2024 World Junior Championships Men's Free Skate

[zebobes]

The level was so high from beginning to the end of the Free Skate. I was within the arena, and you could feel the excitement building throughout the whole event. It was so cool to Yu-Hsiang do so well at home, and I was so proud of how well he did on the triple axel. The scores were so tight in both the short and the free, and I was disappointed to see him fall lower in the standings as he skate so well, but then I realized how close he was in scores to the people right above him. 14-17 ended up all within less than a point of each other!

I love Minkyu's skating, but comparing the live performance with what you see on video, his emoting comes across much better in video than in person. I don't know what the reason is, but maybe he is not projecting as far up, more just towards the cameras and judges?

Not being able to see the tech scores on screen made it hard for me to guess what the scores would be for all events, but one thing that was cool was that for the men's free, my friends and I would guess which place each skater would end up in while waiting for the scores, and in general, we were almost always correct. It is always frustrating when you watch something and you don't have a good sense why the scores end up the way they do, and it is satisfying when everyone seems to to be getting pretty fair scores.

 

[Jeanie19]

Sanchez has good speed, but a lot of his movements seemed rushed and unfinished. The music choice isn’t good for him.

I would love Kevin Aymoz to choreograph a program for him.

 

[el henry]

I would love Kevin Aymoz to choreograph a program for him.

Rohene has said how much he enjoys watching him and sees himself in Jacob. If I were Jacob, I would run, not walk, if that offer was on the table. Then again, maybe it is a funding issue.

 

[apgold]

I kinda want to see Rio skate to the Duran Duran song Rio...

It gets stuck in my head whenever I hear his name

His name is Rio and he dances on the sand...lol

 

[ladyjane]

I have just finished watching the second half (the last 12 skaters) and I am still impressed. Of course, there were some disappointments but you just have to admire Arlet's musicality, Aleksa's 3L-3L (my favourite combination which we hardly ever see), Adam's sheer determination, Rio's as well, Minkyu's beautiful programme, and so many more. Even the ones who fell back in the standings had good parts to show. Everyone fought in the positive sense of the word. Nice afternoon and evening for me. And, lest I forget, Teds wonderful commentary, a good word for everyone, acknowledgement of age and injuries and good analysis too! And his trademark: no talk during the programmes!

 

[lariko]

Finally caught up.

Hagara's bronze was the biggest highlight.

The way this competition went, I was happy that Rakic stayed in top 10, because really his 4T was the best in this overall technically muted competition.

Other than questioning again what's the point of junior men having different rule set from junior women with this kind of jumping content becoming the norm, I liked two back to back performances, by Kakiuchi and Lindfors. They livened things up a little mid-way through. Overall though, current senior men can sleep soundly based on this competition.

 

[readernick]

Great competition. Although, it is a bit jarring after watching ice dance where the posture, performance, and difficult turns are happening each second to watch the junior men most of whom don't yet have those same qualities. But, they can jump! I would agree that Minkyu's performance isn't as noticeable live. His jumps are also a bit smaller than a lot of the other skaters and he really stalks his 3A across the whole rink. He's going to need to adjust his jumps as he grows. But, his spins were beautiful and his edges are very nice. He's very smooth across the ice. He still lacks some upper body control but he's young so that's normal.

Performance wise, I think I enjoyed Arlet the most in the FS. Adam Hagara has some beautiful high jumps. Pitot didn't have the best perfomance but he gains speed effortlessly. Love Jaekeun. He has a very good 3A for a Korean man and more height on his jumps despite his thin build. If he gains some muscle, quads should come. Rio's jumps are great. His skating also seems "young" in person. But, his jumps and skating are pretty effortless.

The adorable teenage girls around me were all getting autographs from Yu-Hsiang. Who seemed shy and surprised by all the attention but so polite.Cute! He's more extroverted on the ice than in real-life. The teenage girls around me were also quite interested Kyrylo Marsak but I think that was related more to his face than his skating.