First of a bunch of commentaries.
Eurosport men’s SP review, Dutch commentators Ivo v. H. and Haya L.
I: That applause will hopefully also happen for this man, Shoma Uno. It goes a bit too far to say he’s Hanyu’s successor, because Hanyu at 22 years is hopefully not wanting to retire anytime soon. Uno is a very complete skater, is able to jump multiple quads, and does very well this year, at the podium at 4CC behind Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu.
H: Triple flip… quad flip, of course! I think one thing and say another. But he hasn’t done a combination yet, that’ll have to come here. He goes for the toeloop, quad, with a triple. Ooooooh, very beautiful, the triple axel, jumped away in a sort of snakeloop (ehm, I think that’s what she says), from the one side to the other.
(when he’s finished skating) Weergaloos! (something like unmatched, unprecedented), Shoma Uno, fantastic! And completely without mistakes, he succeeded at that. Of couse we saw the Chinese skate clean, but he doesn’t have the same class yet as those other men, and this young men has it all, the technique, the elegance, the bezieling (something like the fire, soul), the presentation, everything you can name, the skating skills, and the choreography, fantastic choreography by the way. Also a program filled with transitions, and also how he, just like Hanyu, jumped that triple axel almost out of nowhere, even though he came from a very different bow (like how they skate towards the jump), a so-called moont (uhm… after all these years I still don’t know what that word really is in Dutch, but I guess it’s the spread-eagle?).
I: Can you say that that is the big difference between these skaters (I guess he refers to Hanyu and Shoma) and Nathan Chen and Boyang Jin?
H: Yes. Real finesse, refined figure skating, fantastic skating technique. Quad toeloop, triple toeloop, that was the combination, and he, too, a difficult jump, a very difficult jump in the program, the quad flip, which we’ve only seen from Nathan Chen (? I think that’s what she says, I assume it’s true, lol), the American champion.
Yeah, I think this is a personal best, let’s think, what is his PB?
I: he was the fourth men, with Nathan Chen, who broke the 100 points barrier, 100.28 at 4CC, he will pass that here, too. The only question is how far into the 100. Hanyu has the world record, 110.95, also Fernandez came into the 100 at some point [I think he says 104.25, I’m too lazy to fact check, I leave that to the commentator!], second score ever, at least per person, because Hanyu himself scored higher than that more than once. But, that [Shoma] will take the lead is certain. Well, it has to be a big 100 score, judging from the technical score and the way he brought [the program]. Look at that, 104.86, and that is the second best-ever score, by Shoma Uno, and with that he takes the lead and could potentially win the short program. Of course, Fernandez and Chen (Chan? Dunno), those seem the only two who could still do something about that, but Shoma sure aimed high and for now is the leader in the SP.