2026 Olympics: Men's Short Program

[museksk8r]

Yuma’s hopes of the silver medal are really in jeopardy with Adam having such a strong skate in the SP. Kagiyama just doesn’t have the technical firepower in the FS to contend with Ilia and Adam.

 

[brblja]

Yuma too

Yup, but his scores were not yet in at the time.

 

[shan22044]

I can't believe I'm saying this but today everyone performed so well that it's reminding me of 2010 Vancouver! Where I was like OMG the competition is so good - everyone skating their best and at the highest level.

 

[museksk8r]

The way Malinin lands the backflip is really aesthetically unpleasing. He almost looks like he is going to sit down on the landing. He should get training from Surya Bonaly and learn to land that flip more upright.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Oh please. Adam could only wish the flow of Yuma's skating. For most, those choreo are clunky and over-wrought.

I think over-wrought is a fair assessment... the one thing about Adam's that I would have liked was a little more editing and finesse. I appreciate the wildness and he took MANY risks in steps and turns and body movement which made it incredibly exciting to watch. Yuma's especially good at making a lot of variations in blade movement and usage look effortless, which to me is true skating skills mastery.

Occasionally, Fa got too flaily -- like if the Vitruvian Man and Evgeni Plushenko had a baby. But I guess certain people are into that!

 

[anonymoose_au]

Yes, but that doesn't mean that the farce we call PCS scoring is done, far from it

It stinks they did that to Jun, he's such a beautiful skater and it's not fair.

Still I love watching him skate and I hope he knows he's got so much support and love from the fans.

 

[Olibritt]

I love Donovan, but he was lucky to make the free skate cut today, not going clean. I'm so glad he did though!

In this competition, for someone to qualify, especially for someone in the first group, some other has to make a bigger mess... I don´t make the rules, I don´t enjoy someone falling or missing jumps. But when my favorite skaters have a Q next to their names, I celebrate.
I like Donovan for who he is.
You are right, he was not clean. I know, he knows, the judges know. But made his best and qualified.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I can't believe I'm saying this but today everyone performed so well that it's reminding me of 2010 Vancouver! Where I was like OMG the competition is so good - everyone skating their best and at the highest level.

The crazy thing is it's with a million more quads. It's like the IJS finally broke through for the men and the standard is now way higher. Now guys aren't just doing the quads but they're doing them with speed and confidence, and still managing to deliver the programs. It took a while, but no better place to show it.

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

I, for one, am kind of selfishly glad Yuma is in second place, because hopefully that will take some pressure off of him and he will go and skate his magnificent Turandot program cleanly.

 

[Jammers]

Ilia doing the LP i think made the difference it allowed him to get rid of those nerves and prove he could do it when it counted. He's now more calm and getting stronger with each skate. Nathan probably needed another skate in the TE to be really ready the individual event. Instead he had almost a week to think about and we know what happened in the individual SP.

 

[Dawn825]

Yuma’s hopes of the silver medal are really in jeopardy with Adam having such a strong skate in the SP. Kagiyama just doesn’t have the technical firepower in the FS to contend with Ilia and Adam.

I really hope Adam skates well tomorrow and gets a medal, but he is statistically pretty unlikely to do so. He had one good skate this year and it was a short program. I wouldn't worry just yet if I was Yuma.

 

[shan22044]

The way Malinin lands the backflip is really aesthetically unpleasing. He almost looks like he is going to sit down on the landing. He should get training from Surya Bonaly and learn to land that flip more upright.

He did a Bonaly backflip in the Teams competition. I'm not sure why he did this one that way, maybe it's logistical but it could also be going for a more macho style...

 

[museksk8r]

I really hope Adam skates well tomorrow and gets a medal, but he is statistically pretty unlikely to do so. He had one good skate this year and it was a short program. I wouldn't worry just yet if I was Yuma.

Well, you’re also downplaying how inconsistent Yuma has been this season in the FS. I would say they are equally capable of beating each other.

 

[Dawn825]

The most captivating program for me of the night. The only drawback as usual is the long telegraphed Axel, but other than that, definitely my favourite of the night.

I love Jun, but it's quite shocking when you compare to Ilia's triple axel from a bunch of turns and no speed.

 

[shan22044]

The crazy thing is it's with a million more quads. It's like the IJS finally broke through for the men and the standard is now way higher. Now guys aren't just doing the quads but they're doing them with speed and confidence, and still managing to deliver the programs. It took a while, but no better place to show it.

Yes, and the case can actually be made that you can have both incredible artistry and tons of powerful and consistent quads too. Which is a contradiction to my earlier comment. But Cha and Siao Him Fa have shown us what's really possible. What a great competition!

 

[lelaya]

Ilia really tries all kinds of things like the rocker, sticking his tongue, pretending to practice on the speedball as he comes off the ice, he does the backflip, the raspberry twist, all the social media stuff, he tries so hard but he'll never be Plushenko or Hanyu. The public will never get behind him. They didn't resort to the gimmicky stuff like this they just went out and performed.

He has a lot of fans behind him, I would never underestimate the power of social media...
It's too much for me though. Just a mix of different things that often don't really fit together. His attitude is also all over the place.
I actually think he is a really nice and likeable guy, he could easily stop playing cool all the time. It doesn't feel authentic to me.

 

[anonymoose_au]

The PCS is just a consistency and momentum rating; it never actually reflects the components it’s supposed to.

I have to admit I don't get FS scoring but this seems right. Our commentator said that because of the step out Yuma couldn't get any 10s which seems really unfair.

A lot of skaters can have so-so jumps but interpret the music and program so well it doesn't really matter. If anything it's more impressive that they can make you forget the jumps.

I remember Kevin having an absolutely horrible skate jump-wise but he put all his heart into the rest of the program and should be rewarded for that.

 

[readernick]

I think over-wrought is a fair assessment... the one thing about Adam's that I would have liked was a little more editing and finesse. I appreciate the wildness and he took MANY risks in steps and turns and body movement which made it incredibly exciting to watch. Yuma's especially good at making a lot of variations in blade movement and usage look effortless, which to me is true skating skills mastery.

Occasionally, Fa got too flaily -- like if the Vitruvian Man and Evgeni Plushenko had a baby. But I guess certain people are into that!

This describes perfectly why I don't respond to Adam's skating. Everything he does looks flaily and hard even his crossovers. I know he is fast but his crossovers are so effortful and his arms are rarely controlled. His jumps look hard. Everything looks hard and messy. Yuma and usually Shun make everything look easy ( even though it's not) , even Ilya makes spins and jumps look easy. I'm not saying Adam's skating isn't good or deserving of the points he gets, it just isn't to my taste at all. It's just too laboured.

 

[cocteautwin]

I would really like to see Adam doing not-Benoit program in the future. I don't hate what he's doing right now (although it's not exactly my cup of tea) but I'm really interested to find out what he could do working with sb with different vision for him and his movements.
Anyway, he did amazing today and I'm happy for him.

 

[el henry]

Lots more fun than a thousand superbowls, if you ask me. That was a cracker! They were all in.

This was an excellent comp, with not as much menning. It certainly was a lot more fun than last weekend’s Super Bowl. Except for Bad Bunny who was. and . I now want nothing more than a Bad Bunny program. Can we see Donovan with that?

All Super Bowls, however no… But I am a tad biased