2018 Europeans Mens FS

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

they chose 258 because it was 8th placed Kolyada's score at 2017 Worlds.

Geez. Why not just tell him outright that they don't want to send him? Why dangle a score of 258 when it's not even achievable by him? And as far as I know hasn't ever been achieved by a Swede. Such ridiculousness.

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I propose we honour Javi by moving French IdF to Spain.

Or better yet, Rostelecom.

 

[GGFan]

Just rewatched Aliev and so many of my favorite moments are just him taking his time with the music. I love how he just starts off the program by giving you a lot of arched back and gorgeous jumps for a minute We all know this is when the men are focused on their difficult content but you could still see his commitment the choreography. His musicality is superb. I can't wait to see it all develop next quad

 

[GGFan]

I forgot this little gem from Ryan Bradley (who I don't usually gives kudos to on his shade!), who was comparing Aliev to Samarin: "But he's a better skater. He's a better spinner. The transitions are more complete. The transitions exist" (emphasis is his)

Ryan keeping it real in 2018

 

[cell]

I forgot this little gem from Ryan Bradley (who I don't usually gives kudos to on his shade!), who was comparing Aliev to Samarin: "But he's a better skater. He's a better spinner. The transitions are more complete. The transitions exist" (emphasis is his)

Ryan keeping it real in 2018

LOL, I noticed that. The shaaaade

 

[gravy]

You're joking right? That's 30 points above his personal best!

The bronze medalist here, the reigning Russian champion, scored 258.

Hey, Swedish Olympic Committee why not make it 300 points if you want him not in Pyeongchang so bad?

It's ridiculous. Scandinavian countries have a tendency to restrict athletes from going to the Olympics who won't bring back medals or decent results. But my thought process is that by not sending them you can't expect the sport to grow without a foundation in the first place. It's also been the story of figure skating in Norway since the 60s; we had Gjersem go to Sochi after not using qualified spots for the previous 50 years (including host spots in Lillehammer!) but that was only after she basically sued her way onto the team calling out the ridiculous requirements of the Norwegian Olympic federation. I wish the mentality would change.

 

[vorravorra]

I really liked Dmitri Aliev but his spins were exceptionally weak. I don't know how he got positive GOE's on any of them. Spins need to be more critically judged in mens and ladies skating.

Rikavicin's male skaters are notorious for spin problems. Makar Ignatov often just plain gets 0 for one of them. Aliev has actually improved a lot compared to where he was earlier. That group has a good choreographer though.

 

[silverfoxes]

I really liked Dmitri Aliev but his spins were exceptionally weak. I don't know how he got positive GOE's on any of them. Spins need to be more critically judged in mens and ladies skating.

If Dima could spin like Deniss and Deniss could jump quads like Dima, they would both be absolutely perfect. Nobody is perfect though, alas.

 

[GGFan]

It's ridiculous. Scandinavian countries have a tendency to restrict athletes from going to the Olympics who won't bring back medals or decent results. But my thought process is that by not sending them you can't expect the sport to grow without a foundation in the first place. It's also been the story of figure skating in Norway since the 60s; we had Gjersem go to Sochi after not using qualified spots for the previous 50 years (including host spots in Lillehammer!) but that was only after she basically sued her way onto the team calling out the ridiculous requirements of the Norwegian Olympic federation. I wish the mentality would change.

Why is this the case? It does not make sense financially because the Scandinavian countries are wealthy. It's also not like countries are measured on yield (percentage of athletes who bring home medals). We just look at the total number. Is it cultural?

 

[vorravorra]

That would be a travesty.

Yes he didn't skate that great early in the season but he was also dealing with injuries, he didn't have the stamina.

At Euro he showed that ditching the 4ltz, he can perform a clean free program with much more ease and receive higher GOEs for the quality. Artistically is probably the best russian male skater i've seen in a long time.

Plus he has appropriate programs for the Olympics, while Samarin's programs are simply atrocious: he may land even two 4lutzes in the fs as he did at the Shanghai Trophy but there is nothing in his skating.

I think looking at Kovtun, Samarin, Maysuradze, CSKA has to change completely the way they are training male skaters and work more on the presentation, the skating skills, the posture,... Saint Petersburg skaters like Aliev, Efimchuk, Kolyada, Lezheev or Ignatov are all much more balletic, and they should all deserve more spots than CSKA's skaters.

I doubt that 4Lz is going to remain ditched for long. They weren't even planning to ditch it at Euros (in the SP). But I agree about CSKA skaters - why with the best resources in the country cannot they produce male skaters with good basics? They place all their emphasis on jumps. St. Petersburg skaters unfortunately tend to have problems with stamina which lowers their chances. It's especially noticeable with Juniors.

 

[blue_idealist]

It's silly if they're not going to send Majorov to the Olympics. He already went and finished 14th. He can probably do the same or better than that.

 

[Tolstoj]

I doubt that 4Lz is going to remain ditched for long. They weren't even planning to ditch it at Euros (in the SP). But I agree about CSKA skaters - why with the best resources in the country cannot they produce male skaters with good basics? They place all their emphasis on jumps. St. Petersburg skaters unfortunately tend to have problems with stamina which lowers their chances. It's especially noticeable with Juniors.

I believe part of that are the facilities: according to google maps both SPB and Moscow have 18 ice rinks but i don't know which of them are for public only, plus apparently most of the skaters train at Yubileyny Sports Palace so i don't know for example if they can train as much as Eteri's skaters who have their almost personal ice rink, and i bet the ice quality isn't also as good.

 

[vorravorra]

I believe part of that are the facilities: according to google maps both SPB and Moscow have 18 ice rinks but i don't know which of them are for public only, plus apparently most of the skaters train at Yubileyny Sports Palace so i don't know for example if they can train as much as Eteri's skaters who have their almost personal ice rink, and i bet the ice quality isn't also as good.

Stamina doesn't have to be developed only on the ice. In fact it is largely developed off-ice. What you need ice for is SS and footwork. Rukavicin's, Chebotareva's and Kulibanova's skaters train at the Academy of Figure Skating, not Yubileyny. Academy has its own rinks. Eteri's skaters afaik get three hours of ice time per day split into two 1.5 hour sessions, it's about the same in St. Petersburg. CSKA on the other hand, especially, say, Buianova's skaters, can get more than that. An they have all the facilities in the world for ballet/dance training and yet Kovtun was only made to do basic barre exercises when he moved to Goncharenko. Why? And with Samarin it sounds like they only recently realised he needs to work on PCS and are trying to catch up. What had they been doing before? Samarin has been with CSKA for ages, he is not like Aliev who grew up in the middle of nowhere (and yet made such progress).

 

[lavender]

I forgot this little gem from Ryan Bradley (who I don't usually gives kudos to on his shade!), who was comparing Aliev to Samarin: "But he's a better skater. He's a better spinner. The transitions are more complete. The transitions exist" (emphasis is his)

Ryan keeping it real in 2018

I heard that comment and I just laughed because he said what I felt. I watched Samarin for the first time I was like...uh where is his program. I felt the same about Kolyada.

 

[eaglehelang]

Did Javier actually only did 2 quads or the 3rd one was failed quad?
Havent watch the vid yet

 

[kevinVchicago]

It's silly if they're not going to send Majorov to the Olympics. He already went and finished 14th. He can probably do the same or better than that.

Majorov made a strong case for himself today. He was definitely a standout in the FS. I really hope that they send him. If they don't at this point can Martinez still go?

 

[el henry]

Majorov made a strong case for himself today. He was definitely a standout in the FS. I really hope that they send him. If they don't at this point can Julian Yee still go?

Julian Yee *is* going to the Olys, as far as I know. Did something happen?:eeking:

 

[zebobes]

Julian Yee *is* going to the Olys, as far as I know. Did something happen?:eeking:

I believe Kevin has Michael Martinez confused with Julian. Julian has already qualified, Michael would be the next athlete to go if the Swedish Olympic Committee decides that Majorov isn't good enough to go.

 

[Mirunna]

Did Javier actually only did 2 quads or the 3rd one was failed quad?
Havent watch the vid yet

His third quad attempt turned out into an open badly landed 3S, but it looked like a planned 4S based on the entry an hight of the jump

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

His third quad attempt turned out into an open badly landed 3S, but it looked like a planned 4S based on the entry an hight of the jump

Yup, you can tell he was trying to go for it but only got enough height for the triple.

The triple flip << was obviously an error but the way he did it almost made it look like a new/planned element.

 

[Jaana]

So so so happy Javi defended his crown. 6-time King of Europe...wow!

Yes, his achievements are really impressive, 6 consecutive European titles!!! Nobody else has done it during the time I have followed figure skating = since early sixties... Plushenko won 6 titles altogether, but they were not consecutive.