2019 Finlandia Trophy: Thoughts and Highlights

Lubov Ilyushechkina & Charlie Bilodeau: Not bad for this brand new team! :thumbsup: They are off to a great start! Just need to tweak a few things and up those levels on the throw twist and death spirals.

Too bad about Yamamoto's FS, but he had a great short, besting his previous PB by 10 points since the U.S. Classic!

Ma also had a great FS! So proud! Did you know he loves doing magic tricks with cards? He loves doing it for anyone who will watch - what a character

Too bad about Tuktamysheva's flip (edge call) and double Salchow in the FS, but otherwise still looking strong! Go Queen! :dance:

Kostornaia had two new personal bests since the 2018-19 JGP Final (SP and TS) - Great job! :clapper:

I have always like Wang and Liu and was glad to see them do so well here! Looking forward to seeing more of them at COC and NHK! :luv17:

alena's 3As SHOOK

Alena surprised me with those huge 3As. I wasn't sure how she'd stack up against her training mates this year, but this competition has made it clear that she's in the hunt for the world title.

Has a skater ever earned such high PCS in his/her senior debut? I doubt it. The 9s in the free skate were a pleasant surprise. With the way PCS have inflated in recent years, she deserves them.

- Arrival of Mishina & Galliamov in the Sr. rank :agree: They are charismatic and can sell the programs better than the current two top Russian teams. A presence very much welcome to the pairs figure skating scene, which is getting alarmingly threadbare. I hope they will spice up things in coming years. :agree:

- Usually I am not a big fan of the ladies category, and my following is lukewarm at the best. But I am utterly impressed and excited for Aljona Kostornaia. She embodies the perfection of ladies figure skating.

- I am seriously worried about this poor little boy adrift. Someone save Shoma please before things get uglier :sad21:

- I think I have to start taking Zyrtec when I watch a skating competition. I am developing a severe allergy to Queen songs

Alena has the best 3A of all the ladies now. Winning Finlandia at senior debut may be an indicator of great things to come: Yulia - World silver, Nathan - World golds.

Imagine she will add a 3A in the short and get full credit for the other 3A in the free and get 15-17 more points total by GPF and Worlds. It’d be over 250!

Jimmy Ma!

Also loved Kostornaia (except have mixed feelings about Twilight), Lubov and Charlie's upside down lifts, and enjoyed C/B's FD since they seem to be so into it this year.

Wang and Liu's "Swan Lake" should be a breakout program for them this year as well. All Gadbois, all the time!

Her 3A-2T combination is so smooth that I first didn't realize that Alena added the 3A to the combination jump when I watched it live. Her free skate score is just a few points shy of 160 that Trusova recorded at the Japan Open with four quads. When Kihira or Tuktamysheva does it, their entry is liner and simple but Alena further added a difficult entry to the jump, earning extra points.

https://twitter.com/quadLz/status/1183429829808545793

For the ladies:
Yuhana and Alena were my favorites here. I love Yuhana's personality on ice, the joy she radiates and her POTO Free is so unique. I loved it.
Alena's 3As were just wow. I also love how much fun Alena has skating her Free program especially the second half was just so fun to watch. Her SP is also very beautiful, but we knew that from last season

The men:
Shoma's Free skate is just phenomenal. So beautiful and it emphasizes his great skating skills and musicality. Wow. His SP was also a lot of fun, especially the Step Sequence. (But Shoma, please get yourself a coach ASAP!!!).
Voronov was also quite nice. It is nice to see him still skating and putting out a lot of technical content, although it did not work out this time. I am sure once everything is polished his programs will be really beautiful.
Sota!!! I am so happy to see Sota back again. Yes, his Free was kinda messy, but wow he still got second place. Japanese Nationals will be so interesting this season for the men! I really like Sota's skating so I hope the success he had so far this season will continue

For someone who hasn’t been following current skaters, Alena was impressive. Those 2 triple axels brought memories of Mao’s fantastic skating years ago. In time, I believe she will improve in the artistry, spins, and step sequences.

Fabulous audience, who enthusiastically supported every skater, often clapping along with the music to provide additional inspiration. Made me want to go to Finland for this competition someday. Bravo!

Hamon/Strekalin getting over their JGP colliwobbles and nabbing all their needed TES minimums in one competition, and Jenni Saarinin killing both programs.

Men
- the final group of the men's free sucked, but there were some really strong skates in the earlier groups, particularly (though not exclusively) from lower-content guys.
- the two Philippine skaters, Celestino and Caluza, both had the triple Lutz as their hardest jump, but they both skated with a lot of flair and skill, and I think deserved higher component marks. It was a shame that Celestino came within spitting distance of the Worlds TES minimum, but he'll have other chances this year; I hope they can both have a good Four Continents.
- Yamamoto seems to be really improving, though based on his free skate he maybe wasn't mentally ready to be contending for a medal here (though he got one anyway).
- Sadovsky really shouldn't be attempting a triple Axel in the second half of his program, considering it's such a problem jump for him. Love his artistry, and I hope that the recovery from his recent foot problem will keep apace and he can deliver more consistent skates later in the season.
- Shoma, SOS, send coach immediately.

Ladies
- Kostornaia obviously had a great competition, including the debut of the long-anticipated triple Axel. I really like the rock and roll energy of the last part of her free skate, which is a very different look for her.
- Tuktamysheva saw the light and brought back Florence and the Machine, and it's her best program in years. I also like the free, and especially the costume.
- Yuhana Yokoi frustrated me ever so much last year, because she kept producing great free skates but didn't place well because she couldn't do a clean short program to save her life. And lo and behold, she learned! Loads of personality, of different types, in both programs. Still work to be done, but she could go places. Though this is perhaps giving me false hope that Tomoe Kawabata will eventually sort herself out and be a star.
- As I said, glad that Yokoi got her medal, though by the time she skated her free I was feeling a bit torn because I was so thrilled by Jenni Saarinen's preceding skate and part of me wanted her to repeat Lindfors' bronze medal feat from last year. It wasn't to be, but what a great performance for the home crowd.
- Lower-level skater I don't recall seeing before, Josefin Taljegard; really enjoyed.
- Eva-Lotta Kiibus really needs a nice vacation. I've lost count of the number of consecutive competitions she's been doing.
- Gabrielle had a rough go of it, but after six months off the ice and only a few weeks of training, I guess it went okay. Onward and upward. And she seemed to have a more positive attitude about it than in the past, which is good.

Pairs
- Mishina/Galliamov technically made their senior debut last year at a mid-Grand Prix Challenger (which they won), but this is their real senior debut, and they certainly brought the tech. The new short program doesn't have a lot of performance yet (the free, which is a holdover from last year, is obviously better in that regard), but those elements are so very good. A deserved win.
- Efimova/Korovin looked so much better here than they did at Nebelhorn, even if Korovin's stamina issues with lifts came back at the last second and almost cost them the silver.
- Ilyushechkina/Bilodeau's debut went better than I was honestly expecting. Liubov's 3T is looking like it might be reliable (she's 3-for-3 so far in attempts in competition, including once in combination), which is already a huge improvement. For such a team team, obviously still lots to work on, but with a score so close to 200 points already, it's a great sign because there's lots more points they can mine out of their existing elements. And that's before the question of trying to upgrade their second set of side-by-side jumps.
- Serafini/Tran, also had a really strong outing. I question them falling behind Ziegler/Kiefer after the free (incidentally, loving those two is kind of painful; I really hope they can turn a corner).
- Rough initial outing for Walsh/Michaud, so I hope they rally during the Grand Prix like they did last year.
- All in all, I'm prepared to call the ISU's experiment in consolidating the pre-Grand Prix pairs Challengers from six to three a success. Two of the events (this and Nebelhorn) were really good, and produced podiums that were on average better than several of the Grand Prix pairs podiums from last season. The US Classic was a flaming trainwreck, but that should have been foreseeable the moment they decided it should happen in that location.

Ice dance
- on the negative side, the stream was a mess during the FD, though that came with the silver lining that once I complained to customer service they said they would refund my money.
- Nothing really new or startling here. I liked pretty much all the teams skating, and I continue to be really pleased about Finland's new team of Orihara/Pirinen. Nice to have a good dance team to step in for the moment since Turkkila/Versluis are sidelined.
- A better event for Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha compared to Lombardia, and I've come around to really liking the rhythm dance. The FD still feels like a rare miss for the Gadbois choreography team. Shame that they missed the bronze medal because they were one of the three teams with an invalid character step.
- I felt bad for Wang/Liu that that RD graphics error briefly made it look like they had scored 78 points. But moving into the silver medal position in the free was hopefully a bit of consolation for any disappointment.

It was wonderful that Sota Yamamoto managed to get the silver medal, congatulations!!!

A Finnish male skater among top 8 at Finlandia Trophy!!! For many, many years (if ever?) this has not happened, so huge congratulations to Roman Galay, WOW...

It was a great pleasure to watch the beautiful skating of Alena Kostornaia and her jumps were beautiful, too. Besides, I liked her fs (did not watch ladies sp) very much, a great choreography.

Yuhana Yokoi´s skating pleased my eye, a new name for me. And I was very happy that Jenni Saarinen skated so well & finished 4th.

I posted this in the competition forum but it occurs to me that it's more likely to be seen here: has anyone heard how Niki Wories and Eva Lotta Kiibus are doing after their injuries in the Ladies FS?

Niki had a pretty obvious headstrike there, and perhaps should have been pulled off the ice under the new medical intervention rules...

I was going to go to Espoo only on Friday when both singles' categories were on, but somehow found myself there also yesterday. My main interest was Alena Kostornaia who I wanted to see skate live - was she going to be as good to watch as on screen? Sometimes the live presence can surprise you (e.g. loved Denis Ten even without the good jumps, but Jason Brown did not live up to the hype). Watched half of pairs SP, ice dance FD, men and ladies SP and FS.

The pairs left no impressions in my mind, though, so can't really comment.

The ice dance competition reminded me why I generally tend to avoid watching it except out of weird misplaced sense of duty at live competitions. Bohemian Rhapsody as a pair dance is a little weird - I mean, who is the girl? Mama or "babe"? Or both? At least the cuts were kept at a minimum and in the latter part. It struck me odd that apart from Chock/Bates and the Russians, most of the teams were very loud on the ice, I could hear their blades through the music from the other side of the rink. Was under the impression that ice dancers need good skating skills, but this selection obviously did not have them. In addition, all the prolonged prancing right in the judging panel's faces seemed weird. Back in the day that did happen also in the singles, but currently not so much. The choreos featured also plenty of action just in the mid rink area instead of covering most of the ice area. The Chinese team was good but could have used just Tshaikovsky instead of the Black Swan OST with what they did. The most interesting entries into lifts. Chock & Bates I have always found somehow irritating but this FD I actually liked - maintained the idea throughout and they skated well.

Men's SP featured some pleasant surprises, both Philippine guys were good to watch despite the lack of difficult tech content. Caluza especially was just great in his classical routine. Jimmy Ma's program was slow, small (I think there were many places on the ice he did not even go close to) and stationary - standing on two feet to do armography is not really a very good idea. Estonia's Selevko I had seen in JGP competitions and his performance qualities are impressive also live, great commitment to the choreo and great movement! Hope he gets the tech content up to make a good contender for the European level at least. The top guys had some impressive quads before messing up easier jumps. Shoma was probably the most expected skater and although his music is more energetic than before, it was still the same old Shoma doing basically the same moves as always before. The return of Yamamoto was great to see although he still feels a little bit like the young man without characteristics. He has to develop a persona on ice one day. And as Jaana said above, a Finnish male figure skater in the Top 10 was amazing to see...

Then the main event for me, ladies. Alena started the SP, so that highlight was over fast. But I have to say that I don't think that I have seen anyone quite like her ever before. Her speed and general flow on the is just amazing, so fluid and smooth. She does not seem to have to work for the elements at all, the jumps just flow out of her body without much visible effort. Her movement is of great quality, finished, unhurried, graceful, with strength and intensity when needed. It was somehow unreal. I was hoping for a 3A already in the SP but was left a bit underwhelmed (well, the Ina Bauer entry into one of the best 2As in the world was quite good!). I think the SP steps are not very good somehow, it was level 4, but seemed slow and small. There was also some bits in the choreo that somehow did not fit with the rest (some of the arm movements). The FS with the 3As was pretty cool to see, though. The FS is a work in progress with the addeed tech content. I would like to see a better moment for her becoming a vampire, but there was now a difference between the human and the vampire skater which was good. But overall, her skating made me a true believer.

Seeing 4 3As in about 10 minutes in the ladies competition was quite cool, but the difference between Liza and Alena's jumps was huge. Liza's are small and made from a slow speed with little glory to them. Which is a pity, because they could be a huge highlight. Her T Rex arms (this apt description is by my companion at the competition) are somewhat irritating. But the SP was some of the best Liza I have ever seen - she was really living the music and the movement. The FS is not as good as a choreo, but she has some moments in that one also.

Yuhana Yokoi was a good performer, but perhaps not yet anything truly memorable. Eva-Lotta Kiibus has the makings of a great performer, I think (have not seen any reports on injury despite the falls). She has that fire in her that is great to watch. Also Johanna Taljegård! It was great to see Jenni Saarinen come back. I only realized whilst looking at the protocol that she had done all the jumps in a row - usually you get bored when a program is made like that, but she was somehow so good to watch that I did not notice. The other Finnish girls are (possibly) promising but need a cure for those hunched backs and eyes directed to the ice.

The crowd was ok - it might be that the Finnish big names could have attracted a bigger audience. Kostornaia, Tuktamisheva and Uno were obviously not enough to fill the stands properly. The Japanese left mostly after the men's competition, but were replaced by seemingly many Russians. The rink works well for audiences this size and these days it is even fairly easy to reach with the metro stop nearby. The last time I got to go to FT was in 2013, so it was nice to get back there.

E

Shoma Uno SP stsq!!!

chanchan said:

Shoma Uno SP stsq!!!

Click to expand...

His SP in general!!!

One of our smart ice dance people is going to have to tell me how a choreo sequence is invalidated.

I thought is was a character-based element with no technical requirement.

Three teams had their sequence invalidated, so there has got to be something that I don't know.

TontoK said:

One of our smart ice dance people is going to have to tell me how a choreo sequence is invalidated.

I thought is was a character-based element with no technical requirement.

Three teams had their sequence invalidated, so there has got to be something that I don't know.

Click to expand...

You are talking about character step sequence? There are some rules about it, or better to say a definition of character step sequence: it needs to be performed on short axes, from one board up to 10m lenght to the another, with no stops and distance between the partners which are breaking the general 'free dance rules'. And it needs to express a character of the dance So, while it doesn't have 'technical' requirements, it has choreographical/composition requirements

TontoK said:

One of our smart ice dance people is going to have to tell me how a choreo sequence is invalidated.

I thought is was a character-based element with no technical requirement.

Three teams had their sequence invalidated, so there has got to be something that I don't know.

Click to expand...

The requirement most likely to have been violated is the distance that has to be covered from barrier to barrier. That happened to Lajoie/Lagha at JGP Austria last year too.