2023 World Figure Skating Championships Men's Free Skate

[RatedPG]

I must finished watching and reading all the comments on this forum. One interesting thing to note from these Worlds, is all the winners almost all made the same mistakes at the same point of their free skates.

Women - Kaori popped flip in second half
Men - Shoma and the the popped toe after the 4T in the second half
Dance - Madison and her fall in the second half
Pairs - The fall on the throw jump in the second half

These mistakes all made it every interesting till the very end when they announced the results. I also believe all the winners won by roughly five points.

 

[kimganos]

5:22 am here but Shoma and lovely Japanese audience deserve a celebratory sake toast. . Congrats to all the medalists and skaters for such an enjoyable Mens FS.

The Japenese audience is so respectful, appreciative and kind to all the Skaters!! Best in the World!

 

[RatedPG]

My thoughts….

Shoma - I think he deserved the gold medal . I thought he should have placed second in the free skate behind Cha, for sure. When I see the GOE, it reminds me of how the judges showered GOE for Hanyu for scratchy landings. The GOE should have been lower. Also, he leaves a lot of points on the table with his lack of care with combos. I don’t understand why he didn’t bother with another 2A. Could have made a difference. But, 4Lo and 4F were amazing, even though the 4T’s were scratchy. He will be difficult to beat this Olympic cycle.

Cha - you were fantastic and skated lights out. The 4S is amazing. You finally nailed that 4T and two axels. Also, the 3Lz 3Lo combo was unbelievable. He could have won the free skate had he gone for 3T instead of the 2A sequence. But, that is just a minor detail. This was the best mixture of technical difficulty to its full potential and artistry. He is the best at balancing both. Top 4 in both segments. The Orser camp is fire . Also, @Ichatdelune Is he from same camp as Haein and C. Kim? If so, that camp is slowly becoming my favourite camp.

Ilia - A big hug to you. I appreciate the difficult jumps. To me, he should have placed in fourth in this segment. But, if 4A had appropriate BV, he deserved third in this segment, maybe, even higher than Shoma. Applause for landing the 4A ; But, the 4F is a challenge for him and the 4Lz is a bit scratchy. The 4S was landed like a triple. In my opinion, he should repeat either the 4T or the 4S or just land one of each and then repeat the 3A twice. I noticed he only repeats the 4Lz currently. The different layouts available to him is mind blowing, in regards to combo potentials. Example, he can remove the eu salchow with a 3Lo and instead add a 3T to any of the current combos as the third jump, like he did at Nationals. What he needs to do, is find out what jumps best work for maximum GOE. Shoma versus Ilia will be interesting head to head going to the Olympics. Right now, Shoma is comfortable. But, that could change moving forward. Ilia is in good hands with Rafa. Rafa knew what he was doing with Nathan versus Yuzu, where towards the end, you knew Yuzu knew he couldn’t challenge the Nathan layout and artistry. I predict the same could happen here. Just, please make the 4A worth more points please.

Kevin - you were brilliant. He was less than one point from a small medal. Wish this performance was at least rewarded with a small medal. This is not my favourite Kevin program. I much preferred the SP. But, to me, he is the most artistic and emotional skater. Better PCS than Brown in my opinion. Congrats

Jason - Solid. What can I say? He does the best he can. He does his two hardest jumps, at the beginning. Clean skate. I appreciate knowing that triple only skaters can still place within the top ten. He deserved his placement here.

Also, Kevin and Jason gets an applause for maximizing their points potential with eu 3S, 3T and 2A combos. Ilia was the best though …with eu 3S, 3T and 3A

Cha - his combos are amazing. But, he can add 3T somewhere there to take advantage of the loop combo. He doesn’t have 3T anywhere.
Uno - no comment; 1T and 2A and that’s it, was disappointing ; he knows he is way ahead, after he lands a bunch of quads, and doesn’t bother… but, he is a phenom and I guess deserves too, after his issues with ankle, etc.

I also enjoyed Kazuki, Matteo, Adam and Lukas.

Keegan ; He seems like he lost focus, a bit. 7th place is still good. Two spots for Canada for next year. God help us with retaining these two spots over these next few years.

I absolutely enjoyed Mark from Israel. The height and ease of those triples. Love them. Maybe, Canada can borrow him. He is just my type of guy, from a looks standpoint, too. Also, the guy from Germany, if anybody can complain about low PCS scores, it should be him. The Luna camp pushes their skaters to move their entire bodies over the ice. Need more of that.

Also, I enjoyed Belinda and Mark commentating over Ted. I enjoyed Belinda stating facts, like Morisi’s quad jumps not actually being quads ; she sometimes makes statements that aren’t true like “Matteo’s fourth quad” and so forth. But, I love it when commentators are unfiltered. Also, love how she hyped the final group, for me. It gets me excited and she really loves the sport, you can tell she was getting emotional during the final flights.

I really enjoyed this event. I just wish Canada could have clawed up two spots for their ladies for next year.

But, I love this sport and I love how it is progressing. They just need to reward 4A more and quads more in Pairs, and I’d be a happy camper.

 

[moonvine]

Well…what a nightmare. Might not even watch the last 3 idk

 

[skatedreamer]

I said I didn't care about edge work, which falls under skating skills. That doesn't mean I don't care about performance at all, just that I'll always think a program that is technically impressive is better than one that is artistically impressive. I've watched figure skating that way since I was a kid being more impressed by Tara Lipinski and Sarah Hughes than Michelle Kwan. Maybe age should have changed that, but it didn't, possibly because I was born at the end of the 80s. Figures were gone the first time I saw figure skating and I think that has a huge influence on how I watch the sport.

What you don’t seem to understand is that edge work has everything to do with the ultimate quality of the performance.

 

[Demandred]

The last group + Kazuki from the previous group were the perfect ending of a fantastic championship. So many memorable performances. Kazuki was spectacular, his speed towards the end was incredible and he had so much fun throughout. Jason Brown with a magnificently beautiful skate. Kevin with the skate of his life, completely different in style from Jason but also mesmerising to watch.

Keegan was captivating as always even with the mistakes.

Cha was stunning, a well deserved silver for him.

Major kudos to Malinin for going all out and attempting six quads and landing all of them, but he made some minor mistakes which cost him and his presentation and skating skills while solid are not in the same league as the rest of the world's best and for once the judges actually reflected this in the marks and didn't give 9s for PCS just because the skater landed the most quads.

Shoma is such a fighter, I had major doubt he'd be able to win given his injury issues, but he showed incredible grit and he did it in style.

From the earlier groups, I really enjoyed Matteo Rizzo's skate, he was spectacular.

And, of course, the Japanese audience showed once again it's the best in the world. They made this event extra special.

 

[lariko]

You need to watch Livintsiev, both his short and long, he was really good. One thing that really stands out.. Good posture.

Litvintzev out of top ten is completely undeserved. He had two perfect skates. And... 11th in a field with mistakes left and right. Just... sucked. I hoped he could make top 10, he could have used it. Hopefully his scores are enough to get a GP and actually make it next year.

 

[Arigato]

Shoma, baby! I knew he could pull it off. Just got done watching the FS and I'm pleased to see Jun with the silver. Even though he isn't on the podium, Kevin's FS was excellent - a pleasure to watch.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Litvintzev out of top ten is completely undeserved. He had two perfect skates. And... 11th in a field with mistakes left and right. Just... sucked. I hoped he could make top 10, he could have used it. Hopefully his scores are enough to get a GP and actually make it next year.

The top 12 in singles (and top 10 in pairs and ice dance) are automatically guaranteed two initial GP assignments.

Whether or not he'll be able to compete relies entirely on his ability to a) stay healthy and b) get the visa required for his GP assignments.

 

[CrazyKittenLady]

Well…what a nightmare. Might not even watch the last 3 idk

What, why? All of them were brilliant in their own way. In fact, the whole men's free was stunning, the last group the cherry on top.

 

[Arriba627]

Is it me or does look like he lost a lot of weight this season. He looked healthier last season. Earth to Eteri men need to heavier it more their muscles so they can jump their quads.

A friend of mine was at Saitama and saw him up close and said he looks much older and thinner. His face was especially thin.

 

[RatedPG]

What, why? All of them were brilliant in their own way. In fact, the whole men's free was stunning, the last group the cherry on top.

Yes. To me, it was the highlight flight from the entire event, despite Keegan’s poor skate. I enjoyed this flight more than any other flight, in quite some time.

 

[lariko]

Reducing layout difficulty from what a skater can do with the usual statistical probability of failure on each jump reliably leads to only one thing: lower TES. There is simply no correlation between lower technical component and better PCS. Each jumping pass--be it quad, triple or double--has a probability of failure. Where Malinin sits, it looks like he is almost as likely to fail a triple as he does a quad. So, reducing his content for sure will drop his TES, will have unknown and unpredictable impact on his PCS, because even with 5 or 4 quads he will still be seen as a technician, not PCS-skater. And if he falls on a triple, he gets even lower score and probably a knee-jerk higher penalty in GoE for failure on triples.

 

[lariko]

The top 12 in singles (and top 10 in pairs and ice dance) are automatically guaranteed two initial GP assignments.

Whether or not he'll be able to compete relies entirely on his ability to a) stay healthy and b) get the visa required for his GP assignments.

Oh, I am relieved to hear it's top 12! He sure earned that assignment with these two skates. I couldn't believe till the ending pose he was in the clear! Clean SP and FS is so unusual among men. Still wish he was 10th or9th!

 

[Kris135]

A friend of mine was at Saitama and saw him up close and said he looks much older and thinner. His face was especially thin.

I thought so because he looked almost gaunt compared to last year. I know that one of her biggest known attributes is that she wants her skaters to be painfully thin. While I do not approve it for either gender with men you need the extra weight because it in the muscles that allow you to jump high enough to get all the way around four times. When she makes a man lose so much weight it saps the strength that he needs. He needs to leave Eteri gain 15-20;pounds back and he feel the need to find another coach if he feels that is best for him because the results are not there to justify what he is doing to his long term health and career.

 

[yesterday]

I looked through the ISU gallery and I must say.. those people do not filter the images they are uploading. And I find it also kind of special that this sport that relies so much on aesthetics and looks has the tendency to look funny and "ugly" when pictured in the wrong moment.

The line between those extremes is really thin. 99% of FS pictures will always be elegant, beautiful and shiny. However, there's the other side where you see the hard work and the forces put on the athletes.

So, I here present "faces of Saitama".

Spoiler

And here a small "best reaction" gallery

Spoiler

 

[fergusboy]

I agree that Ilia need better material to work with. His Short programt this year fit Ilia like a glove. Loud and a bit in your face and daring you to look away. That's Ilia for you. I think that he work with different types of music. I would like them to pick something that next year that a little less dreary. I mean this long program was depressing and somber. I hope next year they give him happier music. He still very young for a skater so let him act like it.
I think though there is a bais against skaters from North America though. I hard to misd at times. This year's Four Continents is clear that example of that going on. If we use a complete skater model then Keegan should have won the gold medal in a runaway because he has the complete package and had the best skate of his life. Kao Mura should have never been close but he won and with how people jump on Ilia's PCS and basic skating skills all the time on this site look at Kao performance during his long which was basically jumping and spinning every 20-30 seconds and fluttering his arms around in attempt to be artistic with no connection with the music he was skating to yet he won over a beautiful complete skating package with jumps, spins, and chorography on perfect harmony that was just glorious to watch. That what I am talking about. The ISU has bais towards Asia right because frankly they are basically paying the ISU bills right now and the fact the United States has so far off the skating map as a market is not helping matters any.
Also the ISU wants a certain personality as well. When bring up Nathan Chen he basically was what the ISU in how his personality was which is quiet, humble, docile and hopefully obedient. Ilia basic personality is the complete opposite of this and it making the ISU uncomfortable because they do not know to handle him. Basically most skaters do as their national federation tell them. Nathan did this perfectly along with going along with whatever NBC wanted meant that ISU did not have any worries about him. Now here comes Ilia who I think could basically care less what the USFS and the ISU thinks about the way he comes off. I mean how many kids go off at 15-6 years old create a social media account which he calls himself "QuadgOd" and then post pictures of all of his outrageous jumping elements for the world to see. He is telling the world about him and most likely it driving the USFS nuts because they are afraid he going to do something that the ISU will not like. Ilia is going to be the rebel of the figure skating world . I really hope that if moves out to California alone that Raf keeps him on fairly short leash to protect him from himself because the parallels between him and Christopher Bowman are scarry. Both of them are young, attractive, outrageous talented, charming, and rebels with devil may care personalities. The things that are different is that Ilia has a crazy work ethic , no mental problems, loving parents, and no problems with illegal drugs. But they have a lot in common and look what happened to Christopher and I never want Ilia to turn out like him because it was a great tragedy. A skater who could have been a legend brought down by own demons. That what could happen to him USFS please let him have some freedom so he can breathe so that will not be self destructive. Don't try to force him into the standard box because he not going to fit and will try to break out of it and will not be pretty. The next two to three years are going to be a roller coaster remember Ilia is going barely 21 years old at the 2026 Olympics if it goes right he could have to two more Olympic Quads after that. So he could be one of the greatest skaters of all time but we also be careful very careful on how we handle him and his antics.

It's not fair to Ilia to compare him to Christopher Bowman in terms of being a "rebel". Christopher had an undiagnosed mental illness (bipolar disorder) that he was likely self medicating to try to manage. He had a lot of problems that Ilia does not have.

 

[DancingCactus]

omg that first picture...

 

[yesterday]

omg that first picture...

my inspiration for this

 

[lariko]

I thought so because he looked almost gaunt compared to last year. I know that one of her biggest known attributes is that she wants her skaters to be painfully thin. While I do not approve it for either gender with men you need the extra weight because it in the muscles that allow you to jump high enough to get all the way around four times. When she makes a man lose so much weight it saps the strength that he needs. He needs to leave Eteri gain 15-20;pounds back and he feel the need to find another coach if he feels that is best for him because the results are not there to justify what he is doing to his long term health and career.

He already switched coaches what twice? this year. He was in trouble before he went to Moscow, and he was endlessly jacked on before for everything. Eteri has terrible record with junior men (literally none escaped without injury and survived to see the seniors, aside from Samoilov... but look at him go... not so good). However, she had a limited success with men in their twenties, Kvitelashvili and Voronov. Also, Grassl has an advantage of an Italian passport, so if he doesn’t like it, he can pack up and go any second. At a guess, he is not looking for Eteri's expertise or Gleihausen's choreography. More like he is looking for Dudakov's jumping camp. I think most skaters went through summer camps with most coaches, so they know what to expect. It’s not like Grassl can go to Lambiel, and he left America. His home school seem to have some troubles recently. So... not that many choices.