U.S. Men 2025-26 Discussion - Quad God and the Mere Mortals

[Rukia]

why is 2022 men's olympic team selections always at the scene of the crime like there is no way to know if sending Ilia would have changed anything because it didn't happen! He had a tragic skate today but his life will still go on and he'll still keep skating and probably winning

 

[Capt. DeSoto]

We should have a conversation about a) what kind of expectations are reasonable to throw at these kids in the first place, and b) how do we make sure they are equipped to handle the pressure. Reviving the 2022 debate is asinine and will do nothing to keep this from happening to other young athletes in the future.

I think a large part of it is the U.S. media hype machine. Suddenly, with all of the airtime and promos and interviews, top athletes are suddenly cast as superstars on the American stage for 2-3 straight weeks leading up to their event. It messes with heads. It's especially bad for the few that are chosen to be a "golden child", like Ilia.

 

[zebobes]

Kurt Browning never won an Olympic Gold even though he was thought of as the best skater at the time (speaking of which, Michelle never won one either…). I think Ilia’s classy response was amazing, but it will make the next Olympics even more crazy for Ilia… but he has great examples like Simone and Nathan onsite who knows how it feels.

 

[bwayrose7]

I think a large part of it is the U.S. media hype machine. Suddenly, with all of the airtime and promos and interviews, top athletes are suddenly cast as superstars on the American stage for 2-3 straight weeks leading up to their event. It messes with heads. It's especially bad for the few that are chosen to be a "golden child", like Ilia.

I feel like the Olympics are especially bad for this (compared with other sporting events like, say, the Super Bowl or the World Cup) because the vast, vast majority of Olympic "stars" compete in relatively niche sports that the general public only pays attention to once every four years, as opposed to sports where they're used to tons of media attention. Your average champion figure skater (or skier, or luger) barely warrants a 30-second news clip 90% of the time. I would imagine going from "famous to a small subset of people" to "focus of international mainstream media whirlwind" would be enough to mess with anyone's head.

 

[skateboy]

Jason never won an Olympic or World individual medal and it was clear he would not at the Olympics. Sixth place finish is good sure but it is absolutely sacrificible for an Olympic gold medal four years ago and who knows Ilia would have had nothing to lose.

These people knew full well Illia’s clear talent and it was their job to make darn sure they did everything they could to prepare him.

Let's also remember that, just a few months before Nationals, Vincent became the only skater to actually beat Nathan Chen in three years, winning Skate America where Nathan got third (Shoma was second.) Jason never came close to beating Nathan.

 

[Skaterbob]

Let's also remember that, just a few months before Nationals, Vincent became the only skater to actually beat Nathan Chen in three years, winning Skate America where Nathan got third (Shoma was second.) Jason never came close to beating Nathan.

Historically, Jason beat him at 2015 Nationals when he won. But yea not after that. lol

 

[Allskate]

Not Gold for sure top six- doable

You mean Vincent who won his first two competitions before winning Skate America (over Nathan Chen) and placing second at NHK, and then who later won bronze at Worlds?

The same Worlds where Ilia came in ninth after some of the top men like Nathan decided not to compete after the Olympics.

That was probably somehow Jason's or Vincent's fault, too. I think they'll still be blamed if Ilia doesn't win the 2034 Olympics.

 

[MacMadame]

Due to Ilia's 2nd place finish at Nationals where he spanked both Vincent & Jason, he moved into Group 3 (Top 3 at Nats OR fall scores equal to 2021 Worlds Top 10).

And earned a spot on the Olympic team IMO. Regardless of results. Regardless of extra Olympics experience helping or not.

And I will never stop being salty about this. Never!

Maybe he needed to skate to Samoilov's music .

Sorry if it's too soon for jokes.

It's not. I mean, it's just sports for us. It's obviously more serious and two soon for Adam and Ilyia.

Personally, I found the event exciting. Will Misha medal? Will he move up to Silver? OMG, he's going to win Gold! Much more exciting than if the top 3 had stayed the same. Or even if someone from lower down had snuck into 3rd. I want to watch Misha's program again which is not something I normally do.

 

[A.H.Black]

I like to look at past scores - just an overview. Here are the men's championship winning scores from the "new" point system Olympics.

2022 men's champion 332
2018 men's champion 317 - Nathan had a 297.
2014 men's champion 280
2010 men’s champion 250
2006 men’s champion 258
Before that, it was the 6.0 system.

2026 men's champion 291


In 2022, Nathan's scores for all 3 segments where he competed were higher than any of the scores this year. My thoughts are that before the Olympics the pervasive thought was that Ilia would dominate and his scores would be astronomical - they weren't. That is only one observation of things that turn out differently than expected. There are myriads of others.

Maybe we could all wait to see what happens before we proclaim ourselves the end all and be all in knowing what would have happened if........ Maybe we could wait a bit before we pronounce ourselves prophets on what will happen because/if........... Maybe we could back down a little bit on knowing that our way of doing things is absolutely the right and only way to run things.


Finally - Shaidorov?! Really??? Oh dear?! Life will go on.

 

[A.H.Black]

Was this already posted? Sorry if it was.

Nathan on Ilia's free skate - https://sports.yahoo.com/video/ilia-malinin-falls-fails-to-medal-in-mens-free-skate-001957133.html

Thanks to Sheetz who posted it on the Nathan Chen fan thread.

 

[skatingguy]

Andrew Torgashev finished 8th in the short program, and 9th in free skate, so of course he finished 12th overall.