2018-19 Good Time, Bad Time, Interesting Time

pearly · Sep 30, 2018

The 2018-19 season is a good time for:

Russian ladies, Jr and Sr - they are dominating the sport right now.
North American ice dance - as above.
Japanese Sr ladies - doing well. The competition is strong, second to Russians right now.

It is an interesting time for:

Russian Sr men - they are doing well, a few of them are pretty close, but not in the very top.
US Jr ladies - in lack of a Sr lady who is a likely medalist at major events, the US ladies' field is wide open as they await the next Michelle Kwan.
Russian Jr ice dance - they are doing ok at JGP, but who will make it to Sr level and win medals again?
Russian Jr pairs - from the looks of JGP standings, the future is Russian. Is it really?
Korean Jr and Sr ladies - many moved to new coaches and are thriving, will challenge Japanese seniors soon.
US pairs - not sure whether to put them in the "interesting" or the "bad" times group. Most of last season's pairs are still around, will there be changes at the top?

It is not such a great time/rebuilding time for:

US Sr ladies
Canadian Sr ladies
Canadian pairs

Thoughts? Different opinions? Share them!

WeakAnkles · Sep 30, 2018

With the introduction of the five point scale for GOEs it's a great time for even more JUDGING SHENANIGANS.

Honestly, they should make a sitcom with that title.

BoDs · Nov 6, 2018

as someone very familiar with the jr Canadian pairs id have to say its literally a nightmare...ik its kinda harsh but i trained in Canada for a bit and things don't seem to be going very well

andromache · Nov 6, 2018

Good time for:

Stepanova/Bukin. Great programs and a relatively open field.
Russian ladies with Eteri - especially Trusova and Zagitova.
Hanyu. Basically the undisputed GOAT. The class of the field in basically all categories especially now that Javi and Patrick are gone. I'm not a huge Yuzu fan by any means but those are just the facts.
Michal Brezina, randomly. Good for him. The hard work with Raf has paid off and we're seeing results.
Liza Tukt. Being a boss on Twitter and capitalizing on post-Olympic lull, just as she did in 2014-2014.
James/Cipres. They just keep getting better and they're probably one/two of the most well-liked teams/skaters by skating fans. They've always been underdogs until now.
Former IceNetwork subscribers. We now have a service that works with NBC Gold. Tara and Johnny are bad but at least the stream is reliable.

Interesting time for:

Marie-France and Patrice. They're coaching soooo many teams now. It's ridiculous.
Brian Orser. Coaching GOAT Hanyu, trying to navigate rebuilding Evgenia's skating/jumps while keeping her close enough to the top to stay relevant. He's under a bit of a microscope.
Chinese pairs. With Yu/Zhang out, Peng/Jin can rise. Also Sui/Han expected to come back from another injury/surgery. A lot of setbacks overall but reasons to stay positive.
Nathan Chen. College!!!! Long hair!! Dialing back on the jumps a bit and working the skating/performance. We'll see how it all unfolds.

Bad time for:

US pairs...continue to be looking grim.
US ladies. Not even a medalist at Skate America.
Tom Z. Really a bad look all-around for complaining about his student's underrotation calls on social media. But his South Korean junior ladies are doing well, so maybe I should move him to interesting.
Canadian ladies. Alaine is their only hope. Or Meagan Duhamel if she decides to compete in singles.
Kolyada and Jin. Two World medalists that were considered shoo-ins to make GPF now very unlikely.

Amei · Nov 6, 2018

andromache said:
Bad time for:

US pairs...continue to be looking grim.
US ladies. Not even a medalist at Skate America.
Tom Z. Really a bad look all-around for complaining about his student's underrotation calls on social media. But his South Korean junior ladies are doing well, so maybe I should move him to interesting.
Canadian ladies. Alaine is their only hope. Or Meagan Duhamel if she decides to compete in singles.
Kolyada and Jin. Two World medalists that were considered shoo-ins to make GPF now very unlikely.

I disagree a little bit here Kolyada more-so than Jin, both of them have the goods to challenge/beat Hanyu but they've got some issues that have been around and they've been able as of right now to still eek out respectable finishes where there hasn't been a 'jolt' it seems that something needs to change - I hope that if they do miss the GPF that it serves as a wakeup call. And its the season right after the Olympics - better to have a terrible season now instead of 3 years from now.

TripleAxelQueens3 · Nov 6, 2018

If Kolyada could just get a consistent 4Lz...

Good time for:
- Russian Junior Ladies, Liza Tuktamysheva and Alina Zagitova: basically dominating.
- Michal Brezina: dude made the GPF after like what? 4 years?
- Eteri Tutberidze: all her lady students have won gold medals (except Akatieva)

Interesting time for:

- Brian Orser: his reputation is kind of hanging off of Evgenia’s performances this season.
- Nathan Chen: can be survive FS and Yale?
- Elena Buyanova: she’s suddenly got 4 students and almost all of them deteriorating. Every move she makes will be be observed by fans.
- Ice dance in general: many of the “top” teams are gone so that’s leaving so holes to ben filled at the final.

Bad time for:

- A lot of Russian Sr Ladies: a lot of them are being pushed back by juniors and even more are just struggling.
- Kolyada and Jin: disappointment at Helsinki... neither have much chance to make the final now
- Japanese Juniors: a japanese lady didn’t make it to the JGPF for the first time in like... forever!
- US ladies: all of them can be good, none of them have the mental capability to be good.

silverfoxes · Nov 6, 2018

Amei said:
I disagree a little bit here Kolyada more-so than Jin, both of them have the goods to challenge/beat Hanyu but they've got some issues that have been around and they've been able as of right now to still eek out respectable finishes where there hasn't been a 'jolt' it seems that something needs to change - I hope that if they do miss the GPF that it serves as a wakeup call. And its the season right after the Olympics - better to have a terrible season now instead of 3 years from now.

Boyang has at least proven himself many times as a fierce competitor. Kolyada has 0 ability to withstand even the slightest amount of pressure, 0 stability, and no hunger to win at all. The idea that he could beat Hanyu is hilarious. Unless Hanyu comes down with food poisoning like Javi at CoC last season.

friedbanana · Nov 6, 2018

Well in terms of me and the 2018-19 figure skating season, I'm enjoying the new unrecycled programs, Fear/Gibson's disco free dance, Daisuke Takahashi's comeback, and James/Cipres.

The ladies field is very interesting to me, and I'm excited in particular for their event at the GPF. I'm curious to see how the judges rank the top ladies against each other - esp. Alina vs. Med vs. Satoko if they all qualify. Will PCS make sense? Probably not, but still I'm hyped!

And for the bad: with a few exceptions, my favorites from the pairs and ice dance disciplines have either retired, are on a break, or are injured, so it's been hard for me to be very invested in any of the competing teams so far. But I do look forward to see who rises and medals among the relatively empty-ish GP fields.

el henry · Nov 6, 2018

All I can say is I hope I have an “interesting” year like Brian Orser.

His reputation “hangs” on Zhenya like I’m in my 20s and blond (I’m not).
Five words: Yuzuru Hanyu. JunHwan Cha. Brian is doing fine :laugh:

karne · Nov 6, 2018

I'll throw it in:

Bad time for: the US men. Max, Adam, Grant and Ross all gone. Juniors not up to scratch yet. Nathan is going okay, Vincent's URs are being correctly called giving his scores a nosedive, and Jason's reconstructed technique may mean lower scores than usual for him for a while. I think keeping those three spots could be tight.

Skater Boy · Nov 7, 2018

andromache said:
Good time for:

Stepanova/Bukin. Great programs and a relatively open field.
Russian ladies with Eteri - especially Trusova and Zagitova.
Hanyu. Basically the undisputed GOAT. The class of the field in basically all categories especially now that Javi and Patrick are gone. I'm not a huge Yuzu fan by any means but those are just the facts.
Michal Brezina, randomly. Good for him. The hard work with Raf has paid off and we're seeing results.
Liza Tukt. Being a boss on Twitter and capitalizing on post-Olympic lull, just as she did in 2014-2014.
James/Cipres. They just keep getting better and they're probably one/two of the most well-liked teams/skaters by skating fans. They've always been underdogs until now.
Former IceNetwork subscribers. We now have a service that works with NBC Gold. Tara and Johnny are bad but at least the stream is reliable.

Interesting time for:

Marie-France and Patrice. They're coaching soooo many teams now. It's ridiculous.
Brian Orser. Coaching GOAT Hanyu, trying to navigate rebuilding Evgenia's skating/jumps while keeping her close enough to the top to stay relevant. He's under a bit of a microscope.
Chinese pairs. With Yu/Zhang out, Peng/Jin can rise. Also Sui/Han expected to come back from another injury/surgery. A lot of setbacks overall but reasons to stay positive.
Nathan Chen. College!!!! Long hair!! Dialing back on the jumps a bit and working the skating/performance. We'll see how it all unfolds.

Bad time for:

US pairs...continue to be looking grim.
US ladies. Not even a medalist at Skate America.
Tom Z. Really a bad look all-around for complaining about his student's underrotation calls on social media. But his South Korean junior ladies are doing well, so maybe I should move him to interesting.
Canadian ladies. Alaine is their only hope. Or Meagan Duhamel if she decides to compete in singles.
Kolyada and Jin. Two World medalists that were considered shoo-ins to make GPF now very unlikely.[/Q

Oooh Meghan skating singles and winning the national title would be absolutely interesting and humbling about the state of womens skating in canada. Maybe Joannie could skate and do an appendectomy at the same time? Or Liz Manley could come out of retirement?

Noxchild · Nov 7, 2018

Being a little melodramatic about the state of Canadian women's skating imo when it's likely to be only one iffy season, then the honourable Kaetlyn Osmond is coming back to tear the field up

Daleman's got stuff to work on BTS, and no one else is very impressive, but how many countries have that deep a field to begin with?

2018-19 Good Time, Bad Time, Interesting Time

pearly

WeakAnkles

BoDs

andromache

Amei

TripleAxelQueens3

sasha trusova is superior

silverfoxes

friedbanana

End Turandot!

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode

Skater Boy

Noxchild

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