Shawn Sawyer continues skating career

museksk8r said:

If you want to be honest about it, neither does Patrick.

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If you want to call his inconsistent then go for it. I would say he is consistent in landing 2/3 attempts he makes at a competition. He struggles with the second one in his long program. Shawn's attempts are regularly downgraded. Fact of the matter is Patrick is the most successful, talented, and promising men's figure skater Canada has right now.

Wrlmy said:

That got me thinking, as I'm fan of both skaters. What makes Patrick so much better in terms of score than Shawn? Shawn has more than decent skating skill and just as many interesting transitions both of which happen to be Patrick's main forte.

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Shawn is slower and has difficulty in landing some of his other jumps and getting positive GOEs whereas Patrick has great speed and edges coming out of his jumps. I think it is quite a far stretch to say that Shawn has as many transitions as Patrick's as well. To be quite honest, the two of them are miles apart.

Patrick has skating skills to die for. I love Shawn, Joey and Jeremy, but none of them have the control or command of their edges that Patrick has. Shawn and Joey are both quite slow and Jeremy doesn't have Patrick's edges. Since Patrick is a more consistant jumper than the other three, and with his much improved spins last season and his skating ability, the other guys won't pass him nationally or internationally any time soon unless they have the skate of their life and Patrick crashes and burns, and that's how it should be.

Eh, my "whoa" comment was more directed at the implication that Patrick Chan hasn't earned the respect of Skate Canada but has been gifted it, which I find specious. In terms of taste, to each his/her own.

I don't think that there is that much difference between Chan and Sawyer on PCs, except I've noticed that Chan is much faster. Shawn is undermarked on PCs, IMO. I'd say that neither Patrick nor Shawn have consistent 3As, but Patrick can usually manage one in a long program, usually schedules two, and may land the second one as well. He also sometimes does the 3A-3T. OTOH, Shawn schedules one for his long program, and usually two foots it. He never includes it in combination. However, I disagree that Canada would end up with only one spot for the next worlds if they sent Sawyer, Ten, and Russell. Shawn finished 12th at the Torino Olympics, and it wasn't his best free program. His FS at Skate America and Four Continents in 2009-2010 were stronger than his Torino FS. I'd like if the team was Sawyer, Chan, and Ten but I don't think it's going to be that way. I think it'll be Chan, Reynolds, and Sawyer, in that order. Reynolds is growing on me a bit, but he's still not my favourite.

blue_idealist said:

I don't think that there is that much difference between Chan and Sawyer on PCs, except I've noticed that Chan is much faster. Shawn is undermarked on PCs, IMO.

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I really don't even think they are even remotely close in terms of PCS. If you watch both of their long programs from this year back to back, Shawn's program is filled with crosscuts and almost no transitions into and out of his jumps. Patrick's choreography is also much more detailed. Shawn has good skating skills but again, not close to Patrick's.

blue_idealist said:

However, I disagree that Canada would end up with only one spot for the next worlds if they sent Sawyer, Ten, and Russell. Shawn finished 12th at the Torino Olympics, and it wasn't his best free program. His FS at Skate America and Four Continents in 2009-2010 were stronger than his Torino FS. I'd like if the team was Sawyer, Chan, and Ten but I don't think it's going to be that way. I think it'll be Chan, Reynolds, and Sawyer, in that order. Reynolds is growing on me a bit, but he's still not my favourite.

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Shawn did have a lot of promise in 2006 but I would say that his jumps have digressed since then. He did also finish 21st at Worlds that year. Ten did not perform well at the Worlds he attended (finishing 17th or something I think) and Joey Russell hasn't competed in any major internationals I don't think. I just don't see how this team would bring in more than one spot.

Reynolds is most definitely not my favourite either, but he has improved so much this past year. My "dream team" would be Patrick, Kevin, and Jeremy.