2018 Europeans Mens FS

[lavenderblossom]

Yes, I meant Denis. He was second after the short, right?

No, he was 3rd. Aliev was 2nd.
Deniss' free was not that bad, it's just he doesn't have the quad down yet and he hasn't got Brown's PCS. That's why I was so surprised and happy he managed to get to 3rd in the short, and even place 4th.

 

[rhubarb]

No, he was 3rd. Aliev was 2nd.
Deniss' free was not that bad, it's just he doesn't have the quad down yet and he hasn't got Brown's PCS. That's why I was so surprised and happy he managed to get to 3rd in the short, and even place 4th.

Yes! I loved Deniss' free. He interprets the music very well.

Can't wait to see him at Pyeongchang!

 

[lavenderblossom]

OMG I have to watch the BESP call of this

I would like to as well but I doubt it because Eurosport coverage of Euros looks terrible and they're only doing highlights. Shame.

Before I forget, turns out I was wrong - Harris did get a look in! Just a quick mention but better than nothing
https://youtu.be/ZDH7u1YqT-I

 

[GGFan]

Before I forget, turns out I was wrong - Harris did get a look in! Just a quick mention but better than nothing
https://youtu.be/ZDH7u1YqT-I

Talk about breadcrumbs

 

[Heleng]

Just catching up after a busy weekend away. I tried to stay away from FS spoilers until I got back this evening and could watch the recorded competition on DVR, but made the mistake of getting on GS general forum briefly Sat evening and seeing the GS thread titles on the men's FS, which pretty much gave it away, LOL. Have only watched Mikhail's and Dmitri's FS so far. Disappointed for Mikhail. He has such superb skating qualities, if only he could put it all together in competitions. (It's so difficult sometimes being a fan of inconsistent skaters, but I can't help liking who I like, which in my case often happens to be the inconsistent ones.hwell Dmitri, on the other hand, was superb in this competition, both technically and artistically. He really had me captivated from beginning to end. I was so pleased for him and his coaching team. It was very touching to see him w his coach in the k&c, and especially how much this meant to his coach. It's interesting, he and Mikhail couldn't be more different as skaters, but I am drawn to both of them for very different reasons. (Same with Sergei Voronov, whose absence here made me so sad.) Perhaps this is the beginning of an exciting friendly and healthy rivalry!

 

[charlotte14]

Not really. Aliev's total score is the 6th best this season. Sure 274 isn't the 300+ scores we saw at Worlds 2017, but it's still a strong score.

I am talking about this whole 6 seasons when no one could challenge Javi even though he bombed occasionally at Europeans.

 

[eppen]

The last days here in Moscow have been long and I have not had the time or the energy to write, but now a few words on the men's free. Overall, I've seen a lot worse over the years - the European men tend to underachieve (ie no or few season's bests).

In the first group, I was happy for the good performances by Valtter Virtanen and Felipe Montoya. Particularly the latter who is a joy to watch for good skating skills, great movement, interesting choreo and beautiful interpretation of his music. If he only had the jumps of his countryman. The second group went by almost unnoticed.

The third group did no great wonders, either. Samarin was perhaps the most interesting beforehand as with a good skate he could do a lot. But maybe the homefield pressure got to him or something. He is as awful to watch live as on tv. If the jumps are not there, he is really of zero interest as a performer. When they were still juniors, I could never understand how he and Aliev got equal PCS as even back then Aliev was clearly better in many ways. Bychenko did well once again in a tough spot which is great for a guy with little skating skills, flow or knee action. Brezina was also better than he has been in many many many years.

The excitement grew noticeably for the last group - the mainly Russian audience expected great things for their boys, me and my friends were dead worried for Javi. In the introductions, the elderly man sitting in front of us tried to outdo our cheering for Javi But, alas, Kolyada did not deliver. He has had the 4T down ok, but based on this competition, it has taken a break from him. The 4Lz has theoretically been there - 2 landed well in about 15 tries internationally does really not mean that the guy HAS the jump. The 4S is even more wishful thinking. Kudos for him and his team for trying to go from 1+1 quad programs to 2+3 layout in two years with two news quads. It just is not working that well. Added to poor choreo and hardly any interpretitive skills, he is not much to look at. Well, at least the axels were there.

Seeing Matteo Rizzo and Deniss Vasiljevs to get to the last group was great! Neither has the tech content compared to many of the others, but they are both good in many other ways. Rizzo less charismatic and variable than Vasiljevs. I loved Deniss to death in his last junior gp series in 2015, but I can't see that he would have advanced a lot from that since then under Lambiel. The triples have gotten more consistent, the 3A is scaring me less than it did and he has that now in a good 3+3 combo also. The quad has been slowed down by injuries I hear, but the 4T was never done successfully even in practices. Although his SP choreo is ok, the free is a bit too much Lambiel and too little Vasiljevs. Friday night was a struggle, but I'm still immensely pleased that he was 4th overall!!

Aliev was good also. I hope the injury issues he has been dealing with are now gone. He is good to watch, good flow, lines, skating skills, but with mediocre spins at best. I wonder also whether he will ever be able to skate to anything but medium paced or slow music. I've so far never seen him do anything else... Needs a stylist.

Javi's free was good, but I had hoped for a tad better. Loved the new costume which remains true to the time period of his theme even without the hot and heavy jacket. He got most of his program elements down as intended - I was particularly pleased about the axels which have not been too friendly lately. Adding the sal to the lutz to save ghe third combo was good. He seemed to have a slight head cold based on his voice in the interviews which might explain partly why he was so dead at the end, but in the other hand this seems to be as tough a program physically as Barber of Seville in 2014-5. Brian was cheering him on madly after the lutz when he entered the last section of the choreo!

From many comments here it is good to the Man of La Mancha getting some appreciation! Even flawed it is a remarkable choreo with a storyline, changing emotions every minute or so together with top notch tech content.

And btw, he did his 150th quad in international competition in Moscow!!! The first ever to do that with everyone else trailing far behind. Joubert was the first to get 100 in 2013.

E

 

[silverfoxes]

Aliev was good also. I hope the injury issues he has been dealing with are now gone. He is good to watch, good flow, lines, skating skills, but with mediocre spins at best. I wonder also whether he will ever be able to skate to anything but medium paced or slow music. I've so far never seen him do anything else... Needs a stylist.

His SP costume is beautiful and I loved the first version of the LP costume. I have no idea why they changed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GukK0KSlbQ8

I would not mind seeing him skate to faster, more energetic music now, but he has done a wide range of styles, not only slow and lyrical. He had an upbeat cowboy program and quirky marionette program well before Mikhail, in juniors.

His spins need some help, but looking at the current crop of junior men...this is a widespread issue, unfortunately.

As for Deniss not advancing much, well, he could pretty much do it all except for the hardest jumps from the getgo. He was that talented. Yes, the injury slowed him down a bit. Every skater is going at their own pace and you cannot force things to happen before their time. We compared him to Javi on his fan thread and I think that Javi's fans surely can recognize that slow and steady is not a bad strategy. I'd like him to have a long career and not burn out too quickly by forcing difficult elements that aren't ready.

 

[eppen]

Javi had a quad in 2009 when he was 18 years old, he was able to add the 4S in 2011 spring about two seasons later in a pretty convincing manner. Then it has been just a question of adding the 4T into a combo, then the 4S into a combo.

Javi got the jumps easily - legends tell us that he learned them by himself (3A) or in just a couple of weeks during a summer camp with Mishin (4S). And they have been good - two (2) underrotations in those 152 that he gas done internationally.

What he lacked at Deniss's age was the finesse and sophistication that Deniss has. That came with time and a lot if work, mostly with Orser. What I fear is that Deniss despite his wonderful abilities will remain a Jason Brown. Not quite the top that he could be. I hope the jumps (in plural!!) will be there, soon.

 

[el henry]

....

What he lacked at Deniss's age was the finesse and sophistication that Deniss has. That came with time and a lot if work, mostly with Orser. What I fear is that Deniss despite his wonderful abilities will remain a Jason Brown. Not quite the top that he could be. I hope the jumps (in plural!!) will be there, soon.

I’ve seen this comment too many times, so I am going to jump off on your post.

There are many of us on GS who are fans *both* of Jason and Deniss. If Deniss becomes “another Jason Brown” that would be the sincerest compliment in my eyes.

I don’t care if Jason ever gets a quad and I don’t care if Dennis ever gets one (although I know both would like one). I care that they keep what makes them special and what makes them so much more watch-able than all the quad-meisters I know. And I am so thrilled with Deniss’ skates here

And I do sincerely thank you for your reports Most appreciated!

 

[3T3T]

The most enjoyable performance of the evening for me was Aliev. Really engaging and emotional. I am shocked, but delighted, that he skated cleanly. It’s a rare sight to see a clean skate in Men’s today. Delighted for him and his team, he deservedly got his Olympic spot.

Yes, Javi won for the 6th time but I didn’t particularly enjoy his skate. He just seems off form this season. Would a performance like this be an enough for an Olympic medal? I’m not so sure but I feel like he deserves one for all his work over the years.

Disappointed for Kolyada, I wonder should he review his quad strategy? The jump of the season is his 4Lz in China but the quads are a struggle for him. I’m not sure Elvis suits his style but it definitely has improved throughout the season. Dennis needs quads if wants to push for the podium, not sure he will get that from Lambiel.

Disappointed for Samarin but compared to the top guys his PC are just not there, he was time to work on it for next season. It was good to see Majorov have a good skate, very disappointing that the SOC are not sending him to Korea. Out of 7 visits he has 5 11th place finishes. I like Rizzo, a nice skater to watch but needs to work on the tech. Lower down the field I enjoyed Harris, Nauritis and Virtanen.

 

[eppen]

There are many of us on GS who are fans *both* of Jason and Deniss. If Deniss becomes “another Jason Brown” that would be the sincerest compliment in my eyes.

I don’t care if Jason ever gets a quad and I don’t care if Dennis ever gets one (although I know both would like one). I care that they keep what makes them special and what makes them so much more watch-able than all the quad-meisters I know. And I am so thrilled with Deniss’ skates here

And I do sincerely thank you for your reports Most appreciated!

I am not a great Jason Brown fan as you maybe can guess. One of the biggest disappointments of seeing live performances by skaters was his Worlds participation in Helsinki. I fully expected to be wowed like with Denis Ten on the first time, but Jason completely underwhelmed me even in practice sessions He had some nifty transitions every now and then, but that was the limit of "wow" in what he was doing on ice. Jason has also regressed in his tech content over the past couple of years - he does not seem to be the master of even his triples any more. When he was a kid, it seemed that he could develop into something more interesting than what his has become. But I have to say his performances and interpretations have not convinced me much - the peppy cheerleader approach in Hamilton is annoying and he has basically done the same FS now for at least two seasons when it comes to style and interpretation. The US nats step sequence in the free the other week was really great, though, but he is unfortunately not a complete all around skater. And I truly don't want Deniss to go that way! I want him to get to the very top!

And one further observation on Aliev - he is so much taller and bigger live than what he seems on tv... I thought he would be a fairly slight guy as they usually are, but he almost towered over the others :shocked: I had seen him in Junior GP earlier, but I think he might have grown a bit since then!

Thanks for the thanks, el henry! I have always appreciated other people's stories/observations from competitions and am trying my best to make that go around myself. Here I was limited by not really having internet unless I was at our apartment or somewhere else with free wifi... And time... In major competitions the last days are always very very very long and when you finally get home, you only wanna go to bed and sleep to be able to stay awake the next day.

E

 

[silverfoxes]

Dennis needs quads if wants to push for the podium, not sure he will get that from Lambiel.

They know he needs quads. He practices quads and has done for a long time now. Lambiel is not an idiot and he is absolutely not anti-quads. I have no idea why people think this...because he's "artistic"? Lambiel himself still can do quads!

 

[qwertyskates]

Love Deniss :luv17:but please Lambiel, get a decent designer for his costumes !

 

[penniavaswen]

Wrong thread