https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOgM96NiQ5g sp SA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm0YxFX-D14 fp SA
Wow, looking at these programs (as I mentioned earlier), Nathan actually has become more flexible and softer in his knees, likely via working with his choreographers. His triple axel has improved and he's continued to perfect his spins. Lots of lovely dynamic moments in both programs with the spins. Plus, he's correcting the forward tendency on some of his jump landings too. He seems stronger, smoother and in more command artistically as well in this season's fp as opposed to his Olympic season fp. So it has helped that he has somewhat redirected his focus away from an intensity surrounding quads.
In the scoring at SA, Nathan should have received more credit on transitions in the sp, and higher marks for composition and interpretation. What are the judges not seeing?!
http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1819/gpusa2018/SEG001.HTM
In the fp judging, IMO Nathan was still kept down in some areas more than he should have been, especially on composition and interpretation!
http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1819/gpusa2018/SEG002.HTM
The judges clearly do not fully recognize the magnificence that's in front of their eyes in the skating of Nathan Chen. He is remarkable, and he's changing the way we view the sport, and the way music and personality can combine to create magic. It's a shame that Nathan Chen as a phenomenon on ice is too good for this sport. I said it before and I'll say it again, that maybe Nathan should have chosen ballet over figure skating. Nathan understands the music in ways that Alex Johnson and Timothy Dolensky do. I know that both Timothy and Nathan also play musical instruments. That can make a huge difference in understanding how to interpret music on the ice.
Contrastingly, Yuzuru Hanyu is a bravura technician with an out-of-this-world ability to perform mesmerizing jumps. Hanyu's flowy quality over the ice and his SS are often mistaken for artistic skill. But Hanyu is not a creative artist who understands and expresses the music in the way that Nathan, Timothy, Alex, Jason, Jeremy Abbott, et al can do. Patrick Chan possessed phenomenal, unsurpassable SS, yet he recognized that he could improve his artistic and interpretive skills. Chan spent the latter years of his career trying to fully master a musical understanding allied with a nuanced movement quality. Hanyu generally skates fine with or over the music, but he does not interpret the music with any depth or nuance in the way that fully developed artists on ice can do.
These quality differences are completely misunderstood by many figure skating judges, IMHO. And of course, judges' decisions are too often impacted by country affiliation conflicts of interest. I realize that comparing scores across competitions is a fruitless enterprise. And the new scoring system will complicate results at any given competition. Still, Hanyu's sp marks at AC for CO and IN are slightly higher than Nathan's, and that's simply inaccurate. Judges need to understand the differences between sublime and magical CO and IN vs average CO and IN that is actually lacking in musical understanding, depth of expression, detail and nuance. The differences are not easy to recognize. Hanyu may deserve slightly higher scores on transitions and SS than Nathan, but on CO and IN, nope. Also, performance execution marks should not be based solely on having a slight technical miscue, especially when every other detail throughout a program is executed brilliantly (as in the case of Nathan's sp). And I think sometimes that transitions can be over-rated. Not every program should be jam-packed with transitions for the sake of transitions. I don't even think some judges really understand what transitions are or how to judge them.
Here are Hanyu's marks and performances at AC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8Zc_ukuteY
https://skatecanada.ca/2018-autumn-classic-international/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vIZ7A3pFGA
https://skatecanada.ca/2018-autumn-classic-international/
I actually like the music, drama, and costume of Hanyu's fp better than his generic channeling of JW's iconic
Otonal for his sp. But Hanyu didn't receive good marks in his fp because of tech errors. I also don't think Hanyu's spins are singularly anything to write home about. Moreover, the judges don't know how to judge PCS on the basis of PCS, separate from technical execution. If they did, they wouldn't automatically give top skaters high PCS when they skate clean. And drop them overall when they make errors. Judge on the actual choreo and the actual ability to interpret music with creativity, musical understanding and nuanced expressiveness. Please!
I know I'm talking in a vacuum. Nobody who controls this sport cares.
It's hard to judge when our emotions are involved, and if we lack an understanding of how to analyze performance abilities and musical interpretive skills. Clearly Nathan and Hanyu are two champions who do not have a lot separating them. But they are different in their abilities, and I don't see judges ever being able to recognize those subtle differences. So it boils down to whether technical mistakes are made, and PCS will go up or down on that basis. And that's sad, especially with the untested new GOE range and rules changes.
The rules were intended to level the playing field in part so that Nathan's ability to land 5 to 6 quads won't take things out of the judges hands.
I really laugh at that, because it was the ISU's huge mistake in the first place to ever over-value quads the way they did. And now they are doing a course correction with another hammer. Hands down, at his best Hanyu is a bravura technician with suspended jumps, superb athleticism, flowing movement quality and excellent SS. Nathan is an extraordinarily creative skater with great jump technique, superb athleticism, a dynamic and unique movement aesthetic, and an uncredited natural ability to interpret the music. Frankly, we likely haven't even seen Nathan's absolute best yet, because his extraordinary talents are so expansive and limitless. Nathan's two programs this season are innovative and incomparable, and deserve higher scores for composition and interpretation, bar none.
Still, they are good programs and well suited to him, and there's no doubt he skated the heck out of them. Very well done. 
Nathan is an acquired taste for some people apparently. Don't fret those of you who don't get his moves or his programs. You get brownie points for not having to know what you are missing. 
This is a performance that NBC should be sharing with viewers to demonstrate the fact that Nathan has always had artistry. We see Raf standing on the sidelines here knowing full well the winning talent Nathan has on all cylinders... But Raf also knows from experience that figure skating is such a dicey crapshoot and a difficult, frustrating sport.
, Gubanova, Danielian, Voronov, Samarin and others). Nathan is practicing there before he leaves for IdF.
