JGP Sencila-Bled Cup 2012 Men's Preview | Golden Skate

JGP Sencila-Bled Cup 2012 Men's Preview

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
This will be an amazing junior men's competition. It is the first that I can remember where more than one of the men will be attempting quadruple jumps. There are three really wonderful skaters here, all planning quads and multiple triple axels, and any of them could take the gold. First we have Han Yan of China, who is the reigning Junior World Champion. And then we have Joshua Farris, the Junior World silver medallist, who skated wonderfully at Lake Placid earlier this season. Finally we have Boyang Jin of China, who won JGP Courchevel. It is a shame that only one of these very good skaters can win here. In fact, I can't see any of these men placing lower than third here.

Keiji Tanaka qualified for the JGPF last year, and finished second to Farris at Lake Placid, and it is hard luck that he has been assigned to this competition which has such a packed field. Roman Sadovsky CAN finished third at Lake Placid with a very fine performance, and he too will be fighting an uphill battle here.

It is also a shame that some very good skaters will not medal, but they are none the less worth watching: Shoma Uno of Japan and Lukas Kaugars of USA, are both very entertaining skaters and well worth your while to watch. I will be interested to watch the two very young skaters that Russia has sent to this championship, Adian Pitkeev and Alexander Samarin. While they will not win a medal this year, it's always interesting to see some of the competitors who will be the future of the sport. Adian placed sixth in Lake Placid, in a very tough field, and has added a triple axel to his program this year.



Han Yan CHN
SP Jealous
LP Masquerade
His coach is Shuguang Jia, and his Choreographer is Helen Zhang Wei. He placed third in seniors at this year's Chinese National Championships.
Han Yan is the reigning World Junior Champion, the first Chinese man to win that title. He won World Juniors with his best ever score of 222.45. He is 16.
He also won the Youth Olympic Games last year.
His winning Junior Worlds LP, which contained both a quad toe, and a triple axel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdhStS3mSYY&playnext=1&list=PL0948EFA409765A88&feature=results_video

Joshua Farris USA
SP Suite for Solo Cello No 1 in G Major: Prelude by Yo-Yo Ma
LP Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, op. 18 III: Allegro Scherzando by Van Cliburn, Fritz Reiner
Joshua’s coaches are Christy Krall & Damon Allen. His choreographer is Damon Allen. Josh contributes substantially to the choreography himself. Joshua is 17.

Joshua placed second at 2012 Junior Worlds, where he scored his personal best of 221.97 points. He won the bronze medal at the 2011-2012 season Junior Grand Prix Final. He placed sixteenth in Seniors at US Nationals.
He won the JGP Lake Placid competition earlier this season with a score of 218.69. He plans a quad toe and two triple axels in his long program.
His LP at Lake Placid is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQfOQo7qlBA


Boyang Jin CHN
SP Chambermaid Maid Swing
LP Chaplin
His coach is : Zhaoxiao Xu & his choreographer: Hailan Jiang. He trains in Harbin.
He won the Junior Men's division in the Asian FS Trophy in 2011, with a score of 177.17. He was fourth in Seniors Men's in China in 2012.
He is very young, and very very good
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfMlSvHjOUU
As the words attached to the video say: He turned 14 in Oct (2011). But he has aleady 4T, 3A-2T, 3Lz-3T, and a 3A in the bonus section of his long program.
He won the Courchevel JGP with a score of 194.13, which is his personal best.
Here is his LP at Courchevel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRE2Ar7BS5I
He did an Exhibition at Cup of China last year to Michael Jackson songs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhfYTPjA_sM


Keiji Tanaka JPN
SP Afro Freak
LP The Untouchables (soundtrack) by Ennio Morricone
Keiji's coaches are Yusuke Hayashi & Utako Nagamitsu. His choreographer is Kenji Miyamoto .
His personal best score was 196.88, obtained at the 2011 Junior World Championship, where he finished second. At the 2012
World Junior Championship 2012,he finished 7th. He is the Japanese national Junior silver medallist
He qualified for the JGPF last year, where he finished 6th.
His SP from Junior Worlds 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6KvxkobwAI
He competed at Lake Placid, and finished second there to Joshua Farris with a score of 182.50.. His LP from JGP Lake Placid:, where he completed two triple axels.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct8tEp63W0I

Adian PITKEEV RUS
SP Hunter - Jaguar by Safri Duo
LP Bolero
Adian's coaches are Eteri Tutberidze & Sergei Dudakov. His choreographer is Alexei Zhelezniakov. He is 14.
He finished 11th at Russian Junior Nationals this year with a score of 162.73
His best score at national level competitions (Junior) 169.33.
He has planned and has landed 7 triples in FS, including 3Lz+3T, 3F+3T. This year he has added a triple axel to his program.
Here he is at the Russian cup Final in 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAt7JUG5y7M
Photos
http://www.fskate.ru/photos/image10094.jpg (with coaches)
http://www.fskate.ru/photos/image12329.jpg
Many photos http://www.fskate.ru/skaters/1262/photo/ (with text in Russian)
Adian finished sixth at Lake Placid with his only and best ever score of 154.97
His LP from Lake Placid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbQrW5fxaY0

Alexander Samarin RUS
Alexander does not yet have an ISU biography.. He is 14.
His coach is Inna Goncharenko (who is also coach of Elena Radionova).
He won the NRW Trophy in the Novice division in 2010..
Last season, he won the bronze medal in two of the Cup of Russia series Junior events.
His highest score, nationally, was 193.90..
He plans a seven triple program with two triple triple combinations included.
He has been a member of the Russian National team since the 2010-2011 season, but he had to withdraw from the most recent Russian Junior championship. He had finished twelfth in juniors in the previous season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXMDlrCE4_I - fragment of Vesti-Sports news TV program about "Klin Skate" May 2012.
The only info about this competition (which is in calendar ofr Federation of Figure Skating of Russia, so of high state).
Samarin was first in the Senior Men's division.
Photos
http://www.fskate.ru/photos/image7606.jpg (Samarin, Kolyada, Efremenkov).
http://www.fskate.ru/skaters/445/photo/ (many photos)
His SP from last November
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux3LLmfu5-E
His LP from a competition in Russia last March
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmZvH-HnNuE



Roman Sadovsky CAN
SP Live and Let Die by David Garrett; James Bond theme - Tomorrow Never Dies Mix
LP Heart of the King (from The Man in the Iron Mask soundtrack) by Nick Glennie Smith
Roman's coach is Tracy Wainman, and his choreographer: is Gregor Filipowski.
Roman is just up from Novices. He is only 13. He competed in the Challenge Cup in The Hague this last March as a Novice, and won the competition.
Here's his winning LP there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRzRuG72YOs
He competed at Lake Placid, and won the bronze medal there with a score of 158.77, which is his best and only ISU score.
His Lake Placid LP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2yHJKx0aDI



Shoma Uno JPN
SP Tanguera
LP Steps
Shoma's coaching & choreography team are Machiko Yamada & Mihoko Higuchi. Shoma will turn 15 in December.
Shoma finished tenth at last year's Junior World Championships, and won the silver medal at last year's Youth Olympics in Juniors. He placed fifth at Japanese Junior Nationals.
His best ever score was 175.92, at last year's Junior World Championship.
Shoma's performance in The Ice exhibition in Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhPQZZyOuKQ
His LP at Junior Worlds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJUA7yldaSA


Lukas Kaugars
SP Hallelujah by Robin Olson
LP Jump Swing Blues by Rick Krive,; Sleepwalk by Brian Setzer; King Swing by Ken Miller
Lukas's coaches are Damon Allen, Christy Krall, Eddie Shipstad and Ryan Jahnke. His choreographer is Damon Allen. He is 17. This is his first JGP appearance.
Lukas won the 2012 Junior Men's Division at the Val Gardena Spring Trophy with a score of 138.07. He finished fifth in Juniors at his last US Nationals in Juniors with a score of 154.95.. Lukas' family originally came from Latvia, and he speaks the language.
Here he is, skating his winning long program at the Vail Invitational (86.88 for this skate).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2fNlU_TBjA



David Kranjec AUS
SP Mission Impossible by Lalo Shifrin
LP Walk This Way by Aerosmith; Live and Let Die by The Wings
David moved from Slovenia to Australia. His coaches are Irina Stavrovskaia & Valentin Kadzevitch. His choreographer is Irina Stavrovskaia. He is 18. He placed second in juniors at the last Australian championship. His best ever score of 128.93 was achieved at JGP Brisbane in 2011.
His short program from JGP Austria 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOUuph1QBOw



Manuel Drechsler AUT
SP New Kids Turbo by Beat the Hardcore
LP Ghost Love (soundtrack) by Tuomas Holopainen
His coach is Pavel Laurencik, and his choreographer is Miroslava Hajkova. He is 16.
He earned his personal best total score:eek:f 85.08 at theYouth Olympic Games (15th Juniors)
He competed on the JGP last year at Baltic Cup & JGP Austria.
Manuel's long program from The Challenge Cup this spring, where he finished tenth.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF2Qc3Jo2SY
He competed at JGP Austria this season, where he finished twenty-second.
His LP from JGP Austria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5z12LqSrx0


Jordan Ju TPE]/b]
SP Perry Mason Theme by Earle Hagen
LP Malaguena Blast (soundtrack); Malaguena performed by Gypsy Kings; Malaguena by Forever Cello
Jordan's coach is Joanne McLeod. He is 17.
He is the Senior Men's champion of Taipei. His personal best score of 134.97 was achieved at the 2012 Four Continents Championship, where he finished twenty first. He just won the bronze medal in Juniors at the Asian Trophy.
Here is his free skate from Four Continents:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nQzDjVmikQ
He competed at JGP Austria, finishing fifteenth with a score of 120.55. Here is his LP from that competition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SreLoNqTDr8


Viktor Romanenkov EST
SP Tango d'Amore by Edvin Marton
LP Prince of Egypt (soundtrack) by Hans Zimmer
His coach is Anna Levandi, & his choreographer: Anna Levandi, Kaarel Väli. He will turn 19 later this month.
Viktor is the Estonian champion in Senior Men's. He finished twenty-third at Europeans last year. His best ever score of 162.19 was earned at JGP Tallinn last year, where he finished sixth.
He gave this exhibition a month ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAfYbY6ZlRY
His short program from JGP Tallinn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Cq-lY41UU
He competed at JGP Austria, and finished tenth with a score of 144.00. Here is his LP from that competition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fSDtFWAdu8

Charles Tetar FRA
SP Barbier of Seville by G. Rossini Music
LP Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by The Platters; Buddy Rock by Jerry Lee Lewis; Blues Nobody by Nat King Cole; Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley
Charles is coached by Annick Dumont. He is 17.
He won the Triglav trophy in juniors last year, and was third in Coup de Nice in juniors.
He was 5th in Seniors at French Nationals
He competed at Courchevel., where he finished seventh and earned his personal best total score of 154.29. His LP from Courchevel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUaO02K_qcU


Alexander Schöpke GER
SP Charlie Chaplin
LP Plan B by Brian Tyler; The Whole Nine Yards (soundtrack) by Randy Edelman
Alexander's coach is Ilona Schindle, and his choreographer is Iwo Svec. He is 18.
He placed second in juniors at the last German championship. He also won the 2012 Nesquik cup.
This is his first JGP appearance.
Here is a video from four years ago of Alexander skating and ice dancing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hQCAJ3rpwU


Peter James Hallam GBR
SP Avatar (soundtrack) by James Horner
LP Gladiator (soundtrack) by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard
Peter is coached by Dawn Peckett, and his choreograph is John Kerr, the former British ice dance champion. I'm looking forward to seeing his work!
Peter is 17.
His highest previous score was at JGP Austria 2011, where he finished 16th with a score of 122.61
Here he is at the Challenge Cup this last spring at The Hague
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkEdRErkLa0
He competed at Courchevel, where he finished thirteenth and achieved his best ever score of 130.55. Here is his LP from that competition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-KWxASj8Qc


Antonio Panfili ITA
Antonio does not currently have an ISU biography.
Antonio finished second at the 2012 Italian Junior Championships with a score of 125.97
He finished third at the Dragon Trophy in 2011.
This competition is his first JGP appearance.
His LP from the Val Gardena Spring Trophy 2012, where he finished fifth in the senior men's division with a score of 137.07.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5NgJUahlLA

Abish Baytkanov KAZ
SP From Paris With Love
LP Windtalkers (soundtrack) by James Horner
Abish's coaches are Natalia Popova & Danil Markelov. Abish is 17.
His best score of 77.76 was earned at JGP Volvo Cup in 2011.
His SP from that event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA4mh4Ua5xM

Julian Zhi Jie Yee MAS
SP The Jet Song (from "West Side Story") by Leonard Bernstein
LP Sons of Odin; Unstoppable; Mission Impossible
Julian's coach is Harry Janto Leo, and his choreographer is Christa Grossard. He is 15. He placed second in the senior division at his national championship. His best ever score was earned at 2011 JGP Tallinn, where he finished fourteenth with a score of 112.90. He competed at the World Junior Championship last year, but did not make it out of the qualifying round. He finished sixth at this summer's Asian Figure Skating Trophy in Juniors.
He is also a member of the Malaysian short track speed skating team.
Julian's Short Program from JGP Tallinn 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z0q-NqQev8

Krzysztof Gala POL
SP Still Got the Blues by Gary Moore
LP Space Bullfighter by Adam Potega
Krzysztof is coached by Stefan Potega, and his choreographer is Sebastian Kolasinski. He is 16.
He finished fourth in juniors at the Warsaw Cup. His personal best score of 96.24 was achieved at Trofeo W. Lombardi JGP last year.
His current SP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAIia2jP6u4
His free skate from Trofeo W. Lombardi JGP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nikeFKglYeM


Daniel Patriche ROU
SP The Barber of Seville by G. Rossini
LP American Outlaws (soundtrack) by Trevor Rabin
His coach is Ramona Dinu. He is 15.
He finished fifth in Novices at the Santa Claus Cup last season.
This is his first JGP competition.
I could not find any videos of Daniel.

Marco Klepoch SVK
SP Perfect Day for a Murder - The Pink Panther by Christophe Beck
LP Kashmir by Led Zeppelin
His coach and choreographer is Vladimir Dvojnikov. He is 14, and will turn 15 soon.
His short program from JGP Austria 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vyt4-e8KhM
He competed at JGP Austria again this season., and scored a new personal best total score of 105.99. Here is his short program from that event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfokwpvUrCc

Krištof Brezar SLO
SP Sherlock Holmes (soundtrack) by Hans Zimmer
LP Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows (soundtrack) by Hans Zimmer; The Bourne Ultimatum (soundtrack) by John Powell
His coach is Darja Skrlj, and his choreographe is: Badri Kurashvili.
Kristof is 15, nearly 16.
He finished thirteenth at the Triglav Trophy in juniors earlier this year. He first appearance on the JGP was at JGP Austria, where he .
His short program at JGP Austria where he finished twentieth with a score of 85.93, his personal best ISU score.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Enh6YTD1k

Matej GREGORC SLO
Matej does not have an ISU biography as yet..
Matej competed at Skate Helena. This is not a video-it is a slide show of photos of the event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdiKtQMuvY0

Dong-Won Lee KOR
SP Concerto for Guitar by Salvador Bacarisse
LP Allegro from Piano Concerto No. 3 by Ludwig van Beethoven
His coach is Hea Sook Shin, and his choreographer is Kenji Miyamoto. He will turn 16 in November.
He finished fourth in seniors at the 2012 Korean National Championships with a score of 165.47.
His personal best score of 166.93 was earned at JGP Brasov last year. And he won the bronze medal at the Asian Figure Skating Trophy in 2011. He competed at the World Junior Championships, and finished thirtieth.
His long program from JGP Brasov
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZjflIfe1Kw


Ondrej Spiegl SWE
SP Transformers: Forest Battle (soundtrack) by Steve Jablonsky
LP Saw (soundtrack) by Charlie Clouse; Gone in 60 seconds (soundtrack) by Machismo; Tequila by The Champs
Ondrej is coached by Alan Spiegl, and his choreographer is Veronika Vrtelova. He is 19.
His best ever score of 142.25 was achieved at JGP Brasov last year. He placed fifth in seniors at the Swedish National Championships. He was second in Juniors at Nordics 2011.
His SP last year at JGP Brasov.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqyplKxWA04

Giray Senol TUR
SP Invisible by Thoms Bergersen, Nick Phoneix
LP Two Steps From Hell by Heart of Courage
His coach is Rana Belkis Gocmen, and his choreographer is Ali Demirboga. He is 15.
Giray's personal best score was achieved at JGP Bosphorus, where he placed sixteenth with a score of 118.66, his first JGP appearance.
He finished sixteenth at the 2011 Cup of Nice.
His SP from JGP Bosphorus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3TXBuSd-7A.

Yaroslav Paniot UKR
SP Waltz Masquarade by Aram Khatchaturian
LP Mix
His coach is Viacheslav Zagorodniuk, and his choreographer is Alena Turaeva-Stetskaia.
Yaroslav's personal best is 132.55, earned at the Youth Olympic Games, where he finished 9th.
His free skate from Dnepr 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unJcnylhhk4
He was a participant in the Youth Olympic games, where he finished 9th with a score of 132.55.
http://www.olympic.org/content/yog_...ntscontainer/?sortby=1&p=2&participantid=4865
He competed at Lake Placid JGP, where he finished sixteenth with a score of 100.48.
His short program from Lake Placid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmygnPgBQCA
 
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sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
that's more competitive than some senior GP entries

Han Yan, Farris and Jin :)
with Tanaka, Pitkeev, Sadovsky and Samarin as outside podium contenders
 
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Country
Russia
- Hello, is it psychiatric hospital? We call you from Bled … Yes, where is junior Grand Prix. Please, send us two … no, better four brigades of hospital attendants. Here two Federations became absolutely crazy, and other two behave inadequately too.
(from one of Russian forums)

Chinese Federation sent two pretenders to Final on the same Event with very high level of other skaters, while China has enough places at other events.
Japanese Federation made the same.
Farris and Sadovsky - Federations of USA and Canada could send them to other events, but did not do so.

Some of real pretenders for Final because of this will loose their chances.

It is good for Maxim Kovtun (Events VI and VII) for Events and Final, but why they love him so much?
 
Last edited:

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
- Hello, is it psychiatric hospital? We call you from Bled … Yes, where is junior Grand Prix. Please, send us two … no, better four brigades of hospital attendants. Here two Federations became absolutely crazy, and other two behave inadequately too.
(from one of Russian forums)

Chinese Federation sent two pretenders to Final on the same Event with very high level of other skaters, while China has enough places at other events.
Japanese Federation made the same.
Farris and Sadovsky - Federations of USA and Canada could send them to other events, but did not do so.

Some of real pretenders for Final because of this will loose their chances.

It is good for Maxim Kovtun (Events VI and VII) for Events and Final, but why they love him so much?

what you mean psychiatric hospital ? Pitkeev and Samarin have mental problems ?
JGP Croatia will have Han Yan and Nathan Chen competing with Kovtun although JGP Germany not so much depth competition
 
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FSGMT

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
Yeah, it's sad that Tanaka, Uno or Sadovsky who could, if not qualify for the Final, at least earn another medal, will be probably forced to obtain an off-podium result... This was absolutely stupid form these federations!
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Yeah, it's sad that Tanaka, Uno or Sadovsky who could, if not qualify for the Final, at least earn another medal, will be probably forced to obtain an off-podium result... This was absolutely stupid form these federations!

they should have done what the US and Russian Feds are doing int thi JGP switching assignments and doing replacements, its too competitive here
From the recent skates looks like Shoma Uno has regeressed
 
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Country
Russia
what you mean psychiatric hospital ? Pitkeev and Samarin have mental problems ?
Pitkeev (6th place of his first Event, i.e. no chance to Final) and Samarin (good, but very young boy, very little chance to Final) are not of concern.

It is not normal that at one Event so many favourites.
JGP Croatia will have Han Yan and Nathan Chen competing with Kovtun although JGP Germany not so much depth competition
Nathan Chen is very good boy, but Kovtun landed 4T+2T and 4T in FS.
For all, situation in Croatia is simpler than in Slovenia.

And we had Event in Turkey, where Petrov was 2nd with score 174.45, because of only one favourite at that Event.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Nathan Chen is very good boy, but Kovtun landed 4T+2T and 4T in FS.

At age 13, Nathan Chen is a COMPLETE skater. He is super expressive, with every move beautifully performed. At 17, Kovtun is primarily a jumper and the rest of his skating needs work; he is young enough to improve.

Nathan scored 222 total points (75.15+146.85) at Istanbul. Kovtun's total scores in last year's JGPs were 182.91 (58.47+121.77) and 186.87 (61.14+128.4).

What is puzzling is that if Kovtun is indeed that promising a skater, why wasn't he sent to Junior Worlds 2012? He did make it to the JGPF, where he finished 4th behind Brown, Han and Farris.
 
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Country
Russia
At age 13, Nathan Chen is a COMPLETE skater. He is super expressive, with every move beautifully performed. At 17, Kovtun is primarily a jumper and the rest of his skating needs work; he is young enough to improve.
Nathan is very, very good "young junior" skater.

But complete skater must have quads. Nathan is too young for it.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
At age 13, Nathan Chen is a COMPLETE skater. He is super expressive, with every move beautifully performed. At 17, Kovtun is primarily a jumper and the rest of his skating needs work; he is young enough to improve.

Nathan scored 222 total points (75.15+146.85) at Istanbul. Kovtun's total scores in last year's JGPs were 182.91 (58.47+121.77) and 186.87 (61.14+128.4).

What is puzzling is that if Kovtun is indeed that promising a skater, why wasn't he sent to Junior Worlds 2012? He did make it to the JGPF, where he finished 4th behind Brown, Han and Farris.

can you imagine what scores nathan will be getting by next season or when he gets a quad at Juniors ? a junior record in mens !
the junior mens are so competitive that Top 6 in JGPF is not even enough

I see Han Yan, Joshua Farris, Jin Boyang, Jason Brown and Nathan Chen as very likely to go to JGPF
so that leaves only 1 spot open for the junior mens either one of the Japanese or Kovtun will take it
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Quads alone don't make a complete skater. Voronov, Reynolds and Menshov all have quads, and none of them can be said to be a 'complete' skater.

A 13-year-old (Nathan Chen) doesn't have the upper body strength required for a quad. But he has everything else he needs to be a complete skater, and he has plenty of time to get the quad.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Quads alone do not make a complete skater but you can not be complete now in 2012 or even back in 2010 if you do not have a quad. I can't believe in a junior competition the jumping will go to such difficulty when in it didn't go this far in seniors at the Olympics in 2010. There you had people saying quads mean nothing to being a complete skater and just triples are enough in the jump department and no one should care that they were the norm for 10 years in winning the major events stopping in 2008.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
At age 13, Nathan Chen is a COMPLETE skater. He is super expressive, with every move beautifully performed. At 17, Kovtun is primarily a jumper and the rest of his skating needs work; he is young enough to improve.

Nathan scored 222 total points (75.15+146.85) at Istanbul. Kovtun's total scores in last year's JGPs were 182.91 (58.47+121.77) and 186.87 (61.14+128.4).

What is puzzling is that if Kovtun is indeed that promising a skater, why wasn't he sent to Junior Worlds 2012? He did make it to the JGPF, where he finished 4th behind Brown, Han and Farris.

Kovtun did not skate his best at Russian Junior Nationals and wound up placing 3rd, behind Bush and Dmitriev, who were named to the JW team. There was talk that Kovtun really should have been sent instead of Dmitriev, who did not qualify for the JGPF and wound up placing 14th at JW, but Russia tends to stick to it's Junior National's results when determining JW spots, so Kovtun didn't get to go. Now that Bush and Dmitriev have both aged out of juniors, I'm sure Kovtun will be on the team this season. He was very good in the FS at last season's JGPF.

Anyways, regardless of if he's a "complete" skater or not, Chen's score from JGP Austria speaks for itself, it's the highest score of any junior man this season and is just a fraction of a point lower than what Han Yan won the JWC with last season, which was a world record score. Based on that, he is competition for Kovtun and likely to beat him if he can skate like he did in Austria. Keep in mind Chen managed that score with no quad and just 1 3a in his FS.

In any event, this field is super deep! I'd actually say Tanaka is a main contender for a medal because if he skates well he's really almost on par with Farris and Yan and could probably beat Jin based on PCS. When he's on, Tanaka is a very very strong skater, he just tends to be "off" a lot unfortunately. I just hope that Farris and Yan can both qualify for the JGPF! Josh has his one gold which should help him, so even if he is off this competition and falters, finishing say 4th, behind Yan, Jin, and Tanaka, he would likely still qualify. Yan is likely to finish 1st or 2nd at his next event and I don't see him off the podium here so he should be fine. I'm excited to see Jin again, his jumps are amazing!

Also, Tanaka's PB score was from JW in 2011, where he won silver, not 2012, where he was 7th. His FS at 2012 JW was really strong though and he was a close 5th in that segment.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Kovtun did not skate his best at Russian Junior Nationals and wound up placing 3rd, behind Bush and Dmitriev, who were named to the JW team. There was talk that Kovtun really should have been sent instead of Dmitriev, who did not qualify for the JGPF and wound up placing 14th at JW, but Russia tends to stick to it's Junior National's results when determining JW spots, so Kovtun didn't get to go. Now that Bush and Dmitriev have both aged out of juniors, I'm sure Kovtun will be on the team this season. He was very good in the FS at last season's JGPF.

Anyways, regardless of if he's a "complete" skater or not, Chen's score from JGP Austria speaks for itself, it's the highest score of any junior man this season and is just a fraction of a point lower than what Han Yan won the JWC with last season, which was a world record score. Based on that, he is competition for Kovtun and likely to beat him if he can skate like he did in Austria. Keep in mind Chen managed that score with no quad and just 1 3a in his FS.

In any event, this field is super deep! I'd actually say Tanaka is a main contender for a medal because if he skates well he's really almost on par with Farris and Yan and could probably beat Jin based on PCS. When he's on, Tanaka is a very very strong skater, he just tends to be "off" a lot unfortunately. I just hope that Farris and Yan can both qualify for the JGPF! Josh has his one gold which should help him, so even if he is off this competition and falters, finishing say 4th, behind Yan, Jin, and Tanaka, he would likely still qualify. Yan is likely to finish 1st or 2nd at his next event and I don't see him off the podium here so he should be fine. I'm excited to see Jin again, his jumps are amazing!

Also, Tanaka's PB score was from JW in 2011, where he won silver, not 2012, where he was 7th. His FS at 2012 JW was really strong though and he was a close 5th in that segment.

Tanaka suffers from poor PCS like Hino
I'd take Jin if he skates clean like in Austria would improve better his scores

I'd say this JGPF will be comparable with the Senior GPF
Its very deep field with anyone of the possible finalists capable of medaling
 

Johnet

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 15, 2011
Tanaka suffers from poor PCS like Hino
I'd take Jin if he skates clean like in Austria would improve better his scores

I'd say this JGPF will be comparable with the Senior GPF
Its very deep field with anyone of the possible finalists capable of medaling

Well Jin didn't skate in Austria apparently, and his free skate in Courchever wasn't completely clean either (a step-out in his first 3A). Did you mistaken Nathan Chen for Boyang Jin? Nathan did skate clean in Austria.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Well Jin didn't skate in Austria apparently, and his free skate in Courchever wasn't completely clean either (a step-out in his first 3A). Did you mistaken Nathan Chen for Boyang Jin? Nathan did skate clean in Austria.

I am refeferring to Jin
sorry for the typing mistake, yes he competed in France not Austria
 
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Country
Russia
Quads alone don't make a complete skater. Voronov, Reynolds and Menshov all have quads, and none of them can be said to be a 'complete' skater.
Yes. Quads don't make complete skater. But complete skater has quads.

A 13-year-old (Nathan Chen) doesn't have the upper body strength required for a quad. But he has everything else he needs to be a complete skater, and he has plenty of time to get the quad.
I meant that Nathan is not complete, so we wait great progress of him in future. He is very good, and we may hope that he will be much better in future.

There are no complete male skaters younger 17 (or may be 19) years.
 
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