2023 Skate America: Men's Thoughts?

[moonvine]

Did not even know Skate America had happened. Feels like the promotion was worse than ever. No videos on ISU. Not even clips, and not much social media presence; normally things would normally pop up.

There are topics with dates of each comp on this board. But you can watch the whole event on ISU channel with a VPN.

 

[moonvine]

I agree with you on this His 4A should be scored higher. It's amazing. His jumps and spins are so great that he should just focus on programs that match the beat of the jumps. I don't think he should focus on more choreography.

He is not happy that he didn’t win Worlds and wants to make sure he does so this year. I’m not sure what’s wrong with that.

 

[moonvine]

Surprise of the comp for me was Litvintsev. I really liked him.

 

[viennaskater]

DancingCactus said:
Ilia can do incredible things in the air (what was that barrel roll thingy???),

If I understood correctly, Ilia invented that move and calls it the"raspberry". I guess Malinin means raspberry? (Someone please correct me if I have this info wrong?)

My boyfriend thought he looked like a spider when he did that.

 

[ChristineB]

Kevin appeared to be in such a delightfully buoyant frame of mind all weekend. I happened to run into him the morning after his short (which was mesmerizing live) and congratulated him—he seemed to be positively glowing!

After the victory ceremony he made a point of interacting with fans along the boards. I also saw him on the plaza the morning after the long—which completely brought down the house—as he was happily chatting with a crowd of young admirers. And as the French dance team finished, I saw him in the seats at the very top of the arena, excitedly waving a big French flag.

And may I say, after all his struggles, all of this was especially lovely to see.

Kevin was amazing! I was staying in the hotel where the skaters were and he was happily taking photos with fans after his skate. He was so excited and definitely glowing!

 

[el henry]

I flew after both skates. First time I have seen him in person and it was amazing.

It warmed my heart to 1) see Kevin skate lights out and 2) see the crowd reaction.

In the GS interview he said he physically screams, out loud, before he rushes the judges. Were you close enough to hear that ?

 

[noskates]

Best of all time? I think that's almost impossible to determine as each generation has come up with new and creative skating. If you do it by most "wins" than that doesn't always mean the best skater - just the skater with the most accomplishments . You can say who your favorite skater is of all times. I personally would not include Dick Button, Nathan Chen, Alexei Yagudin, Plushenko, Brian Boitano, etc. etc. but I would gleefully say my favorite male skater of all time is Jason Brown with Kurt Browning only a very tiny hairbreadth away. Any of these "who's the best" discussions will usually only cite that poster's favorite! I think Ilia has the potential to be an all-time great based on accomplishments and while there are still parts of his skating that need tweaking, the guy is only 18 years old for heaven's sake. Expectations run high for him and I hope they don't overcome him. Working on his presentation shows his desire to be an all around skater. Give the guy a little credit for that. And I think it was smart to leave the 4A out - he didn't need it for Skate America but might for upcoming competitions. Don't risk getting hurt if you don't need to.

 

[cailuj365]

He is adamant about it, because of the endless underscoring he was getting with his jumps. I would much rather see what nobody else does, than he lets go of it in favor of more choreo. The guy's jumping ability is out of this world, and seeing it live is amazing. I am sad they can't just let him medal with jumps. He should outscore everyone with them, period. His spins are better than pretty much everyone's in this event too. The kid is amazing and 310 is an underscoring compared for how much outside the normal range even of the top 5 he is. The height of each jump, the ease with which he does them, the beauty of air position, basically, if that's not 5/5 GoE, I don't know what the heck they even want!

I agree with you on this His 4A should be scored higher. It's amazing. His jumps and spins are so great that he should just focus on programs that match the beat of the jumps. I don't think he should focus on more choreography.

YES. The timing and confidence of the 3Lz-3A to the dramatic chords at the end of the Succession LP? Chef's kiss. So much focus on Ilia's artistry and whether or not he's improved in that area, but his jumps are often so aesthetically pleasing and done with such effortlessness that they are art in themselves. It is really a unique quality and what makes him a marvel to watch, IMO. I still cannot believe I'm seeing a 3A as the back-half of the final jumping pass in an LP. He deserves all the base value he can start with. It is not to say that Ilia jumps perfectly every time. Hardly. But the effort and set up that he puts into these quads is that of others with triples at the moment. He looks like a skater who got transported from 2040 compared to the rest of the field when you look at jumps alone. No wonder he even mentions quints. It is inconceivable in 2023, but maybe not in 2040. Spins are quite decent too.

That all said, as great as he is, I'm not sure Ilia will get a higher TES or overall score than what he showed at Skate America even when he adds back the quad axel and/or tries the quad loop. We've yet to see a clean program with a clean quad axel from him. I feel like the minute he adds it in again, another jumping pass or two will start to go wonky. I'd rather he substitute the triple loop for a triple flip or quad toe. I think being clean consistently with the current content will ultimately favor him more if he is interested in big titles and not just the podium. It's a bit sad that he has to make that choice as I think performing the 4A less frequently could make it less successful in the future, but the scoring system is what it is.

 

[eppen]

K-E-V-I-N How he is soft and tender with the music in the short and then all devilish intentions in the free... There aren't many skaters around who can do that. Like some others, I was uncertain of Bolero - esp. as the first showing was not very convincing - but this looked a whole lot better! There are still some dead air pockets going into the flip and lutz in the 2nd part, but otherwise the choreo looks pretty ready. Definitely already The Men's Bolero for me! (Torvill & Dean for ice dance and Carolina Kostner for women.)

Kevin kind of eclipsed everyone else in the competition for me, but I try to remember what else was there... Ah yeah, I liked Torgashev's short at Lombardia - the purposefully relaxed upper body and arms were intriguing and cool, but here with the new costume and all, it lost all its initial charm. Bring back the black T!

Malinin gets compared to Nathan all the time, but I think that a lot of the commentators think of Nathan in his 20s, not at the age of 18-19. On a good day, Malinin's jumps are way better than anything that Nathan did in the late 2010s. Ilya has even running edge going out of them. His spins and skating skills are also better. What he does not have is Nathan's charisma and charm on the ice. The programs are ok, but he does not make them look very good. I hope he gets there one day.

 

[Weathergal]

I find Ilia's skating and presentation much improved over last season, especially in his SP. It was great to see more of his personality!

Andrew Torgashev is such an amazing skater, but he just didn't have his mojo in either program this comp. I think his programs will be a lot of fun when he does though.

Kevin Aymoz...breathtaking. He took an overused -- and normally uninspiring (sorry!) -- piece of music and made it into a masterpiece program. I even like the red gloves. It was so wonderful to see him harness his emotions and turn what can be his undoing into his strength. His performance was passionate yet controlled and just mesmerizing. So happy for him!