Senior Men's LP (starts at 4pm EST)

[Serious Business]

meh. not trying to be a fangirl, just not overly impressed with any of the others I suppose as far as skating skills. But then I also love watching Keegan Messing skate, and I'm pretty sure he ranks low on everyone's SS list, too.

Not on mine. Keegan is fast when he's on and aggressive (he showed a tiny bit of that at the start of his FS just now, only to peter out almost immediately). Also Keegan's besti squat slide (which he omitted for this FS for some horrible reason unless he did it and I missed it) is an incredible and unique skill involving supreme edge control. Keegan has the potential to score huge on SS.

Bradley on the other hand was rightly scored low on SS at this competition (should be even lower). Not only is his speed subpar and his steps simple, but his direction changes are few.

Despite all that, Ryan could still fairly deserve to win this competition (I just have to see Dornbush's SP to decide), just with a lower score.

[ivy]

This link worked for me:

http://www.usfigureskating.org/leade...6/SEGM004.html

So even though Ryan's 2nd quad isn't listed as UR, it is listed as a seq. with only a base mark of 8.24 so somewhere points were taken off the base value

[Layfan]

If you can separate how adorable Ryan is from his actual skating, don't you honestly think his skating skills are overmarked?

ETA: Speaking of skating skills, Dornbush's jumped up a point from the SP to the FP (acc. to the judges). That is some fast reputation judging! He deserved it, though.

Well, yes, I do. I thought especially in the SP his footwork was slooooooooooow. But he makes up for it in interpretation. So, I think, for instance, in the SP, Jeremy deserved WAY WAY higher PCS for his faster and more precise skating and his better spins. But Ryan does deserve huge performance/intpretation scores, plus he deserved his huge marks for his SP jumps, which were very well executed.

So, in all, I think the outcome was fair. If Richard had skated better in the short I wouldn't say the same thing, although Ryan still would have deserved to medal. All those new guys who did so well had very shaky SPs.

I am suprised he got credit fo his first quad but his second one rotated.

I'm glad to hear reputation judging worked so quickly for Dornbush He was the best of the night for sure. I thought he was magnificent.

If only Jeremy had done what Ryan did - held it together despite initial mistakes - he'd at least be on the podium. I'm shocked at the way he sabotaged himself.

[Tonichelle]

welll...he is kinda slooow and makes KVDP look like Chan, but I dont care. He is awesome, made my weekend and I hope he comes in European shows as well! I hope he is happy now after missing Olympics!

Why I m watching NBC news? LOL

in what way does he make KVDP look like Chan? Kevin's cute, but dull... (I do like watching him skate when his jumps are on though). Oh, well, wait... I think Chan is dull too, so yeah next to Ryan everyone's dull!

[SkateSkates]

Because he did too many steps between the two jumps it doesn't count as a combo - same as Rippon.

[museksk8r]

Because he did too many steps between the two jumps it doesn't count as a combo - same as Rippon.

If that's the case, then he had an illegal jumping pass that should have received zero credit.

[wallylutz]

I'm not impressed with Bradley's clowning. Jeremy had the most beautiful and sophiscated program and skating. Too bad he blew it on the jumps.

I don't see any American man with a medal hope.

I hate to agree with you. Bradley's PCS score leaves me speechless and not in a good way. He skated the exact same program at last year's 4CC and got dinged badly on the 2nd mark with good reasons and he hasn't improved an iota. The first minute of the program had almost no transitions to speak of due to his long set ups for the 2 Quads, which he missed. Although highly entertaining, the choreography is simple - there is just no content in that program to be a world class competitor. It's even hard to give him a very high IN mark because the interpretation has to be evaluated on the basis of his skating, not so much on the showmanship. The overall execution also left a lot to be desired, not just the shaky jumps, which most of them would / should not any GOE bonuses due to unstable landings but it's his 1st competition and it shows.

Though I understand the whacky situation where the U.S. Nationals judges are being put into today, it's frankly scary with 2 overwhelming favorites, both of them Top 6 in the World, behind a couple of junior skaters with one last person left to skate. I think it's very hard to remain cool and objective in that situation.

[siberia82]

KUDOS TO RYAN!!! I watched the event on NBC, and the competition was very surprising, to say the least!

Adam's free skate was the most beautiful IMHO , and I'm glad that he managed climp up to the top 5 (although I'm sure he's disappointed that he didn't make the podium).

I'm really sad about Jeremy. :(

[Joesitz]

DORNBUSH AND MINER - Who Knew? Both skated brilliantly. In fact so many of the American Men skated brilliantly and with different styles and performances. What other country has a vast array of different Senior Men? If there is no hanky panky in Tokyo, I am certan the 3 American Men will be at their best, and finish with the Euro and Japan best.

(I can't say that about the American Ladies, or for that matter, the International Ladies, who are either ballerina pretentious or cutsey wootsie girls. They do not come across as different. Maybe Siraj whom I will keep an eye on. Hope she gets some GPs.)

In this afternoon's skate, Jeremy gave a very intense performance and not a rollicking display of semifore codes with the arms.
Adam came back with a great program.
Armin ddn't bring his program up to his GP one, but he was clean.

In fact, most of the Field skated clean routines. It was a first in skating where the performance was important because everyone has the same restrictive Tech. Not even at International compettions does one find the majority of contestants skating clean.

I think American Men are on a roll and will be highly competitive by Sochi.

[skfan]

Send both Miner (sp) and Abbott to 4CC. whoever ranks higher there gets to go to worlds. that's what the Russians did with I/K and R/T, right--let Europeans decide? I like Miner and Dornbush, but why should Bradley's win be more controversial than Alissa's US title #1?

If all USFSA cares about is #spots for next year, Abbott not at his best will likely still score better than Dornbush at his best. ETA Oops I mean Miner. ^_^ But that's true for Dornbush as well.

[Tonichelle]

Joshua Farris broke his ankle DURING his skate today!? http://www.flutzingaround.com/2011/0...ing-skate.html

[seniorita]

in what way does he make KVDP look like Chan? Kevin's cute, but dull... (I do like watching him skate when his jumps are on though). Oh, well, wait... I think Chan is dull too, so yeah next to Ryan everyone's dull!

in the way he is too slow and his feet are rather clumsy. I only say that because you talked about SS. Dont make me speak negatively!I said I love him, didnt you see all the goats I sacrifsed all day?
Everyone looks dull in front of his joy, I agree!

[ana]

poor Joshua Farris!

[ivy]

Okay, I want to toss this out there again.

Ryan Bradley tacked on a double toe to his second quad to ensure that he got credit for a combo.

He didn't - the protocols list it as a 4T+Seq.

If so, that double toe should be considered another jumping pass, right?

If that's true, then his final jumping pass doesn't count.

His final jumping pass is a 3F that got him 6.83 points

He won by 6.44 points.

Can someone explain where I'm wrong? Maybe the protocols I'm looking at are wrong?

... giving him credit for the 4t2t would give him an extra 3.4 points, fwiw.

I'm confused around this area too - but not quite the same questions. My understanding (I could be wrong ) is that the men can do 8 passes, with 3 combos or seq.. I can see the 4T 2T being listed as a SEQ - the jumps were connected, by a bad loopy landing. But where does the base mark come from? And that 1st 4t should have been downgraded to a 3T.

Don't mean to sound like sour grapes - Ryan is super nice - just like understanding.

[Serious Business]

Ryan's win is more controversial because he won over a new skater that the judges may have underscored in the PCS in the SP (which is where Ryan won the competition). In the FS, Dornbush beat Ryan on every PCS and very soundly in the TES. Even with a downgrade on the quad and a bigger gulf in the Skating Skills mark between Bradley and Dornbush, that's still only about a 4-5 point adjustment in Dornbush's favor (i.e. not enough for him to win). I'd need to see Dornbush's SP before I can cry foul. But it certainly is possible.