2018 U.S. Int'l FS Classic Highlights: Your thoughts?

[gsk8]

Hi Folks!

Check out some of our photos from U.S. Classic!

Now that the competition is over, what were your favorite highlights of the event? Feel free to talk about costumes, elements, scores, etc. Everything goes!

We are also looking for those who have a bit of writing skillz! We'd love to see a paragraph of each discipline highlighting the top three along with your thoughts. The staff will be watching and someone may win a free season pass to the competition forums if you haven't already got one Get those creative and technical juices flowing and show us your journalistic abilities! One-liners are welcome, just keep out the snark

A big congrats to the winners below who gave great recaps on previous events and earned a free season pass!

IceBallerina JGP Linz *
Fluture JGP Linz *
MalAssada JGP Kaunas

* Two were selected from Linz as there were no winners from JGP Bratislava

 

[draqq]

My summary: Altitude wrecked almost everyone.

 

[Nika09]

Firstly, congratulations for all the medalists and:
I'm so happy for Brezina getting silver medal!! And like his programs, even though it was too early in the season and surely there were some emptiness.
It was unfortunate season debut for V.Zhou indeed. His LP was good actually, but after that SP it become really hard to make it to the top. Good luck for the next time then.

In ID: I like C/P more than H/D tbh, in FD precisely. I'm not saying they were better, but there's always some "perception" factor in Dance and I'm afraid H/D performances will never get to me...

Congrats Cain/Leduc with well deserved gold medal. Those 30 point gap between them and silver medalists L/M though!!

As for me Satoko Miyahara was the highlight of the whole competition here.
How beautiful is she (rhetorical question) and everything about her: costumes (just obsessed with her one-gloved tango dress), hair styles and accessories, music cuts, programs and of course her skating. She's getting better and better every season, gaining maturity and it seems now she could skate every type of music with the same quality of skating. Few seasons ago I wasn't fully aware of her presence on ice, her programs didn't reach me probably, don't know...but now - just gorgeous!
And...don't want to add anything about her jump issues. Maybe it'll hurt her a lot, but I also know that she will be holding back anyway, so just don't care and want to appreciate her stunning skating for now.

Ladies event in a whole, was best here actually. I also would like to mention Yelim Kim and Yi C.Leung (I love her style in LP so much), who just come up from juniors and did a great job here.
Aside of her performance, LP choreo also was doing very poor job there for Gabby. I mean it's a kind of weird program. And that pink dress...everything was out of it yesterday so. But her SP is good and that style suits her very well.

 

[yume]

Nam Nguyen was the highlight for me in men. He strughle so much in the past two seasons that's i'm glad to see him get some stability.
Miyahara was in her own league artistically. I enjoyed Kim and Leung. Yelim Kim didn't do bad just one week after her silver in juniors. This is the third 4th place for Yi Christy this season. Skating gods, just give this girl a podium.

 

[TontoK]

My main takeaway is that I'm not a big fan of H/D's free dance, although I am a HUGE fan of their skating in general.

I've given some thought since my initial viewing. I think it is missing a personal signature. The next seasons should be dedicated to getting themselves into a one-on-one battle with P/C - leaving other contenders behind. They need to deliver something that others, including P/C can't, and that's their own point of view.

Some people downplay the romantic passion - sexual energy of their skating, but I think that's what makes them unique. It's what they can do that other teams cannot convincingly deliver.

Now, I'm not saying that every musical selection has to be blues or sexy Latin, but their point of view can translate to other dances. For example, a waltz doesn't have to be the bright cheery Strauss variety. It can be a slow burn, to a tempo something like Tennessee waltz. While I don't necessarily recommend that song, it is interesting that many country music waltzes do have that tempo, and it would be original and unique.

The one thing that won't do them any favors is competing with P/C on a lyrical dance. I'm kinda over lyrical anyway, but as much as I'm not a particular P/C fan, H/D aren't going to beat them at that. In fact, no one is.


Edit: I am hopeful that this dance will grow on me. As I wrote, I'm a big fan of theirs, and I want to love the program. I'm on their side.

 

[moses]

I'm not sure how I feel about Hubbell/Donohue's free program which is disappointing because they are my favorite ID team at the moment. At parts it's really beautiful but at parts it seemed really boring...I'm hoping they'll tighten it up over the season. Also, not sure how I feel about the lifts. I recognize a lot of their lifts from previous programs.

I do love their RD though. Excited to see how it grows over the season.

 

[Colonel Green]

Nam's win was really great, since it's really been three rough seasons in a row for him and now things seem like they're really coming together again.

I mostly wasn't impressed with the ice dance programs, but Komatsubara & Koleto's free program probably was the most memorable of the bunch.

In the ladies' event, Satoko's programs are both winners, and will probably be season highlights once she gets them totally clean (and that free program costume is gorgeous). Yi Christy Leung and Kim Ye-lim, two standouts from the JGP thus far, also had strong showings.

 

[4everchan]

nam!

pairs meh

dance : really RJ? nooooooo

ladies : satoko's step sequence in the LP .WOW... and at the same time, her carrot soup in the SP...

 

[solani]

I wonder about Satoko's scores in the FS, has this been discussed already somewhere? I probably missed it.
The ladies are allowed to do 3 combos, 2 two jump combos and one 3 jump combo, right? Satoko did repeat the 3Lz, one got +REP and she also did 3F-2T-2L and 2x 2A-3T. There weren't any deductions for that, so are there any new rules that I missed? I think they should have at least deducted the base value of the last 3T. She would have won anyway, as she should, but the scoring doesn't seem right.
I thought that Satoko looked simply wonderful, I almost forget her jumps when she's skating like that ... really the highlight of the competition.

 

[4everchan]

I wonder about Satoko's scores in the FS, has this been discussed already somewhere? I probably missed it.
The ladies are allowed to do 3 combos, 2 two jump combos and one 3 jump combo, right? Satoko did repeat the 3Lz, one got +REP and she also did 3F-2T-2L and 2x 2A-3T. There weren't any deductions for that, so are there any new rules that I missed? I think they should have at least deducted the base value of the last 3T. She would have won anyway, as she should, but the scoring doesn't seem right.
I thought that Satoko looked simply wonderful, I almost forget her jumps when she's skating like that ... really the highlight of the competition.

i have seen this happen before and i think it's legit... it doesn't make much sense indeed but as long as there is no zayak, you can do that...

 

[solani]

i have seen this happen before and i think it's legit... it doesn't make much sense indeed but as long as there is no zayak, you can do that...

I've just noticed that there was a deduction - 3Lz+REP only had a base value of 4.13. Seems fair.
Looking at this I'm rather impressed that Satoko was able to do the math, change her jump layout and not forget her nice choreo.

 

[Crossover]

Too many competitions within one weekend, so I only watched few clips from the event so far. I tried to be a busy third-timer, but failed. Now the new season has really started which is good.

My biggest surprise from the event is Anthony Ponomarenko's beard and crazy up-hairdo as opposed to his age! I know he really wanted to look mature and older than his one-year older partner, Carreira since they become a senior team now, but come on....He is barely a baby in a sense of the ice dancing world!!! With the same face inherited from his legendary mother, Klimova, I would say to him, big no for the beard yet! Besides, the styling distracted me very much from their skating. Though I quite like the RD.

I'll add more later to the post after catching up more clips of the event.

 

[ladyjane]

I rather liked C/P's Free Dance even if she has become more of a woman than he has become a man. That's all normal as women tend to mature earlier than men. If the beard helps them in getting a more mature appeal: go Anthony. They're both babys in Seniors but they really are very good. I don't understand why H/B got so many more points. I mean, H/B were definitely better (being a really mature couple) than C/P but the differential was just too much for me.

 

[Roast Toast]

Anthony needs to lose the goatee, stat. I don't care if he looks like a baby. Misha tormented us enough last season with his shaving shenanigans. They are very lovely and fluid, just as they were in juniors, but I think they will need a little more grit to make it in the cramped field of US Ice Dance.

R+J mismatch aside, H/D's free dance is just disappointing all around. There is no concept, no build-up, no climax, no nothing. I laughed when she died at the end—now this is supposed to be about Romeo and Juliet? You could have fooled me. My early season prediction is that C/B will be top dog this year. They came mighty close last season anyway.

Satoko is really on another planet when it comes to musical interpretation and detailing and I need about fifty other skaters like her on the circuit.

Jimmy Ma is a hero.

 

[theharleyquinn]

Satoko's SP, Eunsoo's SP, and C/P's free were my favorites.

Satoko's scoring in the FS in particular was strange. No URs called despite several more-than-questionable rotations. We'll have to see how the rest of the early season plays out, but given the stiff calling on everyone else, it didn't make sense. Her laybacks and spins were beautiful though. Generally, I love her programs this year.

On H/D, that free dance just isn't going to contrast well with whatever P/C (or C/B for that matter) have this season. It feels very basic and beneath what they're capable of artistically. I just don't think lyrical is worth forcing, and they're the type of team that can't fake it. Beyond that, the choreography is cliche in some parts (the voiceover in the beginning :noshake and the lifts just seem recycled from last year. I do like the rhythm dance they have, but they need some serious inspiration injected into that free...or a new one.

 

[evasorange]

Satoko's scoring in the FS in particular was strange. No URs called despite several more-than-questionable rotations. We'll have to see how the rest of the early season plays out, but given the stiff calling on everyone else, it didn't make sense.

All this has happened before, and all this will happen again....

 

[Arriba627]

My favorites were: Hubbell & Donahue's SP tango. Enjoyed Cain & Leduc's programs. Seems they have been working hard at skating as a pair rather than as two single skaters. Satoko's SP (and beautiful costume) were wonderful. Not so sure about the FS. So strange to see her fall - but she recovered nicely. How about the Korean ladies? Wow! Watch out! Happy to see Nam learning to cope with his height. Still seems like sometimes he is in slow motion. Very strong fight from Vincent to place 1st in the FS to move up from 6th to 4th. Hope he doesn't overdo it and gives his back time to heal so he is in better shape for Sk Amer.

I was disappointed that 4CC was moved from Colorado Springs to Anaheim, but after seeing how the altitude affected the skaters here in SLC at 4,300 feet, I can't imagine how it would be at 6,000 feet at Colorado Springs. Most seemed totally spent by the end of the program. Some of the pairs looked downright dangerous.

 

[Heleng]

Satoko’s FS program left a huge impression on me. Wow, so avant-garde, edgy, dark, different from anything else she’s ever done. I love that she’s stretching herself artistically and really looking forward to seeing how it develops over the season.

 

[glorybox6]

Biggest takeaway from the weekend was how disappointing and derivative Hubbell/Donohue’s new free dance struck me as. They are so much better than this material.

 

[ancientpeas]

My favorites were: Hubbell & Donahue's SP tango. Enjoyed Cain & Leduc's programs. Seems they have been working hard at skating as a pair rather than as two single skaters. Satoko's SP (and beautiful costume) were wonderful. Not so sure about the FS. So strange to see her fall - but she recovered nicely. How about the Korean ladies? Wow! Watch out! Happy to see Nam learning to cope with his height. Still seems like sometimes he is in slow motion. Very strong fight from Vincent to place 1st in the FS to move up from 6th to 4th. Hope he doesn't overdo it and gives his back time to heal so he is in better shape for Sk Amer.

I was disappointed that 4CC was moved from Colorado Springs to Anaheim, but after seeing how the altitude affected the skaters here in SLC at 4,300 feet, I can't imagine how it would be at 6,000 feet at Colorado Springs. Most seemed totally spent by the end of the program. Some of the pairs looked downright dangerous.

See I would agree with this if it was Europeans because Europeans has more prestige so skaters will attend it pretty much not matter where it is but lots of elite skaters already skip 4CC.

I think if I was a coach and they put the event at altitude and I thought my skater wouldn't do well there I would simply not have them attend, especially if I thought they were in contention at worlds. You don't want to set your skater up to fail right before the biggest competition of the year.