2024 World Championships Men's Free Skate

[mirai4life]

Small things I'm happy about: 1. Yuma's fall didn't keep him from winning. 2. Adam's back flip didn't keep him from getting bronze. 3. Jason's single axel didn't keep him from getting 5th.

hahahahaha

 

[RatedPG]

Ilia’s program only has ultra-c elements.
And he can still improve his technical difficulty with a 3A - 3A sequence instead.

 

[skatesofgold]

Haha I'm pretty sure it's been declared dead during the early 2000s when Plushy was winning...he was single handedly destroying the sport

And probably before then when the first 3A was landed I should think!

I mean, Kristi Yamaguchi had to learn a triple lutz-triple toe to keep up with Midori Ito's triple axel in the early 90s, and it was a really long time before we saw another triple lutz-triple toe from a woman.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Also shout out to Montreal for having gentlemen as well as ladies with the medals and flowers, I don't think I've actually seen that before. It's like how car racing and cycling have guys now too.

LOL I just noticed the podium is Maple leaf shaped, cute!

 

[Ares]

How lucky are we in the US to have back to back skaters like Nathan and Ilia? Most people didn't think we'd see another skater who could jump like Nathan and it took less then a Olympic cycle.

While Nathan was a great jumper ... I've never seen a skater before Ilia who would make quads look so easy. That 4lz-Eueler-3F was unbelievable after everything he has already executed in this program.

 

[Jammers]

Now would be a good time for Nathan to unretire. hehehe What a team that would be.

 

[SubRosa]

What a wonderfully humble exit interview from Ilia, acknowledging his difficulties over the last few weeks and the support of the crowd today

 

[lady_bee]

Haha I'm pretty sure it's been declared dead during the early 2000s when Plushy was winning...he was single handedly destroying the sport

And probably before then when the first 3A was landed I should think

I think I heard a similar argument in the 1980s when Midori emerged on the international stage.

 

[FlossieH]

When I first saw Adam at the (2021?) WTT I did not expect him to become a world medalist, or a European champion, or GP medalist, or anything like that. His development over the last couple of seasons has been remarkable.

 

[reader3]

Now would be a good time for Nathan to unretire. hehehe What a team that would be.

That would be nice but he's doing pre- med science research at Yale and will be in a pre med program this summer ,after graduation. But glad to see IM is following in his footsteps nicely.

 

[Jontor]

The thing is that with the current judging system there is no way a "PCS skater" - which i don't consider art and not less sportive than jumps - can win against something like this. And it's not just Ilia - we saw Dikidzhi land the 4A with some ease as well. Dikidzhi might be banned forever, but I think if we already got two able to do these jumps we will see more of these skaters, and in comparison the meager points from everything else are just unable to make a difference.

Yes, Dikidzhi is a good example. And just look at the junior Russian women. The competition is so fierce in Russia that every girl does 3Lz-3T + a 3F in the short program. And in the long program, nothing else but a 7 triple program will do, and to be in the top 10, you need quads and 3As. That's just how figure skating competition works. There will always be someone who will try to up the technical content. Because PCS will always be subjective and is hard to measure.

 

[anonymoose_au]

I wonder who will be at the Gala, which I don't think I can watch because it'll either be at a) the middle of the night or b) the middle of the day.

Also, I once again really appreciate the nicely sized medals you get for Worlds now, they used to be so tiny, not sure what that was all about?

 

[Warwick360]

I mean, Kristi Yamaguchi had to learn a triple lutz-triple toe to keep up with Midori Ito's triple axel in the early 90s, and it was a really long time before we saw another triple lutz-triple toe from a woman.

It was just 5 mins later that Midori landed her own 3Lz-3T in the same competition.

 

[moonvine]

I don't know what the future will hold, but Ilia's free skate is going to be a much-needed boost to our sport in America and worldwide.

That is viral content that will be viewed over and over again.

Maybe. When we will really know is in 12-13 years if we have a bunch of juniors saying they started skating because of Ilya. Which I think is very likely, but we will have to see.

I’m off to watch all the many hours of gymnastics I missed today now.

Congrats to all medalists, great job every one.

Thanks to Mark and Tonia for awesome commentary.

 

[auser]

Can't believe it is the end of the season already. Thank you GSer's for posting and watching with me that made it so fun! Hope to see you soon.

 

[readernick]

The same figure skating is dead arguments were made when Nathan won in 2019 and yet here we are still alive with men's skating going strong.

Yes, in fairness, Nathan was a much more naturally artistic skater than Ilya and his SS were signficantly ahead. But, that didn't stop the complaining.

This sport is always a pull between the artistic and the tech. With Adam, Yuma, Shun, and Kao out there.. Ilya is not always going to find winning easy.

Don't like what the judges did with the PCS here..but if one of the others had gone completely clean, I think the judges would have been willing to differentiate more in PCS. Ilya is far far from a skater who I enjoy watching. But, he deserves this win, no doubt! And, this win doesn't destroy figure skating. I still get to watch Shoma's beautiful SS. Yuma's lovely flow across the ice. The beauty that is Jason and Deniss and Ilya's fan's can enjoy his jumps. (they are incredible). A competitive, diverse field is a win for everyone...

 

[cheerknithanson]

Here we go with the arguments again. Happened when I first joined almost a decade ago. Still happening now. Some things don't change. Just like with my love of macaroni and cheese, Hanson, and sports.

 

[Skating91]

Very lucky to watch in an era of Valieva's free skate at the Rostelecom Cup in 2021 and now this. This is was on the biggest stage under enormous pressure no less.

I hope the ISU don't reduce the number of jump elements to 6 and repeating the same jump 3 times it would be total regression of the sport.

 

[GGFan]

From the likes of Jan Hoffman (3Lz) to Midori Ito (3A) etc. you're always going to have times where you just have to take your hats off to the big jumpers. They do take a big risk and sometimes it's fair that the risk is rewarded. Figure skating always goes back and forth so I don't see it as a travesty that Ilia beat Yuma (and I enjoy Yuma's skating more myself).

 

[mirai4life]

What a bang to end the season. thank you Ilia