2019 Cup of China: Day 2

What are your thoughts on the conclusion of this event?

I was happy to see Sui/Han keep their Free Skate from last season, but apparently Sui doesn't like the music and it's up in the air whether they will keep it.

So happy for Jin, Han, and Rizzo - well deserved!

Lots of underrotations and edge calls for many - stringent panel!

Recaps:

• Free Dance
• Ladies' Free Skate
• Men's Free Skate
• Pairs' Free Skate

Just binged-watched everything!

Men: a clock-block podium, but I was really happy to see Boyang and Rizzo on it despite it meaning Messing’s and Tanaka’s chances for final evaporating. Cha... well, let’s see what happens next? Happy to get to know Han Yan.

Ladies: cool beans on Scherbakova and Tuktamysheva making it on the podium, sad Young You will wait another year, and I still really like Samodurova.

Pairs: it was a pleasant surprise to see Ilyushechkina/Bilodeau medal, less so to see DellaMonica/Guarise not to. Peng/Jin still as lovely as ever.

Satoko has been deserving of 9s in PCS since the Olympic season, and it makes me a bit sad that it took until this year's "I am artistic: the free skate" for her to get her due, but I'll take it! Rostelecom will be tough next week but I hope she can qualify for the GPF. :luv17:

Big yay for Satoko's components. I think they were close to her all time best ones? Fingers crossed to see Tiny Queen in the final!

Anna was great and that teddy was so cute. However, she will have some work to do if she wants to be World's #1.

I almost cried while watching Sui/Han. That throw right on the music always gets me.

Men's event was... interesting. It's really weird that the results didn't change the GPF race at all. Men must be the only even where something like that can happen. Though yay for Han Yan (#HanYanFanVan)! And for Boyang, too bad he won't be able to get to GPF even with his win.

gsk8 said:

Lots of underrotations and edge calls for many - stringent panel!

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Noticed that too. Also not too generous with levels either.

Satoko’s SL is gorgeous, that program fits her style perfectly. Love that she shows a lot of nuances in her interpretation and the way she can move in such a soft and delicate manner is perfect for this piece of music.
I also appreciate the understated make-up that she was wearing for this performance.

What I enjoy whenever I watch Elizaveta, is the fact that her choreography never feels put on. It always looks like she’s almost improvising and just dancing around for herself. Yes her style is rather repetitive and it’s not necessarily a great performance or too creative, but in that sense it always feels authentic, because it’s always her and she seems to be enjoying herself.

I had time to watch the men´s and ladies competition only. Congratulations to the medalists in men, especially to Han Yan and Matteo Rizzo!!! Jin´s medal and win was no surprise, but the other medalists were a surprise and a very pleasing one...

The highlight on day 2 was Satoko Miyahara and her awesome program and beautiful skating, I don´t care about the jumps in her case, LOL.

Except for the final groups of ladies and dance, a few men and Sui & Han, this was the most boring GP as of yet.

However, glad to see a strict ladies panel for the second week in a row. I truly hope this becomes the norm for women's figure skating moving forward. Now that have triple axles and quads, it's high time we cleaned up edges and rotations.

Oh I also thought skater silhouette in the background at the rink looked like a stock image of a ballerina doing an arabesque with a skate added.

Ice was better than in France. Happy to move forward to the final two events.

My highlights:
- Satoko Miyahara gave me goosebumps.
- Glad to see Han Yan back with two great programs and a medal! Maybe he´s a bit overdoing the hands-in-pocket in the free. I always enjoyed watching him, but he was so often nervous and made too many jump mistakes. So I´m glad he managed two almost clean performances.
- Happy for Matteo Rizzo being on the podium. I´m soooo looking forward to Europeans this year with Aymoz, Rizzo and Aliev as podium contenders.
- I like both Keegan Messing`s program this year very much.
- Chock/Bates rightfully winning the free dance with a great performance. Her costume is definitely level 4

pearly said:

However, glad to see a strict ladies panel for the second week in a row. I truly hope this becomes the norm for women's figure skating moving forward. Now that have triple axles and quads, it's high time we cleaned up edges and rotations.

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Don't keep your breath

As per usual I've watched the Pairs event completely, and have been more selective in the others.

I watched quite a bit of the men's event, was pleased that Matteo is getting into form again, and that he medalled, Han Yan was a joy to watch, and I was thrilled that Boyang's back. Keegan also had a good outing, and just missed the podium.

In ID I only watched Madison and Evan because I like their FD so much, and they didn't disappoint.

In ladies I admit to only watching Satoko, who is such a beautiful skater and interprets the music so well. I really couldn't care less that she has small jumps and UR's some of them too. Her skating is very moving.

And then the Pairs. Tang and Yang are a relatively new, young Chinese team, and you can already see the potential there. Still a lot to work on, but that's fine. Ryom and Kim had an excellent skate today. Beautiful music, well interpreted. They had the 4th FS, and that must have pleased them after yesterday! Alisa and Alexander must have felt awful after their skate, it just wasn't good. Pretty risky too, skating to the music Vanessa and Morgan skated to two seasons ago, and which was an iconic programme for them. One cannot help but compare, and Alisa and Alexander fall short. And when there's also more than one fall, it's 'aargh!'. I hope they'll improve. Tarah and Danny skated okay, but nothing really special there, I'm sorry to say. Nicole and Matteo showed the best Twist I've ever seen them do, and also have a gorgeous new programme. Once they get more training under their belts, this could really work for them and get them onto an international podium. Cleaning up of jumps is necessary though. Long live Liubov and Charlie. I didn't expect them to maintain second place, and they didn't, but they still managed to medal which is fantastic for such a new pair. Peng and Jin are getting more enjoyable and better every time I see them. Some mishaps but a very decent skate, and a nice watch. Finally, what can I say about Sui and Han? Great skate, even with one doubled Salchow, but just so impressive. I'm so glad they kept the Free from last year. I'm really rooting for them to finally win the GPF this year. They still have to qualify of course, but I have no doubts they will after this fantastic showing today.

That's all for now.

Well, two highlights for me (although I enjoyed many skates)

Back on the Han Yan Fan Van:luv17: His 3A is what a jump should be, lovely and impressive. Who knew would come back like this?

Every time I see that FD from Madi and Evan I am more and more impressed. Seamless skating, tells a story, and that ending pose:luv17:

And I am sorry Korean ladies who are always so well dressed, Madi wins the costume of the year award

Cup of Chaos was still chaotic, but it was better than day 1. Much less personal heartbreak as well. Better than IdF overall (which is not saying much), but SC is still the best GP this season yet. Short reviews to collect my thoughts.

ID

- I overslept and had to catch up on the first group later, I hadn't missed that much. The two newer Chinese teams had nice costumes.
- The absolutely biased crowd's favourite, Wang/Liu, brought all the drama, swan arms, more drama, cool lifts, and even more drama. I loved it. There was some home cooking, yes, but I was happy with their 4th.
- Hawayek/Baker are not having a good season so far, their faces when they saw their scores were hard to watch. I enjoyed the Marie Antoinette Victorian Beethoven Flamenco more at SC, it was a bit more subdued and careful here. But they'd better be invited to the gala, seriously
- Fournier-Beaudry/Sorensen are overwhelmingly gorgeous, have overflowing chemistry, and they have the skills. I still don't buy their FD. I'm still intrigued by the Canadian ID No. 1 battle nonetheless.
- Chock/Bates's Egyptian sexy snake FD is becoming better and better as they go through the season, I'm not into it yet but their performance here did slightly tip my scale. And they beat S/K in the FD, deservedly so imo.
- Sinitsina/Katsalapov... I mean, their technical skill is of course excellent, but while it's nice to watch with some beautiful moments you don't have a lasting impression of it. The programs I love leave vivid images and so many thoughts and feelings behind, this FD does not. But the judges are decided so

Ladies

- The discipline with the most bickering, it also happens to be my favourite. Cursed was I the day I witnessed the Queen spiraling down the rink in Vancouver
- The lady with the quad won. I was not surprised.
- Miyahara Satoko got rid of the David's star on the back of her dress, thank goodness. She is a very sensitive and delicate performer, but I wasn't personally touched that much. But still, since I have eyes I couldn't not see the quality.
- Liza T went back to her last season's FS, landed two 3As cleanly, then had some other stumbles. Her sass did shine nevertheless.
- Amber Glenn, the surprise 3rd of the SP, did not have as good a skate as her SP. But since she was called at a short time's notice it was a feat in itself.
- Sofia Samodurova is so far holding onto her title of The Consistent One she regained, but with that she lost her sass and liveliness that made her shine last season. And that Roxanne sung by the hellspawn toad does not help
- Marin-cactus is still a cactus.
- Young's 4th is a respectable result, 3rd and 4th on her first senior GPs is impressive. That's all I'll say here for now.

Men

- Of course, the men are where the chaos lies.
- Yan Han, returning after a year off, without quads, got silver. Which was deserved, those 3As were brilliant and his skating skills were excellent. If only he hadn't used City of Stars... He still needs a shave though
- Jin Boyang landed his quad lutz cleanly and did not crash into the boards. And he's improving as a performer. His win was also deserved.
- Matteo Rizzo has a good FS this season, his skate was almost as good with just the fall on the second 3A. His bronze was very much deserved, he truly is going to vie for the Euros title sooner or later.
- Keegan Messing skated his November Rain FS with all his heart, it was a good performance if not exactly a good skate.
- There were contagious pops in the air, and unfortunately both Sherlocks caught it. Back-to-back. Sigh.
- Camden is also still a cactus. A prickly one.
- Conrad's sudden Les Mis was sudden. He's very nice when he emotes, unfortunately his messy jumps prevented him from emoting here.
- Junhwan, my darling, the one who made me cry and die of anxiety twice, had an okay skate. It was not up to his standards, it wasn't clean, but he wasn't disappointed with himself at the end and just for that I was immensely relieved and happy to an extent. He's already a miracle, let him go on his own pace. But that cream/beige flappy shirt needs to go, I want the lovely white lace shirt back.

Pairs

- Sui/Han are the class of the field. Duh. Not as good as WC, but that's a high, high bar. Their Rain, In Your Black Eyes is still magical.
- I still await the day Peng/Jin skate their Cloud Atlas FS clean and blow the roof off, but with some incredible saving and breathtaking lifts they got themselves the silver and the ticket to GPF.
- I/B got bronze, which is quite impressive considering the partnership's newness. And their last lift is stunning.
- Ryom/Kim's FS is still amazing in that it's NK music without being cheesy until the vocals kick in. Wish I could steal them from up north still.
- I should stop having E/F on my faves list, they are extremely prickly cacti.

I've only seen dance so far and MADI AND EVAN! I hope their FD keeps being 2nd best after P/C all season, it's amazing and so creative. I've always appreciated them so much because they genuinely change their FD style every season, unlike most top couples nowadays and they are definitely my favorite current ice dance team. They're already in the mix for a world medal and cleaning up the RD could really put them ahead if they keep performing their FD the way they are. I'm excited to see them for the rest of the season!

FB/S are really on the rise, and in the next few years they could really challenge G/P. Not yet, but maybe soon?

On the other hand, H/B are going downhill and I don't know how long they'll maintain the U.S. NO.3 spot.

S/K are great technically but they don't captivate me at all. Doesn't help that they aren't great people IRL.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Ichatdelune, you reminded me of Sofia's music

Not exactly a highlight but it is now burned into my conscious and not in a good way.

TeamMishin... whyyyyyyyy pick that god awful ear-bleed inducing bag of poop?

It's awful! I feels so sorry for those in the arena, they do not have a mute button.

Please burn it.

Sofia do a Liza and return to your sassy Burlesque from last season, everyone's ears will forgive you.

The technical panel has been going hard the last two competitions. I hope that continues.

Men
- After a disappointing short program (and really, a disappointing last few competitions), Boyang's quad Lutz makes a belated return and he finally wins the Cup of China after three straight silver medals. Good for him, hopefully this sets him up for better things in the second half of the season.
- Yan Han's comeback, likewise very nice to see.
- Matteo Rizzo undoubtedly had a very disappointing Grand Prix, since he missed the chance to go to Torino even when his assignments were looking very favourable, but this was a nice way to close things out. Here's to working toward Europeans.
- Not a perfect program from Keegan by any means, but a big step up from yesterday (and Skate America). Put together his SkAm short program and his CoC free and he'd have a medal.
- Gaining the quad Lutz seems to have wrecked Lazukin's consistency.

Ladies
- Shcherbakova wins again, and it seems like the quad Lutz (UR and ! or not) is more reliable this year compared to last, which is a step up.
- Satoko finally gets the PCS advantage she deserves against rivals. Also properly took some TES hits, though less than might have been feared. About as good a free as she could have hoped for. The program is a definite winner.
- Liza changes up programs and mostly delivers the tech (and seemed to be enjoying herself), so even if the errors cost her the silver, nice way to finish things before Russian Nationals.

Pairs
- Sui/Han look in great shape to finally win the Grand Prix Final after all these years. Funny that it was Han that doubled the Salchow this time.
- Much like Jin being the one to mess up the 3T combination here, after all the focus on Peng. But again, they deserved silver and their Final ticket.
- Liubov and Charlie had a really shaky second half of their program, and the throws, which went well in both previous events, were both off here. But in a really messy field, they again deserved their bronze. Positive sign for them going forward.
- While the skate was far from perfect, Della Monica/Guarise have only been training for a few weeks and with that in mind this was a successful outing.
- Alisa Efimova really needs a jump intervention. All three of her takeoffs at this competition were scarily tilted and never had the slightest chance of working.

Ice dance
- Sinitsina/Katsalapov's free program is dreadfully boring. It'll score well still, but this is unlikely to be the vehicle to take them to the very stop; them losing the free here (by a wide margin) despite no real errors should be a warning.
- Chock/Bates, our surprise FD winners, though the lack of RD levels denied them the gold. They've got some momentum on their side going forward, again assuming they can drill that Finnstep.
- Fournier Beaudry/Sorensen were a bit undermarked in the free, I thought, compared to their other competitions, but whatever, take the medal and run.
- Wang/Liu, an historic fourth-place finish for Chinese ice dance. We may be able to make Grand Prix medalists of them yet, at this rate.
- Hawayek/Baker, this has been a rough Grand Prix for them. None of the other US teams below them have been able to make an impact either so far, but they've got to be worried.
- Chen/Sun's Meat Loaf free dance is a lot of fun.

I think this event showed that last week's strict calling in the ladies event was not an aberration. There was no overlap between the tech panels last week and this week. Maybe the ISU is really getting serious about these calls, realizing how impactful missed/incorrect ones can be in the final results.

Magic happened.

Keegan Messing. As I watched his opening moves and saw a close-up of his face, I thought of Obiwan Kenobe saying, "Reach out with your feelings." That's what I think Keegan did today from the first moment of his free skate, to the nth degree. His emotions met mine half way, and presto change-oh, I was right there on the ice with him, through the magic of broadcasting, in real time. My second ah-ha moment was somewhere in the second half of his program, when I realized that I'd completely forgotten about his earlier bobbles and even a fall. They didn't matter, because Keegan had the program inside himself, and all he had to do was let it come out. I realized then that this is almost always true of Keegan's skating. Unless he's in a free-fall fest (which distracts even me) he keeps so true to the vision of his skate that I see the perfection in all the imperfections. And the music was inside him as well, all he had to do was live it. I have to mention also that the time he took to do a full circle spread eagle and then hydroplane are so well worth it! The crowd roars; it's an emotional high. Another "where'd that come from?" moment is when he hangs in the air at the beginning of his Flying Sit Spin.

Boyang Jin. Before today, I kept wishing that Boyang would bring back Spiderman, and I probably still do. But he drew me in at points with The Path of Silence and Yellow Moon. I think you have to know or pay attention to the announcement of the music to get why the shirt works. When I hadn't paid attention, the yellow streaks seemed sickly; but when I knew, the yellow streaks became pathways of pale golden moonlight lighting up earth from the heavens. As far as being with him on the ice, that was in and out, probably because he was concentrating on jumping. (that can happen with or without quads, so it isn't a quads vs. no-quads question) It wasn't Keegan-level magic, but there were flashes of it. When Boyang, and also Nathan Chen, jump quads, something in their faces reminds me of my eldest son at age 15 or so. Like, you can magically see the 4-year-old wonder-child existing right alongside the grown boy/man.

Han Yan. Here's to La-La Land, the City of Stars, the Ones Who Dream. I fancied I could see him listening for that world from a distance, hearing it, and manifesting it with his really awesome skating. What's so extraordinary about Han Yan is the quality of his movement; everything is exquisite and fully felt from the inside out; in his bones. I was spellbound from the beginning few bars, because of his demeanor and bearing, as though he inhaled the music and the program and then exhaled so that he could share it with me. (yes ... not with us, but with me! LOL) He fulfilled the promise of the short program. Because he's certain of his priorities, he makes me feel certain of him. One "wow!" moment was near the beginning, when he jumped a 3F-2T combo, and the triple flip came exactly on the moment of a whimsical, stand-out chord. (Yuka Sato and/or Kurt Browning note: #GeniusChoreography. Maybe they should be a team.) The whole program is a masterful, beautiful, and supremely balanced. Every arm or leg movement Han makes is balanced by another arm or leg. He reminds me of Katia Gordeeva; never an awkward position, always unceremonious but perfect. The choreographic sit spin near the end shows my favorite sit spin arm movements: angled, balanced but not rigidly so. At the end, he seemed to need to take a moment to come back from the parallel world that he'd created.

I was spellbound. :luv17:

drivingmissdaisy said:

I think this event showed that last week's strict calling in the ladies event was not an aberration. There was no overlap between the tech panels last week and this week. Maybe the ISU is really getting serious about these calls, realizing how impactful missed/incorrect ones can be in the final results.

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People are still finding something to be outraged about though.

I find it quite funny.

People ask for stricter judging, and when they get it they do not like it. Especially if their favourites get dinged.

Sui/Han's FD's opening move is one of the greatest choreographic moves I have seen on ice.

Once again, Brendan did much better than his first outing at Skate America, and Kailani had fun. Keegan was fantastic to watch and Matteo continues to grow as a skater. I'm happy.