2024 U.S. Nationals: Men's Thoughts?

[gsk8]

Ilia Malinin storms to gold in Columbus

2024 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships: Men Ilia Malinin stormed to gold in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday, defending his U.S. National title.

www.goldenskate.com

That was a gorgeous quad Axel! Good for Malinin!

I'm just thrilled to see Brown skating. Tickled to death!!

Pulkinen has been waiting a while for two good skates and he did it!

Nice job on that FS for Naumov and Paniot.

What are your thoughts on the men's event?

All three medalists are headed to Montreal!

 

[moonvine]

Jimmy Ma. That is all.

 

[el henry]

The placements were correct and the right team is going to Worlds.

1. Ilia just does Ilia things, but he needs to "tighten up" for Worlds. He can't be sloppy there.

2. Jason. Amazing the career path that he continues to carve out. Love the quotes in the article that he doesn't even know the scores, he is concentrating on his performance

3. Both Camden and Maxim put together two good skates in the same comp, which hasn't happened since when? And Camden said in the article he can now check that box

4. And kudos to Andrew T for a glorious SP and gutting out his FS so soon after recovering from injury.

 

[SmileHappy34]

Pleasantly surprised by all the men. They skated well.
Ilia shows he class by himself.and that he xB make mistakes.
Jason skates well but harder for him to skate competitive. He skated well, but not like he did in past. It shows.
Camden impressed. I think first time I saw him skate clean and embracing the music to engage me.
Maxim despite mistakes beautiful.
Tomoki nice skate
Jimmy beautiful. I liked his focus on jumps. It worked . Yes his ocs took a break but he skated relatively clean.
Kai shows promise.

The men are in great shape if stay in healthy and keep Improving.

 

[ManyCairns]

I see so much depth in the US men! All the way down to 10th or 11th or more! Paniot, Endo, Kovar and the rest. Lot of skill and talent.

Thrilled for Camden and Max for a good comp. Two solid programs that were also great to watch. I don't follow the men much, but that may have to change!

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I see so much depth in the US men! All the way down to 10th or 11th or more! Paniot, Endo, Kovar and the rest. Lot of skill and talent.

I agree!!! Lots of current and promising talent in the last two groups,

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I think Jason skates closer to the boards than anyone I’ve ever seen skating in person. Is that even a thing people talk about

 

[TontoK]

Although I'm less enamored than many, I think Camden had the best overall event.

Ilia's SP was great, but c'mon, it takes a whole lot of effort to overlook the errors in that FS. Anticlimactic.

Jason was not as good as last year in either program. He's good enough to chart his own path, but the lack of real competitions was evident to me.

I thought Max was underscored in both segments relative to the others, but I'm a fan of his style of skating, so I'll own up to some bias.

 

[Skater Boy]

I thought it was a good men's event despite Ilia's sloppiness. His tech is just amazing and that saves him plus I think geneorus pcs. I think it was smart for Jason to go back to tried and true fs. And it might be a good swan song program if this is it. I do think this year might be a great time to retire. Two years away from the olympics - if he skated one more why not go for the olympics. He is a favourite and will do in shows and he doesn't need a medal to be popular. I thought Camden, Andrew, Max , Jimmy and paniot all speak well for the future. And how close they were to Jason suggests that they can pass him. I agree with the assessment though Jason is very seasoned it is hard to be competitive sharp without competing. I wonder if he could do the Challenge? Without a quad Jason really needs to skate his programs clean. I kind of think Max was underappreciated here. Of course I am curious if Vincent and Nathan will return. all in all it was intriguing. Three spots come world should be safe.

 

[gkelly]

I think Jason skates closer to the boards than anyone I’ve ever seen skating in person. Is that even a thing people talk about

If it's because the skater gets so much power and makes deeper curves throughout the program, that's definitely a good thing.

If it's because they skate in straight lines/diagonals and get very close to the ends/corners of the ice but rarely close to the long boards along the sides, then not so good.

 

[ladyjane]

Well, I watched a few skates (thanks to @labgoat on this board, and some besides that as well) and I thought the FS's were rather enjoyable. Loved the Tosca's! Both of them. And I always love Jason, but I've seen him do better skates. And Ilia was rather sloppy, the day before I thought he had really worked on doing more than jumps only but here (and only getting points for the insaneness of some of them)? Still a nice watch though.

 

[cailuj365]

I'm biased because men's is my favorite discipline in general, but I thought overall, it was a really good event. Despite Ilia's sloppy, anti-climactic FS, the only thing that the headlines will say is that he landed a quad axel and dominated the competition, and factually, it is true. Otherwise, I thought all the top men "showed up" ready to fight and impress. The highlight for me was Andrew T's short program performance.

 

[clairecloutier]

After the men's free skate at Columbus, Jimmy Ma talked with reporters about what's been driving him this season:

Jimmy Ma: “This is a better representation of who I am as a skater”

Jimmy Ma, 28, ended last season brilliantly with a career-high 5th place at the 2023 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and a small medal at 2023 ISU Four Continents Championships, where he placed t…

adivinesport.com

 

[FlossieH]

If anyone wants to see what Andrew's FP is really like, watch the performance he has just given at 4CC. It's possibly the best I have ever seen from him and I think it is probably a new ISU PB for him.

 

[skatingfan4ever]

If anyone wants to see what Andrew's FP is really like, watch the performance he has just given at 4CC. It's possibly the best I have ever seen from him and I think it is probably a new ISU PB for him.

Yes, his FS Score at 4CC is a new PB, by about 6 points. His Total Competition Score at 4CC is also a new PB, by about 4 points. He really skated so well at 4CC. It's even more incredible since it's so soon after Nationals and he's coming back from an injury! He was wonderful at 4CC.