2019 Worlds: Men's Pregame Chat

moonvine · Feb 15, 2019

ankifeather said:
You are right, Japan for some bizarre reason, decided to restrict throwing to a handful of seats. These days you even need to pay to have the right to throw Pooh.

That is crazy. Maybe they'll throw Pooh for people in the cheap seats. Glad I don't go to ice skating comps in Japan.

illusionspin · Feb 15, 2019

I’m so excited about Donovan :yahoo:

!!! I really hope he makes skating more popular in Mexico, and he has said he admires Javi for making skating popular in Spain.

I can’t wait to see Yuzuru skate again (hopefully fully recovered) and the bittersweet part is this will be the first Worlds without Javi and the last Worlds for Alexander Majorov, who is retiring after this season.

Dreamer57 · Feb 15, 2019

I'm hoping we'll get to see Kolyada there. I feel like this is the right time to bring out 2 clean programs (other than Ondrej Nepala).

ankifeather said:
You are right, Japan for some bizarre reason, decided to restrict throwing to a handful of seats. These days you even need to pay to have the right to throw Pooh.

I wonder if it is to ensure they stick to the time schedule. Japan is always very good at timekeeping! They must know that it takes a while to clear all the Pooh bears from the ice.

moonvine · Feb 16, 2019

Dreamer57 said:
I wonder if it is to ensure they stick to the time schedule. Japan is always very good at timekeeping! They must know that it takes a while to clear all the Pooh bears from the ice.

But it's the best part.

:sad21:

Olympic · Feb 16, 2019

Right now, I see the top skaters breaking off into defined groups:

Tier 1- Hanyu, Chen and Uno, with Jin as the biggest dark horse.

Tier 2 - Brown, Zhou, Messing, with the huge wild card being which version of Kolyada shows up. All 3 skaters have improved enough in the second half of the season to break away from rest of the pack. Kolyada will either be at his best and competing w/ Jin as a podium dark horse, or he will crash and burn. He is the most difficult to place.

Tier 3 - Samarin and Cha. Samarin is just behind the tier 2 group, but I wouldn't quite put him there. His problems are that he is still developing style and his LP is a choreographic train-wreck. Stylistically, he is behind Brown, Messing has more of a WOW factor, and Zhou has more tech (PROVIDED he keeps the UR's under control). Cha could be part of tier 2 as well, but it depends on his ability to maintain focus. He is young and learning.

TallyT · Feb 16, 2019

ankifeather said:
You are right, Japan for some bizarre reason, decided to restrict throwing to a handful of seats. These days you even need to pay to have the right to throw Pooh.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Japanese fans are already working out how to get around that.....

Tahuu · Feb 16, 2019

Olympic said:
Right now, I see the top skaters breaking off into defined groups:

Tier 1- Hanyu, Chen and Uno, with Jin as the biggest dark horse.

Tier 2 - Brown, Zhou, Messing, with the huge wild card being which version of Kolyada shows up. All 3 skaters have improved enough in the second half of the season to break away from rest of the pack. Kolyada will either be at his best and competing w/ Jin as a podium dark horse, or he will crash and burn. He is the most difficult to place.

Tier 3 - Samarin and Cha. Samarin is just behind the tier 2 group, but I wouldn't quite put him there. His problems are that he is still developing style and his LP is a choreographic train-wreck. Stylistically, he is behind Brown, Messing has more of a WOW factor, and Zhou has more tech (PROVIDED he keeps the UR's under control). Cha could be part of tier 2 as well, but it depends on his ability to maintain focus. He is young and learning.

If we use skaters seasonal bests to divide tiers, we have 280, 270, 260 tiers.

1 297.12 Yuzuru HANYU JPN
2 289.12 Shoma UNO JPN
3 282.42 Nathan CHEN USA

4 274.37 Mikhail KOLYADA RUS
5 273.51 Boyang JIN CHN
6 272.22 Vincent ZHOU USA

8 269.84 Alexander SAMARIN RUS
9 267.61 Keegan MESSING CAN
10 263.49 Junhwan CHA KOR
11 263.42 Jason BROWN USA

ancientpeas · Feb 17, 2019

ankifeather said:
You are right, Japan for some bizarre reason, decided to restrict throwing to a handful of seats. These days you even need to pay to have the right to throw Pooh.

Somewhere monkeys are starting their own gofundme to get these seats.

Tahuu · Feb 20, 2019

In terms of world preparations, Yuzuru has the advantage over Nathan and Shoma. He knows what Nathan and Shoma can do but they don’t know what he can do. It’s like pyeongchang #2.

Colonel Green · Feb 20, 2019

Tahuu said:
In terms of world preparations, Yuzuru has the advantage over Nathan and Shoma. He knows what Nathan and Shoma can do but they don’t know what he can do. It’s like pyeongchang #2.

I don’t really see that that’s an advantage in any meaningful sense. Skaters aren’t in direct competition with each other while performing; strategizing pertains mainly to how to maximize their own scoring potential. Both Shoma and Nathan would be proceeding on the basis that not just Yuzuru but also each other will be in top form; Yuzuru, likewise.

narcissa · Feb 20, 2019

Colonel Green said:
I don’t really see that that’s an advantage in any meaningful sense. Skaters aren’t in direct competition with each other while performing; strategizing pertains mainly to how to maximize their own scoring potential. Both Shoma and Nathan would be proceeding on the basis that not just Yuzuru but also each other will be in top form; Yuzuru, likewise.

It appeared to be very important in Pyeongchang as it seemed many skaters were unsure (maybe purposefully so) about their layouts. It seems to be less of an issue this season since the rules have become a lot more restrictive unless you know many types of quads.

discode · Feb 20, 2019

We really don't even know what Shoma and Nathan can do either. They haven't fully added in all the quads they have done in the past and Shoma still hasn't been completely clean. Nathan hasn't even added in his 4Lz back into his SP, which he could. Or maybe he won't. And I agree, of course all three would be preparing to meet each other at their best and assume that's how they'll show up. I just want to see clean skates from all of them. This has the potential to be a really amazing worlds.

And if they were surprised at the OG last year, they won't make that same mistake twice in a row.

ladyjane · Feb 20, 2019

illusionspin said:
I’m so excited about Donovan !!! I really hope he makes skating more popular in Mexico, and he has said he admires Javi for making skating popular in Spain.

I can’t wait to see Yuzuru skate again (hopefully fully recovered) and the bittersweet part is this will be the first Worlds without Javi and the last Worlds for Alexander Majorov, who is retiring after this season.

I am also a big fan of Donavan. Yay1

Nirti · Feb 21, 2019

Last tickets to Saitama are provided this weekend in Eilat, Tallinn and Den Haag!
Let's follow Nicky-Leo Obreykov at Open Ice Mall Cup, he needs 64 TES points in the FS in order to qualify.
In Tallinn, local skaters Aleksandr Selevko and Daniel-Albert Naurits are in the same situation. Belarussian Aleksandr Lebedev already got the FS TES and needs 34 points during the SP.
The Challenge Cup will be the most crowded event, with the whole british team. Graham Newberry and Peter-James Hallam both have to reach the FS TES. Sondre Oddvoll-Boe (NOR), Michael NEUMAN (SVK) and Javier RAYA (ESP) too.
Petr Kotlarik is the only czech competing this weekend, which means Matyas Belohradsky won't try to go to senior Worlds this year. Czech Republic's got 2 spots and Kotlarik needs to obtain the SP TES.
Some other guys need to reach both segments if they hope to qualify, which will be more difficult wthout a 3A or a regular 3Lz+3T combo.
Good luck to everyone!

labgoat · Feb 21, 2019

I stumbled across this interpretation of Woodkid's Land of All (aka Nathan Chen's short program) - I am not very up on modern music and did not realize the origin of the music - very intriguing. Not saying this is Nathan's interpretation. I thought it was a dream about the afterlife.

“Land of All”, a song by Woodkid, is the only non-instrumental song from the soundtrack of the film Desierto, directed by Jonás Cuarón. The film is about a group of people who try to cross the Mexican border into the United States, but encounter a man who has taken border patrol duties into his own racist hands.

Source: https://genius.com/Woodkid-land-of-all-lyrics

lavenderblossom · Feb 21, 2019

labgoat said:
I stumbled across this interpretation of Woodkid's Land of All (aka Nathan Chen's short program) - I am not very up on modern music and did not realize the origin of the music - very intriguing. Not saying this is Nathan's interpretation. I thought it was a dream about the afterlife.

“Land of All”, a song by Woodkid, is the only non-instrumental song from the soundtrack of the film Desierto, directed by Jonás Cuarón. The film is about a group of people who try to cross the Mexican border into the United States, but encounter a man who has taken border patrol duties into his own racist hands.

Source: https://genius.com/Woodkid-land-of-all-lyrics

I believe he has mentioned something along these lines in past interviews. That he would like people to think about the situation.

Tahuu · Feb 21, 2019

labgoat said:
I stumbled across this interpretation of Woodkid's Land of All (aka Nathan Chen's short program) - I am not very up on modern music and did not realize the origin of the music - very intriguing. Not saying this is Nathan's interpretation. I thought it was a dream about the afterlife.

“Land of All”, a song by Woodkid, is the only non-instrumental song from the soundtrack of the film Desierto, directed by Jonás Cuarón. The film is about a group of people who try to cross the Mexican border into the United States, but encounter a man who has taken border patrol duties into his own racist hands.

Source: https://genius.com/Woodkid-land-of-all-lyrics

Nathan seems a forward thinker.

Last year long before the war threats of Trump and Kim about whose nuclear button was bigger, he and Lori chose “Mao’s Last Dancer” to portray a young man from China seeking better personal and professional life in the US, a universal human desire, at the Olympics.

This year again long before the caravan approaching and Trump’s border wall emergency, he brought “Land of All” to MFD for his long program. I am not for illegal immigration and would like to see a wall but I was moved by the main character who was deported and promised his US-borne baby daughter to come back with a teddy bear. In the ending, after he had overcome the immigrant-hunter who had killed all the immigrants in his group, he carried a dying partner towards the south (judging from the direction of the sunset), likely not not be able to see his daughter this time.

oatmella · Feb 21, 2019

Lori had the idea for Mao’s Last Dancer and had to convince Nathan to do it. When she first proposed it to Nathan, he was a bit reluctant, as he thought it was too political. He had a classical FS in mind for Olympic season.

And from a recent interview with ISU, regarding this season’s long program: https://isu.org/figure-skating/news...mps-to-quad-king-nathan-chen?templateParam=15
The Free Skating to the dark song “Land of All” by Woodkid – from the movie soundtrack “Desierto” – is a strong contrast to the Short Program, which is exactly what Nathan was looking for. “I originally chose the piece for the long because I needed something that contrasted the short,” Nathan noted. “The vocals are really interesting too: they are very deep and I haven’t really heard a voice like that before and I thought it was really cool. We chose that music and I gave it to Marie [-France Dubreuil] – she liked it as well – and we started choreographing more towards the sound of the music and not really the story of the music. In the music it is just, already, really deep and haunting and that is something that we wanted to create and then have it pick up at the end to make it more powerful with Sam Chouinard who did a great job choreographing that little last section. I guess, the story of the piece is different to what I was trying to interpret – it has a lot more layers to it. The music is the soundtrack to a movie called “Desierto” and the movie is about immigration into the US. Obviously, I don’t want to make my programs about this or anything political but, at the same time, just because it has that deep and darker meaning requires me to add another layer to my skating,” he explained.

satine · Feb 21, 2019

Let's all take a moment to appreciate the fact that we have so many wonderful men skating this season :yes2:

Oddly enough, Kolyada has really grown on me this season and I am hoping he can skate clean in both programs (I know, super unlikely, but...). I'd also be riveted if we could see an 'underdog' (someone lower down in the top 10?) snag a medal. I do love surprise outcomes :biggrin:

Mamamiia · Feb 22, 2019

To me, the first part of Nathan's land of all creates the imagery of a lone hawk wandering in the sky. Maybe it's because how he moves his arms. The choreo sequence always makes me think of a sudden fight between two rehawks over food or terrotery.

2019 Worlds: Men's Pregame Chat

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