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- Jun 26, 2012
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It was rather exciting to watch the figure skating at YOG as there were going to be podium results. I enjoyed both events featured today, the Free Skates in Pairs as well as the men's.
It seems the Canadian subscription to being 4th at a YOG seems destined to continue (I think it was Colonel Green who mentioned it here on one of the threads)...both in Pairs and in men today.
Chris was a bit off in his commentary today, especially in the men's. The crowd was fantastic, supportive, and hopefully less overwhelming to these young skaters.
First off the pairs. As usual some falls, but on the whole it was well skated. I think it was a good experience for the German team, who still have to play catch up a little bit. The same applies to the Ukranian team, whom however did manage to skate without a fall. I I liked watching the Americans who, funnily enough, managed fine on the SBS and throw jumps, more often than not the American nemesis, but had a fall in a lift. That was pretty scary, but I can say 'funnily' because they looked okay and continued skating (for a short while as it was near the end). It did cause them to fall back a bit in the standings. Wang and Huang had (to me) the best costumes of the day, and despite a fall looked pretty good as pirates of the Caribbean. Hurrah for the Canadians who had an excellent skate today and managed to climb in the standings. Not enough for a medal but a lot of promise there. I really am getting old, because when the Georgian couple started to skate I couldn't help but be reminded of Philippe Candeloro's iconic skate at the Olympics in 1998 (!). They also had a fall regrettably, but were 3rd in the FS and 3rd overall. Good for them! Diana and Ilya really showed a lot of promise as well, especially technically, and had nice costumes into the bargain. What shall I say about Apollinariia and Dmitry? Yeah, they need SBS triples in the future, but those throws and also the triple twist were just superb. The height was stupifying. Such a lovely togetherness today in the skate as well. A well deserved win.
The men's event was also well worth the watch. I won't discuss all the skates (there's 15 of them), but will go into my personal highlights/lowlights and the top 3 (which also had a major highlight). I felt really sorry for Daniel Mrazek who experienced a disastrous skate. He still managed to pull off some jumps in the second half of the programme, but it was not his day. Noah Bodenstein from Switzerland did have his. Nice to see the local boy do well before the home crowd. I enjoyed Yudong Chen really picking it up today (he went from 10th to 6th), while Younghyun Cha turned out to be a real performer in the making. Great to see. I was impressed by Aleksa Rakic yesterday, and even more so today. He may not have any quads yet or a triple axel, but he's so elegant and interesting to watch. My little favourite Samsonov was a bit hit and miss today. A quad lutz together with some pops and a fall. A pity, but still a bronze. Mozalev had a good skate, even though there was a fall as well. Not so interesting to watch though. The absolute highlight of the day (and the competition) for me was Yuma Kagyama's skate. A wonderful Free Skate with two quads, great skating altogether and just a treat to watch him perform. I was hoping for him to do well, as he is good in returning from a lower placement, and he nailed it. The Kiss and Cry moment when he and his choreographer (?, I don't know, his father coaches him and this was a woman) realised he had won, was so beautiful and moving.
Great day of Figure Skating. That's all for now.
It seems the Canadian subscription to being 4th at a YOG seems destined to continue (I think it was Colonel Green who mentioned it here on one of the threads)...both in Pairs and in men today.
Chris was a bit off in his commentary today, especially in the men's. The crowd was fantastic, supportive, and hopefully less overwhelming to these young skaters.
First off the pairs. As usual some falls, but on the whole it was well skated. I think it was a good experience for the German team, who still have to play catch up a little bit. The same applies to the Ukranian team, whom however did manage to skate without a fall. I I liked watching the Americans who, funnily enough, managed fine on the SBS and throw jumps, more often than not the American nemesis, but had a fall in a lift. That was pretty scary, but I can say 'funnily' because they looked okay and continued skating (for a short while as it was near the end). It did cause them to fall back a bit in the standings. Wang and Huang had (to me) the best costumes of the day, and despite a fall looked pretty good as pirates of the Caribbean. Hurrah for the Canadians who had an excellent skate today and managed to climb in the standings. Not enough for a medal but a lot of promise there. I really am getting old, because when the Georgian couple started to skate I couldn't help but be reminded of Philippe Candeloro's iconic skate at the Olympics in 1998 (!). They also had a fall regrettably, but were 3rd in the FS and 3rd overall. Good for them! Diana and Ilya really showed a lot of promise as well, especially technically, and had nice costumes into the bargain. What shall I say about Apollinariia and Dmitry? Yeah, they need SBS triples in the future, but those throws and also the triple twist were just superb. The height was stupifying. Such a lovely togetherness today in the skate as well. A well deserved win.
The men's event was also well worth the watch. I won't discuss all the skates (there's 15 of them), but will go into my personal highlights/lowlights and the top 3 (which also had a major highlight). I felt really sorry for Daniel Mrazek who experienced a disastrous skate. He still managed to pull off some jumps in the second half of the programme, but it was not his day. Noah Bodenstein from Switzerland did have his. Nice to see the local boy do well before the home crowd. I enjoyed Yudong Chen really picking it up today (he went from 10th to 6th), while Younghyun Cha turned out to be a real performer in the making. Great to see. I was impressed by Aleksa Rakic yesterday, and even more so today. He may not have any quads yet or a triple axel, but he's so elegant and interesting to watch. My little favourite Samsonov was a bit hit and miss today. A quad lutz together with some pops and a fall. A pity, but still a bronze. Mozalev had a good skate, even though there was a fall as well. Not so interesting to watch though. The absolute highlight of the day (and the competition) for me was Yuma Kagyama's skate. A wonderful Free Skate with two quads, great skating altogether and just a treat to watch him perform. I was hoping for him to do well, as he is good in returning from a lower placement, and he nailed it. The Kiss and Cry moment when he and his choreographer (?, I don't know, his father coaches him and this was a woman) realised he had won, was so beautiful and moving.
Great day of Figure Skating. That's all for now.
