2025 World Championships Men's Free Skate

[SNAKSuyun]

The way I see it, I'd rather that Yuma chill and go for more of a Kaori arc (even without, say, all the titles - just having a long and decorated career) than to over-push himself too much trying to catch up to Ilia. Kaori was there once thinking about the 3A and 4T but gave up on pursuing those in competition and she hasn't "fallen off." Yuma can just try to stabilize his 4 quad layout, perform the heck out of it, and not think too much about placements, and add more things if he can, without being so positively stressed about everything. If he can't catch up to Ilia, it's not his fault. Like just think about all the poor female gymnasts born in the same generation as Simone Biles lol

Obviously that's hard to sell to a young guy right before an Olympic year when he's already gotten the silvers that matter (Olys, Worlds), but hey... maybe that's also a good reason to go talk to Shoma lol

 

[Kris135]

The base values of all the quints are 14 points. I'm certain Ilia won't try any of them at competitions in an Olympic season because the risk of injury is way too high, it isn't worth to go for it a few months before the Games. However he can repeat the 4A if he wants to, but that's also risky and lately (GPF/Worlds this season) it's not as clean as it used to be.

I think the reason that his skating fell off a bit is all the extra skating he was contracted to do and bluntly that needs to stop and right now. Ari, who may have been fired now, kept booking poor Ilia in show after show almost nonstop and that huge amount noncompetitive skating is going to take it's toll no matter who it is . Ilia did not want to say no and thought he could do it all but almost no one could do that amount of extra skating without paying the price.
He honestly never got this free skate really polished because he was never allowed to time to do so. Every time he tried either he had to skate in yet another pre contracted ice or Ari would create a pop-up ice show that Ilia would all be forced to do, it had to compete in a competition.I hope that Ari got fired because he nearly killed Ilia this season. I have not heard anything from the idiot this week so I think he is gone.
Next season Ilia should do the bare amount of shows to pay the bills. Craft his Olympic programs and polish them until sparkle like diamonds and then Ilia should just perform them and Fly.

 

[Janice4th]

And anyway landing it on two feet is not that impressive - get back to me when you can land it on one foot, like Surya Bonaly did!

He does. I still don’t like it.

 

[Janice4th]

Did Chris really just describe Ilia as 'humble'...?

Ilia just thanked himself for winning skater of the year award (weirdly, they didn’t display all the nominees- I’m assuming he wasn’t the only one nominated). It actually was adorable- at least to me.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

And anyway landing it on two feet is not that impressive - get back to me when you can land it on one foot, like Surya Bonaly did!

Let's not forget that Ilya learned the one foot backflip from Ryan Bradley who has been doing it for many years since Surya.

 

[Kitt]

What? It looks two-footed to me.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

What? It looks two-footed to me.

Ilya's or Ryan's? B/c they both do 2 and 1 footed bf's, as Ilya learned to backflip from him last summer in Sun Valley.

 

[Mathman]

To me.Ilia's backflip is not really first rate and I think that his program would be better without it. The raspberry twist, though, is cool and does fit nicely into the choreography.

What will he do next year? I wouldn't be surprised if he goes for a quad-quad. Is it possible to get enough speed on the landing of the first quad to muscle up a second? I think this would require some sort of specialized technique on the first jump, not just "the same but a little more." I would love to see it attempted, though.

 

[Mathman]

Ilya's or Ryan's? B/c they both do 2 and 1 footed bf's, as Ilya learned to backflip from him last summer in Sun Valley.

To me, the one he did in the free skate at worlds seemed to be neither fish nor fowl. It looked like he landed first and with the majority of his on the right leg, but then also put the left foot down as well.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

To me, the one he did in the free skate at worlds seemed to be neither fish nor fowl. It looked like he landed first and with the majority of his on the right leg, but then also put the left foot down as well.

He landed a two footer at Worlds but he does one foot in exhibitions etc hence my post.

 

[reneerose]

The way I see it, I'd rather that Yuma chill and go for more of a Kaori arc (even without, say, all the titles - just having a long and decorated career) than to over-push himself too much trying to catch up to Ilia. Kaori was there once thinking about the 3A and 4T but gave up on pursuing those in competition and she hasn't "fallen off." Yuma can just try to stabilize his 4 quad layout, perform the heck out of it, and not think too much about placements, and add more things if he can, without being so positively stressed about everything. If he can't catch up to Ilia, it's not his fault. Like just think about all the poor female gymnasts born in the same generation as Simone Biles lol

Obviously that's hard to sell to a young guy right before an Olympic year when he's already gotten the silvers that matter (Olys, Worlds), but hey... maybe that's also a good reason to go talk to Shoma lol

Man I really hope someone in Yuma's support network is pushing this approach! Despite his ambitions, he has to be realistic.

 

[beachmouse]

Next season Ilia should do the bare amount of shows to pay the bills. Craft his Olympic programs and polish them until sparkle like diamonds and then Ilia should just perform them and Fly.

Olympic year and Great American Gold Hope should get him a decent number of sponsorship options in a broader context. Less stress on the body to take a few days off over the summer and go shoot a tv commercial for laundry detergent or paper towels or Campbell’s Soup or something, even if he’s not quite making Simone Biles money.

 

[4everchan]

Man I really hope someone in Yuma's support network is pushing this approach! Despite his ambitions, he has to be realistic.

well... he is with caro kostner who had a very long career, and she's one who didn't push it, coming back from injuries etc... So I would suspect that it may be already part of the plan

 

[Jeanie19]

Nika clean-ish. Might score well, unfortunately I find him dull as a table lamp.

He needs Kevin Aymoz to choreograph a program for him. I think it would help.

 

[skatesofgold]

To me, the one he did in the free skate at worlds seemed to be neither fish nor fowl. It looked like he landed first and with the majority of his on the right leg, but then also put the left foot down as well.

To me as a hardcore gymnastics fan, it basically looked like he did the figure skating version of a layout step-out. I thought it was cool.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

My first thought after Ilia skated was "if the others had been on, they could have upset him." I considered that he had popped that lutz, and he had a couple of dodgy landings on other passes.

Then I looked it up... only two other skaters have ever scored 318+ (his winning score here). Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathan Chen at their very best could have given beaten Ilia's imperfect program. No one else. Ever. At least under CoP. I've discounted the slightly different base values and GOE (+3 vs +5 eras - this is close enough to satisfy my curiosity).

We all love our sport, and I like tightly contested competitions. But he really is miles ahead on the scoreboard - at least for now. Can this hold for another year? Time will tell, but I suspect he'll debut some other score grabbing wizardry for the Olympic season. A 4/4 combo does not seem out of the realm of possibilities. So those trying to catch up will need to work even harder.

It was definitely a memorable Worlds. Lots to talk about. It seems to me that both Ilia and Yuma were a bit impacted in the moment by Mikhail's standing ovation performance. While they both know how talented Mikhail is, they may have been slightly surprised how astoundingly easily he met the big Worlds moment. Of course, there was more pressure on Yuma and Ilia. But commentators were wrong that the competition for top dibs was solely between Yuma and Ilia.

Yuma has uncharacteristically struggled all year in at least one program. The energy was high in the arena after Mikhail's marks. But Yuma was unable to take that energy and use it beneficially for himself. So, when Ilia came out to skate, the energy was flat. Throughout some of Ilia's performance, the energy rose again, but not to the same level and extent of excitement as for Mikhail. Ilia was tight on some of his landings later in the program when legs and stamina begin to decline. Ilia's free program this season has sparks and high points here and there, while Mikhail's performance was sustained fun and excitement throughout. And Mikhail was like an eager, bouncy puppy dog with infectious charm. It was impossible not to smile and cheer for him throughout his free program!

Ilia's last season FD to Succession was somewhat more cohesive and compelling than this current program.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

He needs Kevin Aymoz to choreograph a program for him. I think it would help.

Hmm. Egadze is a jump machine. He lacks an outgoing personality on the ice. He needs to find something within himself to bring out, which is not easy for a skater who is not musical and lacks natural performance qualities.

I would suggest Katherine Hill for Egadze to work with. She specializes in movement training, along with choreography. Kevin Aymoz is a true artist on ice. I am not sure he can help Egadze, though.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Congratulations to Ilya, Misha and Yuma .
I truly enjoyed watching the FS.
I am a little disappointed that the judges felt they had to give Ilya higher PCS than Jason.
What Ilya did was an incredible technical feat but lets be real, he was no way better in artistry/components to the glorious, timeless Jason.
Thank you Jason for always bringing me, the live audience and viewers to a different place. You have proved again that you have a solid place in the current world of figure skating

Jason was amazing.

I think Ilia's last season program was more engaging. The thing about athletes with multiple quads is the tremendous mental and physical focus and prep required to execute their programs. That always mean less time and attention on artistic expression. These days, multiple quadsters rely heavily on their choreographers helping to create engaging programs for them. Also, music choices are very important.

What Ilia does and what Nathan Chen did before Ilia is astonishing. Ilia's consistent 4-axel is rather unbelievable and superhuman. He can do it consistently through sheer determination and belief, combined with his slim body structure, superior technique, practice, and continuing hard work. Nathan had a slim body build and superior technique, too. However, as a pianist, Nathan was more musically expressive in his skating.

Nathan's main focus was on pacing himself in order to conserve enough energy and strength to get through his performances. Nathan was also extremely disciplined, and he paid a lot of attention to his pattern layouts as part of his overall competition strategy to get safely and consistently through his programs. All of this leaves very little time to focus on artistic expression. But that's the fault of those who oversee the sport. The jumps receive the most points, and the guys who are able to do so, give the judges what they are looking for.

Since the judging of PCS occurs within a manipulated range that is rarely completely accurate or fair, there is no incentive for multiple quadsters to heavily focus on artistic expression, unless they happen to have it naturally like Jason, Deniss, Kevin, Arlet Levandi, and a few others. Yuma moves in a mesmerizing way, but he does not actually project well to the audience. His head is usually down and he's inward focused during his performances.

 

[formersk8ter]

no way should Ilya's PCS be higher than Kevin's

I disagree. Kevin is an interesting skater, but I don't find his bladework all that extraordinary. To me the PCS judging was fair.

 

[reneerose]

And Mikhail was like an eager, bouncy puppy dog with infectious charm. It was impossible not to smile and cheer for him throughout his free program!

Or an eager, bouncy kung fu panda LOL. As an aside, I had never seen his exhibition program of that before so that made me laugh a lot. Mikhail has a more approachable down to earth charm than Ilia for me. BTW, I think Yuma can still draw in an audience even if he seems "insular" most of the time. I appreciate him for just being himself and I'm so glad he works with super gifted choreographers and Carolina - they have helped him improve on his natural talent so much!