Replay Lounge 2025-26 Grand Prix Final

[lariko]

I love how people are saying that they wish skating was like it was back in 2017 but people were bitching back then that the good ole days were gone according them the men were doing too many quads and the ladies was just turning into a jumping contest with horrible backloaded programs that had nothing but jumps for the last two minutes.

I tuned in 2018 and I LOVED it. You didn't see me being unhappy about the results back then! Except, like, Brown.

 

[yfan1]

You're entitled to your opinions but I admit I find it a little odd to for someone to continue watching something if it apparently makes them so unhappy. Or wonder if the negativity is the point.

Who said I'm "unhappy"?

I don't see the point in engaging this personal route of interrogation.

 

[lariko]

To honor his mom, Olympic gold medalists come and go. Your mother is a forever friend...

Given she is his coach, she is a part of the decision which competition he goes to. If his team sees a necessity for him to attend 4CC, he will go.

 

[TallyT]

I love how people are saying that they wish skating was like it was back in 2017 but people were bitching back then that the good ole days were gone according them the men were doing too many quads and the ladies was just turning into a jumping contest with horrible backloaded programs that had nothing but jumps for the last two minutes.

I would lay good money on the same being true if we went waaaaay back to when GS first started in 2002.

Oh, and criticising what we like, even to the extent of "you kids get off my 2018 lawn" carping... people do it because in its own way it's also fun. Surely a quick look at any spectator activity shows that.

 

[yfan1]

I love how people are saying that they wish skating was like it was back in 2017 but people were bitching back then that the good ole days were gone according them the men were doing too many quads and the ladies was just turning into a jumping contest with horrible backloaded programs that had nothing but jumps for the last two minutes.

Ehhhh. People always can bitch, and do. But go look at how many people praise the 2017 worlds men top 6 especially on social media. I expect many here probably were too. Any of those top 6 to me could have been OGM the next year, and I'd have been happy (well apart from Chan).

There have been specific changes in men's and pairs since then that has brought those two disciplines down - first is the reduction in the length of the long programs. Second, across all four disciplines, the +5 GOE system, which provides outweighed discretion to the judges and TP, due to the nature of the GOE scaling, IMO. The first is certainly not up for debate, because it's just fact that LP timings were changed.

 

[Magill]

There have been specific changes in men's and pairs since then that has brought those two disciplines down - first is the reduction in the length of the long programs. Second, across all four disciplines, the +5 GOE system, which provides outweighed discretion to the judges and TP, due to the nature of the GOE scaling, IMO. The first is certainly not up for debate, because it's just fact that LP timings were changed.

My thoughts exactly from the "quads" thread. Great to see someone sharing this view.

 

[Mathman]

My thoughts exactly from the "quads" thersd. Great to see someone sharing this view.

Sharing someone's view, yes. Saying that a reduction from 4 and a half minutes to 4 minutes caused program to get worse, and that this judgment is "certainly not up for debate". -- well, here we are debating it, so...

 

[yfan1]

Sharing someone's view, yes. Saying that a reduction from 4 and a half minutes to 4 minutes caused program to get worse, and that this judgment is "certainly not up for debate". -- well, here we are debating it, so...

We aren't debating it yet Now let's do so if people want to.

I'd say the additional 30 seconds acted as a nice buffer for the men to take a breather and skate on after that, and helped spread their elements a bit better. You usually don't take 30 seconds to set up a jump, so even with that additional 8th jump, let's say you had an additional 20 seconds doing something else, which you can intersperse throughout that program. That ability was taken away when the LP time changed to 4 minutes - 7 jumps, especially when skaters were doing more and more quads.

IMO, the change should have been 6 jumps, 4 minutes, seeing how apparently changing the timing of the LP was critical.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

Who said I'm "unhappy"?

I don't see the point in engaging this personal route of interrogation.

I don't think you were being being "interrogated". I wasn't talking about you in particular either. Just a general point. Many commenters are very negative, and that makes them come across as unhappy. So bother?

 

[TallyT]

Ehhhh. People always can bitch, and do. But go look at how many people praise the 2017 worlds men top 6 especially on social media. I expect many here probably were too. Any of those top 6 to me could have been OGM the next year, and I'd have been happy (well apart from Chan).

Hello and welcome!

 

[TontoK]

Ilia thinks so little of 4CC that he always skips it so why in an Olympic year would he go with the Olympics right around the corner?

I think the more reasonable, and charitable, explanation is that the timing of the event is usually not in alignment with his training run-up to the World Championship, and not that he thinks so little of it. But I do hope he decides to compete in this one day.

 

[elektra blue]

calling @elektra blue

nah

still

 

[TontoK]

Yes, it did. The risk-reward thing seems to be in nice balance... for the short program. If you flub on your top point-getters, that is reflected in the placements.

In the LP, though, the equation is a little different. It is quite possible for a super quadster to tally up so much base value that he can make multiple mistakes and still dominate over competitors that skate better overall.

But even then... if the super-quadster rolls up a bunch of errors, the not-super-quadster has to fulfill their part of the bargain and skate clean.

I'm thinking about that GPF where Ilia skated not really great. He had rotational errors on many jumps in the LP. I think Yuma actually won that segment. But, Yuma didn't fill his part of the bargain in total. Even if he won the LP he was pretty far behind coming in because of SP errors, and he blew his chances to catch up when he had a major error or two thrown in on the LP.

I don't recall the other men involved, which is likely indicative of how they skated across the event.

 

[TallyT]

Just a note, there seem to be two threads for the free dance in the GPF forum, should they be combined so everyone is following together (@dorispulaski thank you for all your work, I do not mean to critique!)

 

[Arigato]

You're entitled to your opinions but I admit I find it a little odd to for someone to continue watching something if it makes them so unhappy. It makes me wonder if the negativity is the point for some people.

Love the sport. They'll be miserable.

 

[TontoK]

Sharing someone's view, yes. Saying that a reduction from 4 and a half minutes to 4 minutes caused program to get worse, and that this judgment is "certainly not up for debate". -- well, here we are debating it, so...

In this case, a rare instance, I think the bitching-and-moaning brigade has a point.

That extra 30 seconds gave a program a chance to "breathe." But that's only one man's opinion, so you're right, it IS open for debate.

 

[museksk8r]

the ladies was just turning into a jumping contest with horrible backloaded programs that had nothing but jumps for the last two minutes.

I always felt Zagitova should not have earned high PCS for her backloading and poor program construction to allow her to win Olympic gold in 2018. I hated that the system back then allowed her to do that! I still believe Kaetlyn Osmond should have won that gold medal. She should have been ahead of Zagitova and Medvedeva in the SP and that lead should have negated her step out on the 3Lutz in the FS; it was total BS that she was placed 3rd. If a Russian should have won, it should have been Medvedeva.

 

[lariko]

2018 was the first time I watched FS and I thought Zagitova was out of this world cool when she started that explosive part of her free program. My jaw hang as there was more and more jumps just like a firework! I don't even remember how Medvedeva or Osmond skated. And she was just so, so, so extra with that red dress. So bright and with the confidence that inspired. I had zero idea about jumps and scoring when watching it, but I knew I wanted more of *that*. Trusova delivered on that expectation when I went to see Skate Canada next year. Though to this day I wish they didn't introduce Zagotova's rule about evenly distributing everything in the free skate like a metronome. That zest and this build up was just unrivaled and made so much sense. It was in the moment, it was stirring, it was bold, and it was not boring. Never boring back then.

 

[withwings]

Agree. IMHO Kaetlyn Osmond deserved a gold medal. I remember that even Tatiana Tarasova in one interview ( before Olympics of course) pointed out that Kaetlyn might win and, exactly of this reason, social media disintegrated Osmond to pieces with negative comments. It was targeted brain washing prior Olympics in a real Russian style ( old system does not die) by Russians.

Anyway, despite all that, there are much more excellent and wonderful in this sport than than these dark spots.

I always felt Zagitova should not have earned high PCS for her backloading and poor program construction to allow her to win Olympic gold in 2018. I hated that the system back then allowed her to do that! I still believe Kaetlyn Osmond should have won that gold medal. She should have been ahead of Zagitova and Medvedeva in the SP and that lead should have negated her step out on the 3Lutz in the FS; it was total BS that she was placed 3rd. If a Russian should have won, it should have been Medvedeva.

 

[Mathman]

We aren't debating it yet Now let's do so if people want to.

Sure!

Here is the argument that 4 minutes is better. Four and a half minutes exceeds my attention span. After a while I start looking at my watch saying, "Is that same guy still out there?!"

In any entertainment enterprise, the goal is to leave 'em wanting more.

That's why short programs are almost always better than long programs -- they're mercifully short. Every skating season I see many, many, many short programs that have me on pins and needles all the way through,

Ok, other fans don't feel that way. That's fine, too.