2015 Trophée Bompard Mens SP

[icekiwi]

To be fair, Kovtun looked like a high schooler trying to dance at his first homecoming. Also, that one spin he did with the bent leg is horrific.

Still, this is 1000x better than his Bolero zzz

Ha! Ha! Agree. Couldn't wait to be entertained by his FS.

 

[silverlake22]

The majority of men in the world reach their full and final height by the time they turn 16, so at 17, I doubt Uno is going to change in height noticeably.

Though it may be hard to believe, Shoma has grown a lot already over these past few years. This boy had a height of 143 cm at the age of 15 so it's pretty obvious he is never going to be big. He only looks a couple inches shorter than Murakami here: https://www.facebook.com/1612910472...0.1447478046./923959967691285/?type=3&theater and he reaches Kovtun's chin now whereas in 2012 he was not even up to his shoulder! http://www.goldenskate.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/VC-Men-JGP-Chemnitz-2012.jpg

I agree that Uno's landing positions could be improved but am I the only one not bothered by his size? I mean, Machida was a micro person too and Takahashi, Oda, and Murakami are all on the diminuitive side. As for Satoko, I personally love her skating and only take issue with her jumps since they are so low and spinny. It really has nothing to do with how small she is, it's just the technique. I think Uno does a good job making the most of his small frame!

 

[hippomoomin]

I believe it is more about proportion of head, shoulder, limbs and so on. For most part, what we see on a computer screen is the skater's proportion, since the camera would zoom in further for a small skater. We have to admit the figure of a skater makes impressions, like many people think Rika and Elena have posture issues, while I see it is more about their short neck/long body line. Luckily figure skating is not classical ballet, where the body proportion itself can prevent a dancer from being even admitted to dance school, no matter how well you can possibly dance.

 

[Art&Sport]

How does Kovtun get a higher presentation score than Uno? :eeking: Even Patrick Chan and Denis Ten had presentation scores that should not have been higher than what Uno achieved both presentation-wise and athletically with his fluid and captivating performance, despite his young age. Boy, the judges overdid the scoring for both Javi and Boyang at Cup of China, and now this bit of low-balling for Uno??? :noshake:

Granted Kovtun is trying out there with music that tends to help his rough, angular style, but no way he should be receiving such scores on presentation. And his quads were not landed well either.

Max was clearly nervous and this was a tough field. Max appeared to rush things a bit, hence the mistakes but I think the judges were a bit too harsh on Max and overly generous to Chan in effort to keep Chan within scoring distance of podium. Obviously, Chan has fab skating skills, but his PCS was still too high for what he put out there in sp.

What's wrong with Denis? Is he injured or not? And if he is injured, why does he keep going out there?

Uno was fabulous, and it's amazing to think how much better he can become, when he is already this good and so well-rounded as a skater.

Murakami was okay, and he has some nice qualities, though he had a mistake on the combination. Murakami's quad really looked quite effortless.

 

[Jaana]

I enjoyed the top three very much! I´m glad that Kovtun did so well now, as in past season he had difficulties.

Poor Aron, if his jumps don´t succeed there is not much in his program. He should change at least the choreographer and get one who should create for him choreographed interpretation. That would work better, IMO. It does for Brown´s freeskate and it did for Yagudin....

My guess is that Shoma will get better PCS next season, if he succceeds well at GPF and Worlds.

 

[chuckm]

Kovtun ALWAYS gets overscored on presentation, and it's always a headscratcher. His jumps are rarely cleanly executed, his spins are dreadful, there are no transitions other than stroking between elements, and he galumphs his way through every program with that stooped posture and a peculiar, almost quizzical expression on his face.

OTOH, there is Shoma Uno, who sails through his programs with exuberance and speed, clearly enjoying himself and sharing that joy with the audience while he neatly executes those difficult technical tricks as if they were just simple exercises.

 

[silverfoxes]

I found KOVTUN's program very original and he interpreted the music to its full potential. He has awkward jump take-offs but today not so much. I personally prefer skaters with long lean lines, so even though Uno is very fluid, his height and proportion made him less enjoyable to my eyes. Unless he grows much taller, my perception of his skating will stay the same. And as others have pointed out, his jumps are not that pleasant to look at either.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels that way about Shoma. I know he can't help it, but whenever I watch him it just makes me wish I was watching Dai instead.

 

[whatif]

Kovtun looked surprisingly PRESENTABLE this time. I did not get this program before BUT here you could clearly see the intention with a great execution. Full of transition, less jerky moves, nice edges and speed. I thought it was actually deserving the PCS score he got, it's not his fault that others did not show as well this time around.

 

[MaiKatze]

No Kovtun fan here, but I liked this short of his. I can't dance indeed...I think the trousers are a nod to the single cover, right?

Loved Shoma Uno and the german Eurosport guys were gushing non-stop about him. They were so enthusiastic, I couldn't believe it. They are much more subdued usually....

Shoma Uno really reminds me of Daisuke Takahashi, and I'm so glad that he is here now. I mean, the men's lost their spark since Daisuke has retired, but Shoma makes me feel excited again. It's certainly good that Yuzuru keeps getting challenged.

I felt really bad for Patrick Chan, Max Aaron and Denis Ten. It just hurts to watch this, I'm honestly one of these viewers who just want everyone to do well, even if they are not my cup of tea. Competitions are always the best when everyone goes clean, unfortunately that's so rare these days....*sigh*

 

[Ice Diva]

Kovtun looked surprisingly PRESENTABLE this time. I did not get this program before BUT here you could clearly see the intention with a great execution. Full of transition, less jerky moves, nice edges and speed. I thought it was actually deserving the PCS score he got, it's not his fault that others did not show as well this time around.

I agree. His skating and expression are evolving and IMO his PCS were deserved.He's also got presence on the ice. There's a lot of gushing about Shoma but he left me cold. Sure he had a clean program & good jumps but to suggest (as B.Esp did) that Uno should have had higher PCS, or his ss were better than Chan is so laughable. Also, Uno was slow, had little footwork and skated a good deal of his program on two feet.

 

[MaxSwagg]

I agree. His skating and expression are evolving and IMO his PCS were deserved.He's also got presence on the ice. There's a lot of gushing about Shoma but he left me cold. Sure he had a clean program & good jumps but to suggest (as B.Esp did) that Uno should have had higher PCS, or his ss were better than Chan is so laughable. Also, Uno was slow, had little footwork and skated a good deal of his program on two feet.

...but you think Kovtun deserved the higher component scores he got. That's ridiculous. Little footwork? If Shoma had little footwork than Kovtun had absolutely none (well, that's true regardless). Kovtun should not be getting 40+ for PCS and definitely should not get PCS higher than Shoma.

 

[Crossover]

Like the British commentators said, Shoma had amazing steps, much better than Patrick. In my humble point of view, they are wright. I watched the two programs and they are almost light years apart. Patrick is great but Shoma is amazing. He does the 3A out of spread eagle, Patrick never did that, at least from what I know. Shoma looks like he is flowing similar to liquid gold. His soft knees and flexibility allow beautiful steps and positions. Patrick was never good at that. He is a different type of skater. He was amazing when he was on. I think that the judges still give marks according to his history. The same happened with Denis10. Both programs were plagued by pops, falls, still they got amazing PCS. That was even worse with Denis as his program really fell apart. I wonder how long this will keep figure skating in a grey area.

I like British Euro guys in general, but they also have their own taste which I happen to disagree many times. They're not a bible. They said some skaters in a middle or bottom tier could be a champion or something to watch but their predictions didn't hit at all many times in history.

Uno has a better SS than Chan? Uno has good skating skills for sure, and a decent presentation skill too but he is not as fast as Chan and doesn't float on ice unlike Chan. I also don't think Uno's SS surpasses Jeremy Abbot and Kozuka among Japanese skaters. Chan can make an art on ice just with his gorgeous bladework, but well Uno has to accompany his presentation I believe. I'm not particularly Chan's uber fan (no particular uber fan of any single skaters in the current field), don't you ever occur to the idea that Shoma has enjoyed his privilege as a next star position as a Japanese male skater along with Hanyu? We already have seen that from Uno several times last season. He is not much different from the skaters you mentioned. That's why I couldn't give my full support from my deepest heart to anyone yet. Since you complained about Ten's PCS, I'll say Ten has a nice interpretation on music which is his specialty among the current top tier skaters, so even if he blew his jumps, I still could watch his performance. On the other hand, whenever Uno lands his jumps, he pretends he doesn't have any problem with the jumps but that's not true. Even though many consider he makes a clean performance, his landings are shaky. He tends to show a weird habit of arm moves which disturbs my appreciation on his performance. He doesn't have nice flows when to exit jumps. Uno may get a higher PCS than Kovtun later but his GOEs on jumps just make me shake my head. His performance gets me to think of many aspects in figure skating, not draws my feeling.

 

[Ice Diva]

...but you think Kovtun deserved the higher component scores he got. That's ridiculous. Little footwork? If Shoma had little footwork than Kovtun had absolutely none (well, that's true regardless). Kovtun should not be getting 40+ for PCS and definitely should not get PCS higher than Shoma.

Ridiculous? Watch Shoma's feet. You have your opinion, I have mine. I agree with the judges re PCS.

 

[silverlake22]

I believe it is more about proportion of head, shoulder, limbs and so on. For most part, what we see on a computer screen is the skater's proportion, since the camera would zoom in further for a small skater. We have to admit the figure of a skater makes impressions, like many people think Rika and Elena have posture issues, while I see it is more about their short neck/long body line. Luckily figure skating is not classical ballet, where the body proportion itself can prevent a dancer from being even admitted to dance school, no matter how well you can possibly dance.

But all the small Japanese guys seem to have roughly the same proportions, at least to me. Shoma maybe has a "bigger head" IE rounder face, but otherwise they all look pretty similar to me: short, balanced limb proportions, small frame, muscular but slight build. The only difference between Uno and Dai, physically, is that Dai is just a couple of inches taller. Does 2 inches and 10-15 pounds really make that much of a difference? I get in ladies or pairs how it could, but it mostly would depend on build and limb length and would make more of a difference if the girl is on the taller side of the field. But with the exception of Hanyu, most of the Japanese guys are on the small side of male figure skaters.

Shoma will probably just grow a few centimeters more in height but I do think he will lose his baby face and develop broader shoulders in coming years and that this should make him look more "adult". Most of the other 17-18 year old guys in FS don't exactly look very grown up either - Pitkeev, Jin, Chen, Petrov, etc. are all still very boyish too. I think in time Uno will develop a more sophisticated presence on the ice. He already has everything else!

 

[TheGrandSophy]

Ah, but who can resist this baby face?

 

[silverlake22]

Ah, but who can resist this baby face?

Well I certainly can't . Shoma being tiny and cute adds to his appeal IMO. CBC commentators called him a "portable powerhouse" which is very acccurate. He doesn't skate small so I don't mind him being tiny and cute. He's still a teenager after all. He's becoming quite handsome too, I bet he has a lot of fangirls

 

[adelia]

Shoma will probably just grow a few centimeters more in height but I do think he will lose his baby face and develop broader shoulders in coming years and that this should make him look more "adult". Most of the other 17-18 year old guys in FS don't exactly look very grown up either - Pitkeev, Jin, Chen, Petrov, etc. are all still very boyish too. I think in time Uno will develop a more sophisticated presence on the ice. He already has everything else!

FYI Petrov and Chen are 16.

 

[silverfoxes]

Ah, but who can resist this baby face?

I can...but I'm not keen on babies in general (except for baby animals ). I don't want to pick on anyone's appearance, but I'll just say different strokes for different folks.

 

[cheerknithanson]

Just had a thought that Kovtun should give suggestions to Kevin Reynolds of costumes should Reynolds ever do his AC/DC SP again.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Men's SP is on NBC right now.