2017 GP Rostelecom Cup Mens FS

[Spirals for Miles]

So glad for Moris! Last-minute invite and he places 5th!! That'll show them...

 

[A.H.Black]

I'm adding Nathan to the gofundme costumes list. Or is he pulling a Patrick "Costume? I don't need no stinkin' costume" Chan?

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2017/09/18/254871804/hersh-takeaways-from-us-international-classic

2. There is no need to continue the discussion about whether Chen's costumes in Salt Lake City -- red shirt and black pants for the short, all black for the free -- enhanced his programs.

A member of Team Chen told me they are only temporary, chosen because there was not enough time to get the costumes he will wear later in the season. He likely will stick with these through at least his next two competitions, October's Japan Open and the Rostelecom Cup.

Another thing I learned from this article -

Chen let his choreographers -- Shae-Lynn Bourne (who did his short program to the Benjamin Clementine version of "Nemesis") and Lori Nichol (who used the score from the film Mao's Last Dancer, with its powerful passage from Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, to craft his free skate) -- pick the music.

 

[andromache]

What I would REALLY like to know is how Lori Nichol even came up with this suggestion. It's such an unexpected choice and a pleasant surprise.

I would not be surprised if this was an idea she had been holding onto for a long time, just waiting for the right skater to choreograph it for.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

What are you referring to here? Are you talking about the loud cheer that someone let out right after Nathan doubled the 2nd 4T attempt? I thought it could've really psyched him up.

Oh yeah! Just like I'm sure the Russian crowd in Sochi was merely encouraging the German pair by cheering when they fell. :sarcasm:

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Tut tut...you're not showing the complete picture are you, comparing apples and oranges, or 2010 PCS scores with 2017 PCS scores.

http://www.isuresults.com/results/gpcan2010/gpcan10_Men_SP_Scores.pdf

Let's compare apples to apples, hack, let's compare apples in the same basket sold on the same day.

Wow....with 3 falls, Patrick still scored HIGHER PCS 39.47 for SP, in 4th place, while Oda received PCS 38 for zero falls and 1st place in SP.

Come on now, let's be honest. Patrick fell 3 times and received higher PCS than Oda (0 fall), Reynolds (1 fall) and Rippon (0 fall).

Plus, it is SP, much, much shorter than FP, thus the falls more closely packed together, the impact greater.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Again, I think Patrick deserves his PCS, I don't think of these falls as affecting his overall skating quality, he is the master of the ice, and I apply the SAME standards to Kolyada.

Let's be honest here, Kolyada just isn't very liked at all. He has horrible costumes, badly choreographed programs, but that has nothing to do with his own talent. His SS, jump technique, his speed, flow, ice coverage, amazing step sequences and footwork are all impressive, more than Nathan's or Shoma's. I won't put him over Patrick's though, and his PCS isn't anywhere near Patrick's either.

I don't apply double standards, that's all.

There's a big difference though in a skater falling 3 times and scoring below their usual PCS, and a skater falling 3 times and scoring a personal best PCS. THAT is a double standard.

FYI, I do like Kolyada and he's actually my fave Russian male skater at the moment. But I don't try to justify a skater getting a personal best with 3 falls, regardless of whether I love em or hate em.

And also FYI I've pointed out instances when Chan has also been overscored, like 2013 Worlds or 2017 World Team Trophy. But Chan has never gotten a personal best PCS for a sloppy performance the way Kolyada was given.

Surely you can agree that if somebody performs significantly worse than they have in the past (3 falls!) they shouldn't be awarded a personal best.

 

[shine]

If you listen closely you will here the same cheer on all of his jumps, it is more likely a Nathan fan than it is a Yuzuru fan who cheered.

Wait, you are saying you can identify that one single cheer amongst all the clapping and cheers when he did land the jumps, from the broadcast? C'mon now.

ETA: I turned up the volume and listened very carefully again, and I think you could be right.

 

[tjb]

There's a big difference though in a skater falling 3 times and scoring below their usual PCS, and a skater falling 3 times and scoring a personal best PCS. THAT is a double standard.

FYI, I do like Kolyada and he's actually my fave Russian male skater at the moment. But I don't try to justify a skater getting a personal best with 3 falls, regardless of whether I love em or hate em.

And also FYI I've pointed out instances when Chan has also been overscored, like 2013 Worlds or 2017 World Team Trophy. But Chan has never gotten a personal best PCS for a sloppy performance the way Kolyada was given.

Surely you can agree that if somebody performs significantly worse than they have in the past (3 falls!) they shouldn't be awarded a personal best.

kolyada never skates clean. why you so amazed that he get a PB PCS with falls? he falls and pops in a fs every time, usually more than once.
and this time he skated a program with his personal highest BV, and the highest BV in the field

 

[Violet Bliss]

kolyada never skates clean. why you so amazed that he get a PB PCS with falls? he falls and pops in a fs every time, usually more than once.
and this time he skated a program with his personal highest BV, and the highest BV in the field

Poor Kolyada. With fans like you, who needs haters?

 

[moriel]

Radical changes are being proposed to the judging, but perhaps a simpler and more effective fix would be to change the suggestion that 10's not be given to a program with errors to a hard-line 'must!' Right now, judges can still decide, according to the rules, to disregard an error in this way.
The same with GOE. It's still left up to the judges discretion according to the rules. Changing just one word will close the loophole. no +3 for a wonky jump (like Yuzu's Lz) no -2 for a fall. This ensures that the judges are forced to give penalties evenly.

Best change imho, would be to make judges check boxes, instead of giving out a number.
So like, they would have a list of features, for each they check bad, average, good - and then the computer makes the score.

 

[whatif]

I am far from Patrick Chan fan but there is a justifiable substantial difference in PCS under current system between him and a majority of men's competition. However I start to wonder about PCS. What's the use really? I would prefer if they would just eliminate the PCS entirely and just take few technical parts of it and add to TES. And be done with it.

 

[Neenah16]

Wait, you are saying you can identify that one single cheer amongst all the clapping and cheers when he did land the jumps, from the broadcast? C'mon now.

ETA: I turned up the volume and listened very carefully again, and I think you could be right.

It is quite a distinctive cheer so it is possible to pick it up from the others. I guess I also have good hearing or maybe it is my excellent headphones

 

[Sabrina]

OMG! I had no idea Nathan won this competition. I could only view the men fs now, so I was a bit confused. Honestly I would have put Misha on third place, as Mikail Koliada really made too many mistakes. Also I liked Nathan program, and though it was not perfect, still I considered him the winner even in the lp. Yuzuru was mesmerizing but not at his best. I am happy he did jump the 4Lz, but boy, that was not as nice as Boyang or Nathan's 4Lz.

 

[Li'Kitsu]

not to sound pretentious but i just wanted to say that i feel disgusted with how this thread is turning out - i wanted to read everyone's reactions on yuzu's newly minted 4lz, nathan's herculean skate, misha's passionate performance, etc etc and instead it's turned into a place where people are defending the right to mock a fan of a skater like ***? how bout this-it's not okay to assume anything of anyone based off of 2-3 seconds that was shown on television. how about this-it's not important about how one fan feels about one other skater

and why is there such a burning need by some people to over generalize a group of people based off of one or two people's reactions? ??

honestly if this is how it's going to be for this season i might as well kiss GS goodbye because this is frankly toxic, IMO i dont like feeling bad for liking yuzuru, i dont like seeing mockery of fans who have paid money and taken time out of their days to support this amazing sport and amazing athletes

rant over lmao

No kidding. I'm just back from CoR and catching up with some of the pages here I can't help but think everyone would be better off going to comps (and if they want to do so, cry their eyes out there!) then getting their happiness from a bit of ~Schadenfreude~ about a crying girl they can safely bully from their couches
And I'm surprised that statements like "crying for something like this is dumb" still exist, and here I thought people knew by now that often people don't really decide to cry, it just happens. I didn't cry (this time ), but when Yuzu landed the 4Lz I screamed so loud my throat probably hated me for a moment. And yeah, I've cried before too, at Helsinki for example. When Yuzu jumped on the podium at the end I bawled like a baby, because a year ago I thought he'd never skate again, and here he was, skating and happier then ever. And a Japanese lady next to me saw it and started to hug me, despite the fact that she never saw me before. OTOH, when it was clear the Japanese ladies would lose the 3rd spot, I felt like crying for knowing a very talented lady more would be left home (and I nearly did). Back in Barcelona 2015, I cried and screamed and shook my head for like 15 minutes straight after the Men's LP. Simply because all that awesomeness happened and I saw it live. And like an hour after, when we were out of the arena, I basically randomly grabbed a friends arm and nearly screamed "that happened, that really happened!" and she (thankfully) just as crazy as me went "I know, I know - right?!". Ofc that's all still different from the Chinese girl here, but honestly, in the end it's being very emotionally invested in the sport and the skaters you love. And the funny thing for me is that I can't see how you can have as much fun with this sport if you are not? What are you watching this for if not for it possibly making you so euphoric you want to scream and cry for hours? Comes with the possibility of also making you cry out of sadness, right?

Anyway, skating actually happened too, sometimes in between every now and then Congratulations to Nathan for a very strong start to the GP season, both his music choices this season are really good and suit him well. Compared to last season he has improved in some really nice areas - last season I always thought he only used his arms/posture nicely enough when he took his 'skating breaks', but it's a lot better incorporated now. Working with Shae proves to be great for everyone, every time, again and again (sorry, my Shae love coming through). Congrats to Yuzu for landing that 4Lz, may the next one be as jaw droppingly amazing as he can do them in practice. I was a bit disappointed overall, because he looked way stronger in practice, but I guess tradition is tradition and this silver here was the only option I really hope he stays healthy, because given in what shape he was already in in practices, I'm sure he could really pull some magic this season. I have all my fingers and toes crossed for a clean Seimei, as it is my favorite program ever, Yuzu is better then in 2015, and it would be all kinds of awesome.
I'm happy Mika rotated all his jumps and didn't pop anything. Next time with less falls please, but baby steps they say! The first part of his LP as of now seemed to overpower him a bit for me, but when the slower part kicked in so did he, and then he really performed it well. The next faster part too - I just love his speed and big jumps, he's very exciting when he is on. I was super sad for Dima having so much trouble with the 2nd half of his LP, since he had a lovely SP and a really good first half - but it was still a fine senior debut IMO, and I hope he is more proud than disappointed. His movements are so elegant and graceful, he has quite an unusual style for a male skater (and I mean that in the best way possible). In practices he looked pretty strong to me, so I also expect good things for him this season. Misha is amazing and every kind of awesome and I'd think everyone is aware of this simple fact. Just that he is still skating makes me happy, and his joyous personality makes every event, every gala better by 300%. Another little sunshine is Deniss, who is lovely to watch even with mistakes. Just seeing his edges and control of the blade is making me all giddy, because he makes it look so easy to fly around the ice I basically just want to jump up and do it too. Not that it would work, but still. And personally I like his LP this season, the steps are fabulous. Moris' LP is amazing too, and it suits him so well! Just from what I've seen from him back in Helsinki, he seems to have improved his glide and speed quite a bit (not that he was bad before!), and he's filling out the rink really nicely now. He's still got tons of charisma, so he was simply a lot of fun to watch. Will be happily waiting to see him skate again!

As for the judging - I think the judges all had a good round of Vodka together. Repeatedly. Probably the first time was a lot of fun.

 

[3T3T]

I’m a bit late to this thread but I would like to say that my favorite performance was Misha Ge’s free skate. It was actually a joy and a delight (and also a surprise) to see a cleanly skated programme. It was skated with real passion and emotion and it got a great reaction from the audience.

I also enjoyed Morris K, no longer skating for Russia has taken a weight of his shoulders. I thought in general the PCS for everyone was over scored. The worst offender being Kolyada, I like his skating but I’m not convinced this Elvis programme suits him. I’m a bit disappointed that Hanyu still has the same short and free programmes again this year. I like both of the programmers but I don’t want to see them every year. Was he injured over the summer?