only, but an interesting read!

Perhaps a few final thoughts...

cut

Thank you for your detailed report. I found it interesting what you had to say about the venue, food...the cold. This is information we don't usually get, so thank you. For Shoma, different strokes for different folks. What you wrote there I could say of a dozen other skaters that don't move me at all, so I find it in no way offensive, just honest, so I'm not going to try to argue that "OMG, you're so wrong, how dare you?". We like what we like. What you might mean, and what might be also the case with Zagitova you mentioned there also, is that they are not yet as mature and do have a more subdued personality than what you personally prefer. Nothing wrong with that. I, as a Shoma fan, am not offended!

 

[YesWay]

For Shoma, different strokes for different folks. What you wrote there I could say of a dozen other skaters that don't move me at all, so I find it in no way offensive, just honest, so I'm not going to try to argue that "OMG, you're so wrong, how dare you?". We like what we like. What you might mean, and what might be also the case with Zagitova you mentioned there also, is that they are not yet as mature and do have a more subdued personality than what you personally prefer. Nothing wrong with that. I, as a Shoma fan, am not offended!

Thank you for your mature and understanding post, and yes - it is just my personal preferences.

I used to think the same of Patrick Chan - great skating, but performance left me cold. But then he specifically worked on his expression and projection, and I started to feel genuine emotion in his skating.

I hope Shoma (and Alina, and others) will change my mind like that in future too...

 

[silverfoxes]

There is much to admire in Shoma's skating, many aspects extremely impressive... and yet, I'm afraid he is one of those skaters (one of a great many, to be clear) who doesn't really "interest" me, despite great technical prowess. This is entirely subjective of course... but I just don't feel any "personality" in his skating (or off-ice either, actually. Most skaters are quite "approachable" epecially Team Japan, but Shoma typically looks "disinterested" and "kurai" as they say in Japan). To me, his skating feels too clinical, too much "what the choreographer instructed". I want to feel something from within a skater, coming out in their skating - but with Shoma I'm afraid I don't. (I felt the same about Zagitova here too). He also nearly always wears the same "serious face" when skating, with just an occasional change to "angry serious face". So he tends to leave me cold, and his programs end up feeling "samey" to me. Sorry Shoma fans, I'm just telling it as I see it... it's only my opinion, and I accept that others will see things completely differently.

I've seen him live 3x and I completely agree with you. No matter how much hype they try to build around him, I still feel nothing. It's nice to know others are on the same page. Alina also doesn't move me, although I can cut her more slack for her age & the fact that her programs don't give her any breathing room to pause and experience a human emotion. We'll see how her skating looks in a few years.

 

[MaiKatze]

Thank you for your mature and understanding post, and yes - it is just my personal preferences.

I used to think the same of Patrick Chan - great skating, but performance left me cold. But then he specifically worked on his expression and projection, and I started to feel genuine emotion in his skating.

I hope Shoma (and Alina, and others) will change my mind like that in future too...

Yes. I feel the same about Patrick Chan. Only after his comeback I've come to like and appreciate his programs and he really begins to resonate with me. Can't wait to see him skate his new program, which I really liked from the short chopped video I saw.

I hope Shoma will bring you joy one day, and if not, well then there are so many others you can enjoy. That's the good thing about a figure skating competition anyway. You have so many athletes and they all get the same time to shine, no matter if they are World Champion or some unknown of a small country. And if one does nothing for you, it's going to be over fairly quickly. Hehe.

 

[Arriba627]

Perhaps a few final thoughts...
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Really appreciate all the efforts you put into your photos, on-site reports, answering questions from fans, etc. I think my avatar pretty much indicates who my favorite skater is. It is always fascinating to read others' opinions. I had no idea who Shoma was when I saw him at his Grand Prix debut at Skate America 2015. All I know is that I was immediately captivated by his skating. I have many favorites from so many different countries, and it makes things so enjoyable! Sometimes we just like whom we like and find many characteristics we like, despite their flaws or inconsistencies. We're just so fortunate to be following figure skating at such an exciting time. I really hope that the Olympics will draw in more fans who appreciate skating as much as the rest of us do!

 

[Mrs. P]

Jason skated right after Shoma. I love how he cheered for Shoma as he came off the ice before him. (BTW, he also similarly did low-5 with Jordan, when Jordan was leaving the ice after his SP). For me, Jason has more personality and showmanship than he knows what to do with... and inevitably, irrepressibly, it comes out in his skating. He was fabulous and amazing as always, beautiful skating like a dancer. And he throws such BIG shapes, he is a photographer's dream - you just can't fail to come away with lots of spectacular photos!

Sadly though, by the end of the competition... I must have seen him attempt his quad about 20 times, and none of the ones I saw were clean. It's almost like he has trained himself to fall - he seems to have become very good at it - he does it almost gracefully.

...

I made several of Jason's quad attempts, and looking through them at the time (I didn't keep them), I thought he still needs a lot of work, but he was "getting there". He seems to make the rotation on some attempts, and axis OK... in those instances, it looked to me, like he just needed to control the landing, and he'd make it. But like I said, he looks like he's "trained to fall" now - as if he falls because he's expecting to fall... and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy :-/.

Thank you for this wonderful report and all your observations on all the skaters. I do want to zoom in on these observations on Jason. It sounds like getting the jump is completely mental at this point. He included a quad attempt in his last YouTube video and while it wasn't perfect (and arguably UR), it does show he's close and can actually land the jump on one foot. Oddly enough, the jump actually gets decent height and distance, it's seems he just needs to rotate a bit tighter; it seems it's a bit loose in the beginning -- it's a problem he had with his 3A when he was still trying to master that jump.

Speaking of which the fact he's so confident on the 3A now -- your reports and his 3As in this competition indicate that -- gives me hope he'll eventually figure out the quads. I think he can physically do the jump, now he just has to believe he can.

 

[YesWay]

I've started sorting out my photos from Lombardia, and the first gallery (Wakaba) is uploaded HERE

I'll keep adding more galleries every few days, whenever I have time...

 

[Alex D]

I think that overall, it was a very typical first time event for most skaters. All of them had glowing eyes, finally being able to show their new or improved programs. The stands yes, for the crowd it´s a bit "casual", but this was overcome by the friendly staff.

Most of the people at the venue were either skaters themselves or in one or the other way connected. Icelab is the home for the local skaters of Franca Bianconi like Tanja Odermatt, so there was of course a lot of support.

Interesting was how quickly skaters can change if you don´t see them for a few months. Most notable was Anastasia, how did she rock last season and now it was a bit of a disaster for her. Overall, however, I am sure these skaters will work hard to overcome their obstacles and shine once more like in the past.