2021 GP Italy - Men: Thoughts and Comments?

[gsk8]

Kagiyama soars to gold at Gran Premio d'Italia Men

Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama soared from seventh place to capture the gold in the Men’s event at 2021 Gran Premio d’Italia in Torino, Italy, on Saturday. Mikhail Kolyada of Russia rose from […]

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I was rooting for Yuma and am so thrilled for him! Poor guy said he was so nervous in the SP he thought he'd throw up.

I'm glad to see Kolyada so well and he says he actually connects with his FS and feels the emotional aspect of it.

It's always great to see Grassl and Vasiljevs do well. Can't get Vasiljevs to stop talking when he gets going He's like a Latvian-version of Jason Brown

I was sad to see Cha slip off the podium, but he's got more to give for sure!

I adore Jin, but wish he would be more consistent. In this case, at least it added a bit of drama to the finale of the men's FS.

Aliev needs some serious mojo. Or perhaps a little time with Raf for a month or two?

What are your thoughts on the event?

 

[Colonel Green]

Kagiyama really took everybody else to school there.

 

[el henry]

Comeback of the year for Yuma

But I am so pleased with Deniss V.'s placement and programs. So happy to see him show what he can do. Even if he needs to borrow some tips and tricks on styling ponies from Jason

 

[ucrgirl]

Yuma Kagiyama was fantastic. He is my dark horse for an Olympic medal. I have others I've rooted for but they aren't bringing programs with heart and jumps this year.

 

[Colonel Green]

He is my dark horse for an Olympic medal.

I don’t think he can be considered a dark horse; he’s the reigning World silver medalist.

 

[Skater Boy]

Yuma was wonderful. He is not a darkhorse for a medal . He is a contender. Japan has Yuzuru, Shoma and Yuma - they are like the Russian ladies other than Nathan Chen they could sweep. I loved Kolyada - I just don't think he is picking the best programs to show off his beautiful skating. Boyang was a hot mess in the fs but Cha looked good.

 

[Holy Headband]

Very happy about Kagiyama's deserved win, but Cha's performance was my favourite despite the mistakes. I hope to see him come into his own in the next quad and become a medal contender because his skating is gorgeous and deserves to be rewarded. His Ina Bauer is the best in the biz.

Sad for Jin and Aliev, especially Aliev, who seems to be very discouraged and/or battling health issues. Equally sad for Yan Han, whose career has been sabotaged by his own federation in favour of Jin's. I certainly hope he's out there somewhere training in case they get over themselves and call him before the Olympics.

 

[Olympic]

When you consider that Yuzu is injured (?) and Shoma has not completely rediscovered himself, Yuma might just be the top JPN man and could be an OSM.

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

I had a bit of a mental health crisis, and, being very worried about Yuma, decided to avoid the pain of watching the men's free and check the scores after the event concluded. Well, I had the surprise of my life, seeing him in first with a 197 and first overall! He really is the king of comeback free skates. I also like the changes to his program, and even though his quads are still a little squirrelly (stupid injury), he looks to be in top form.

It was amazing to see Daniel do so well in front of a home audience, especially since he was really sick the night before. I wonder if the two German teams had to WD as well due to food poisoning? I also love that he's going for a 4Lo combo. Who knows, he might be the first skater to land a 4Lo at the Olympics!

Junhwan's ina bauer deserves special mention. It is STUNNING (who cares about jumps) He is just so gorgeous on the ice all the time. Also, good thinking adding the 3Lo onto the 3F... jump math can save your scores!

Boyang... a cactus as always. Also, why the guitar Bolero? WHY? I guess we'll see him again at maybe 4CC, and then the Olympics? That was a rough FS. Stupid appendicitis and inconsistent jumps

Deniss! Deniss was the only man in the top group besides Misha who didn't implode. He's still skating to R&J, but I don't hate it. His spins are impeccable, and at least he rotated the 4S. If you're going to fall, get a q, because the GOE doesn't change! I love his SP, although I'm biased. The ponytail actually works there, but it's a bit weird in the FS. He needs to go to the Jason Brown School for Removing Ponytails. (He reminds me a lot of a young Jason though, except with a quad)

Kazuki... we saw moments of brilliance until that one spin imploded. If only he could skate like the first minute throughout an entire program... Oh well, I can dream.

 

[lariko]

No thoughts, just emotions. Was super-happy to see Grassl medal. Then had to spend 30 min on the phone with my mom who was raging about him being robbed of silver. He saved this event for me from a total wipe out.

 

[Tolstoj]

Daniel Grassl was the highlight of the event. Apparently he had food poisoning after the short, that's why the long was not as clean and he ran out of energy a little towards the end.

It could have been a silver here with a completely clean performance, but it is still a huge achievement for him, after more than a year of injuries, we always knew in Italy, he's this kind of skater, capable of these high scores because he has the quads, the spins are good and he sells his programs.

Yuma always great to see him on fire, but like i wrote 2 days ago, i knew the short was a fluke. He's very consistent with his jumps.

Kolyada, just the fact that he didn't fall is a step forward for him, but the technical contents are similar to Kagiyama and yet the difference in scores is very big, so he'll need clean performances to aim at top spots at the Olympics or Worlds.

 

[yelyoh]

Yuma Kagiyama was fantastic. He is my dark horse for an Olympic medal. I have others I've rooted for but they aren't bringing programs with heart and jumps this year.

I don't think just a dark horse. I think a real shot.

 

[ladyjane]

Well, I just watched the men, and it was a bit of surprise. The men's event often is the surprising, unpredictable one and so it was again. That's not to say it wasn't enjoyable. It definitely was.

I am completely in love with Junhwan Cha's Ina Bauer (so beautiful) and his 3F3L after having a problem with that L after the Lutz just before. True fighting spirit there. Yuma was a real delight to watch, and so good of him to come back after his bad SP. His exuberance was infectuous. Deniss Vasilievs must be one of the most expressive skaters ever, and what a joy to watch him. I couldn't care less that he made some mistakes. I was so happy for Daniel Grassl, skating well in front of your home crowd is so rewarding. After Gabriele Frangipani's disappointing skates, that was a real treat. I'm getting to like Mikhail Kolyada's Schlinder's List, although I still prefer Jason's version. I felt sorry for the other two Russian guys, both can do better. And Boyang Jin? What a pity. After doing so well in the SP, to completely fall apart in the Free. I liked watching Kazuki Tomono as well - even if he had some problems after doing the difficult jumps. Love his style though.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I caught up with GP Italy men's event yesterday. Wow. Okay, just a few thoughts:

Yuma Kagiyama is a true talent. He's still young though, and he's human. I wish there wouldn't be so much touting and over-expectations. He seemed to feel a bit of pressure in what I believe was his senior GP debut. He likely felt some pressure too of wanting to live up to his World silver medal showing. Anyway, he faltered in the sp. In view of his talent, the judges were fairly generous. He could have been dropped two placements lower for the mistakes in the sp. Anyway I think the judges gave Yuma a bit of leeway to get it together in the fp, and he did.

Even in the fp, Yuma was somewhat generously scored on GOE, especially for a couple of slightly imperfect landings. At this event though, even with the high fp score Yuma posted early, many of the guys ahead of him still had a chance to better him overall, but they didn't. Especially Kolyada should have won this going away, but he can't seem to ever skate a clean program. Kolyada has everything a skater could want: superb talent, a legendary coach now, full backing from a powerful fed, wonderful programs. What is it that causes him to make these unnecessary mistakes that are like random brain freezes? Is it the pressure that trying to compete clean quads can cause both mentally and physically? Probably so, and that's likely true for a number of skaters. But also, it's about personality make-up, and simply finding a way to overcome and to persevere. I guess ask Nathan Chen, because it isn't easy, but Nathan sometimes makes it look easy. We know it's not.

Sorry to say, but there's no way that Jun Hwan Cha should not have been ahead of Daniel Grassl in the sp. Grassl edging Cha by percentage points in the sp just seems like political scoring to me. The judges often treat Cha poorly when he skates well. Part of that might be the fact that Cha, although tremendously talented, does not have a federation with huge political clout supporting him. I wonder whether Cha was put off a bit at being placed behind Grassl in the sp. Maybe not, but Cha just didn't seem to be focused in the fp, which was sad to see. He was on fire in the sp, and he needs to be fully rewarded when he skates so well.

When I first saw Grassl in juniors, I liked him because he's talented and he's different. But by now, someone needs to step in and help him clean up his technique. He looks a wild mess when he jumps. And for sure he's not always entering his jumps on the right edges. But the judges are only concerned apparently with whether or not landings are under- or over-rotated. Grassl should not receive such high GOE for most of his jumps. His technique is too messy. Plus, I have to say, watching Daniel Grassl skate to The White Crow, truly hurt my eyes, especially after seeing Kolyada bless that music with his extraordinary gifts last season. Now, the choreography Grassl performed to the music is interesting and dynamic, but Grassl is not balletic, so why choose music so associated with Kolyada's balletic aesthetic from last season? Why?

Well, at least Kolyada (despite his mistakes), managed to land in second place, ahead of Grassl overall in the final standings. I felt sorry for Boyang Jin, as it appeared in the sp that he'd overcome some demons. But no, they resurfaced for him under pressure, with having to skate last in the fp. I found Kasuki Tomono such a joy to watch, especially in the sp. It's too bad he didn't skate quite as well in the fp. I was sorry for Gabriele Frangipani who probably was trying too hard with the event being in his home country, after he'd performed well at another event some weeks ago.

I was most delighted watching Deniss Vasiljevs perform his programs. He seems stronger and more resilient. He also seems to still be growing somehow. But maybe he's reached his adult height already. I love Deniss' new programs, and it's always enjoyable to see the supportive interaction between Deniss and his coach, Lambiel. Kudos to Deniss placing fourth at GP Italy! Perhaps training with Shoma Uno has been a boon for Deniss. It's usually helpful for skaters to be pushed by training with other top, accomplished skaters. Another example is the positive influence Jason Brown has had on the young skaters who train with him at the Cricket Club.