2018 GP Helsinki: Thoughts, Analysis & Reviews | Golden Skate

2018 GP Helsinki: Thoughts, Analysis & Reviews

gsk8

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Country
United-States
Hi Folks!

T
ake a look at our coverage features, photos and more

Now that the competition is over, what were your favorite highlights of the event? Feel free to talk about costumes, elements, scores, etc. Everything goes!

We are also looking for those who have a bit of writing skillz! We'd love to see a paragraph of each discipline highlighting the top three along with your thoughts. The staff will be watching and someone may win a free season pass to the competition forums if you haven't already got one Get those creative and technical juices flowing and show us your journalistic abilities! One-liners are welcome, just keep out the snark level down :biggrin:

 

FanFan3256

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 13, 2018
Thank you Skate Helsinki 2018! Highlight for me was the men’s competition, very competitive, great programs....Congrats to the winners!
 

rachno2

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
I really liked the part where it was over :love::love::love:

In all seriousness, Hanyu being Hanyu, Kaori redeeming herself, and Boyang’s delightful SP were the highlights of the spiritually crushing, physically nauseating, and emotionally eviscerating experience that was HELLsinki. The ladies were overall a letdown, but Kaori’s reaction to her wonderful FS was so pure and uplifting. The podium pictures with her, Alina and Stanislava were adorable, too.

It was exciting to see (most :sad21:) of the men skate solid SPs. There is nothing more satisfying than watching the best skaters produce their very best in the same competition, and it is such a shame that we couldn't see it happen in the free, too. Boyang, while struggling here, has stepped it up with his packaging and presentation. +10 for those gold blades alone. "Who Wants to Live Forever" could not be more perfect for Brezina; he rocked it. Misha’s popped lutz opened some still-fresh wounds from the Olympics and made me want to die, but at least he looked like a snack doing it. :agree: And his 3A made me want to die in a good way. :yes:

We are privileged to watch Yuzuru skate in peak form when he could easily have retired after Pyeongchang. He seems so free, particularly in the short, and I admire the genuine reverence with which he skates these two programs. If ever there was a year for him to win every competition, this might be the one. I’m happy for the Breznaissance and for Prince CHArming as well—what consistency, endurance and charm he has at such a young age!

I hate to be mean, but pairs was a mess and made me feel bad for those competing in deeper GP fields. :sarcasm:

I don’t usually watch dance, but I did catch S/B’s FD and enjoyed it.
 

Tex

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 7, 2006
It’s Morphin’ Time....highlight of the event was Betina and Sergey’s Power Ranger Exhibition. I love their creativity and that they actually want to entertain the audience with their programs. This was a rough competition for them, but hopefully they will make the adjustments and improvements to move up in the rankings.

Sara and Kirill’s FD really worked for me this time. On paper the music doesn’t seem like it goes together, but it works and it builds beautifully. I love her dress!
 

moriel

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 18, 2015
My personal highlights:

- Hanyu being Hanyu. Hanyu's FS. I will not write about it, human words are not good enough to describe Hanyu's skating.
- Michal not being Michal. Congrats on silver and GPF. Michal's free is a delight. Thunderstruck!
- Mishin being mean to Lazukin in an interview after the skates: "In short, he showed he is an athlete with great future. In free, he tried to erase that statement"

- Kaori's amazing comeback in FS
- Alina showing she is the rightful Olympic Champion. It was not perfect, but considering all the OGMs who either take a season off, or bomb the post Olympic season...
- Stasya Konstantinova skating a clean FS. This event shall be remembered as the event where Stasya skated a clean FS.

- pairs were not a highlight.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
MEN:
As expected, Hanyu dominated the men's event in Helsinki, posting the highest SP/FS/total scores under the new system so far. While his FS still needs some mileage, his SP is already looking really great, and he's looking confident in both programs. The new rules on UR marked down a couple of his quads, and it's odd how his axels aren't as sharp as usual but that could be due to training for the 4A (I actually thought he would get called for an UR'ed axel in the FS), but it's better to have something to build on. Kudos to him for the first 4T+3A seq too... I wish sequences didn't get that 20% deduction because something that hard should be worth more than 15 BV (essentially just a point higher than a 3A+Eu+3S). Strong start to the GP season though, and should improve as the season goes on -- and that's also the first time he's managed to win his first GP event, so good to get that off his back, lol! Thrilled for Brezina surprising everyone by actually improving on his Skate America performances, including a stellar SP -- so great to see him head off to the GPF where he may continue to surprise even more. Jun Hwan's programs could have been a bit sharper, but he's definitely a possible breakout star this year with his tech content (I still can't with his FS music though, lol) - good on him for medalling in both GPs in his debut senior year. Unfortunate for Kolyada having a pretty terrible outing, when he should have had the silver, no problem. Come Rostelecom he'll need to step it up, but with Hanyu there again, and even Messing, it'll be hard for him to make the GPF. Same goes for Jin... who had a shaky SP and a disastrous FS, save for the gorgeous opening 4Z... but I think he'll regainhis form as the season goes on.

LADIES:
Zagitova obviously had some shaky skates here, with a major error in her SP and a UR in her FS (where things felt a little more forced). She's proved to be a bit vulnerable (as we saw at Worlds), but if 215 (with still a nice 3Z+3T) is her having a bad day, then she's in good shape still. Her programs aren't doing it for me though, especially her FS, and I'm so interested to see how she stacks up against someone like Miyahara (especially if Zag isn't on form). And of course, there's Trusova gunning for the Russian title too. Congrats to Konstantinova, who after a less than stellar Worlds showed she's still got the goods by coming 2nd. Big ups to Sakamoto too for coming back after that nightmare SP - hope that's enough to get her into the GPF, where (as one of the best jumpers) she really deserves to compete. Shiraiwa was a delight to watch... her URs prevented her from medalling, but she should be proud of exhibiting two strong programs. Same goes for Loena Hendricx who was a solid 5th (almost 4th) after having to WD from her first SP. The Russians will be in full force at Euros, but she could play sweep spoiler (loving her programs too).

PAIRS:
Pairs was unfortunately rather underwhelming here. Z/E won, but with a sub 200 score and errors, suddenly the World podium may be more of a toss up than expected. Their FS was still not bad, with just the salchow error, but there's a bit of spark missing. When they do hit the elements, there's great quality though. Della Monica/Guarise had a very solid SP but their FS was very shaky -- they're fortunate to have won silver and still be in the running for the GPF (although I'm a fan of their programs). Kudos to Pavliuchenko/Khodykin for strong skates and getting the bronze (honestly I thought they deserved silver. even with the SP errors). Shout out to the Austrian team Ziegler/Kiefer for a solid 4th!

DANCE:
Loved the programs of Stepanova/Bukin, especially their free dance -- you'd almost swear they were a North American team in that FD, nailed the character. I'd say a couple other teams are doing stronger lifts, but still many of their elements are crisp and seamless (e.g. the out of nowhere twizzles). Like that they smartly kept the sit twizzles for the ChTw, to! Guignard/Fabbri in general stepped things up from Skate America, but I can't agree with them getting the FD PCS boost given the fall (including 9.5's from one generous judge) - they should have been sub-195, IMO. Still, this was a much more convincing set of skates from them, with especially good technique, and they're gunning for the Euros podium, even if the Russian teams are slightly ahead at this point. McNamara/Carpenter were pleasant to watch, and were technically very strong (except the extended lifts) - they're not quite as exciting to me yet though, but the potential is there. Congrats to Hurtado/Khaliavin for the solid 4th place finish over Carreira/Ponomarenko, too... along with Smart/Diaz, Spain is bringing the heat in ice dance.
 

Colonel Green

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Country
Canada
Men
- The curse is broken forevermore! Hanyu utterly dominated here; neither skate was perfect, but he didn't need to be, and I'm sure his run of bad outcomes at his first Grand Prix was on his mind in the free skate, especially. The short program I really like; I'm less sold on the free skate so far, but what an athlete.
- Brezina air guitars his way into his second-ever Grand Prix Final, ruining my predictions for the event but nevertheless serving as a delightful surprise. I was stunned that he didn't retire after Milan, but not doing so turns out to have been a great decision (unlike several other people who unexpectedly chose to keep going).
- Junhwan is still a work in progress as a performer (not the worst thing, at his age), but he's certainly made a splash so far this season.
- Kolyada :palmf: And his programs are so good this year, too.
- Jin Boyang :palmf::palmf: Makes a good case for why you should do a Challenger first to get some kinks worked out, because boy was there are a lot going wrong this weekend, beginning with his quirky but baffling decision to YOLO the 3T in the short program after the bad landing on his 4Lz, rather than tack it onto the 4T that he had planned next. In the CBC coverage of Milan, Kurt Browning remarked that Boyang's coaching team needs to start blowing an airhorn in practices whenever he gets too close to the boards.

Ladies
- I liked Alina's Carmen program; the short program features what I thought were the worst music cuts of the year until I saw Brendan Kerry's free program.
- Kaori was a heartbreaker in the short program, so it was thrilling to see her rally in the free skate (and it should have been silver rather than bronze, but as long as she makes the Final still I won't complain too much).
- Very happy that Loena's second Grand Prix event went much better than her first, even if she missed the podium here, which was disappointing.

Pairs
- :palmf::palmf::palmf:
- Watching this event made me angry for Peng/Jin, Moore-Towers/Marinaro, and Boikova/Kozlovskii, all of whom skated better at SCI than either all of the medalists here or all of the medalists bar the winners.

Ice Dance
- Fairly predictable outcomes here, after Chock/Bates had to withdraw from what would have been an epic clash with Stepanova/Bukin, who cruised to victory here.
- That did open the door for their American teammates, McNamara/Carpenter, to claim their first Grand Prix medal, which was nice.
 

Interspectator

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
I watched mostly the Men and Ladies and there was delight and heartbreak in spades.

Ladies: I'm very emotionally invested in Rika Hongo, and though she struggles often with her jumps, she always puts on a good show. Her SP I really loved and I hope that by Nationals she can skate it clean. :love: I want to see her happy with herself and with her scores.
Watching Kaori skate is like watching a bird in flight. She has a swooping, fast and deep-edge style that is SO easy on the eyes. Sometimes, she looses control of her skates because she has so much power, so that's something to work on. The height and running edge she gets from her jumps is insane. The delight she shows when she's done good makes my day. I don't want her to lose any of her spontaneous reactions. :luv17:
Alina showed why she's champion. She held on and didn't let any mistakes in the SP carry over to the LP. Even on a not-good day, a champion can hold it together...like she did.

Yuna S was SO good, and it must be the most heartbreaking to know you did better than you ever did before and be just out of the medals. The depth of the field was her downfall, in another event, she might have medaled.

Men: This event was unfortunately packed with my personal favorites. Yuzu, Boyang, Jun, Brezina, Kolyada... it was going to end badly for 2 of them.
Positives first, BREZINA has transformed himself suddenly to someone who doesn't let mistakes derail his performances. He has found his inner zen and is killing it. I've always cheered for him, but I'd lost hope, honestly, that we'd see him back on the podium. I'm always happy to be proven wrong in this way. Brezina is in the GPF! :luv17:

Yuzuru is a wild card at the beginning of the season but he's out to prove to himself and all of us, again and again, that he's the best. The SP was really beautiful and moving, the LP intense and exciting. Neither program is anywhere near its peak. I'd speculate that they are at about 60-70% of the performance they could be when he gets milage on them...especially the LP. Still, even at this stage they are amazing. The jump layout is crazy but that's typical of Yuzu. :biggrin: Congrats on breaking the Silver Curse. -On to Russia!
I can type this calmly now that it's all over but during the competition my family (who are also fans) were giving me amused looks as I hid behind a couch cushion with just my eyes peaking out as Yuzu went for the 4t-3a. :laugh:

Jun seemed to be battling a cold or something throughout this competition, and I think that affected his performances. But he wasn't going to let go of his chance to medal. Really good effort from him. He's got to wait to see how others do now to see if he's made the final. This is history made for Korean Skating already. First man to medal in 2 GP events. :points:

BOYAAAAANG! :sad4: That's all.

Kolyadaaaa! :palmf:

No blame, no shame for those who underperformed --just support for these men and women who work so hard and perform as best they can. Next time, you'll nail it.
 
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Artistry

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
About Hanyu - i thought the rus commentators said a combo he did has never been done before, is that correct? I’ve not been following men’s closely last few years.
 

Interspectator

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
About Hanyu - i thought the rus commentators said a combo he did has never been done before, is that correct? I’ve not been following men’s closely last few years.

That's right. Yuzu is the first to complete this 4T-3A jump sequence.
Here's a translation I did about his thoughts on this right after his FS:
In his post FS interview with Matsuoka Shuzo Yuzu says he feels he's made a new start at last. Up till this point he had not been able to win his first GP. He had appeared in the first or second gp, the extra week or two gave him time to skate and train.
M: You said you wanted to enjoy yourself, but honestly you looked like you were fighting with yourself...

Today was a fight, the loop was not good, and the other elements also were a little off and my feet were getting tired, but I was able to fight through.

M: In the second half you were able to jump the 4T-3A the audience went wild

If it's not positive GOE then it means nothing. Next time, I'll do it so that plus can be added.

M: Can't you be a little happy? you did an amazing thing.

But like the Gymnast Uchimura says, you have to end cleanly. I will only think it is a success if it is finished cleanly.


M: please bring these feelings to COR. Congratulations!
https://twitter.com/yuzuporuko/status/1059086896209358848
 
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lichi

sui holding a deep edge
On the Ice
Joined
Apr 24, 2018
Ladies //I tried to keep the snark down

Kaori Sakamoto: No doubt the highlight of the event for me. The redemption skate was beautiful, and I could feel her determination through the skate. Incredible and inspiring. She always skates with so much power, which causes her to seem perhaps unrefined to some people :sarcasm: but this free was so under control with beautiful edges. Her reaction when she finished was gold. :hap93: If she doesn't make the final, I'll be very upset.

Stanislava Konstantinova: A clean free! :clap: The lack of < on the scores sheet bewildered me. :unsure:

Alina Zagitova: I like her programs a lot. A huge improvement in interpretation from last season. A mistake in the SP, and URs in the FS, so not clean, but still wonderful. It seems like her UR problems are getting worse. She's still consistent enough to get gold, but it doesn't seem like she's going to be as dominant as Evgenia was as the top skater.

Other skaters:
- Loena Hendrickx: Nice! Didn't quite podium, but she has nice momentum this season. I look forward to her battling it out in Euros with the Russians. Seems she lost steam at the end of her program.
- Yuna S/Rika H: I love both of them, and both of their skating is beautiful. :luv17: Sad Yuna wasn't able to podium with a clean performance.
- Angela Wang: She's still competing? JK, I love her, but she needs to work on getting consistent jumps. A shame because she's such an elegant skater.

I'm too tired for anything else, so I'll do other disciplines later.
 

century2009

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 15, 2018
Brezina is going to the GPF isnt he??! What a wonderful surprise!

I didnt expect him to win Silver with such a heavy field, so ruined my prediction. Hahaha. Thrilled for him. Changing to Raf really has help him mature well.

I will give it to Raf for really improving his skaters later in their career to be competitive. He did it with Ashley and Adam, and now Michal.

Hanyu being Hanyu. Not really a fan of the new programs because it feels same old, same old for him like Shoma. The new jump for Hanyu is interesting, but seems not worth it in the new system. Probably why people dont do jumps like that because it is better off putting 1 high worth jump with a less worth jump because the values go down vs separate.

But congrats to everyone!

Sad for Boyang and Koylada. It feels mental for both of them because they can do this and just not pushing through. Maybe it is early in the season for them to get comfortable with their programs. So hoping for better showing in their next grand prix event! :)
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 12, 2014
Country
United-States
Brezina is going to the GPF isnt he??! What a wonderful surprise!

I didnt expect him to win Silver with such a heavy field, so ruined my prediction. Hahaha. Thrilled for him. Changing to Raf really has help him mature well.

I will give it to Raf for really improving his skaters later in their career to be competitive. He did it with Ashley and Adam, and now Michal.

Yes! And the really tremendous part is that Raf helped all three fulfill their talent, which had been there from the beginning, visible and tangible.

:love: Michal was truly the highlight of this event for me, both programs but especially Air Guitar FS.
 

gizmo

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 13, 2018
2018 GP Helsinki: Thoughts, Analysis &amp; Reviews

Men
Admit my favourite is Yuzu and then new kid Junhwan, but thought it would be really difficult to have Jun on the podium. He is getting better by the day but real tough challenge with Kolyada and Jin here, plus he had back to back competitions. Must be tough for him, but that boy pulled through, did his best and got a Bronze!!! Go JULIEEEETTTT

Yuzuru just shines, his SP still better than the FS, but I can see him perfecting all the bits and get high GOEs in each element. Sseems the technical specialist is quite strict with the levels, Yuzu’s step sequence in SP only got level 3? I think he will make sure that it reaches level 4 next competition. He amazes me how he keeps challenging himself and had to put himself on some record, even some other combination might have gave him higher points – that 4T 3A seq!!! Love his programmes, because whatever music there is, he made them work!!!

Feels bad about Kolyada, especially like his short programme and he did both quite well in the Challenger series, what happened???

Disappointed in Boyang, yes, it can be a bad day when you fall on jumps, but just do not see him improve in skating skills, choreo etc which I am disappointed of, that FS just does not work with him. The SP is more suited for him.

Brezina, he is relaxed and skated his best (almost) and now more or less have a seat in the Finals! I enjoyed his programmes!

Ladies
Alina, too bad for the SP, but still, with all that technical elements, think she can still dominate the ladies field. She had the programmes that can win everything and she is generally reliable, however still I feel that everything in her programmes were packed and sort or rushed through. Still hate the POTO music cut.

Yay Kaori, love this girl, heartbroken to see her disappointment after the SP, so want to give her a big hug. Just so happy for her that she made that FS worked and that smiling face!!!! Just love her reactions, so true!!

Yuna Shiraiwa.....her big smile reminds me of Midori Ito!
 

gonewiththewind25

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 4, 2017
Men
Yuzuru was amazing. Just on another level compared to anything else we’ve seen in any of the events from any of the men this year. I genuinely think that this SP is one of his best programs ever and he communicates it so well. So far, it looks like he’s going to dominate the season.

I’m so happy for Brezina. He’s shown so much growth from last season to this season and I’m just so happy that he’s out there doing what he loves and I’m so excited to see him at the GPF.

Junliet was amazing as well. It’s so hard to forget that it’s his first GP as a senior and he’s doing so incredibly well. I’m so happy for him and love the wackiness of his programs. 10/10 for the JULIEETTTTTT

Kolyada reminded me again of why it’s so hard to be a fan of his because this was a wreck. He has it in him and honestly it seems more like mental limitations with him than physical. I hope he can get it together and restore some pride in Rostelecom.


Ladies
Alina was a disappointment. I’m sorry for saying it like this but I didn’t get any of the same dominating vibe that I got from her earlier. The short program music is so bad (even though her gorgeous dress nearly makes up for it[emoji7]). I’m really scared that the Lutz-Loop is becoming a mental block for her as opposed to physical. More than that, the jumps don’t look secure at all and they all look borderline on rotation. I’m really scared that her technique is already falling apart a little and I hope for her sake that they work on it and make the necessary changes because the scores she got here (especially the PCS and GOEs) were gifts from the judges.

Stanislava was good, here. She wasn’t exceptional but she got the job done in the Free as she needed to.

Kaori was the highlight of the ladies by a country mile. That free program to me deserves as much, if not more, PCS than Alina’s free. She brought it together and was so exceptional. She’s going to be a real threat at Japanese Nationals and even the GPF if she makes it.


Pairs
They were all pretty disappointing to be honest. If a single team couldn’t cross 200, it’s a sign of the weakness. Zabaiiko and Enbert were the best of the lot but they’d have to pick it up a whole bunch of notches if they want to contend at the GPF and Worlds.
Pavliuchenko and Khodykin were really good technically and I loved them at the JGP and at Junior Worlds. They just really need to work on the packaging and grow up a bit as a team!

Ice Dance
Stepanova and Bukin were really great. I loved both the programs and now they should just focus on polishing, finessing and ensuring that they don’t lose levels and GOE randomly so that they can really contend for podiums at a World level. I definitely think theyre winning the Russian lot this year and I enjoyed them much more than Sinitsina and Katsalapov.

I personally didn’t enjoy the Italian team much at all and found the FD to be kind of sleepy. However, they did get their levels and do well so I’m happy for them!
 

Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
I hoped for Cha to medal, but did not see it realistic with the line-up... His place for GPF is still pretty unsure though, as Kolyada, Jin, Messing and Voronov still have one gp left:

http://www.isuresults.com/events/gp2018/gpsmen.htm

Anyway, this young guy has been amazing so far and it is very hard compete at back-to back competitions, especially this time because of time difference.

I loved Hanyu´s "Otonal" and it is so good that I see it competing with the great Butyrskaya one.
 

Merjan

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 14, 2014
For me the best thing was to see all the competitions live here in my home town.
The highlight was Yuzuru, he was excellent in SP and FS and so lovely in his gala performance. Finland is a great place for him to compete, 4 victories. And he answered in English at the press conference, well done. I'm very happy for Junhwan, too. His speed and style are great and I like both of his programs.
Kaori was great in her FS and I was so happy to see her on the podium. I wasn't so impressed with Alina, I thought that her presentation could have been stronger. Of course she jumps well and mistakes can happen to anyone.
The pairs... not much to say about the side-by-side jumps, maybe the young Russian pair and the Austrians were just about the only ones who landed their jumps. I like Nicole and Matteo a lot but there were some problems in the FS. They were really nice off the ice coming from the press conference.
In ice-dance, Juulia and Matthias from Finland did really well in the RD and the free, too, apart from some twizzle problems from him. They placed very well in this competition.
I like the La La Land FD of Guignard / Fabbri ( one small fall there though). Stepanova / Bukin were strong and did well in both programs.
There were quite interesting outfits in the gala, Popova / Mozgov, Della Monica / Guarise etc. I hadn't seen these exhibitions before.
 

alexaa

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 27, 2018
Brezina is going to the GPF isnt he??! What a wonderful surprise!

I didnt expect him to win Silver with such a heavy field, so ruined my prediction. Hahaha. Thrilled for him. Changing to Raf really has help him mature well.

I will give it to Raf for really improving his skaters later in their career to be competitive. He did it with Ashley and Adam, and now Michal.

Brezina was thinking about retirement after worlds, but changed his mind after talking to Raf. Both of them should be very happy about the decision now. Raf said he loves people go for their goals for a long time.

That's right. Yuzu is the first to complete this 4T-3A jump sequence.
Here's a translation I did about his thoughts on this right after his FS:
Interspectator, thanks for the translation.
 

silverfoxes

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
Men - I'm very happy with the podium and especially relieved that nobody got rewarded with a medal for 2 lousy skates. I'm sure TPTB were trying their best to make that happen. There was no doubt Yuzuru would blow everyone else away. I expected better from Boyang, definitely didn't expect any better from Kolyada. Not a fan of the programs of Michal and Cha Jun Hwan, but at least they put all their effort into a good performance. And I know this is not very nice, but how much longer are we going to be forced to watch Virtannen? :slink: It's not like he doesn't have anything else to fall back on...

Ladies - Kaori was robbed of silver...the end. I'm no expert on URs, but if even I can see them plain as day on video, there is something very wrong with them not getting called. If the scores had not been so close, things might have been different, but under the circumstances it seems incredibly shady. Unfortunately I don't find either Alina or Stasya very engaging...there is nothing easy looking about their skating, everything seems to be forced and it detracts a lot from the performance.

Pairs - only halfway memorable skates were from DM/G. I didn't watch any ID except for Popova/Mozgov's gala...if that was even ID :laugh:
 
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