Well, it's not as though the skaters he beat were squeaky clean either.I was surprised about Hanyu faltering so badly buthe is still a medallist. Yuma was a breath of fresh air. But really the str, the jewel the king is Nathan. He is a beast, a machine. Untouchable. simply untouchble yes his pcs re far too generous but with jumps worth so much he is the best. Shomo was fine wine too but really the skaters tht impressed me in so many ways with opposite styles but equally good - Kolyada and Messing. Messing is actully a good skater. Great skating skills - should have had higher pcs. Very sad not to see Vinny in the fs but Brown did his job. And at least he didn't fall on the 4S - though he tends to two foot or underrotate or both. Brown is the wonderful skater as usual.
But, I can imagine Kolyada, Vincent, and Shoma at their best, beating him if he skated the same as he did in the free skate. But none of these guys were at their best.
But that's the thing though, isn't it? Really clean performances in major competitions are pretty rare. Did any of the men skate amazingly well over two programs here? My measuring stick is my "frequent rewatch" pile. The only performance added to the pile here was Nathan's free. Nothing else was spectacular. That's not to say there weren't memorable moments or achievements... but I'm too old to invest 5 minutes to rewatch a "moment" when my pile of great performances is so much better.