2023 Grand Prix Final - Men FS: “Succession of the Quad Squad”

[alj5]

That was (mostly) a very good men's event. I wish there was a pewter medal for Adam, as his free was also outstanding.

Ilia - I don't mind the rough blade work so much when the jumps are that light and easy. I also don't mind this costume direction - though maybe make the jacket look less like a track suit jacket? The white piping is weird. The PCS should be lower, but still enough to win this event on the strength of those quads.

Shoma - beautiful program, just sublime skating. This program is definitely growing on me.

Yuma - he has such a lightness and crispness to his skating that makes him so nice to watch. If he could return to his previous technical difficulty, he would be my pick for 2026 gold.

Adam - great skate after the disaster in the short. I really love this program, and hope he is able to get another couple of clean skates with it this season.

Kao - poor kid looked sick. I'm so impressed with how well he performed. From my experience as an ER doc, I'm much more used to men acting like children when they get a GI illness.

Kevin - oh Kevin. Well the first element and the last element were both really well done.


At the men's medal ceremonies - love the Chinese official who is like "screw it, i'm wearing my comfy sneakers".

 

[Andrey aka Pushkin]

Beats Shoma by 15 with a fall on the 4A. It must be so demoralising for the other guys. He’s a freak of nature.

lol, yeah, but just wait until in a couple of seasons he starts winning with falls on the quads based on the second mark
We've all been there....

 

[Desperado]

I think Ilia’s costume looks great on him and I haven’t been able to say this about many previous ones.

Dad was SO HAPPY. I like what I’m seeing of their relationship.

 

[LilJen]

Blah, don’t even really want to watch, upon seeing the results…

 

[YukiNieve]

Cross-posting:

A clip of Shoma's interview with the Japanese reporters in the mixed zone after his free skate for GPF.

The excerpt below explains well how he feels about the sport and his fellow competitors.

(Asked how many scores you need to think about to turn the tables)
If you think too much about it, your rival's failure is a factor that has to be taken into account, and figure skating is not an interpersonal sport, so it's different from a sport where you do what your opponent doesn't like.

I think that figure skating is a sport where you have to keep fighting with yourself all the way. I think the opponents are rivals buy they are also comrades.

Of course, competing against each other for scores, competing at a high level, is a lot of fun, and I think it's more fun to watch, but you should not be too obsessed with that aspect.

I'd like to approach this sport with the mindset and the relationships with my opponents that I can say directly to them "I lost to you this time but I want to win next time." I think all six of us who are here now have that kind of mentality, so I'm very comfortable with them.

ðï¸Japan's Shoma Uno mixed zone post-match interview at GP Finalï½Short Programï½Figure Skatingï½å®éæ磨

â¸ï¸#GPFigure & #JGPFigure FinalMen's Short Programð¯ðµðï¸Japan's Shoma Uno mixed zone full interview#FigureSkating #å®éæ磨

www.youtube.com

​

 

[TheresMaude]

Cross-posting:

A clip of Shoma's interview with the Japanese reporters in the mixed zone after his free skate for GPF.

The excerpt below explains well how he feels about the sport and his fellow competitors.

(Asked how many scores you need to think about to turn the tables)
If you think too much about it, your rival's failure is a factor that has to be taken into account, and figure skating is not an interpersonal sport, so it's different from a sport where you do what your opponent doesn't like.

I think that figure skating is a sport where you have to keep fighting with yourself all the way. I think the opponents are rivals buy they are also comrades.

Of course, competing against each other for scores, competing at a high level, is a lot of fun, and I think it's more fun to watch, but you should not be too obsessed with that aspect.

I'd like to approach this sport with the mindset and the relationships with my opponents that I can say directly to them "I lost to you this time but I want to win next time." I think all six of us who are here now have that kind of mentality, so I'm very comfortable with them.

ðï¸Japan's Shoma Uno mixed zone post-match interview at GP Finalï½Short Programï½Figure Skatingï½å®éæ磨

â¸ï¸#GPFigure & #JGPFigure FinalMen's Short Programð¯ðµðï¸Japan's Shoma Uno mixed zone full interview#FigureSkating #å®éæ磨

www.youtube.com

​

He is one of the most thoughtful and articulate skaters I can think of in recent years. Lovely man. Thanks for translating.

 

[TheresMaude]

Tony wrote: <We've seen other skaters near the top that are throwing off multiple quads of their own and there's not such a dead space through the program.>
For those who remember, when did Nathan start doing more complex programs? I remember he was criticized for how simple his Prince Igor program was. (Although I loved it primarily for how handsome and like a young prince he looked. Swoon.)

 

[Wyliefan]

Tony wrote: <We've seen other skaters near the top that are throwing off multiple quads of their own and there's not such a dead space through the program.>
For those who remember, when did Nathan start doing more complex programs? I remember he was criticized for how simple his Prince Igor program was. (Although I loved it primarily for how handsome and like a young prince he looked. Swoon.)

He had "Nemesis" and "Mao's Last Dancer" the season after that (2017-18). One could argue that "Mao's Last Dancer" wasn't as complex as some of his later ones, but he really started showing his own style that season.

 

[tony]

Tony wrote: <We've seen other skaters near the top that are throwing off multiple quads of their own and there's not such a dead space through the program.>
For those who remember, when did Nathan start doing more complex programs? I remember he was criticized for how simple his Prince Igor program was. (Although I loved it primarily for how handsome and like a young prince he looked. Swoon.)

I think the turning point for me was probably with his Philip Glass free skate, however I still thought it was a little skimpy in the first half. But I believe that's when he really started focusing on his body line more and at least was showing a realized effort of following the music and needing more precise timing.

He obviously loved Rocket Man enough to bring it back to fight for Olympic gold, and I get that it was a more audience-friendly program especially with the choreo sequence, but I still think Glass was the best thing he did by far.

(ETA- also remember back then, it was a five-component system and transitions mattered as much as skating skills)

 

[puglover]

I am not a skating fan normally too obsessed with quads but never thought I would live to see the day a quad axel was landed in competition and in the short program no less! Truly a thrill!!