Well, I guess I'll chime in with my impressions from the arena. I'm pretty emotionally spent --basically the last group was like intense in so many ways.
Vincent had URs a plenty, but his performance was very compelling today. I gave him a standing ovation. His 4Z-3T is really nice, especially with the rippon on the 3T. He has a lot to work on, but he really put it all out there.
Grant made a lot of errors, but I did enjoy his performance. He really skates with his heart.
Ross has been on of my favorites since 2011 Nationals, so I was absolutely thrilled to see him pull off such an amazing skate. I think the girls sitting in front of my were looking at me funny cause I was basically just screaming and clapping in excitement. Ross's choreography was probably the most memorable out of all the men tonight.
But then to see both Adam and Jason struggle hear was heartbreaking! I had come to respect Adam and really expected him to slay again like he did the SP. He struggled with the 4Z, but I thought he would just nail the rest of the program, like he did in the season. I was absolutely shocked to see him pop those two jumps. The program is beautiful, but kind of a blur/energy sapping after the mistakes. It was such a sad contrast to the intense amazing energy he had in the SP. He had really nice 3As. It's really cool to see how consistent he is on that jump considering he struggled with it so much a few years back.
And Jason. Ugh. This was probably more heartbreaking cause I had witnessed such an amazing moment from him four years ago. I agree with gravy that he was pretty tight after that hard fall on the 4T. I knew it was game over after that. The actual skating -- steps/spins etc. were awesome -- he's really improved in his skating skills/flow from a few years ago. But I do feel like though he tried hard to keep the performance together, he didn't really have the spark or resolve he usually has -- see his Riverdance FS from Sochi ....technical issues, but he still kept a decent performance level -- I don't think he gave up per se, but he never unwound himself (and the judges agreed, it was weird to see 8.75 in performance). I will say, referring to gravy's post earlier, that smiling thing afterwards was a defense mechanism, I honestly think he would have cried right there if he didn't fake the smile.
Nathan was great. As I said earlier, I did like the costume, but now seeing it in the context of the program, I'm not sure if it really worked. Honestly I don't remember the program now. He definitely deserved to win and I remember that he had some nice performance moments and there was some good choreography there, but now I totally forgot it. Maybe I'll watch it on video and it will jog my memory again.
As for the Olympic team -- tough choice. I do think it will be between Ross, Vincent and Adam. I certainly understand the case for Adam to go based on BOW, but I'm not sure if I could justify denying either Ross or Vincent based on their performances. I think Jason and Grant will get 4CC along with whoever of the trio aforementioned doesn't get the Olympic spot.
I guess I would send Ross to Olympics and Adam to Worlds. I'd send Vincent to both.
Outside the top six, I was thrilled to see Alexander Johnson bring back his "In Your Eyes" program. I totally misted-up afterwards. He skates that program beautifully. Tomoki also slayed his FS (other than the popped axel) and Alexei Krasnozhon fought his way, which I admire. The jr. world team selection will be tough also, but I think it will likely be Alexei, Camden and Tomoki. I love Andrew Torgashev's skating but he's been struggling in his last few competitions (and he finished behind Tomoki here also). Sean Rabbit entertained as always and Jimmy Ma had a really good skate -- his 3A is very much improved. While Jason struggled, his training mates, Jordan Moeller and Ben Jalovick, had some really nice free skates tonight -- Jordan moved up from 20th to 15th and Ben moved up from 19th to 16th.