Chen: 'That was pretty rough'

USA’s Nathan Chen was the winner in the Men’s event at 2017 Bridgestone Skate America, while veteran skaters Adam Rippon (USA) and Sergei Voronov (RUS) finished second and third, respectively.

“That was pretty rough, I’m not going to lie,” said the 2017 Four Continents champion. “I came in here with a lot more expectations in terms of what I was going to do. Obviously I wanted to hit the quads. I used a lot of energy on that first Lutz, and it was a little off in the six-minute warm up. I think I exerted too much energy there, and then it took me a little bit to recalculate. I didn’t calculate properly, so the rest of the program kind of went downhill from there. It’s a good experience. It’s a good thing to learn from and I’ll work hard for the next event.”

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“What I love about competing is I love performing,” said Rippon. “I just wanted to put on a good performance, so I put that (fall) behind me. I focused on what I needed to do to have a good skate, and then I just pushed myself from there.”

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“It was not easy,” the 30-year-old said. “I noticed that something had happened, there was a delay and I only can wish Daniel Samohin a quick recovery. It was a distraction, but I was able to deal with the difficulties and I’m looking forward to the Grand Prix Final.”

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See article for more quotes from both the short and long.

What are your thoughts on the men's event? Lot's happened here - what was the biggest surprise for you?

biggest surprise was the fact that there seemed to be no outrage in the SA Men's FS thread here over the fact that Nathan got 87 PCS for that joke of a program when all that's been happening in the past two months are people screaming about how unfair Mikhail's/Javi's/Shoma's/Yuzu's PCS was for their flawed performances. People literally bend over backwards to feed into their delusions that Nathan 'The Wunderkind' Chen is just that good

chillgil said:

biggest surprise was the fact that there seemed to be no outrage in the SA Men's FS thread here over the fact that Nathan got 87 PCS for that joke of a program when all that's been happening in the past two months are people screaming about how unfair Mikhail's/Javi's/Shoma's/Yuzu's PCS was for their flawed performances. People literally bend over backwards to give Nathan 'The Wunderkind' Chen excuse after excuse. Did somebody say "delusion"??

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What exactly are the excuse after excuse?

Did Nathan add the ill-fated 4T because he popped the 4S and planned 4T1Lo3S? I am glad even with all the jumping troubles he didn't give up on the program.

So it was the blade after all. He mentioned in the article that’s the need blade was too sharp on the inside edge and it affected his flip, toe, and flip. Clearly he didn’t chance the 3A because of it. I’m glad he took a chance at changing the blade, because I too wonder if he had switched to new boots would have skates better at worlds. But now we all know there are no easy answers to hard decisions to make. The nick on his blade was unfortunate. However, I believe it will teach him to be a better skater in the future.

gsk8 said:

What are your thoughts on the men's event?

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gsk8 said:

Lot's happened here - what was the biggest surprise for you?

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Speaking of which, do we have any updates on Daniel?

Did anyone see rafs comments on icenetwork. All veiled in secrecy. Makes me much more concerned. Said there was more than he couldn’t talk about? Why mention it if you can’t talk about it?

princessalica said:

Did anyone see rafs comments on icenetwork. All veiled in secrecy. Makes me much more concerned. Said there was more than he couldn’t talk about? Why mention it if you can’t talk about it?

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Yeah it was weird - said there were a lot of issues going on behind the scenes besides from Nathan's skates idk what they could be

kimi492 said:

Yeah it was weird - said there were a lot of issues going on behind the scenes besides from Nathan's skates idk what they could be

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He was so weird about it it makes me think it's either some mental struggle or some family drama. I can't think of anything else that would require such secrecy.

Raf always reveals more than he should in interviews. He’s not good at not speaking his mind. But if I were to guess. Nathan had some confidence issues, minor injuries, problems with his blades, and something else happen in the last few weeks. Seeing how strong his was yesterday makes me think this was mostly the blade. You should NEVER compete on a fresh blade! They’re so hard to control! Such a bad call!

I like Nathan. I like him a lot. But his FS tonight points out how flawed the current point system is. The fact that he could get those PCS scores when he was spending most of his time on his butt on the ice is just wrong. I realize he had a new blade. I realize that can put a skater off. I'm not addressing the fact that he had some real issues to overcome. What I find disgusting is that someone can skate as badly as he did and still win a gold medal. There is just something really, really wrong with that.

FP
177.41 Adam RIPPON
171.76 Nathan CHEN
169.98 Sergei VORONOV
168.06 Boyang JIN
148.03 Ross MINER
145.66 Liam FIRUS
142.36 Han YAN
137.72 Takahito MURA
134.95 Kevin REYNOLDS
129.25 Roman SADOVSKY

Nathan won by SP's score.
It is wrong that a competitor with low technical difficulty will win.
Even junior competitors is doing more difficult things

Nathan CHEN FP PCS

PCS ： deduction
88.00: 0.00: 2017 US International Figure Skating Classic
88.40: 0.00: ISU GP Rostelecom Cup 2017
87.08: 2.00: ISU GP 2017 Bridgestone Skate America


http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1718/gpusa2017/gpusa2017_Men_FS_Scores.pdf

Nathan, this time, was 2 fall, 3 POP.
However, it was PCS 87 which was almost the same as before.
Personally, I am OK for this PCS.

However, I am interested in journalists, analysts and people who argue that other competitors, in the case of fails such as fall, lower PCS, have opinions on this is.

In addition, Nathan 's performance of this time also provides interesting samples about' balance '.
Nathan 's successful jump is only 4Lz-3T, 4Lz, 3Lz.
He only succeeded in Lz.
http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1718/gpusa2017/gpusa2017_Men_SP_Scores.pdf

Even including SP, he has not succeeded in edge jump, axel jump, Salchow, loop.

Regarding this also, I'm interested in what kind of opinion people who accuse programs such as Zagitova insist on balancing the program normally.

@rabbit1234 wrote:

Nathan CHEN FP PCS
88.00: 0.00: 2017 US International Figure Skating Classic
88.40: 0.00: ISU GP Rostelecom Cup 2017

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To me the problem of this PCS scores of Nathan here is, as you have also shown, is the little difference with what he gained for his performance at CoR.

And not so much (or not only) for the falls and pops, but mostly for other factors. He was skating in general with less speed and energy (and if I read well some interview he also stated this: http://www.icenetwork.com/news/2017/11/25/262409010/chen-falls-to-earth-still-wins-skate-america-crown), with also longer preparation before jumps than usual, and with less precision in the transition movements, feet as well as upper body movements. Also the body lines, one of the Nathan's forte, were simply not there. Not to speak of the level of interpretation and artistic impression in general.

All these factors should have had a clearer reflection at least in the scores of SS, TR, PE and IN, while the difference between the two comps for SS is 0.14, in TR is 0.7 (lol at the continuity of movements and the quality...), 0.32 in PE and 0.20 in IN.
I know that these are different comps, with diverse judges and it's difficult to compare them; that Nathan had problem with his blades that affected not only some of his jumps but also other parts of his skate; that, as usually, we have to deal with some home inflation. Still, Nathan PCS here were a little to high, IMO.
Three or, at least, a couple of points less wouldn't change the result but would be fairer to the others skaters attending the competition.

Anyway, I like very much his SP and Nathan skates it well (Shae Lynn did a wonderful work) and in general is out of the question his win here, but it's clear that - also not considering the blades problem - he has still work to do with his FS and with the 3A, at least.

For the other two men: I liked their competitive attitude and how they skated - in very different ways - their FS at this comp, and I am very happy for their placement at GPF.

So: congratulations to all the winners and good luck for the next final.

ISU GP Rostelecom Cup 2017
http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1718/gprus2017/gprus2017_Men_SP_Scores.pdf
http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1718/gprus2017/gprus2017_Men_FS_Scores.pdf

Also in ISU GP Rostelecom Cup 2017, Nathan had no 3A success with SP and FP. The only edge jump he succeeded was 4S (GOE 0.57).
Because he is not good at 3A, it often happens to have little edge jump success with SP and FP.

Regarding the relationship between fall and PCS, I think it is common to fall by 1 or 2 points if it falls.
I do not think this is wrong.
The problem is to use double standards such as criticizing competitors in the same situation and not criticizing other competitors. I think that is not fair.

Also, I have doubts that BV's low competitor will take high skating skills and so on.
It is strange that the skating skill is high though it is not complicated and difficult to do, and if the skating skill is high, you should be able to have a difficult jump.
This is the same reason that it is strange to put scores on high skating skills on juniors in layouts such as 2A, 2T.
I think that competitors with low BV should be punished even at PCS.

chillgil said:

biggest surprise was the fact that there seemed to be no outrage in the SA Men's FS thread here over the fact that Nathan got 87 PCS for that joke of a program when all that's been happening in the past two months are people screaming about how unfair Mikhail's/Javi's/Shoma's/Yuzu's PCS was for their flawed performances. People literally bend over backwards to feed into their delusions that Nathan 'The Wunderkind' Chen is just that good

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I'm not surprised. But yeah, the PCS were way too high, only 1.8 points off his PB, while he fell twice and popped 4 jumps. You bet most of the other guys that cause "overscored!" screams see a harsher drop when they mess up (Yuzu scored 9 points below his PCS PB at ACI, while having a fall less then Nathan to boot. Javi scored 6 point less then his PCS PB at IdF, after 2 falls and 3 iffy landings. And the funny thing is that with Javi, IdF is among the closest you can get to "home town advantage" too).

And I can't but eyeroll at that "blade issues" excuse coming up too. Boot issues at WC, blade issues here - what's it next time, fringy laces? Of course trouble with the equipment can happen, and it influences your skates - but do people really think Nathan is the only ones who might have trouble with those things? People have no problem chiding all the other guys for inconsistency - maybe they had "boot issues" too? And just don't like talking about it? I'd have no problem with Nathan getting the benefit of the doubt if the others would get it too. But nope. And especially the media, who've spent all that time first pushing the narrative of Yuzu being sooooo inconsistent, and are now just jumping over to say the same about Shoma (I guess because that's the new main rival for the final). Completely ignoring stuff like his fever before IdF. Media is pretty horrible everywhere, but the NA hype and smearing of their rivals really takes the cake. And IMO this does nothing but put Nathan under more pressure. Let him have his bad skates too, it happens to the best, it doesn't make him any less of a skater, no less of the rightful SA winner, no less of a favorite for GPF/Olys. It's just so unnecessary. But yeah, not that my bewilderment with that stuff will change anything.

Overall though, given how that event went, I just hope everyone heals who is injured now - Maxim, Boyang, Adam and especially Dany, who I pray will recover fast and well. And hopefully, hopefully will be fit enough to compete at the Olympics, even if not in top form, with less quads, or whatever. Just be there and be well! (Also Boyang, can't you maybe skip the final? Look at last season, you don't need the final, but you need your ankles! :sad21: )
Hopefully the horror part of the season is over, and hopefully Nathan continues to escape the curse and stays injury-free & healthy. And congrats for making the final to him, Sergei and Adam - good luck to everyone there!

Funny, Sergei's PCS goes down when he makes one mistake but if your name is Nathan or Mikhail or Shoma or Javi...no problem! Be as sloppy as you want and PCS will save you!

silverfoxes said:

Funny, Sergei's PCS goes down when he makes one mistake but if your name is Nathan or Mikhail or Shoma or Javi...no problem! Be as sloppy as you want and PCS will save you!

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I think that he was clearly better at NHK Trophy. Also, should he also raise BV?

Sergei VORONOV　FP　PCS

77.60 : 25th Ondrej Nepela Trophy
86.72 :ISU GP NHK Trophy 2017
83.48:ISU GP 2017 Bridgestone Skate America


NHK trophy was good, so you should consider it was a high score.

rabbit1234 said:

I think that he was clearly better at NHK Trophy. Also, should he also raise BV?

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That's the point. He lost over 3 points in PCS from NHK (and really, had only 1 major mistake). But then you have Kolyada who gets his highest PCS ever with a terrible program with 3 falls. Nathan's went down only 1.32 from CoR for that absolute mess of a program. How is that fair?

I think Sergei will only raise BV if/when he knows he has a good chance to skate cleanly. Unlike you, I think that is admirable. I'm sick of seeing trainwreck programs get rewarded.

silverfoxes said:

That's the point. He lost over 3 points in PCS from NHK (and really, had only 1 major mistake). But then you have Kolyada who gets his highest PCS ever with a terrible program with 3 falls. Nathan's went down only 1.32 from CoR for that absolute mess of a program. How is that fair?

I think Sergei will only raise BV if/when he knows he has a good chance to skate cleanly. Unlike you, I think that is admirable. I'm sick of seeing trainwreck programs get rewarded.

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As for Kolyada's PCS, I can not explain to myself as I have repeatedly talked about.
Because it is Koryada's home country? I think that is not fair.
As for Sergei 's NHK' s PCS, I think that Japanese audiences have also given great encouragement to competitors in other countries. Sergei was also surprised by it.