2013 4CC's Mens FS

[ImaginaryPogue]

re: Euros vs 4CC

It's less winner by default - he skated as well as he ever has - and more that the best skaters didn't perform up to snuff. It'd be like Voronov winning Euros because everyone else bombed. Just slightly off-putting. We want the best skates to win, obviously, but we'd rather the best skates came from the best skaters. Euros had that when Fernandez, Amodio and Brezina went 1-2-3. Ignoring the WD, you can say those are the three best European skaters at the moment (give or take a Joubert). Some of the best 4CC skaters weren't present (Abbott, Chan, Kozuka) and the best of the rest weren't on form tonight (this morning).

[demarinis5]

Oh Dai your are killing me. First you change your SP then this disastrous FS. There was no fire in Dai FS today.
Dai looked exhausted and unmotivated. I hope he takes a little vacation, gets some rest and comes back
refreshed by Worlds. Not a good day for the men of Japan.

On the other hand a Great Big Congratulations to Kevin!

[Kutien]

4CC Nan SONG FS

[flaneur]

Congratulations Kevin! you finally have your breakthrough!

and honestly, his non-jumping skills have really improved within the past year... i mean he isn't anywhere near chan and takahashi but he is frankly pretty on par to a lot of the other top skaters including IMO hanyu (eek... don't kill me)

[zydeco88]

The quads were two-footed and cheated (probably <<), he did a step out in one triple axel, didn't complete the rotations, fell and (obviously) didn't do the combo in the other one, two-footed and did a step out in the triple lutz, the only clean elements were one 3F (not superb quality,tough), one 3S and one 3Lo, his spins were not really good and I don't overall like this program, almost transitionless and without anything "special", I think that 82 PCS and 140 overall was pretty generous...

I stand corrected. Was too emotional to even think properly. Geez, well-done, Japanese media for putting lots of pressure on the Japanese men, for you ceaseless efforts pitting them against each other. What a bad commercialism.
Anyway, congrats to Kevin Reynolds for winning this event. He proved himself to be the dark horse of the competition and delivered a clean program that deservingly put him in the first place.

[Li'Kitsu]

I'm really, really sad for Daisuke. His FS at nationals was phenomenal, and I hoped he'd continue to prove himself a contender for the WC gold. I mean, he still is of course, but now it's more like... the last person everyone has on their mind to really go out and prove it is Javier! Hopefully, Dai will be in better shape at worlds. He looked a little tired from the beginning, it really would have been better to skip 4CC as it looks now. And Oda and Kozuka would have deserved to skate here too...

For Yuzuru, I'm not that worried. He's still young, and it's not as if he was bombing. 158 is still a pretty high score, not good for his standards, but still alright overall. It feels more like "it had to happen one day, better now than at worlds" to me. If anything, he's just turned 18 and is way ahead of his age anyway, until the beginning of this season I still would have said 2014 is too early for him.

Han Yan still doesn't comvince me that much... amazing technical ability, but a little lacking in other departments. It will be interisting how much he will develop in the future. Most of all, that fall looked really nasty - that boy has some guts to deliver like that afterwards. Deserved medal and great senior debut

Still happy for Kevin, but I think his second 4T was definitly URed, and his PCS really are quite high. Anyway, hope he'll do that well at worlds too

Oh, and the japanese man having so much trouble here... please don't let that be a bad sign for the ladies event! (Mao and her crazy, crazy content!)

[museksk8r]

Oh Dai your are killing me. First you change your SP then this diasturous FS. There was no fire in Dai FS today.

At his defense though, I can't possibly expect him to bring fire to that crap choreography Morozov has him skating to this season. Dai, you make me cry going back to that man! I've strongly disliked Takahashi's programs this season. AGH!

[demarinis5]

At his defense though, I can't possibly expect him to bring fire to that crap choreography Morozov has him skating to this season. Dai, you make me cry going back to that man! I've strongly disliked Takahashi's programs this season. AGH!

I know, I know.

[dyu]

Happy to Kevin won! and Yan's 3A was just gorgeous today. I really enjoyed men's competition.

[spikydurian]

Some may not think highly of Kevin. But he earned his medal. He had a great skate tonight. The rest faltering is not his fault.

[Mirunna]

By default? Not a fair assessment in my opinion. He went out and won it. It is a competition and on this day he was the best.

Yes I sounded harsh, I am sorry. He did went out will all guns blazing and he was the only one not shaking in his boots and actually enjoyed being on the ice(he and Misha Ge). My point is he is not the best skater in this competition overall and if Yuzuru/Dai performed their best, Kevin's best would not have been enough. I am just sad about Yuzuru and Dai, that's all. Kevin was great today and fun to watch. Even if the scores are strange overall I think the standings are fair and this is all that matters.

[Mao88]

MEN'S FREE SKATE - RESULT & VIDEOS

1. Kevin REYNOLDS (CAN) - 250.55 Free Skate
2. Yuzuru HANYU (JPN) - 246.38
3. Han YAN (CHN) - 235.22
4. Max AARON (USA) - 234.65
5. Richard DORNBUSH (USA) - 234.04
6. Nan SONG (CHN) - 228.46
7. Daisuke TAKAHASHI (JPN) - 222.77
8. Takahito MURA (JPN) - 218.08
9. Ross MINER (USA) - 214.36
10. Andrei ROGOZINE (CAN) - 201.99
11. Misha GE (UZB) - 201.71
12. Denis TEN (KAZ) - 197.26
13. Yi WANG (CHN) - 195.01
14. Christopher CALUZA (PHI) - 186.79
15. Abzal RAKIMGALIEV (KAZ) - 185.81
16. Michael Christian MARTINEZ (PHI) - 178.08
17. June Hyoung LEE (KOR) - 176.39
18. Elladj BALDE (CAN) - 176.33
19. Jin Seo KIM (KOR) - 171.01
20. Min-Seok KIM (KOR) - 137.63
21. Brendan KERRY (AUS) - 134.26
22. Jordan JU (TPE) - 121.11
23. David KRANJEC (AUS) - 115.82

[TontoK]

Just catching up... following the competition by reading the thread, so thank you all for your commentary. Otherwise, I'd be in the dark about how things unfolded.

Quick thoughts:

Skating is becoming much more of a "on any given day" type of sport. On any given day, lesser-known skaters can steal the show and the medals. The top-tier skaters simply have to perform on the day of competition, and if they don't... Who would have guessed that all three American's would have placed above Takahashi in the FS? On paper that should never have happened... but on the ice, it was a different story.

The trend of rewarding outstanding technical merit continues. We've now seen this in Europeans, US Nationals, Canadian Nationals (Keven Reynolds was a relative unknown until that performance), and 4CC. We all hope to see difficulty and style married... but pretty skating all on its own isn't enough.

Max Aaron is the real deal. Yep... 10th in SP, but all the way to 2nd in the FP, and with mistakes, at that. Obviously, Kevin Reynolds is also the real deal.

At US Nationals, during an interview discussing his comeback attempt, Lysacek said he felt that there were only about 5 men he thought could win the OGM. Now, I do hope Evan comes back... but there are way more than 5 men who could win the Olympics. On any given night...

[aemeraldrainc]

OMG!!!
I was hopeful that Kevin might,perhaps, sneak in for the bronze, but he actually won??
I'm soo happy!! Wow!!
I can't believe I fell asleep and missed the last group when the stream crashed. :(
But no one can take away the fact he won!
*still in shock*

[starryxskies]

At US Nationals, during an interview discussing his comeback attempt, Lysacek said he felt that there were only about 5 men he thought could win the OGM. Now, I do hope
Evan comes back... but there are way more than 5 men who could win the Olympics. On any given night...

Evan will really need his quad to even make the team.