Progress Report on the 2019-2020 Skating Season | Golden Skate

Progress Report on the 2019-2020 Skating Season

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Here is a chance to discuss your opinion on the skating year in each event rather than by nation. So feel free to experess your opinion on how skaters are doing even comparing. Have fun; please be respectful - we all have our faves but this is simply your opinion.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
My opinion on the state or progress by event.

PAIRS

Sui and Han are the class of the field and gaining confidence including on ther sbs jumps. They look unbeatable.

We have no idea on James and Cipres who sat out the GP season but things aren't bad for them. Peng and Jin could give them a run for a medal but they are two medals after Sui and Han.

The Russians - Despite the struggles of Tarasova and Morozov it can only be hoped the move to the US and Zueva brings about soe magic. Maybe missing the GPF will bring about a dramatic change. Somehow despite their downfall and the injury to world bronze medallists they have a few solid teams to challenge for a world medal - in particular B and K. However, this is a time where it appears there are very good Russian teams - just not super or special. The US have had issues try to assert a lead team and take advantage of the Russian challenges and generally okay skating from Italy and Canada.

That being said while the Americans h ave underperformed - one would have thought one of the teams would clearly lead the US and especially the Knerims. A pleasant surprise has been the Canadians. In particula MTM and M. They have been getting more and more consistent. Though they struggle with levels ; they have made huge improvements. He especially needs to get stronger; She is wonderful and a fighter.


MEN

Well Nathan has been impressive school and two golds in the GP. He is looking great. Yuzuru looks even stronger and seems to be building. These two are the class of the field.

Charming and personable Kevin Aymoz is looking good for a medal. The Russian men are so inconsistent it is like which one will deliver if one will. The Canadian men seem to be looking for a leader but have show some promise. Vincent Zhou is a huge question mark and Jason Brown has not been able to seize the moment even with a solid FS programme. No quad may be an issue especially with not even solid or consistent triples. Nice to see Yan back and Boyang seems to be building again.


DANCE

There is PC and then whoever.

Okay while PC are sublime and aretrying to stretch themselves they will not lose or be knocked out of top spot even with a big error.

The Russians and in particular S/K have taken an early lead for silver but it is so close with Chock and Bates and Hubbell and Donahue. The spoilers or darkhorse could be Gilles and Porier. These are all very good teams ; just not spectacular.


LADIES

The 3A's from Russia had a lot of expectations and have not disappointed. They won gold at the six grand prix - much to my surprise because I thought Rika would throw a wrench into that plan - there is still the Grand Prix final though. While in general they need to work on their artistry and presentation their jumps are making a huge impact. This would suggest we are seeing the end of Alina Zagitova. Poor Evgenia also seems lost. Bradie and Mariah are looking soild and want to play spoiler. Satoko continues to impress artisitcally but those jumps - rotations and size are problematic.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
For ladies, it's become a completely different sport. Skaters who were doing a 3A before (Alysa, Rika, and Liza) are now training quads. Many others who did jumps through the lutz are now training 3As and/or quads. Those who can do everything except the 3A and quad, like the current world champion Alina, aren't even a favorite to podium when all the top competitors skate. We saw a very high technical level in 1991-1992 with Tonya and Midori doing 3As and Kristi doing a lutz-toe, then by 1994 the difficulty was attempted by winners of Worlds or Olympics dropped substantially for several years. This time seems different though, since so many women are now doing the difficult jumps and many more juniors are coming up with as much (or more) difficulty.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
For ladies, it's become a completely different sport. Skaters who were doing a 3A before (Alysa, Rika, and Liza) are now training quads. Many others who did jumps through the lutz are now training 3As and/or quads. Those who can do everything except the 3A and quad, like the current world champion Alina, aren't even a favorite to podium when all the top competitors skate. We saw a very high technical level in 1991-1992 with Tonya and Midori doing 3As and Kristi doing a lutz-toe, then by 1994 the difficulty was attempted by winners of Worlds or Olympics dropped substantially for several years. This time seems different though, since so many women are now doing the difficult jumps and many more juniors are coming up with as much (or more) difficulty.

So true. Even having a triple axel that is fairly consistent is not enough ie. Liza who looks to be at best no. 5 but probably no. 6 in Russia.


On other notes it is interesting to see the progress of Bilodeau and Stolbova and their new partners. There is some glimmer of hope. Ksenia won't make the Russian team with her partner but Charllie is looking good in Canada. I wonder what would had happened had they been paired together
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
To me, the 2019-20 season is a seismic shift in ladies figure skating. The quad bomb has exploded and nothing will ever be the same.

Nothing else of interest has occurred. In other disciplines, one skater or team did pretty well so far, another was a little disappointing, whatever.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
To me, the 2019-20 season is a seismic shift in ladies figure skating. The quad bomb has exploded and nothing will ever be the same.

Nothing else of interest has occurred. In other disciplines, one skater or team did pretty well so far, another was a little disappointing, whatever.

True. I mean yes Nathan and Yuzuru are dominating but not particularly innovating or exciting. jasoon has not stepped up to the place, the Russians are inconsistent as ever, I have been impressed by Aymoz. Boyang well he kind of got lucky wthat there was a rash of withdrawls.

IN the pairs it is boring. Unfortunatley, I can't keep these rising Russians straight in my mind. They are good - innovative not. Spellbounding not. It is the Chinese and... well maybe James and Cipres. The American are a hot mess. It is unclear who is the lead team. I honestly thought the Knerims looked a few y ears ago they might challenge for a medal. I find a team that is not talented and seem fogotten but the Canadians MT M are really tyring to bring it. The Italians have not matched their prior success. The thoughts of the rising Koreans have not panned out and the second Chinese team has been ho hum. (Which brings me to a silly question where is or what happened to Zhang??? an his partner or did he finally retire - wasn't he at the age that he could be the father of one of the Russian baby ballerinas?)

Ice dance too it's the Fernch again - almost to the point that anything they do whether a m asterpiece or not is deemed a masterpiece byt he judges. And then whoever. Even the innovative team of g and p have gone more safe.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
True. I mean yes Nathan and Yuzuru are dominating but not particularly innovating or exciting. jasoon has not stepped up to the place, the Russians are inconsistent as ever, I have been impressed by Aymoz. Boyang well he kind of got lucky wthat there was a rash of withdrawls.

It's hard for these guys to innovate, given where the sport is now. I don't expect we'll see a 4A anytime soon; I've heard of Yuzu wanting to land it, but he's already aiming for his third Olympics and it might be unrealistic to pull off this move at his age (and given the injuries he's had).

I think we'll feel this way about the women soon. Combos like a 3Lz-3Lo were very impressive just a season ago, and now that can't even get you to the top of a GP podium. Trusova lands more quads in one LP than the total number of every senior skater through 2019 Worlds. Kostornaia has caught the attention of a lot of fans, but only because doing three 3As gives her a slight chance of winning a big event. What is it going to take to impress us in a few years once we've seen more skaters landing quads?
 

StephenGfan

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 10, 2018
One mans opinion, I think G/P proved they are spectacular with their starry night Free dance :love: :luv17:
 

TallyT

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 23, 2018
Country
Australia
It's hard for these guys to innovate, given where the sport is now. I don't expect we'll see a 4A anytime soon; I've heard of Yuzu wanting to land it, but he's already aiming for his third Olympics and it might be unrealistic to pull off this move at his age (and given the injuries he's had).

I don't believe (I could be wrong, someone correct me if so) that Yuzuru has said he's aiming for Beijing, he just hasn't completely ruled it out... and to be fair, the only way the Japanese press and fans, the Chinese press and fans, the JSF, both countries' Olympic committees and the international one will stop guesstimating him is if and when he says THAT word I'm not gonna type. Poor man gets badgered about 2022 every time there's a mic within 20 feet.

Whereas the 4A is and has been since PC his biggest dream. Me, I am worrying my nearest and dearest by developing a decided nervous twitch whenever either possibility gets mentioned... but seriously, apart from the 4A and {shudder} quints, what is there to innovate on when this season has proven that the quad race is still - to be blunt - trying to really clear its early hurdles? (look at the mess below Yuzu/Nathan and the attrition rate at the top since the Olympics)

I think we'll feel this way about the women soon.

Not yet, but in just a few years, they may also not nearly be as pretty a sight....
 

heartyxo

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 27, 2019
I think out of the top ice dance teams, Chock/Bates took the biggest risk with their FD but so far it is paying off. They just need to make their RD levels consistently solid so they can really challenge, maybe even for world sliver.
 

Amei

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 11, 2013
For ladies, it's become a completely different sport. Skaters who were doing a 3A before (Alysa, Rika, and Liza) are now training quads. Many others who did jumps through the lutz are now training 3As and/or quads. Those who can do everything except the 3A and quad, like the current world champion Alina, aren't even a favorite to podium when all the top competitors skate. We saw a very high technical level in 1991-1992 with Tonya and Midori doing 3As and Kristi doing a lutz-toe, then by 1994 the difficulty was attempted by winners of Worlds or Olympics dropped substantially for several years. This time seems different though, since so many women are now doing the difficult jumps and many more juniors are coming up with as much (or more) difficulty.

I disagree on this point - Zagitova hasn't put together a clean competition yet (not counting the glorified exhibition that is the Japan Open) but has managed to get the highest PCS of the competitions she's been at; I think while she's not a favorite for gold in competitions when all the top ladies are competing, she's still a favorite for the podium. If we were putting money on it, the only non-quad/triple axel skater that I would give a chance to podium at Worlds is Zagitova. Hopefully everyone's clean this weekend, it will give a good indicator of where Zagitova's Olympic/World champion status puts her, given that she doesn't have and by her own mouth isn't training the difficult jumps that Trusova/Shcherbakova/Kostornaia/Kihira are putting into competition.
 

Good Vibes Only

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 22, 2019
The only discipline that I have been watching this season is the ladies, so that is the only one I am going to do a progress report on.

So far this season, lots of history has been made. This season is the most technically brilliant season for the ladies and it is so exciting watch. Many countries are in the fight for the best technical elements. Even though the ladies are chasing the harder jumps, many skaters have improved that don’t have the harder jumps. Some examples are Mariah Bell, Bradie Tennell, and Evgenia Medvedeva. The first year senior ladies have really brought on the pressure. Not only have Anna, Alexandra, and Alena brought the pressure but also You Young. This has caused some of the veteran seniors to up their technical content. Some examples are Rika Kihira (possible quad salchow), Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (addition of the third triple axel and possible quad toe), and Evgenia Medvedeva (possible quad salchow).

While some fans may not like the quad movement occurring in the ladies, I am loving it. It is pushing skaters to learn more and improve themselves. Even if skaters aren’t learning quads, they are improving spins and interpretation to try to close the technical gap. Of the four years that I have been a skating fan, this is definitely the most exciting season for me.
 
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