2020 Rostelecom Cup: Men's SP

[gsk8]

Georgia's Kvitelashvili surprises at Rostelecom Cup | Golden Skate

Morisi Kvitelashvili of Georgia found himself in first place after a top-heavy Russian Men's Short Program at 2020 Rostelecom Cup in Moscow.

www.goldenskate.com

A few surprises here! What are your thoughts on the Men's SP?

 

[flanker]

Of course Morisi in the lead is a surprise, though considering his performance the other surprise is he didn't receive over 100 points

 

[Tolstoj]

Kvitelashvili and Gumennik were fab!

I think it's the first time i saw Morisi skating with confidence, on the landing of his quads but also on the presentation of the routine. We'll see if he can hold it together in the free.

Petr i'm not that surprised, he's that good, since he switched to Daineko, we've seen that maturity in his skating really coming, the spins were always amazing and the jumps are looking very strong, again with confidence and ease. He has a shot at the gold medal.

As for the others Kolyada surprising to see falling on the quad considering how consistent he has been this season, but he's still there in contention.

I really liked Savosin and Litvintsev performances: yes there were mistakes on their programs, but just from an interpretation standpoint they were among the few here who really sold the routine with great expression.

New young skaters unfortunately not delivering clean programs, even though they were skating clean before, Russia was maybe expecting more clean performances, but that's okay at their debut on the GP series.

 

[MGstyle]

I am over the moon for Petya Gumennik! He finally put together a performance he would have been capable of all along. I am crossing everything for him to keep the momentum going tomorrow. He seems to be getting out of the growth spurt funk, it's high time for him to start shining the way he ought to! the down side was Dima, ufff... but I guess he is still not 100% recovered. Hope he will by the time the Nationals roll around. I also think Litvintsev was short changed.

 

[ladyjane]

Morisi!!!!!! What a programme. Really very good and underscored (should have been 100+). And Petr was superb too. Really good skates by these two guys. Mikhail had a bit of a dip but still good. I funnily enough really enjoyed watching Andrei this time, despite some mishaps. Dmitri was a bit of a let down, although I enjoy his style and generally his skating. Makar had a good skate too, but he did not seem to enjoy himself. I found Vladimir to be a bit undermarked...his skate was really enjoyable. I know, others did better, but I just loved watching him. Great evening for me.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

I funnily enough really enjoyed watching Andrei this time, despite some mishaps.

Yay more Mozalev appreciation! Andrei will almost certainly move up the ranks tomorrow (he's sort of built a track record for comebacks ), question is will it be enough to medal?

Kvitelashvili on top doesn't come as a surprise to me given his Euros medal and that the Russian men are mostly either coming back from injury/hiatus (Aliev, Kolyada) or relative greenhorns. I'm sad Kazakova/Reviya couldn't make it here, so it's nice that Morisi is representing Georgia well.

The men's SP is almost always a poor podium predictor but on the whole (given their relatively young ages) the guys are looking really promising.

 

[YuBluByMe]

I enjoyed Gumennik the most. I appreciate his melodramatic style as he manages to pull it off without being downright cheesy. He also has great spins; I love his combination spin (layback thingie!). One thing I’ve noticed, though, is that his step sequence is...off. He’s still stepping after the music’s crescendo and it looks to be intentional . That needs to change because it gives the impression that he’s off his music. Shorten it so it ends right at the climax, not after.

Pleasantly surprised by Kvitelashvili. That was definitely the best I’ve seen him skate and the jumps just looked easy . Can he repeat in the free?

Ignatov joins the 4Lo club, but I’ll be floored if he can pull it together for a cleanish free. I just hope for him not to die. That’ll be enough.

I really like Mozalev and yet I swear he wasn’t here. I simply don’t remember his skate yet I watched the whole thing live. So I went back to the competition thread to see if I made any comments on his skate to refresh my memory. And oh yeah that’s right. Beauty of a 4F and an invalidated 4T combo. I’m not worried about him, though. He has a cool head and I don’t think I’ve ever seen two bad skates from him.

I am very worried about Kolyada, however. His SP wasn’t clean and he’s skated it clean before. (Test skates was his best performance, though.) This makes me concerned for the FS since he has yet to capture that same magic and seems to be on a downward trajectory. But I have plenty of disaster training from watching him for...ah...five years now. I’m braced for impact!

...I’m still gonna cry, though.

 

[NAOTMAA]

Gumennik has had some great shorts and great longs on separate occasions but rarely together in one competition. He's improving wonderfully and he's truly due for a real breakout. I hope this is it

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Morisi and Petr were lovely to watch.

Kolyada I’m not a fan of this program. His spins were sublime but his jumps were poor other than the axel (and he’s lucky to not get a < call on the quad) and then there is the laughable GOE and PCS. -4’s on a q quad with a stepout both hands down etc. And then with a fall and a shaky combo, for a program in its infancy which needs a lot of refinement, he gets a PCS personal best of 46.70 (his previous was 46.44).

Does this year’s Grand Prix Russia actually count towards international personal bests and whatnot because it’s comical the scores that are being given to the Russians.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Georgia's Kvitelashvili surprises at Rostelecom Cup | Golden Skate

Morisi Kvitelashvili of Georgia found himself in first place after a top-heavy Russian Men's Short Program at 2020 Rostelecom Cup in Moscow.

www.goldenskate.com

A few surprises here! What are your thoughts on the Men's SP?

How good was Moris?! I loved everything about that program! The costume, the music, the choreo. And he almost broke through 100! Excellent work!

Still love Dima's Masquerade even with the mistakes, it's just such elegant music.

And Mika K's swag in his SP is an automatic 10 from me

I did hope after doing so well at his Cup stages Artem K would have a great SP, but alas. He looked very nervous, I hope he can really channel that energy into his Queen FS and get the Arena rocking!

 

[rollerblade]

Does this year’s Grand Prix Russia actually count towards international personal bests and whatnot because it’s comical the scores that are being given to the Russians.

Nope. Doesn't count for TES-minimums either for Worlds (if Worlds happen).