U.S. Men 2021-22 season news & updates

[olympic]

BTW, just a comment about men in general because I don't see a thread for this - What will RUS do if their 3 youngsters do well at Euros v. Kolyada? That is more dramatic than Jason v. Ilia.

 

[becca]

BTW, just a comment about men in general because I don't see a thread for this - What will RUS do if their 3 youngsters do well at Euros v. Kolyada? That is more dramatic than Jason v. Ilia.

Kolyada was second at nationals and isn’t here they are all inconsistent.

 

[Stephanie]

Isn’t Kondratiuk guaranteed to go as national champion?

 

[Taso]

Isn’t Kondratiuk guaranteed to go as national champion?

I hope so!

 

[VGThuy]

I think he had some real Republican leanings when he was 17-18. I don’t think he’s liked or tweeted anything political in the past three or two years though. I hope he’s learned some things. Or at least he learned to keep his mouth shut. Maybe he’ll end up like a Jamie Sale/Lloyd Eisler. Or maybe he’ll learn more at Brown. Who knows. Is his family from Taiwan? A lot of Taiwanese immigrants in the US became very pro-Trump due to their perceived idea of him being strong against China when a lot of Dem Presidents in the past seemed like they were appeasing China (the truth is a lot more complicated and they’ve been warning about China as well). As a Viet-American who has family who does the same thing, it’s a huge thing to overcome.

Just an update. Vincent Zhou just shared a story on Instagram applauding the USFS for standing behind Timothy LeDuc and said he was proud to be Timothy's team member. He also asked that we keep the community positive and supportive.

 

[Jonas]

Kolyada was second at nationals and isn’t here they are all inconsistent.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Kolyada's skating, but he is just as inconsistent as they are. Kondratiuk, Semenenko, and Mozalev, thus far, have each made VERY compelling cases. Kolyada has higher PCS potential than them, but he's never put out an SP this season as clean as these three guys -- nor do I remember him ever scoring that high in the SP in this season.

Can't wait to catch their frees late tonight!

 

[sheetz]

Nathan has just been named a Bridgestone Americas athlete ambassador.

Press Release Details

Press Release Details page

www.bridgestoneamericas.com

Watch his commercial: https://abancommercials.com/bridges...s-featuring-nathan-chen-ad-commercial/162021/

 

[canbelto]

An interview with Ilia Malinin. No discernible accent or lack of sentence structure.

https://youtu.be/GSuAqrJoi4w

 

[Vagabond]

An interview with Ilia Malinin. No discernible accent or lack of sentence structure.

https://youtu.be/GSuAqrJoi4w

You can't fight prejudice with facts.

 

[Mayra]

An interview with Ilia Malinin. No discernible accent or lack of sentence structure.

https://youtu.be/GSuAqrJoi4w

He sounds like your typical American teenager being interviewed for the first time. Confident but also realistic about improving his programs and consistency vs chasing quads.

Between Grassl, Kagiyama, Malinin etc., I think the men's field is going to continue to be the most interesting heading into Milan.

​

 

[livetoskate]

An interview with Ilia Malinin. No discernible accent or lack of sentence structure.

https://youtu.be/GSuAqrJoi4w

Loved the interview and finally getting to hear more from Ilia himself.

 

[Rukia]

Between Grassl, Kagiyama, Malinin etc., I think the men's field is going to continue to be the most interesting heading into Milan.

​

Yes! Should be very fun watching all the young guns keep going (and of course the surprises that inevitably pop up).

 

[mtnskater]

Ilia is so adorable in the interview. Very forthcoming and interesting. He’s not sure whether he is moving to CA to train with RAF next year because he has one more year of school. He also said his mother usually tells him what to do but his dad motivates him. He says he really loves skating and that it’s really fun. He’s motivated on his own. Says the flip is the hardest jump for him. He wants to be the first to land a quad axel. Also thrilled to learn he has a little sister in skating who is 6 and working on intermediate moves

 

[skatingguy]

An interview with Ilia Malinin. No discernible accent or lack of sentence structure.

https://youtu.be/GSuAqrJoi4w

He definitely has an accent - he sounds like an American.

 

[VGThuy]

Ilia is so adorable in the interview. Very forthcoming and interesting. He’s not sure whether he is moving to CA to train with RAF next year because he has one more year of school. He also said his mother usually tells him what to do but his dad motivates him. He says he really loves skating and that it’s really fun. He’s motivated on his own. Says the flip is the hardest jump for him. He wants to be the first to land a quad axel. Also thrilled to learn he has a little sister in skating who is 6 and working on intermediate moves

Oh good. We found the savior for US Ladies! We just have to wait 10 years.

 

[Spikefan]

Oh good. We found the savior for US Ladies! We just have to wait 10 years.

And she will already be 17/18 when she is Olympic eligible, they did not time her birth right.

 

[olympic]

Out of curiosity, I did a quick Wiki search of the men's highest scores this season up to and including Euros. Nathan and Vincent are #1 and #2 (although it doesn't reflect where Yuzu is right now because he only competed at Nationals).

I am unsure as of today of which men RUS will send to Beijing (I assume Kondratiuk and Kolyada will be on the team) -

1. Nathan Chen - 307.18
- Yuzuru Hanyu - 321 at JPN Nationals would probably place him around Nathan right now ...
2. Vincent Zhou - 295.56
3. Shoma Uno - 290.15
4. Mark Kondratiuk - 286.56
5. Yuma Kagiyama - 286.41
6. Daniel Grassl - 274.48
7. Mikhail Kolyada - 273.55
8. Daniel Vassiljevs - 272.08
9. Morisi Kvitelashvili - 266.33
10. Andrei Mozalev - 265.59 (TBD)
11. Shun Sato - 264.99 (not going to Beijing)
12. Jason Brown - 264.20 (best score - 274 at 2020 4CCs)
13. Kazuki Tomono - 264.19 (not going to Beijing)
14. Petr Gumenik - 263.14 (likely not going to Beijing)
15. Evgeni Semenenko - 260.00 (TBD)
16. Cha Jun Hwa - 259.60
17. Makar Ignatov - 257.20 (likely not going to Beijing)
18. Matteo Rizzo - 255.84 (What is his status, exactly? Wasn't at Euros ... )
19. Alexander Samarin - 255.65 (likely not going to Beijing)
20. Keegan Messing - 255.07 (Wow. Low scores)

 

[Vagabond]

And she will already be 17/18 when she is Olympic eligible, they did not time her birth right.

I am sure that skating fans used to say that about the Valievs.

 

[olympic]

I am sure that skating fans used to say that about the Valievs.

Valievyj in Russian

 

[Vagabond]

Valievyj in Russian

Валиевы, to be precise, but I was writing in English.

 

[carriecmu0503]

An interview with Ilia Malinin. No discernible accent or lack of sentence structure.

https://youtu.be/GSuAqrJoi4w

I was excited to watch this. As soon as I opened it, I realized it was Dave lease and TSL. I immediately shut it off. I haven’t watched any TSL in years and I don’t intend to start now!

 

[Theatregirl1122]

I am sure that skating fans used to say that about the Valievs.

I don't get it. This is Valieva's first senior season and she's 15.

 

[Vagabond]

I don't get it. This is Valieva's first senior season and she's 15.

Ten years ago, the top six finishers in the Ladies' Competition at Worlds were aged 25, 21, 27, 21, 17, and 21, respectively. The fact that the three current favorites for the Olympic podium (Valieva, Scherbakova, and Trusova) are 15, 17, and 17, respectively, doesn't mean that the same will hold true eight, twelve, or sixteen year from now.

 

[Sylvia]

I'd very much like to see Liam Kapeikis at Junior Worlds. Really enjoyed his skating here.

Young Liam was definitely a highlight for me in Nashville! He won the 2020 U.S. Junior men's bronze medal, fell back to 9th in Junior last year, and was able to improve the consistency of his 3A this season to finish a solid 7th in his senior national debut!

Hometown Wenatchee, Washington article (Jan. 12):

Wenatchee's Liam Kapeikis places seventh at U.S. Figure Skating Championships

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Former Wenatchee Figure Skating Club member Liam Kapeikis placed seventh in the U.S. Men’s Figure Skating Championships at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, last weekend.

www.wenatcheeworld.com

The article says he is 18 but he won't turn 18 until the end of June.

Richmond, B.C. article after Kapeikis qualified for Nationals this past November (LOL at Keegan "Morgan" instead of Murphy):

Richmond club ice skater takes home gold in U.S. championship qualifiers

Figure skater Liam Kapeikis, 17, is heading to Nashville for the U.S. Championships in January.

www.richmond-news.com

Liam trains with Wesley Chiu (2022 Canadian men's bronze medalist in his senior national debut at 16), which must be highly motivating since Wesley already has landed 3A & 4T cleanly in his international competitions (Liam was practicing 4S in Nashville).

 

[soogar]

I was excited to watch this. As soon as I opened it, I realized it was Dave lease and TSL. I immediately shut it off. I haven’t watched any TSL in years and I don’t intend to start now!

That’s your loss. Dave is great at interviews and this interview was enjoyable. Ilia and other skaters are aware of TSL and have no problem going on the show, so why do fans feel this strong need to avoid the show? It’s not as if he’s talking about anyone of us personally.

 

[VGThuy]

TSL interviews tend to be good because skaters tend to open up there and whether we like Dave the snake or not - he’s knows skating or at least the dirty side of it because that’s his natural habitat. It’s the trashy 4.5 hour this and that or whatever with the the snake and the bathroom stall crybaby just saying bs and competing to see who can out Data Lounge the other that I avoid.

 

[Marco]

Don't know if this was pre-agreed or not, but they had stayed out of all discussions relating to him not being nominated to the Olympics (or who was).

 

[lurkz2]

The juicy topic I wanted TSL to cover was why Ilia was a Malinin and not a Skorniakov

 

[orbitz]

That’s your loss. Dave is great at interviews and this interview was enjoyable. Ilia and other skaters are aware of TSL and have no problem going on the show, so why do fans feel this strong need to avoid the show? It’s not as if he’s talking about anyone of us personally.

DL is not a great interviewer. The questions and the transitions between questions are often awkward and lacking. Still, I do give him credits for being able to score interviews with so many people in the skating community and having the only consistent content about skating on utube for the past several years.

It does bother me though that he would be all polite and nice to the interviewee during the interview but then would have no problem being all catty about that same skater/official behind his back in next week episode. I'm a bit surprised that well known skaters/ officials are still willing to appear on TSL.

 

[BittyBug]

It does bother me though that he would be all polite and nice to the interviewee during the interview but then would have no problem being all catty about that same skater/official behind his back in next week episode. I'm a bit surprised that well known skaters/ officials are still willing to appear on TSL.

I found the early iteration of TSL pretty catty and was not particularly a fan of the show. I don't remember why, but I gave it another listen earlier this season and I found it to be entirely different in tone and content and rather enjoy it now. Dave and Jonathan do offer criticisms, but they are almost always reasonable comments that focus on opportunities for changes that might improve a skater's impact. They do drop the occasional rumor, but then so does FSU and the skating world at large.

I think the mix of Dave, as someone who knows skating, and Jonathan, who is more of a fan but understands music and performance, offers a nice variety of insights, and they have a good rapport. They also have interesting guests on a regular basis.

Anyway, I'm throwing this out there because while TSL had somewhat of a bad rap initially (possibly deserved), but they have evolved and I think their current product frequently offers interesting content.