2026 Olympics Team Event: Men's Free Skate

[CoyoteChris]

Ellie crying during the Anthem. You got your medal the old fashioned way...you earned it.

 

[shan22044]

Why am I reminded of these?

Ok this has been bothering me and I was finally about to figure it out.
This is a photo of a raccoon tail! ChatGPT helped me find it LOL (Google Image search has become useless.

 

[Karoltyna]

Keep at it, all you Ilia-haters. You'll be happy to know, you got 4 to 8 more years trying to rag on him and tear him down. Sink your teeth in the raging dislike. Come up with more creative adjectives to dis him with. See if he cares. The put-downs only make him stronger in his pursuit of excellence.

You realize it's not about Ilia, he just goes there and skates what he's got? It's about the judges making choices to not to see some aspects of his skating.

 

[Demandred]

Ilia got one level 2 and one level 3 spin. Shun's last spin was only base value though and he had only a level 2 step sequence, he had a small stumble during it IIRC.

I think the placement of these two was fair though the point gap should have been smaller. And Ilia getting the highest skating skills mark is just wrong.

 

[labgoat]

Ellie crying during the Anthem. You got your medal the old fashioned way...you earned it.

Lots of hard work and bumps and bruises along the way paid off

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

The American kids barely know the anthem lol

Do you know yours? Do you realize what it's like standing on top of an Olympic podium and hearing your national anthem played? I think NOT! Athletes seemingly do not always sing the full anthem or even part of it, as they are in the midst of experiencing the surreal and fleeting emotions involved in the pursuit of achieving Olympic excellence.

 

[Karoltyna]

Why am I reminded of these?

we don't know and don't want to know - if you really need someone to say this aloud

 

[Janice4th]

You realize it's not about Ilia, he just goes there and skates what he's got? It's about the judges making choices to not to see some aspects of his skating.

Or people who forget that skating skills is but one component of pcs.

 

[Magill]

And yet both skates by Malinin were underwhelming to say the least, he lost the SP and was held up by the judges for FP. Two hands on the ice should have been counted as a fall, btw, and were not.
The individual event may be interesting.
And anyone predicting he will hold up as the dominant force in men until the next Olympics are deceiving themselves.
I don't think he will even be around by then.

 

[Janice4th]

Lots of hard work and bumps and bruises along the way paid off

You speak the truth! I’ve watched her practice. I hurt just watching the throw jumps.

 

[NanaPat]

The American kids barely know the anthem lol

I think they know it fine; unfortunately it is unsingable, unless you are an opera singer or Celine Dion. The range required is brutal.

 

[labgoat]

Impressed they all fit on the top level of the podium And didn't expect Grassl to be the selfie guy

Love those medals, they're so thicc!

That selfie of all three teams is fabulous!

 

[taikwan]

I'm hoping for Ilya doing the back flip again with that landing on one leg. Only ever have seen a French woman do that - and then it was illegal. I am not even a big fan of his, but that was my big highlight. And he doesn't even get points for it.

I'm a former ranked gymnastics judge/choreographer and coach and I've judged hundreds of "back flips" which are actually back tucks and the ways skaters do them would have received so many form and technique deductions it wouldn't have made it worthwhile to include them. I still see everything that's wrong with how Ilia does them...despite making it more complicated by being on skates and ice. My eyes can't disregard the form and landings. Back layouts are soooooooooooo much more impressive and difficult.

 

[Karoltyna]

Or people who forget that skating skills is but one component of pcs.

Wellp, he got highest skating skills in the event, which isn't funny joke. While I'm not going to discuss composition because it's too complex for me, he also got highest prestentation with this program that literally started falling apart. But what is the most vexing, tech panel decided to not to see that second Lz was a fall, this has nothing to do with subjectivity of PCS, similar goes for 3A from the short. Whatever, he is smart guy, it was visible he knows what's wrong and that he must fix it quickly because the judges will not be lenient forever.

 

[jenaj]

Ellie crying during the Anthem. You got your medal the old fashioned way...you earned it.

This made me start to tear up. Ellie was the MVP.

 

[taikwan]

You realize it's not about Ilia, he just goes there and skates what he's got? It's about the judges making choices to not to see some aspects of his skating.

I really agree with this and those judges are doing him such a disservice by rewarding him so he thinks he has nothing to improve. Then he gets to the Olympics and all of a sudden they see what some of us have always seen and been frustrated by - the mistakes , bad form, technique etc. He gets hammered here and gets that confused look on his face. Too late to change technique, too late to take a dance class.

 

[Narunde]

So Miura/Kihara won twice, Kaori won twice and Yuma won.
Chock /Bates won twice an Malinin won once. In the end that was enough to win the event.It sounds strange to me but at least so is it.
.The difference is in dance in the Rhythm dance

 

[CoyoteChris]

Ok this has been bothering me and I was finally about to figure it out.
This is a photo of a raccoon tail! ChatGPT helped me find it LOL (Google Image search has become useless.

When I was a kid in the 1950s, we all watched a TV show called "Davie Crocket" and he wore a hat with one of these.

 

[labgoat]

I'm a former ranked gymnastics judge/choreographer and coach and I've judged hundreds of "back flips" which are actually back tucks and the ways skaters do them would have received so many form and technique deductions it wouldn't have made it worthwhile to include them. I still see everything that's wrong with how Ilia does them...despite making it more complicated by being on skates and ice. My eyes can't disregard the form and landings. Back layouts are soooooooooooo much more impressive and difficult.

I can relate as my sister was a gymnast and I am also distracted by the scary back tucks

 

[auser]

I'm hoping for Ilya doing the back flip again with that landing on one leg. Only ever have seen a French woman do that - and then it was illegal. I am not even a big fan of his, but that was my big highlight. And he doesn't even get points for it.

Surya Bonaly aerials were fun to watch.