2019 Skate America: Day 2 - Thoughts and Highlights | Golden Skate

2019 Skate America: Day 2 - Thoughts and Highlights

gsk8

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Country
United-States
And we are off! The first GP of the season!

What were your highlights? Surprises? Disappointments?
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
Jason’s FS :luv17:

A glimpse of what figure skating can be at its finest.
 

randomfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2014
I'll only comment on the ladies because that's the only discipline I fully watched! Overall, I completely agree with the standings (feels like an eternity since I ever did for a major comp :laugh:). Obviously the scores are problematic as usual but it's not like that's going to change anytime soon...

Congrats to Anna for a win in her debut! :cheer: She had an incredible rebound from the SP, scoring 92.20 even despite two URs. I still don't find her artistry nearly as incredible as the people in the Russian Ladies' Thread seem to do, but she does have a nice feel for the music and good qualities.

Bradie is still stiff, but she has definitely improved in her components. Both her programs are good (especially the free), and it was great to see her bring it in the technical side as well. Well-earned silver! :yay:

Liza's jumps are amazing - all three 3As were cleanly landed, and she has a great technique on the other ones. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of both her programs, but that's nothing new (only programs of hers that I really liked were her FS from 2014-15 and 2018-19). While her jump GOEs could've been higher, it's clear that PCS and spin/steps levels are bringing her down, so she really needs to work on them.

I was really rooting for Kaori here :cry: it wasn't a terrible skate overall but only 5 triples with one of them being on the wrong edge is pretty disappointing for Kaori. I'm starting to get a little worried about her always barely missing these podiums - she talks about how frustrated she is about this pretty often. I hope that she will bounce back from this.

I think Eunsoo's programs are some of the best we've seen so far this season. Both of them showcase her strengths very well, and it's looking like the judges are willing to reward her PCS more if she skates clean...IF she skates clean. I know that Eunsoo is coming back from injury and a difficult end to the previous season, but as a big fan of hers it's really sad to see her so inconsistent. Also, it's concerning that she always looks stressed out on the ice nowadays. I hope she can push through with whatever is happening so we can see her smile again.

Even as a huge Wakaba fan, I'm not surprised one bit about her result, even after that stellar SP. Her stamina has deteriorated and so I knew that there was no way she would be able to get through a FS without popping at least once. Nevertheless, that SP should be a confidence booster for her so I'm looking forward to seeing her continue to climb back up to the top (and please no injuries or illnesses AGAIN).
 

Colonel Green

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Country
Canada
Men
- Nathan won, as everybody knew he would. His PCS is a bit out-of-control, but that's in line with how PCS is actually judged.
- Jason! Lovely surprise, I wasn't sure what he'd be able to do after the short program issue. The program doesn't, as yet, have quite the emotional impact I thought it might, but early days and all that. And he keeps his Grand Prix medal streak alive for another season.
- Keegan said that he figured the long program would be more difficult for him, and it was. A shame he missed the podium, but overall I think he can come away from this competition with pride at what he was able to do (though I expect he'll prefer not to dwell on this much going forward).
- Going into the free I thought it would be hard for Keegan and Dmitri to drop behind Jason, but they both managed it, the latter more narrowly. But compared to how Dmitri's previous season went, things are definitely on an upward curve.
- Alexei's free skate is quite a showcase for his particular brand of aggressive performance.
- After both Junhwan and Alexei here, plus Samarin's various attempts, etc., it got me thinking: is the quad flip a non-starter for anybody other than its inventor?

Ladies
- Anna's skate here obviously a technical blockbuster. As I noted in the thread about Day 1, she's the most error-prone of Eteri's wunderkids, but her free skate also demonstrates the flipside, that if her free is good it doesn't really matter what happens in the short unless she's competing against Trusova, Kihira or Kostornaia. Nobody else has the BV to stay ahead of her, even if they can get a short program lead.
- Bradie, quite a turnaround considering she had to withdraw from the Autumn Classic and had her foot in a boot. The free skate isn't nearly as interesting as the short, but she got the job done, and collects her third Grand Prix medal in as many seasons. In theory she's got a Finals chance, though looking at the field at SCI next week it's going to be a tough row to hoe.
- Liza's triple Axel is so solid. And yet, her jump layout is almost maddening in how it fails to build on it correctly; Liza's only real shot at competing with the big dogs is massive BV, and yet that's not what she's doing, which is how she had two triple Axels but only a mid-70s tech mark.
- Kaori, another skater who had an (albeit more minor) hampering injury in recent weeks, just missed the podium -- which is unfortunately now a trend with her, after narrow podium misses at the Grand Prix Final, Four Continents and Worlds. But results aside, my God, this Matrix program is so, so good. Amazing costume, amazing choreography.
- I kind of knew that Wakaba wouldn't be able to hold up during the free skate, given all her recent problems, but I was hoping I was wrong.:(
- Veronik did pretty much what she is capable of doing, and flew the flag for us nicely. I was pleased with how that went (and tenth place is, weirdly enough, where she ends up in most of her Grand Prixs to date).
- Mako and Stanislava are both in kind of a downward spiral.

Pairs
- One horrifying throw fall aside, Peng/Jin collect their first Grand Prix gold! Cool free skate (Lori always has great ideas for these two).
- Pavliuchenko/Khodykin's Tron program is a cool concept. These two have a ways to go in presentation, but mostly very strong elements.
- I haven't gone over the protocols yet with a fine-toothed comb, but I have a hard time not thinking, on an emotional level, that Denney/Frazier should have won the free skate. That was the clear standout moment of the segment. And Haven landed a triple for the first time I can think of in a long while.
- That was rough for Cain/LeDuc, especially as they entered this with hopes of making the Final, and now even if they win in France (which they could) that'd be unlikely.
- Calalang/Johnson have a lot of really good qualities.

Ice dance
- Hubbell/Donohue's free dance is their most successful program since the 17/18 season concluded. Very much in their wheelhouse.
- Stepanova/Bukin's marks were decidedly generous, though their placement overall is fine.
- Fournier Beaudry/Sorensen win their first Grand Prix medal! Both programs were a bit rockier here than they were at Nebelhorn a few weeks ago, but that's fine, and I have to imagine that they're adjusting to going into a Grand Prix with the knowledge that they're kind of expected to medal; not something they had to deal with before.
- Zahorski/Guerreiro's RD drew my ire yesterday, but their free dance is much better, and showcases their powerful physical presence effectively.
- I enjoyed Chen/Sun's Meat Loaf FD.
- Shevchenko/Eremenko's senior debut went nicely.
 

yude

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Kaorix Sakamoto :love: :rock: Seriously her FP and the costume are so cool and her high quality skating is very very refreshing to my eyes. I do like her SP, too, and am looking forward to seeing her at next competition already.

Kazuki's 4T3T was very beautiful, I hope he'll be able to land it constantly all through the season.

Congratulations to all the medalists.
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 12, 2014
Country
United-States
Phenom Nathan :rock:Chen's phenomenal, fantastic free skate to Rocketman. Like Nathan it's cool ... and it's hot! :love::dance3:
 

doublequad

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 4, 2018
is it just me or did bradie do a 3lz-3t in the second half that was called as a 2t by the TP and left in the final score?
 

fzztsimmons

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 14, 2018
I've just rewatched Jason's free skate again in the morning, with fresh eyes and just... wow. Spell-binding. Captivating. Jason puts so much thought into his movements right down to the tips of his fingers.

I actually really like the set up of the programme. I think once he has his jumps under him, he'll really make the opening third so melancholic and haunting. Then after that axel he hits some gorgeous shapes right on the music, and then of course, that incredible spiral right on the iconic notes of schindlers list.

This programme is a masterpiece. It's not flashy or the sort of programme that is going to get you hyped up. It's introspective and subtle and Jason does it absolutely spectacularly.
 

readernick

Medalist
Joined
Dec 5, 2015
is it just me or did bradie do a 3lz-3t in the second half that was called as a 2t by the TP and left in the final score?

Yes, there were so definite issues with the scoring system at this event. Skating scores suggested the ISU may have just updated their software. Let's just say there are a few bugs.....
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Nathan Chen did 4 quads. Anna Shcherbakova did two quad Lutzes. Everyone else wasted their time by showing up for the "competition."
 

Tolstoj

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Very disappointed by the judging: it felt really weird on both the ladies and mens event (i haven't watched Pairs and Ice Dance yet), some of the calls are just straight up wrong, the delays in the KnC,... Do we really need all of this?

Jason Brown - i like his Schinder's List free program much more than the short, insane skills as always, PCS were fully deserved but i think he should have finished third here. I really think he should try to include again a quad in his programs, there is something about a quadless program especially when there are mistakes in a men's event that makes it not as interesting to watch.

Dmitri Aliev - The best we've seen from him in a while, beautiful quad lutz in the short, all the quad toes were huge, very good skating skills trusting every edges and good posture too, he kept it together in the second half of the free which is nice. He should add a spread eagle in the choreo sequence to create a moment, i miss that a little in that part. Apart from that very good performances here for him, he should build from this.

Keegan Messing - like he said, it was shaky, too many mistakes and thinking in the middle of the elements but still lovely skater to watch, i really like his speed across the ice, very nice programs, great spinner too, the jumps just weren't there.

Michal Brezina - not his best performance here, he's starting to look more like Adam Rippon aesthetically even though the style of his programs is very different.

Nathan Chen - I closed the stream because it was too late here and because i was too annoyed by the scores. I'll rewatch it today.

Ladies.

I was surprised by Kaori Sakamoto and Wakaba Higuchi in the short, the free was more on the line of the previous years, they both tend to get better later in the season. I like Sakamoto's FP tho.

Bradie Tennell - Liked both of her programs this season, the short in particular, the long i like the music but the concept feels a bit like Cinderella. I still would like to see more skating in general and more transitions but i like her speed across the ice, good spins. The second lutz combo, should have been called 3ltz-3t<<, it's clear as day that she was going for the 3t, they called it double perhaps to set the narrative that she skated clean with no carrots. I'm not okay with that.

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva - all the 3As here were perfect, lovely lutzes, she's also going for a shorter entry in the second one in the free. Is it me or music changed in the free? still choreography is a bit lacking there, costume is smart but i don't love it, the short is way better.

Anna Shcherbakova - Beautiful skater, she looks fragile and yet went for two quad lutzes here. Both programs are growing on me, she needs to work more on the 3-3 combos which were all called underrotated here.
 

Ichatdelune

Long live the Queen and her successors
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
Country
South-Korea
Warning: this comment was written by a bitter spirit who did not survive this competition

Skate America 2019, or as I call it, Fear and Loathing (and skating) in Las Vegas. I am denying that this event ever happened after this, so I'm putting out the good bits to salvage, the bad bits to (briefly) rant over, and overall just cleanse myself of it. Then maybe I can reach nirvana and be free

The Good

- Jason's FS is pure art. Sublime in its sensitivity and heartfelt in its delicacy. And that was with some scratchy jumps. A program to truly go in the histories.
- Nathan Chen's choreo sequence is great fun. This damned soul did not have the energy to enjoy it, but quality is quality.
- The crowd was very supportive, cheering for everyone and throwing cute plushies. And the flower boys were dressed as Elvis and the flower girls in matching yellow dresses

The Fine

- Denney/Frazier survived the pairs' FS and got themselves a medal. Not error-free, but no falls and it was the best skate I've ever seen from them.
- Alexei Krasnozhon's choreo sequence is insane and is the best thing in his FS. While watching that I don't have a giant sign saying "JOCK" floating in my head.
- Kazuki was loved by the crowd, and he did that by showing why he has my single ROOOOOOOXAAANE bye. And the first 4T-3T was marvelous.
- Dima Aliev got his first GP medal, never mind the 3A-less FS.
- F-B/S also got their first GP medal. And her dress is gorgeous as herself and her partner.
- Anna Shcherbakova landed two quad lutzes, one in combo. And as predicted she gets the gold with them.
- Liza T's 3As are solid now, although it wasn't enough for more than a bronze it did get her on podium.
- Bradie Tennell went clean and pleased the home crowd.

The Bad

- The pairs' FS required painkillers to watch, how did they not die during that train wreck...
- The hardest fall among the pairs' falls was my faves Peng/Jin's throw failure. Their FS truly is beautiful, only problem is we don't know when we'll get to see it clean
- Not the hardest fall per say, but Cain-Gribble/LeDuc had the most disastrous FS.
- For a show you need popcorn, and the men made sure everybody had some. Everybody.
- Let us not discuss the second flight of men's fashion for all our sanity's sake.
- There was a random fall at the FD, so every discipline had a fall. Whee-
- Sakamoto Kaori with her awesome Matrix FS popped her way off the podium.
- The first flight of the ladies was... well, difficult to watch. And poor Higuchi Wakaba is not back to Skyfall glory yet, far from it.
- I'll make this one short, both my darlings did not leave the ice happy and that broke my heart.

The Dreadful
- The commercials between skaters. Godawful.
- Delays. Too many delays and loooooooong KnCs.
- Tech box kept on disappearing, and so did the score graphics.
- Overall too many technical issues including Bradie Tennell's second 3Lz-3T becoming a 3Lz-2T for some reason. Wish I could not-so-gently slap the people in charge but alas spirits cannot touch living flesh
- Would've also liked to slap the judges, guess why.
 

Harriet

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2017
Country
Australia
I've been working most of the day so I missed most of the competition, but I did get a chance to check in and see that the Eurovision page was working nicely for me today - phew! That's an option for the future if the YT livestream doesn't get unblocked for Australians. A definite highlight.

I checked it just in time to see Lauriault/Le Gac's unfortunate fall in their FD, but that program is still a plus for me. Still trying to find Katia and Harley's FS online. I have caught up with Jason Brown's FS, though, and am deeply impressed, not just with how well he skated coming off a concussion, but the thought, depth and complex emotion embodied in the choreography. What sticks with me the most isn't the tremendously impressive spiral or any of the jumps; it's the quiet moments after the solo 3A where the music shifts character and the tone lifts, just a little, and his steps echo the Horah - a wedding dance, a dance of celebration and life. It's a heartbreaking, perfect moment.

Also just got caught up with Bradie's FS, which I enjoyed a lot. Can't bring myself to go looking for Keegan's yet.
 

kathali

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 18, 2018
So all in all it was a good start.
However it was really devastating seeing pairs, men and the first half of the Ladies. Men with so many mistakes, I feel like just Nathan Chen really showed his skills. Brown and Alien were quite good despite their mistakes, but the rest of man was just a mess.
I wasn't really surprised by Anna taking gold, Tutberidze girls are just a league of its own at the moment. I'm really looking forward to Russian championships in December :D
 

readernick

Medalist
Joined
Dec 5, 2015
I have mixed emotions about all the disciplines here.

In the men, I was so happy to see both Jason and Aliev on the podium. It is amazing that Jason was able to skate so beautifully after just coming back from a serious head injury. His long program has all the potential to be absolutely incredible by the end of the season. I think he was quite focused on hitting the technical elements in this particular performance (which is completely natural given his short preparation time) but is was still far and away the best artistic performance of the night. I didn't particularly enjoy Aliev's lp (he looked slow and that particular cover of sound of silence was not appealing to me) but I am so happy that he managed to get through a whole competition without a terrible meltdown. (granted he made some serious mistakes in the free, but he didn't give up). Nathan was the deserved and expected winner. I like his step sequence.

The ladies program was interesting. Sherbakova managed to land both 4Lz she really seems to be growing in her consistency with this element. I am happy for her and she is, obviously, the undisputed winner of this event. However, I am still not sold on her skating. I think she needs to work on her basics and if they improve, I will love her. Bradie did very well. There are some strange conspiracies abounding online about her score but the fact is that she held it together very well in the free and delivered a very solid performance. I like SP a lot better. However, she has made obvious strides artistically and she seems to cover a lot of ice. Tuk is tuk and her PCS is what it is. However, I am really shocked by the way her GOE is being decreased by the judges. Her jumps are still fabulous even if everything else is lacking polish. Why isn't she getting high GOE on her jumps? I really love Kaori's fs. I think this Matrix program is the best program she has every had. It really suits her. She could have been on the podium (and would have gotten the PCS she deserves) if she hadn't popped those jumps. She really only has herself to blame because the jumps look easy for her and I think she just loses concentration. She needs to work on maintaining focus throughout the program. I was sad to see Wakaba have a difficult skate but I have to say I was 95% sure this was going to happen. She looked exhausted at the end of her SP and, obviously, the LP takes more energy. Plus, she is experiencing pain and can't practice as much as she wants so she obviously isn't doing a lot of double program run-throughs. Eunsoo is a really lovely skater but she is really struggling with consistency this year. Her LP is really lovely. I am not a huge fan of David Wilson choreo but I think it works well for Eunsoo. Hopefully her consistency improves as the year goes on.

The pairs competition was a bit of a let down. I love Peng/Jin but I don't think they were at their best here. However, there win is really undisputed given how the other pairs performed. P/K are technically sound but they look junior and skate like juniors. I like their elements but not their programs. Denny/ Fraser did really well here and their program is really nice. I hope they make an effort to clean up some of their elements. Calalang/ Johnson are a nice team. They have nice basics but he doesn't seem to be able to jump? Or at least he couldn't this week. If they clean up those jumps, they could be competitive. Cain/Leduc gave the best performance but their throws were really bad this week and the aborted lift just killed their scores. All in all, I was underwhelmed. Hopefully, next week will be better. I love pairs.

The ice dance scoring was strange. I am not a huge fan of H/D but they seem to have found a program that suits them. (I wish they didn't have voice overs) I think the scores they received were fair. Now, the second place team (who won the free) were completely over-scored. I liked their programs last year. I have never found them to be particularly great skaters but last year they were , at least, interesting. This year they really lack any spark and their basic skating is still as weak as ever. I don't understand how they deserve more than 117 for that free. The Canadians are wonderful. Their program is just okay. I don't have much to say about the rest of the field. I think Green/Parsons have promise. Their long program is nice.

All in all, it wasn't my favorite event. But, congratulations to all the medalist. And, special shout out to Keegan Messing who is fabulous skater and a fabulous human. Both of his performances made me cry. The short because it was beautiful and the long program because he was obviously in emotional pain throughout that performance and it hurts to see someone that kind suffer. Love to him and his family
 

lariko

Medalist
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Country
Canada
Quite the rollercoaster!

I was thrilled to see Scherbakova doing that awesome free skate with clean quads! The only way that could have gone better for my heart was if Sakomoto was on the podium instead of the meeker Tennel. That Matrix skate > many, many good things.

I don’t get the big attraction that Brown is, but since everyone just loves his skating & he is cute and everything, I am gonna live with Messing not ending up on the podium.

The only thing that surprised me with Chen was that he is getting gray in his hair; darn, that’s early but stress must be horrendous. I love his free this season a lot!

In pairs, I adore both gold & silver, and I didn’t really have much feels for others pairs.

Ahem, is there a reason why victory ceremony looked like funeral?
 

Mishaminion

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 12, 2014
What is with the conspiracy theory that Bradie's 3T was deliberately put as 2T to avoid penalizing her?

Utter nonsense. It was a 3T, underrotated but not that badly to be a downgrade and still worth more than a 2T.

There have been multiple errors with the system this competition, delays, wrong scoring in dance too.

Just stop with the silly conspiracy stuff
 

skatergurl7

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 29, 2019
Favorite programs:

Anna’s FS: just amazing, knew she could do it! So many of us doubted her. Russian world team is really looking like Sasha, Alena, and Anna if they all skate clean.

Nathan’s FS: step sequence, enough said.

Jason’s SP: so good!!! From a boy to a man, the choreo is so detailed and accented on every note.

Kaori’s FS: love this program on her and that outfit [emoji91] hope she skates clean next time
 

readernick

Medalist
Joined
Dec 5, 2015
What is with the conspiracy theory that Bradie's 3T was deliberately put as 2T to avoid penalizing her?

Utter nonsense. It was a 3T, underrotated but not that badly to be a downgrade and still worth more than a 2T.

There have been multiple errors with the system this competition, delays, wrong scoring in dance too.

Just stop with the silly conspiracy stuff

Yes, it is crazy and this conspiracy isn't even logical because 3Lz+3T(ur) is still worth several points more than 3Lz+2T ( especially considering her 3Lz=2T had -1.10 factored GOE .. because yes most of the judges already gave her negative 2 or 3 on the element). Bradie has never been my favorite skater. But, she didn't pop her jumps and she got level 4s on all the elements. She also performed her program well whether or not your like her style of skating. You know what all that adds up to in figure skating; a pretty decent score.
 
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