2023 World Figure Skating Championships Men's Free Skate

[chz]

Sasha Trusova won the free program at the Olympics just focusing on the jumps, so I fail to see how this isn't a legit path for a skater to take. Program components aren't even just artistry in the first place. Skating skills and transitions also fall under the category and in some ways that's difficulty, which is why I've never understood why skaters usually have individual component categories so close together on average. Surely, there are skaters who have great skating skills, but poor interpretation, for example? This is why I try to watch the skating without thinking of the scores...because it makes no sense to me.

Don't forget that during 2022 Oly, the powerpuff gals of Eteri were still enjoying the Eteri bonus and judges were deliberately blind. Without the bonus, their TES and PCS wont even be that high.

 

[lariko]

I think Ilia just needs to skate clean. My 2 favorites are pc skaters Deniss and Kevin, but I still think Ilia is special. When he lands all his jumps cleanly, its amazing. His spins are good, his step sequence is good. Adding some transitions would help. But working on artistry will not help him win. I think he just needs to find music that speaks to him. And I still think Aymoz would be the best choreographer for him, I think Ilia needs something outside the box. Lets stop comparing him to Nathan, Shoma and Jason. Let Ilia be Ilia.

I love Ilya the way he is

 

[lariko]

To Jin's defense, he is coming back from injury and restarting from scratch. Han Yan was a special skater... I miss him dearly. Nathan was at it for long enough, competing in two Olympics... I miss him dearly as well. With Shoma, he remains one of the skaters from those last two Olympics that I enjoy the most, exactly because they are full package. PCS skating alone doesn't excite me... Jumps alone don't excite me... I need it all So yeah... Han Yan, Shoma, Nathan, of course Patrick... these are the skaters I admire. I don't think Ilia will join my list anytime soon, but I will be cheering for him when he lands crazy things like the quad axel or even more impressive in my opinion the 3lz-3a sequence... Gosh, I'd love him to do a 3a-3a seq. I think the problem is that people want him to win things... He can be admired for what he brings on to the table, even if he doesn't win...

I like uniqueness, so Malinin makes it to my list to adore along with Uno, Chen, Messing, Zhou, Aliev and Mozalev.

 

[4everchan]

I like uniqueness, so Malinin makes it to my list to adore along with Uno, Chen, Messing, Zhou, Aliev and Mozalev.

Do not mention Aliev or I cry.

 

[Jeanie19]

To Jin's defense, he is coming back from injury and restarting from scratch. Han Yan was a special skater... I miss him dearly. Nathan was at it for long enough, competing in two Olympics... I miss him dearly as well. With Shoma, he remains one of the skaters from those last two Olympics that I enjoy the most, exactly because they are full package. PCS skating alone doesn't excite me... Jumps alone don't excite me... I need it all So yeah... Han Yan, Shoma, Nathan, of course Patrick... these are the skaters I admire. I don't think Ilia will join my list anytime soon, but I will be cheering for him when he lands crazy things like the quad axel or even more impressive in my opinion the 3lz-3a sequence... Gosh, I'd love him to do a 3a-3a seq. I think the problem is that people want him to win things... He can be admired for what he brings on to the table, even if he doesn't win...

But he did win a Bronze. The expectation that he will win just Gold is the problem. Nathan is one of the few skaters that consistently won Gold. Yuzuru and Shoma have plenty of bronze and silver. I think Ilia will win many gold medals, but he will win bronze, too and a bad skate he will be off the podium. I think the expectations of him is too high.

 

[4everchan]

I think the expectations of him is too high.

Yes. Definitely... same with Levito.

 

[chz]

I agree that Ilia need better material to work with. His Short programt this year fit Ilia like a glove. Loud and a bit in your face and daring you to look away. That's Ilia for you. I think that he work with different types of music. I would like them to pick something that next year that a little less dreary. I mean this long program was depressing and somber. I hope next year they give him happier music. He still very young for a skater so let him act like it.
I think though there is a bais against skaters from North America though. I hard to misd at times. This year's Four Continents is clear that example of that going on. If we use a complete skater model then Keegan should have won the gold medal in a runaway because he has the complete package and had the best skate of his life. Kao Mura should have never been close but he won and with how people jump on Ilia's PCS and basic skating skills all the time on this site look at Kao performance during his long which was basically jumping and spinning every 20-30 seconds and fluttering his arms around in attempt to be artistic with no connection with the music he was skating to yet he won over a beautiful complete skating package with jumps, spins, and chorography on perfect harmony that was just glorious to watch. That what I am talking about. The ISU has bais towards Asia right because frankly they are basically paying the ISU bills right now and the fact the United States has so far off the skating map as a market is not helping matters any.
Also the ISU wants a certain personality as well. When bring up Nathan Chen he basically was what the ISU in how his personality was which is quiet, humble, docile and hopefully obedient. Ilia basic personality is the complete opposite of this and it making the ISU uncomfortable because they do not know to handle him. Basically most skaters do as their national federation tell them. Nathan did this perfectly along with going along with whatever NBC wanted meant that ISU did not have any worries about him. Now here comes Ilia who I think could basically care less what the USFS and the ISU thinks about the way he comes off. I mean how many kids go off at 15-6 years old create a social media account which he calls himself "QuadgOd" and then post pictures of all of his outrageous jumping elements for the world to see. He is telling the world about him and most likely it driving the USFS nuts because they are afraid he going to do something that the ISU will not like. Ilia is going to be the rebel of the figure skating world . I really hope that if moves out to California alone that Raf keeps him on fairly short leash to protect him from himself because the parallels between him and Christopher Bowman are scarry. Both of them are young, attractive, outrageous talented, charming, and rebels with devil may care personalities. The things that are different is that Ilia has a crazy work ethic , no mental problems, loving parents, and no problems with illegal drugs. But they have a lot in common and look what happened to Christopher and I never want Ilia to turn out like him because it was a great tragedy. A skater who could have been a legend brought down by own demons. That what could happen to him USFS please let him have some freedom so he can breathe so that will not be self destructive. Don't try to force him into the standard box because he not going to fit and will try to break out of it and will not be pretty. The next two to three years are going to be a roller coaster remember Ilia is going barely 21 years old at the 2026 Olympics if it goes right he could have to two more Olympic Quads after that. So he could be one of the greatest skaters of all time but we also be careful very careful on how we handle him and his antics.

ISU bias towards Asia? I think by that you mean Japan only, right? All these years, I don't see much bonus or leniency given to other Asian's skaters other than to the Japanese ones. To be more accurate, the biases have been and are focused on skaters coming from certain feds only. Which fed? you guys should know it already.

 

[Charlotte 71]

He already switched coaches what twice? this year. He was in trouble before he went to Moscow, and he was endlessly jacked on before for everything. Eteri has terrible record with junior men (literally none escaped without injury and survived to see the seniors, aside from Samoilov... but look at him go... not so good). However, she had a limited success with men in their twenties, Kvitelashvili and Voronov. Also, Grassl has an advantage of an Italian passport, so if he doesn’t like it, he can pack up and go any second. At a guess, he is not looking for Eteri's expertise or Gleihausen's choreography. More like he is looking for Dudakov's jumping camp. I think most skaters went through summer camps with most coaches, so they know what to expect. It’s not like Grassl can go to Lambiel, and he left America. His home school seem to have some troubles recently. So... not that many choices.

Why can't Grassl go to Lambiel?

 

[skatesofgold]

Don't forget that during 2022 Oly, the powerpuff gals of Eteri were still enjoying the Eteri bonus and judges were deliberately blind. Without the bonus, their TES and PCS wont even be that high.

Kaori wasn't even close to Anna, nor Sasha. I don't think Anna was overscored by more than 20 points and Sasha was overscored by 17 points.

 

[snd]

To Jin's defense, he is coming back from injury and restarting from scratch.

i noticed how he was trying to skate WITH the lyrical fs music today. the lyrical music suited him and he didn't ignore it. i really liked that - it's a nice improvement. i hope he continues working with orser. sad to see that the jumps are gone but he's still quite young, so hopefully he'll get them back

 

[Dreamer57]

I'm so happy for this podium and I think this is truly one of the best worlds I have witnessed. Shoma and Jun, what a treat!

Seen a couple of people refer to this being Ilia's first worlds and it is actually his second, he came 9th? last year so he has improved quite considerably to get a medal!

No, I'm getting married today. I referred to it in the pre-game chat.

Congratulations!! May you have a long & happy marriage
And on this date you can remember the clean men's free skates in Saitama too!

I really hope he stays on for Milan to get that gold to go with his silver and 2 bronze medals.

Me too! I especially hope Shoma is one of the anchors for the team event.

 

[skatedreamer]

Yes. Definitely... same with Levito.

Agreed; aside from anything else, US hopes of keeping 3 women’s spots were based almost entirely on her. That’s a ridiculously heavy burden for 16-year old shoulders. She’s a talented and sensitive young woman and needs to be allowed to develop in her own time.

 

[Kris135]

It's not fair to Ilia to compare him to Christopher Bowman in terms of being a "rebel". Christopher had an undiagnosed mental illness (bipolar disorder) that he was likely self medicating to try to manage. He had a lot of problems that Ilia does not have.

But what I meant by that is that Ilia like Christopher are not going to play by the rules that federations make for them. Christopher had major problems with his parents a coaches and mental illness and add on top of that the expectations of the Usfsa that he would be the next great American skater was too much for him to handle which lead to to take drugs to try deal with it all. Ilia who could move to California without his parents and deal with even greater expectation by the USFS to basically to save US FIgure Skating from oblivion and be the standard bearer for the sport might become too heavy a burden to carry he might try to escape too by trying to self medicate by doing the same. I really do not want to happen again. I really hope that Ilia has strong support system. When I said that Raf needs give Ilia a short leash because he may need to be saved himself. Christopher was a wonderful human being I wished someone had stepped in in1989-90 to save Christopher from himself and help him instead of just covering up the problems he was having . Like I said we had one tragedy I want do not want to see another one.

 

[yesterday]

I actually would prefer that Canada doesn't borrow Mark but some other countries borrow Toman and Markell or even Anthony Paradis (as I fear he may not develop harder jumps)

 

[4everchan]

to save US FIgure Skating from oblivion

I took this bit only... because I have the feeling that we are not watching the same sport.... since when is American skating in oblivion??? Who was the last man to win Olympic gold? Seriously.... THe USA skaters do not need to win every single year at every single competition. When some of the US fans accept that, it will be much better.

 

[Charlotte 71]

I just watched this like ten times in a row.

Me too! Jason congratulating Kevin was just about the sweetest thing ever! Almost as sweet as Kevin coming off the ice and jumping into Silvia's arms. Awww! Seeing them so happy made me so happy.

I thought Malinin took his scores rather well-he looked disappointed but not angry or confused. Raf looked angry but he always does unless his skaters wins.

I agree. People seem to think Malinin is arrogant, and I don't see it. I see a young guy who is hungry to win but has pretty good manners. He landed an historic 4A and still didn't win, so his disappointment is understandable. I'm not moved by his skating (yet!) and didn't think there was any real comparison in skating and performance quality today - including quality of jumps in all jump aspects except variety of type and maybe sheer height - between him and the rest of the final group. The landings were just off today, as they often are. Scratchy landings mar anyone's performance. But I think he has his eyes open, and his brain is busy calculating what he needs to do to match and exceed the competition, and he is ambitious, so I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with next year.
Just wondering if he takes ballet regularly...

 

[Charlotte 71]

I took this bit only... because I have the feeling that we are not watching the same sport.... since when is American skating in oblivion??? Who was the last man to win Olympic gold? Seriously.... THe USA skaters do not need to win every single year at every single competition. When some of the US fans accept that, it will be much better.

Really, we won medals and kept three spots in three out of four disciplines, so it was a good Worlds for the USA. I think American skating is in oblivion only in the sense that the general public doesn't know it's alive. But that's been going on pretty much its whole history, except for Dorothy Hamill, Nancy and Tonya, Michelle Kwan, and What Would Brian Boitano Do? Boston will be a good chance for us to show that we can be just as great a Worlds audience as Saitama was.

 

[Jeanie19]

Really, we won medals and kept three spots in three out of four disciplines, so it was a good Worlds for the USA. I think American skating is in oblivion only in the sense that the general public doesn't know it's alive. But that's been going on pretty much its whole history, except for Dorothy Hamill, Nancy and Tonya, Michelle Kwan, and What Would Brian Boitano Do? Boston will be a good chance for us to show that we can be just as great a Worlds audience as Saitama was.

Worlds 2016 was great and I'm saving for 2025. I was originally just going to get mens short program tickets, now I want everything.

 

[Charlotte 71]

Worlds 2016 was great and I'm saving for 2025. I was originally just going to get mens short program tickets, now I want everything.

Good idea to start saving now, Jeanie. I want to make a full week of it - practices and everything - and just once in my life spring for the really good seats. And bring all the flags to wave. Boston, here we come!

 

[4everchan]

Really, we won medals and kept three spots in three out of four disciplines, so it was a good Worlds for the USA. I think American skating is in oblivion only in the sense that the general public doesn't know it's alive.

It was indeed an excellent outing for the USA team... if the general public doesn't understand that, it's probably because the emphasis is on results only and not on excellent skating. Very unfortunate. Jason Brown has never won a world medal. He, however, should be celebrated for what he has given to the sport. Keegan Messing, in that sense, made the right move when he switched to Canada. He is adored by the fans... though he has never won a medal at worlds...