2025-26 Grand Prix Final | Page 8 | Golden Skate

Replay Lounge 2025-26 Grand Prix Final

Replay Lounge
This Final was a lot of fun!
I loved Men's event! Top3 really set the bar high for the Olympics!
I'm still in disbelief about what Ilia did. That was a MONSTER of a skate!
Happy for Yuma crossing 300 points, even with couple of small mistakes. And his short was absolutely brilliant.
Shun was great, calm and composed. I wonder if he could also join the 300 points club in the near future.
Adam was a bit chaotic (as per usual lately), but the first half of his program was solid. I hope to see it in full glory at the olympics, it has potential and I love Adam's commitment. (I also appreciate new costumes)
Mikhail looked tired, he did what he could, I don't remember much of it.
And Daniel, well, his program is still the most bizzare one for me, i'm sorry, I don't feel the concept.

I hope Kaori will use this event as a motivation for the upcoming Nationals and later Olympics. It was so heartbreaking to see her so upset.
Shame about Mone, I also hope it will be a valuable experience for her.
Ami is a joy to watch, can't wait to see her develop in the next olympic cycle.
I (sadly) have mixed feelings about Alysa (about judging of course, not her as a person; she seems rather lovely as a person) since Boston Worlds and I can't quite shake them off, but it was great event for her! The short is so dreamy and it's amazing how she is able to keep the same energy level through the whole free.

The Leader's Chair wasn't as awkward as at World's, probably because it's a significantly shorter event, but attacking skaters with a microphone right after their skate is still a very bad idea.
Japanese crowd did amazingly well tho! And I'm glad Mark was one of the commentators.
 
I had to miss women free live so I catched up just now, that was quite a menning :P
Anyway, another very strong event and some wonderful moments: Kaori, Ami, Amber and Alysa clean again, winning again, this girl is amazing cause if everyone went clean she probably woudn't be on the podium but somehow she's the only one having two the most clean skates. But I wish she would bring the new program to nats and olympics cause having two recycled programs without any development is a bit off.

I also catched up junior pairs and I loved it, so much potential there.
 
All GS coverage is up:


I feel so bad for Chiba, she is such a gorgeous skater. Lots of movement in the Women for sure.

Grassl did very well today and hope that carries through the rest of the season.

I LOVE Kagiyama's short program 💌

I'm also thrilled to see Conti and Macii getting their mojo back!!

What do you think the FS score would have been for the French in ice dance had they not had the trip on the skirt in the FD?

Which was your favorite Free Dance?
 
Anyone spot a gala schedule yet?
# Name Nation Place
The beginning of a Dream Local skaters
1 Rio NAKATA JPN 2nd Junior Men
2 Yuseong KIM & Yujae KIM KOR 2nd & 4th Jr. Women
3 Hana Maria ABOIAN / Daniil VESELUKHIN USA 1st Junior Ice Dance
4 Shun SATO JPN 3rd Men
5 Rui GUO / Yiwen ZHANG CHN 1st Junior Pairs
6 Mone CHIBA JPN 5th Women
7 Allison REED / Saulius AMBRULEVICIUS LTU 5th Ice Dance
8 Sara CONTI / Niccolo MACII ITA 2nd Pairs
9 Karin MIYAZAKI Local Novice A Women
10 Daniel GRASSL ITA 4th Men
11 Piper GILLES / Paul POIRIER CAN 4th Ice Dance
12 Amber GLENN USA 4th Women
13 Minkyu SEO KOR 1st Junior Men
14 Anastasiia METELKINA / Luka BERULAVA GEO 4th Pairs
Dream Collaboration Local skaters
15 Riku SAKUMA Local Novice A Men
16 Laurence FOURNIER BEAUDRY / Guillaume CIZERON FRA 2nd Ice Dance
17 Mao SHIMADA JPN 1st Junior Women
18 Minerva Fabienne HASE / Nikita VOLODIN GER 3rd Pairs
19 Ami NAKAI JPN 2nd Women
20 Adam SIAO HIM FA FRA 5th Men
21 Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON GBR 3rd Ice Dance
22 Kaori SAKAMOTO JPN 3rd Women
23 Yuma KAGIYAMA JPN 2nd Men
The story of the Medalists Local skaters
24 Alysa LIU USA 1st Women
25 Madison CHOCK / Evan BATES USA 1st Ice Dance
26 Ilia MALININ USA 1st Men
27 Riku MIURA / Ryuichi KIHARA JPN 1st Pairs
FINALE
 
One more program to mention.

Yuma Kagiyama in Short Program.

While in Free Skate it was Ilia Malinin's night. Two days back it was Yuma who charmed the audience with his program. It was great to see!
(The happy dance was cute as well. He challenged Shun's coach there.)
 
Seing Yuma Kagiyama's scores in Short Program - I believe that people have reason not to complain about disadvantage with lower jump content any more.

Yuma had "only" 4toeloop and 4salchow in combo getting 108 points. At Worlds 2025 it was 107 points.

Let's compare these points with more difficult jump contents:

Short Program with 4axel!!!! and 4lutz in combo got 106 points. (Ilia)

Short Program with 4flip and 4lutz in combo gets from 104 to 108 (Ilia).

Short Program with 4lutz and 4toeloop with one or another in combo gets from 94 to 99 points (Shun Sato), from 92 to 101 points (Adam Siao Him Fa), 95 points (Mikhail Shaidorov).

Short Program with 4lutz and other triples gets 97 points (Daniel Grassl at Worlds 2022), from 88 to 94 points (Nikolai Memola).

Short Program with 4lutz in combo and 4loop (q) gets 94 points (Daniel Grassl).

Yes, it is possible to counterbalance more difficult jumping content.
 
And the happiest coach award goes to!!!! (Japanese drum roll) Coach Kusaka!!!!
 

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Seing Yuma Kagiyama's scores in Short Program - I believe that people have reason not to complain about disadvantage with lower jump content any more.

Yuma had "only" 4toeloop and 4salchow in combo getting 108 points. At Worlds 2025 it was 107 points.
We already do know skaters like Hanyu could score 110+ points with this layout. If people didn't already know this was a perfectly okay layout for huge scores, then they simply haven't been watching men's skating for the last several years (and oh how I envy them).
 
Yeah, maybe. Either way, his improvement this season is tremendous, he consistently produces solid skates with light and airy jumps, so he definitely deserves all the attention. Nationals in Japan will be one hell of an event.

I believe that Japanese Nationals will be OK coming to men - Yuma K. And Shun S. are the best Japense men at the moment. And Shun is the most consistent one this season.

I feel sorry for ladies, because there are much more than just 3 great skaters. This battle will be heart breaking.

Grand Prix Standings this season had 6 Japanese ladies in top 12 (4 of them fighting in GP Final).

In past there were great Russian skaters sitting at home thanks to quotas.

No matter how good skaters the country has, there will always be 3 skaters per country only. I do understand that ISU wants to think about spreading skating into all countries, so top countries must be limited in numbers. But I don't really like it.

For example in tennis, rules are different coming to Grand Slams and Masters...and it is not losing popularity thanks to it.
 
About the women: Alysa Liu is a super reliable jumper, but her free program is weak. It was cute last season when she came back and just wanted to show everyone she's so relaxed and just there for fun. But now as a world champion I would expect something better than some cutesy dance moves, and at times it seems she is barely moving forward.
I don't like Ami Nakai's program either, just cute and repetitive. Happy for Kaori, I hope she will leave the Olympics with a big smile on her face, that's really my only wish for this season.

Men: Ilia's jumps were outstanding. I noticed he doesn't look so gangly anymore as opposed to many other taller quad jumpers, I think that helps a lot with presentation. Shun had a great choreo sequence. Yuma is the only one who still moves my figure skating fan heart. 😅 Especially his short program.

Ice dance: I'm not an ice dance fan and usually don't watch, but I really looove Chock/Bates free program this season and don't understand why no one else does? 🤣
I haven't watched ice dance in a while, I think these choreo elements really improved ice dance a lot. I thought the other disciplines would greatly benefit from a Choreographic Character Step Sequence as well, and maybe a choreographic spin.
 
I believe that Japanese Nationals will be OK coming to men - Yuma K. And Shun S. are the best Japense men at the moment. And Shun is the most consistent one this season.

I feel sorry for ladies, because there are much more than just 3 great skaters. This battle will be heart breaking.

Grand Prix Standings this season had 6 Japanese ladies in top 12 (4 of them fighting in GP Final).

In past there were great Russian skaters sitting at home thanks to quotas.

No matter how good skaters the country has, there will always be 3 skaters per country only. I do understand that ISU wants to think about spreading skating into all countries, so top countries must be limited in numbers. But I don't really like it.

For example in tennis, rules are different coming to Grand Slams and Masters...and it is not losing popularity thanks to it.
Yep, one sport where US/EU athletes also tend to dominate singles, while Asian players do well in Doubles. Notable execptions of course, but I think it doesn't bother people because a) there is still a great diversity with players from all continents and b) the results always reflect the effort of the athlete that day, unless they are doping.
 
Seing Yuma Kagiyama's scores in Short Program - I believe that people have reason not to complain about disadvantage with lower jump content any more,,,.
The big thing was GOE. All of Malinin, Grassl, Siao Him Fa and Shaidorov got negative total GOE. Shun Sato did fine, but even so Kagiyama clobbered him on GOE. So I guess the moral of the story is. big jumps are a plus -- but only if you. do them well.
 
I believe that Japanese Nationals will be OK coming to men - Yuma K. And Shun S. are the best Japense men at the moment. And Shun is the most consistent one this season.

I feel sorry for ladies, because there are much more than just 3 great skaters. This battle will be heart breaking.

Grand Prix Standings this season had 6 Japanese ladies in top 12 (4 of them fighting in GP Final).

In past there were great Russian skaters sitting at home thanks to quotas.

No matter how good skaters the country has, there will always be 3 skaters per country only. I do understand that ISU wants to think about spreading skating into all countries, so top countries must be limited in numbers. But I don't really like it.

For example in tennis, rules are different coming to Grand Slams and Masters...and it is not losing popularity thanks to it.
After GPF, I think the women’s team for Japan is all but set.

Kaori, Mone, and Ami.

They have consistently beat the others this season and all the others have had one or more problem skates.

I can’t imagine Rion or Rinka having a shot unless one of the others is injured.
 
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