Classic Day 1 at the Cup of Disaster.
Men
- The man, the myth, the legend, Yan Han, leading after the short program. Who had that in their predictions? He had a lot of help, of course, but welcome back. It seems unlikely he can pull a Kaetlyn Osmond tomorrow and win Grand Prix gold while not having a second assignment, but stranger things have happened.
- I almost screamed in frustration when Rizzo fell on his triple Lutz, since everything had been foot-perfect up until that point.
- Disappointing outing for, well, pretty much everybody here.
Ladies
- Due to it being way, way too early in the morning I missed about the first half of this live and, looking over the protocols, I didn't see much reason to revisit most of it.
- Shcherbakova had the most successful outing of the skaters here, so properly in the lead.
- Miyahara is so divine in everything but the jumps. I don't know how much improvement we can realistically expect at this point in her career, but I really hope Lee has something up his sleeve.
- Liza, sigh. This program is one of the best she's ever had, but it's already gotten messy, not just because of the execution of it here. Falling on the Axel, honestly, she hasn't missed one yet this season, so that's not a big deal. She was due.
- Amber Glenn shows up in a big way, though I she's going to have a tough time staying in the game in the free based on the past. But good luck, and especially this is impressive for somebody who originally had zero Grand Prixs.
- You Young's triple Axel isn't consistent yet, so I thought a lot of predictions for her here were a bit optimistic. Rough time, but I guess she's still in the game since nobody is that far ahead.
- Sofia, great to see her looking improved (if not near top form yet).
Pairs
- Sui/Han absolutely took charge here, as you would expect them to, and delivered the only truly clean performance (notwithstanding Sui's incredible save on their throw). Program at this point is a bit ehhh, but we'll see how it grows.
- Liubov and Charlie, unexpectedly in second place. I don't expect that to stay the case in the free, and I imagine they don't either, but they've got a decent 4-ish point lead on the other bronze medal contenders. Their development continues apace.
- Peng/Jin, a bit rougher than Skate America, though I imagine with Peng's ankle they lost some training time. This is a great program.
- Efimova's triple jump attempt was doomed from its crazily tilted takeoff.
- Ryom/Kim went three seasons with the same short program and now they've got two different short programs in as many competitions? What was wrong with "Malaguena"? Did the Supreme Leader disapprove?
Ice dance
- Sinitsina/Katsalapov's "Singin' in the Rain" sounded like an iffy idea to me when it was announced, but it's turned out to be really good for them (though honestly Nikita could maybe stand to dial it down just a bit, at times he's selling a bit too hard). Levels all good, etc.
- Chock/Bates had good Finnstep results on the Challenger series, so I don't get what's been going wrong at their Grand Prix events.
- Fournier Beaudry/Sorensen were undermarked here, in my opinion, considering their technical excellence (highest BV of the event) and strong performance ability. I believe they're the only team so far to get a Level 4 Finnstep at multiple events.
- Wang/Liu's program is so fun, and them being in fourth is a bit of a surprise. It'd probably take some work to hold onto fourth, but I guess we'll see.
- Hawayek/Baker's program, likewise fun, but levels were not so fun. A step down from SCI.
- Skoptcova/Aleshin have hands down the worst Bonnie & Clyde RD of the season. Terrible music edits.
- I feel sorry for Komatsubara/Koleto, who, even aside from the concussion problems, have to spend their time away from their elite training facility to have any hope of getting him citizenship, and yet because they can't train at Gadbois full-time it's going to be that much harder for them to compete with Muramoto/Takahashi next season.
