#TeamTrainwreck 24: For the weirdos and the dreamers!

[rfisher]

He and best coach ever can always laugh in the KnC and you've got to love them for that.

 

[SamuraiK]

Men LP

Morisi - LoL at Eteri's palms of "ook whatever "
Tomoki - Reminds me of a rough and raw D10
Romsky - Started great, but then nose disaster and stamina issues once again. See you at Tallin!!!
Orzel - boys and their stamina issues. Liveless. He's with Orser?? ouch, not sure if the investment is paying off.
Greatest Boreman - impressive 4lz combo. but of course the next jumps were a mess and everything downhill. Men skating 101.
Sota -Beautiful but
This is becoming one of those awful Men events. When morishi lead with THAT .
Tanaka - Zzzz Please guys just land something!! you are making me long for the Lysacek days of no quad but at least watchable skating.
Semenenko - Wild and messy, landings all over the place but he's putting the effort and at this point, I take it. Thank you!!!
Stamina King - First half robotic and souless & after the quads he was exhausted and slow as usual. I dont get the overly ambitiuos strategy. Dial down at least one quad and he will get better results. Is not like the other RUS guys cand land many.
Alaskan Cowboy - I wish I would have used this as a fridge break.
Teletubbie - IM sick of Schindlesr list and this wasnt as exciting. Don't be that surprised. The others guys simply sucked more than you.
Chen - The lutz is becoming an issue but who cares whern there are other 5 quads. the program is OOK but underwhelming for olympic glory.

Best Dressed - Semenenko
Do Hard - Semenenko

 

[rfisher]

I never bet against a Mishin skater. But, Semenenko is a little wild this year. Maybe he grew taller over the summer. He is still a kid, but unless he totally bombs nationals again, I'd guess he's as much a lock for the O team as any of the Russian men. I want the 3rd slot to go to Aliev, but he has to earn it. I love his free program this season, but he needs to, well, we all know what he needs to do.

 

[Vagabond]

Some of the posts in the Skate Canada Men's play-by-play threads have most amusing. They make it seem as if Ignatov, Van Hostage, and Romsky weren't all well known, well established skaters. ?‍

 

[rfisher]

Some of the post in the Skate Canada Men's play-by-play threads have most amusing. They make it seem as if Ignatov, Van Hostage, and Romsky weren't all well known, well established skaters. ?‍

Sometimes I think #TTW are the only people who watch skating. Or maybe we just pay closer attention. Or something. Or we spot better. I dunno.

 

[firstflight]

Ok, we are only through the Lion King FD and we're already past even the WTF from the RD. What a Skate Canada for ice dance!

 

[SamuraiK]

Dance FD

Sales&Wamsteeker - Really liked it. This does show lots of improvement but the ceiling is too high for them.
Shanaeva&Narizhny - Lots of nice ideas but they dont blend together or form a larger picture.
PomPoms - Zzzzzzzzzz and what ups with the dropping? is it because there's no chance of citizenship for her?
Tutpotism - After C&P snooezefest I literally fell asleep. Now I need to revisit Davis to see if they were really that great or did Mama pull some magic.
Parakeets - Keeping a program in dance is risky. This one is clever so I aprrove. He just doesnt get whats going on with the scores.
Vogue - finally I see them doing more than posing and they go down the ranks lol.
SurvivingSiblings - If the gold would be awarded just on choreo this will get all the medals. Sublime.
Zorros - Im getting ready to shed a tear for Sarah&Kirll, these two are punching their tickets and honestly well deserved.
Piccolinos - Beautiful but kinda just there. Not the best material to finally pull into top group.
G&P - They left their voidy brand and find a new niche: Emotive Folk. Three times in a row however doesnt feel as fresh.

Best Dressed : Lajoie
Do Hard : Diaz

 

[SamuraiK]

Some of the posts in the Skate Canada Men's play-by-play threads have most amusing. They make it seem as if Ignatov, Van Hostage, and Romsky weren't all well known, well established skaters. ?‍

Last time I bothered paying for the PBP threads I do remember lots of people only caring for the big big top names, and of course, fighting each other whe their fave was beaten by a big rival.

 

[Vagabond]

Last time I bothered paying for the PBP threads I do remember lots of people only caring for the big big top names.

Van Hostage is a former European Silver Medalist. If he were a normal European Silver Medalist, people would remember him, but....

 

[SamuraiK]

Van Hostage is a former European Bronze Medalist. If he were a normal European Bronze Medalist, people would remember him, but....

Silver medallist.. Though that says more about how low Euros has fallen in the prestige perception of current FS fandom.

 

[Vagabond]

Silver medallist.. Though that says more about how low Euros has fallen in the prestige perception of current FS fandom.

I knew that. It's been a couple of long days of skating. ?‍

 

[Vagabond]

@Jeschke, I hereby nominate Karen Chen.

Criteria:
1) Skater needs a complete package to potentially be a top skater at Euros/4CC's/Worlds/Olympic level YES
2) Skater needs to have the ability to absolutely rock one day and splat the day after. Even better: rock and splat during one program YES
3) Skater is not afraid of breaking one's heart over and over again YES YES YES
4) Skater needs more splat/messy performances than great ones YES

Rules:
1) Worlds/Olympic medalists and Euro/4CC's champions are not eligible CHECK
2) Multiple Euros/4CC's medal winners are not eligible CHECK
3) Membership and changes to the Rules and Qualities shall be decided by consensus among longstanding posters in the #TeamTrainwreck Threads, subject to points 1) and 2) SOUNDS GOOD TO ME
4) The pinky166 is not allowed to make more than one proposal a day N/A
5) Proposals can be submitted in the #teamtrainwreck thread IF NOT NOW, WHEN?
6) New membership is granted only to current skaters CHECK
7) New membership is only granted to senior skaters (at least one international senior competition) CHECK
8) Membership can be cancelled due to points 1) and 2), numerous decent skates in a row or not being competitive on elite level anymore. N/A

Qualities:
1) Student of Volchkova/Rukavicin NO
2) Big boobs/nice ass NO
3) Boobs/belly/nipples showing NO
4) Mule kick NO
5) Uzbek/Russian NO
6) Last name called Schott NO
7) Bizarre off-ice incidents YES YES YES
8) Coach YES
9) Costume (-Malfunction) COSTUME, YES; MALFUNCTION, NO.
10) Splats YES
11) Bizarre choreography SHE DOES HER OWN.
12) Hair MORE THAN BOSS AND VICE WILL EVER HAVE
13) Bizarre salchows NO
14) Melting down in the second half of the Free program YES

 

[skatingguy]

@Jeschke, I hereby nominate Karen Che.

I'm not familiar with this skater - when did she compete last?

 

[SamuraiK]

Ladies LP

Mana - Great to see a big redemption.
CAN 1, 2 & 3 - checking my social media.
Lee - Great dress. Good but im still Team You and Lim
Mihara - So sparky and Bubbly. This would be a real contender pre Quad Craze era.
Chen - This unraveled pretty badly. Amber and Mariah should be pleased.
HIguchi - Lion King surprisingly fits her. I need her at the olys to bring some variety.
Liu - Much prefer the short but I admire the fighting spirit.
Kostornaya - Still no confidence back going into the Axel which is her death sentence in the oly race. The program is so dull & generic it hurts. I actually prefer 4 seasons. At least thats a warhosre that carries you over. The chemistry with the Gauz in the K&C is so bad.
Tuk - Queen of guilty pleasures though it wasnt as energetic as it should be.
Valieva - A jumpfest but she has good attack and I like that. great heigh on the quads but they are still more fast rotation than anything. She's lucky to have born in the right year.

Best Dressed - Mihara
Do Hard - La Tuk for the millitonth time.

 

[rfisher]

The Russian women are just crazy how good they are. They don't just beat the competition, they crush them.

 

[mjb52]

They're never going to be TTW skaters but I'll always wonder what might have been for Kostornaya and B/K, Montreal was so set up to be their time to shine.

 

[Jeschke]

GP ?? Pairs FS:

GBR. Good for them.
CAN3. All I could focus on was Dimitrescu music (((@rfisher )))
USA. Solid, but it's just too much for me.
CAN1. I don't get the scores at all, neither TES nor PCS. Looks so laboured in so many places.
CAN2. Twist getting worse, losing 2 lifts. Regression lv.4 GOE+3
GER. Door was open. So wide. Cautios all over the place.
RUS. Horror PCS Let's face it, they are standing no chance making the team. Not at all. I love that they seem aware of the unpromising situation and are pushing hard with harder elements and transitions. Somehow I feel they need that weird Swan Lake mix of Kondratiuk last season - would work better for their energy.
CHN. I don't accept any other OGM.

Best Dressed: Hase/Seegert
Do Hard: I pass this round to @SamuraiK

Fav Quote:

Not sure what went wrong.

 

[Jeschke]

GP ?? Men FS:

Morisi. I highly recommend his IG. We have him dancing to Kylie, being a Kung Fu Master alongside Eremenko and Bukin (@SmallFairy ) and numerous random shirtless photoshoots. Enjoy.
Tomoki. Just does nothing to me. Which might be for his best
Romsky. I just love everything about Roman and this FS, the heartbreak is so damn real here #ttw star!
Orzel. So stiff, this gorgeous music does absolutely nothing for him! But somehow he seems a real threat for the 2nd spot.
Samarin. Masterclass combo, followed by ride deluxe
Sota. He moves so beautifully. Awesome program for him. The spread eagle to the music highlight is If he could only hold his shit together.
Tanaka.Whiplash OST His costumes are so hardcore.
Semenenko. Such a pretty face. So much guilty pleasure alert with his skating. Arms all over the place.
StaminaKing. For Makar's usual FS standards standards, this was really decent. Program is so bad, I have no words. Pmaol everytime at the illusion spin to end. Whatever he is doing there
Messing. He is one of those skaters I am no fan at all, but can appreciate, if he's on. Naurits-style-chin-splat
Brown. 2nd
Chen. Somehow for me he is just skating through his programs this season ??‍

Best Dressed: Romsky
Do-Hard: Samarin.

So many good #ttw quotes in here:

Wasn't great yesterday, much better today.

Suddenly he is looking really good.

The start was surely impessive, but somehow on the way, he just lost it.

Tough to deal with.

Nothing happening on the triple lutz.

Looked so promising at the start.

 

[her grace]

Pairs LP

Chacked the Canadians, because why not?
Cain-Gribble/LeDuc: nice skate for them. SBS rotation still looks suspect. Lovely matching lines.
Hase/Seegert: Hesitant. Missed the moment. Too bad.
Pavliuchenko/Khodykin: My brief foray into fandom didn't last. #sorrynotsorry. No finesse and sloppily performed. If clean, will reevaluate my opinion of this program.
Sui/Han: Clearly best here. Wish they would do something new rather than a retread. Should compare favorably PCS-wise to M/G, but technically not sure they will.

 

[Jeschke]

GP ?? FD:

CAN3. I like them more voidy.
RUS2. Zhuk's teams always stand out, but share scratchy basics too.
USA2. Stick to one piece of music. So forgettable for me.
RUS1. Her bright skirt colour just does not work for me. Wish they could turn the over-the-top-drama a bit down, otherwise this FD is a good vehicle for them. Smolkin, shave! This beard is looking like you tried to let it grow half a year to get somehow some beard.
CAN2. This FD is still junior to me, but it's so much fun. Still I can't with her, sorry.
GBR. I try to remain quiet.
USA1. This is one of my fav FD's this season. Really good.
ESP. I try to remain quiet, again.
ITA. The Atonement FD is such a lost opportunity for G/F. There is so much good music in it, why switching to Korzeniowski, when Marianelli OST is so so good? There are great quotes, which would work way better at voiceovers as what they took, especially something for the end. And fo god's sake, Atonement program demands dark green dress!
CAN1. Love the song, not this version. Preferring this to RD. It just does not really touch me.

Best Dressed: Zach2, Green
Do-Hard: Naryzhnyy

 

[rfisher]

Pairs LP

Chacked the Canadians, because why not?
Cain-Gribble/LeDuc: nice skate for them. SBS rotation still looks suspect. Lovely matching lines.
Hase/Seegert: Hesitant. Missed the moment. Too bad.
Pavliuchenko/Khodykin: My brief foray into fandom didn't last. #sorrynotsorry. No finesse and sloppily performed. If clean, will reevaluate my opinion of this program.
Sui/Han: Clearly best here. Wish they would do something new rather than a retread. Should compare favorably PCS-wise to M/G, but technically not sure they will.

If both teams skate clean, I don't think they compare with T/M. Sadly, I think the injuries along with the impact of C-19 have taken their toll. One thing the Russians did last season was hold the Russian cup series. The internal competition in all disciplines within Russia is as good as competition internationally which is absolutely not the case for any of the Chinese skaters. The Russians came prepared for worlds and I think they'll be prepared for the Olympics. Tar/Mor have shown significant improvement with the new coaching situation. If they continue to improve at the same rate, it will be very interesting.

As for P/K. I'm cutting them some slack. Very ambitious programs that just aren't ready yet. I have a wait and see attitude ...because...

 

[her grace]

Men LP

Kvitelashvili: Came to slay. Somewhat wooden in his movements
Hiwatashi: Good jumps, bad jumps. Quality MITF. Wish he'd put all the pieces together.
Sadovsky: I confess I confused the start order, and was thinking to myself, "When did Orzel get artistic?" Started out so well, but then fell apart.
Orzel: This is the stiff Orzel I remember.
Samarin: I have nothing nice to say. His PCS overscores are enraging. Russia doesn't need him anymore so why keep holding him up?
Yamamoto: Nice basic skating. Inconsistent jumps.
Tanaka: Not his day.
Semenenko: His entertainment quality is growing. Arguably robbed by Brown.

Ignatov: falling apart on the first jump is something new. Incredibly s . . . l . . . o . . . w steps and spins. Rukavicin, it's past time to train for endurance.
Messing: Ouch, that fall looked terrible. I hope he's okay.
Brown: Not great technically. Wilson choreo is inferior to Ward choreo for Brown. A bad day Jason is still pretty good. Definitely did enough to beat Ignatov, but think should have been Semenenko's day.
Chen: a little more performance quality than usual. This comp should put to rest the rumors of his demise.

 

[Jeschke]

Side note: we haven't seen Hawayek so far this season, but somehow it seems she is in danger of missing the team.
And fact about that: if that happens, we won't see epic bitchface due to mask!

I have to give credits for this awesome comment to but it was so good I needed to point out here.

 

[her grace]

Free Dance

Davis/Smolkin: Well-matched and hit their technique.
Lajoie/Lagha: guilty pleasure program. At least it's something different. Preparing for their meteoric assent next season, and I'm here for it because they have good basics to build on.
Fear/Gibson: Scores finally in the realm of reality. Let's do this every time, judges.
Green/Parsons: They stand out with their unique choreography. Great job! Twizzles match the music, but are definitely too slow. Also looking forward to their scores rising when they aren't US#4.
Smart/Diaz: swordography is fun! Basics are average (below for Smart), but program is cohesive.
Guignard/Fabbri: most difficult program here. Masterclass performance. But it's Canada.
Gilles/Poirier: Nice enough. Similar to their last few FDs.

 

[rfisher]

Side note: we haven't seen Hawayek so far this season, but somehow it seems she is in danger of missing the team.
And fact about that: if that happens, we won't see epic bitchface due to mask!

I have to give credits for this awesome comment to but it was so good I needed to point out here.

US nationals 3rd spot is going to be interesting. Also, going to be interesting to see what happens post Olympics since both C/B and H/D are ending this year after worlds. I suspect SinKats are done as well. Nikita's back just isn't going to hold up any longer, P/C will stop if they get the OGM, which leaves a world title open for H/D or C/B. Then the next quad is going to be new contenders all around, and I don't think they will be Hawayek/Baker or Car/Pon.

 

[Jeschke]

both C/B and H/D are ending this year after worlds.

I thought C/B just announced to continue?

P/C will stop if they get the OGM, which leaves a world title open for H/D or C/B

No ****ing way. They will end their career at home with worlds in every ****ing scenario. OGM or not before.

 

[her grace]

Ladies LP

Lee: Great redemption skate! Love the quality of her 3-3.
Mihara: Fantastic performance. Lowballed on score both today and yesterday. Probably should have got that bronze, but at least she's back in the conversation for JPN Olympic team.
Chen:
Higuchi: Good skate! 3A was Seemed to lose some interpretive momentum in the middle. Needs more time to polish.
Liu: Much smoother performance than SP. Too bad about the jump rotations.
Kostornaia: There's no program here. Criminal PCS. And what is the edge changes and torquing right before the lutz? On the up side, her confidence seems to be returning. Wasn't sure she'd ever medal at a GP again so good for her.
Tuktamysheva: Nice 3as! Her PCS scores make a mockery of the idea of individual components measuring different aspects of skating: We all know she got an artistic impression conglomerate. Not her fault, though. Enjoyable to watch.
Valieva: Amazing jumping ability. Superlative spins. Nice basics. Terrible program.

 

[rfisher]

I thought C/B just announced to continue?

No ****ing way. They will end their career at home with worlds in every ****ing scenario. OGM or not before.

Maybe

 

[SamuraiK]

GP ?? Pairs FS:


Do Hard: I pass this round to @SamuraiK

Fav Quote:

Must be cause they are all over 20.

 

[Jeschke]

GP ?? Women FS:

Kawabe. Awesome start in the FS and crazy redemption. Still my JPN#12 or so
CAN trio. Zzzzzh.
Lee. I just love her, not sure about the program. Goes kinda nowhere for me. Reaction Is there some selection criteria out? @seabm7
Mihara. Simply beautiful. Not convinced by program again, but so good having her back Loved the baby fists in knc!
Chen. The most I enjoyed this FS ever, only to turn out into perfect campaign ride in the end
Higuchi. Felt very Ignatov-ish in 2nd half. I am no Higuchi fan but this FS is pure gold and I need it at olympics!
Liu. I really like the end of the program. Wished she would a bit more mature, but do not want to hold that against a 16yrs old.
Kostornaia. Love the badass make-up. But wtf is the hair, the dress and the gloves? And this is the music she wnats for her olympic momentum and the program danny g thinks works best for it? Interesting. PCS ouch.
LaTuk. She is building all the momentum she can going into nationals. And fed seems somehow behind her. Good to see. Make it happen! ?
Valieva. OGM is obviously hers to lose. I love the badass tech content and am somehow pleased with her components (not with what she is actually getting for it ), so I am actually fine if that scenario should turn out into reality.

Best Dressed: Higuchi
#ttw quotes:

It was all going so well.