2023 Grand Prix de France Men's Short Program

[4everchan]

Looking at the protocols, I found it interesting that the American judge gave Ilia the lowest (or tied for lowest) GOE on nearly every element.

Of course, that judge might have equally stingy with everyone (I didn't look), and this represents consistency in his viewpoint, but Ilia ain't get a lot of home-cooking help, at least here.

The USA judge placed Malinin first.

Looking at the scores : only a couple judges applied the minus 5 GOE penalty for a fall on an element. The fall is applied to the element itself so it should be minus 5 across the board (unless there is some subtlety about the rules I don't know about).

Adam should include his 3rd jumping pass within the bonus mark.

In the end, to me there is no way in the world that Malinin deserves the same PCS as Adam and Yuma. I agree he deserves high GOES on his jumps. There are very impressive and easy and they should be marked accordingly. I would place him even below Lukas in terms of PCS.
In then end, remove a 3-4 points for the PCS and maybe 1-2 more for the fall (in GOES and perhaps even the level of the element itself) He would still be in 2nd place and within striking distance in the LP. Will it change the end result? Probably not. But it's important for the sport that rules seem even for everyone.

 

[eppen]

The men were my main reason to head to Angers also this year. And with Kagiyama, Malinin and Siao Him Fa in the lineup it was a bit like watching a mini GP final...

Some impressions here.

Luc Economides: Not sure about what the program is all about, but he sold it well. Loved the steps that were spot on to the complex rhythms.

Boyang Jin: I was stunned to see him looking almost like a world class skater overall. I have seen him live a couple of times over the years, but this is the first time I have not felt embarrassed watching his poor skating and performance.

Camden Pulkinen: I would want to claim him for Finland... He moves beautifully but though I liked the music and some of the choreo was cool, it was perhaps not fully there.

Yuma Kagiyama: I had recently started to feel that he is always cautious in his performance, but not so here. Lots of intensity and purpose in the moves. The program feels maybe a little empty in places.. But for a comeback in international big leagues very very good!

Ilia Malinin: His jumps are brilliant. The program is ok, but it is a bit too much empty posturing without truly intensive and finished movement that is essestial for the genre. He is also slowish. The steps were quite unimpressive.

Adam Siao Him Fa: I am a fan, I admit, but he was The Man of the event which ever way you look at it. The choreo is very good - the only thing you could complain about are the jumps being there in a row. But imo Adam filled the gaps better than eg Kagiyama. He has big, brilliant finished movement, he looks effortless in doing everything. The flow and speed are excellent. He lives the music. He has also truth in his delivery that you see so rarely in fs. I lifted my backside for a SO.

Though the PCS for his were hard to take once again.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

Is it weird to think Takeru Kataise and Mone Chiba could make a good ice dance team?

 

[DancingCactus]

Loved Adam. He really has unique, sharp movements, but at the same time this musical flow and passion. And good jumps. He should be miles ahead of Ilia in terms of PCS and it bugs me.

Ilia still does the least sensual interpretation of Malaguena ever. Can't he hold a position for more than a nanosecond? I guess he has to dazzle the audience with his speed, but then it just doesn't fit the music. His jumps are great but they are so fast that to me they actually look less impressive than Adam's or Yuma's. But that is obviously not his fault.

Yuma has the prettiest jumps and edges to die for. He just isn't as interesting a performer (yet?) as many of the other top men. Also, Imagine Dragons to me are only one step up the boredom scale compared to Coldplay, rock bottom of all pseudo rock bands.

I liked Lukas, haven't seen the rest yet.

A great event, definitely!

 

[icewhite]

Loved Adam. He really has unique, sharp movements, but at the same time this musical flow and passion. And good jumps. He should be miles ahead of Ilia in terms of PCS and it bugs me.

Ilia still does the least sensual interpretation of Malaguena ever. Can't he hold a position for more than a nanosecond? I guess he has to dazzle the audience with his speed, but then it just doesn't fit the music. His jumps are great but they are so fast that to me they actually look less impressive than Adam's or Yuma's. But that is obviously not his fault.

Yuma has the prettiest jumps and edges to die for. He just isn't as interesting a performer (yet?) as many of the other top men. Also, Imagine Dragons to me are only one step up the boredom scale compared to Coldplay, rock bottom of all pseudo rock bands.

I liked Lukas, haven't seen the rest yet.

A great event, definitely!

I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with Yuma's performance, in fact I thought he was amazing yesterday. Imagine Dragons is just a band for 11year olds, totally fine, but for grown up men it feels out of place, and yes, the music itself couldn't be more boring. But I think they are rather popular in Japan and have especially been used for some anime.
I honestly think you cannot do much more with the music than what Yuma did.
And I think he was already great with Bublé - another very boring music choice which he sold as well as possible.
He was especially eager yesterday to catch all the changes in the music and was pretty spot on with those accents.

He just needs better choices of music ((like many Japanese skaters)) that's all in my opinion.

I am very impressed with Adam's skating, but his music is already a brilliant choice, so atmospheric - you still have to sell it the way he did, but if you are able to it really offers itself to skating.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

Just caught up.

Best mens event on the Grand Prix so far

 

[TontoK]

The USA judge placed Malinin first.

He did, with the lowest score of any of the nine judges.

Just glancing, the judge scored just about everyone lowest among the judges, so my earlier wonderings if he was consistently stingy seems to be accurate. Don't have a problem with that, really, so long as there is consistency.

Just a hard judge to impress, I suppose.

 

[4everchan]

He did, with the lowest score of any of the nine judges.

Just glancing, the judge scored just about everyone lowest among the judges, so my earlier wonderings if he was consistently stingy seems to be accurate. Don't have a problem with that, really, so long as there is consistency.

Just a hard judge to impress, I suppose.

exactly. that's what i was confirming. Stingy across the board... not disfavouring Malinin with lower GOE.. but doing the same with everyone. Some have given a lot of candy with Halloween this week and this judge had a bit less to spare... but they did favour Ilia. They also didn't apply the minus 5 GOE deduction on the fall (-4).

 

[anonymoose_au]

Catching up on this.

Wait, Benoit is choreo-ing Gogo?! When did this happen? But OMG, he landed all his jumps! It's a miracle! GO Gogo!

Now I'm on tenterhooks for Boyang.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Oh, the lyrics really say Vienna? Lol, and I thought I just keep mishearing.

I thought it was "Piano"

But I'm so excited! Boyang looking awesome again! How amazing was that step sequence! Brian O must have been jumping up and down at the boards.

Ooo there's the Brain O cam and having heard he just had a hip-replacement I guess that would cut back on the jumping.

 

[anonymoose_au]

In other news, Ilia makes those quads look so easy it's nuuuuts!

I really love this program, he looks like he's having so much fun with it, go him!

And Gogo is in the final group for the FS! Hooray!

 

[Ruthypegs]

Boyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!!!!!!!!!!!!

He was certainly popular - he got more stuffies than everyone else combined!

 

[Ruthypegs]

Aight, game on! Reserved, but clean skate and high-quality jumps and skating from Kagiyama. Welcome back little dude.

He was amazing - I've only seen Yuma skate live twice - at this event, and at Worlds 2022. The improvement in his performance skills is outstanding. I'm a new fan.

Also, he landed a triple axel right next to me - and it was completely silent - phenomenal!

 

[Ruthypegs]

WOW! I never saw Landry Le May before, I don't believe. Fabulous! Papers!

I've only seen him in one or two competitions before this, and this was the first time I've seen him live, but I'm definitely a fan now. Really elegant skater, and with nerves of steel. I'll be following him from now on - I'm really glad he was one of the host picks at this event.

 

[reader3]

Also enjoyed Lukas B.'s short program. Great dance moves especially in the step seq.

 

[lariko]

Also enjoyed Lukas B.'s short program. Great dance moves esp. in the step seq.

So fun!