mtnskater
Well-Known Member
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What a great showdown in the final flight of men at the GPF.
Ilia made my jaw drop to the ground. Who does a spread eagle into a beautiful swish QUADRUPLE flip??!! Yes…that is a VERY difficult entry. Who else does that? Quad lutz euler triple flip!!! Incredible. Quad axel no one else even tries. 7 beautiful effortless quads. Okay folks this IS an Olympic SPORT and especially in men’s it’s going to be who can land the most difficult elements. Yes, I love good skating skills but really multiple rotation jumps are the hardest thing to master in skating and should be rewarded, as Ilia is by the current system. I really hate that costume on Ilia…can’t believe he can jump in it with all that stuff around his neck and shoulders. I thought he used a Japanese designer. Usually they are known for simplicity. Wish he would have found one of those! He’s such a nice looking young man and doesn’t need all the wick whack. I think his spins are very good (better than Yuma) and the raspberry twist in the middle of the last combo spin…well let’s see any of the other guys there try it. History making program. Just wow…props!!
Let’s face it to me skating skills are a bit harder to judge and quantify. And when you have 6 to 7 jumping passes, little time to really show those skills, let alone choreography. Even Yuma’s free I can’t see his skating skills as prominently as the short program because he has to jump much more. I take ice dance lessons from a former U.S. national ice dance competitor and his opinion is Alyssa Liu has the best skating skills in the women. But most people say Kaori.
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I’m in the camp that thinks Yuma’s program is too big for him. It makes him look small. He can’t afford that when Ilia skates so big. His spread eagles outside edge to inside edge are very nice. But if you have seen the edges and body line that Paul Wylie achieved on that same sequence you must look it up. Paul did those better. The short program favors Yuma if Ilia makes mistakes as we saw here. Skating skills will matter more when you can only do three jumping passes. But he quickly loses any advantage there in his free skate with much lower tech content. More jumping passes mean less skating and choreography. I’m worried about Yuma also because he is rarely skating clean since last season. He was 4th in the free….that was fair. His dad always seems so stearn with him. Added pressure??
His short program here is one I will rewatch here though. And I rarely want to rewatch his performances. That performance was wonderful.
Shun should have been second. He did so much more technical content all clean, with good skating skills and spins. Shun has really learned to compete consistently this year. His coach is hilarious with his OTT reactions while Shun is stonefaced or slightly smiling.
. The audience was audible laughing too.
Grassl. I am longer actively disliking his skating. Still not a fan, but he really has improved little by little to the point he is actually watchable for me.
Adam….I was clapping so hard thinking Adam found his mojo again for the first half of the program, only to be bummed out for his three botched jumping passes. The axel is usually his best and reliable…uggh!
Shaidorov…wishing the Shaidorov of last season was still here. Loved his effortless jumping last year. Program is beyond horrible. I’m softening on Alexei Urmanov. He is so kind and supportive of Mikhail with his subpar skates. Most Russian coaches give their students the deep freeze when they mess up. Nice to see Alexei and how supportive he is.
Ilia made my jaw drop to the ground. Who does a spread eagle into a beautiful swish QUADRUPLE flip??!! Yes…that is a VERY difficult entry. Who else does that? Quad lutz euler triple flip!!! Incredible. Quad axel no one else even tries. 7 beautiful effortless quads. Okay folks this IS an Olympic SPORT and especially in men’s it’s going to be who can land the most difficult elements. Yes, I love good skating skills but really multiple rotation jumps are the hardest thing to master in skating and should be rewarded, as Ilia is by the current system. I really hate that costume on Ilia…can’t believe he can jump in it with all that stuff around his neck and shoulders. I thought he used a Japanese designer. Usually they are known for simplicity. Wish he would have found one of those! He’s such a nice looking young man and doesn’t need all the wick whack. I think his spins are very good (better than Yuma) and the raspberry twist in the middle of the last combo spin…well let’s see any of the other guys there try it. History making program. Just wow…props!!
Let’s face it to me skating skills are a bit harder to judge and quantify. And when you have 6 to 7 jumping passes, little time to really show those skills, let alone choreography. Even Yuma’s free I can’t see his skating skills as prominently as the short program because he has to jump much more. I take ice dance lessons from a former U.S. national ice dance competitor and his opinion is Alyssa Liu has the best skating skills in the women. But most people say Kaori.
️I’m in the camp that thinks Yuma’s program is too big for him. It makes him look small. He can’t afford that when Ilia skates so big. His spread eagles outside edge to inside edge are very nice. But if you have seen the edges and body line that Paul Wylie achieved on that same sequence you must look it up. Paul did those better. The short program favors Yuma if Ilia makes mistakes as we saw here. Skating skills will matter more when you can only do three jumping passes. But he quickly loses any advantage there in his free skate with much lower tech content. More jumping passes mean less skating and choreography. I’m worried about Yuma also because he is rarely skating clean since last season. He was 4th in the free….that was fair. His dad always seems so stearn with him. Added pressure??
His short program here is one I will rewatch here though. And I rarely want to rewatch his performances. That performance was wonderful.
Shun should have been second. He did so much more technical content all clean, with good skating skills and spins. Shun has really learned to compete consistently this year. His coach is hilarious with his OTT reactions while Shun is stonefaced or slightly smiling.
. The audience was audible laughing too.Grassl. I am longer actively disliking his skating. Still not a fan, but he really has improved little by little to the point he is actually watchable for me.
Adam….I was clapping so hard thinking Adam found his mojo again for the first half of the program, only to be bummed out for his three botched jumping passes. The axel is usually his best and reliable…uggh!
Shaidorov…wishing the Shaidorov of last season was still here. Loved his effortless jumping last year. Program is beyond horrible. I’m softening on Alexei Urmanov. He is so kind and supportive of Mikhail with his subpar skates. Most Russian coaches give their students the deep freeze when they mess up. Nice to see Alexei and how supportive he is.
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