2018 US Championships Sr Men SP

[SarahSynchro]

That was a great performance. I don't think his quote or his K&C performance was really professional though. It's that kind of reaction that might put off the more traditional judges...

Hmmm, correct me if I’m wrong, or if I am being too stereotypical or political, but usually the more “traditional” judges aren’t fans of a skater like Adam being out and proud and unashamed of who he is, and doing his thang his own way out there on the ice.

Sadly, while we’ve definitely come a long way in the last decade in regards to acceptance of all sexualities, homophobia is still around in all sports, even figure skating. Props to Adam and Eric Radford (who, while gay as well, is a very different person from Adam) for being pioneers in this regard. :yes:

 

[skylark]

The Vera Wang hype was definitely OVERhype.

I don’t really care one way or the other but I’m glad it isn’t some frilly ruffled glittery nightmare.

Maybe he’s taking the Scott Hamilton approach to his Olympic costumes.

The thing is, it isn't nearly as effective at showing off his movement and his dance quality as was the black shirt with three-quarter sleeves, and black pants. That was sleek and casual, and fit Nathan's persona to a T.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

The Vera Wang hype was definitely OVERhype.

I don’t really care one way or the other but I’m glad it isn’t some frilly ruffled glittery nightmare.

Maybe he’s taking the Scott Hamilton approach to his Olympic costumes.

Perhaps OVERhype, but what exactly were people expecting from her? Another figure skating frock?

3 white lines on a fully black body suit. The more I look at it, the more I admire that he actually went for something simple. Even though it looks like it was made in a hot minute (and heck, it looks like it could have been), I'm thinking there was more thought put into this than meets the eye.

It's almost absurdly simple (hence the "practice outfit" comments), but there's something weirdly avant garde about it not being embellished or even having any colour... it's definitely not super literal as some "costumes" are. It's almost like suggesting the costume doesn't even matter, compared to the skating and the body lines of the skater. There is literally nothing to hide - if an arm is out of place or his posture is misaligned, the costume will show it... compared to costumes with luxe ruffles or shreds of fabric that distract and detract from a skater's lines.

There's something oddly suave and confident about such a simple costume and while it's easy to diminish it as just a practice outfit or a let down, it does fall in line with Vera Wang's aesthetic especially when it comes to her winter collections. If people were expecting wild pops of colour and ornate embroidery, they probably don't know Vera Wang or Nathan Chen. Like other designers (David Dixon comes to mind) she loves winter garments in black/white without much embellishment but focussing more on silhouette and structure. So this costume for Nathan does go in line with her aesthetic and makes sense, even if it doesn't make sense in terms of conventional figure skating garb.

If it was a conventional sequined skating outfit, nobody would be talking about it either. This is the outfit in the Olympics that people will be like "Damn, in a sea of sequins and pageantry, that guy wore the most basic outfit and just flat out skated the house down."

 

[GGFan]

The thing is, it isn't nearly as effective at showing off his movement and his dance quality as was the black shirt with three-quarter sleeves, and black pants. That was sleek and casual, and fit Nathan's persona to a T.

Exactly. This is not just a taste issue, I think it's a miss thematically and artistically. From what I'd read she put a lot of thought into this, but the emperor has no clothing here Vera. There is nothing about this program that is either minimalist or even futuristic. His hands are very important to piece and are lost in the new outfit and his hair being wilder matched the intensity of the music. It's just a miss overall.

 

[zschultz1986]

Edit: They are up. I'm an idiot. Ice Network still sucks though.

 

[TCAngel18]

How are the sheets not up for the ladies and the mens short yet? Ice Network EFFING SUCKS!

I could have sworn they were up for the Ladies. Check the top of the standings page.

 

[shine]

Exactly. This is not just a taste issue, I think it's a miss thematically and artistically. From what I'd read she put a lot of thought into this, but the emperor has no clothing here Vera. There is nothing about this program that is either minimalist or even futuristic. His hands are very important to piece and are lost in the new outfit and his hair being wilder matched the intensity of the music. It's just a miss overall.

I think this costume would go really well with Boyang's LP actually. Maybe Nathan can sell it to Boyang at a discount (as Boyang's costume is horrible anyway) and go back to the original black shirt.

 

[zschultz1986]

I could have sworn they were up for the Ladies. Check the top of the standings page.

Shhh, I'm stupid, but Ice Network still sucks.

 

[Ravyn Rant]

My favorite part of the men's short was that NBCSN showed every skater. Thank you, NBCSN!
As for the skating, I'm bummed that Nathan is under the weather. I'm headed down to San Jose to watch the free skates so I hope he starts feeling better quick! He got the job done though, so good on him. ITA with the general consensus of opinion re: the costume.
Adam made me jealous of those lucky folk in the arena who got to see it live. He had me dancing on the couch. Can't wait to see his free skate live...we leave in 10 hours...squee!
Moving on! I also would have switched Jason's and Grant's placements. I've never seen Grant skate so well and I actually got a little teary at the end. To a Moulin Rouge program! As for Jason, I found myself singing "I wanna flee from the room where it happens, the room where it happens...". The uncalled UR irritated me as well. I'm not one to complain that a skater doesn't have a quad, but without a consistent triple axel his lovely presentation loses some luster.
On to the free skates! I'll try to post my impressions afterward.

 

[TCAngel18]

I could have sworn they were up for the Ladies. Check the top of the standings page.

You mean the scoring sheets, right? Check the top of the standings page, should be a hyperlink called “Judge Detail Scores”.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Yes, please! And thank you very much! Dang, Jimmy Ma!

Jimmy Ma had me feeling all the emotions:

From "This is the worst music I've ever heard." to "Oh I get it, he's serving trap-music, millennial realness." to "Holy ****... he's skating to Turn Down For What. In a competitive program. At US Nationals. " to "I hope everyone in that arena is as turnt as I am right about now..."

 

[zschultz1986]

You mean the scoring sheets, right? Check the top of the standings page, should be a hyperlink called “Judge Detail Scores”.

Yeah, they're up. I'm just blind, apparently.

 

[TCAngel18]

Shhh, I'm stupid, but Ice Network still sucks.

Ignore my double post HAHA

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Johnny went on a rant about how they didn't because he has reputation...

Johnny also made the same statement twice earlier about how you go into pairs if you aren't a "jumper." :sarcasm::disapp:

 

[TontoK]

Guys! I am super excited to start attending the competition tomorrow night but I'm gonna miss commenting along you guys this weekend

I am green with envy, but you will be forgiven if you post us a little report - even if it is after the competition ends. I always look forward to the insights people get from actually being at the event live vs me watching on television.

 

[TCAngel18]

Johnny also made the same statement twice earlier about how you go into pairs if you aren't a "jumper." :sarcasm::disapp:

Tell that to Meagan Duhamel. I’m sure she is waiting for that with bated breath

 

[Manuel Pablo Arnao]

My thoughts:

-Jason was overscored. That performance deserved an 88 at best. He has no quad and on top of that made a mistake on his next best difficult jump. I'm kind of sick of him, his reaction in the K&C (newsflash, you're not 8 years old), and his coach (who is kind of nasty off the ice). Also, I don't like this short program at all. I'm not a hater though- I ABSOLUTELY loved his "Scent of Love" long program the past two seasons.
-Grant was also overscored. He should have gotten an 88 or so.
-Vincent was underscored. His quad flip did NOT look underrotated. I could be wrong though.
-Tim was great. I wish he would cut out the little errors though and get a quad.
-Sad for Max. It was heartbreaking to hear his interview and see him admit that he has NO chance to make the Olympic team- while probable, I don't think he should have admitted that on air. When you're not an artist though, the least you could do is nail your jumps, but he had 3 huge errors here- mistakes on each of his quads and he didn't add a triple toe to either of them. Shame.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Tell that to Meagan Duhamel. I’m sure she is waiting for that with bated breath

Precisely!

 

[gravy]

Was at the arena today! Have some notes:

Aaron: Was sad to see him fall. And what he told Andrea about his Olympic dream being over was devastating.

Krasnozhon: Fun program! Very Savchenko of him to use that song but couldn't sustain the energy for the entire short. Considering the plethora of -3T combos from everyone after him, I loved how unique his 3F-3Lo was.

Dolensky: Does he always skate to Mumford & Sons? Not sure if his spins deteriorated or whether they're better to see on TV, but they weren't as jaw-dropping as I remember them.

Johnson: Easily my favorite performance of all the men. Here's someone who was actually dancing along with his music with his entire body and using his blades to skate (side eye to Rippon). He mooooved so well! I'm in love with him.

Hochstein: Beautiful! I think he got the biggest ovation of all the men. Very attentive to his music. I noticed he was one of the few men who really "filled out" the loud music... he seemed quite big on the ice even though I know he's a very short person.

Miner: I remember being entertained and liked that he skated clean but not much else...

Zhou: Impressive quads! Too bad about the 3A but I think the judges are keeping him in contention for the team.

Chen: After all the hype, I was honestly expecting so much more. His quads were cool but he didn't really skate big. I liked the leaps during his step sequence... the second half of it was my favorite part of the program. His Vera Wang costume was black as expected... it looked like Gordeeva and Grinkov's Moonlight Sonata costumes but worse.

Dyer: All I remember about him was afterward when the section started laughing about Gracie Gold's Tweet talking about Frank retiring his fedora and herself at the same time. She's killing it on Twitter.

Rippon: He skates fast! :eeking: But by the end of the program I noticed he was skating in lines... from short board to short board (see Jason). I loooooved the energy he gave but his choreography is a joke. It's just a pose and then two foot skating with really bad crossovers. Still, he got the crowd going crazy and despite pointing out his problems, I still loved it and him! I think his ticket to Pyeongchang is sealed. Good job!

Brown: Skating after Rippon made me realize why Jason gets the PCS he does. Unlike Rippon, he skates in a serpentine motion and lots of circles... and manages to not lose his speed. Smoooooth skating; very nice to look at. I hate his program but I can't deny that he's a performer. It's gonna be interesting to see how the free plays out on Saturday... if he doesn't hit, I don't think the judges will hesitate to hold him down.

Shout-out to Ma: I don't think the crowd really got into it as much as they could've but I loved him! I was doing jigs in my seat.

 

[zschultz1986]

My thoughts:

-Jason was overscored. That performance deserved an 88 at best. He has no quad and on top of that made a mistake on his next best difficult jump. I'm kind of sick of him, his reaction in the K&C (newsflash, you're not 8 years old), and his coach (who is kind of nasty off the ice). Also, I don't like this short program at all. I'm not a hater though- I ABSOLUTELY loved his "Scent of Love" long program the past two seasons.
-Grant was also overscored. He should have gotten an 88 or so.
-Vincent was underscored. His quad flip did NOT look underrotated. I could be wrong though.
-Tim was great. I wish he would cut out the little errors though and get a quad.
-Sad for Max. It was heartbreaking to hear his interview and see him admit that he has NO chance to make the Olympic team- while probable, I don't think he should have admitted that on air. When you're not an artist though, the least you could do is nail your jumps, but he had 3 huge errors here- mistakes on each of his quads and he didn't add a triple toe to either of them. Shame.

Watch the actual skating (non-jumping) of Jason, Grant, and Vincent side-by-side. Then watch Jason, Grant, and Vincent's spins. Then watch the footwork. Not only did Vincent fall on his axel, but it was dinged too. Should Jason's have been dinged too? Sure.

Then understand that Vincent actually got MORE PCS than Grant. And also understand that Vincent should not be within 4 points of Jason in PCS, which he was tonight, and Vincent fell.

The judges actually helped Vincent. I'm sure international judges would have buried him if he skated this somewhere that wasn't Nationals.