2023 Worlds: Men's FS | Thoughts

[gsk8]

Shoma Uno takes second consecutive World title

2023 World Figure Skating Championships Men’s Free Skate Japan’s Shoma Uno took his second consecutive gold at the 2023 World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama on Saturday. Junhwan Cha claimed […]

www.goldenskate.com

Congrats to Uno, Malinin and Cha!

"Today's performance was far from perfect, but I put out everything I can do at this moment," said Uno. "There were many shaky jumps today, but I'm happy I was able to get a good result despite not being in a good condition these past two weeks. I know I caused a lot of concerns to everyone around me, but I was able to pay them back and show my gratitude with my performance today. I know that so many people who've supported me, and without any of their support, not one piece missing, I couldn't have pulled off today's performance. So I am grateful for every one of those who supported me."

Shall we post a petition for Brown to skate until 2026?

What stands out for you the most at this event?

 

[moonvine]

Oh Keegan.. I’m now so depressed I might not watch the women’s or the RD. Already watched the FD so not much point in watching the RD.

 

[babyskate]

Jason, Jason, Jason!!!!!
Need I say more.
Actually I loved Shoma, Jun and Kevin too.
Hard not to love Keegan as well.
What a great overall mens competition.
Lucas, Mark and Vladimir had enjoyable skates for me.

 

[Yeslekyelnats]

My moment of the week was Tracey’s reaction to Jason.

 

[noskates]

Tracy's reaction to Jason in both programs was soooo awesome - and Brian, too, after the short. I just think back to when Jason moved to Toronto and from all accounts Tracy really had to talk Brian into taking him on. Guess that paid off!!! Good on you Tracy. He really is a treasure and whether he stays in competition or moves on to the next phase of his life, there will never be anybody like him.

 

[Jeanie19]

First, Kevin having the skate of his life, coming in 4th. This season started with a terrible fall and injury in October at French Masters, he had to skip his first Grand Prix and he couldn't attempt a quad until December. He actually thought he might have to skip the whole season, so this is the happiest ending he and his fans could ever imagine.
My other favorites Andreas finishing 18th. Mihhail 17th with a seasons best.
Huge shout out to Vladimir with 2 clean skates, seasons best, he finished 11th, but should have been higher.
Deniss just being Deniss is enough
Kazuki and Jason skating wonderfully
Jun getting silver was a historic moment and he's just beautiful.

And Finally, Kevin , I'm just so happy. :

 

[4everchan]

Shoma skating despite his injury and defending his world title... something that few men have managed to do. Cha was just fabulous... He has let us down at times this season... but wow... he saved the best for the end. Malinin wasn't at his best. Good for him to be on the podium but Kévin and Jason were more beautiful to watch.
Hugs to Keegan... i feel he just lost focus briefly and that was enough to pop a jump and botch a spin...

I am a bit bummed for Lukas : I like him a lot... I hope he gets better recognition for his strong and balanced skating.
I am very bummed for Adam. He is one of my favourites from this current crop of skaters... that was a difficult outing for him.

 

[GGFan]

Best men's final group in a long program that I can remember. The variety of programs, the mixture of athleticism and performance, and the unique moments (guys, a quad axel was landed at the World Championships!!!!!!) blew my mind.

Jason was exquisite, Kevin pulled at my heart strings, Keegan took me on an emotional adventure, Junhwan beautifully delivered on the biggest stage, Illia did not fall during an insane program, and Shoma owned the ice at home. An amazing start to this quad.

 

[GGFan]

Tracy's reaction to Jason in both programs was soooo awesome - and Brian, too, after the short. I just think back to when Jason moved to Toronto and from all accounts Tracy really had to talk Brian into taking him on. Guess that paid off!!! Good on you Tracy. He really is a treasure and whether he stays in competition or moves on to the next phase of his life, there will never be anybody like him.

Tracy helping to revive his career at a low point and truly nurturing him is something I will be forever grateful for.

 

[Greengemmonster]

Brilliant top 5! And no falls which is crazy considering the level of tech they brought with them!

Highlight for me was Jun's smile at the press conference afterwards. Jun had this big, beaming smile that just melted my old crusty heart

It made me so happy to see him happy!!!

Congratulations to Shoma for the gold, shoddy ankle and all!

Congratulations to Ilia on the fabulous 4A and bronze. But most of all for holding it together and still winning bronze despite being young and nervous!

 

[ladyjane]

I just love the men. No one was boring, just so interesting. From the 16-year-old Slovakian to Keegan. And Shoma. And Jason. And the best Ina Bauer in the business second. Yay!

 

[DancingCactus]

That really was the best men's event in a long time, if ever.

So many beautiful, high class performances and interesting choreos.
The women really have to get inspired by them and get away from mostly doing generic lyrical/sad stuff.

What we had here were somany different body positions, spins, steps and generally styles...in addition to mostly clean jumps!

Also, turtlenecks for the win! I want Shoma's and Jun's!

 

[Ichatdelune]

MY DARLING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Now that's out of my system, it truly was one of the best men's events. So many great skates. Wish I'd been there live.

 

[zebobes]

Also, turtlenecks for the win! I want Shoma's and Jun's!

I want Jun's hairdresser! I don't know if you remember his hair when he was younger, but he used to have this horrendously thick mop of hair. He really has polished up his appearance as he's grown older.

This was a great final, and I remember getting worried for each skater whether or not they could keep up the momentum of the event, and even though there were a few bobbles, it just kept building and building.

 

[Mauve]

I'm still under Cha Junhwan's spell, I mean he really transcended himself ! Definitely the strongest memory that will stay of this Worlds Men event for me.
Obviously, the other big big memory for me, as a French, will be Adam Siao Him Fa failing to reach the top 5. He's the European Champion, he worked so hard for Worlds and he has the capacity to do it. So now it's time to understand what went wrong and how to improve.
Lastly, I'm still really appreciative of Lukas Britschgi's season and FP.

I'm happy that Shoma is getting the shine he deserves, but I'm honestly not moved by his skating and never have been. I wish he would change styles of music a bit. I don't like Ilia Malinin either, and I am relieved the judging showed how PCS matter to reach the highest medals : his interview about wanting to improve that next season are reassuring to me, considering what I like in this sport.
A bit disappointed by Yamamoto Sota and Jin Boyang, I hope they can find the key to performance !

Overall I agree, this was a crazy competition and the top 10 level was mind-blowing. Congratulations to all skaters for their amazing performances !

 

[liv]

Amazingly good competition, especially surprising as it was the first year of a new cycle. The last group was very high quality and all brought something different to the table. The audience was treated to, and deserved, an excellent competition.

My favourites were Cha, Kevin and Jason. Their performances, I'll never forget how each had pretty much lifetime skates. I found myself watching Junhwan's program over and over and that rarely happens these days for me. The last seconds just brought it home.

Shoma was good but I always question his quads a d the errors stopped me from enjoying it as much as the others. He's done better, but unless he actually had a fall, I think his win was pretty much guaranteed here. I never rewatch his programs, even though I do appreciate his skating.

Really liked Deniss' program... loved his music choice.

Keegan, while missing a couple of elements, still had a decent skate. You could see he was looking at the audience, taking in the amazing experience that is skating at a Worlds in Japan. He did his job, 2 spots for Canada, and while I'm sure he wanted a repeat of 4CC, it was still a solid 2 quad program. Thanks, keegs!

Looking forward to next year.

 

[Anna K.]

Thoughts? What thoughts? I can't think. I'm still emotional.

Many men crying, mostly with happiness. Standing ovations in the audience and that Ina Bauer

Could there be a more perfect ending for the championships?

 

[Idiote]

Both Jason and Kevin brought me to tears... I loved this final group.

 

[JimR]

Ilia's score is some what extraordinary given how judges were extremely strict with him, but overlooked Shoma's heavily prerotated and full blade assisted 4F (two judges gave it a 4 lol) in the SP.

For components in the SP 70 was absurd. Rizzo got 72 for a disaster skate where he landed one jump, didn't jump an axel. People will say PCS is something looked at in a complete vacuum and jump proficiency is not a skating skill but in practice this is not what happens. Unless of course there is an axe to grind, then they point to the rulebook and say see PCS is to be looked at in a vacuum completely separate to jumps. Plus Ilia's SP is a great program.

Ilia should have a couple more points for PCS, Shoma GOE should be flipped around for the 4F so maybe 6 less points for his score, so that's a net 8 point gain for Ilia. Ilia 102, Shoma 98.

Then Ilia just needs 5 extra points in the free skate which wouldn't be hard to find since judges were quite strict on GOE, strict on PCS, whereas quite lenient for GOE on jumps where Shoma got a q and a liberal amount of 3's, 4's and 5's for the rest of his jumps.

Shoma had two q and one UR, Ilia had two q and one UR. One skater had a BV 20 points higher than the other.

It's kind of absurd in retrospect.

But it was a good event for the men. It really did feel like I was watching the best skaters in the world. Sadly that cannot be said across all the categories.

 

[Ali81]

I have to concur that this was the best single event I have ever seen . Better than the men’s Olympic short programme 2022.





Gorodnitsky was the appetizer and then Rizzo really got the party started.



Adam SH Fa, Vassiljevs & Britschgi were fast and furious. Really swashbuckling performances. Litvintsev’s joker programme is really captivating. And Kazuki was incredible.



You were wondering when the bubble would burst , but it just kept inflating. Kevin A & Jason Brown clean back to back is a phenomenal thing to witness. Just awe inspiring. The pinnacle of artistry.



Junhwan Cha was just jaw dropping. His innate talent & musicality is off the scale. That performance was absolutely astounding . The best free skate of the night in my opinion and that is in a night of career best performances!



The Quadgod is the future undoubtedly.



And Shoma is an A-lister so he walks away with the Oscar!