2025 Skate America Mens Free - Pope Dies Last

[Cachoo]

Oh Jeez, Kevin’s singing along and now I’m crying.

ETA: and I want to watch Casablanca. IYKYK.

So so happy for Kevin. And now I wonder if the French get chills from that scene In Casablanca. I still do.

 

[Sylvia]

Men's FS presser is underway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtoB_gmsu00

 

[sk8nlizard]

LOL - did the USFS just tell their flower girls & medal bearers to wear black leggings & turtlenecks with white trainers and only spring for 2 red scarves and 2 blue scarves? Just when we thought the USFS couldn't get any more low rent than they already are with their KnC, we've got these poor girls raiding their own wardrobes for this job.

Seriously - they couldn't even get Save the Ducks or whatever their new team jacket apparel partner is to spring for some nice clothes for these girls?

I think most of the time the kids have to pay for their own outfits when they are flower girls/boys at things like Nationals and Skate America, but I could be mistaken.

 

[Rob]

Cartwheel to anything why?

Cartwheel is the wolf turn of skating. Why? And never if you can’t do it with straight legs.

 

[Sally1214]

Grassl beats both Britschgi and Tomono in a tie breaker and he'll beat Jason if he's 3rd at Finlandia. Selevbro Sr has 13 points but no second GP unless someone pulls out in the next day or so. So, unless Jason somehow gets 2nd or Selevko gets a last minute assignment and places 4th or higher (or 5th but then we go to tie break #2), Grassl is in. I have nothing against the kid, I just would much rather see other skaters in the GPF.

I wouldn't mind seeing Grassl in the GPF. I know some of you don't like him (and I do know why) but whatever may or may not have happened, it's in the past and he's paid his dues. He's working hard to move forward and I wish him well.

 

[BittyBug]

The challenge for Grassl will be to integrate his jumps into the choreography. He spends a LOT of time setting the up and his arms and hands become very stiff leading into takeoff, which detracts from the program. He achieves some absolutely amazing positions in his spins, though, and he's not afraid to take on unused music, so I find him interesting nonetheless.

 

[Lilia A]

I wouldn't mind seeing Grassl in the GPF. I know some of you don't like him (and I do know why) but whatever may or may not have happened, it's in the past and he's paid his dues. He's working hard to move forward and I wish him well.

No, just I don't like his skating and I'd rather see Lukas or Kazuki or even Selevko in the final. It has nothing to do with the missed doping tests or the short move to Eteri's camp. I do wish him well though. I want all skaters to feel good, both physically and mentally.

 

[Jammers]

What a disaster kinda like the Pairs maybe they should have just left the podium empty with how all of the men skated.

 

[skateboy]

What a disaster kinda like the Pairs maybe they should have just left the podium empty with how all of the men skated.

I think they're all feeling the Olympic year pressure. Let's hope they peak at the right time. You know they can all do it in practice. Under pressure is a totally different animal. It's a head game.

 

[millyskate]

I just watched Kevin and his Bolero is by far my favourite bolero from the past 30 years. Love his interpretation.

 

[MacMadame]

LOL - did the USFS just tell their flower girls & medal bearers to wear black leggings & turtlenecks with white trainers and only spring for 2 red scarves and 2 blue scarves? Just when we thought the USFS couldn't get any more low rent than they already are with their KnC, we've got these poor girls raiding their own wardrobes for this job.

The club sponsoring the event picks the flower girls and decides on their costumes and the kids have to buy them themselves most of the time. It has nothing to do with USFS.

 

[TAHbKA]

Waking up and looking at the protocols am thrilled I did not stay awake for that...

 

[Private Citizen]

Waking up and looking at the protocols am thrilled I did not stay awake for that...

I was just going to post the same. I was dozing off during the last group of ladiezzzz and knew I had no chance of making it through the men.

Skate America always seems to be messy, even when it's not first.

 

[Lanie]

Missed it since I went back to the hotel for a bit, was reading to decompress and headache was back, and fell asleep like an idiot. (I usually have horrible insomnia so wtf is going on that I'm tired at 9, 10pm?!)

 

[Miezekatze]

What a horrible competition

Even though Aymoz program is still cool, hopefully we’ll get a clean version once this season.

 

[SlavicaK]

Why Luc is skating to Clair De Lune is the more important question to which I have no answer.

It was announced as "Claire de Lune" in his introduction.

 

[once_upon]

My opinion is Kevin may have made some mistakes and some people really dislike him, but every other man in the final flight had the same opportunity (and some even better based on #f quads in programs). Kevin did the real job - to put together 2 programs that had the least # of issues.

Everyone had the same or even a greater opportunity to perform.

Leaving an podium empty negates the truth.

 

[mtnskater]

Catching up this morning.

The men’s event here had my favorite music of the season and the absolute worst music of the season.
Love Liam Kapekis’ free program music. Beautiful, sweeping soundtrack. I remember it fondly from the Elvis era. Liam needs to express it better, but it’s wonderful for skating. Great to see Liam skating better than he has for a long time.

OTOH Shaidorov has the absolute worst music ever ever used in figure skating. I can’t even imagine listening to that several times everyday doing run through in the rink. Awful stuff!!! I don’t think the judges like it either.

Jason can skate the phone book for me and I’m moved. His complex movement on the ice blows my mind.

Kevin is always such a trip. He grabs my attention every time. What a K&C reaction. Love that NBC showed a picture of 9 year old Jack Zimmerman. If you haven’t seen his Easterns juvenile free program…go find it!

Kazuki has never been my cup of tea, but I was happy for him to lead after the short…he deserved it. Gutted through the free for a medal.

Quite a splatfest for the top men here. Very happy for Kevin last man standing and Andrea sticks a microphone in his face…uggh!

 

[terisa]

I will be traveling with Kevin to events for the rest of his eligible career

If you're his good luck charm, I'll kick in to the sponsorship fund! ALLEZ KEVIN

 

[victorskid]

Real flags this year! No jumbotron flags for this quaint Lake Placid Skate America!

Even better - for the Pairs ceremony they were all flags in red and white

 

[4rkidz]

So which Kevin do we get today?

To be fair he is injured and hardly did any practices before skate Canada and then came to Lake Placid.

 

[peibeck]

Welp, as good as the ladies were, this men's free was really a train wreck.

Litvintsev's crazy "Joker" program being the cleanest of the night is insane. Although when skated clean you at least it seems coherent. Unlike Shaidorov, whose bizarre music mix, combined with his usually messy skate, just came off as a big miss (but was still enough to win the free).

Speaking of bizarre music, I'm not a fan of Jason's "Say Something" cover. He's got a lot of work to do before Nationals, not that I think he'd get denied an Olympic slot, but this was pretty far below his normal standards.

Glad Tomono managed to hold on for the bronze, despite a poor free. That program is gorgeous.

Too bad for Memola he didn't have a better SP, he was clearly better than Grassl last night. Not that either was amazing, but that "Conclave" program is just a dud, and the costume reveal embarrassing.

When he isn't jumping, Economides moves so fluidly and with great expression. I'm shocked Amodio hasn't done anything to correct his jump technique, which is all over the board.

 

[4rkidz]

I will be traveling with Kevin to events for the rest of his eligible career

Hope you like random stops for Pokémon

 

[Theatregirl1122]

When he isn't jumping, Economides moves so fluidly and with great expression. I'm shocked Amodio hasn't done anything to correct his jump technique, which is all over the board.

I was surprised by how loose in the air his jumps are.

 

[peibeck]

I was surprised by how loose in the air his jumps are.

And he has the occasional wrapped leg too, but not always. Very weird!

 

[HaNguyen]

Amodio could never jump, so if Economides wants to learn how to do better jumps, he needs to go to a different coach.

 

[SlavicaK]

Told y'all Kazuki fandom is a roller coaster. Sigh.

He won himself an uber this weekend. I love his skating and both his programs, can't wait to see what he does later in the season.

 

[zigzig]

OOF - this event was an eyesore.

Thrilled for Kevin but that score wouldn't even have had him on the podium in some of the other events.

Mikhail needs to go back to Moonlight/Take on Me - this program is garbage and the judges are doing their best to let him know.

Kazuki - how is he 27?! Geez. Glad he hung on to a medal (and scary to think that he could still have medaled even scoring 5 points less - the competition really was that abysmal).

Brown - I like the program. The jumps look worse than usual but maybe it's just a pacing/peaking thing. The singer has a lot of vocal affectations which are really annoying.

Grassl - at least he got most of his jumps called correctly for a change. The fact that he got higher PCS with this piece of shiz program should be a wake up call to Urmanov.