2023 4CCs: Men | Thoughts

[gsk8]

Japan's Kao Miura takes Four Continents gold

2023 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships Men’s Free Skate Japan’s Kao Miura took his second consecutive Four Continents medal, this time a gold, in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Saturday. Keegan […]

www.goldenskate.com

What a brilliant skate for Messing. All I can say is, "NOW you want to retire?"

A big nod to young Miura, who I'm looking forward to see developing in the future. Also glad to have Jin back!

 

[Ladskater]

Congrats to Keegan Messing. You did yourself and Canada proud. Man, what a time to shine...

 

[readernick]

Amazing skates from the top 3. So happy that Keegan won a medal. He’s just so lovable, fast, and those knees! He sparks joy!

Shun is one of my personal favorites. I think his performance skills and skating skills are rather underrated by the judges. Plus, he’s adorable. So, happy he won a medal.

Kao was quite consistent for a change. His jumps are just incredible in both height and length. That said, I think the judges went crazy with the PCS for him. He’s really just jumping to music.

The poor guys all looked so exhausted after their skates. I hope they are all ok.

 

[noskates]

I loved seeing Boyang back. He always has so much personality on the ice and you're starting to see Brian and Tracy's influence. Watch out next year.

 

[YuBluByMe]

Miura is not 2022 World Junior Champion.

This is just inexcusable, especially considering who last year’s Junior World champion actually is and that Miura didn’t even make the top ten. And it’s also not Shaidorov’s “debut” at this competition. I definitely remember him being a standout last year.

What a poorly researched article.

With that being said, this was an underwhelming competition until the last group. Messing had the skate of the night for me and he was closer to a gold medal than he probably realizes. Miura was overscored in the second mark; his PCS should have been no higher than Sato’s. Sato is actually a bit better than Miura in the second mark, to include the skating. I agree with readernick that Sato’s skating skills are under appreciated. But that’s probably because he’s considered to be primarily a jumper - and a great jumper, at that. But good skating is good skating and I’m never going to be blind to that.

I’m also very happy to see Jin’s return, but I strongly disagree with others that he’s had this sudden rapid improvement in the second mark. His skating skills has improved, but he has been trying to improve his performance level for awhile now, but there’s always this awkwardness to it because he’s just not a natural performer. The awkwardness is still very much there. (The notable exception would be his SP at the 2018 Olympics. I thought that was his best performance ever.) There has been no improvement on that front, but if anyone can make him more comfortable in his own skin then I’m hoping Orser can.

 

[noskates]

I disagree. I think Jin has always had a certain panache on the ice and his LP didn't seem forced or contrived. I think his music choices in the past have been his undoing but I do see some naturalness there. His move to Tracy and Brian is going to be good for him. And I don't see that natural performer in Miura. Sato had great skating skills but I think he lacks confidence. It's too bad because when he's on he's a joy to watch.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Keegan was just magic to watch. It reminded me of Chan winning the 2016 Four Continents with a career best skate in the tail end of his career. Such a wonderful moment for Keegan and his coach and his family. That second quad was the best I’ve seen him do and that program is just so warm and authentic and beautiful unique highlights too. Just so special to watch.

That being said Kao absolutely nailed his FS too and deserved that win! It’s crazy that both of these scores would have silvered at the GPF. Really gotta give props to Kao for delivering under pressure and I got the feels from him in that program because you can tell he put everything into it.

Great job for Shun pulling up to third too!

Maybe Keegan is a dark horse for a World medal because 275 could definitely do it. And that would be crazy way to go out. Wish he would stick around longer for the next Olympics but those are a ways away and he’s got a fam. But wow

 

[icybear]

I’m also very happy to see Jin’s return, but I strongly disagree with others that he’s had this sudden rapid improvement in the second mark. His skating skills has improved, but he has been trying to improve his performance level for awhile now, but there’s always this awkwardness to it because he’s just not a natural performer. The awkwardness is still very much there. (The notable exception would be his SP at the 2018 Olympics. I thought that was his best performance ever.) There has been no improvement on that front, but if anyone can make him more comfortable in his own skin then I’m hoping Orser can.

Give the boy a break. Today was hardly the best day to judge him. He literally was about to lose consciousness at the end. He's skating at high altitude, had COVID twice since the olympics, recovered from appendicitis surgery and only started training 2 mths ago.

 

[el henry]

Keegan was wonderful. I am so glad he had the (at least most recent)skate of his life here, and the crowd showered him with much deserved love.

I felt so bad for Boyang at the end of that skate, but his passion was highlighted here. The music was a horrendous choice for him, IMO. "Spidey Boyang" has always had a personality and I hope Brian and Tracy bring it out.

Kao is so charming when the skate is done, I wish he would incorporate that into his skates.

Jun is magic, the Bond program is magic for me, I wish that he could skate it clean.

 

[moonvine]

So happy for Keegan. So, so happy. He definitely deserves to go out with a major ISU championship medal.

My super secret source says Jimmy is having a back problem. I seriously hope this is a “he needs cupping or massage therapy or something” and not “back surgery level problem.”



Jimmy can absolutely skate that long as well as he skated that short. And if he puts them together, he can win major ISU medals.

 

[Dreamer57]

I wrote a lot of this in the men's free skate thread, here's a bit more:

I thought Koshiro's PCS should have been higher than Jimmy considering he didn't fall...also Kao's PCS was high as his program was still quite juniorish whilst entertaining. Feels odd that Kao is heading for junior worlds soon - maybe he will aim to break some world records

I think Keegan deserved to win the free skate (it was less than a point the other way), but happy he's happy with silver overall. Everything about his presence was just so heartwarming - from the embrace with Jimmy at the start, his excellent quads, big 3A save, final spin right up to ther baby photos and his reaction to the scores!

Sad to see Boyang collapse like that after his free skate. Where is the oxygen? Was there nowhere else in the U.S. that could host this competition?
Anyway, I believe Boyang's coaching change will be positive for him. Plus, he said in his interview that he is hoping to continue to 2026 olympics!

I enjoyed Mikhail Shaidorov's free skate which will be going on my rewatch list along with Keegan's of course.

The free skate is usually Shun's better program so I was pleased to see him excel at his first 4CC. He joins the other Kanto guys Yuma & Kao in winning bronze at their 4CC debut!

Actually I felt it would have been fitting to end the competition with the men's event, the final two just brought the house down! Everything in honour of Keegan, haha.

 

[16Olympics]

Funny that watching Shun, I noticed his skating of his program rather than his jumps in the program. Kao had the gauntlet thrown down by Messing and had no choice but to pour on the tech hoping the PCS would follow. I guess the judges just couldn't NOT rate him slightly higher based on his 1st in the sp and the fs.

I'm amazed that Keegan's skating skills were so deep at this FS that that and the big grin he had on his face made this an epic event for him with regard to results. Amazing he has never medaled before in an international comp and I think his calm, thoughtful skating brought out the tech and the skating skills. At 31, he's proving it's never too late to put it all together. This did him a solid for World's.

I just loved Koshiro's elegant skating. Wish he had his JNats moments here but no...

I'm waiting for Gogolev to find his groove. He needs to rethink the sp so he gets in a position where he can get near the podium. He messed it up at Nationals and had to skate the lights out to get near the podium. Just frustrating.

Conrad will evolve. I saw more of Ravi's influence at CNationals but he's so elegant and skilled and if he goes to World's he will need all his might to justify sending him. Canadian men are such a yoyo except for Keegan lately.

The medalist's skates saved the night. None of them fell so maybe that is the tell.

 

[Weathergal]

I'm amazed that Keegan's skating skills were so deep at this FS that that and the big grin he had on his face made this an epic event for him with regard to results. Amazing he has never medaled before in an international comp and I think his calm, thoughtful skating brought out the tech and the skating skills. At 31, he's proving it's never too late to put it all together. This did him a solid for World's.

Keegan has medaled in international comps before -- he has medals from GPs, as well as a gold at Golden Spin and two golds at Nebelhorn.

 

[Amei]

Keegan has medaled in international comps before -- he has medals from GPs, as well as a gold at Golden Spin and two golds at Nebelhorn.

Its the 'majors' that he's not medaled in prior to last night.

 

[SmileHappy34]

Congratulations to all skaters. Great job

 

[moonvine]

Keegan has medaled in international comps before -- he has medals from GPs, as well as a gold at Golden Spin and two golds at Nebelhorn.

Major. Major comp. ISU championship.

 

[Weathergal]

I'm amazed that Keegan's skating skills were so deep at this FS that that and the big grin he had on his face made this an epic event for him with regard to results. Amazing he has never medaled before in an international comp and I think his calm, thoughtful skating brought out the tech and the skating skills. At 31, he's proving it's never too late to put it all together. This did him a solid for World's.

Its the 'majors' that he's not medaled in prior to last night.

Major. Major comp. ISU championship.

Yes, I was responding to the bold sentence (bolding is mine) from the previous poster who stated he hadn't medaled in international comps before. I thought perhaps poster meant to say ISU championships so wanted to clarify. That is all. I'm very happy for Keegan and truly enjoyed his performance!

 

[TallyT]

Regarding the trouble the altitude has caused so many skaters, Jackie Wong did offer a thought about this (and he's been the foremost critic of ISU lack of care in this, so is being fair I think)



However, I do think it has to be said that while the top performances were for the most part wonderful (thank you Kao and Keegan and Shun), the problems - sick for whatever cause and air-starved skaters and sparse audiences even by 2023 standards - are not good optics and indicate it is not a great place for competitions any more (though the streaming numbers weren't at all good either, maybe thanks to the ISU's 'advertising? we don't need no stinkin' advertising!' attitude and passion for geoblocks).

 

[moonvine]

Regarding the trouble the altitude has caused so many skaters, Jackie Wong did offer a thought about this (and he's been the foremost critic of ISU lack of care in this, so is being fair I think)



However, I do think it has to be said that while the top performances were for the most part wonderful (thank you Kao and Keegan and Shun), the problems - sick for whatever cause and air-starved skaters and sparse audiences even by 2023 standards - are not good optics and indicate it is not a great place for competitions any more (though the streaming numbers weren't at all good either, maybe thanks to the ISU's 'advertising? we need no stinkin' advertising!' attitude and passion for geoblocks).

The only other place I can think of it could be done at the (relative) drop of a hat in the US would be Norwood.
It’s also really only held on two continents (North America and Asia) and mostly on one (Asia). I’d love to see Oceania or Africa host one but they don’t seem to be ready/have facilities.

I think 4CCs in the US is too close to US Nationals and that hurts attendance more than anything. Assuming Gracie doesn’t skate at the Nationals prior to the next 4CCs I would be willing to consider placing 4CCs over it.

Regardless it was known to be at altitude and oxygen should have been available in the K&C.

 

[16Olympics]

Yes, I was responding to the bold sentence (bolding is mine) from the previous poster who stated he hadn't medaled in international comps before. I thought perhaps poster meant to say ISU championships so wanted to clarify. That is all. I'm very happy for Keegan and truly enjoyed his performance!

Yes, I meant ISU championship events.