2019-20 GP and JGP Final: Day 3 | Golden Skate

2019-20 GP and JGP Final: Day 3

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
Kevin:hap10: everything that is good and pure and engaging about men’s skating.

Madi & Evan: :clap:that FD gets better every.single.time. If you’re not buying what she’s selling, you better check to make sure you still have a pulse:biggrin:
 

Harriet

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2017
Country
Australia
If you’re not buying what she’s selling, you better check to make sure you still have a pulse:biggrin:

I promise you I'm perfectly well equipped with a pulse and yet she couldn't sell me a cold drink in today's 38C heat. Taste is subjective and nothing is universal.

I agree that Kevin was and is wonderful, though.

One day I may get bored watching Gabriella and Guillaume skate, but today is not that day. When you half forget to breathe because you're so caught up in the flow of their movement...
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
I promise you I'm perfectly well equipped with a pulse and yet she couldn't sell me a cold drink in today's 38C heat. Taste is subjective and nothing is universal.

I agree that Kevin was and is wonderful, though.

One day I may get bored watching Gabriella and Guillaume skate, but today is not that day. When you half forget to breathe because you're so caught up in the flow of their movement...

As I said in the comp thread, someday I may get over mumbled words and Rod McCuen style “poetry”. Today is not that day;)

But vas-y Kévin:thumbsup:
 

Lunalovesskating

Moonbear power 🐻
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 3, 2018
So happy for Nathan! His well deserved 3rd GPF title! Wuhu
Kevin placing third was my second highlight during the men's competition. Wow. (I hope he wins Euros). Excited to see his 4S soon. He is thinking about introducing it at Nationals.
Yuzu: yay 4Lz was landed. Too bad about the missed combo.

Ladies
Heartbroken for Alina. Keep fighting!
Happy for Alena, Anna and Sasha for medaling. A great achievement.
Amazing 4S attempt by Rika and it was called clean!yay. Hope she can rest now. I really love her Free Skate and thought her PCs should have been higher.

Junior Men
Happy for Shun. His FS was amazing! wow what a high after his JGP season! He was clearly above everyone else.
Sad for Yuma, he missed the podium by just a couple points
 

Mishaminion

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 12, 2014
Kevin, Yuzu and Nathan in the Mens! What an amazing trio of performances that was!
Massive respect to Yuzu for giving it absolutely everything he had and mad respect for Nathan for coolly responding to the challenge and the pressure with a clean 5 quad + 3A record breaker!
These two are in a league of their own.

Dima...very painful to watch, the fall on the last spin was almost comedic in summing up what a horrible time he had out there.

Ladies was just as exciting, all those quads and 3As! Stunning victory for Alyona and well deserved, oh boy if she ever gets a quad it could be game over!

Sad for Alina, but a trio of 160+ scores would be a hard act for anyone to follow! I admire her so much and she can hold her head up high for she has achieved so much.
 

Nathan13

Medalist
Joined
Dec 1, 2015
France looks like a real contender for a team medal at the Olympics, should they choose to pursue it. They don't have a medal contending lady but (assuming Vanessa and Morgan are good to go) they've certainly got a medal contender in the other 3. And Mae Berenice Meite (whose skating I personally enjoy immensely) isn't half bad to hold her own in the Ladies SP.
 

Interspectator

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
Yuzu is always a highlight for me.
In the press conference he seemed to see his path forward and was bright and positive. I'm always risk-averse, so I'd be on the side of cautioning skaters to go clean, do what they know they can do well. It's ironic that my favorite skater is the polar opposite of that. He won't leave it up fate. He's been at the top of his field for almost a decade now because he pushes farther than anyone thinks he needs to.
The Lutz and Loop are looking better than ever. The only thing, and it's a big one, is his health. :pray:
An argument could be made that had Yuzu gone with an easier layout he could have scored higher. --But what is the point of scoring higher if he can't score enough to beat Nathan? With the longer view in mind, he tried this insane layout...and will try the 4A at some point in the future. I can't say I'm easy about it in my mind, but this is where the scores and the judging are leading. What can the athletes do but go for it ...or quit.

Nathan is amazing. And at the moment, this is what the judges indicate they want to see. His competitive strength is really unmatched. Figure skating is lucky to have him.

Kevin was so endearing, and his free skate had so much beauty and emotion in it. His reaction in the kiss and cry was epic and I loved to see his happiness.

The press conference was really great...but the reporters could have asked Kevin a few questions. They asked Nathan and Yuzu the same questions, like 3-4 times.
Yuzu's English has improved!


For JGP, Shun Sato with the skate of his young life! I was so happy for him.
Sendai has a pretty small pool of skaters and is away from the main hub of skating down south, but there's something about them. They really know how to seize the moment. Takeshi Honda, Shizuka, Yuzu, Rika H. and now Shun to name just a few.
It was nice to see Yuzu congratulate Shun, and notice Shun is wearing the good luck charm Yuzu gave him years ago. :thumbsup:
 
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ruga

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
My highlights:
- KEVIN! In the middle of Chen/Hanyu war we got to enjoy such passionate and dedicated skating combined with beautiful elements. And there are so many unique moments like his aerial flying camel or sit lunge or split slide, they're beautiful to see as many skaters only do very common transitions. And his reaction at K&C was priceless, just pure wholesome joy.


- I don't undertsand how Men's PCS work and at this point I'm too afraid to ask.

- Gabriella and Guillaume were so exquisite, that lift with the voicover almost made me cry. I don't know anything about ice dance, but their performance was enchanting, absolutely deserved those 10s for PCS.

- Very happy for Madison and Evan. They were last qualifiers and grabbed a silver! Again, despite my lack of understanding of this discipline, I still felt that their performance was second only to the French.

- Dear Aliona, I am so sorry that I doubted you and changed my prediction at the last moment :D all 3 axels finally clean and performance was good as always.

- Sasha landed quad flip! Didn't really expect her to land a new jump from the first try but who am I to doubt her.

- Very sad for Alina, she looked so nervous, must be strange to go on the ice knowing that you have little chance to win. I really hope it's not the last time we see her compete internationally this season. She is superb when everything goes well and I wish she can keep showing her best qualities.

- On the other hand, I'm glad that Bradie performed very well and didn't finish dead last as many predicted before. I really liked the music she picked for both programs.
 

ladyjane

Medalist
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Country
Netherlands
Well, I think I've been whining enough about my lost reviews from yesterday, but I'll try and write them up again. A bit shorter perhaps.

Men's
What an event! Although I was saddened about Dmitri Aliev's FS (he started off really nicely with a 4 lutz but then it all fell apart), that was the only real negative of the whole event. Boyang Jin wasn't perfect (had a fall) but did manage to show off his much improved artistic side. Alexander Samarin also had reasons to rejoice, even if his outing wasn't good enough. I like his lines though. Kevin!!!!!!! That was just a great outing for this wonderful skater, and his reaction in the Kiss and Cry really made my day. I love that kind of thing, and I was in tears myself. Yuzu!!!!! Quad lutz and quad loop done well. Not the best skate (missing his usually flawless triple axel) but wonderful to watch and still awfully good. Glad to see there was support in the K&C today, although Yuzu handled it all quite well the day before when through no fault of anyone, except a passport thief outside the sport, he had to sit on his own. What shall I say about Nathan? What a skate! He remains lightfooted as ever, and of course the step sequence at the end is superb and so much fun.

Junior Pairs
Missed out on that one, I'm sorry to say. I'll go and watch the replay.

Junior men
Didn't see all of this event, but was totally blown away by Shun Sato's FS. Talking about reactions in the K&C, his as well as his coach's were priceless.

Junior Ice Dance
Missed most of that too, but did manage to watch the numbers one and two. Very, very close indeed. I suppose people will disagree on who was or should have been first and second, but I for one quite like to see a couple from Georgia winning.

Ice Dance
A bit odd. I'm not really a fan of Victoria and Nikita, but their low scores surprised me. Good for Piper and Paul though after their not so good RD a day earlier. A lovely Free Dance to make up for it. I happen to be a fan of Alexandra and Ivan, and I was pleased to see them move up somewhat in the rankings (although they didn't get a high score either). Madison and Zachary have improved on their FD since Skate Canada, but didn't manage to move me. The other Madison with Evan however, very much did. I love that FD, and the exude such joy in performing it. Gabriella and Guillaume bounced back from their not so good outing in the RD, and had another just insanely good FD. Now, get that great RD back to the level it was at NHK, and I'll be really happy.

Ladies
Never my favourite discipline, but I was happy to watch it. I liked Bradie's FS, much, much better than at Warsaw Cup (where she had a bit of a meltdown) and skated with enjoyment. Rika also was on top of it all, even if she fell with her 4 Salchow - she tried it! Alexandra was stunning with her 4F and other quad jumps. I got a bit overlutzed (a word I made up) with Anna's skate (there were 4 of them - 2 3s and 2 4s) but she had a good showing - the judges thought so too. Good try for the 4F. I really enjoyed watching Alena - I usually do - and was very happy for her that she won the GPF. I have to make a remark about the falls on the quads: somehow these girls manage to fall without losing the flow of the programmes. That's good news. I had hoped for Alina to do a good job, but she had a rough skate. I really felt sorry for her.

That's it for now!
 

heartyxo

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 27, 2019
I could not be happier for Madi and Evan, they took the opportunity and smashed it. After their rollercoaster few years they deserve it so much!
Kevin is the purest.
I'm so glad that Alena slayed and the 3A on the podium was adorable, especially when the dog showed up.
 

ladyjane

Medalist
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Country
Netherlands
I could not be happier for Madi and Evan, they took the opportunity and smashed it. After their rollercoaster few years they deserve it so much!
Kevin is the purest.
I'm so glad that Alena slayed and the 3A on the podium was adorable, especially when the dog showed up.

I forgot to mention the dog. Yes, I liked that too, a lot!
 

snowflake

I enjoy what I like
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Best for me: Nathan Chen, Kevin Aymoz and Shun Sato :hap10:

Also Aliona, Anna and Alexandra(&Tina) :clap:

Sad for Aliev and Zagitova.
 

gsk8

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Country
United-States
Ice Dance
A bit odd. I'm not really a fan of Victoria and Nikita, but their low scores surprised me.

The panel was very strict for both the juniors and seniors in ice dance. They were pretty reserved on the GOEs. Sinitsina and Katsalapov also received a one-point deduction on their choreo slide.
 
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Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Some random thoughts after the U.S. television coverage just now.

Best jump: Hanyu's opening quad loop. The loop is just a beautiful jump anyway you look at it. (Plus, in the kiss and cry we got to see the nearest thing to a disgusted, can-you-believe-it? face that we will ever see from Yuzuru. :laugh: )

Kevin Aymoz. Now that's what I'm talking ABOUT! :rock: Carrying forward the French men's tradition in the spirit of Philippe Candeloro and Laurent Tobel. Making the case for the ISU's proposal to have two programs, a Quadsy McQuadface program and an entertaining one.

In ladies, I was dreading watching Alina Zagitova's performance after seeing the protocols, but to me it wasn't all that bad. She wasn't at her most spirited, but in any other setting it would have been OK.

Bradie Tennell gave a lovely skate. :love: So did Rika Kihira, and good for her going for the quad.

Speaking of possible ISU rule changes, the free skate winner, Anna Schcherbakova, did 4 Lutzes and 2 fips in her 6 non-Axel jumping passes. I wonder if next year the ISU will consider tweaking the Zayak rules for quads and triples to encourage greater technical balance.

Next rule change: I think that the Program Component Scores need to be redone altogether, with different scales for competiioins at different levels. (I don't really see the point in comparing a 7-year-old beginner with a senior world champion in interpretation, etc., using the same scale.) This would allow a greater separation in the PCSs at any particular contest.

In the ladies free skate here, Aliona Kostornaia was clearly the best in Components and deservedly got the highest PCSs. But the next four were

Shcherbakov 69.13
Kihira 68.86
Zagitova 68.79
Tennell 68.33

-- all within a range of eight tenths of a point of each other. The PCSs serve no judging function at all.
 
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tafattsbarn

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 31, 2018
Yuzuru was the clear highlight for me this event. He is just inspiring beyond belief and keeps delivering spellbounding performances. It's too bad about the mistakes in the short and free, but i still think he accomplished something incredible and had a huge personal victory here (landing 5 quads, including his snakes loop, lutz and sal, thereby overcoming a wall he has had in front of him). If he doesn't go for the 4A at worlds, then i hope he keeps in the 3A-3A sequence since it's such a stunner. I'm also surprised how much his lutz has improved, it's easily in the top three or top two quality wise.

Some of Yuzu's scoring is a bit infuriating and i honestly do not understand what he has to do to get +4 and +5 across the board for some of his jumps and elements. His PCS were fair here, but i still think he's above Nathan, but that's a whole other issue that i don't want to get into as it would take all day (and speaking of Nathan and PCS, Kevin should also be above him). Nonetheless, the podium was accurate but i would appreciate more realistic scoring since i do think the gap between first and second was inflated.

I enjoyed Shun Sato a lot, and i'm so happy that he finally had the clean free skate that he deserves! Pter was also very lovely, his classical style is nice.

Heartbroken for Rika, but it's only forward and upwards to go! Anna was the surprise of the ladies for me. Technical issues aside, she has such natural musicality and it's especially wonderful in the short program.

Out of the junior ladies Haein Lee stands out. She's very underrated and deserves better scores in my opinion. Happy to see her have a good competition here.
 

lizardlass

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 26, 2018
OMG AND she's got the dog in a matching outfit. I can't. :laugh:

I'm a dog fanatic myself, so I get it. In her position, I'd have had my giant loving dog beast on the ice, terrorizing everybody. :laugh:
 
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