The Shibutanis Thread 4: Ready for Paradise

I wonder if they aren’t a little overworked too. They’ve been going hard from the moment worlds ended after all. It’s paid off in amazing ways but no one can keep that up forever. I also think they might benefit from a couple days off and some self-care before getting back to training.

I haven’t seen the skates yet so I can’t really comment with certainty, but if it really was that bad the judges had leeway to drop them below H/D if they wanted. Instead they got exactly the score they needed to keep third. Maybe it means something or maybe it’s just coincidence. Maybe if H/D skated after them they would’ve gotten the bronze instead.
 
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MRani said:
I wonder if they aren’t a little overworked too. They’ve been going hard from the moment worlds ended after all. It’s paid off in amazing ways but no one can keep that up forever. I also think they might benefit from a couple days off and some self-care before getting back to training.

I haven’t seen the skates yet so I can’t really comment with certainty, but if it really was that bad the judges had leeway to drop them below H/D if they wanted. Instead they got exactly the score they needed to keep third. Maybe it means something or maybe it’s just coincidence. Maybe if H/D skated after them they would’ve gotten the bronze instead.
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Shibs got higher PCS but was 0.5 point of difference, H/D got really good GOE, but they made a mistake in the rotational lift and they got L3. Again, they had the opportunity to get the bronze medal but the problem are their mistakes. And actually, C/B got the 3rd place in the FD, the least expected, lol.
 
chapis said:
Shibs got higher PCS but was 0.5 point of difference, H/D got really good GOE, but they made a mistake in the rotational lift and they got L3. Again, they had the opportunity to get the bronze medal but the problem are their mistakes. And actually, C/B got the 3rd place in the FD, the least expected, lol.
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H/D's mistakes are becoming fewer and far between, but honestly, it's a little frustrating that they always take themselves out of contention on just one element when it really counts. They're gonna be so so so motivated for nationals. It'll be (I hope) an excellent competition, particularly with H/B, Parsons and M/C in the mix lower down too. (And P/B too, I shouldn't really count them out lol).
 
Good morning or good evening fellow Shib fans. I just woke up and looked at the results. I was shocked to see my favorite team in sixth position in the FS.
I thought to myself they both must of fallen or some other disaster. No falls though. I have not looked at protocols yet which will tell me what
happened. Glad they held on to the Bronze medal. Press conference was very subdued for both the Shibs and V/M. Alex said it was not their best skate and mistakes (by me) were made.
 
teacakes said:
H/D's mistakes are becoming fewer and far between, but honestly, it's a little frustrating that they always take themselves out of contention on just one element when it really counts. They're gonna be so so so motivated for nationals. It'll be (I hope) an excellent competition, particularly with H/B, Parsons and M/C in the mix lower down too. (And P/B too, I shouldn't really count them out lol).
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Everyone will be very very motived at Nationals. Actually I am more surprised by the result of C/B in the FD.
 
Wow I am really gutted by that FD from the Shibs. :( I could not believe how off they were during the twizzles .... awful. You could tell they were just hanging on after that. :( I’d been so much hoping they could build on that amazing FD at Skate America and really challenge V/M and P/C. It’s a huge bummer ... and very unfortunate because now they’ll go into Natls with a lot more pressure and tension than they would have if they’d just had a decent performance here. Le sigh, this was a frustrating event all around, what with the Shibs’ and H/D’s mistakes and the margin of P/C’s win over V/M (I’m with you on that one @Spun Silver).
 
Spun Silver said:
Raving about how P/C are in a class of their own and Beethoven lived just for them. Sorry, but as a classical music lover that one is a bit hard to swallow. I thought they were beautiful but V/M had so much more content! It seems like the judges want to put forward a new young style. And FWIW, I normally prefer P/C to V/M. But the latter were great tonight. As for the Shibs, put down upon put down.
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I'm glad someone said this. Yes for sure. A hundred years ago, Beethoven composed moonlight sonata just for PC. The music world was just waiting for this FD.

Forget about GG and their real romantic FS.

I feel about PC the way some felt about Kwan. I just can't with the superlatives.
 
Spun Silver said:
Raving about how P/C are in a class of their own and Beethoven lived just for them. Sorry, but as a classical music lover that one is a bit hard to swallow. I thought they were beautiful but V/M had so much more content! It seems like the judges want to put forward a new young style. And FWIW, I normally prefer P/C to V/M. But the latter were great tonight. As for the Shibs, put down upon put down.
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I never saw a comment like that. Obviously just a fan raving, it happens. As a fan of P/C I think still think V/M and them are in a very close fight and I'll add Shibs for the SD because of the reviews.
We can go on and on about why I think a cleaner P/C won against V/M. I don't think the latter have more content, just "bigger moves", and I think the first team makes it look much easier, and I'm almost happy it didn't go with the "V/M are better technicians" reputation. They weren't as clean, they didn't won. Seamless and effortless also counts.
EDIT : I see a comparaison to a lesser extent to people wanting H/D to beat the Shibs so badly actually. H/D play on the love connection because it's their strength and they are so tall, their legs and arms makes them look like they have huge moves compared to Shibs. That might be true, but then ? The cleanless/execution goes in. And there you have your difference.
H/D could have won today but they also made mistakes. In the end it's anybody's game.

But this is the Shibs thread. I wanted to say that his twitter message makes him look very disappointed in himself today, so if any of you have twitter, you could cheer him up !
 
Aw, poor Alex. :(
This has not been a great competition for my faves. Or rather, not a great free skate session for my faves. :/
They fought though and that helped them get bronze.

Anyway, I know they'll learn from this and I am confident I'm in for a treat when I see them live in a few weeks!
 
Also, can we please give Maia, sister/partner of the year? She was so kind and compassionate to Alex and she really worked to hold things together during both programs. People truly downplay Maia's role -- she is the level-headed one of the two and I think that contributes to their consistency.
 
Mrs. P said:
Also, can we please give Maia, sister/partner of the year? She was so kind and compassionate to Alex and she really worked to hold things together during both programs. People truly downplay Maia's role -- she is the level-headed one of the two and I think that contributes to their consistency.
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yes, she is amazing, and I love how Alex says: I’m lucky to have an amazing partner in @MaiaShibutani., he does not call her =sister=, but partner, he truly respect her like figure skater.
 
chapis said:
yes, she is amazing, and I love how Alex says: I’m lucky to have an amazing partner in @MaiaShibutani., he does not call her =sister=, but partner, he truly respect her like figure skater.
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Absolutely. The equal-ness of this team is also something people totally downplay but i think has been crucial to their success. There isn't one partner who is WAY better than the other. They have truly been able to be in-sync most of the time. Of course, the bad part about that is one partner is off, they both look off because we're used to seeing them on completely the same page.

Edited: I also find it funny that some are like "This is the indication that the Shibs will be dethroned at nationals!" The Shibutanis score under 110 in the FD for the first time in like 1.5 years and basically had their worse performance probably arguably two years... That's the basis you're going to use?

And guess who still has the GPF bronze?
 
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I have not watched the FD videos yet. Olympic channel is re-broadcasting the disciplines in my area tonight so I will watch.

Feel bad for Alex's disappointment but the only place they can go is up. Fluke FD for them. I don't expect we will see 109 again this season
they are so much better than that. I just try to ignore the trash talk. Shibs did enough to win the Bronze medal here and at the
end of the day the other teams could not overtake them. In my book that was a good accomplishment for the Shibs.
 
I feel like I should worry but I felt like Worlds really lit something in the Shibs and they came out really well on the GP series, I think that they will take this as a learning experience to go guns blazing at Nationals. It was a fluke skate and I'm glad everyone around Alex seemed so supportive. He should put it behind him and move onto the next step.
 
I really felt like Alex looked like he was sick. I have no BTS information. I just thought especially in the kiss and cry after both programs that he looked sick.

I think the Shibs will be fine. It was one disappointing competition where Alex wasn’t himself. We have seen how strong & prepared they are this season. I expect them to be as good or better than SA at nationals.
 
I wonder why they changed the straightline lift. They need to go back to the original one as it was incredibly exciting, new, and brought the program much needed energy going into the second half. I will say that I finally got the musicality leading up to the stationary lift. Maia's hops leading up to it really went with the music. I think they need to do a little bit more with the stationary lift to make it sing...like change Maia's position in the middle or have Alex go on one leg or both.
 
Tough skate for the Shib Sibs.

My theory is that they fell victim to having to compete at GPF while not at peak.

They were at peak for SA. They want to peak for Nationals to keep their title and Olympics to try to get a medal.

They can't be at peak from end of Nov - Feb. It's too hard on the body.

So this is the competition is where they are competing while they aren't quite at their peak.

I'm confident that they will kick ass at Nationals and Olympics.
 
I hope they change back the straight line too, I thought it was a fabulous lift and Maia's free leg coming out of it was so clean.

Anyway the male commentator did not commentate last night for ELTA. Instead the regular female commentator was there with another female commentator. Link to the full FD here. They didn't really say much, they mentioned Alex's mistake on the twizzles. They said that since they are a sibling pair, they don't do romantic programs but both commentators said that they still think that the Shibs have stellar chemistry/connection on ice because they've worked together for so long. They said that over the years they've improved a lot and are usually pretty solid but today they faced a little difficulty. Nothing particularly negative.
 
I’m hoping the change to the straight line lift was just a temporary change, for whatever reason. I don’t know what reason they have to change it permanently considering they obviously worked hard to develop a new one and it looked great in the program and was scoring well. Better than the lift they replaced it with.
 
FWIW, I think Alex was sick, but he is not one to make excuses. It may be nothing more than an upset stomach or a cold coming on (it happens to me every time I fly). He didn't look healthy or robust as he normally does. He looked like he was fighting some malady, however slight.
 
They have time to recuperate, keep training, and be ready for Nationals. It's a good time to make mistakes and know you have more time to train before Nationals and Olympics. They still earned the bronze medal, and the disappointing FD score will likely motivate them.
Alex did look especially tired at the end of the FD, but so did some of the other men.
 
Perhaps they needed a different lift due to a physical limitation (e.g., sore back). The Shibs never dial it down unless they have a reason. A ballet dancer friend of mine once said the key to success is to dance "b**s to the wall" but make it look easy.

To me, the Shibs are "b***s to the wall" skaters. They always give 1,000% unless there is an extenuating circumstance.
 
suki said:
Perhaps they needed a different lift due to a physical limitation (e.g., sore back). The Shibs never dial it down unless they have a reason. A ballet dancer friend of mine once said the key to success is to dance "b**s to the wall" but make it look easy.

To me, the Shibs are "b***s to the wall" skaters. They always give 1,000% unless there is an extenuating circumstance.
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I was thinking along the same lines. The lift they used in the GPF is the old straight line lift they were using for the past 2 seasons before this season. They still use it in their exhibition too. That lift is probably very comfortable and familiar to them and easier to perform if something is off physically.

I really hope Alex’s back isn’t hurt though. That’s something that can take a while to get better. Hopefully the problem was just exhaustion from the SA to GPF turnaround compounded by some stress and nerves. Expecting 2 flawless competitions on different sides of the world in the span of 3 weeks might’ve been too tall an order for anyone.
 
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suki said:
Perhaps they needed a different lift due to a physical limitation (e.g., sore back).
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omg, I was thinking more about an infection weakening to Alex, that is easier and fast to recover than a back injury :(.
 
I think Alex was tired -- he looked spent at the end of it. I don't think he's injured. If you want a reference point of injury, you may want to look at the Shibs' second half skates from the 2011-2012 season or the 2012-2013 season. They really dialed back on lifts because of Alex's back. And Alex looked like he had to will himself to get Maia around in those rotational lifts back then. I didn't see that today.

When I look at Worlds 2012, it's really interesting how Maia grew over the year.
 
chapis said:
omg, I was thinking more about an infection weakening to Alex, that is easier and fast to recover than a back injury :(.
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Let’s not assume the worst just yet. We don’t have any facts about it so everything is just speculation right now. It’s totally possible that the problem wasn’t anything super serious and with a little bit of rest they’ll be just fine.

Besides they managed that very demanding rotational lift pretty well which I think is a good sign against there being an injury.
 
MRani said:
Let’s not assume the worst just yet. We don’t have any facts about it so everything is just speculation right now. It’s totally possible that the problem wasn’t anything super serious and with a little bit of rest they’ll be just fine.
I
Besides they managed that very demanding rotational lift pretty well which I think is a good sign against there being an injury.
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It's good to have a doctor in the house! :)
 
MRani said:
I was thinking along the same lines. The lift they used in the GPF is the old straight line lift they were using for the past 2 seasons before this season. They still use it in their exhibition too. That lift is probably very comfortable and familiar to them and easier to perform if something is off physically.

I really hope Alex’s back isn’t hurt though. That’s something that can take a while to get better. Hopefully the problem was just exhaustion from the SA to GPF turnaround compounded by some stress and nerves. Expecting 2 flawless competitions in the span of 3 weeks might’ve been too tall an order for anyone.
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ITA, MRani. When you are not feeling 100%, everything is more difficult.
 
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