Men
- A surprisingly okay men's event? Not without errors, but aside from a few people from whom it's frankly expected (looking at your Samohin), a large number of volatile skaters managed at least a decent showing.
- Samarin getting higher PCS than Aliev despite falling while Aliev didn't is even more preposterous than his PCS often is, because here it can't even be accounted for by any sort of national bias. Dmitri is the better skate by far, he skated better here, and he's also Russian. He should have a healthy margin on Samarin.
- Ignatov has strong jumps, not much else at the moment.
- Bad landing on the Lutz aside, Deniss was in very good form (I noted no "Two Men in Love" for Russian audiences).
- When Shoma fell on his quad flip I was bracing myself for the worst, but the rest went fine. Now fingers crossed for the free skate.
- Nam seems to be in a place where he's delivering his content reasonably reliably. GOEs aren't high, but he's getting the job done, and he certainly had the cleanest of the three "Blues for Klook" programs in this segment.
Ladies
- Evgenia's Grand Prix season looks like it will have a reasonably satisfying conclusion. This was a strong performance and she got the short program lead (the free skate lead will be out of reach bar disaster from Trusova) for an enthusiastic home crowd.
- For Trusova, her reaction to the fluke fall heading into her starting pose was endearing. Capably skated, but to me this program doesn't showcase her best features as a performer.
- Bell, the program is fun. She got lucky that Satoko kind of tanked. Speaking of which...
- Satoko.:sad21:
Pairs
- Boikova/Kozlovskii impressed me when I saw them live at SCI last year, and they've certainly been going from strength to strength so far this season (after a creaky start in Shanghai).
- Tarasova/Morozov, sigh. It looked like they were going to deliver a perfect short program, and then Vladimir messed up the easiest elements in the whole thing. With these two they just always seem to self-sabotage.
- Stolbova/Novoselov look like they'll be a good team going forward.
- Hase/Seegert have such lovely short programs, and they really should be in third place here, though seeing as they never quite deliver in the free, it probably won't end up mattering.
- I was surprised that Walsh/Michaud showed up with a completely new short program, and they had their best short program skate probably since 2019 Canadian Nationals, so good for them. The previous competitions were a bit of a struggle this season.
- Ziegler/Kiefer also seemed to have gotten back on track finally, even if this wasn't a perfect skate.
Ice dance
- Sinitsina/Katsalapov are in first as expected. Despite their inflated GOEs, I do like the program.
- Gilles/Poirier got the job done, and it's heartening that they basically matched their SCI RD score outside of Canada.
- Hurtado/Khaliavin are in third as I predicted, but after their weak performance it's only because the Poles blew their shot at taking the bronze medal with their own errors. I really don't know what's going on with these two. At the end of last season it looked like they were consolidating their position as Spain's clear #1, but this year they're a mess and if the Spanish fed was choosing right now it's clear Smart/Diaz would be going to Worlds. H/K have a lot of work to do.
- As mentioned, Kaliszek/Spodyriev blew a golden (well, bronze) opportunity with that egregious flub on the pattern. They're fortunate to even be in fourth, as I'd have them clearly behind the Lithuanians.
- Speaking of them, Reed/Ambrulevicius have two really good programs this year, and they're skating this RD very well. I enjoy hearing Laura Osnes always.
- Not a very good day for recent Junior World champion dance teams. I was especially sad for Marjorie & Zach, since they'd been making steady progress through their first three events, so that error on the Finnstep has to be a bit of a shock.
- A surprisingly okay men's event? Not without errors, but aside from a few people from whom it's frankly expected (looking at your Samohin), a large number of volatile skaters managed at least a decent showing.
- Samarin getting higher PCS than Aliev despite falling while Aliev didn't is even more preposterous than his PCS often is, because here it can't even be accounted for by any sort of national bias. Dmitri is the better skate by far, he skated better here, and he's also Russian. He should have a healthy margin on Samarin.
- Ignatov has strong jumps, not much else at the moment.
- Bad landing on the Lutz aside, Deniss was in very good form (I noted no "Two Men in Love" for Russian audiences).
- When Shoma fell on his quad flip I was bracing myself for the worst, but the rest went fine. Now fingers crossed for the free skate.
- Nam seems to be in a place where he's delivering his content reasonably reliably. GOEs aren't high, but he's getting the job done, and he certainly had the cleanest of the three "Blues for Klook" programs in this segment.
Ladies
- Evgenia's Grand Prix season looks like it will have a reasonably satisfying conclusion. This was a strong performance and she got the short program lead (the free skate lead will be out of reach bar disaster from Trusova) for an enthusiastic home crowd.
- For Trusova, her reaction to the fluke fall heading into her starting pose was endearing. Capably skated, but to me this program doesn't showcase her best features as a performer.
- Bell, the program is fun. She got lucky that Satoko kind of tanked. Speaking of which...
- Satoko.:sad21:
Pairs
- Boikova/Kozlovskii impressed me when I saw them live at SCI last year, and they've certainly been going from strength to strength so far this season (after a creaky start in Shanghai).
- Tarasova/Morozov, sigh. It looked like they were going to deliver a perfect short program, and then Vladimir messed up the easiest elements in the whole thing. With these two they just always seem to self-sabotage.
- Stolbova/Novoselov look like they'll be a good team going forward.
- Hase/Seegert have such lovely short programs, and they really should be in third place here, though seeing as they never quite deliver in the free, it probably won't end up mattering.
- I was surprised that Walsh/Michaud showed up with a completely new short program, and they had their best short program skate probably since 2019 Canadian Nationals, so good for them. The previous competitions were a bit of a struggle this season.
- Ziegler/Kiefer also seemed to have gotten back on track finally, even if this wasn't a perfect skate.
Ice dance
- Sinitsina/Katsalapov are in first as expected. Despite their inflated GOEs, I do like the program.
- Gilles/Poirier got the job done, and it's heartening that they basically matched their SCI RD score outside of Canada.
- Hurtado/Khaliavin are in third as I predicted, but after their weak performance it's only because the Poles blew their shot at taking the bronze medal with their own errors. I really don't know what's going on with these two. At the end of last season it looked like they were consolidating their position as Spain's clear #1, but this year they're a mess and if the Spanish fed was choosing right now it's clear Smart/Diaz would be going to Worlds. H/K have a lot of work to do.
- As mentioned, Kaliszek/Spodyriev blew a golden (well, bronze) opportunity with that egregious flub on the pattern. They're fortunate to even be in fourth, as I'd have them clearly behind the Lithuanians.
- Speaking of them, Reed/Ambrulevicius have two really good programs this year, and they're skating this RD very well. I enjoy hearing Laura Osnes always.
- Not a very good day for recent Junior World champion dance teams. I was especially sad for Marjorie & Zach, since they'd been making steady progress through their first three events, so that error on the Finnstep has to be a bit of a shock.