2019 Four Continents Men's Short Program

[NoNameFace]

So... 'Skating clean and in final group' are now determinants and justification of PCS blandant inflation (not really even speaking of boost which has rather positive & motivating connotation while this done today is more toxic for a skater than not)? Sure thing, but not all wants to live through such elevated standards. Also, last time I saw PCS categories, there was no 'SC (skating clean)' or 'FG (final group)'. Would love to see judges actually paying attention on what is happening on the ice, how skater uses skates and how inferior/superior it is in comparison with those who already skated. Not only today's SP judging lacked strenght and consequence in tech calls, but also a basic sense of recognition of PCS categories. And then ppl swore off figure skating, can't really wonder about that when there is an abuse made of pumping a false sense of confidence about perfect technique and high skating skills/performance skill...

Having ability to jump quads should never get a skater a false sense of superiority when they are more called than not. Making such precedens like today's could build an off feel of confidence and denial about what really happened. I wonder if US Fed will be able to keep on that going forward. I wish though Vincent himself would sit with his team and try to review his jumps objectively for his own good as tech panel failed at it today. No one denies he is capable of something, but it should be stress put on HOW the capability realizes itself in action. Even I could tell those quads AND axel were off on rotation. Waiting then for an outburst after Worlds if he gets called again...

 

[karne]

What a long day. Some thoughts:

- Mark: I was so nervous for Mark, so happy when he stood up the 3A and everything else. He was on short notice for this comp, and I am not sure if he's continuing after this season, so he did very well. I was so shattered when it looked like he wasn't going to make the free.

- Donovan: CUTE LITTLE BALL OF FIRE. Adorable, I love him, he's so much fun to watch.

- Andrew: This is what I wanted to show you! That was the best I have ever seen him skate, and I've seen some excellent skates from him at Nationals. I was beside myself with joy at the end of the skate and then lost it entirely when his score came up. One down, three to go, more PBs please. (I also find it hilarious that apparently people have been approaching Jordan today and asking for signatures and photographs...and then wishing him luck. )

- Brendan: Oh. my. god. I have not seen him hit a toe all week and he landed some butter 4S yesterday...and then...that 4T-3T was so gorgeous I wanted to melt in my seat. I feel like he got ditched a bit much on the score, but at least he kept going after the pop.

- Jason: Oh, my darling. Not two minutes before that program he did a perfect 3A right in front of me. The program is still a masterpiece and stunning and gorgeous and he still needs all the PCS for it.

- Shoma: I'm sorry but I cannot agree with a 91 for a mistake on the quad and a mistake on the planned 3S-3T. I don't think we'd seen a planned 3S-3T since the first group of ladies. WTH. I know he's injured etc etc but that's not an excuse for that score.

- Boyang: I was so happy to see Boyang skate relatively well, given the season he's had so far! Keep fighting Boyang!

- Vincent: Should I even bother? You all know what I'm going to say and then you'll all make snide remarks about how much I hate him. I don't hate him. I just call what I see and he makes it really obvious. The jumbotron replays were even more obvious. I was absolutely flabbergasted when that score came up and not in a good way. I cannot believe they didn't even call the Salchow because that was really bad.

And finally:

A word for Kai Xiang Chew, who is the only man here who doesn't get to skate his free. I liked his program and thought it suited him well, had some good choreography. I hope he doesn't get too down on himself and comes back strong next year.

 

[readernick]

The other things you have cited may apply, if one shares those opinions. The ones I've highlighted should be absolutely irrelevant.

They both had charming performances with good solid content. I think they were better than some of the stumbles and missed combos and general flopping about we saw later in the competition.

I agree they should be irrelevant but they aren’t. Reality. But, I do stand by other assessments, too. Carillo is charming . His performance abilitly is an 8 or 9 but his other PCS marks aren’t near that level.

 

[Skater Boy]

Happy for Cha. A bit surprised Shoma didn't own it but he sttil lcan win gold. Vincent really made a statement. Brown still has wonderful skating but I must admit the lack of a quad is a bit disturbing now a days despite LOVELY skating. Great skating - all top ten did not fall. Bit worried about Nam with the ankle - that is concerning moreso in the long. I enjoyed Keegan a lot. My dream podium now would be Cha, Shoma and Keegan or Nam in no particular order Those four intrgue me - though I dont think anyone can touch Jason for skating skills.

 

[readernick]

Anett Pötzsch is the 1980 Olympic Figure skating champion in Ladies singles. She was the technical specialist tonight, that is, the one making all the calls. (Shin was her assistant)

Anett seems really nice. I think she may be too nice to be a technical specialist.

 

[readernick]

Happy for Cha. A bit surprised Shoma didn't own it but he sttil lcan win gold. Vincent really made a statement. Brown still has wonderful skating but I must admit the lack of a quad is a bit disturbing now a days despite LOVELY skating. Great skating - all top ten did not fall. Bit worried about Nam with the ankle - that is concerning moreso in the long. I enjoyed Keegan a lot. My dream podium now would be Cha, Shoma and Keegan or Nam in no particular order Those four intrgue me - though I dont think anyone can touch Jason for skating skills.

I think Shoma has slightly better SS than Jason. They both have great edges but Shoma has a bit more speed. But, none of the others are close SS wise. But, Shoma should really be home resting. He is injured. He should not force himself to perform when injured. He keeps doing it. It is dangerous.

 

[el henry]

Ah, Jason. Still a beautiful program, but I can’t quarrel with the scores with an axel error. (Although I can quarrel with relative PCS, but after five years, I’m accustomed to it.

And Jun my little cutie, you sell the heck out of those programs that I have no right to like, but I do. Ya done good.:agree:

But mostly, tonight, :

Andrew Dodds! I had no idea (and @Karne, I know you did). A find for me.

And the skater I have been “stanning” since August 2017, but with every comp, I’m delighted that more people love him: Donovan! please let some rich person give you and Gregorio lots of money for the training you deserve

 

[Ichatdelune]

Just checked the results (I'm still at work) and :eeking: What in the world happened????? Like I'm over the moon that Junhwan is sitting in second place but ahead of BOTH Jin Boyang and Uno Shoma??? I mean I get that if URs weren't called Vincent Zhou in 1st isn't that strange but like what... And Jason got less PCS than Uno Shoma? I'll have to catch up as soon as I can, this is insane

 

[karne]

Speaking of lenient... aren't they supposed to get deductions for finishing a second or more after the music? There were plenty of borderline situations with that tonight.

Contrary to popular myth, the length of the music has nothing to do with it. The deductions start coming when you're over the max allowed time, which is 2:50. Your music can finish at 2:45 and you can keep going for another five seconds and not get a deduction.

The real WAZROBBED came way down the list.

Nobody was screwed harder than Dodds and Carillo were.

There were a good number of ho-hum performances by other skaters that should not have beaten those performances.

Oh, you can come and sit next to me.

But mostly, tonight, :

Andrew Dodds! I had no idea (and @Karne, I know you did). A find for me.

*happy smug grin*

I have been dying for him to show you all what I knew. And today he even showed me.

It's the first time he's ever scored over 70 - internationally definitely and I think maybe even not at Nationals. I think his previous ISU PB was like 67 or something.

 

[Tonichelle]

I'd love to know how a seven-time Austrian national champion ended up coaching figure skating in Alaska.

He was married to an Alaskan Figure Skater for a while but I am unsure if they met in AK or if they met together in some other skating capacity.

 

[Ichatdelune]

So I've sneakily been reading the thread (which is pretty hard to do when you have to make 12 worksheets to make, kids are asking you questions every 10 minutes, and your manager is sitting behind you), and so far I found out that Jason made two mistakes, Uno Shoma has sprained his ankle again and had a disaster skate, Jin Boyang did relatively okay, Vincent Zhou landed everything and the tech panel was non-existent. I'm still curious about Keegan Messing and Tanaka Keiji but I haven't got there yet. Boy I have a lot to catch up on...

 

[anonymoose_au]

Oh no! I totally forgot this was on?! I thought I put an alarm on my phone

I'll have to raid the video thread and hope I can catch up! (I did see on Insta that Donovan C had a good skate, you go, son!)

 

[Shanshani]

So I've sneakily been reading the thread (which is pretty hard to do when you have to make 12 worksheets to make, kids are asking you questions every 10 minutes, and your manager is sitting behind you), and so far I found out that Jason made two mistakes, Uno Shoma has sprained his ankle again and had a disaster skate, Jin Boyang did relatively okay, Vincent Zhou landed everything and the tech panel was non-existent. I'm still curious about Keegan Messing and Tanaka Keiji but I haven't got there yet. Boy I have a lot to catch up on...

I've been reading threads too since I couldn't catch most of the competition (also work) but I did catch Shoma and imo he did about as well as he could reasonably be expected to do given his ankle situation. I'm not sure why he's even attending this competition if he's spraining his ankle every other week.

 

[DSQ]

(Still catching up)

A lot of lovely jazz covers. Love Nicolas Nadeau, he wins in the handsome competition.

Andrew was a-maz-ing.

 

[Ichatdelune]

I've been reading threads too since I couldn't catch most of the competition (also work) but I did catch Shoma and imo he did about as well as he could reasonably be expected to do given his ankle situation. I'm not sure why he's even attending this competition if he's spraining his ankle every other week.

I just caught up, was about to comment that Uno Shoma hadn't had that much of a disaster. I had expected a splatfest (three times sprained, by gods love them ankles...). Considering he didn't land on his back and also did a huge 3A I thought it was a great job from him! And I'm not even that much of a fan of him.

 

[DSQ]

(Catching up)

Shoma UNOs step sequence was awesome but jump quality was poor. He injured isn’t he? I hope he gets we soon.

 

[DSQ]

(Catching up)

W-o-w. Vincent really leveled up performance wise. Those jumps were edgy but if the tech panel is okay with them who am I to judge.

 

[Ichatdelune]

Okay, now that I did catch up (minus Andrew Dodds, forgot I hadn't watched him because I was too busy getting dressed and inhailing caffeine) I have a few amendments to make and some additional thoughts.

- Jason only slipped on his 3A. I could see that coming from the moment he was off the ice, with an axis that tilted you can't land a jump unless you are Hanyu Yuzuru and sacrifice your ligaments. I have no idea why I thought he had made two mistakes, I blame sleep-depreived eyes.

- Jin Boyang stayed on his feet during the quad lutz, so it was overall a pretty succesful performance. Yes, I saw the Chinese Nats video, but I still remember GP Helsinki and the disaster there first. That's why I can't see him winning it for now too, but then you don't bet with the men.

- Vincent Zhou's PCS is... interesting. I am close to having no feelings at all redarding him, but well same SS as Keegan Messing is not what I'd expected. Also, I am too sleep-deprived and already terribly lacking in UR discerning skills, but even I could tell his 3A seemed lacking (and his quad lutz had a lot of ice). I don't know, a lenient panel did give Junhwan (who is my darling as everyone will know) the biggest smile in the KnC this season, but it is a sport and all... If he ends up winning this I will feel very weird though.

- Keegan Messing got all level 3s for his spins, was surprised. He's an excellent spinner, and hadn't he got level 4s at the GPs? For other things, nice save on the 3A. I still think he did best at SC this season.

- The popstar did stumble but didn't pop, was a nice surprise. I personally don't connect to his skating that much, but forget the quad and it was quite enjoyable.

 

[anonymoose_au]

OK, I caught up! Although there were three or four skaters that I couldn't find videos for...I'm the most bummed about not been able to see Yulian skate, although reading the thread I see he had some difficulty?

How good was Donovan?! OMG, I loooove him, he's so cute! It's so nice of his coach to coach him for free and apparently he also choreographs for him too? Nice.

Mark Webster was fun! I liked the program and was somewhat amused when his own name came up as one of his coaches, I guess they can't put "Himself" on it.

Andrew Dodds was the bomb! Fabulous skate! Looking forward to what he can bring to the FS!

Brendan - the first combo I was like and then with the pop I was like "Oh noes!" Hoping he can come back in the FS!

I quite enjoyed Vincent...although it was so odd, I read ahead a bit and saw all the talk of UR not been called, but for the life of me I couldn't see them until the slo-mos. Weird! Good thing I'm not on a tech panel! Most of the time I was like "Yeah that looks OK".

Everyone in the last group was fabulous! I was rather worried about Shoma though and kept wondering which ankle is sprained and wincing the whole way through, although if it's his left ankle that last spin where he grabs the bottom of his skate made me "Ow!" the most. I hope he's OK!

Jason was boss! 3A aside, how good was that skate! What a legend!

Boyang was my fave though! Which is so funny because a few years back I didn't care for him at all, but then Spider-Boyang came along . I really love the air guitar in the step sequence and that 4 lutz! SO. HUGE!!

I have no idea when the FS is on, but knowing my luck it's probably in the middle of the night Aus time and as an old person I can't stay up that late

ETA: OK I see it's on at 2pm Sunday, when I'll be at work and unable to watch, do'h!

Also, I forgot to mention Junlieeet! Love the clock hands

 

[DSQ]

He quite clearly is significantly worse than Cha, Messing and Jin. Hint: look at his skates. Not only is he slow, his steps and turns are laboured, his kneework makes Stepanova's look like Virtue's, his edges are shallow. Do I even need to touch on the (bare minimum) transitions? Don't even talk about performance and interpretation TBH, comparing this to Abbott is insulting Abbott

I think that’s unfair. I don’t have the technical knowledge to talk about transitions but for me I’d agree it wasn’t effortless but it wasn’t laboured. Personally I think he came across as powerful and it matched the feeling of the music.

As for performance and interpretation I saw a noticeable improvement in nuance and feeling by Vincent.

Was he the best of the bunch? No but his PSC didn’t score him as the best. Technically he was very good and it made the difference.

I’m very happy for him and expect by Worlds his jumps will improve further.