2025 CS Lombardia Trophy Men's Free Skate

[Ruthypegs]

speaking of japanese single cacti turned dancers, how is Koshiro doing?

he and Ikura have a fan thread now:

B

Post in thread 'Ikura Kushida & Koshiro Shimada'

Sep 14, 2025

Somehow I missed the news that they’re leaving singles for ice dance, thank you for the recap!

• brblja

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[Mathman]

Artistry does not have an absolute definition. I loathe acid metal rock and almost all rap music, K-Pop, all forms of hip-hop dancing, bagpipes in almost every instance, abstract paintings, and circus trapeze acts. That doesn't mean they aren't artistic endeavors. It just means they're not for me.

You don't like bagpipe music? Check out the works of Finbar Furey, multiple Irish champion on the uilleann ("elbow") pipes. He was also accomplished on the tin whistle. His pipes were unique in that he used 5 drones instead of the usual three, and he won every piping contest in Ireland over a period of a couple of decades.

As for the age-old question, "what is art" that pops up here with regular frequency, philosophers of esthetics have much to say on the matter, but to me it is relatively easy to list some arts and some not-arts.

Basketweaving -- art.

Fletching -- art.

Little Brown Jug, and the knockoff referred to above as the opening theme to Firefly -- not art.

 

[Kiki5375]

So what happened apparently was that some people criticized/bashed on Twitter more than simply saying they didn't love it/it wasn't their cup of tea...I didn't see it myself, but people in a Discord server I'm in said apparently some stuff that was said crossed the line.

I wish these people would think before they post. They are mobbing a 20 year old who already has a lot of pressure on his shoulders this season.

 

[lariko]

OK. you wore me down. I had to look up what this "Firefly" was and who is Malcom.

You gotta watch the show to get it. Amazing show, one of the best ever made. It was so, so much fun! Great heart, great characters, great setting. I leave music to people who do music, but the theme song was pretty good. I think Ilia can pull Mal off, particularly in shindig episode when Mal has that awesome monologue about being a good man. "Well, I guess I'm alright." *Shot*. Mmgh. Stuff of legends!

 

[lariko]

For the record, I believe that Malinin will switch to an updated version of one of his older programs and this is a placeholder for him to ease into a difficult season and have psychological comfort, play a little, so he could handle the pressure and insane amount of workload.

 

[Kiki5375]

now you got me. Do I need to watch this Firefly thing to understand Ilia's program. I liked it the way it was but if I understand what the story is about maybe I will love it even more
So what is Firefly? An Anime or Manga or where can I find it?

 

[TontoK]

For the record, I believe that Malinin will switch to an updated version of one of his older programs and this is a placeholder for him to ease into a difficult season and have psychological comfort, play a little, so he could handle the pressure and insane amount of workload.

Who knows, he may change it.

But if that was the plan, he certainly put a lot of effort into teasing out the big reveal. I was excited by those reveal videos, but they didn't tell the whole story in either case... didn't show the switch to the rap music at the end of the short or the voiceovers in the long.

Sometimes what you see is not what you get.

 

[lariko]

Who knows, he may change it.

But if that was the plan, he certainly put a lot of effort into teasing out the big reveal. I was excited by those reveal videos, but they didn't tell the whole story in either case... didn't show the switch to the rap music at the end of the short or the voiceovers in the long.

Sometimes what you see is not what you get.

I know a great many younger writers who enjoy throwing mood-boards together far more than they do actually writing novels. Even some millennials are heavily into it. I kinda expect this kind of things from youngsters and surprised there isn't more of it among the skaters.

 

[Mathman]

now you got me. Do I need to watch this Firefly thing to understand Ilia's program.

Here is why it would be cool, The chorus of the Firefly theme song is some variation of the sentiment, "you can take away the earth, you can take away the sea, but you can't ever take the sky from me. *This was a science fiction TV series and later a movie about spacemen discovering new planets. etc.

So Ilia could do a program where every time they said "you can't take the sky away from me" he can soar into the air with another quad.

The lyrics can actually be sung to the tune of Little Brown Jug. Ha ha ha, hee,hee,hee, you can't take the sky from me!

Poet Emily Dickinson (to the tune of the Yellow Rose of Texas_: "Because I would not stop for Death he kindly stopped for me."

Poet Robert Frost (to the tune of Hernando's Hideaway): "Whose woods... these are... I think I know. His home... his in... the village though."

Shakespeare (to the tune of the Torreador's Song from Carmen. ala Gillihgan's Island): "Neither a borrow'r nor a lender be. And don't forget. Stay out of debt."

That's art.

 

[lariko]

now you got me. Do I need to watch this Firefly thing to understand Ilia's program. I liked it the way it was but if I understand what the story is about maybe I will love it even more
So what is Firefly? An Anime or Manga or where can I find it?

No, I think it is a coincidence. Firefly is an older show, sci-fi, with a crew of smugglers consisting mainly of the veterans on the losing side of a war between the core planets (establishment) and the outlands (simple folk). They live their version of freedom with their former sergeant (Mal) commanding the ship (named after the final battle of the war, the one when they were issued the order to surrender).

One of the episodes revolves around what the captain (Mal) said during the war to his squad and now comes to play in the plot, "If you can't run, you walk, and if you can't walk, you crawl, and if you can't do that... you find someone to carry you." Ilia has a similar quote in his free skate. I think he took it from MLK, not Firefly.

Personally, I do think Ilia would have loved Mal's character, as he is charismatic, rebellious and has a darker streak.

If I had a vote in this, I would have suggested dancing from this quote to create a free skate theme because the show is action-based with lots of desperate heroics and fights (at some point Mal has to fence lol) so suits Ilia well and costuming is simple but attractive (the above-mentioned tight pants the cast loved and that once split on Nathan Fillion when he rolled iirc). To my knowledge, nobody had skated to Firefly OST to date. It also fits well with his SP that uses warrior overcoming obstacles as central character.

 

[lariko]

his was a science fiction TV series and later a movie about spacemen discovering new planets. etc.

Correction: in the movie they didn't discover a new planet. They struggled with a government conspiracy that was covering up pacifying measures on a remote colony that lead to terrible consequences. That storyline was written into the show, but since the show was axed after season 1, they eventually wrapped up the story in a movie (which is kindda common nowadays) .

 

[Mathman]

It;s tricky, though. The actual music does not seem to have any merit as music -- hardly any musical content at all. Music with words, OK. But words instead of music, I think that this is something of a jolting departure from figure skating tradition.

Oh well, onward and upward.

 

[lariko]

It;s tricky, though. The actual music does not seem to have any merit as music -- hardly any musical content at all. Music with words, OK. But words instead of music, I think that this is something of a jolting departure from figure skating tradition.

Oh well, onward and upward.

It has merit: a powerful longing/sentiment that is easily discerned even on a bad loudspeaker.

There has to be enough in the OST to mix with Ilia's voice. It is a long quote, and it is easily broken into 3 lines that Ilia can read out:

If you can't run, you walk...
if you can't walk, you crawl...
if you can't crawl, you find someone to carry you.

mixed with background music from the OST it will preserve the feel of the current background music in his FS which is not overpowering melodically, focus on Ilia's voice and will convey/capture one strong sentiment, then add the final song piece (You can't take a sky from me) as a finale. This forms logical sequence and doesn't need familiarity with the show to produce a coherent piece with an expressed sentiment that resilience always overpowers obstacles in the end, no matter what the end is, and that the individual is ultimately in control of his destiny even amidst tragedy and galactic scale circumstances.

Doing so would transform "Ilia's Quotes Collection" into "You can't take the sky from me".

 

[Arigato]

All the men have pressure on them this season. No more or less than anyone else. Yuzuru Hanyu was 17 when he debuted as a Senior at 2012 Worlds and ended up on the podium. Two years later, and recently turning 19, he won the gold at Sochi OLYG. These are athletes, not guys who need need to be infantalized, coddled, or protected by anyone. If Yuzu could handle global attention, I don't see why someone from my own country can't take a little heat now and then. It's part of being in sports.

 

[TontoK]

Hey @mods how about opening up a post-game Lombardi thoughts thread so we can move the general discussion away from the segment thread, and also so we can see some overarching insights about all the participants in all the disciplines.

 

[Ilia4A]

I avoid Twitter so I do not know what haters have been saying about Ilia, nor do I care to look it up. There is too much negativity in the world already and the so called “skating fans” who attack skaters should be ashamed of themselves. But anyway, these were some of my thoughts from the free skate

Ilia: I think the free skate was lovely and promising. Although I’m excited to see his costume, I actually appreciated the simple elegance of his practice outfit. It made me focus even more on the other little details of the program. The program felt very personal with his voice overs, and I think it’s great that he continues to find his own ways to perform and tell stories. That takes bravery! Good job Ilia! I adored the raspberry twist in the spin! Sooo excited to see how this program develops! Ilia is always so gracious too, praising and complementing Yuma in his post skate interviews.

Memola: I was so happy he got a medal. Such nice jumps, and I think the program was promising.

Yuma: I appreciated that he used a different cut of Turandot. I love Shoma’s turandot and I didn’t think it would be good to compare them.

Kao: I sure hope he can heal The program looked good for him though

 

[cheerknithanson]

I wish these people would think before they post. They are mobbing a 20 year old who already has a lot of pressure on his shoulders this season.

Yes. He's 20. He's not one of those Tik-Tok stars that lives in mansion and such. Far from that. Like he's far from a major celebrity. In the skating world, yes. But in the world of big major athletes from other sports and such like LeBron James or Lionel Messi, no, he's not there. Which is fine. Not everyone is the same on how one deals with stuff mentally. It doesn't make it okay to downright cyberbully.

 

[Arigato]

Well well... are we really thinking that adding voiceovers is"artistic" ?

No.

"Artistry" in figure skating used to be how someone skates... not to what they skate, and definitely not to what words are said during a program.

The how matters, yes. Simply expressing oneself isn't artistry - if it were, I could throw a carton of eggs at the wall and consider it artistry. I think some people just like saying the word, as if it confers something magical. Exceptional skill at something in particular such as how one plays an instrument or how one paints on a canvas is closer to hitting the mark. I think it's far more realistic to say a skater is simply working on their presentation and discussing whether it worked well or not.

 

[Mathman]

......
Doing so would transform "Ilia's Quotes Collection" into "You can't take the sky from me".

You know what? You shoild seriously send this idea to Ilia. He might not follow it, but I bet he would be pleased that a fan was interested enough in his program to analyze it and offer suggestions.

 

[StitchMonkey]

Art can be many things and have many objectives. For many artists, conversation and reaction is the goal.

By that metric, Ilia hit a home run. His skate has sparked a very lively and thoughtful (and respectful!) discussion. So, I think I have to give him an artist point for that.