2024-25 Senior Grand Prix Final Men's Short Program

[TontoK]

Kévin falling this season is miles different than Kévin falling last season. Like miles and miles and mlles and miles.

I would not have seen that coming.

OK. I accept that you were surprised at the outcome. As for me, I wasn't surprised, nor would I have been surprised if he had skated better. I've decided that Kevin's competitive results are like a box of chocolates (Forrest Gump reference). He's no longer a skater I'm invested in - he's too unpredictable, much more than anyone else, and I'm not enamored of his programs like many are.

But I wish him no ill, so I was heartened to see that he did not appear devastated, so maybe he views it as just a bad day in an otherwise very good season. That would be a healthy response.

 

[mrrice]

I don't care what Ilia is wearing, that was spectacular!!! Difficult and Original. For me, he is the clear winner of the SP

 

[CellarDweller]

So, let me tell you about my afternoon.

To preface, when I work from home (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) I'm working from my parents' basement. They live only 10 minutes away, and have more room for my tech stuff for my job. So, I go there in the mornings, let myself in, and work until about 3, and then finish up until 5 at my place.

Today was slow, so I was able to watch the Rhythm Dance and Pairs Long today, no problem.

I shut down at 2:45, and packed up, and headed home, to end up the day there, and watch the men's short.

Remember, only 10 minutes away.

At that time, schools had let out, so traffic was heavy, so I took the back roads home. It's quicker. I get to my street to see that it's completely blocked off. Apparently, someone decided it would be fun to use their car to knock down a telephone pole.

I took a detour, and headed for the nearest entrance to the highway. My place is just off the exit ramp, so I thought that would work. Because of the downed pole, the exit was blocked off. I took the next exit, and went around town to get to the other entrance to my street. It was also blocked, and every other street was clogged with after school traffic.

I had to go back to my parents' place so I could sign back on the laptop, and finish out the work day. By the time I got there, the 10 minute drive had turned into an hour long ordeal.

So, of course, I missed the men's short.

I checked the forum on my phone to see that Kevin pulled a cactus.

I just got home now. nearly 4 hours after I intended.

 

[el henry]

OK. I accept that you were surprised at the outcome. As for me, I wasn't surprised, nor would I have been surprised if he had skated better. I've decided that Kevin's competitive results are like a box of chocolates (Forrest Gump reference). He's no longer a skater I'm invested in - he's too unpredictable, much more than anyone else, and I'm not enamored of his programs like many are.

But I wish him no ill, so I was heartened to see that he did not appear devastated, so maybe he views it as just a bad day in an otherwise very good season. That would be a healthy response.

Understood. I was surprised that he didn't melt down after last year, I think that was more my reference.

Results have never informed my investment in a skater, for good or ill. I love the Eagles when they are 10-2 and I loved them when they were, er, considerably less successful. I treat my skaters the same way

 

[Seven Sisters]

"Ilia, what costume would you like for your short program?"

"Something that looks like a diaper, leggings, a cold shoulder top, and a mummy all at once."

"Perfect. I will get right to work."

You forgot the boot covers that match the bright blue panties

 

[CellarDweller]

"Ilia, what costume would you like for your short program?"

"Something that looks like a diaper, leggings, a cold shoulder top, and a mummy all at once."

"Perfect. I will get right to work."

You forgot the boot covers that match the bright blue panties

apparently I missed quite the costume!

 

[lariko]

I don't think it was anything to write home about, just sort of diagonal patches of darker colors. On anyone else it wouldn’t incite comment, but people always jump out of their skin no matter what Malinin does and look for any reason to nitpick (Shrug) fortunately Malinin seems to charge from both negative and positive energy, which is a useful quality

 

[Arigato]

 

[Kitt]

That lil' sweeper was so brave!

 

[Seven Sisters]

That lil' sweeper was so brave!

And I expect that Shaidorov will be showered with enormous teddy bears on a regular basis for the rest of his career. His interaction with the little sweeper was the most adorable part of the whole thing

 

[Rebecca Moose]

What is the etymology of 'menning'?

I find the term perplexing, sexist, and not amusing.

 

[cailuj365]

I'm just starting to watch the replay, and Ilia coming out with his arms aloft with the swagger, ayyyy, love the attitude. He won the SP from the walk out. Talk about main character energy.

 

[rabidline]

I am going to be a bit mean about Yuma. Yes, his skating is otherworldly but in my opinion, he can't make mistakes when he's not attempting anything harder than a 4S in the SP. It makes him look incompetent jump-wise compared to Ilia who includes both the 4Lz and 4F in AND backloads the combo. Even with a q, that's just another level of difficulty being attempted compared to Yuma. At least fall on a 4F or something in the SP, or do the bare minimum and land all the jumps with lower difficulty level. As a skater, yes it's incredible and always a pleasure to watch him. As a competitor, I rolled my eyes immediately when he slipped. Just unnecessary and uncalled for, and yet I expected that. Shades of Yuzuru vs Nathan when the guy with lower difficulty always had an issue on the day.

This is probably the best program I have ever seen from Grassl and also the best costume he's ever had? The stuff between the jumps was pretty watchable and decent.

I hoped for a better skater for Kevin in front of his home crowd but alas, disaster. I do think he performed the best he can until the end, and that felt like the biggest victory of all. There is still the FS so anything can still happen, but I hope he takes heart with how he dealt with his mistakes today.

Shun improved. Always love listening to the soundtrack of the Ladies in Lavender. Nice costume.

I thought it was great that Mikhail was called up to GPF because from the GP series I can see that he was so ready for the big stage and is physically fit for it. And he didn't disappoint, more skates like this and I hope he'll be a mainstay for GPF qualification and 4CC podium and Worlds Top 5. It was just a very calm and competent performance throughout, the moment with the tiny sweeper and big teddy bear was cute.

Ilia does not need to spend as much energy to focus on his quads compared to everyone here and it shows. It really is something to see a once in a generation talent operate like this. Love the new dumb costume, I need a bit of unseriousness and he brought it and still lay down that skate like champ.

 

[museksk8r]

It was so bizarre for Ted to say John Curry and Toller Cranston in the same breath as Ilia Malinin in his statement of male skaters who changed the sport. Ilia is nowhere close to being the artistic skater that those legends were. His statement would have made a lot more sense if he said Elvis Stojko and Evgeni Plushenko and then Ilia. Even mentioning him with the likes of Elvis and Evgeni is premature though since Malinin has only won 1 world title. Ilia as he is now will be remembered in the sport for being a jumper, not an artistic skater.

 

[Arriba627]

I wonder if Kevin maybe had the blessing and curse of skating in front of his hometown crowd. I read somewhere he would have friends and family there. I would think that would immediately put extra pressure, but I'm glad he didn't have a complete meltdown. Hope he can have a redemption skate in the free.

 

[noskates]

I felt bad for Kevin. He's had such a good year so far. I found his program to be the most innovative and interesting and entertaining than any of the others. Grassl leaves me cold in pretty much every way. Soto - can't remember one thing about his program other than he skated to Ladies In Lavender ????? Yuma is darling and entertaining but I always feel like he's playing it safe. Not sure why everybody is hating on Ilia's costume compared to some of the others that have been seen this season. Besides why do you care what he's wearing when he can skate like that. And as for his performance - he's SOOOO much better than last year. He keeps improving so perhaps give him some credit a long those lines? It seems like whoever is on top of the leader board in men's skating comes under abject derision. I always wonder why!!! Looking forward to the freeskate.

 

[Arriba627]

I enjoyed seeing how Ilia's program has progressed since the first time he skated it at Lombardia in Sept. He looked so confident and looked like he was out there having fun with it!

 

[Skating91]

Malinin and Misha were the stand outs. They really held poor Misha back hit him with a petty time violation, low balled on everything. What an exciting skater though the crowd really responded to his performance. Aymoz with one of the biggest disaster skates you'll see even edged him for program components .

Malinin is fantastic and have been a huge fan for a long time, but the over the top praise is becoming too much they really are building him up into the GOAT like they tried to do with Chen. And Malinin will be the GOAT, but he'll do it on jumping proficiency not by the ISU gaslighting the audience into thinking every skate is a masterpiece. One judge gave him 10's for presentation and composition and 9.75 for skating skills. Seriously? It's out of control. I associate 10's with something that is unforgettable like Valieva at her best or Hanyu, that was just a routine skate.

Malinin has this easily, but I thought he looked a little heavy with his jumps (by his incredible standard). The 4F looked like it could have been given a q as well (if he came from a different fed). Still got three 4's for it.

 

[Skating91]

.

 

[rabidline]

Newsflash kiddo, you need to know how to skate. And skate well. Hardly any men can skate exceptionally well. And a few still skate like a junior. It's embarrassing. Those jokers need to stop jumping and start learning. I still recall watching one guy who I called "the BV scalper." Scalped BV with low GOE. He couldn't skate well at all, so he'd throw another jump in just to boost his BV score. Fall down? No problem. Wobble like a drunken sailor? No problem. "BV is all I need. No GOE." Then one day he woke up . . .

Here's the thing. I have a problem with Yuma's performance in the SP as a competitor, not a skater. If he wants to be competitive, if he wants to establish that he is the better skater than Ilia and should be scored as such, he simply CANNOT afford doing any mistakes in the SP especially with this layout. I would shut up if Yuma had skated clean here, like I do when he does, but he didn't, and so to me, him not going clean with the 4S 4T3T 3A layout against a reigning World Champion Ilia with a 4F 3A 4Lz3T layout is frustrating. Especially when the 4S is his best jump, he's a better jumper than Shoma ever was and he can rack those GOEs up to make it more of a match with Ilia.

You know what was similarly frustrating to this, for me? When Yuzuru made mistakes in either his 4S or 4T when he had to go against Nathan who either include 4F or 4Lz in his SP or both. Is it too much to ask the top guys with the lower BVs (who are renowned for their jump quality) to do the bare minimum and land all their jumps cleanly? If they had done at least a 4F or a 4Lo in their SP and fall on them, sure. Like Shun taking the fall on the 4Lz, he went for it like a champ.

As a skater, Yuma's quality is undeniable. As a performer, he's so-so but that's not a crime in this current field. It's why I'm finding myself perceiving him more as a competitor, thinking about what he can do to increase his points to better put up a fight on Ilia. He has the lowest BV attempt in the SP outside of Kevin. Mikhail Shaidorov is attempting harder jumps than him. So I want Yuma to separate himself and nail his program, deliver perfection, at least for the SP with only 3 jumping passes. And when he doesn't, it's frustrating to see the comments of "oh but his artistry, oh but his skating" well yeah, but he has to show up and put up his content out there.