2022 Olympics: Men's Short Program

[Rere]

I've noticed they're making a very good effort with pronunciations.

yes! I noticed that, too, such a good job.

 

[readernick]

I thought about taking out the word juniorish because it always triggers people.

The lack of maturity in connection to the audience/music is what is juniorish to me. His StSq to me felt more like he was performing his choreography incredibly well rather than emoting or displaying actual musicality. I would have rewarded in GOE but not so much in PCS in relation to Brown/Hanyu/Chen/Uno.

I agree about attention to detail, absolutely. He was accenting everything but it lacked that mature emotional connection and just utter brilliance of the others performance wise.

I think this is a fair assessment. Yuma already has the among the best SS in the World. He deserves high scores in this PCS category ( Although, I do agree with poster who replied to me with no one is perfect, so no one deserves a 10.. That's true but if the judges give 10s than Yuma deserves that as much as anyone else in SS) He also has impeccable technique and deserves high GOE, too.

However, when compared to Hanyu/ Brown/ Chen/ Uno there is still nuance lacking from some aspects of his performance. The choreo itself also doesn't have the same impact. But, it's not like he's bad in that categories, he's just a bit overscored. Judges like to overscore their favorite skaters and Yuma is a skater's skater.

I have a lot more issue with the way some of the young women just turned 15,16,17 are scored because they get high scores in SS/ TR that their actual skills in these categories clearly don't merit. So, PCS means almost nothing in women's skating and the talented young women have no motivation (other than internal) to improve. PCS in men's while often not very accurate is used much more in harmony with the way it was written. Yes, nationalistic bias and TES bias exist but not to the same degree as the women's event.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

A pop is a major error. I agree there. But Jason does much harder transitions into his jumps than skaters who are jumping quads.

Agreed, Jason does somewhat make up for the lack of difficulty with transitions, but that's just one GOE bullet. When he hits his 3F though he deserves +5's all across. His axel still is a bit tight but the spiral into it is nice.

 

[Arriba627]

I've noticed they're making a very good effort with pronunciations.

Sounds like PJ Kwong to me. She's a pro with the names.

 

[sjchilly]

I had two iPads going, one playing the NBC telecast with the sound turned down and the scoring box I prefer and the 2nd iPad turned to Peacock just for the announcer, program music and no commentary!

I had a delay between NBC TV and Peacock...probably between 10-15 seconds. Too confusing to watch both, so I watched peacock with sound and turned to watch and unmute NBC only while waiting for scores. I wanted the scores asap.

 

[ManyCairns]

In my very personal opinion, of someone who was too tired to watch the SP last night and just watched the videos, and someone that wasn’t really interested in watching Men, cause I’m not that much anymore, Nathan was extremely superior to Yuma. And you can see that in the first twenty seconds of the program already. Yuma has fantastic speed, he moves really well across the ice, but there was just a lot of crossovers in that program. His PCS were excessive to say the least. His program is also quite empty, and that comes from someone whose favorite skater is Kolyada, the king of skating pretty while doing almost nothing in programs.

Nathan doesn’t really connect to the music, in comparison to Yuma, but his program is very intricate, the variety of body movement is clearly shown from start to end, and although his edges are not the best, most of his step sequence covered a lot of ice and was quite smooth. Yuma had a noticeable misstep, in my opinion, that was kind of overlooked. But you can see that there’s a lot of difference between the two, and Yuma will have years to develop in the future. Can’t understand why his PCS score would be this close to Nathan. Athough, some of the GOE Nathan got was, a bit out there.

I only watched these two programs, so I can only opine on them. In my opinion, I would have put these programs at an ever bigger point difference.

Thanks for this post. With your words in mind, I went back and watched the top 3 programs and really appreciated the intricacy of what Nathan packs into his program, the ice coverage, also his jumps often have incredibly little setup -- I think maybe Nathan should indeed have a bigger lead. I think your observations about Yuma's program content were astute. It was quite fun, though, especially at first viewing, and Yuma's big elements (like the jumps), are outstanding.

 

[moonvine]

According to my Facebook counter, this video of Donovan's SP has been viewed over 2 million times. 300,000 likes. (And you can view it in the US, whereas the Youtube ones are geoblocked). ETA: The Comite Olimpico's twitter video has been viewed 395,000 times.

Video

www.facebook.com

Donovan should trademark "His smile could light up the rink". I remember when I first saw him, at a summer comp in 2017, my benchmate and I said the same thing almost in unison. Before he even skated.

Words cannot express how thrilled I am for this moment for Donovan.

Thank you! I loved the commentary!

 

[Janice4th]

As for the hole, here are two pictures (not the best quality, sorry for that):

Looks like he could fit the tips of 3 of his fingers into the hole pretty far (compare the length of his fingers with the following pic)

To me personally, it does look pretty deep - or at least deep enough to throw off the take-off of a jump.

Edit: Link to a few more pictures showing the hole in the ice.

Any shots right before the jump? I know that would be harder to get, but pointing to a divot after the fact is meaningless. It could have been a much smaller divot, and his jump made it bigger, or he caused the divot.

 

[moonvine]

They liked Keegan and are just about ready to love him after I showed them my recording of the 2021 SCI Gala! It's not Keegs' fault that he is still (getting ready to be) jetlagged and thus was only 60% as fun last night as he could be

Oh good. Wait until they see his hydroblade! (Which I still maintain should be called a Keeganblade, because no one can do it like Keegan

 

[moonvine]

So I’ve tried to go back to the Olympic channel to watch the replays and they all say “not available.” I have my VPN set to the Netherlands. I can see all of 2014 and 2018. What is up with this?

 

[Rere]

wow that was awesome.
So glad Ivan Shmuratko eventually got to compete, I love him so much, and he's made the free!
Boyang! Deniss! Kevin! SHOMA OMG! Junhwan! Keegan is a superhuman, such a strong skate and such a smile all while jetlagged. Nathan is a superhuman period And Jason! Standing ovation well deserved!
I'm super glad that so many guys got a good Olympic skate! Too bad not everybody gets to qualify. And there are way too little medals to go around, too, if you ask me

 

[Rere]

Go Kevin! Lookin' good in purple!!!

yeeah, I jut realized I was staring at his awesome costume through all his program

 

[Icey]

I have never known Yuzu to be other than a gentlemen and a good "loser" even when he ended up without a gold medal. Do you want him to lie about what he perceives caused his problem? He might be wrong, but I do think he sincerely believes what he is saying.

If he does a good 4ax how many points will he get for that element?
I suspect Yuma is going to pull an upset.

This year the athletes have the stress of covid and the rigid protocols of the Chinese, which I understand. But with those added stresses, it is amazing we are getting so many wonderful performances.

 

[moonvine]

wow that was awesome.
So glad Ivan Shmuratko eventually got to compete, I love him so much, and he's made the free!
Boyang! Deniss! Kevin! SHOMA OMG! Junhwan! Keegan is a superhuman, such a strong skate and such a smile all while jetlagged. Nathan is a superhuman period And Jason! Standing ovation well deserved!
I'm super glad that so many guys got a good Olympic skate! Too bad not everybody gets to qualify. And there are way too little medals to go around, too, if you ask me

I keep saying do horse ribbon style (6 places). Alas the IOC nor any sport governing body has yet asked my opinion.

 

[readernick]

I have never known Yuzu to be other than a gentlemen and a good "loser" even when he ended up without a gold medal. Do you want him to lie about what he perceives caused his problem? He might be wrong, but I do think he sincerely believes what he is saying.

If he does a good 4ax how many points will he get for that element?
I suspect Yuma is going to pull an upset.

This year the athletes have the stress of covid and the rigid protocols of the Chinese, which I understand. But with those added stresses, it is amazing we are getting so many wonderful performances.

First, 100 percent about Yuzuru. In fact, all these top men are just incredibly kind, gracious, and humble. The love exchanged by that top 3 at the post SP press conference toward each other and towards Yuzuru was just the pinnacle of sportsmanship. I don't see why anyone would have an issue with him talking about what went wrong with the jump.

In terms of scoring, it will be difficult for Yuzuru to get on the podium without mistakes from the top 3 guys. Shoma and Nathan have significantly higher BV. Yuzuru and Yuma have similar BV. However this is men's figure skating and mistakes happen. So, we will see.

Yuma will need help from Nathan to win this competition. Nathan's lead and BV keep him out of reach unless he makes mistakes. However, again, this is men's figure skating so, who knows?

 

[kimganos]

Not saying he's lying. But it does sound like he's making an excuse. As pointed out, when other skaters have done it, they've been criticised for it too. Excuses are bad because it trivializes the good things that others do as circumstantial/lucky (or unlucky in his case), and isn't taking ownership of one's own mistakes.

All he did was describe what happened. Which is being interpreted as an excuse. Give it a rest.

 

[Putina]

You can only have three jumping passes in the short. One of them has to be a double or triple axel, one a solo triple or quad, and one jump in combination.

Once he popped that solo jump, he couldn't attempt another solo jump.

I think what Maribelle asks is what constitutes a jump attempt. Is it strictly when both feet are off the ice? Is there a situation where a skater can mask a pop as if it were a part of choreographic "hop" and make another attempt, time permitting?

 

[ramurphy2005]

I think what Maribelle asks is what constitutes a jump attempt. Is it strictly when both feet are off the ice? Is there a situation where a skater can mask a pop as if it were a part of choreographic "hop" and make another attempt, time permitting?

I'm not the person to ask about the technical aspects of aborted jump take offs or popped jumps.

My layman take is I don't think so.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Sorry but he doesn't have superb artistry....period....

LOL! You don't have to apologize for having your opinion, which I definitely don't agree with. What you think doesn't have any bearing on who Nathan Chen is, nor on the extraordinary things he has achieved in skating. It doesn't make much difference what people think who don't like Nathan Chen. Often in this world, individuals with extraordinary talent are viewed negatively, especially in figure skating, especially by fans of rival skaters.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

After looking at the protocols, I would agree with some of the comments in this thread by posters who felt Jason deserved higher PCS. I think Jason specifically should have received slightly higher PCS than Nathan in composition and interpretation. But seriously, both guys are not far off from each other in these categories. Jason also deserves higher PCS on transitions (but equal to Nathan because they are both very good in that category). Otherwise, the other PCS marks for Jason are reasonable. Nathan and Jason are both skaters who hear and interpret the music, gloriously. I think Jason should be in fifth place over Morisi K, who despite having hard-earned quads, is a very pedestrian (i.e., not very exciting) skater. Semenenko put out the jumps and he tried hard, but he's also not very special as the other guys he's at the top with. Semenenko was over-scored on both tech and PCS (as a placeholder for ROC in the absence of Kolyada, and out of respect for Mishin). I also feel that Kevin Aymoz should have received much higher PCS than the judges gave him in composition and interpretation.

Judging by some comments in this thread, It's too bad that a number of fans are so limited in their understanding, views and perceptions of what these athletes do on the ice, and what it takes to do what they do. Even if you've watched figure skating for years, there's always something to learn. You never stop learning.

The Olympic Ice show (on Peacock -- 4 episodes are up), with Ash Wagner, Johnny Moseley, Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano (and another host) has been fun to watch, and it's wonderfully informative. They interview skaters, give summaries of performances, engage in spinning demonstrations, etc., all in a fun-spirited fashion. Ash and Brian break down steps, takeoffs, entrances and exits of some skaters, with on-ice demonstrations by Ash and Brian, as well as video slo-mo of Nathan taking off into his highest point-gathering jump combo late in his sp. It is very instructive to hear the breakdown on what Nathan is doing technically, which explains why he's so good.