2026 Olympics: Men's Free Skate

[jenaj]

The score is supposed to be equally split between technical and artistic. Until the sport gets back to that fundamental state, it will only ever be a shadow of itself.

There hasn't been an equal split between athletics and artistry since the 6.0 system was replaced. PCS is capped and the TES is not. Athletics rule in the IJS.

 

[Iskatgal]

I still wonder if it would have gone down like this if they hadn't just done team event. BUT they all did so well in the short program....

I feel the team event should be after the individual events. This will give all the skaters fresh legs to compete on, equal and fair. Not only to those skaters who are performing, without a competition already performed just days earlier.

 

[Greengemmonster]

Would the team event have helped them with nerves somewhat though? Being in the arena, skating to an Olympic crowd?

I really thought Ilia got the jitters out of the way in the team event. I even made a post to that effect. That comment aged like milk.

 

[readernick]

Would the team event have helped them with nerves somewhat though? Being in the arena, skating to an Olympic crowd?

I really thought Ilia got the jitters out of the way in the team event. I even made a post to that effect. That comment aged like milk.

The favorite rarely wins gold at the Olympics and this was the case prior to the team event. People tend to forget these things but men's skating was messy long before all the quads were added or the team event existed. Some people love the atmosphere of the Olympics and outperform there baseline. Others just find the atmosphere challenging. I don't think the team event has changed this equation much one way or the other.

 

[museksk8r]

He has earned his right to compete and should be scored fairly as every other competitor.

Gumennik was scored fairly based on what he delivered here though. I noticed those rotation issues on his jumps in real time; no replay needed. His basic skating was slow and his performance and interpretation are nothing to write home about. I thought he looked better at the Beijing Qualifier earlier in the season. He needed to be pristine clean in the SP to set himself up as an Olympic medal hopeful and that didn’t happen. Did his fans really think his scores at the Olympics were going to be comparable to the overinflated ones he was receiving at domestic events in Russia?

 

[elbkup]

I think he will continue and should.

Agree.. said “if” on the off chance he would decide not to.

 

[Iskatgal]

I think he will continue and should.

Yes, he should continue and train with a new sense of strength and confidence. I feel that Ilia should put in at least a few jumps in his run-throughs. That's the only way to really get the feel of how your programs are going, especially leading into competition day.

 

[Iskatgal]

It was really weird because most of the men's team programs, and a lot of the short programs a few nights ago, were excellent.

Yes their programs were excellent. After all that competing and practices, something had to give. I remember Ilia saying after a performance, that he was very tired. I can't even imagine how much energy goes into performing.

 

[Isk]

Interesting. In 1994 a surprise win by Alexei Urmanov and 32 years later a surprise win by his student. Daily mail seems to think Urmanov is from Kazakhstan. Those reporters. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/w...11/ilia-malinin-winter-olympics-collapse.html.
Very little info is available about Mikhail as a person. It almost seems nobody ever cared to be curious enough about him. Some media say that Shaidorov's father is 3 times Kazakhstan champion, but I found no confirmation of it, and he's never been to worlds. They also say Mikhail is ethnically Russian (parents, citizenship?) but was born and started skating in Alma-Aty, which is his hometown. They write he gets angry when people call him Russian, it's an insult to him. I think nobody does, but if he's so sensitive nobody forces him to train in Sochi, right? Anyway, having won, he can now go anywhere, get an education, get a career, etc. Congrats to him.
I can't think what it feels like to realize you have to keep jumping at this rate for another 4 years and also continue to enlist Ari's help for outrageous PCS inflation. I don't think it's possible, but we'll see. It's one thing to teach jumping, it's another thing to lead an athlete to the most important skate of his life in an optimal form and with an optimal mindset.
Should they try to have the team event after the individuals next time?

 

[Ares]

Yes, he has a gray cat!

My grey Maine Coon tomcat passed away yesterday at noon. He was old (15, would be 16 by this summer) but it doesn't lessen the pain.

 

[4everchan]

My grey Maine Coon tomcat passed away yesterday at noon. He was old (15) but it doesn't lessen the pain.

I am here with you. I know how hard that is.

 

[shan22044]

I sort of suspected Ilia was struggling this season: My take watching Ilia perform this year I was struck by the physical changes in him from previous years, likely not evident to the casual observer.

In addition to that, everyone talks about the pressure of the Olympic games and how it was his first time. Tara even asked, how can he live up to the concept of being "QuadGod"?

HE is the one who coined the term and waved the towels! Or someone on his team, anyway. "HE" or someone on his team were the ones making social media posts in advance of the free skate that were part of a campaign for the GALA!

HE or someone on his team is the one filming teasers with Snoop Dogg and featuring on dozens of commercials and just headlong attacking a slippery slope of media oversaturation.

They are the ones who made Ilia into a commercial product/personality that rivaled his focus on being an athlete. They willingly threw gasoline on the national and popular Olympics pressure cooker of expectation and hype.

I totally understand why they did this and I'm not judging. But we can't now allow them to be retroactively absolved of some of the responsibility for the very pressure that may have contributed to his downfall in this competition.

 

[Isk]

While skaters were skating La Scala was producing Götterdämmerung. Coincidences...

 

[Isk]

Not really, his FS was decent and he is decent skater, but that's all. He doesn't have jumps like Misha or skating skills like many many others, his low 8 PCS were fine and tech score was fine. He was in the middle of first 10, exactly where he should be with better skaters having sisater skates, but if they'd skate what they can, 10 was his ceilling. BTW performance wasn't flawless, but I guess for them qs and "transparent", unemotional skating aren't a flaw

Frankly, I agree it's a boring, rather empty program, music is 3rd rate TV-series. But I am a minority, many people think it's a great program concept... Whereas they could have used music from the opera. There is the intro, instrumental fragments in various moods here and there, ecossaise and the famous, very recognizable polonaise in the 3rd act, no singing or shooting required.
I think D.G. means that if he skated internationally, he'd have accumulated some PCS bonus. His skating is not what you can call great. Few people skate spectacularly nowadays, they spend too much time practicing quads, but some get scored like they do. I don't like this. I'd rather he gets what he deserves, no more, no less. He is elegant though. Good for him, he can now go back to studies, he is a senior year IT student.

 

[amanda b]

Gumennik was scored fairly based on what he delivered here though. I noticed those rotation issues on his jumps in real time; no replay needed. His basic skating was slow and his performance and interpretation are nothing to write home about. I thought he looked better at the Beijing Qualifier earlier in the season. He needed to be pristine clean in the SP to set himself up as an Olympic medal hopeful and that didn’t happen. Did his fans really think his scores at the Olympics were going to be comparable to the overinflated ones he was receiving at domestic events in Russia?

Frankly, I agree it's a boring program about nothing, music is 3rd rate TV-series stuff. But I am a minority. Many people think it's a great program concept... Whereas they could have used music from the opera. There is the intro, instrumental fragments in various moods here and there, ecossaise and the famous polonaise in the 3rd act, no singing required.
I think D.G. means that if he skated internationally, he'd accumulated some PCS bonus. Almost nobody skates spectacularly nowadays, they spend too much time practicing quads. He is elegant though. Good for him, he can now go back to studies, he is a senior year IT student.

You are not in the minority. It was fairly polished, and I enjoyed it but found it lacking in emotional depth or interest. And kept thinking when is the proper sweeping music of Onegin going to start - it never did!

 

[Cindy1983]

If you want my full thoughts on Malinin’s skate, go to page 101 or 102.

Now let’s take the audience perspective. Why do we tune in to see him? It’s the technical fire power, especially the quad axel. The quad axel really put him on the map and helped him stand out. If you’re honest with yourself (as the audience), you tune into his skates to see quad axels and seven-quad programs. Without that, I saw his programs as pretty one-note.

 

[4everchan]

If you want my full thoughts on Malinin’s skate, go to page 101 or 102.

Now let’s take the audience perspective. Why do we tune in to see him? It’s the technical fire power, especially the quad axel. The quad axel really put him on the map and helped him stand out. If you’re honest with yourself (as the audience), you tune into his skates to see quad axels and seven-quad programs. Without that, I saw his programs as pretty one-note.

I was at Montreal's worlds. He was at the peak of his skating in terms of technical content.
The crowd was shook when he landed the 4axel. However, the program only worked because he landed all these big jumps replacing choreography. In the last 30 seconds or so, he got alive and performed. He is not my kind of skater nor performer but he was genuine. But that's the problem... it was interesting for the quads and outside that, just for the last bit of the program. I appreciated him winning that day. He deserved it. However, I enjoyed Adam and Yuma much more . Yesterday showed that without the firepower, his programs just cannot work. So he has two options : he lands his jump content, whether it means less quads or different layout it's up to him and his team.. but he needs to be stellar technically. His other option is to take a short break from chasing new combos and new records and go deeply into edge work, choreography, flow, turns, etc. I would even suggest he explores self-choreographing (freestyling) on warhorse music (with story telling). I'm not saying that he needs to skate to such programs but the exploration of what his body and blades can do to music that is actually lyrical and charged with narrative content may help him discover another path of expression.

Just my thoughts of course.

 

[Isk]

Are you kidding me? He is an athlete and deserves respect... and a fair score. I'm so glad that people are only outraged by Russian athletes... not by other countries that are at war or that ignore human rights... or by coaches, choreographers, russians or naturalized Russians... only by the athletes... great Olympic spirit... has anyone considered what would happen to Russian athletes if they protested?

I am not sure we understand each other. What I meant to say was that since he was invited, he deserves to be treated like everyone else and get a fair score. That's what I meant.

Huh? What does my nationality have to do with this? Genuinely curious.

What it has to do is people tend to be very judgemental. When you start speaking with them at deeper level it often turns out they have a tunnel vision. You are being reminded not to be judgemental. Let's think how many times in the past 50 years or so US should have been banned and wasn't, and how many times Germany should have been banned in the early 20th century and instead was awarded OGs. We are not supposed to be political here, let's not be. Both ways.

 

[rain]

I was sure Malinin was not going for the 4A - he was so slow going into it. Overall I got the impression he is approaching the jumps more slowly than before, nearly trying to do some of them from a standstill. The loop is a tricky quad, even for him, so it's understandable that this was an issue. Overall his skating/jumping seems different from what he showed in the first part of the season. Setting up edge jumps seems to be a great problem, even the Salchow was affected for the very first time. At US Nationals he had no problems doing some triple jumps and playing it save ... given these circumstances it's even more impressive what he was able to do for the team.

When I saw how slowly he was skating and how cautious he looked from the very start of the program I was unsure of how it would go. Seeing the uncharacteristically not great landing even on his first jump, which was successful, I thought, oh no, he might be in trouble. In the middle of the program on the combo he looked better and I thought maybe he'd gotten hold of the nerves and could bring it back, but of course that was not to be.

I agree with another poster here who said he looks like he's grown physically this season, something that may have contributed to this performance. I've certainly seen growth spurts wreak havoc on Canadian men in the past (Nic Nadeau and Stephen Gogolev come to mind immediately).

 

[museksk8r]

I was at Montreal's worlds. His was at the peak of his skating in terms of technical content.
The crowd was shook when he landed the 4axel. However, the program only worked because he landed all these big jumps replacing choreography. In the last 30 seconds or so, he got alive and performed. He is not my kind of skater nor performer but he was genuine. But that's the problem... it was interesting for the quads and outside that, just for the last bit of the program. I appreciated him winning that day. He deserved it. However, I enjoyed Adam and Yuma much more . Yesterday showed that without the firepower, his programs just cannot work. So he has two options : he lands his jump content, whether it means less quads or different layout it's up to him and his team.. but he needs to be stellar technically. His other option is to take a short break from chasing new combos and new records and go deeply into edge work, choreography, flow, turns, etc. I would even suggest he explores self-choreographing (freestyling) on warhorse music (with story telling). I'm not saying that he needs to skate to such programs but the exploration of what his body and blades can do to music that is actually lyrical and charged with narrative content may help him discover another path of expression.

Just my thoughts of course.

I totally agree about his need to focus more on the quality of his basic skating; he is very far behind Kagiyama, Siao Him Fa, and several others in that regard. I do wish he would also implement the artistry that I have seen him execute in gala programs into his competitive programs. He’s very capable of aesthetically pleasing extension and thoughtful musical interpretation. Sadly, the IJS doesn’t reward those creative elements of a program as they do the technical jumps. I am all for the scale to be more balanced.