The Shibutanis Thread Cinco...Mambo!

chapis said:
yes, if USFS wanted medals for everyone, they would have allowed H/D to compete in the FD.
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Unfortunately I don't see any of 4 US single skaters do two clean programs. Nathan Chen bombed his short, Nagasu and Rippon did well, but would it be the case if they had to do both programs? So, I am afraid it had to be 1 dance pair and 4 single skaters, or Italy would be celebrating their bronze.
 
Daena said:
Unfortunately I don't see any of 4 US single skaters do two clean programs. Nathan Chen bombed his short, Nagasu and Rippon did well, but would it be the case if they had to do both programs? So, I am afraid it had to be 1 dance pair and 4 single skaters, or Italy would be celebrating their bronze.
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True, although Nathan did not need to be clean to get a good position. We have already seen him win and get good places with not so great performances. But we all know that the reason for him not skating the LP was that they did not want to risk tiring him before the individual event. It turned out to be a great decision to split the girls.
 
RE: PCS. It's less the Shibs being underscored and more B/S being boosted by a handful of countries. The UKR judge put B/S PCS two points higher, for example. IIRC, the judging panel for the individual event will be different, so perhaps we'll see a different reaction.
 
MRani said:
They were amazing! I loved it from start to finish and they were so free and joyful throughout the whole thing I was tearing up by the end. Team USA really brought it today. Adam made me cry, Mirai had me screaming and cheering, and the Shibs just stole my figure skating soul all over again. So proud of this team and so proud of Maia and Alex!!!

I was so worried about everyone today because I thought they might crack under the pressure and lose the bronze, but they FOUGHT for it. So happy.

Olympic Medalists Maia and Alex Shibutani has a beautiful ring to it :)
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Yes, yes, and yes! This was the best I've seen from Maia and Alex all year and hopefully this will propel them to greater things in the individual event. Same for Adam (stellar performance) and Mirai (so proud of her). :encore:
 
Mrs. P said:
RE: PCS. It's less the Shibs being underscored and more B/S being boosted by a handful of countries. The UKR judge put B/S PCS two points higher, for example. IIRC, the judging panel for the individual event will be different, so perhaps we'll see a different reaction.
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I like B/S. I enjoyed their Sochi long, but they were really rough last night and were no where near as good as the Shibs. This long just doesn't work that well.
 
At first I was disappointed that she didn't wear her hair down, but I think the braid gives the program a seriously clean look and makes her movement much more noticeable and distinct.
 
Daena said:
Unfortunately I don't see any of 4 US single skaters do two clean programs. Nathan Chen bombed his short, Nagasu and Rippon did well, but would it be the case if they had to do both programs? So, I am afraid it had to be 1 dance pair and 4 single skaters, or Italy would be celebrating their bronze.
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Uh, there are too many different scenarios and factors involved for you to make such cut-in-stone statements. Some skaters from other countries did better than expected while others did not, which also affected the scoring. And that's why the team selection process is allowed to be revealed piecemeal and not all at once, in case a different strategy is preferred. I think for the most part the strategy and scenarios were already well thought out in advance, and teams seemed to stick with their original strategies. Yes, it was unexpected for the Italians to be so close to the Americans, but with Matteo performing well, Carolina a well-respected veteran with good artistry, the always reliable C/L in ice dance, and especially M/H skating so well in pairs, that's what made the difference. Still with some numbers crunching, the U.S. team was not really in a great deal of danger (especially with teams cut to five in the final round) -- only if the singles skaters had underperformed or some other mishap in ice dance had occurred.

The Knierims lifted Nathan and the U.S. team by their results on the first day. Bradie was solid and held her own, Adam did himself proud, even though it's not the best he's ever skated -- he was still on, aside from the slight UR on his 3-lutz. Adam should definitely have been ahead of Kolyada on the basis of choreo and interpretation (despite the loss of points on the 3-lutz). But the men's division is so up-in-the-air problematic with the judging, even moreso than the other events. Mirai was gutsy and wonderful, which helped take some pressure off the Shibs. And probably the Shibs were gonna do their thing anyway even in the face of the tech panel's scrutinizing them in efforts to keep B/S so close.

Everyone on Team USA contributed to the effort, even Nathan because despite his uncharacteristic faltering, he did land the first quad flip in Olympic competition which helped give him enough points to not drop too low in the standings right off the bat. And Patrick Chan was generously treated by the judges, as was Kolyada in the fp. We can even see that had Nathan skated his best and let's say grabbed 10 points on the first day, it was still not a given the U.S. would have won silver. The Russians would have had to falter a bit more. Kolyada was the weak link, as were the second pair team, Z/E, but they still garnered enough points in the end. There was that bit of excitement for the Italians though being so close to third place after the first two days.
 
suki said:
I don't think Maia or Alex EVER look anything less than splendid. Even when Alex was sick at the 2016 GPF he looked :smokin:.
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There were lots of twitter comments last night about how Alex can get it (which he totally can) or how they wondering where Maia had been all their lives. It's fun to see people discover what we already know.
 
sap5 said:
No, they know. They just use their efforts towards singles instead of dance, which is insane, as dance is where its at!
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Hmmm, I'm going by actual evidence, as well as by anecdotal comments by a former USFS official regarding US fed's historic tendency to anticipate fairness, to mount faulty strategies, to read the political winds ineptly, and to be ill-equipped to counter European block judging. :p

Even though USFS' focus through the years has been on singles and they surely advocate for their fave star skaters behind-the-scenes, it doesn't mean they actually know how to politick as effectively as Canada and Russia. :drama: Nor does U.S. fed any longer have the financial clout they wielded during the days of hefty U.S. network contracts. Japan has the major financial clout these days.
 
I was too nervous to watch last night so I came here first to read the comments. After reading all the positive comments, I watched their FD and I agree with all the praise they're getting. Alex and Maia made the right decision in taking control of their musical choices. Admittedly I wasn't initially thrilled with this particular Coldplay song, but they made it work! The instrumental selections is what does it for me...so beautiful and they skated it so well!

Hopefully winning the team bronze will take some of the pressure off in the individual competition. I want them to skate the heck out of both their programs and not leave anything on the ice.
 
Maia just responded to a tweet from Eugene Lee Yang (formerly of Buzzfeed):

https://twitter.com/MaiaShibutani/status/963168159225147392

Poor Maia says her forehead is starting to break out due to all the sweating she did yesterday, :lol:. I'm really happy she's not ashamed to be open about that! Great role model.

ETA: Maia seems pretty excited about Leslie Jones that she's tweeting in all caps:

https://twitter.com/MaiaShibutani/status/963175547546230784

I think Maia is opening up here, haha.

love skating said:
Did you guys see this tweet? Maia and Alex on a unicorn for Icebreakers
https://twitter.com/TeamUSA/status/963170794590343172
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Maia's reaction: https://twitter.com/MaiaShibutani/status/963172243709730816

I think somebody is happy.
 
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