OK. I am going to attempt this. I went out with my friends right after the competition... I got home super late and passed out
It was a fun fun night but my report may be a bit less fresh
Also, I haven't read the thread much other than a couple posts during the zambo so if things have been discussed ad nauseam already, sorry.
Here are my thoughts from yesterday, as someone who had the privilege (aka i paid for it) of witnessing the event live
Did the judges get it right ? Absolutely yes. There is absolutely no argument to be made there. Does this mean that I am fully happy ? Not really. I am not talking here about performances that never happened. Some other skaters had their chances and blew it... Adam could have been competitive but he was a hot mess in the SP. Shoma was brilliant in the SP but tonight, he was not going to manage it. His warm up was awful. He couldn't get the loop nor the flip right. I was super stressed. What he did in the LP was pure grit and fight. He tried. He never gave up. He didn't pop... He really really tried. A bad day can happen but I appreciate Shoma's fight. My sadness comes more from not being able to see his program skated clean because I believe it would have had the same effect as the SP : Magic !
Ilia: There is no denying that he was awesome tonight. He just wanted to land everything and he did. It was exciting. The crowd went nuts from the 4 axel to the 3lz-3a. He is a magnificent jumper. He deserve the title 100%. However, let me be myself,
@4everchan . Let me call things straight, though I have spent the last hours (and quite a lot of $$$) in the gay bars so my "straight calling " is just whatever it is at this point . When the interviewer asked Ilia what was next : quints? or whatever... I wish he had said : at this point, I need to develop my overall skating.. and not " there will be some new tricks next year.. surprises..." Seriously, Ilia's jumps are exciting. His overall skating is competent but bland. He got 9s for PCS.... the best skaters in that department didn't get much higher than that. To me, that is not ideal : I don't think it changes much to give him 8 or even 8.5 in terms of results but it would change the message. I just wish Ilia had emphasized the need to polish other aspects of his skating. He doesn't need to become the best ever all-around skater. However, for a fan like me, who enjoys beautiful edges, deep emotional musical commitment and connection, and intriguing choreography, I found my pleasure elsewhere last night. Wouldn't it be wonderful if my loudest cheering also went to the guy who is the best jumper ? I cheered for Ilia. I stood up like the many fans at Bell Centre. I am happy he delivered that fantastic program. I can now say that I have seen a quad axel live (twice actually because I also saw one in the warm up) after going to Autumn Classic where he hadn't included that jump... but I was not mesmerized and touched. Excited : yes. But in any case, this was definitely a brilliant performance and I am glad, though it's not my preferred style of skating, that I was there for it.
Yuma : what a brilliant, well-rounded skater. Just a small mistake tonight.. however, it didn't make a difference. I don't think Yuma would have been able to fight for gold without a couple more quads. However, this is a skater who can only keep growing in all aspects. His jumps are pure beauty with a lot more flow than Ilia's for instance. Yuma's skating looks gorgeous at all times, no matter what he is doing on the ice. I hope he gets his moment and wins a title (or more) in his career. I would be sad for him if it didn't happen because he is truly worthy of being a world/olympic champion.
Adam ahhhhh Adam, Adam, Adam.... He found his rhythm... a couple days too late. This long program was epic. I had a feeling he was YOLO a backflip there and the crowd loved it. To be honest, to the people at Bell Centre, I am talking about those who may bot be able to tell a 3t from a 4z-EU-3f, I bet they are talking about the backflip just as much, if not more than Ilia's 6 quad skate. There was an energy in Adam's performance that obviously couldn't be there Thursday. This is the Adam that I appreciate so much and I am glad he made such a come back. Skating early may have cost him a few points from the judges... we all know how it works... but I don't think it would have made much of a difference in the end... How many more points could he gain in PCS ? He received 92 in the end... How much more in GOE ? His quads are not as beautiful as Yuma's or as sleek as Ilia's. So there's that. But damn, I cheered so hard for this kid ! He was also hilarious at the waiting game
He sat there for the entire 3 groups after him and only moved at the end...
and graced us with his cheeky smile along the way. On the backflip deal : just make it legal. Is it dangerous ? Maybe. Is it more dangerous than throwing a pair woman around for a twist or lifting her ? Some of Kao's falls look way scarier than anything else last night.
So bravo, once again to the 3 medalists.
Shoma My wish was to see him win gold for three championships in a row. However, I don't think he quite expected to be in first after the Short program. He was completely off his rhythm during the warm up. As I said above, Kudos to him for his fight. He sincerely tried his best. I hope he will be at the gala and grace us with another gorgeous program. To me, he is the skater right now who can bring the most joy and love for skating. His command of the ice and musicality are unmatched. Was this the last time Shoma competed at worlds ? I hope not. However, if it is, I feel lucky to have seen the masterpiece he gave us with his short program.. and also his passion and desire to fight during the LP. I hope he is not too hard on himself with this result (I wish the same to Loena who also couldn't repeat her glorious performance from the short in the long... as a matter of fact, none of the short program winners won also the long... which I thought was interesting... ) In any case, I send Shoma a very sincere virtual hug.
Jason I feel I prefered his short. Maybe it's the music which wouldn't be my choice ever. Maybe he can shine better in the short. What Jason does is wonderful. He did get the highest PCS and rightfully so... However, even at almost 94... his PCS cushion is worth about a double axel on some of his close competitors. Should PCS be refactored ? I don't know. I believe that judges would simply give more to his competitors too, making an even bigger gap between the final flight and the weaker competitors... but not necessarily fixing the problem I and many have addressed. Aside the double axel pop (curious to see any judge would give that a +2 btw... it wasn't a pretty pop) he was clean and gave an excellent performance.
Lukas was also squeaky clean. He is very good at everything he does. I am glad he found some consistency to be able to deliver like this, during the final flight at a venue as crazy as Bell Centre was... Gosh, it was SO PACKED. His program was entertaining, though I am looking forward to seeing what he bring to the ice in the future... because from the top skaters, his two programs, though they were both performed so well and have a concept etc, well.. let's just say I'd like to see something else
I have been a fan of Lukas only since last year (not sure which event I saw him in) He is super fun and a nice skater to watch !
Kao The falls were scary. I will just put it this way... but some of the jumps he landed were so spectacular WOW. A young promising skater. I hope he keeps developing all areas of his already excellent skating.
When looking at Jason's, Mark's and
Deniss's base value (or even Junhwan who clearly wants to add a third quad in his program) , one can of course understand why he is still trying the quad salchow. In the end, he had a good performance as well after the initial pop... In his case, I prefer he pops that jump and keeps going unaffected than a tough fall that kills the energy of the program.
Talking of which :
Mark is another skater who delivered a clean program. I am only mentioning it because honestly, being at Bell Centre, falls, any falls, even just step outs are disruptive... With an entire week of skating in the mind and body, I am sure I am not the only fan who would rather see a bit less quads but more clean performances. That is the main thing I realized last night... It gets really difficult to watch hard falls after hard falls live. On the stream, it's like.. .OK... that must have hurt... Live it's OUCH... and I sometimes even felt pain in my body watching skaters hit the ice hard.
Junhwan is a very special and beautiful skater to watch. I hope his ankle recovers fully and that he gets some much deserved rest. I am glad I was able to see some of his magical elements like the 3lz-3lo, his Ina Bauer and layback position in his spin.
Misha doesn't do a thing for me. This Carmina Burana program, with such intense music was skated in a very lacklustre manner. He can fly but he is not fooling me with choosing such intense music to cover his lack of success to developing his overall skating. He is very young. I hope he can improve. But yeah, judges got it right.
Donovan was fun to watch. My friend adored him !
My
Frangi needs to choose better music next year. I was happy that he seemed satisfied with his skate. Only a step out and one pop... not too bad... but yeah, I like his commitment and energy and I hope he can get a bit more consistent.
Nik, Nika, Selevko would be in the category for me of skaters that don't really excite me.
Canadians... let's just say that many Canadian fans have known that it was a very likely possibility that neither would finish top 12 and save the two spots. As a proud GS father of my son Conrad, if I were completely fine with Skate Canada's selection here as Roman and Wesley deserved the spots over Conrad based on their results, I am sad he didn't get to go and sadder he may never get a second chance now that it will take a brilliant result at Nationals to qualify for worlds... finished 2nd or 3rd will not work out anymore. Wesley fought so I appreciate that from him. Roman showed a lot of courage when he did the second half 4s. Roman's spins are perhaps my favourite from the event, with those of Deniss and Lukas. I hope Roman has a normal season next year (no injury nor travel shenanigans) and hope this experience will give him a sense that he belongs on the ice... Pretty much all his jumps had issues... so not a chance for positive GOE. He saved most of it... but yeah... He can do so much better like his SP proposed.
Economides and Kim were very fun to watch too. Happy they were there.
Might as well include that I was very disppointed for Camden. I have been on the Camden fan team for a while now (since junior years) and he can be so good... not this week. Very disheartening for someone who finished in the top 5 at worlds on year.
Men was always my favourite discipline. In the 6.0 era, and that's the only perks I will give to the ordinal ranking, skaters proposed cleaner programs.. they had to. A fall was so costly. I am not saying that the IJS didn't deliver last night. It certainly did. What I am suggesting is that as a fan, I'd like to see more clean programs. Simply put. There was a sense yesterday that some skaters went for too much... and that some skaters emphasized too much on trying to get quads to get more points.. While some are trying to push that aspect of their skating, some others are doing this while neglecting vital parts of figure skating. I am not talking here about Ilia. His jumps are so easily landed, he would be stupid not to include them
Who backloads a 4lz-eu-3f Combo and a 3lz-3a Seq ? It was amazing... but there are a bunch of guys in the middle of the pack who need to focus on developing their skating before chasing more and more and more quads. At this point, I almost prefer watching dance and even pairs (though the LPs were not all great, the SP was a fabulous event) where more skaters manage their elements with regularity... The ISU reduced the value of quads in pairs. I am not in agreement with that because it did extinct almost instantly quads from the pairs repertoire (except for the one quad twist from Sui/Han at 2022 Olympics). I am certainly not saying the ISU should reduce the value of quads. However, maybe a fall on a quad should be minus 2 while falls on other jumps be a minus 1. I just want to see cleaner skating and feel less virtual pain than last night... too many hard falls for me.
There you have it !!!! Kudos again to our winners. Thank you Shoma for your SP. You are still my favourite skater from this pack
and +5 GOE for all of you who have read this from the first word to the last emoji
he does not have natural movement or flow the way others do but you can tell that he picks music that he likes and skates with passion. He had the audience captured last night.
At the arena, seeing the way Malinin went at it and the jumps after and in direct compasion to all other men, effortless grace and height are obvious to a blind mole in a sack. Yes, he skated slower so, sure, complain about that. But the jumps, they are indeed incredible, particularly as the momentum of the program builds. It is a total riot watching him. Obviously, not for the fans of popped triple jumps, but for those people who love serious jumps, that was a blast, after the technical content was so lacking otherwise in the competition.
