Can Kevin Reynolds overtake Patrick Chan as Canadian Number 1?

[skatingfanfun]

I'm just happy that Canada has two strong skaters to go for 3 spots for the Olympics. it doesn't matter who wins, as long as the one who skate the best win I will be happy.

I really want to see Patrick win, but hopefully without fall. I would love to see Javier win too because I love his LP. Patrick is still the best if he can land all his jumps. I don't like Hanyu's LP that much mainly because his posture is bad, it doesn't show in the SP because of the choreography but the LP exposes it more. I'm happy for Kevin andI even believe he should have been sent to 2010 Olympics but I don't think he can take No. 1 right now.

hat being said I would. Really like to see Patrick up his base value, add another quad or at least another 3A going into next season if he want to get OGM.

[VarBar]

So, Kevin has become a force to be reckoned with in figure skating. Who would have known? And who said McLeod is a bad coach?

Patrick doesn't have a technical coach currently and I'm wondering now if he couldn't/shouldn't turn to McLeod for coaching. Would Kevin and Patrick be training together, Kevin would really push Patrick to get better and better every single day.

Keep up the good work, team Reynolds.

[Iceman]

Kevin was 12th at last year's Worlds. He seems to be having a good year, so I can see his possibly moving into the top ten this year with a skate like his last two outings.

[Cherub721]

If someone posted "Can Reynolds overtake Hanyu and Takahashi" a month everyone would have said no, never.

If Reynolds skates two perfect programs, and Chan bombs, then yes I think its possible for Reynolds to win over Chan. Chan doesn't seem to be getting the "he must win no matter how he skates" treatment from the judges this season and Reynolds' stock is going up.

But if "overtake" means Reynolds permanently overtaking Chan as the #1 Canadian guy overall, then I think that's incredibly doubtful given the disparity of skating quality. Chan is still the overwhelming favorite for Canada and I think will remain so until he retires.

[PeterG]

I predict Chan will retire from amateur competition in about a year or so due to the very fact that Reynolds is about to overtake him. Mark my words.

[victoriajh]

Wiped years from my eyes......laughing!!!
If Patrick is on the ice, no Kevin will not beat him. If Patrick retires given the current landscape Kevin could become national champ (shudder)

[starryxskies]

I predict Chan will retire from amateur competition in about a year or so due to the very fact that Reynolds is about to overtake him. Mark my words.

Patrick will retire after Sochi regardless ....your point being?

[Sylvia]

^^^ PeterG is being his usual sarcastic self here.

I wish the thread had been titled differently to emphasize Reynolds' fine accomplishment at 4CC, as reflected in this excerpt from the article:

So the breakthrough in Osaka was not the work of an overnight sensation.

It was ...

“A shock, really,” Reynolds said this week. “I’m incredibly happy about it.

“There was a little bit of luck that came into play, of course, because some of the top skaters didn’t have their best performances, but I was able to seize the moment there. I was able to skate my best, and it really couldn’t have happened at a much better time, to be able to back up my performances at nationals with two more this past week.

“Not only does it help other people’s perception, mainly it helps my confidence going to world championships here in Canada knowing I’ve done not two clean programs but four good performances within a matter of two or three weeks.”

(Even Joanne McLeod didn't come out and say in the article that she thought her pupil could "overtake Patrick Chan as Canadian Number 1.")

[IceAlisa]

I predict Chan will retire from amateur competition in about a year or so due to the very fact that Reynolds is about to overtake him. Mark my words.

and same goes for the article.

[Rock2]

The question should really be "could Chan and/or Hanyu and/or Takahashi all skate poorly enough to fall behind Kevin?" That's how to frame the discussion since there was less overtaking happening and more screwing up. This conversation is more relevant now because Kevin has broken from the 150-160 pack to begin to approach the others....so he's a bit above the radar.
To 'overtake' you need a big tech base, about 8-10 pts of GOE and PCS well into the 8s. Kevin doesn't have enough of that to control his destiny.

He'd need to execute another two quads total between short and long to be enough of a threat and figure out how to get some GOE while he's at it.

Still, the top competitors now know who he is and they talk about him and watch him. Kevin, as others have said, is now bumping up a rung...enough to make Canada's chances to qualify 3 next year very strong. That's good enough for me.

[skatesindreams]

As long as Patrick competes...no.

[algonquin]

Kevin is slow and even his jumps while he does land them are not really that impressive or big. He just doesn't impress me in any way.

Agreed, I saw Kevin skate live for the first time this past January and was not overly impressed. Patrick, despite his flawed program, was very impressive. He was so fast.

[MacMadame]

Can he? Sure. Patrick would have to keep declining and Kevin would have to keep improving but there's nothing to say that won't happen. Could it happen by Worlds? That seems more doubtful. It's less than a month away.

Though Kevin's score at 4CCs was a lot closer to Patrick's scores on the GP than Kevin's scores on the GP were and therefore it seems a lot more likely than it has been up until now.

[sequins]

If Patrick misses the bus. I like Kevin but I don't expect this 'winning streak' to continue.

[pinky166]

Kevin can beat Patrick if Patrick falters and Kevin lands tons of quads, but no one will ever consider Reynolds to be a better SKATER than Chan, even if say Reynolds somehow managed to medal or place ahead of Chan at the Olympics. Chan would still be number 1, it might just mean he'd be remembered as a skater who never delivered his best at the Olympics, like Joubert.

[peibeck]

I don't know that even if Reynolds were to beat Chan in London it would make Reynolds, Canada's #1 male skater. Chan is not having his most consistent season, so if Reynolds some how does manage to pass him, the best result would probably be that it will be a wake-up call to Patrick to get a real figure skating coach.

In Reynolds' defense, he should be entering Worlds with a lot of confidence. Plus his speed isn't THAT awful. (He certainly isn't slower than Sandhu, who I always adored, but could never figure out how he got enough speed to ever land more than a single jump. ) And Reynolds does get decent pop into his jumps - but he certainly doesn't cover the ice like a lot of the other big jumpers out there. I do think he's come a long way over the last few seasons in trying to improve his artistry however, so I give him credit for that - and other than his sheepdog hair, I always believed that was one of the main criticisms people had with his skating. I can't believe I'm the only person who has seen at least some improvement over the last few years.

[Ziggy]

Reynolds was just really lucky to skate one free program where a number of his jumps weren't cheated over 1/4. It's not very likely to happen again.

His jump technique is atrocious and seeing judges give him +1s and +2s for his quads was just .

[Iceman]

Sylvia you are correct, Kevin was humble and realistic in his assessment of his victory. The most he did was said it helped his confidence going into worlds and helped change other's perceptions of him, no prediction he was headed to the podium. He even acknowledged that better skaters than he had a bad day. I believe I recall his coach saying that if any skater had those kinds of lofty thoughts for worlds, they would best be kept private. This was not a self aggrandizing interview, but one expressing some realistic happiness at what he had achieved.

[overedge]

I believe I recall his coach saying that if any skater had those kinds of lofty thoughts for worlds, they would best be kept private.

So instead, she said them

I agree that Kevin was very humble and realistic (which hasn't always been the case with his comments on some of his placements in the past). It's too bad his coach can't be the same way.

[Sylvia]

I believe I recall his coach saying that if any skater had those kinds of lofty thoughts for worlds, they would best be kept private. This was not a self aggrandizing interview, but one expressing some realistic happiness at what he had achieved.

So instead, she said them

I agree that Kevin was very humble and realistic (which hasn't always been the case with his comments on some of his placements in the past). It's too bad his coach can't be the same way.

I thought McLeod's quotes were reasonable -- for her -- this time:

Trying to be in Chan’s league is not a bad way to climb the ladder. But McLeod isn’t sure it’s the best way.

“Aiming at one individual is not a good thing,” she said. “A lot of people like Patrick. A lot like Daisuke, a lot like Yuzuru ... people talk about Javier (Fernandez of Spain) and his quads — they’re all good, and they’re all in that Rat Pack of excellence. And Kevin’s capable of competing with that Rat Pack.”

Can he ever beat Chan? It depends. Even the best still need to deliver on the day.

“I don’t narrow it down in the moment, because I think it goes against you,” McLeod said. “I think if you’re on the podium at worlds, it’s expected of you to say that you want to be world champion or Olympic champion. But until you get there, I think those goals need to be kept within your heart and your intelligence, because once you spill it out, there’s that expectation ball bouncing in front of you.

“But I’ve always, right from juvenile, felt Kevin could be what he is right now, and more.”