I really liked Roman as a novice and junior skater...I first saw him finish second in novice at Canadian Challenge (behind Nadeau) and was really impressed with both of them for how musical they were and how interesting their programs were. Here is a video from shortly after that, his first JGP season, that has some of those same qualities:
18 Roman SADOVSKY (CAN) - ISU JGP Sencila Bled Cup 2012 Junior Men Free Skating
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Unfortunately in the last couple of years, I think that some of the musicality has been lost in an attempt to get the jumps consistent. I also think that his current programs don’t do him any favours, especially the short. I think I have a little bit of residual fandom for the junior skater I still remember but am not thrilled with a lot about the current incarnation. It would be great at some point if we could see a combination of the musicality from his younger days with the big jumps he has now.
Thanks for sharing 'baby Roman' junior performance from 2012.
He was just a little sprite, but still with those long forever legs and smooth skating with such gorgeous lines. Part of the reasons why Roman has struggled in recent years is because his body kept growing at the same time he was trying to solidify triples and incorporate quads. That double process obviously made it hugely difficult for him, as he had to constantly re-adjust, regroup and go back to the drawing board. The necessary focus on developing quads is known to take away from emphasis on aesthetic skills. It is what it is.
Quads take up a lot of physical and mental energy. It's rare to be able to land multiple quads along with full and complete attention to artistic nuances and interpretation throughout a performance. Anyone who desires the great artistry of complete performances combined with superb technique, go back at look at the best of John Curry, Toller Cranston, John Misha Petkevich, Brian Orser, Brian Boitano, Robin Cousins, Paul Wylie, Dai Takahashi at his best, Denis Ten at his best, et al.
In some of his earliest vlogs, Romsky has spoken of being very gung ho about quads and eager to master them. Over the past two seasons, as he has apparently completed his growth spurt, Romsky has gained an increased maturity. It's lovely to see him having finally grown into his body and feeling more comfortable and confident with his skating. His opening quad jumps are so gorgeous with fast rotations and beautiful landings. If he can consistently continue pulling everything together to eventually skate completely clean performances, hallelujah!
Regarding how the sport's emphasis has changed and fluctuated over the years without any vision with respect to making the sport better and assisting the athletes in mastering the basics, listen to the below mid-2000s interview with Brian Orser (from old research footage compiled by David Barba and James Pellerito when they were planning a figure skating documentary, which ultimately turned into a profile on Johnny Weir:
Pop Star On Ice, 2009). The old interview footage was later given to TSL. Dave Lease recently began uploading some of the interviews on Youtube. In the below clip, Brian Orser discusses how lack of emphasis on practicing figures has impacted the sport:
David Barba and James Pellerito conducted a series of interviews with influentials figure skaters and officials for an untitled skating project that was neve...
youtu.be
I love how Brian mentions 'the politics of scoring figures.' Today that would equate to 'the politics of manipulating PCS and especially GOE scores.' It would be cool to hear how Orser feels about the issues of the absence of figures and how political scoring works in today's environment. I'm sure though that Orser would be more circumspect in his criticisms, since he's an active and successful coach.
Here's a more recent example (my favorite of his SP's) that shows off his natural musicality a bit better: Roman Sadovsky 2017 Junior World Figure Skating Championships - SP Yes, the music is overused, but he does a nice job with it. I also love the costume. This is year 2 for his current programs, so we should see new ones next season, hopefully with more choreographic detail.
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