2014 Olympics Mens Free Skate

[Mista Ekko]

Well, What a meh competition at the Free skate here.

It's an all asian podium, If you count Chan
Feels weird not seeing Chan at the top, Looks very juniorish,
Congrats to Kazakhstan on it's first big medal
Congrats to Japan, Or even Asia for their first Men's Gold
A shame Canada finishes 2nd again at the one event they never triumphed at :\ (I wonder what Orser feels about that )

Denis ten went first and handed in the best skate of the night, The only really good skate,
Apart from the clean but quadless Jeremy Abbott who should be pleased with his performance.

Out of steam Fernandez finishes 2+ points away form the Bronze, A shame seeing he's 23 and looks like all the good podium
(And none podium) kids aren't going anywhere till 2018.

Hanyu continues to miss his first jump, Has another deduction soon after but manages to land one great quad,
And three great combinations in the second half (Though one didn't count as one) But leaves the door wide open for Chan to have his moment.

Chan starts with a wonderful quad combination, And goes on to have 3 bad landings (One on his final 2a, i mean...)
And doubles a jump, Allowing Hanyu to become the first Olympic champion with a major fall.

 

[Poodlepal]

Evan Lysacek doesn't look so bad now does he?

:agree:

 

[Sk8n Mama]

Well, that was a dog's breakfast!

I agree with Joannie 100%. He didn't win the silver, he lost the gold. My FB friends who are former comp skaters are very displeased with Patrick Chan who, apparently just said to the media, "well, it wasn't my worst skate ever, so that's a positive." Armchair athletes are all saying how wonderful it is because, well, it's a medal for CAN and we got none yesterday. I'm happy he still got on the podium for Canada but that skate was not good. Again, why on earth would an Olympic gold contender hire an Athur Murray Dance Instructor as his primary coach in an Olympic year? So he could date her daughter? He needed a solid technical coach behind him to fix that 3ax and the jump inconsistencies.

 

[Angela V]

So Kurt Browning said before Chan skated was that he was going to skate as if in practice and not even think that he's skating at the Olympics. Um... well that didn't work!

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Messy skates, sadly. It's never fun to see the "best" of the bad skates fill the podium.

Questions
1. Why did Hanyu salchow not count in his sequence? He only got credit for 3Lz+1Lo+SEQ?
2. Will people now talk abouti ncreasing the penalty for faulty quads? How 4 years changes everything...

He put his foot down on the 1/2 loop, so the 3S could not be counted.

 

[rollerblade]

I don't know, think I prefer a fully rotated quad with 2-foot or even fall instead of all these double jumps. Doubles just look lame at this level, especially when everyone kept tacking on double toes after jumps. Yuck.

Hanyu's long program seems so choreographically empty; even Kulik's 98 LP felt fuller.

 

[bartlebooth]

well, anticlimatic flower ceremony was the appropriate ending to this hot mess.
Denis Ten, or How to Peak the Right Week After an Abysmal Season, part II
Hanyu and Chan were both so nervous, such blah skates.
Plushenko is probably thinking of a comeback.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Well, that was a dog's breakfast!

I agree with Joannie 100%. He didn't win the silver, he lost the gold. My FB friends who are former comp skaters are very displeased with Patrick Chan who, apparently just said to the media, "well, it wasn't my worst skate ever, so that's a positive." Armchair athletes are all saying how wonderful it is because, well, it's a medal for CAN and we got none yesterday. I'm happy he still got on the podium for Canada but that skate was not good. Again, why on earth would an Olympic gold contender hire an Athur Murray Dance Instructor as his primary coach in an Olympic year? So he could date her daughter? He needed a solid technical coach behind him to fix that 3ax and the jump inconsistencies.

As TEB and GPF showed, he got his jumps under control. It's his focus that was the issue tonight.

 

[qwertyskates]

Even without the falls, the skating was still really AWFUL by those in the top 10, with the exception of Denis Ten!! That's my beef...

 

[Tinymavy15]

Wow, Han yan sure does open his mouth wide when in the air

Worst Olympic men's FS event ever.

But, Congrats to all medalists.

Maybe Yuzuru and Ten will be a National hero.

Good for them!!

Agreed. This event could have been an epic showdown, instead it was just kind of sad. Nobody skates their best.
I wonder if the team event turned out to be a drawback this year, especially with only 5 days or so for the men to recover.

 

[Mrs. P]

Agreed. This event could have been an epic showdown, instead it was just kind of sad. Nobody skates their best.
I wonder if the team event turned out to be a drawback this year, especially with only 5 days or so for the men to recover.

I don't know about that. Castelli and Shnapir turned in two more personal bests, V/T did great as did S/K who ended up going 1-2.....

I don't think there are any excuses especially since neither Chan nor Hanyu had to skate both programs.

 

[FishOutOfWater]

I hardly ever post here, but I have to share that I think that was one of the most poorly skated competitions I've ever watched.

Good for Dennis Ten, Jeremy Abbott redeeming himself, and Jason Brown getting a top 10 finish. Patrick Chan...

 

[Silvia451]

I hate the fact that they don't give them the medals as usually.

 

[A.H.Black]

Bad post. Sorry.

 

[Layfan]

What a let down. Such a deep men's field only to leave such a disappointing competition. Patrick must be crushed. At least I can be happy for Dennis and for Japan's first gold medal. But the competition didn't leave behind any must-see again skates from the men except Hanyu's SPs.

 

[Srin Odessa]

Messy skates, sadly. It's never fun to see the "best" of the bad skates fill the podium.

Questions
1. Why did Hanyu salchow not count in his sequence? He only got credit for 3Lz+1Lo+SEQ?
2. Will people now talk about increasing the penalty for faulty quads? How 4 years changes everything...

1.) I think the error in the half loop made him have a sequence penalty.
2.) Don't worry, the ISU in its infinite wisdom will penalize bad quads to the point that they are rarely attempted in favor of easier triples. Then, when a quadless skater wins 2018 in South Korea, the ISU will raise the value again due to scandal. Finally, Timothy Goebel will laugh as the ISU suffers for not giving the quad king the Gold at 2002 Olympics and retroactively lowering the value of the quad when developing COP.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Even without the falls, the skating was still really AWFUL!! That's my beef...

Yeah... Hanyu and Chan were so tentative.

Funny enough Abbott was the only skater to go clean tonight (looks like he intended to turn that 4T into a 3T).

 

[will74lsn]

Am I the only one to think that Hanyu's transitions were average and his arms were all over the place? Some lessons from Miss Kim how to use arms might be useful Every thing looked so unfinished hwell: SUrely not a performance I will watch again..actually any of the performances of tonite Sorry I am so negative, but I was expecting so much more from these guys!!!!

 

[YesWay]

Between Yuzuru and Patrick, I'm happy for them, of course, but both were so slow uninspiring and just meh, that I feel totally let down and cannot be happy. This was Patricks Chance. As soon as Yuzuru fell, I thought Patrick had it in the bag. This competition just pales so much in comparison to Vancouver. The programs were skated so uninspiring. Nerves all around and tonight they REALLY showed. Hoping for a much better Worlds with great skates, and of course a great ladies competition now.

Yeah. Scrappy competition, it came down to who made the least mistakes, or the least costly ones. Hoping for better from the ladies.

After Fernandez (what happened?! downgrade caused a Zayak? commentator said he got zero for one of his combinations), the door was open for Takahashi to make the podium... his skate was heartfelt, and I thought it might just be enough to pip Dennis Ten. But no. I didn't think his mistakes were that bad, but I'm guessing there were some I didn't see or some downgrades. Have to watch some slo-mo's and look at protocols to see what went wrong there.

I'm sure Hanyu's happy with the gold medal, but not the way he won it. I think he will be out to prove himself at World's in front of his home crowd... and Chan will be thirsty for revenge... and maybe Fernandez, Reynolds, Ten, Takahashi, Machida, Kovtun et al will deliver. I'm thinking that's going to be a better competition than this...

 

[polymath]

I have a question about the figure skating competitions. When the skater finishes their routine and takes a seat to be shown their scores, they usually sit with the coach. I've noticed some people sitting with two people, both are coaches? Like Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic for instance, he was sitting with Victor Petrenko but there also this woman sitting next to him. Who is she and what does she do if she isn't a coach?