#TeamTrainwreck: POTS 2019/20 (Performance of the Season)

[Jeschke]

Here are the nominees for -POTS 2019/20 (Performance of the Season) in alphabetic order:

Dmitri Aliev, Grand Prix Final, Free Skate

Dmitri Aliev. 2019 Grand Prix Final. FS

www.youtube.com

Kévin Aymoz, European Figure Skating Championships, Short Program
(due to YouTube regulations, sound is missing for the first half)

Kevin Aymoz. Чемпионат Европы European Championships 2020 Короткая программа SP

www.youtube.com

Karen Chen, NHK Trophy, Free Skate

Karen CHEN. NHK Trophy 2019, FS

www.youtube.com

Gabrielle Daleman, Canadian Figure Skating Championships, Free Skate

Gabrielle DALEMAN Free Skate 2020 Canadian National Skating Championships

Gabrielle DALEMAN Free Skate 2020 Canadian National Skating Championships

www.youtube.com

Luc Economides, Finlandia Trophy, Free Skate

Luc Economides - 2019 Finlandia Trophy FS

October 12, 2019 Finlandia Trophy. Music: "Dank Mozart" by Illuminati; "Lacrymosa" from Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; "Dies Irae" (Avance Remix) by Apa...

www.youtube.com

Vladimir Litvintsev, Rostelecom Cup, Short Program

Vladimir Litvintsev (AZE) - Senior Men - Short Program - Rostelecom Cup GP 2019

Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, Russia - Grand Prix 2019 Representing Short Program - 54,42 (12th Place of 12 Skaters)

www.youtube.com

Olga Mikutina, European Figure Skating Championships, Free Skate

Olga Mikutina. 2020 European Figure Skating Championships. FS

www.youtube.com

Daisuke Takahashi, Japanese Figure Skating Championships, Short Program

【フジテレビ公式】全日本フィギュアスケート選手権2019＜男子ショート第14位･髙橋大輔／演技+インタビュー＞

【全日本フィギュアスケート選手権2019】＜男子ショートプログラム第14位／髙橋大輔 選手＞の演技+インタビューです！ ---------------------------------- 第1位：羽生結弦（25歳･ANA）110.72点 第2位：宇野昌磨（22歳･トヨタ自動車）105.71点 第3位：佐藤 駿 ...

www.youtube.com

Andrew Torgashev, World Junior Figure Skating Championships, Free Skate

Andrew Torgashev (USA) World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2020 FS

Andrew Torgashev (USA) World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2020 FS 127.45 208.95 8th place

www.youtube.com

Shoma Uno, Internationaux de France, Free Skate

Shoma UNO JPN FS 2019 Internationaux de France

Watch "Shoma UNO JPN FS 2019 Internationaux de France" on Streamable.

streamable.com

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All (not only #TeamTrainwreck posters) are invited to vote
For the awards we primarily took senior skaters into consideration or extraordinary material from junior skaters.

One vote for the most skate of the season! Voting is up for 7 days! The vote cannot be changed later. Choose wisely!

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Previous winners
2016/17: Anna Pogrilaya, World Championships, FS
2017/18: Anna Pogorilaya, Grand Prix CAN, FS
2018/19: Daniel Samohin, CS SVK, SP

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POTS Trivia

• Daleman made the nominations list for the third consecutive year
• Aliev and Daleman are tied now with Samohin for most POTS-nominations (3 each)

Awards Trivia

• Aliev and Daleman are now tied for most overall nominations (4 each) alongside Pogorilaya (3 wins), Samohin (1 win), Kovtun, Peng/Jin, Savchenko/Massot

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Other #TeamTrainwreck Awards
MEEPOTS
MESS
Tursy-POTS

 

[Jeschke]

This one is a tough cookie.
I have no clue who should get my vote

 

[Colonel Green]

There can be no rightful winner but Kevin. Going in as the title favourite and not even making the free skate is genuinely unprecedented.

 

[rfisher]

There can be no rightful winner but Kevin. Going in as the title favourite and not even making the free skate is genuinely unprecedented.

I'd vote for Torgashev, but I agree that Kevin gets my vote this time.

 

[Hanna]

I can't choose between Kevin and The Torg.

 

[her grace]

Aymoz not being able to make the FS at Euro's, that's pretty OTOH, Uno's meltdown was pretty spectacular, too.

 

[Dobre]

Aymoz not being able to make the FS at Euro's, that's pretty OTOH, Uno's meltdown was pretty spectacular, too.

I know. And it's hard to imagine how Aliev's could have been worse. I am going to need serious time to contemplate this one.

 

[Doggygirl]

I had to go with Aymoz, but if I could have voted twice, Aliev would have been my other vote! Tough decisions!

 

[Vagabond]

Aliev and Daleman are now tied for most overall nominations (4 each) alongside Pogorilaya (3 wins), Samohin (1 win), Kovtun, Peng/Jin, Savchenko/Massot

This is a meaningless statistic, inasmuch as Savchenko/Massot are on this list for very different reasons from the others.

I'll try watching the videos tomorrow.

 

[Jeschke]

This is a meaningless statistic

Awards Trivia

 

[Vagabond]

Several of these are geoblocked in the U.S.

Even so, my vote goes to Cave In. He was a confident favorite going into the competition despite the scandal at his rink, but he didn't even make the Free Skate.

 

[Jeschke]

Several of these are geoblocked in the U.S.

I feared so
It took me even a while to find all programs without blocking for GER.
I just hope the main contenders are still very much present in the minds of everyone

 

[Vagabond]

I just hope the main contenders are still very much present in the minds of everyone

Rest assured they are. No matter how much we might want to blot out the memory.

 

[Dobre]

I just hope the main contenders are still very much present in the minds of everyone

They are. The problem is that I see at least three major contenders so I shall have to go digging through NBCSports Gold videos to rewatch those that don't link above. I tried this morning, but the videos wouldn't download. Think it is fixed now and will try again when I have another free portion of the day in which I feel up to watching athletes face brutal disaster again . . . and again . . . and again.

 

[Vagabond]

Kévin Aymoz, European Figure Skating Championships, Short Program France TV Sport News Clip with splats, tears, and interview with Babou

Dmitri Aliev 2019 Grand Prix Final Free Skate (Fan Cam)

 

[Vagabond]

@Vagabond I need such summaries for the other 3 polls too
A shame we have no MIMOS this season

You are so lucky that my work has ground to a standstill and I am under a stay-at-home order!

I can't guarantee that I will do all of them, but here you are for -POTS:

Dmitri Aliev
At least his butt cushions the impact when he lands on it.

Kévin Aymoz
Le maître lui-même, à cheval sur cette fine ligne entre magnifique et tragique.

Karen Chen
Geoblocked. Didn't see it at the time.

Gabrielle Daleman
Unparalleled commitment to her Deer In The Headlights program from start to finish. Every misstep, every look of terror, every splat. Wow!

Luc Economides
Pretty good skating skills, but he needs better transitions between his splats.

Vladimir Litvintsev
Geoblocked. Didn't see it at the time.

Olga Mikutina
Geoblocked. Didn't see it at the time.

Daisuke Takahashi
Poster boy, poster girl, Pulkinen, and Hiwatashi were chacked for this? All those pretty green, yellow, and red blobs look like the flag of Mali.

Andrew Torgashev
I wonder if he would consider adapting this program so that it could be skated to "I'll Tumble 4 Ya."

Shoma Uno
¡Uno no más!

 

[Dobre]

All right. I suffered through rewatching all three of my finalists: Aliev, Shoma, and Aymoz. Aymoz is off the list. I just feel that missing three measly jumping passes cannot compare to all the work the other guys went through to make this list, even if three jumping passes were all that Kevin was allowed in the SP.

This, then, brings me to the other two.

Shoma, I truly feel, is meritorious of a large trainwreck award this season. I mean, it wasn't just one disaster but multiple disasters; and because he has been so highly ranked, it was such a spectacular--if expected--fall there without a coach. And the creme de la creme of the whole disastrous early season is that then he comes back from it at Nationals (which Hanyu finally shows up for, undoubtedly thinking there is no risk this season), and Shoma grabs the win. This whole bigger picture combined with the four hundred missed jumping passes and spectacular splatting positions in the actual nominated performance + the-world-is-over reaction at the end feel utterly worthy of reward.

But then we have Aliev. Now, let's be fair. Aliev does not have the glory of Shoma's spectacular fall from grace in his favor. We--of the team-trainwreck-watching ilk--already know the kid implodes under pressure and with said implosion, jumps are popped and breathing is non-existent. This sets up in one's mind, perhaps, an unfair desire to say, "Well, we knew it was coming." And, kind of, I did--the moment I read Rocker Skating's prediction for the podium, I thought oh dear. Because previous to said prediction, I was thinking Aliev looked quite good this season and that pretty, pretty quad lutz could take him a long way if he was truly well trained this year. But people should never predict trainwreck members to win things.

It is always much better for those athletes if they can sneak in under the radar. So here Aliev comes into the Final hoping to medal, and then he lands the lutz--which he totally needs to do--and of course, with that comes hope, which is immediately crushed upon the following splat. At which point it's all over because his brain is utterly lost to Aliev-fried-egg mode. We kind of knew this was going to happen.

But yet . . . you have to give the actual execution of the program +5 GOE all around. I mean, not only do we have that gorgeous lutz at the beginning followed by missing umpteen jumping passes promptly afterward, but also the early spin. Now, it is really unfair of Aliev to play dirty this way because we know not everyone is capable of missing reliable non-jump elements within a program. And I was prepared to dismiss this as it is totally his fault he does not train enough to get through the second half of a program.

But no, in very unAliev fashion, he comes back and appears to be getting the job done there toward the end. Knocking off a clean combination and making a good pretense of a second, plus stays up in the footwork sequence (which we know he has a patented trademark splat for), and then . . . he splats on the spin right at the end. Earning zippo. It is the memory of that final splat which truly compelled me to rewatch this program.

And in order to do my research for today's vote, I look up the protocols to find that he actually managed to get no higher than a level 2 on all three spins.

Really, if one sets aside all previously ingrained expectations and protocol judgement, one can see that the performance stands extremely well on its own merit.

I began this post completely uncertain of whom to select between these two ultimate finalists, but I see that the decision has been made before I reached the end.

Aliev gets my vote.

 

[Vagabond]

Aymoz is off the list. I just feel that missing three measly jumping passes cannot compare to all the work the other guys went through to make this list, even if three jumping passes were all that Kevin was allowed in the SP.

Dobre, context is the key to everything.

 

[Dobre]

Dobre, context is the key to everything.

It is if you expected Aymoz to win Europeans. I, however, expected him to bomb because people expected him to win. I did not expect him to bomb as thoroughly as he bombed, but that is why he made my final three.

 

[Vagabond]

It is if you expected Aymoz to win Europeans.

What if we just expected him to qualify for the Free Skate?

 

[Colonel Green]

All right. I suffered through rewatching all three of my finalists: Aliev, Shoma, and Aymoz. Aymoz is off the list. I just feel that missing three measly jumping passes cannot compare to all the work the other guys went through to make this list, even if three jumping passes were all that Kevin was allowed in the SP.

I think you’re underrating the amount of effort necessary to miss the free skate cut at the Euros men’s event.

 

[Dobre]

What if we just expected him to qualify for the Free Skate?

What kind of mediocre standards are those? The TEAM is elite.

 

[Vagabond]

They aren't mediocre standards, they're exacting ones. And you don't have to be on the Team to win POTS (but it can't hurt).

 

[Jeschke]

Well, in the end Aymoz seems to win something
Last hours on.

 

[SmallFairy]

I went with Dima. It was just POTS on so many levels.

 

[Jeschke]

Congrats to Kévin Aymoz!
Most votes ever in this category!
Most dominant win ever in any - awards category (by 46,1%).


Runner-Up: Dmitri Aliev