2019 Skate Canada Day 2: Thoughts and Highlights

[fzztsimmons]

My disco brits got on the podium!!! And thrilled for Piper & Paul, I was entranced by their free dance and I loved Piper's disbelief at their scores!! Ice dance podium had me very happy!
Not that shocked by ladies, but glad that Zhenya fought back with a strong free, and I hope she feels happier and more confident with it.

Highlight of the men's event was Nam for me, props to him for skating after Hanyu, and he just seemed to absorb all that energy and roll with it. Full on cackling as he kept giving finger guns to the audience!

 

[TallyT]

For a start, I was gobsmacked that events in Canada weren't in the wee hours for me for once, can we have more of it? Meant that for the first time I decided to seriously watch some pairs who weren't Sui/Han. It still scares me even more than the quad girls, but I did rather love the young Russians whose names I have yet to learn to spell, and the Canadians Liubov and Charlie (I am still deeply enamoured of his superb nose )

Dance was still too early to drag me out of bed, but watching later, I think I can fangirl the disco Brits right proper

The men's field.... yes, it seemed unbalanced to an almost comical degree but by god, Nam, Keiji (even after the accident) and Camden (in his first GP) especially stepped up and did everything they could to challenge. Nam's free especially was sheer untrammelled joy for the relief-giddy and wildly appreciative audience and for him, I defy anyone but a grouch to watch it without a silly grin on their face.

And Yuzuru... well. Yuzuru.

 

[Pantsu]

2nd Grand Prix and the sport won again.
Sasha, Rika, Young are on the podium and all have ultra jumps. I hope Young You gets her second assignment and goes to GPF

 

[Mishaminion]

2nd Grand Prix and the sport won again.
Sasha, Rika, Young are on the podium and all have ultra jumps. I hope Young You gets her second assignment and goes to GPF

Young You really deserves it. Her SP score was very impressive, if she can get the 3A more consistent she is a threat.

 

[Bluediamonds09]

I’m confused. Young You’s combinations in her lp: 3lutz-3toe, 3lutz-eu-3sal, and 2A-3toe. Is she allowed to do that? Maybe I just don’t understand the rules. Because if she can do those combinations, why don’t other skaters without triple axels do those types of difficult combinations?

 

[rollerblade]

Young You repeats two different triples: 3Z and 3T. Why is that not allowed? It would be better for her base value if she repeats the 3A instead of 3T, but she would have to alter her combos to accommodate.

 

[*~RussianBleux~*]

I’m confused. Young You’s combinations in her lp: 3lutz-3toe, 3lutz-eu-3sal, and 2A-3toe. Is she allowed to do that? Maybe I just don’t understand the rules. Because if she can do those combinations, why don’t other skaters without triple axels do those types of difficult combinations?

It’s because the 3A takes up a jumping block which allows her to add an extra triple in combination. You are only allowed to repeat two triples. Young repeats the 3L and 3T. She also has 3Lo, 3S, 3F, and her allotment of 2As in her layout. Now let’s take the 3A away and look at the exact same layout. What could you put there instead assuming you don’t have a quad, since you can’t repeat anymore triples or 2A? Only a planned double jump, which won’t pull high GOE and may hurt your PCS. So for the skaters without a 3A or quad the solution is to move the 3S off the second lutz and put it in place of the 3A in combination with doubles. So the typical combinations would be something like 3L+3T, 2A+3T, and 3S+2+2.

Having the 3A not only allows her to do 3A but add an extra triple jump into the program in combination. So the points you can gain aren’t limited only to the value of the 3A. Same with quads.

 

[Skatingcat]

I've been Having Thoughts since last night's competition.

Mostly, I'm realizing that H/D's free dance....The music (Shallow) is overwhelming their dance, so I think either the choreography has to step it up or they need to re-edit or change the music.

As for the quads, I don't have any issues with them or the ladies who perform them, but for me it stops the competition- once a woman does one quad, the gold is assured. Another person could skates lights out but if they don't have a quad, it almost feels like (for me anyway), what is the point? I don't have an answer, but I think that it what troubles me about how the quads are scored. That aside, the fact that they are happening is a marvel and achievement indeed.

Thus said, I really liked some of the programs I saw last night in all categories, but right now, I think the Brits have my vote as the most stand out and fun of the programs.

 

[sailormoon]

I was really impressed by Yuzuru Hanyu who scored his personal best (212.99), topping his gold medal free skate at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. He was on the verge of early retirement after a series of injuries but he came back stronger than ever. The rule change on quads was also against him, forcing him to jump three different quads. I love what he said about Trusova in the press interview. "[Alexandra Trusova] is very good. She is a really special skater. Russia has so many good skaters." Trusova's 4T is basically a carbon copy of Yuzuru's.

https://twitter.com/olympicchannel/status/1188493938870706177

 

[ladyjane]

I had a marathon session of skating last night (started at app. 8 Pm, and ended after the men's deep, deep into the night). I'll try to keep it short but I do want to reflect on some of the sitting.

Pairs
Everyone knows by now this is my favourite discipline. I'm happy there were no really scary falls this time, but not so happy with there being quite many other falls and mistakes. Having said that, Alexandra and Dmitrii were the deserved winners with clean programmes, spectacular throws (and landed well), and they landed their SBS in both of them. I had some doubts about them being first after the short (although the difference with Kirsten and Michael was very small) but that doubt left me after the Free Skate. And I do love Alexandra's smile. More present in the short than in the Free, but still there. Dmitrii looks like a very protective elder brother, and also just a fun guy who can be very enthusiastic. I had hoped to see Kirsten and Michael as they were at Nebelhorn, but they alas, they weren't. Still a lovely programme, but with some more mistakes. Although they made me laugh in the K&C when Michael joked about his mistake in one of the SBS jumps, and they started calculating their possible placement. Second is not shabby at all, and they have a beautiful FP. Now to get the cleanliness back! Evghenia and Vladimir have a beautiful programme that fits them like a glove. Their twist is excellent, and their big mistake on the lift was totally unexpected. Well, to me it was. I'm sure they will recover, and they at least got to be third. Alexa and Chris had another one of those fantastic twist lifts, but also made some mistakes. It's good to see they're on the way back up though. What can I say about Liubov and Charlie other then that they excude joy in skating? Ah yes, the wonderful positions in the lifts. Yeah, some mistakes but for a new team, they did extremely well. I again was impressed by Jessica and Brian. Also relatively new, but nice to watch - mistakes or not. I enjoyed seeing a new Chinese team too in the couple of Feiayo and Yongchang. Sure, a botched lift, but they did land their SBS jumps. I hope to see more of them in the future. This competition wasn't the one Trennt and Evelyn wished for I think. They were last, and could have done better. I hope they will during the course of the season. All-in-all an enjoyable event - even with all the mistakes.

Ice Dance
I'll really be short on this one. Piper and Paul finally got the appreciation of the judges they deserve. A beautiful, moving, dance - not as iconic as Vincent maybe but mesmerising - and the fluidity of their skating was just wonderful. it showed quite clearly how much more emotion they can put into a dance than Madison and Zachary. The last are very good skaters, but somehow their dances just don't touch me. With Lilah and Lewis the feeling is completely different. Their dance is Dance. and they were so good. I felt sorry for Kaitlyn and Jean-Luc though because their dance is also very good but in this competition, the Brits were just a little better. Oh, and a shout out to Sergey! He is a really fun ice dancer, and I like it that he looks like some kind of Rough neck (although that's not really a Russian thing at all). I hope he and Bettina will go far.

Men
This is easy to summarise: Yuzu, Yuzu, Yuzu and Nam. Despite some doubtful landings Yuzu showed us all why he is the 2 time Olympic champion and such a star. I loved his programmes last year, and he upped the ante last night. To me the best part of the whole event was him going to Nam when Nam still had to skate and he was leaving the ice and giving hugs of friendship. And Nam? I've never seen him so playful, so soaking up the support of the audience and playing with it. His outing wasn't perfect, but nearly so. And the joy! I mustn't forget Keiji who had a kind of redeeming FS, and picked up the Bronze. Furthermore, it was good to see Camden skating well - not perfect, he did drop from 2nd to 4th - and Matteo also picking himself up after a rather bad short. Nice event, and the medal ceremony was hilarious.

Ladies
Sorry, this was the least enjoyable for me. It started off well, with Marin finally skating clean and a beautiful programme at that. Just not technically strong. Evghenia had the skate of her life, it was so beautiful and strong. I was so happy to see her redeem herself, and she showed she had some technical power as well. I think she's the only lady doing 2 axel-3-toeloop- 2-toeloop and of course her 3 Salchow-3 loop is to die for. And she's always been a good actress, really living the programme. Excellent! I also loved Bradie who made a small mistake, but skated well. Young You was my secret favourite, missed her 3 Axel, but did a good job at the rest. And so graceful. Rika also missed her first 3 Axel (well, a step out), but managed to get another one in. And then Alexandra...a delightful little girl who is such a good jumper. She deservedly won with her big jumps, but it did made me think about what I want to see in Figure skating. Not just jumps, that's for sure. i would be a fan of High jumping if that were the case. But then the discussions on GS but also in other places started, and I am sorry to say started to show vitriolic tendencies, becoming personal towards a - let's face it - a little girl doing her best and achieving great things. And all the enjoyment was gone.

That's all. Sorry to end on a sour note.

 

[Eloise14]

Does anyone know where I can watch the Pairs and Ice Dance medal ceremonies? I live on the UScand the NBC stream never shows them

 

[colormyworld240]

I've been Having Thoughts since last night's competition.

Mostly, I'm realizing that H/D's free dance....The music (Shallow) is overwhelming their dance, so I think either the choreography has to step it up or they need to re-edit or change the music.

As for the quads, I don't have any issues with them or the ladies who perform them, but for me it stops the competition- once a woman does one quad, the gold is assured. Another person could skates lights out but if they don't have a quad, it almost feels like (for me anyway), what is the point? I don't have an answer, but I think that it what troubles me about how the quads are scored. That aside, the fact that they are happening is a marvel and achievement indeed.

Thus said, I really liked some of the programs I saw last night in all categories, but right now, I think the Brits have my vote as the most stand out and fun of the programs.

I want to point out again this is entirely false; a common misconception. At JGPF, Sasha landed 2 quads, 1 clean and 1 with a step-out. She went on to lose the gold, to Alena, who skated the lights out, with no 3A or quad. So per that example one quad certainly does not guarantee a gold, nor does 2 quads with 1 having a messy landing. Same situation at worlds last year when Elizabet with one quad and one missed combo lost to Alina with no quad and no 3A. However, like we saw here, 3 quads, does guarantee a gold if no one else does any (of course in combination with the rest of the layout maximized; repeating a quad and 3Lz, and doing three 3-3 combos). That seems fair to me. Landing 3 quads is extremely difficult, as is having excellent skating skills and artistry.

With the argument of TES, quads and 3As are not the only things, far from it. To win on TES, a skater has to maximize the rest of their program. This is a reason why someone like Liza, who has two 3As in the free, doesn't have sky high TES; she's missing a triple, doing easier combos and repeating lower scoring jumps. She loses a lot of the advantage that she gains with the 3A compared to someone with no 3A but does the maximal layout (for example Alina's layout).

 

[Colonel Green]

Ladies
- This didn't end up being quite the epic battle between Trusova and Kihira that it could have been since we knew going in that Rika's ankle injury meant she wasn't going to have her Lutzes, let alone the quads she's been working on, so I guess that will have to be saved for another day.
- Regarding Trusova, the debates around her clearly aren't going away anytime soon. For my part: she has undeniable charisma and the tech is what it is, but I don't find her especially interesting to watch, which isn't helped by fact that Daniil had what sounded like a great idea for her (Game of Thrones) but then chose really dull soundtrack selections.
- For Rika, the triple Axel seems to have become much more consistent than it already was last year, which is especially impressive given the aforesaid ankle issue. Watching her free skate this time around I was much more appreciative of her fluidity of movement in the steps; she doesn't always bring the face (though there was more of it here than in the short program), but she's hitting every musical accent there is expertly. The free is still no "Beautiful Storm", but I'm coming to like it.
- You Young, lots of really good qualities; performance still a work in progress, especially on the "Buenos Aires" section.
- Bradie, the free skate is still a bit generic compared to the more interesting short, but 2 + 4 are great results for her on the Grand Prix; she'll presumably be an alternate, at least.
- Evgenia delivered a really great free skate. I thought this program was a bit nondescript at Autumn Classic, but I've come to really like the choreography (and such a great costume too). Also, it's a trend that they're calling the Lutz now, which, not unfair since they should have been doing that all along, but when people complain about arbitrary panel choices, this is a great example.
- Marin Honda skated her best progress in a while in terms of executing her planned content, albeit obviously she had watered things down due to the car accident. That's impressive, and it's a really good program.
- Gabrielle's free skate wasn't as strong as her short. Conditioning is clearly still an issue, not unexpectedly after all the training time she missed, but there's still improvement over Finlandia, and I'm glad that she seems to have realistic expectations.

Men
- After a pretty dodgy start to the evening, our top four finishers all had really good skates.
- King Hanyu finally took one of the few gold medals that had repeatedly eluded him (next: Four Continents?), and by a margin of almost 60 points overall, 40 in the free skate.
- I was absolutely thrilled for Nam, who I honestly expected to bomb, considering that he's had some issues with stamina so far this season and especially because he had to skate after Hanyu and the rain of Pooh. Instead, he delivered his best free skate...ever, maybe? Clearly having a great time, and the audience was into it.
- Keiji, likewise, continued his recent trend of skating well, and he did his best to redeem my predictions for the event by ending up in the bronze medal position like I had envisioned for him.
- Speaking of skaters I expected to bomb, I don't know if Camden's team got him a hypnotist or something after Philadelphia, but that's two events in a row he's delivered a solid free skate, and the quad is looking good. It wasn't enough for the podium today, but it easily could have been, and it's the most promising sign for him in a long time; after last year I thought he might be doomed to fall apart under pressure forever.
- I was very disappointed for Matteo Rizzo. It seemed like the stars had aligned for him with the way his assignments had panned out, but he just couldn't deliver here. Looks like Grassl will probably be Italy's only representation in Torino.
- Nic Nadeau, still so inconsistent, but he had three good triple Axels in this competition, so that's a sign of progress.

Pairs
- Sorry for doubting you, Boikova/Kozlovskii. A virtually perfect free program (though I still miss "The Nutcracker"), and a well-deserved gold medal. I think these two could have it all this year, at least as far as the Russian pairs scene goes.
- KMT and Marinaro didn't quite have the free program they wanted, but it was better than they seemed to have believed (in the KnC before the scores came up they clearly didn't know that they were second in TES). This is a great program for them, so hopefully Michael learns from the fluke pop.
- After the US Classic, I wasn't worried about Tarasova/Morozov, since I attributed their problems there to altitude; I'm kind of worried now, though, after a second flubbed lift. They were lucky to be on the podium, frankly; I question them being ahead of the Knierims.
- Speaking of the Knierims, this is a great free program. They were closer to landing the jumps cleanly this time, even if they had iffy throws compared to Nebelhorn so the benefits weren't as apparent. But progress!
- And the biggest progress, Ilyushechkina/Bilodeau. Not as good overall compared to Finlandia, as some elements were more ragged and the toe loops weren't nearly as successful, but balance that against Liubov successfully landing a triple Salchow. I wasn't expecting to see anything like that for a while, so again, big positive sign for them. At this point I'd be surprised if anybody else grabbed Canada's second Worlds ticket.

Ice dance
- After so many near-misses with having things really happen for them over the years, I was beginning to think this would never happen for Piper & Paul, but it did! So great for them. I liked the program more this time compared to Autumn Classic, even if it's still in "Vincent"'s shadow.
- This was a big disappointment for Hubbell/Donohue, I'm sure, but I don't share the opinion a number of fans seem to have that the program is the problem. The country/rock vibe is right in their wheelhouse, in my view. But they really need to find a different highlight element for Gaga's vocal run in "Shallow", because the lift they're using for it now is not nearly as impressive as the moment calls for.
- Lilah & Lewis! It's extremely rare to have an ice dance podium with this many surprises. Indeed, almost every team switched ordinals between the RD and the FD.
- For Kaitlin & Jean-Luc, this was obviously also a big disappointment (maybe not a great day for US ice dance in general). But they managed to really boost their RD score between Finlandia and here, so there's some time before Cup of China.
- Hurtado/Khaliavin have made some strange costuming choices, and somehow ended up with the lowest base value of any team in the FD.
- I don't think Marjorie & Zach's "Bohemian Rhapsody" program plays to their strengths at all, but I'm very impressive with the technical level they're bringing, especially their very close one-foot step.

 

[Interspectator]

I was really impressed by Yuzuru Hanyu who scored his personal best (212.99), topping his gold medal free skate at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. He was on the verge of early retirement after a series of injuries but he came back stronger than ever. The rule change on quads was also against him, forcing him to jump three different quads. I love what he said about Trusova in the press interview. "[Alexandra Trusova] is very good. She is a really special skater. Russia has so many good skaters." Trusova's 4T is basically a carbon copy of Yuzuru's.

https://twitter.com/olympicchannel/status/1188493938870706177

To build off of this, I especially appreciate Yuzu's thoughtful answers to questions about the ladies. Instead of the generic, "Wow, aren't they great?!" he took the time to name each one, and showed he's paying close attention to the ladies' event, thinking of their own quad quest as a point from which to study. -Though I think the transcription of the Olympic Channel's video had Yuzu saying "This is my weakness" When he's actually saying "This is my way" referring to the ladies and his quads being more about jumping with timing and momentum rather than strength.

And Nam's comment was funny. "If we had to compete together, I'm out!"

 

[Ryan O]

Does anyone know where I can watch the Pairs and Ice Dance medal ceremonies? I live on the UScand the NBC stream never shows them ��

Usually they get posted to YouTube.

I've seen uploads there in the past for many medal ceremonies.

 

[skatefan17]

Maybe wrong thread, but is there a Worlds 2020 thread yet? Anyone going? I am considering it since it’s in North America again but would need to do so cheaply! I have always wanted to visit Montreal as well.

 

[Mathman]

Having now watched the coverage of the ladies' and men's LP on NBC, I have to say this. The folks who lament that U.S. commentators are against the Russian newcomers are battling a straw man. Terry Gannon, Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski were positively giddy over Alexandra Trusova's performance. They couldn't think of enough superlatives to describe it. When Rika took the ice as the last skater, they basically said, well, there is no way she can compete with that but maybe she can get second.

Both Johnny and Tara mentioned that following this gigantic leap forward in technical accomplishment, the artistic side is bound to catch up going forward, just like it has in men's. They were firmly on the side of, this is a sport -- of course you want to score as many points as you can, duh!

Great skate by Nam Ngyuen . Interesting program throughout and excellent jumping. If he keeps it up he will be on track to contend for the Grand Prix final. Early to say, but a silver behind Shoma Uno at Rostelcom is not beyond reach. :yes:

 

[skatefan17]

Anyone know where to watch the full event? So hard to find.

 

[lariko]

Oh, I forgot to say, I actually liked one icedancing duet, the British one, on day 2

 

[Kitt]

Maybe wrong thread, but is there a Worlds 2020 thread yet? Anyone going? I am considering it since it’s in North America again but would need to do so cheaply! I have always wanted to visit Montreal as well.

There is a thread already in the competition section. Tickets are expensive though!