2020 Skate America: Men's recap

[gsk8]

USA’s Nathan Chen maintained his overnight-lead to win his fourth consecutive Skate America title in Las Vegas, Nev., on Saturday. Teammate Vincent Zhou took the silver, while Keegan Messing of Canada pocketed the bronze.

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Nathan Chen takes fourth consecutive Skate America title

USA’s Nathan Chen maintained his overnight-lead to win his fourth consecutive Skate America title in Las Vegas, Nev., on Saturday. Teammate Vincent Zhou took the silver, while Keegan Messing of […]

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What are your thoughts on the Men's event? Who were you impressed with the most? Which were your favorite performances?

 

[Mathman]

Nathan Chen is the eight wonder of the world. He can miss two of his big point-getting elements, and still be so far ahead ofeveryone else that it is more like an exhibition than a competition. The most enjoyable performances, for me, though, were both of Keegan Messing's efforts.

Compared to the ladies, I actually enjoyed the men more. The main reason is that quite a few of the men had interesting music and used the music to good effect in the performance. I think NBC showed more of the men's competition than the ladies (?). It was agood chance to see some up-and-comers that we don't usually get to see on national TV.

 

[Apple1078]

I'm excited about Ilia Malinin. He's still very young which shows. But what a talent!

 

[dorispulaski]

I was so glad to see Keegan medal at Skate America! He is such an enthusiastic performer. He just missed the podium last year, so it was especially satisfying to see him take the bronze.

 

[ancientpeas]

I actually was very impressed with how much Nathan has cleaned up his performances. They are much less sloppy. The jumping is incredible.

Vincent is a much, much harder sell for me. I just don't feel it. And I could write an essay on the choice of music for the SP and the fact that it is about the genius who was Vincent Van Gogh but seemed to him to be about himself.

I wish Keegan had had a better long program but I always enjoy November Rain and Slash's guitar solo (which I would like more of).

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Great to see these guys back competing. I missed Jason Brown, but hopefully we'll get to see him again before Nationals? I loved Keegan's performances, and I was happy to see him medal.

Nathan proves to be mortal after all. Maybe the couple of glitches were due to a distracted focus perhaps because this competition was nowhere being close for him? Possibly when things heat up again hopefully with opportunities for international competition, it will become more of a challenge for Nathan meeting a rejuvenated Kolyada under MIshin's tutelage (with that gorgeous Nureyev-inspired fp), and a re-inspired Shoma Uno under Lambiel's guidance, plus Jason, Hanyu, et al.

And Jason with quads and his smoking-hot programs will set the ice on fire!

 

[el henry]

I just can't with Philip Glass. Or Don McLean. I love the men but with music I'm also set in my ways

I will echo everyone else with the Keegan love. I swear he was playing to the cardboard cut-outs

And of course I'm usually not the biggest revolutions in the air fan, but I make an exemption for my wild jumper Alex K. 4Lo, baby!

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I like Nathan's unusual music choices. I hope he flips the script in an even more exciting way instead of coasting on his current style quirks. That said, of course, I keep in mind that once skaters master a certain way of skating, comfortable patterns set in that they rarely stray away from because layout patterns and specific moves done in a certain way lead to consistency and confidence. Still, Nathan does mix things up with how he plans which jumps to perform singly and in combo in his programs.

Nathan is very musical. He plays the piano and he understands musical nuances, so he probably gravitates toward a variety of interesting music. I don't have a problem with the change in vibe for his fp this year, after the rollicking Rocket Man last season, and the slower-paced Land of All the previous season.

When Alex K is on, he's so fun to watch. I like the Alex K. and Alex J. collabs on choreo.

 

[LutzDance]

I love Philip Glass Nathan's music choice for the FS is one of the highlights of this season for me (the other being Misha's the White Crow), and that delicately choreographed step sequence is just magical.

My favorite skate of the men's event though is Keegan's free skate. He seemed to have really grown into the music and projected so much energy.

Maybe because G/P's free dance set such a high standard for using this piece, Vincent's Vincent is not really working for me. And yes I'm also confused about how he found there's a personal connection between himself and the piece based on the name alone. Happy that his was able to land his jumps in competition and not get derailed by a rough practice.

I like both programs from Tomoki and Alex. While Alex skated these two programs pretty well this year at Nationals, I'm counting on Tomoki to clean up his tech and deliver a better performance at Nationals next year.

Now, if only I can watch Andrew's new programs...