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velcro...
2023 Skate America Men's Free Skate
- Thread starter dorispulaski
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Kevin Amoz retired?
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My sense is that the Canadian fed is beginning to lose patience with him.
I think that his early success is working against him. He's only 18, and a newcomer with similar results would be viewed more favorably. It seems unfair.
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definitely not. He skated at SKAM. She meant Kevin Reynolds.
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The Canadian FED is often harsh on their own skaters. The message sent here is clear : built up consistency, fix your spins and skate in a way so you can reach out to the audience. There are a lot of areas he needs to work on but it's within his capacities. He had good basics when he was younger but they haven't developed further. I often compare Gogo with Conrad because I discovered both of them one year when Gogo won Junior Nationals over Conrad (on PCS advantage mostly in the LP). I preferred Conrad and adopted him. However, Conrad's skating was all over the place. His technique not so good. And his scores were very low from any Canadian judge (still are). What did Conrad do? Remove quads, learn basic stroking, fix his spins. It's a work in progress but he is improving. Back then, nobody would have ever considered that Conrad may reach the world team before Gogolev. Right now, with Keegan done, Roman recovering very slowly from injury, Jo Phan retired, Nic Nadeau switching to pairs, Nam gone... etc... it is a wide open field. Gogolev has the biggest opportunity to win Nationals (he was the runner up at 14 !!!!) But if I were to bet on this at this moment, I wouldn't make him pass Chiu and Orzel. I find it very strange considering the excellent coaches and choreos he works with. If I were his "manager/mentor" I would send him to Lambiel for spins, Chan for skating skills and basic stroking (saw GOGO at ACI = so slow), and perhaps even Ravi to deal with how a tall man needs to jump
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Reynolds. Kevin Reynolds. Retired Canadian skater. First to land 2 quads in a SP (2010 Skate Canada).
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I can understand people going gaga over Aymoz, as he is very watchable, despite hanging on every jump, but Vassilievs is basically like a boring pain of pointlessness on ice. No jumps, no transitions, no energy, no youthful ardor, no nothing to note on positively. Like, maybe spins? But he used to do them better too.
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Watch Kevin Amoz bolero routine. Alot of it reminds me of Torvill and Deans. The hand jesture, his skid on floor, and other movement. It show more T/ D with jumps and quads no lifts
I am glad he skated to it.
I am glad he skated to it.
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I don't recall Kevin Reynolds skating in skate America. Thanks
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Great 
skate by Ilia. I like the green dinosaur stuff toy. Does it mean anything?
skate by Ilia. I like the green dinosaur stuff toy. Does it mean anything?
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I've generally enjoyed Deniss' skating. This year, I do not.
I'm willing to give the LP another chance when he's in better form, but I don't think I'd like that SP even if it were skated perfectly.
I don't think it's him that's the problem, I think it's the programs. If that makes sense.
I will say this: The messaging that "this music means so much to him" and "you can see he's skating for himself" is absurd. A legend/diva might be able to get away with that, but as much as I've been a fan, a legend he is not.
If internal motivations are driving things, he can perform his programs on an isolated pond and satisfy those longings.
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Where did you hear that he was "skating for himself"?
I think the long program is a good program for him, I think it showcases new maturity and yes, even flirtatiousness, but never once did I get the impression it was some internal vanity project. I do think he needs to go back to what he does well (those spins!
) and build from there.Jumping off and not directed to your comments, I will say I don't understand the problem with a skater saying "I'm skating for myself". It's just a motivational tool, it doesn't mean they're flipping off the audience.
Just like I don't understand bashing a skater under the guise of "keeping it real" or "well that's sports".After all, I belong to a football fan base that will flip you off as a way of saying "Good Morning".
That doesn't mean it's real or it's sports.
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I saw Vassilievs skate every time I went to GP and it just gets progressively worse. Before he tried to pick something interesting in terms of music, but Hallelujah is not exactly a find and the free is a wash in terms of everything... I am wondering if the choice of Hallelujah means it's his farewell season or something like that.
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In 2022 at Europeans he beat Mozalev and has a Bronze medal, last season he got a silver medal on the GP, so having a few bad skates does not define a career that is now in its 14th season. 3 years as a novice, won all but one competition, 3 years as a junior , medals from all three years, this is his 9th senior year, and the previous 8 he has at least one medal every year.
Hallelujah was choreographed by Shae-Lynne. Its a little rough still from transitioning from exhibition to competition.
Deniss like some other skaters had problems with the rink size.
He has stated he plans to compete through to 2026 Olympics.
And why am I a fan of his. 2016 Worlds Boston, he was just adorable. I feel like I've watched him grow into a handsome, intelligent, sweet man. I love his skating because he is so committed to the programs he skates, his beautiful spins, step sequences, 3Lutz, and his smile at the end.
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He may not be a legend, but this is his 14th season, so that probably does give him the status of Uncle.
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Yeah, i know he beat Mozalev in Europeans. I kinda hoped he would add a quad after that, but he didn't. Kinda opposite from Mozalev, who I wish would take one quad out. Overall though, I am more and more becoming convinced that there is simply no substitute for jumping ability. They can help jumpers to get a bit better with delivery, but non jumpers just slide down to start falling on triples and their PCSs all get lost fast too. Anyway, didn’t like either program, but free was probably worse.
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- Oct 15, 2023
The Canadian FED is often harsh on their own skaters. The message sent here is clear : built up consistency, fix your spins and skate in a way so you can reach out to the audience. There are a lot of areas he needs to work on but it's within his capacities. He had good basics when he was younger but they haven't developed further. I often compare Gogo with Conrad because I discovered both of them one year when Gogo won Junior Nationals over Conrad (on PCS advantage mostly in the LP). I preferred Conrad and adopted him. However, Conrad's skating was all over the place. His technique not so good. And his scores were very low from any Canadian judge (still are). What did Conrad do? Remove quads, learn basic stroking, fix his spins. It's a work in progress but he is improving. Back then, nobody would have ever considered that Conrad may reach the world team before Gogolev. Right now, with Keegan done, Roman recovering very slowly from injury, Jo Phan retired, Nic Nadeau switching to pairs, Nam gone... etc... it is a wide open field. Gogolev has the biggest opportunity to win Nationals (he was the runner up at 14 !!!!) But if I were to bet on this at this moment, I wouldn't make him pass Chiu and Orzel. I find it very strange considering the excellent coaches and choreos he works with. If I were his "manager/mentor" I would send him to Lambiel for spins, Chan for skating skills and basic stroking (saw GOGO at ACI = so slow), and perhaps even Ravi to deal with how a tall man needs to jump
Poor Gogo... He really did peak too young, didn't he? Then, he got too tall and lost all his gumption and just can't seem to get it together. I wonder that he has more of a confidence problem than anything else. If he could do so well way back then, why not now? He's stronger and has longer, springier legs. This all ought to be to his advantage. He seems to be a headcase of the highest order, like all the Canadian lads. If he can somehow get over that problem, he'd be so good. He just seems like he's trying too hard and it's working against him. Confidence, boy. Confidence.
I get the same sense with Skate Canada about him too.
Holding him up to his results when he was younger and smaller is unfair. He's a different skater now, he isn't going to have the same jumps as he did back then. I'm a newer fan, so I missed the "He's only 14!" hype train. Now it's turned into a hype roller coaster after every event.
I'm not a fan of his skating, but I don't like watching that hype roller coaster happen when he's 18 and is still figuring things out. Maybe spending more time as a junior would've helped him instead going senior. I don't know, I hope he has a life coach who can help him.
This wasn't as bad as his World Team Trophy results. But coming after his bronze at Autumn Classic isn't going to help him. He wasn't going to fix his issues in 6 months.
I've just watched Kevin and Illia's FS, and they couldn't be more day and night. So much that I just felt compelled to write all of this (sorry in advance for quite a long post).
Illia has amazing effortless jumps, nice speed and the spin he does at the end is very cool. But the overall program is very very dull
It's just jump -(waiting for jump) - jump - (waiting for jump) and repeat till there are no more jumps left, and then, the end. Illia transmits no emotions, his face is fixed during the whole program and all his movements and hand waving lack cohesion and any connection to the music.
I'd have thought that having Russian blood in him, artistry would come naturally to him. Sadly, this is not the case. I haven't been following his past performances close enough to say whether or not this is an improvement, but if in fact it is, he must have come from a very low point, and he has an enormous way in front of him.
Sadder still is that this performance received nearly 88 points in PCS, only less than 6 points less than Kevin's PCS. I understand this is his local event and judges will most likely overscore him, but I think this will probably set the trend for the season as ISU/US Fed/ powers that be try to market him as a "complete skater". He will most likely win Worlds and everything in between, with overblown PCS scores that are completely inexistant (and btw not even needed, as his TES alone do in all probability guarantee him a medal /victory).
And the thing I find really worrisome is not that this will of course give him no incentive at all to improve, but that it will demotivate all other skaters, specially thoose who clearly have better performance and skating skills, and know it. If this kind of performance becomes the winning norm in the near future, it sure will be sad days for the artistic spirit of figure skating
Illia has amazing effortless jumps, nice speed and the spin he does at the end is very cool. But the overall program is very very dull
It's just jump -(waiting for jump) - jump - (waiting for jump) and repeat till there are no more jumps left, and then, the end. Illia transmits no emotions, his face is fixed during the whole program and all his movements and hand waving lack cohesion and any connection to the music.I'd have thought that having Russian blood in him, artistry would come naturally to him. Sadly, this is not the case. I haven't been following his past performances close enough to say whether or not this is an improvement, but if in fact it is, he must have come from a very low point, and he has an enormous way in front of him.
Sadder still is that this performance received nearly 88 points in PCS, only less than 6 points less than Kevin's PCS. I understand this is his local event and judges will most likely overscore him, but I think this will probably set the trend for the season as ISU/US Fed/ powers that be try to market him as a "complete skater". He will most likely win Worlds and everything in between, with overblown PCS scores that are completely inexistant (and btw not even needed, as his TES alone do in all probability guarantee him a medal /victory).
And the thing I find really worrisome is not that this will of course give him no incentive at all to improve, but that it will demotivate all other skaters, specially thoose who clearly have better performance and skating skills, and know it. If this kind of performance becomes the winning norm in the near future, it sure will be sad days for the artistic spirit of figure skating
