2017 CS Lombardia Trophy Mens SP

[matmuh]

Richard :sad21::sad46: this was the very 1st competition where i watched Richard and he was so awesome and won the competition, after that it didnt go so well, ahh miss him so much

anyway well done boys!! love Alexandr and its great to see him attemp 3A, he has so much potential if only his tech can keep up:agree: and i really enjoy Matteo, his 3A is great! he got all level 4!

Edit: in case anyone missed it or want to watch again Richard's LP from Lombardia 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01dPtTWGAVE, look at all the arm variations on his jumps :luv17: love the one with on hand Tano-one hand on behind :luv17:

 

[solani]

I didn't have time to watch the men's SP and I only had time to watch Shoma's SP now and ... wow, it's great. All the over the top drama I like. And he really is a very very fine skater.

 

[Art&Sport]

Richard :sad21::sad46: this was the very 1st competition where i watched Richard and he was so awesome and won the competition, after that it didnt go so well, ahh miss him so much

anyway well done boys!! love Alexandr and its great to see him attemp 3A, he has so much potential if only his tech can keep up:agree: and i really enjoy Matteo, his 3A is great! he got all level 4!

Edit: in case anyone missed it or want to watch again Richard's LP from Lombardia 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01dPtTWGAVE, look at all the arm variations on his jumps :luv17: love the one with on hand Tano-one hand on behind :luv17:

Thanks for the lovely memory! Richard Dornbush is great, and he had so much potential as a skater. It's just that the sport sort of eats up skaters and spits them out. There's very little room at the top and it's an expensive sport to boot. Not to mention how excessive and OTT the tech demands are. Seemingly Richard is happy taking his life in a different direction now with his college studies and his plans for forging a career apparently in medicine or science. Kudos to Richard!!!

I loved that program on him. It's intricate, wonderfully choreographed and beautifully skated. :luv17:

 

[Bluediamonds09]

I missed what your referencing, but I am interested in knowing.

So, more details, please.

Stephane looked very upset when Dennis's scores were announced. This happened during the men's short program.

 

[skylark]

9.25 and above is way too high for Uno on music interpretation! The judges are nut-balls for Uno's smooth ooze over the ice, which make them think he's a genius interpreter of music. LOL. He's not. Those overly high scores on interpretation suggest Uno can not improve much in that area, when he actually does have room for improvement! But yep, that's figure skating judging. No clue about the subtleties, depth and nuances of performance abilities, and varying lack thereof.

Scoring accurately on PCS would still have Uno in front by a lot. But it is what it is re ineptitude and politics on judging panels. Many times the placements do fall in line overall where they maybe should be, but it's often debatable on some specific scoring, etc.

Spot on. Sonia Bianchetti predicted years ago that this would happen. The judges are expected to evaluate far too many of the artistic elements on the day, in the moment. They have to work really fast just to award GOE fairly. So the components score gets short shrift because they end up relying on reputation and what they expect from the skater in general.

 

[formersk8ter]

Brown deserves a slight edge over Shoma on interpretation and composition, certainly no less than Shoma.

9.25 and above is way too high for Uno on music interpretation! The judges are nut-balls for Uno's smooth ooze over the ice, which make them think he's a genius interpreter of music. LOL. He's not.

I could not disagree with you more. If Uno does not deserve a 9.25 for interpretation, then who does? He is on equal footing, interpretively, with Patrick and Yuzuru, probably a bit better. Jason Brown has some wonderful qualities and sells the heck out of his programs, but does not "interpret" much.

As a professional violinist who has performed the Four Seasons more times than I can count, I think Shoma's interpretation of Winter is better than any skater I've ever seen.

 

[deedee1]

Shoma skated like the program is old and seasoned. Impressive, especially for this time of year.

Hearing a very nice compliment, especially when it is from Violet Bliss, or should I say by Violet Bliss???:scratch:, anyway the point is for me it's V Bliss who said it, makes my day. Thanks! ^^

 

[Violet Bliss]

Hearing a very nice compliment, especially when it is from Violet Bliss, or should I say by Violet Bliss???:scratch:, anyway the point is for me it's V Bliss who said it, makes my day. Thanks! ^^

Why does it mean more from me? I've always appreciated Shoma's skating. As for that post, of all the good things I could say about his performance yesterday, that particular quality stood out for me so I summed it up with that statement of observation.

 

[NoNameFace]

I'm seriously late for this part like last season late, but since watched some of SPs (still not all sadly...), I though I'll post my impressions – apologies for those offended by my lack of COP/GOE/jumping knowledge!

So happy for Brendan, to see him focused and ready. The program itself feels not a bit 'detached' yet and bland, BUT it is its first showing andwith right mileage and more of Brendan himself in it is will become a good vehicle. I'm happy to see him continuing and capitalizing on last season's success and progress – watching him, I never feel this 'omg will he fall/succeed' impression, his skating went a long road and became solid, but relaxed and easy for me at the same time; from my side, there's only a positive anticipation about every Brendan's performance, how he'll work with music, character. I love – like last season – this understated, relaxed focus and control of his skating, he may not be the most flashy,expressive skater, but he has his 'kick' of it, ther's a certain refinement and elegance about him. And of course – I'm in love with his modern, classy, elegant style and appearance/styling (hair as usual, one of the best in business!). I do wish there would be more fluidity in his upper body movement, more punctuation in movement, but the program will evolve and I have my trust in Brendan. Over the moon for him medalling!!! I have to re-watch his FS though

Deniss got for me to the point of me not caring that much over his jumps' execution as much as him being on ice and performing with such sublime grace and elegance. There is so much resemblance and refinement of Lambiel that my heart want to sing about it – apart for spins, there is that signature musical sensibility and sublime treatment over music Lambiel had, now seen in Deniss' work. There is that integrity of upper body movement from Deniss, edge work, accentuating musical accents, all very seamless and natural, unforced...I am smply glad, seeing all of this, that Lambiel gave Deniss his time, dedication, experience, advice and expertise to make him an entirely new skater althogether for past few seasons together. This level of 'thoughfulness' and control over the whole performance Labiel has is very rare and I'm happy to see it maturing in Deniss already. There is a soft lyricism in Deniss' expression, overall quality of his skate in terms of package is just amazing for me. So much care, detail put there, if only there was that decisiveness, sharpness and confidence about jumps – I hope it will be there soon. This 'Stephane ingredient' in Deniss for me is very prominent, yet it is absolutely no copy, it is not 'heavy' in reception watching him. Lambiel just gave his tools and purpose while Deniss uses them to build his own image by himself.

The same level of 'thoughfulness', 'ownership' over whole performance and control of every aspect of skating is applicable for Jason in my opinion, even magnified by his strong, prominent personality. The edge of using 'Hamilton' already gives him a 'statement moment' on ice I feel – he's kind of breaking it for masses, making it his own signature, which for me is a quality of a great, amture performer taking total responsibility and ownership of the effect put on ice. But then – Jason for me makes every music, every theme looking entirely 'his', he just gets the theme, goes to the stage and owns it fully, which is one of my most loved features of Jason: he gets into role, character, vibe 100% with no reservation nor doubt ince the very beginning. I love that choreography reflects so easily on music, beat and lyrical layer of it, which then enable Jason to perform it very naturally and efortlessly-looking. He totally proves by that SP performance that he lives to perform, he loves giving the joy he feels himself to the people, those emaotions he feels. I understand some people are not taking Jason as a valuable skater/competitior due to the lack of a stable quad performed, but this SP is cementing my view even more that I'd rather love/appreciate Jason more when he gets that quad than miss/ignore his uniqueness and full-rounded performance ability with sublime skill. I want Jason with all his kicks, spirals, insane spins, cray footwork, facial expressions than anything else Jason is supposed to be according to many people. This kind of natual performance ability canot be bought or learned easily.

Finally Shoma – and I'll use same opinion I used already about Carolina's SP. To take such 'big' music, theme and not let is overpower, overshadow you, your performance, choreography, effort, but make the contrary and let is empower you to make you and your skating take the lead and pop out is a rare skill and unique feature, which Shoma did for me by his SP performance. And I won't lie – I was crazy sceptical about this Vivaldi 'Winter' SP, but boy, Shoma did his magic again. The drama, tension building reflected by choreography and his movement ovrall is magnificent, spellbinding. The program just flows freely and is limited only by Shoma himself and his movement – I see even more 'ownership' and control from his this year than previously about whole performance. The musicality is great, both in choreography in general and in Shoma's movement (love particularly those movement by hands, probably hated by majority and as usual – spins and step sequence so in music, reflecting on tempo changes). Aside of any technicalities, point, comaprisons etc. - this is totally Shoma program to kill, highlighting his best qualities, musical sensibility and ability to mold music into his very own way of expression. The music is classical, kind of severe, limited, defined, yet Shoma modernizes it for me, adding sensual, emotional touch to it, creating a space inside of it in not forceful, but natual way. Don't know if he deserved on 7, 8 or 9 PCS components – he moved my imagination by his performance and that's what matter to me right now.

Now I'm off to International Classic threads for Men's SP and SD, so much writing to do