2020 Four Continents: Men's Short Program

[gsk8]

The Men's Short Program was filled with many stellar performances on Friday, with Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu taking the lead with a new record score. Boyang Jin of China finds himself in second place, followed by USA's Jason Brown after the event concluded in Seoul, South Korea, at the Wakiki Mokdong Ice Rink.

Opting for his 2017-18 routine to "Ballade No. 1 in G Minor Op. 23," Yuzuru Hanyu delivered a technically challenging, yet beautiful, performance. The two-time Olympic champion effortlessly landed a quad Salchow, quad toe-triple toe, and triple Axel—earning very high positive grades of execution (GOE) on each jump. All spins and footwork were graded a level 4 and also received high GOEs, and he earned a new record score for the men's short program of 111.82.

"I think I skated with elegance today and today's performance was the most perfect performance I've ever done," said the 25-year-old. "Also, I tried to express my music deeply with my feeling and I could jump higher and with more perfection. So, I am really satisfied with my performance today."

Hanyu had actually set a personal goal for a higher score than 110 and added that he grew confident during his skate.

"I just skated without thinking," he said. "Actually, lately, I have been thinking a lot before jumping and I should jump clean with an image on my mind. But I just could skate without a lot of thoughts today."

The two-time World champion plans on doing a quad Lutz, quad Salchow, two quad toes, and a triple Axel for his free skate.

More...

The men's skating was just phenomenal!!! Great debuts from some younger skaters, awesome performances from others, and just when you thought Hanyu couldn't get better, he sets another record score! Just. Wow.



Share your thoughts!

 

[skatenewbie]

overall its good competition, many men skate cleanly, 6 skater break 90+ points!!! Glad to see Junhwan, Boyamg and Kagiyama up there. But my heart breaks for Roman

 

[Ichatdelune]

Insanely good, can confirm, was live. My throat is hoarse from all the cheering and screaming I did.

 

[sk8ath]

Packed with clean SPs. It was really exciting.

 

[Interspectator]

It was such a well skated event.
Kagiyama continues to live up to his promise and I love the clean-ness of his elements. It's a feel good program.
-Shout out to my favorites from Team China. Boyang and Hanee, both excellent, and on the upswing.
-Kazuki was hozed by the judges in PCS...he could have had a lot more, so much feeling interesting movement in his program. Score innovation a little more please!

The TCC team really brought down the house today.
Jun, Yuzu and Jason one after the other :luv17: excellent, excellent, excellent!

Keegan and Nam were living in the moment as well and performed to the rafters.

All this and more. What a great Segment.

 

[Yuzuruu]

Amazing event! So many clean skates!
Welcome back Boyang’s quads!
Jason beautiful!
Camden didn’t disintegrate!
Yuma blew me away!
Junhwan was awesome!

Yuzuru was... I don’t even have words to explain how I feel when he skates like that. He is the best ever and nobody can tell me otherwise.
Underscored as usual but what’s new [emoji4]

 

[hpfaff]

WOW! Maybe the best Mens Short I have ever seen...watched it on my computer until the sun came up...but it's given me an extra push to stay awake & watch the other sessions (need to check my schedule)...Hope they will be this exciting...kept waiting for someone to fall but they all brought it....the question is who will get Silver and Bronze!!! Will be going to Montreal in March (have ordered my masks)...hope they put on another SP like that one...Everyone have a nice day!!!

 

[Gourlie]

It was such a well skated event.
-Kazuki was hozed by the judges in PCS...he could have had a lot more, so much feeling interesting movement in his program. Score innovation a little more please!

Oh definitely, Kazuki underscored as always. He should have been another skater over 90.

 

[lzxnl]

Amazing event! So many clean skates!
Welcome back Boyang’s quads!
Jason beautiful!
Camden didn’t disintegrate!
Yuma blew me away!
Junhwan was awesome!

Yuzuru was... I don’t even have words to explain how I feel when he skates like that. He is the best ever and nobody can tell me otherwise.
Underscored as usual but what’s new [emoji4]

Well...it's kinda hard to give him more points when he gets average +4 GOE on everything and 48.40 PCS. Some of his elements admittedly weren't at his best today; he's jumped better quad salchows before, his combination wasn't backloaded, some of his twizzles were a bit slower than before, and I thought the placement of the triple axel in this program wasn't quite as good as at the Olympics, where he does long step sequence into a back counter 3A right when the music pauses. I'm being insanely picky here, but I prefer his Olympic short just that little bit more.

Not saying that he doesn't deserve the score. He certainly does. However, I agree with the judges in that he probably still could earn a few extra points.

 

[Silvia451]

Sensational Chopin program. Give him all the GOEs and the Poohs in the world!

Lovely skate by Cha and Yuma too.

 

[Jaana]

Great sp-event and enjoyable skating!!! Especially loved the performances of

Donovan Carrillo
Han Yan
Yuma Kagiyma
Tomoko Hiwatashi
Kazuki Tomono
Junhwan Cha
Keegan Messing
Boyang Jin

and of course most of all Yuzuru Hanyu, WOW, VOW, WOW!!!

 

[el henry]

Why I love the men’s skating, what a wonderful comp!

Especially proud of Jason for continuing to persevere and perfect that riveting SP

And Donovan Carrillo starting off the round of clean programs with a season’s best and the smile that lights up the rink.

Nothing more to say about Yuzu’s performance, but I loved a clip I saw of Yuzu walking along the boards, shouting “Go Jason” and clapping before Jason’s skate. A first class sportsman as well:luv17:

And a special shout out to @ichatdelune in the Comp Chat threads for making us all feel like we are in the rink with her

 

[gsk8]

Especially proud of Jason for continuing to persevere and perfect that riveting SP

Breaking his season’s best was Brown’s goal coming into this event. The skater felt he’d had an early rough start to the season and is excited regarding the changes that have taken place for him with his coaches, Tracy Wilson and Brian Orser, since May 2018.

“I’m really starting to get into a groove with them,” said the 25-year-old, “and I’m really starting to learn. It’s starting to come from being unexpected and nerve-racking to starting to really understand what we’re doing. That’s why I feel so much more comfortable in my body and it’s starting to show and come across in my skating.” More...

 

[KiraraChin]

Kazuki Tomono: Delivers a clean skate with difficult layout and beautiful, innovative choreo.
Judges, when evaluating his PCS: https://tenor.com/view/icant-read-mariah-carey-gif-7838486
:whack:

 

[cake]

What is there to say but to this terrific event
And I could watch Yuzuru´s Chopin program a hundred times and not get tired of it

 

[el henry]

Breaking his season’s best was Brown’s goal coming into this event. The skater felt he’d had an early rough start to the season and is excited regarding the changes that have taken place for him with his coaches, Tracy Wilson and Brian Orser, since May 2018.
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So many great quotes in this article.:thumbsup:

Keegan ... “to perform this short program clean I get the same butterflies as watching my wife walk up the aisle [on our wedding day]”

Go ahead Keegan, make me cry :sad21::sad21::sad21:

 

[Dreamer57]

I really enjoyed Boyang, Keegan and Yuma's performances.
I was watching the final group on tv when my flatmate came to watch - having not watched figure skating before, she was amazed! It is looking like a high scoring competition so far.

I also liked Edrian Paul Celestino's skate.

 

[icybear]

Yuzuru was... I don’t even have words to explain how I feel when he skates like that. He is the best ever and nobody can tell me otherwise.
Underscored as usual but what’s new [emoji4]

I dunno but +4/+5 from every judge on all jumps and 48 pcs for a 4 time recycled program doesnt sound like measly underscoring :think:

 

[ladyjane]

What an evening. I was at work this morning when the Men's came along so I had to wait until much later (when everybody in Seoul would be trying to get some sleep probably) to watch. Well worth the wait. No splat fest (except for a few falls in the earlier groups), but just great. And not only in the last two groups. There were quite a few good skates in the very beginning - if not packed with quads and things. My only regret was watching Roman Sadovsky of whom I had expected so much more. I should have known, he's not the most consistent skater, but after his truly majestic performances at Canadian Nationals this was a let down. I still like his skating but please: the jumps. They don't have to be quads (there were enough good performances of quadless men here), but a double salchow won't get you anywhere. A nasty pop. But then there was Celestino from the Philippenes...not perfect but fun. Just behind Roman but, sorry my Canadian friends, more joyful to watch. Not to mention Donavan Carillo. This guy really exudes joy, and he was at his best today. He may not have the technical basics (yet), but oh my, is he a joy to watch. It helps of course that he is really good looking (I know, this is terribly sexist). what a skater. That rhythm. Wow! Han Yan is another favourite. So good to see him here, and skating well. Brendan was fun too, but he's not the most elegant skater. Still, a good job. Then there's a whole list of men in the so-called sub top who really skated well, making me just so happy, whether it's Camden landing everything (if not perfectly), Tomoki showing his fantastic split jump, Nam really getting the blues and making contact with the audience, Kazuki skating so well and regrettably being underscored, Junwhan skating excellently, Kagiyama doing the best SP I've ever seen from him, Messing being all into it and skating well, Jason managing to be 3rd without a quad and in my view being underscored on his components (he is so good in his skating, musicality, artistry and all those other aspects aside from jumps - and his jumps were lovely), Boyang showing us he really is the skater who deserved to skate at the GPF (and so much more in content than just jumps), and then there was Yuzu. My breath was taken away. Artistic, athletic, and just so beautiful to watch.

All in all, a great evening. This is the reason for loving men's skating. I may be a stalwart pair skating fan, but when the men skate like this...I totally get blown away.

 

[fzztsimmons]

finally, FINALLY we get to see Jason's SP clean in international competition and even with skating after yuzuru and that madness. Wasn't quite as sharp as Nats but still exquisite and the step sequence is fire!!