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Off topic: I can't wait to see this skater return to the upcoming comps. He has healed well.
Anyway, congrats to Uno.
Anyway, congrats to Uno.
2022-23 GPF Senior Men's Free Skate
- Thread starter dorispulaski
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Wow Yuma's program looks amazing!!!
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The men were so amazing. Excellent competition here. The number of talented Japanese male skaters on the junior and senior levels is astounding. It will seemingly be difficult for veteran, Kazuki Tomono to get on the World team. It will likely be Shoma, Yuma, and then a bloodbath to determine the third competitor.
The best performances were by Shun Sato and Ilia Malinin. They were both so seamless, staying in their performances and executing high quality advanced technique as if it was a walk in the park. Jaw-dropping precision by both of them. So they were at the bottom in this limited field, and their performances in fp set an incredibly high bar.
I thought Daniel Grassl performed extremely well. I was happy to see how much he has been working on cleaning up his technique. He's a dramatic, entertaining performer too. Despite a few errors, he laid down a very good score, which sets him up for competing well at Euros and Worlds.
Sota Yamamoto had the most boring performance for me. I could have done without those multiple fist pumps. There's no need for so many victory celebrations spread throughout the latter half of his program. An excited fist pump after a last jump can be okay, but not on every second half of program jump landing. The reason why Ilia and Shun were so amazing is because they stayed in their performances, and made high quality advanced tech elements look easy. I suppose they were both motivated to be perfect after flubbing their short programs. Kao Miura did not have his best performances, but I think that Miura and Shun Sato at their best are overall better than Yamamoto. It will be a slugfest at Japan Nat'ls in male singles.
Shoma was mesmerizing and other worldly in the sp. While he had amazing moments in his fp, Shoma also made silly mistakes too. I want to see Shoma skate two clean programs at one event. Shoma is motivated to be his best via wanting to make his coach proud. So it's cool that Shoma has Stephane Lambiel.
The best performances were by Shun Sato and Ilia Malinin. They were both so seamless, staying in their performances and executing high quality advanced technique as if it was a walk in the park. Jaw-dropping precision by both of them. So they were at the bottom in this limited field, and their performances in fp set an incredibly high bar.
I thought Daniel Grassl performed extremely well. I was happy to see how much he has been working on cleaning up his technique. He's a dramatic, entertaining performer too. Despite a few errors, he laid down a very good score, which sets him up for competing well at Euros and Worlds.
Sota Yamamoto had the most boring performance for me. I could have done without those multiple fist pumps. There's no need for so many victory celebrations spread throughout the latter half of his program. An excited fist pump after a last jump can be okay, but not on every second half of program jump landing. The reason why Ilia and Shun were so amazing is because they stayed in their performances, and made high quality advanced tech elements look easy. I suppose they were both motivated to be perfect after flubbing their short programs. Kao Miura did not have his best performances, but I think that Miura and Shun Sato at their best are overall better than Yamamoto. It will be a slugfest at Japan Nat'ls in male singles.
Shoma was mesmerizing and other worldly in the sp. While he had amazing moments in his fp, Shoma also made silly mistakes too. I want to see Shoma skate two clean programs at one event. Shoma is motivated to be his best via wanting to make his coach proud. So it's cool that Shoma has Stephane Lambiel.
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No diss intended towards other participants, but I really missed Yuma and a!so Junwhan Cha at this competition. Yuma is a strong challenger, and I love Jun's programs this season. Hopefully both will be at 4 Continents?
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You ARE Blessed!!! Isn't it such a thrill to see these skaters close up? So happy you got to be there.I witnessed Shoma skating a personal best close up! I consider myself very blessed. And yes, he’s just magical! A good competition.
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Who are you to determine if there's need or not? What do you know of Sota, what he's been through, what skating clean in Torino of all places means to him, and what's going on in his mind? Let me see your personal fave: a) skate on an ankle broken multiple times, held together by bolts and sheer willpower, b) be buried in a deep field for years since his missed senior debut, c) have to change coaches several times due to circumstances beyond his power, d) finally make it to the top as he was expected to at 14 at the age of 22 when some are already considering retirement, e) finally have a clean SP and FS after a 3-year struggle period.... And then, if your favorite doesn't fist pump multiple times, feel free to criticize and patronize and deal out judgements on what's necessary and what's not.
I don't care for the snotty remarks of dissers and detractors. I'm just enjoying the moment Sota has finally become what he was meant to be before his injuries happened. He's a true hero, like Mai. Yes, Sota's music is not my cup of tea in either SP or FS, and yes, he does have longer setups for jumps. Nor does he include his 4F in his programs yet, apart from at regionals. Perhaps he never will, and perhaps his foot will never allow him to match the technical wizardry of younger quadsters, and their breakneck speed. I don't care. His skating is a blessing for my soul, his spins are fast and some of them in glorious positions that don't deserve being half a point from some others' mediocre spins. His posture is awesome, his edges deep, he has expression enough for me (certainly enough to match some more decorated skaters, and if he's not the type to peform to fast music or rock, so what). And now he's finally gained enough self-confidence to get some consistency and medals this season. Good for him, I'm happy for him. I hope he avoids social media these days as nastiness against him is obviously already popping up. Apparently his medal ruffled the feathers of other skaters' fans, whose radar he was beyond until this season, and who didn't deign to comment on his skills and lack thereof until he gained major success. Laughable.
I'm glad Ted Barton's words about Sota being a new star were true, both in 2015 JGP and this year.
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After a rather lacklustre SP, it was awesome to see so many guys bring it in the FS. Congrats to Uno for a PB, to Sota for claiming silver (hated the multiple fist pumps throughout though) and to Malinin for a great comeback FS.
Four 100+ TES skaters (in a field of six skaters at that) is just astonishing.
Interesting that the judges weren't generous at all with the PCS either. Malinin was clean but almost points lower PCS than Espoo and Worlds 2022. Shoma was pretty much clean with his best FS ever IMO, and he got 92.88 (compared to Worlds 2022 of 95.14). In fact 5/6 guys were under 80 PCS which I don't think has ever been the case at the GPF. It's been a while since I've seen so many 6's in a senior GPF protocol.
Especially Judge 1, damn - no chill for that one. 8.25 for composition and presentation for Uno's pretty much flawless skate (other than the shaky 2nd 4T)... not sure what a 10 would look like. They also gave Grassl an 8.00 for composition and Shun a 5.75, LMAO.
Four 100+ TES skaters (in a field of six skaters at that) is just astonishing.
Interesting that the judges weren't generous at all with the PCS either. Malinin was clean but almost points lower PCS than Espoo and Worlds 2022. Shoma was pretty much clean with his best FS ever IMO, and he got 92.88 (compared to Worlds 2022 of 95.14). In fact 5/6 guys were under 80 PCS which I don't think has ever been the case at the GPF. It's been a while since I've seen so many 6's in a senior GPF protocol.
Especially Judge 1, damn - no chill for that one. 8.25 for composition and presentation for Uno's pretty much flawless skate (other than the shaky 2nd 4T)... not sure what a 10 would look like. They also gave Grassl an 8.00 for composition and Shun a 5.75, LMAO.
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I can't say I liked the first half of Sota's choreography since it seemed he was skating from jump to jump at the beginning, but his posture is great, his edges are deep and that spread eagle was glorious. He deserves 2nd place.
Shoma was sublime of course.
Shoma was sublime of course.
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Thought exactly the same thing..
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He was not feeling his best, but clearly felt good enough to pull out a FS like that. His SP (rightfully) buried him though with the two errors.
I also think the judges were told to judge old school PCS when they didn't hand out 9's like candy. e.g. http://www.isuresults.com/results/wc2008/WC08_Men_FS_Scores.pdf
In fact, the only 9's other than Shoma was a lone 9.00 for Sota for SS from one judge. I'm all for strict judging and not just doling out high PCS but giving 6.25 to Sota and Shun or 7.25 to Malinin for presentation for near-flawless skates which were performed well? Please.
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honestly, I am fine with judges being more tight with handing the PCS candy. If skaters can elevate themselves with TES, skaters who deserve top PCS should be able to also differentiate themselves with it. I hope this panel of judges has managed to send a clear message to all skaters that they can do better.
Thank you for sharing his story! I had no clue!
Knowing it makes me even more happy for his silver. I actually really liked him throughout the GP and thought his medal here absolutely deserving. Now I will appreciate him even more. I know that stories do not compete on the ice but it always feels good to root for someone who moves me both on the ice and outside of it. So, yeah, here's to Sota and Shoma, they were both great today!
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I don't know about some of the criticism.
If a skater can call himself "Quadgod" and wear hats to that effect in the KnC, then a skater can fist pump after a jump.
Neither of them bother me. Let skaters be themselves
If a skater can call himself "Quadgod" and wear hats to that effect in the KnC, then a skater can fist pump after a jump.
Neither of them bother me. Let skaters be themselves
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I always think of hearing long-time judge Joe Inman say that to him when a skater fist pumps (during a program), it shows him that a skater isn't "into" his or her music. If I remember right, he was referring to a pairs skater when he made that remark.
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yes, especially missing Cha
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The three per country limit applies to Worlds, Europeans, 4CC and the Olympics.
In the GPF, it could be 6 skaters from one country as long as they were the top 6 from the Grand Prix Series.
In the GPF, it could be 6 skaters from one country as long as they were the top 6 from the Grand Prix Series.
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Hey, thank you so much for letting me know about Sota Yamamoto's experiences and challenges. That gives me greater insight. I have given similar career challenges info and background to posters who tear down skaters I appreciate.
But in fact, I never denigrated Yamamoto's skating, nor his character (which happened to Alexa Knierim by a poster in the SA fp thread this season). There have also been posters going overboard about Knierim/ Frazier being over-scored, when I don't think that's true, especially relative to how a lot of pairs were scored this season and at GPF. In contrast, I gave Sota Yamamoto credit for probably having the two cleanest performances overall. So I don't argue with the results. LOL at @Arigato fist-pumping the results.
I fist-pump and bow down to all the men who competed in the finals. 
Also, it's significant to point out that the men were given the most rest in between their sps and fps, unlike ladies and pairs.Now that you've provided context about the fist-pumping by Yamamoto @surimi, I get it in his case. Still, I don't like to see multiple fist-pumping in programs, unless it's connected to an exciting performance melding great music with choreo. Even then, not on every second half jump landing. But with the context you have provided, I get how happy and victorious SY was feeling to skate two clean performances. Again, I never criticized his skills. I simply prefer the skating of some other guys. Yet, I can now be happier for SY in knowing what he's overcome. At the same time, my opinions about whose skating in the men's GPF fp appealed to me the most, hasn't changed.
I also still say that Shoma and Yuma (if he's healthy) will make the Worlds team. And the third spot for Japan will be extremely hard fought and dependent upon which one of all these talented contenders meets the huge challenge on the day of competition. It could be any one of Shun Sato, Kao Miura, Sota Yamamoto, and K. Tomono, et al. I am familiar most with Tomono, because he's been on the international scene longer. Tomono, for me, projects more emotion into his performances out of his fellow teammates. But doing the advanced tech content cleanly these days, is a demanding requirement.
As another poster said upthread, I too miss seeing the exciting, creative, diversified skating of Junhwan Cha, Adam Siao Him Fa, and Kevin Aymoz. Even Matteo Rizzo, at his best is a joy to watch. And Koshiro Shimada is for me a real sweetheart. Koshiro's successes were nice to see this season, because I happen to know more about him and his career than I do the other up-and-coming male Japanese skaters. I'm also happy that Jason Brown is planning to compete at U.S.Nationals this season.
As we know, the sport has such a problematic competitive structure. It limits opportunities for many talented skaters. Enjoy your happiness for Sota Yamamoto in his personal victory at GPF @surimi.
It sucks that Peacock didn't show the victory ceremonies. Maybe they will be posted on YouTube.
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