2022 Olympics Team Event Day2: Men's Free Skate

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Stagnant? Pretty sure Brown landed a quad finally in competition last fall.

This is reallllly grasping though. It was a two-footed one. Brown does not have a reliable quad.

Zhou landed more quads in his team FS than Brown has had in his career.

Another issue is that Brown isn't consistent with his triple axel which he needs like 100% consistency essentially to make up for the lack of a reliable quad. In his SP his 3A has been off this season. Hopefully he can get it together like at Nationals, but he will not be getting Nationals' level PCS generosity and tech calling.

 

[siberia82]

I wanted to share Roman Sadovsky's post-TE FS interview with CBC TV, where he said that it felt like he was skating in someone else's body. There's a very brief clip near the end where you see one of his teammates (the consensus on the Canadian thread that it's either Michael Marinaro or Nikolaj Sørensen, but it's difficult to tell which one) cradling Roman's head while Roman cries into his chest. I just thought it was a touching moment where the team is providing him with emotional support after what has been a nightmarish Olympics for him.

I've been told that Roman's interview is geoblocked outside of Canada, so I took a screencap of the clip in the hope that someone outside of Canada is able to identify if it's Mike or Nik.

I just wish I knew for certain who it was because I want to give proper credit to the teammate who comforted Roman in such a tender way (with an intrusive TV camera nearby, no less) after he had a catastrophic long program. I'm sad to say that I've known plenty of people who are happy to trample on others when they're down (and we've of course encountered some of them on this forum), so I was really moved seeing this moment.

There's no denying that Roman is by far the weakest link in Team Canada, but I'm very relieved that none of his teammates appear to be angry at him because he endangered the team's chances to qualify for the FS, or that he definitely cost them a chance (however small) at getting the bronze medal. Whether it was Mike or Nik who held Roman in their arms, I think they're a total sweetheart, and they displayed team spirit at its best. Maybe I'm just overly emotional, but that was a really beautiful, heartwarming gesture to me.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

This is pure fantasy.

100000%.

As a skater with no significant senior international experience, Malinin's PCS even with a clean skate wouldn't likely clear 80 PCS (certainly not the 83.58 he got at Nationals) - his highest PCS internationally is 75.36.

Even if he got 80 PCS, he would have needed 126 TES to beat Kagiyama, and he would not have gotten the GOE he got at Nationals (where his TES was 115 and his segment score was 199.02 (compared to Kagiyama's segment score of 208.94).

There is literally NO chance of Malinin having beaten Kagiyama's team FS.

 

[Arigato]

Clearly someone from the U.S. flew a kid into Beijing and I missed his Free Skate. Why else would over 20 posts mention his name in a competition thread?

 

[Arigato]

Re: Someone mentioning Mark getting artificial inflation

If you play it back at half speed, his free leg/foot never touched the ice. He ended up with only +0.41 GOE for that opening 4T compared to 2.58 at RusNats. I thought it was a decent save and not much there to be considered artificial inflation. Having said that, I thought this skate for him was a mess compared to RusNats. He did a great job back then and his musical timing was excellent. Here, no. He left pieces of his program out all over the place which was surprising to see. Much lower PCS here and, in my opinion, it should have been. Hopefully he gets control of himself for his individual skate.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I am sorry but one of the reasons the men are inconsistent is that they are doing quads. Their content is harder.

Jason is a beautiful skater but at Nationals he was the one who fell not Ilia.

There are enough men in the world right now who are good skaters and have quads that Jason is not going to be even top five.

Even Mark who is not a beautiful skater is
Well fun to watch. His free program is trending on Twitter. Quads and fun presentation.

It made no sense not to take Ilia. What Ilia. pulled technically at Nationals only one or two men have ever done.

His PCs would rise quickly.

The US needs to start rewarding the skaters who can compete technically.

I mean their national champion in ladies cannot land a 3/3.

Compete with the Russians? Technically the US ladies here apart from maybe Alyssa are behind the Georgians, Canadians, Koreans, Polish. Let alone the Russians and Japanese.

You apparently don't like Jason, which is fine. Jason fell on the quad in the fp, but otherwise he skated beautifully, whether or not you give him any credit for his talent and accomplishments.

The fact that Jason has been routinely competitive, and has won medals internationally without solid quads, is a huge accomplishment in the era of quads! Jason's talent and competitive standing should not be looked down upon in the way you and others do.

U.S. fed made the drama to be about Jason over Ilia. And with the BOW criteria, Jason rightly was chosen. IMO, the choice should have been between Ilia and Vincent. With the BOW criteria in play, the same outcome would have happened, but it's not unheard of for U.S. fed to make and justify whatever selection they desire.

Regarding quads and inconsistency, that has always been a huge problem. At one point the scoring failed to account for quads with falls, which was ridiculous. Nathan Chen's multiple quads with amazing consistency, singlehandedly changed the way quads are scored in the men's discipline.

This is pure fantasy.

Ahhh, it will indeed be so fantastic to see a rousing rivalry formed between Kagiyama and Malinin. Too bad we were deprived of an exciting preview during these Olympic games.

Yep, Ilia would be the underdog in such an early battle. But I wouldn't be so quick to think Ilia never will have a chance to challenge Yuma and sometimes win. It appears to me that they are both hungry, talented and capable of achieving great things in figure skating.

But sure, go ahead and keep being dismissive of Malinin.

 

[treblemakerem]

Yep, Ilia would be the underdog in such an early battle. But I wouldn't be so quick to think Ilia never will have a chance to challenge Yuma and sometimes win. It appears to me that they are both hungry, talented and capable of achieving great things in figure skating.

But sure, go ahead and keep being dismissive of Malinin.

I’m actually a fan of Ilia and I’m not saying he could never beat Yuma in the future. I’m saying right now in his current state (and international reputation) he has no chance of beating what Yuma put on the ice during the team event.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

The thing is Roman is probably a Jason Brown type or Patrick Chan. But he won't get the pcs with n ot jus tone offs but consistently poor skates and these on the olympic stage were horrible. We all know he did his best and everyone should support him still but 122 is probably worst than Schizas even with more marks given for men's. He has two chances left still but even with covid and mental issues Nam couldn't have done worse. We can come up with all sorts of excuses for Roman ie replacing Keegan but this was not great skating. He could be a late blumer and on the positive he did earn the spot for Canada at Nebelhrn but again with a lot f luck and horrible skate. I do wonder how Skate Canada will take this. Roman was given this great opportunity Olympics and team event and has fallen (excuse the pun) far short. But here's hoping he geets two redemption skates. If not I wonder if Canada will replace him for worlds?

What are you trying to say exactly? It's really hard to follow your line of thought in this post! Roman Sadovsky's physique, skating style, and career trajectory is not similar to Jason Brown, nor to Patrick Chan!

Just because Roman had a meltdown in the team event at the Olympics, does not mean he skated 'horribly' at Nebelhorn and other comps. Roman has been inconsistent on his jumps recently, but he managed to hold it together much better in recent comps than he did in the fp performance in the Olympic team event.

As I said earlier, I believe Roman has been deeply affected by the COVID disruption impacting competitive events in Canada. He has dealt with a lot of disruption to his ability to train normally as well. It is what it is though, and we'll see whether he can overcome this setback on such a huge stage.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I’m actually a fan of Ilia and I’m not saying he could never beat Yuma in the future. I’m saying right now in his current state (and international reputation) he has no chance of beating what Yuma put on the ice during the team event.

Of course, Malinin has no chance at this point. He wasn't selected to compete at the Olympics, and the men's portion of the team event is over.

Thanks for clarifying that you respect Malinin's talent. Your reference to 'pure fantasy' may well materialize into 'pure reality' very soon.

 

[Olympic]

I don’t think Brown should be here. He is not competitive technically. I am not sure I would have put Ilia over Vincent in the team.

But Brown is not competitive technically his season best scores are around 9th in the world may be lower now.

There is no point in sending someone who is not competitive technically In favor of young talented skater.

Want to know why Russia is winning? They are winning because they value young talent.

Young talent is given immediate chances. A year ago Mark wasn’t in the discussion for the Russia team.

Now he is European Champion and going to be Olympic gold medalist.

You cannot earn body of work if your not given chances to compete. Your PCS won’t rise unless you are given a chance to compete.

Kolyoda is no doubt their best skater but I have no doubt Mark would have been given the team spot because of Kolyodas proven inconsistencies. And Michal was fifth in the world last year.

I support body of work but it should only be for skaters who are proven medal contenders.

If a skater has repeatedly shown they are inconsistent and or not medal contender there spots should be up for grabs for the young.

Is this US looking to win medals or are they gunning for 7th.

Do you mean Mark will be an OGM in the future or this year?

 

[Mathman]

Of course, Malinin has no chance at this point. He wasn't selected to compete at the Olympics, and the men's portion of the team event is over.

This. Malinin was not selcted to compete at the Olympics. Jason Brown was not tapped for the team event. Vincent Chou gave it his best shot when his name was called. Everything else is yesterday's news, or rather, yesterday's fantasizing.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Another issue is that Brown isn't consistent with his triple axel which he needs like 100% consistency

That's a nitpicking overstatement. More often than not, Jason is consistent on the triple axel. It is a challenging jump for him, but he doesn't consistently have issues with that jump. Thinking about landing the quad has sometimes led to timing issues with the 3-axel, but usually it occurs with his second 3-axel in a program.

The fact that Jason mastered 3-axels in the first place, is a huge accomplishment. Many skaters can't advance their careers due to lack of a triple axel. Even the legendary, Stephanie Lambiel, had an iffy 3-axel, but was more solid on his quads. LOL!

 

[treblemakerem]

Do you mean Mark will be an OGM in the future or this year?

I think they meant this year in the team event

 

[4everchan]

I’m actually a fan of Ilia and I’m not saying he could never beat Yuma in the future. I’m saying right now in his current state (and international reputation) he has no chance of beating what Yuma put on the ice during the team event.

as a matter of fact, who has scored over 208 in a FS this year? Who has a chance to beat Yuma if he skates like this? Only 2 or 3 men who would also need their best showing.

 

[treblemakerem]

as a matter of fact, who has scored over 208 in a FS this year? Who has a chance to beat Yuma if he skates like this? Only 2 or 3 men who would also need their best showing.

Exactly. Yuma is one of the top contenders in the world right now and his world medal last year was no fluke.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

This. Malinin was not selcted to compete at the Olympics. Jason Brown was not tapped for the team event. Vincent Chou gave it his best shot when his name was called. Everything else is yesterday's news, or rather, yesterday's fantasizing.

And yesterday's bevy of in-the-moment emotional reactions. Whew! It's just figure skating, and varying (and sometimes reactionary and unrealistic fan debates), not Battle of the Planets, or end of the world as we know it.

Many of us are very invested in figure skating, and we identify with some skaters way more than others. It's not unusual to have emotional reactions. But it is best to keep things in perspective. We will never all agree with each other.

 

[bekalc]

Do you mean Mark will be an OGM in the future or this year?

This year on the Team. And he certainly earned it.

 

[el henry]

If you read that person's post you would know what I'm talking about. I am only targeting those delusional fans who do not know his maximum and insult Vincent constantly which annoys me.

Then may I suggest you engage with the poster with which you have an issue, rather than paint "Jason fans" with a broad brush? Otherwise, I feel like I need to answer. I am a Jason fan, and broad descriptions aren't helpful when I don't believe they apply to me.

"Knowing Jason's maximum" means Jason fans know he can outscore Misha K., Evgeni S., Keegan, Kevin, Morisi, et al. as he has done on more than one occasion in the past. He has even outscored Yuma, although I do not expect that to continue.

So if that is what you mean by Jason's maximum, we are in agreement.

After all, what matters in a sport is what you put on the ice in any particular comp. That's why it's a sport. Otherwise why skate? Just chalk up the BVs and call it a night.

 

[bekalc]

100000%.

As a skater with no significant senior international experience, Malinin's PCS even with a clean skate wouldn't likely clear 80 PCS (certainly not the 83.58 he got at Nationals) - his highest PCS internationally is 75.36.

Even if he got 80 PCS, he would have needed 126 TES to beat Kagiyama, and he would not have gotten the GOE he got at Nationals (where his TES was 115 and his segment score was 199.02 (compared to Kagiyama's segment score of 208.94).

There is literally NO chance of Malinin having beaten Kagiyama's team FS.

I don’t think Malinin would beat Kagiyama but maybe Mark.

You seem to not take into account that junior skaters PCs go up when they go Senior and get into major events.

Vincent’s Olympic score four years ago a case in point.

No reason if Ilia landed a 5 quad skate he might not get at least 80

 

[bekalc]

Then may I suggest you engage with the poster with which you have an issue, rather than paint "Jason fans" with a broad brush? Otherwise, I feel like I need to answer. I am a Jason fan, and broad descriptions aren't helpful when I don't believe they apply to me.

"Knowing Jason's maximum" means Jason fans know he can outscore Misha K., Evgeni S., Keegan, Kevin, Morisi, et al. as he has done on more than one occasion in the past. He has even outscored Yuma, although I do not expect that to continue.

So if that is what you mean by Jason's maximum, we are in agreement.

After all, what matters in a sport is what you put on the ice in any particular comp. That's why it's a sport. Otherwise why skate? Just chalk up the BVs and call it a night.

Yes Jason can but that is if those guys make numerous mistakes.

However there is enough of them where some are going to hit.

I am sorry his season best is 9th.
If those guys skate well he won’t beat most of them.

So using Jason is relying on a bunch of people to mess up.