2019 Internationaux de France: Day 2
- Thread starter gsk8
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- Joined
- Feb 12, 2014
The ice in the ladies was slush, with puddles.
A consistent issue with GP France, it has happened before more than once.
Hoping for it to be dropped and replaced.
A consistent issue with GP France, it has happened before more than once.
Hoping for it to be dropped and replaced.
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
Ice too slushy yesterday. Ice too hard today. At least they got medals this time! The calls at times were brutal, which would be fine if they were consistent calls across all GPs but we know they won't be.
Glad Nathan made the finals even if it wasn't perfect.
Highlights had to be Alena and Mariah. Devastated for Shoma.
Glad Nathan made the finals even if it wasn't perfect.
Highlights had to be Alena and Mariah. Devastated for Shoma.
I haven't watched ID yet, so can't comment there
The good:
Tomoki's comeback FS
Mariah's FS
Nathan winning his 2nd Gold (although his skate was a bit of a mess)
Aliona's FS with two 3As and TES of 88
Haven and Brandon winning their second GP bronze this season - The Lion King works for them
Surprises on the pairs podium all around
Kevin Aymoz winning bronze and ugly crying
Silvia Fontana ugly crying
Morgan Cipres sightings
ISU Camera Work
My Opera Browser with VPN for allowing me to watch the above
The Bad
The ice puddles
Shoma (enough said)
Weird judging in the ladies's FS (should Kaori's TES have dropped 10 pts?)
Wakaba not quite returning to form
Mae-Bereniece - she's so interesting to watch but her jumps fail her
Sotskova (or should we say Splatskova) - hate seeing her struggle so much
Samarin's FS costume
The good:
Tomoki's comeback FS
Mariah's FS
Nathan winning his 2nd Gold (although his skate was a bit of a mess)
Aliona's FS with two 3As and TES of 88
Haven and Brandon winning their second GP bronze this season - The Lion King works for them
Surprises on the pairs podium all around
Kevin Aymoz winning bronze and ugly crying
Silvia Fontana ugly crying
Morgan Cipres sightings
ISU Camera Work
My Opera Browser with VPN for allowing me to watch the above
The Bad
The ice puddles
Shoma (enough said)
Weird judging in the ladies's FS (should Kaori's TES have dropped 10 pts?)
Wakaba not quite returning to form
Mae-Bereniece - she's so interesting to watch but her jumps fail her
Sotskova (or should we say Splatskova) - hate seeing her struggle so much
Samarin's FS costume
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2018
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Overall: Did not hold up to SC but isn't being erased from history, still It was all Didier's Fault. And if they can't keep the ice safe on top of everything else (they did give out medals this time though) they really should be confiscated of their GP. Is Finland or Italy (or any other European country) interested?
Men
- Kevin Aymoz deserved all the PCS. He skated with his soul. His tears of joy were quite a change from the SP, all my congratulations for his first GP medal.
- Alexander Samarin's shirt is definitely going to be featured in my nightmares, but he nailed his 4Lz-3T twice in this competition.
- Nathan Chen's choreo sequence is still the best thing in the whole program.
- The rest: Ice and Didier's fault.
ID
- P/C are doing spoken word. Personally not for me. They still got monstrous scores, so
- G/F did excellent, while David Bowie was sorely missed their program is good and they had a fabulous skate. Barbara F-P had good reason to cry. And to take pictures.
- C/B are committed to their Egyptian sexy snake FD, and while I applaud their performance it's not to my taste either. Egyptian's not my jive, sorry.
- No freak falls this time, so it went relatively safely.
Ladies
- I still cannot with that Twilight program, but Alyona the Angel loves it (sigh) and did 2 3As plus the rest. I'll just have to tolerate it for her sake...
- Sakamoto Kaori was awesome with her Matrix FS, pity she couldn't get a medal.
- Mariah Bell is going strong, US Nationals is going to be interesting.
- I blame the rest on the ice, there were puddles everywhere
Pairs
- Nastya thought she'd botched their win with her SBS combo pop, but she and Sasha won by just a point. A senior debut GP gold is a feat, never mind the field being relatively weak.
- P/K struggling with their SBS flips was kinda expected (given last season's success rate), but I hadn't expected them to fall on their throw. But two silvers are a solid result and GPF still is quite likely
- D/F had a good skate (minus the fall) and got themselves another bronze, they've got their mojo back. Two bronzes could mean GPF, the US pairs battle has become quite interesting.
- C/L survived the throw lutz this time (with quite some saving from her side) but fell on the SBS jumps, nonetheless it was a good skate.
- Overall not too disastrous for pairs, and the ice was still terrible. A big congratulations to everyone for just coming out of this alive.
Men
- Kevin Aymoz deserved all the PCS. He skated with his soul. His tears of joy were quite a change from the SP, all my congratulations for his first GP medal.
- Alexander Samarin's shirt is definitely going to be featured in my nightmares, but he nailed his 4Lz-3T twice in this competition.
- Nathan Chen's choreo sequence is still the best thing in the whole program.
- The rest: Ice and Didier's fault.
ID
- P/C are doing spoken word. Personally not for me. They still got monstrous scores, so
- G/F did excellent, while David Bowie was sorely missed their program is good and they had a fabulous skate. Barbara F-P had good reason to cry. And to take pictures.
- C/B are committed to their Egyptian sexy snake FD, and while I applaud their performance it's not to my taste either. Egyptian's not my jive, sorry.
- No freak falls this time, so it went relatively safely.
Ladies
- I still cannot with that Twilight program, but Alyona the Angel loves it (sigh) and did 2 3As plus the rest. I'll just have to tolerate it for her sake...
- Sakamoto Kaori was awesome with her Matrix FS, pity she couldn't get a medal.
- Mariah Bell is going strong, US Nationals is going to be interesting.
- I blame the rest on the ice, there were puddles everywhere
Pairs
- Nastya thought she'd botched their win with her SBS combo pop, but she and Sasha won by just a point. A senior debut GP gold is a feat, never mind the field being relatively weak.
- P/K struggling with their SBS flips was kinda expected (given last season's success rate), but I hadn't expected them to fall on their throw. But two silvers are a solid result and GPF still is quite likely
- D/F had a good skate (minus the fall) and got themselves another bronze, they've got their mojo back. Two bronzes could mean GPF, the US pairs battle has become quite interesting.
- C/L survived the throw lutz this time (with quite some saving from her side) but fell on the SBS jumps, nonetheless it was a good skate.
- Overall not too disastrous for pairs, and the ice was still terrible. A big congratulations to everyone for just coming out of this alive.
I would like to point out that the event protocol states that ice conditions were very good for all disciplines: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1920/gpfra2019/gpfra2019_protocol.pdf?
Not sure what would have to happen for it to be declared poor.
Not sure what would have to happen for it to be declared poor.
God, I was so shaken after Shoma’s skate, that was horrible to watch and seeing him this troubled in the KnC was so painful! And these weren’t average falls either, those were Pogorilaya level, scary, being-hurled-onto-the-ice falls.
Loved the support from the crowd! (they were generally very supportive whenever a skater messed up an element)
Loved Kevin’s redemption skate and his reaction afterwards, another crying fit
this time for a happier reason though. It’s funny how his real life personality explains his expressiveness on the ice and the authenticity of his performance. He’s so emotional and carries his feelings outwards, not holding back. It’s an interesting contrast to some of the more restrained and withdrawn skaters out there.
P/C’s FD is just :luv17:. I love the whole concept of just having mostly abstract moves and creating shapes with your body instead of telling some kind of literal story or portraying characters or doing the sexy or romantic schtick. This is super aesthetic and I’m glad they stuck to those ultra simple black costumes.
Loved the support from the crowd! (they were generally very supportive whenever a skater messed up an element)
Loved Kevin’s redemption skate and his reaction afterwards, another crying fit
this time for a happier reason though. It’s funny how his real life personality explains his expressiveness on the ice and the authenticity of his performance. He’s so emotional and carries his feelings outwards, not holding back. It’s an interesting contrast to some of the more restrained and withdrawn skaters out there.P/C’s FD is just :luv17:. I love the whole concept of just having mostly abstract moves and creating shapes with your body instead of telling some kind of literal story or portraying characters or doing the sexy or romantic schtick. This is super aesthetic and I’m glad they stuck to those ultra simple black costumes.
The ice was quite poor indeed 
Overall, I enjoyed P/C's FD, it's still slightly awkward to hear spoken word on ice but I'm slowly getting used to it and I'd say it was done quite tastefully there (at least miles ahead of I/K's legendary "Ghost" (to be fair, haven't seen that in a while, maybe it looks better years later )). It's nice to finally like something from P/C again, I really enjoyed their early stuff but haven't really been able to get into them the last couple of years (despite their wonderful abilities), so it's nice to be able to enjoy them again (their SP is still probably my favourite out of the two - it's just so fabulous! 
). The score was a bit much though.
C/B really impressed me, I quite liked their FD the last time I saw it and it really grew on me this time. Madison is just magical to watch
From Pairs, suuuuuuuper proud of Ziegler/Kiefer, I always worry about those two but they performed the heck out of that program, good for them! Good effort by both of the Russian teams as well, if only a bit (or a lot) sloppy. They have good elements but I feel like neither team performed their best even aside from the obvious mistakes, the programs were a little awkward to look at and had some empty moments so they have a lot to work on, but happy for them overall :yes:
Overall, I enjoyed P/C's FD, it's still slightly awkward to hear spoken word on ice but I'm slowly getting used to it and I'd say it was done quite tastefully there (at least miles ahead of I/K's legendary "Ghost"
(to be fair, haven't seen that in a while, maybe it looks better years later )). It's nice to finally like something from P/C again, I really enjoyed their early stuff but haven't really been able to get into them the last couple of years (despite their wonderful abilities), so it's nice to be able to enjoy them again (their SP is still probably my favourite out of the two - it's just so fabulous! ). The score was a bit much though. C/B really impressed me, I quite liked their FD the last time I saw it and it really grew on me this time. Madison is just magical to watch
From Pairs, suuuuuuuper proud of Ziegler/Kiefer, I always worry about those two but they performed the heck out of that program, good for them! Good effort by both of the Russian teams as well, if only a bit (or a lot) sloppy. They have good elements but I feel like neither team performed their best even aside from the obvious mistakes, the programs were a little awkward to look at and had some empty moments so they have a lot to work on, but happy for them overall :yes:
Thrilled that the US won gold, silver and two bronzes, with one medal in each discipline.
Congrats to Nathan Chen, Chock / Bates, Mariah Bell and Denney / Frazier.
I felt sad for the Japanese skaters (Shoma, Kaori, Wakaba and Una) who had tough times at this competition.
Congrats to Nathan Chen, Chock / Bates, Mariah Bell and Denney / Frazier.
I felt sad for the Japanese skaters (Shoma, Kaori, Wakaba and Una) who had tough times at this competition.
My heart shattered for Shoma but I truly believe that he can only go upwards from here. 
For the first time I felt like I understood why Alena likes her Twilight free so much. She skated like an angel and a rock star! Also loved Kaori's Matrix. They both made me forget about the obvious ice issues...
Well done to M/G, great way to start your senior GP debut with a gold! I enjoyed seeing D/F too.
(I'd also like to nominate the U.K. as a replacement host for IdF as I would really like to hear the B.Esp guys again or maybe even Robin Cousins with extra luck!)
For the first time I felt like I understood why Alena likes her Twilight free so much. She skated like an angel and a rock star! Also loved Kaori's Matrix. They both made me forget about the obvious ice issues...
Well done to M/G, great way to start your senior GP debut with a gold! I enjoyed seeing D/F too.
(I'd also like to nominate the U.K. as a replacement host for IdF as I would really like to hear the B.Esp guys again or maybe even Robin Cousins with extra luck!)
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Nicole's fightback free skate. That was some really good work. :luv17: Mae will be very disappointed with herself, though; it's such a shame because she fights so hard for it, but sometimes the jumps just aren't there for her (and the knees aren't either - she was wearing tape again throughout the competition).
Kevin was...amazing. Mistakes, what mistakes? I don't remember the flawed landings, I remember the phenomenal power and impact of that program. I am glad he was able to hold off bursting into tears until it was over though! Those were definitely emotional-release tears, at least, not beating-yourself-up tears.
And P/C in the free skate...what can I say? I'm pretty sure that performance haunted my dreams last night. I love the abstractness of it, the emphasis on creating shapes and working through metaphor...I did not love the camerawork that found the worst possible angle to shoot several key moments from (the straight-line lift, the entry to the Choreo Step Sequence, etc).
I will reiterate my hope that someone got Shoma Uno a concussion check after he left the KnC, express a new one that Shulapov bins his FS costume before the weekend is done, and finish with the wish that now they've managed to hand out decent medals the FFSG will think about spending some money on a new podium with steps that two people can stand on without risk to life or limb.
Kevin was...amazing. Mistakes, what mistakes? I don't remember the flawed landings, I remember the phenomenal power and impact of that program. I am glad he was able to hold off bursting into tears until it was over though! Those were definitely emotional-release tears, at least, not beating-yourself-up tears.
And P/C in the free skate...what can I say? I'm pretty sure that performance haunted my dreams last night. I love the abstractness of it, the emphasis on creating shapes and working through metaphor...I did not love the camerawork that found the worst possible angle to shoot several key moments from (the straight-line lift, the entry to the Choreo Step Sequence, etc).
I will reiterate my hope that someone got Shoma Uno a concussion check after he left the KnC, express a new one that Shulapov bins his FS costume before the weekend is done, and finish with the wish that now they've managed to hand out decent medals the FFSG will think about spending some money on a new podium with steps that two people can stand on without risk to life or limb.
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2014
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2017
I pulled myself together slightly to enjoy P/C, but really Shoma soured the entire day for me. Just awful. Sometimes I think skaters should be able to just walk away in the middle of a program.
Funniest moment of the day was when the guy presenting the medals in the ladies ceremony mistakenly gave Mariah Bell the gold medal and she had to take it off and give it back to Alena. I guess this is what happens when you are too used to giving out plastic stars ranked by sizes
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2014
What happened with Shoma in his free? I didn't see it, but I hear it was pretty hard to watcg. Was he sick? Injured? And he doesn't have a coach? What is going on with this poor guy?
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2018
Heartbroken for Shoma. The song did not help. And to see him sit alone and cry in the K&C was too much.
Who is this Mariah Bell?! The growth this year has been so surprising. She looks very mature and should be very proud. I was surprised she beat Alina in the Free.
Who is this Mariah Bell?! The growth this year has been so surprising. She looks very mature and should be very proud. I was surprised she beat Alina in the Free.
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- Jan 28, 2013
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I watched after the fact. I think he hurt himself during that program.
I know these athletes have a ton of personal pride, and I'm sure they take their duty to their federations and their fans very seriously, but when things look unsafe for the skater, there needs to be some case for a coach or federation representative to "throw in the towel" and put a halt to things.
Of course, Shoma doesn't have a coach at the moment... I know that. But someone should have been looking out for his best interests.
And, I know this is off base, but if I had been a coach, any coach, I would have climbed the little riser and sat with him in the K&C to offer consolation. Raf, I'm looking at you. Nathan wouldn't have minded, and you have the stature that nobody would have tried to stop you.
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- Mar 3, 2018
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Men
- It's rare that a men's free skate feels better than the short program, but this was such an instance; not that there weren't some terrible skates and mistakes, but you don't expect perfection in the free skate (men's especially), so that's not a big deal.
- Nathan won, as we all knew he would; messier than at SkAm, but he got the job done. That choreo sequence at the end is clearly his favourite part of the program.
- Samarin was basically guaranteed a medal after the way the short program went, and would have had to work hard to lose silver. His PCS remain preposterous.
- Kevin, sigh, you could have had the silver medal if you hadn't messed up in the short program. Impressed that he's now going for two quads, even if they weren't perfect here. Needs more PCS.
- Shoma...get thee to a coach.
- Nic landed a (messy) quad! And his triple Axel is looking way better this season, even with the hand down on one of them here. Now if he could just get the rest of the big triples in use; a men's free skate with one flip and no Lutzes is not going to cut it. But he's another one undermarked in PCS, honestly, what does Nic do if not sell a program?
- Samohin, the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over expecting a different result. His jump technique seems to get worse with every event.
Ice dance
- I had avoided watching Papadakis/Cizeron's free dance at Masters because I wanted my first impression to be with better quality video. Verdict: it's interesting, I suppose. It will never be a crowdpleaser, and in another year where they were really fighting to hold onto the top spot (or if this turns into that year), that might be a problem, but I'd say they're safe for now (especially since Sinitsina/Katsalapov's FD isn't setting the world on fire).
- Chock/Bates, we've seen this a few times now, and it's definitely gotten more fluid in terms of them getting into some of the poses. Level issues this week, but that didn't matter.
- They should get some sort of award for skating this well with Marco's hand injury. And they got some incredible levels, the best of the field; if only the levels mattered...
- I don't know if it's Stockholm Syndrome, but I'm coming around on Smart/Diaz's sad clown free dance. These two are definitely looking competitive for Spain's lone Worlds spot.
- Big improvement for Zahorski/Guerreiro as they get more training time.
- Soucisse/Firus got butchered on the levels, but they had their first fall-free competition of the season, so take what you can get.
Ladies
- Kostornaia came, saw, and conquered. And she did two triple Axels on that puddle-filled rink.
- Zagitova was carried to that silver medal with PCS.
- Great job by Bell.
- I was sad for Kaori to miss the podium; very undermarked in PCS, even if she had UR that dropped her technical mark. That's such a great program for her.
- Winner for most improved skater goes to Lea Serna, who didn't have a perfect skate by any means, but she looks like a completely different jumper than the human Zamboni from last year.
- Maria Sotskova had the most attention-grabbing dress of the day, and also, yeesh, 38 TES. Is this going to be her last major international? Seems like it could be.
Pairs
- Wow, Denney/Frazier had an unexpectedly great Grand Prix season.
And, having seen the marks handed out to the three teams that skated after them, they got hosed on PCS here; they should have won the free skate.
- Mishina/Galliamov, my favourites, carry the day, despite Anastasia's big jump mistake. This, unlike the short program, is one they're more comfortable with, so there's a lot more performance.
- Pavliuchenko/Khodykin, a bit of a rougher skate. The basic outline of the program is a good fit, though.
- Cain/LeDuc got the throw Lutz, finally, after that element screwing them over so many times this season. Then the jumps cost them the podium. This has definitely not been the Grand Prix they were hoping for/expected to have, but this is a better note to end on than SkAm, certainly.
- I was ecstatic to see Ziegler/Kiefer have a strong free skate. They really needed that.
- Nolan Seegert really needs to work on stamina for lifts.
- It's rare that a men's free skate feels better than the short program, but this was such an instance; not that there weren't some terrible skates and mistakes, but you don't expect perfection in the free skate (men's especially), so that's not a big deal.
- Nathan won, as we all knew he would; messier than at SkAm, but he got the job done. That choreo sequence at the end is clearly his favourite part of the program.
- Samarin was basically guaranteed a medal after the way the short program went, and would have had to work hard to lose silver. His PCS remain preposterous.
- Kevin, sigh, you could have had the silver medal if you hadn't messed up in the short program. Impressed that he's now going for two quads, even if they weren't perfect here. Needs more PCS.
- Shoma...get thee to a coach.
- Nic landed a (messy) quad! And his triple Axel is looking way better this season, even with the hand down on one of them here. Now if he could just get the rest of the big triples in use; a men's free skate with one flip and no Lutzes is not going to cut it. But he's another one undermarked in PCS, honestly, what does Nic do if not sell a program?
- Samohin, the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over expecting a different result. His jump technique seems to get worse with every event.
Ice dance
- I had avoided watching Papadakis/Cizeron's free dance at Masters because I wanted my first impression to be with better quality video. Verdict: it's interesting, I suppose. It will never be a crowdpleaser, and in another year where they were really fighting to hold onto the top spot (or if this turns into that year), that might be a problem, but I'd say they're safe for now (especially since Sinitsina/Katsalapov's FD isn't setting the world on fire).
- Chock/Bates, we've seen this a few times now, and it's definitely gotten more fluid in terms of them getting into some of the poses. Level issues this week, but that didn't matter.
- They should get some sort of award for skating this well with Marco's hand injury. And they got some incredible levels, the best of the field; if only the levels mattered...
- I don't know if it's Stockholm Syndrome, but I'm coming around on Smart/Diaz's sad clown free dance. These two are definitely looking competitive for Spain's lone Worlds spot.
- Big improvement for Zahorski/Guerreiro as they get more training time.
- Soucisse/Firus got butchered on the levels, but they had their first fall-free competition of the season, so take what you can get.
Ladies
- Kostornaia came, saw, and conquered. And she did two triple Axels on that puddle-filled rink.
- Zagitova was carried to that silver medal with PCS.
- Great job by Bell.
- I was sad for Kaori to miss the podium; very undermarked in PCS, even if she had UR that dropped her technical mark. That's such a great program for her.
- Winner for most improved skater goes to Lea Serna, who didn't have a perfect skate by any means, but she looks like a completely different jumper than the human Zamboni from last year.
- Maria Sotskova had the most attention-grabbing dress of the day, and also, yeesh, 38 TES. Is this going to be her last major international? Seems like it could be.
Pairs
- Wow, Denney/Frazier had an unexpectedly great Grand Prix season.
And, having seen the marks handed out to the three teams that skated after them, they got hosed on PCS here; they should have won the free skate.- Mishina/Galliamov, my favourites, carry the day, despite Anastasia's big jump mistake. This, unlike the short program, is one they're more comfortable with, so there's a lot more performance.
- Pavliuchenko/Khodykin, a bit of a rougher skate. The basic outline of the program is a good fit, though.
- Cain/LeDuc got the throw Lutz, finally, after that element screwing them over so many times this season. Then the jumps cost them the podium. This has definitely not been the Grand Prix they were hoping for/expected to have, but this is a better note to end on than SkAm, certainly.
- I was ecstatic to see Ziegler/Kiefer have a strong free skate. They really needed that.
- Nolan Seegert really needs to work on stamina for lifts.
Here are the "golden" moments for me:
Men: Shoma continuing to skate and emote expression even after multiple falls. He has such talents; he will be back!
Ladies: Alena skating so beautifully - fantastic jumps and quiet, enchanting artistry!
Pairs: Haven and Brandon showing their bravery in Lion King. Roar!!
Dance: Charlene and Marco taking us to outer space, blue lipstick and all! Should have been silver.
None of them were gold medalists but those are skates that are memorable to me!
Men: Shoma continuing to skate and emote expression even after multiple falls. He has such talents; he will be back!
Ladies: Alena skating so beautifully - fantastic jumps and quiet, enchanting artistry!
Pairs: Haven and Brandon showing their bravery in Lion King. Roar!!
Dance: Charlene and Marco taking us to outer space, blue lipstick and all! Should have been silver.
None of them were gold medalists but those are skates that are memorable to me!
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- Jul 27, 2003
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Haven't watched everything but some random thoughts:
Congrats Nathan! Not perfect here but pretty darn good!
Loved Kostornaia! She has a really lovely presence. I look forward to seeing her future.
So pleased for Mariah - great job, esp. skating right after Alena's big score!
I love Chock and Bates' FD and her dress!
And I think we all want to give Shoma a huge hug, poor thing. Hope he finds himself a coach, if only to have someone sit with him!!
Congrats Nathan! Not perfect here but pretty darn good!
Loved Kostornaia! She has a really lovely presence. I look forward to seeing her future.
So pleased for Mariah - great job, esp. skating right after Alena's big score!
I love Chock and Bates' FD and her dress!
And I think we all want to give Shoma a huge hug, poor thing. Hope he finds himself a coach, if only to have someone sit with him!!
