Replay Lounge 2025 NHK Trophy

[sisinka]

MINUSES:

1. BOOTS ISSUES
There are simply too many skaters fighting with these problems. It is warning.

I definitely wish Junhwan Cha to fix his boot problems! He is capable of great presentation and programs, I would like to see it, instead of worrying that the boot breaks again and will lead to ugly and painfull fall.

Yes, there are skaters with specific shape of foot, of course they can be in trouble of finding the right boots for them. Most of skaters break boot (or make them too loose to be safe for jumping) after some weeks of executing difficult jumps. But more skaters are mentioning break of NEW boot, which is definitely not caused by issue above.

Figure skating is more demanding than ever before, in jumps, steps and spins. Maybe technology of production of boots or blades is missing some important information, which would help to solve issues.

Maybe skaters should start to cooperate more closely with companies producing boots to look for reasons of such issues.

If I am not mistaken athletes participation on developing shoes is used in Athletics - NIKE company.
Is this possible in Figure Skating?

2. GIVE TECHNICAL PANEL ANOTHER CAMERA.

Based on protocols Yuma got 11.2 and 8.8 points for 3F+3Lo and 3A in the second half of the Free Program. But 3loop and 3axel were underrrotated in my opinion - VIDEO below. If jumps were called < than the base value of these jump elements would be 10.142 and 7.04 points, with reduction in GOE as well.



Yuma's base value in Free Program would be about 2.818 points smaller. And another drop with lower GOE for the jump.

If Technical panel would be kind giving just < mark to 3axel, it would drop about 1.760 points. And another drop with lower GOE for the jump.

Getting "q" only for both jump elements would lead to lower GOE - how much, I have no idea.

The difference between Yuma and Shun in overall results was 1.53 points.

I am not sure, what to think about this. Japanese man was clearly the best at NHK Trophy 2025.

When Yuma is clean with 3 different quads, he is the best Japanese man at the moment, no doubt about it.
This week he missed whole spin element in Short Program AGAINST clean program of Shun Sato, he fell and had two "q or <" in Free Program...AGAINST Shun Sato, who was once again clean. Yes, I agree that Shun deserves lower component score comparing to Yuma.

But personally for me THIS WEEK the best men in the field was Shun Sato.

Despite such critics I want to finish on positive note. Both men showed high quality programs.
Let's enjoy some of their jumping elements. (Thanks to lower video quality, it looks better on mobile phone.)

 

[sisinka]

So, apparently, there are two movies coming out about Nepela, but neither credits Hagara for skating. So which one is he in and is it on YouTube or something?

It is Nepela movie starring Josef Trojan. It is already in theathers. I believe there are trailers on Youtube and other social nets.

Another movie will be released on February 2026 showing just one day of Ondrej Nepela's life.

Gregor Valentovic on Instagram: "NEPELA BACKSTAGE Exkluzívny pohľad do zákulisia výroby filmu Nepela nožnicami strihača filmu Romana Kelemena. Dopozeraj do konca, uvidíš nové scény ✨ @filmnepela"

1,037 likes, 25 comments - gregorvalentovic on October 29, 2025: "NEPELA BACKSTAGE Exkluzívny pohľad do zákulisia výroby filmu Nepela nožnicami strihača filmu Romana Kelemena. Dopozeraj do konca, uvidíš nové scény ✨ @filmnepela".

www.instagram.com

- clips and talks from backstage, Adam is around 2:40

 

[lariko]

MINUSES:

1. BOOTS ISSUES
There are simply too many skaters fighting with these problems. It is warning.

I definitely wish Junhwan Cha to fix his boot problems! He is capable of great presentation and programs, I would like to see it, instead of worrying that the boot breaks again and will lead to ugly and painfull fall.

Yes, there are skaters with specific shape of foot, of course they can be in trouble of finding the right boots for them. Most of skaters break boot (or make them too loose to be safe for jumping) after some weeks of executing difficult jumps. But more skaters are mentioning break of NEW boot, which is definitely not caused by issue above.

Figure skating is more demanding than ever before, in jumps, steps and spins. Maybe technology of production of boots or blades is missing some important information, which would help to solve issues.

Maybe skaters should start to cooperate more closely with companies producing boots to look for reasons of such issues.

If I am not mistaken athletes participation on developing shoes is used in Athletics - NIKE company.
Is this possible in Figure Skating?

2. GIVE TECHNICAL PANEL ANOTHER CAMERA.

Based on protocols Yuma got 11.2 and 8.8 points for 3F+3Lo and 3A in the second half of the Free Program. But 3loop and 3axel were underrrotated in my opinion - VIDEO below. If jumps were called < than the base value of these jump elements would be 10.142 and 7.04 points, with reduction in GOE as well.



Yuma's base value in Free Program would be about 2.818 points smaller. And another drop with lower GOE for the jump.

If Technical panel would be kind giving just < mark to 3axel, it would drop about 1.760 points. And another drop with lower GOE for the jump.

Getting "q" only for both jump elements would lead to lower GOE - how much, I have no idea.

The difference between Yuma and Shun in overall results was 1.53 points.

I am not sure, what to think about this. Japanese man was clearly the best at NHK Trophy 2025.

When Yuma is clean with 3 different quads, he is the best Japanese man at the moment, no doubt about it.
This week he missed whole spin element in Short Program AGAINST clean program of Shun Sato, he fell and had two "q or <" in Free Program...AGAINST Shun Sato, who was once again clean. Yes, I agree that Shun deserves lower component score comparing to Yuma.

But personally for me THIS WEEK the best men in the field was Shun Sato.

Despite such critics I want to finish on positive note. Both men showed high quality programs.
Let's enjoy some of their jumping elements. (Thanks to lower video quality, it looks better on mobile phone.)

I agree. I can't believe that Kagiyama have a perfect technique if he falls so much and so predictably. He either doesn't have enough height in a jump to complete rotations or have some other problem, like controling his speed on entry. I think it's the lack of height in a jump that results in unders/falls on otherwise pretty jumps.

Seeing that it's Kagiyama who was pegged as Uno's successor to the title of the first man in Japan, they simply can't start him with second place in home GP, particularly since Sato started with gold. If Sato beats him in the final... now he has a chance to grab the crown. In juniors, Kagiyama had to fall 3 times for a clean program with approximately the same tech to beat him. For clean Sato to beat him, two falls probably will be enough, but he didn't fall twice.

 

[Miya88]

Shun should have won both SP and FP, but there's no chance against Kagiyama ,a JSF's favorite

 

[Mathman]

Shun should have won both SP and FP, but there's no chance against Kagiyama ,a JSF's favorite

I do not completely understand what is being alleged by all these conspiracy theories. Is the concern that the Japanese Skating Federation has been given the power to dictate to ISU judges and tech panels which Japanese skaters to give under-rotation penalties to, and which skaters they are not permitted to judge so strictly?

If this is smply corruption, do we assume that theJapanese Federation pays bribes to ISU officials for this privilege? Do we have any actual evidence that this is the case, or do we just suspect it?

 

[TT_Fin]

Jimmy’s long program is the best thing I’ve ever seen.

I agree. And I will see it live in two weeks! I am so happy I decided to go. He will have a great future in shows, if he wants to, and as such an entertainer, why would he not wan to?

 

[DizzyFrenchie]

I do not completely understand what is being alleged by all these conspiracy theories. Is the concern that the Japanese Skating Federation has been given the power to dictate to ISU judges and tech panels which Japanese skaters to given under-rotation penalties to, and which skaters they are not permitted to judge so strictly?

If this is smply corruption, do we assume that theJapanese Federation pays bribes to ISU officials for this privilege? Do we have any actual evidence that this is the case, or do we just suspect it?

As we are into the corruption question, I do believe that there are some games of power and influence, and I heard a few years ago a very interesting podcast by a Sports Psychologist who's teaching at University of Southern California and established a clinic there, and who became a Figure Skating judge. She observed that while everybody was welcome at the small competition level, the judges who were promoted to National level and called to judge more important competitions, were those with the most compliant character, the opposite of whistleblowers (and when you think about the complete absence of recourse in the organisation...) I personally think that it's a "natural" tendency in organisations, with ambitious mediocrity also co-opting and willing to dominate badly; and in Figure Skating as elsewhere, these are people who won't have some sense reactions, "this isn't possible", "this isn't true" when they are given indications by their higher-ups at the Federation level. Do you remember the scandal of this ISU formation material denigrating Evgueny Plushenko's Transitions while he was still active? They will believe what they are told rather than what they have under the eyes, and their predecessors' scores without checking their accuracy because, honestly, while I do think that there are measurable criteria to assess most of each of the Components' merits, I believe that it's beyond most judges' ability to assess each of them within the time they have, so they certainly rely on previous assessment, and these people rely more on others' (or groups') than on their own. Do you remember the scoring tunnel thing? That was an outright scandal as it wasn't referring at all to the reality of the skating, just on how the rest of the group had scored, and it helped completely disconnecting scores with skates. In any wholesome organisation (I know, this tends to be a rarity) it would have been called at the very least an undue pressure.
This is corruption, yet this is not bribery! I'm not 100% sure that there is zero bribery in Figure Skating, because, who knows, anything can happen anywhere; but nothing that I know suggests that there may be any. The one thing I read that might have been misrepresented into bribery, were dinners for judges by Patrice Lauzon and Marie-France Dubreuil, but I'm sure that they don't mean it this way, it's more using the same human weaknesses, being flattered by the invitation (which probably costs guests more than they may save on a dinner) with such renowned coaches and "names" in Ice Dance, feeling valued by the choice among other judges, and being put in very favourable hearing conditions to learn flattering things casually dropped about the teams the pair coach? That is, basically the same resorts which make the general scoring discrepancies. (I don't even know if and to what point there are scoring discrepancies in Ice Dance. I ought to learn if I want to follow Rika Kihira and Shingo Nishiyama, whose first skates in the circumstances we know really thrilled me.) Even judges' own professional career rarely look at stake with their judging jigs, which are not paid (of course, some like to be invited in a four-star hotel and having good dinners in good restaurants but even this, more because they feel valued than for any real, material advantage, and sitting so many hours focusing on skating details doesn't seem appealing; there would be a whole new pressure should they be paid, though! I would say, paying judges would be bribery!)
There are though, not exactly briberies but agendas with some judges. In Japan, you have regional prejudice which seems nearly as strong as between Swiss cantons, with the main power having been for decades in Nagoya (yet, Mao Asada wasn't much favoured, I'd bet that she didn't have a very compliant character). It does affect scoring and assignment decisions, which is why I was particularly happy that a nine-year-old hopeful Sendai boy skated as a guest at this NHK Trophy. And there's a group of Japanese officials and judges who still resent Yuzuru Hanyu for having won 2012 National Championships. Just read like this, it seems incredible but it is. They have kept their grudge all along these years, expressed their hate in all possible ways, and they're powerful in the federation. Note that, their head being from Speed Skating, during her tenure at the Japanese federation, she also allocated 70% of resources to Speed Skating and only 30% on Figure Skating (which may be one of the causes of the Japanese relative weaknesses in Pairs and Ice Dance) while these resources were for a great majority coming from Figure Skating sponsors, TV rights and cuts. Can you imagine another federation issuing a job announcement for a part time social media manager to denigrate Yuzuru Hanyu? Yet this is what happened with this clique. Another visible example was the 2019 Torino robbery, if you see who poor Walter Toigo was between, and his history, it explains part of the "scoring errors", which marked a new step in this trend. And do you remember the wrong invalid Spin at 2020 All-Japan Nationals on Yuzuru Hanyu's Short Program, while several other skaters had done the error which Yuzuru Hanyu hadn't done, but they weren't called? The referee was the same person who was sitting on a side of Walter Toigo at Torino 2019... This person has an independent, apparently successful career unrelated to Figure Skating, there's no bribery involved I'm sure, but there's hate and personal influence. And, of course, there are the federations power plays between them. Skate Canada having been eliminated as the third big power out of lack of results, and the Russian skating federation having been eliminated on political considerations (and its influence on neighbouring federations being actively undermined), the US federation has remained the only big power, having only to leave crumbs to Canadian, European, Japanese and now Korean federations. It's not any conspiracy! It's simply the usual power struggles and psychology!

If we take the Chopin Competition I've been so off-topically (?) vocal about, there most judges are underpaid Piano professors (I don't know elsewhere, but in France, the Professors at the National Superior Conservatories of Paris and Lyon, which are the higher education ones, because their wages are decided by the institutions themselves, are paid even less than common Conservatory teachers, who are — under — paid after a national grid, themselves less than high school teachers, themselves underpaid, to give you an idea; and Paris and Lyon are so expensive to live in or around!) who seem to make ends meet by giving expensive private lessons; which of course may be nearer to a bribery. Plus, there's now an international circusuit of mutually recognised international Piano competitions, I'm not denying that they are and have long been important Piano competitions, but with this anointment they're now subjected to common diktats, among which, seem to be appointing judges from this same circusuit of co-opted judges. I don't see that in Figure Skating judging, hence maybe the fact that I've never seen a skater deserving the podium be left out of the Free Skate, or a skater not deserving of being in the Free Skate landing on the podium, as happened (to take similar concepts) at the latest Chopin Competition. I wouldn't want to give bad ideas to the most ill-willed people in Figure Skating, it's just another example of how human mentality works, and in my opinion it relativises the level of corruption (not bribery!) in Figure Skating which is relatively low given the lack of any way to contain it, yet it's high enough to keep the general public away because they're not been shown the best as being the best; and it may deter vocations too. Of course I lived in a time of very little access to music in a non-musician family, but my parents wished me to play piano, and kindly took me to a concert of a very bad, still well-known pianist (who died many years ago). They didn't know that he was very bad, he was so good in self-promotion that they thought that he was among the best. During years after that I had the prejudice that piano wasn't an interesting instrument, that one couldn't do much with a piano, and I wasn't very keen on my piano lessons. It's only years after, that I got a tape of "the Shoma Uno of Piano" and got hooked. Of course pianists are not a species in want, there are more pianists than available jobs, and I'm sure that I wouldn't have brought anything to Piano; but I do suspect that in Figure Skating similarly, a number of children, shown the "wrong" skaters, may believe wrongly the same way that Figure Skating isn't interesting after all, if nothing better can be achieved with ice and a pair of skates, unless playing Hockey of course. And who knows if among these disgusted children, isn't the one prodigy who would have made your country win with fair scoring, and revived the sports as a major one in the country?

 

[throw_triple_flip]

The women in contention for the medals were amazing. Genuine, characterful, big performances.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

At one point I found myself thinking that Yuna Aoki reminded me of Mao Asada. The bubbly, cheerful personality she projects in performing.

 

[rabidline]

I do not completely understand what is being alleged by all these conspiracy theories. Is the concern that the Japanese Skating Federation has been given the power to dictate to ISU judges and tech panels which Japanese skaters to give under-rotation penalties to, and which skaters they are not permitted to judge so strictly?

If this is smply corruption, do we assume that theJapanese Federation pays bribes to ISU officials for this privilege? Do we have any actual evidence that this is the case, or do we just suspect it?

It must be noted that NHK Trophy is the only international competition in Japan being broadcasted on primetime by one of its biggest broadcasters (the titular NHK).

The reason I give this context is because figure skating has limited broadcast in Japan and its continuously being chipped away to be put under streaming services or paid satellite TV. Meaning that for most Japanese people, the only casual exposure they have to international competitive figure skating is NHK Trophy. The videos we enjoy here or on Twitter / Youtube don't reach casual Japanese people.

Viewed by this lens, Shun is lowkey a nobody. This is his first NHK Trophy assignment, and he's never been on Nationals podium. While Yuma was aiming to become the first Japanese man to win his 3rd consecutive NHK Trophy, a feat that hasn't been done by any of Japan's male stars, and a very neat headline to tie this one competition in a bow for casual viewers who don't/can't watch figure skating anywhere else.

Is Yuma still the better skater overall? Yes. Can his win be justified? Also Yes. But if this competition had been on another GP, it's close enough for another result to probably shake out, under the current rules.

I see the 2 point gap as a warning to Yuma to get his shit together. On a different ice, there are many other interests that would love to cannibalize his scores and reputation, if he continues to make mistakes on a jump layout that should have been comfortable for him.

 

[ladyjane]

As we are into the corruption question, I do believe that there are some games of power and influence, and I heard a few years ago a very interesting podcast by a Sports Psychologist who's teaching at University of Southern California and established a clinic there, and who became a Figure Skating judge. She observed that while everybody was welcome at the small competition level, the judges who were promoted to National level and called to judge more important competitions, were those with the most compliant character, the opposite of whistleblowers (and when you think about the complete absence of recourse in the organisation...) I personally think that it's a "natural" tendency in organisations, with ambitious mediocrity also co-opting and willing to dominate badly; and in Figure Skating as elsewhere, these are people who won't have some sense reactions, "this isn't possible", "this isn't true" when they are given indications by their higher-ups at the Federation level. Do you remember the scandal of this ISU formation material denigrating Evgueny Plushenko's Transitions while he was still active? They will believe what they are told rather than what they have under the eyes, and their predecessors' scores without checking their accuracy because, honestly, while I do think that there are measurable criteria to assess most of each of the Components' merits, I believe that it's beyond most judges' ability to assess each of them within the time they have, so they certainly rely on previous assessment, and these people rely more on others' (or groups') than on their own. Do you remember the scoring tunnel thing? That was an outright scandal as it wasn't referring at all to the reality of the skating, just on how the rest of the group had scored, and it helped completely disconnecting scores with skates. In any wholesome organisation (I know, this tends to be a rarity) it would have been called at the very least an undue pressure.
This is corruption, yet this is not bribery! I'm not 100% sure that there is zero bribery in Figure Skating, because, who knows, anything can happen anywhere; but nothing that I know suggests that there may be any. The one thing I read that might have been misrepresented into bribery, were dinners for judges by Patrice Lauzon and Marie-France Dubreuil, but I'm sure that they don't mean it this way, it's more using the same human weaknesses, being flattered by the invitation (which probably costs guests more than they may save on a dinner) with such renowned coaches and "names" in Ice Dance, feeling valued by the choice among other judges, and being put in very favourable hearing conditions to learn flattering things casually dropped about the teams the pair coach? That is, basically the same resorts which make the general scoring discrepancies. (I don't even know if and to what point there are scoring discrepancies in Ice Dance. I ought to learn if I want to follow Rika Kihira and Shingo Nishiyama, whose first skates in the circumstances we know really thrilled me.) Even judges' own professional career rarely look at stake with their judging jigs, which are not paid (of course, some like to be invited in a four-star hotel and having good dinners in good restaurants but even this, more because they feel valued than for any real, material advantage, and sitting so many hours focusing on skating details doesn't seem appealing; there would be a whole new pressure should they be paid, though! I would say, paying judges would be bribery!)
There are though, not exactly briberies but agendas with some judges. In Japan, you have regional prejudice which seems nearly as strong as between Swiss cantons, with the main power having been for decades in Nagoya (yet, Mao Asada wasn't much favoured, I'd bet that she didn't have a very compliant character). It does affect scoring and assignment decisions, which is why I was particularly happy that a nine-year-old hopeful Sendai boy skated as a guest at this NHK Trophy. And there's a group of Japanese officials and judges who still resent Yuzuru Hanyu for having won 2012 National Championships. Just read like this, it seems incredible but it is. They have kept their grudge all along these years, expressed their hate in all possible ways, and they're powerful in the federation. Note that, their head being from Speed Skating, during her tenure at the Japanese federation, she also allocated 70% of resources to Speed Skating and only 30% on Figure Skating (which may be one of the causes of the Japanese relative weaknesses in Pairs and Ice Dance) while these resources were for a great majority coming from Figure Skating sponsors, TV rights and cuts. Can you imagine another federation issuing a job announcement for a part time social media manager to denigrate Yuzuru Hanyu? Yet this is what happened with this clique. Another visible example was the 2019 Torino robbery, if you see who poor Walter Toigo was between, and his history, it explains part of the "scoring errors", which marked a new step in this trend. And do you remember the wrong invalid Spin at 2020 All-Japan Nationals on Yuzuru Hanyu's Short Program, while several other skaters had done the error which Yuzuru Hanyu hadn't done, but they weren't called? The referee was the same person who was sitting on a side of Walter Toigo at Torino 2019... This person has an independent, apparently successful career unrelated to Figure Skating, there's no bribery involved I'm sure, but there's hate and personal influence. And, of course, there are the federations power plays between them. Skate Canada having been eliminated as the third big power out of lack of results, and the Russian skating federation having been eliminated on political considerations (and its influence on neighbouring federations being actively undermined), the US federation has remained the only big power, having only to leave crumbs to Canadian, European, Japanese and now Korean federations. It's not any conspiracy! It's simply the usual power struggles and psychology!

If we take the Chopin Competition I've been so off-topically (?) vocal about, there most judges are underpaid Piano professors (I don't know elsewhere, but in France, the Professors at the National Superior Conservatories of Paris and Lyon, which are the higher education ones, because their wages are decided by the institutions themselves, are paid even less than common Conservatory teachers, who are — under — paid after a national grid, themselves less than high school teachers, themselves underpaid, to give you an idea; and Paris and Lyon are so expensive to live in or around!) who seem to make ends meet by giving expensive private lessons; which of course may be nearer to a bribery. Plus, there's now an international circusuit of mutually recognised international Piano competitions, I'm not denying that they are and have long been important Piano competitions, but with this anointment they're now subjected to common diktats, among which, seem to be appointing judges from this same circusuit of co-opted judges. I don't see that in Figure Skating judging, hence maybe the fact that I've never seen a skater deserving the podium be left out of the Free Skate, or a skater not deserving of being in the Free Skate landing on the podium, as happened (to take similar concepts) at the latest Chopin Competition. I wouldn't want to give bad ideas to the most ill-willed people in Figure Skating, it's just another example of how human mentality works, and in my opinion it relativises the level of corruption (not bribery!) in Figure Skating which is relatively low given the lack of any way to contain it, yet it's high enough to keep the general public away because they're not been shown the best as being the best; and it may deter vocations too. Of course I lived in a time of very little access to music in a non-musician family, but my parents wished me to play piano, and kindly took me to a concert of a very bad, still well-known pianist (who died many years ago). They didn't know that he was very bad, he was so good in self-promotion that they thought that he was among the best. During years after that I had the prejudice that piano wasn't an interesting instrument, that one couldn't do much with a piano, and I wasn't very keen on my piano lessons. It's only years after, that I got a tape of "the Shoma Uno of Piano" and got hooked. Of course pianists are not a species in want, there are more pianists than available jobs, and I'm sure that I wouldn't have brought anything to Piano; but I do suspect that in Figure Skating similarly, a number of children, shown the "wrong" skaters, may believe wrongly the same way that Figure Skating isn't interesting after all, if nothing better can be achieved with ice and a pair of skates, unless playing Hockey of course. And who knows if among these disgusted children, isn't the one prodigy who would have made your country win with fair scoring, and revived the sports as a major one in the country?

Sigh. Can you just stop? I (and others with me) are not interested, whatever the piano or Walter Tiogo (who even is that?) thing. I've known judges, they do their best. You might not agree (and obviously you don't) but I just feel so bad about such posts. Stop watching if that's your thing!

 

[Mathman]

Do you remember the scandal of this ISU formation material denigrating Evgueny Plushenko's Transitions while he was still active?

I do, I do.

The "scandal" was started by Plushenko who publically complained, "Why does Brian Joubert get higher transition component scores than I do? We have exactly the same transitions -- none."

 

[Mathman]

OK, so now I have had a chance to see the LP action on the little big screen of network TV.

My impression of the men's competition: There were some entertaining efforts by several skaters, for instance Hagara. But the top two were widely separated from the pack.

Of the top two, I thought that Kagiyama was superior in speed, energy, and artistic maturity (the music helped, whereas Satp's' didn't). Yuma paid a fair penalty for the fall (and in general the first part of the performance was somewhat rushed, I thought), allowing Shun to skate to the LP victory -- that was fair enough.

Bu the way, I look at these Grand Prix events, and other major competitions, as prestigious competitions each in its own right. I am actualy not so much into the jockeying for the GP final or in campaigning for selection to national Olympic teams. Congratulations to the winners and to everyone who gave a good accounting of himself.

 

[Arigato]

Shun should have won both SP and FP, but there's no chance against Kagiyama ,a JSF's favorite

His PCS over his entire career say otherwise.

 

[Skatingcat]

I finally got to see some of the competition (Darn you NBC for only showing highlights). I loved Kaori's programs even though I am not a fan of her music. She looked so graceful and effortless to me. I thought the top four women here could easily beat the US women right now.

I wish Shun Sato had won. I loved his free skate.

Didn't get to see any of the ice dancing teams- really wanted to see Green/Parsons and the Shibs.

 

[ChiGal]

I just caught up on all the replays, before Peacock waves the magic disappearing wand! The commentary is this figure skating fan's humble opinion, so please be kind with your disagreements!

Overall, the Japanese men and ladies have very quickly filled this reported "quality skating void" created when the Russians disappeared. That country can give anyone a run for their money for Olympic podium spots. Kaori is a gold medal contender for sure. Yuma K. had a great men's LP but probably can't outskate Ilia Malinin. Their Nationals will be a heart-breaking bloodbath for sure. Any of their non top-3 skaters would be Olympians for any other country.

My area of least expertise is ice dance, but from what my untrained eye saw were a lot of errors/falls uncharacteristic to Ice Dance. And who exactly is pushing this Shib-Sib (I detest that moniker) revival? It can't be USFSA, since the US is several couples deep in this discipline. I though they looked slow and plodding in both the rhythm and free dances. I realize they have been out of competition for 7-8 years but I think the sport has passed them by. Their skating style just cannot keep up with what Fear/Gibson for example, put out this season. Not to be cruel, but if they make the Olympic team....YIKES!!

The pairs this year at the GPF, Olympics, and World Championships will be phenomenal! Any of the pairs ranked #4-8 would be ranked #1-3 in an "off-pairs" year. That being said, not sure if SUI/HAN are competitive anymore? I feel that China is pushing them to compete, as they really don't have anyone else, other than the team sent to the Olympic qualifier.

One more observation: Does it seem that an unusually large number of skaters/teams have reverted to old programs after debuting new programs this year? They spent time and money creating new "Olympic" programs and costumes, only to ditch them shortly after? I really enjoy watching new programs mature as the season goes on, but I guess this being an Olympic year its too risky.

Speaking of costumes, why does Loena have this season's costume/tights color-matched to her spray-tanned body? I feel she always prefers a more risqué look, compared to the ice-princess confections we usually see. But she looked practically nude while skating her LP. Where are the costume police?

 

[moonvine]

I agree. And I will see it live in two weeks! I am so happy I decided to go. He will have a great future in shows, if he wants to, and as such an entertainer, why would he not wan to?

I am so happy for you! I will see it at Nationals when hopefully it will be clean. Please take him and my skating doctor a stuffie!

 

[moonvine]

Honestly the women’s program was such a disaster, other than the top 3. (It looks like Loena likes cats. I have noted it in my stuffie database.) Who is looking after these skaters? Are they trying to come back too soon after injury?

 

[Arigato]

Speaking of costumes, why does Loena have this season's costume/tights color-matched to her spray-tanned body? I feel she always prefers a more risqué look, compared to the ice-princess confections we usually see. But she looked practically nude while skating her LP. Where are the costume police?

I thought she looked lovely as usual.

 

[reneerose]

....The pairs this year at the GPF, Olympics, and World Championships will be phenomenal! Any of the pairs ranked #4-8 would be ranked #1-3 in an "off-pairs" year. That being said, not sure if SUI/HAN are competitive anymore? I feel that China is pushing them to compete, as they really don't have anyone else, other than the team sent to the Olympic qualifier....

I watched the SUI/HAN LP and Mark Hanretty was exclaiming at the reverse lasso lift they pulled off with a bit of balance difficulty. Part of it looked like they were struggling to hang on until the end...and they definitely don't have the speed they used to. It sounded like this was the 4th run through of that LP. I would have thought they seriously retired after all this time. Those Olympics really make lots of athletes unretire don't they?