Javier Fernandez | Page 149 | Golden Skate

Javier Fernandez

cathlen said:
Well, Poland is a 38 mln people and much colder country than Spain and we have only 15 Ice rinks that are available all year... And we had World and European medalists in the past in FS and we still have some succes in Short Track and Speed Skating. So the number of ice rinks in Spain that is super warm country makes no impression on me :p At least Spain have excuse for being like that! And rather than lack of Ice rinks, it's more about winter sport being so little popular in Spain, there weren't high level coaches probably too. He's just true exception of Spain which is great in many summer sports, but not winter ones :)
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I agree that it's more about winter sport being less popular there. Because in general Spain is a warm country but the Northern part of it can be very cold in the winter, and those parts are the most economically developed ones in the whole country. So financially I am sure they could build more rinks if they wanted.
I hope that with the success of Javier this could change in the future.
 
cathlen said:
Well, Poland is a 38 mln people and much colder country than Spain and we have only 15 Ice rinks that are available all year... And we had World and European medalists in the past in FS and we still have some succes in Short Track and Speed Skating. So the number of ice rinks in Spain that is super warm country makes no impression on me :p At least Spain have excuse for being like that! And rather than lack of Ice rinks, it's more about winter sport being so little popular in Spain, there weren't high level coaches probably too. He's just true exception of Spain which is great in many summer sports, but not winter ones :)
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We only have 6 ice rinks in the whole country so...
Come to think of it, my Canadian friend said something like: "We are just not competitive in Summer Olympic so people think of Summe Olympic as just for fun, unlike Winter Olympic lol."
But even that, figure skaters are not that popular in Canada.
 
Meoima said:
We only have 6 ice rinks in the whole country so...
Come to think of it, my Canadian friend said something like: "We are just not competitive in Summer Olympic so people think of Summe Olympic as just for fun, unlike Winter Olympic lol."
But even that, figure skaters are not that popular in Canada.
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Oh, that's sad :( Is there big population in your country? The thing with Poland is, we kind of care about Winter Olympics. We can go nuts about Ski Jumping :biggrin: In the winter there are many recreational rinks to skate, but to be competetive figure skater, it's hard to find a rink. Our Olympic champion in Speed Skating has to train abroad, due to lack of infrastucture (the coach is Polish and he's good). Kind of like Javi had to move abroad or he would be nowhere. People are interested in Winter SPorts enough, problem is we don't have infrastructure for many of discplines and it;s not going to change soon, because no one inthe higher ups want to change. They would congratulate personally every athlete who wins a an Olympic medal, but they won't do anything to make their daily trainings easier.

I'm usprised FS is not popular in Canada. I know it can't win with Hockey or Curling, but are other winter sports more popluar than FS?
 
cathlen said:
I'm usprised FS is not popular in Canada. I know it can't win with Hockey or Curling, but are other winter sports more popluar than FS?
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I think in Canada is like this, people skate a lot, but they don't practice competitive figure skating as much.
 
Very soon the Europeans start, I wonder if Javi has had enough time to practice? Of course he may not need to be quite in top condition, yet, but close....
 
Men competition starts on Friday, so they don't really have to be sooner in Ostrava than Wednesday :) Comparing to Pairs and Ladies they can train 2 days longer before coming to EC, I think that's good for Javi. Although they will have a day after day programs to be skated, but I guess he's used to it.
 
eppen said:
Looks like Javi will be in Madrid on Monday - the Premios Nacionales del Deporte de 2015 (!) will be awarded by the King at midday: http://www.europapress.es/deportes/...-lunes-premios-nacionales-20170122121027.html

I just hope he shows up at Ostrava for the Tuesday evening practice in the main rink, because otherwise all the men's practice sessions will be at the practice rink where audiences are not allowed... :(

E
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Will you be going to Euros, eppen? If so it would be great to hear your report!
Now that Nathan has scored over 300 (even if it was Nats, it was still by some way) and has delivered two clean FS this season, I wonder if Javi has changed his mind about adding another quad. Yuzu is still his main rival, of course, but it's wise to also keep track of the younger skaters who can gain great momentum going into the olympic season.
 
Yes, leaving in a little while :biggrin: Will be reporting on all Javi-related, but I fear that probably will not see him a lot in practice due to the reasons quoted above... Tuesday evening is also his only chance of getting to check the main rink (unless he is there already for the evening practice today), so I hope he will be there.

Xibzuarz - I was wondering exactly the same after I saw the results from the US nationals... Of course, Chen got 121+ for technical with 5 quads which is only 4 points more than what Javi got with 3 quads in Boston, but Chen's performance was not quite the same GOE standard - but Chen is developing very fast and who knows what he will be able to do next season. I just hope decisions have been made one way or the other and if he is adding new jumps, then they will be brought in asap to get them ready for the OGs...

But this 3A looks pretty cool with no preparation whatsoever! https://twitter.com/javierfernandez/status/823232223784685570

e
 
Yup, and even his dad is a head shorter than ruth beitia in heels ;-)

Probably a good decision to skip Spain and start work especially considering the few chance the men get to practice at the main rink.

Hielo Espanol released the planned content sheets earlier today and both Javis programs seem to be the same as in the fall.

On the train to Ostrava. So far so good apart from the flu trying to take over...

E
 
It's easy to get caught up amid all this quad frenzy, after all figure skating is being revolutionized right before our eyes. On the one hand this is obviously great to see for this sport in general. However, we should also remember that these skaters are human beings with limitations to what their bodies can endure physically, and Javi is one of the oldest among them. The likes of Chen, Jin and Uno are several years younger, their bodies more flexible and adaptable, and have also undergone a much different method of training than Javi had when quads were more of a rarity and did not yet completely overwhelm the men's field.

I think Javi has maxed out on what's realistically possible for him to deliver in terms of jump content. Yes, he can do a 4Lo, but at this point in his career it's likely too late for him to try to master the jump in competition. Javi seems to know and understand this. Adding another 4T to his FS layout just to have 4 quads makes no sense, because the BV points he would gain from it would be lost having to drop the 2nd 3A because of the Zayak rules.

What Javi needs to focus on going forward is maximizing his GOE, and there's room for improvement. His quads are already getting consistently great GOE, and deservedly so, as he has some of the best 4T and 4S out of anyone. His 3A can use some work, adding some more difficult and/or varied transitions in and out of the jumps, increasing height, securing the landings even more, and this most recent video seems to be exactly a testament to that. He could work on his 3F too, which can sometimes get an unclear edge call and consequently lower the GOE of his big moneymaking 3F+1Lo+3S combo. There are actually a lot of points to gain just from these alone. Not to mention his spins, which also typically get a mix of +1 and +2, sometimes not even that.

His road to an Olympic medal is by skating two squeaky clean programs with his current layout. Let's not forget: his programs are still extremely difficult; he has a PCS advantage over the youngsters which would take much more than a season for them to catch up on, plus he does already have a GOE advantage too. If this is a "conservative" strategy and means he can medal but not reach gold, I would say so be it, after all he doesn't have a medal of any color yet. But if the incredible risks some of these guys are taking with all these new quads lead to a couple of messy landings or downright flawed skates under Olympic pressure and Javi will be the one staying on his feet, it may prove to be the winning strategy.
 
Last edited:
tureis said:
It's easy to get caught up amid all this quad frenzy, after all figure skating is being revolutionized right before our eyes. On the one hand this is obviously great to see for this sport in general. However, we should also remember that these skaters are human beings with limitations to what their bodies can endure physically, and Javi is one of the oldest among them. The likes of Chen, Jin and Uno are several years younger, their bodies more flexible and adaptable, and have also undergone a much different method of training than Javi had when quads were more of a rarity and did not yet completely overwhelm the men's field.

I think Javi has maxed out on what's realistically possible for him to deliver in terms of jump content. Yes, he can do a 4Lo, but at this point in his career it's likely too late for him to try to master the jump in competition. Javi seems to know and understand this. Adding another 4T to his FS layout just to have 4 quads makes no sense, because the BV points he would gain from it would be lost having to drop the 2nd 3A because of the Zayak rules.

What Javi needs to focus on going forward is maximizing his GOE, and there's room for improvement. His quads are already getting consistently great GOE, and deservedly so, as he has some of the best 4T and 4S out of anyone. His 3A can use some work, adding some more difficult and/or varied transitions in and out of the jumps, increasing height, securing the landings even more, and this most recent video seems to be exactly a testament to that. He could work on his 3F too, which can sometimes get an unclear edge call and consequently lower the GOE of his big moneymaking 3F+1Lo+3S combo. There are actually a lot of points to gain just from these alone. Not to mention his spins, which also typically get a mix of +1 and +2, sometimes not even that.

His road to an Olympic medal is by skating two squeaky clean programs with his current layout. Let's not forget: his programs are still extremely difficult; he has a PCS advantage over the youngsters which would take much more than a season for them to catch up on, plus he does already have a GOE advantage too. If this is a "conservative" strategy and means he can medal but not reach gold, I would say so be it, after all he doesn't have a medal of any color yet. But if the incredible risks some of these guys are taking with all these new quads lead to a couple of messy landings or downright flawed skates under Olympic pressure and Javi will be the one staying on his feet, it may prove to be the winning strategy.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
Hielo Español has talked to Javi about whether he plans on changing something regarding his quads. They haven't revealed anything yet, but it seems like they will soon publish the interview. He is working on some new stuff and something "spectacular" :eek:
However, they said he is not going to play risky just for the sake of doing it, but it's nice to know he has a couple of aces under his sleeve :)
 
^^^I was there and saw Nathan skate his 5 quad program this past weekend. It was totally insane. And not every man is going to be able to do that, nor should they want to. You reach a ceiling where if you try to add more tech, you destroy your program. The important thing is that each skater plays his own game. And doing a jump in practice is totally different from doing it with music, choreography, and competition nerves. Javi has been at this a long time, and he (along with his team) is wise.
 
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