Best Performances of the Season (so far), by Discipline

[rosacotton]

Men
SP: Josh Farris, US Nationals
LP: Josh Farris, 4CC

Ladies
SP: Satoko Miyahara, SC
LP: Ashley Wagner, US Nationals

Pairs
SP: Sui/Han, 4CC
LP: DenneyFrazier, SA

Ice Dance
SD: Shibutanis, US Nationals
FD: Cannuscio/McManus, US Nationals

 

[MIM]

Men
SP: Denis Ten at 4CC
LP: Denis Ten at 4CC
Ex: Tatsuki Machida " East of Eden" at Skate America

Ladies
SP: Evgenia Medvedeva at JGPF
LP: Elizaveta Tuktamysheva at Euros
Ex: Zijun Li "I dreamed a dream" at 4CC

Pairs
SP: Sui/Han at 4CC
LP: Kavaguti/Smirnov at Skate America and Pang/Tong at 4CC
Ex: Kavaguti/Smirnov "Clair de Lune" at Euros

Dance
SD: Hurtado/Diaz at Euros
FD: Weaver/Poje at 4CC and Papadakis/Cizeron at Euros
Ex: Shibutanis' "O" at GPF

 

[loopy]

While not senior level, I really enjoyed Emily Chan's short program performance this year - for me it was memorable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfJWYDQGak8

 

[anyanka]

P/C's and W/P's FDs, at any competition. I could watch both of them all day long.

 

[Crossover]

My picks go to the below. Honorable mentions are in the brackets.

Men: .
SP: Tatsuki Machida at Japanese Nationals (Joshua Farris at 4CC)
FP: Tatsuki Machida at Skate America (Denis Ten at 4CC)
EX: Tatsuki Machida at Medalists on Ice
It is no wonder because without Machida, I wouldn't have fallen in love with men's skating at all.
Though I've taken to watch top tree finishers' performances at World/Olympics just for a common knowledge.

Ladies:
SP: Courtney Hicks at U.S. Nationals (Maé-Bérénice Méité at TEB/ Polina Edmunds at U.S. Classic)
FP: Ashley Wagner at GPF (Elizaveta Tuktamysheva at Euro/ Zijun Li at 4CC)
EX: Anna Pogorilaya at Skate Canada

Pairs:
SP: Yu/Jin at GPF
FP: Pang/Tong at 4CC (Marchei/Hotárek at Euros)
EX: Pang/Tong at 4CC (Peng/Zhang at 4CC)

Ice Dance:
SD: Papadakis/Cizeron at Euro (Shibutanis at U.S. Nationals)
FD: Papadakis/Cizeron at Euro (Hubbell/Donohue at U.S. Nationals)
EX: Weaver/Poje at 4CC

 

[salchowx4]

Favorite performances (not necessarily best in terms of TES)

Men
SP - Yuzuru Hanyu, GPF
FS - Joshua Farris, 4CC

Women
SP – Gracie Gold, NHK
FS - Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Euros

Pairs
SP – Stolbova/Klimov, GPF
FS – Stolbova/Klimov, Rostelecom Cup

Ice Dance
SD – Shibutani/Shibutani, 4CC
FD - Shibutani/Shibutani, US Nationals

Notable Exhibitions
Hanyu, GPF
Shibs, US Nationals
Hubbell and Donohue, US Nationals

 

[andromache]

Men
SP: Joshua Farris, 4CC, tied with Denis Ten at 4CC. These two skated four gorgeous performances in such a well-skated comp, and I prefer Ten's SP to his LP this season.
LP: Farris, 4CC.

Ladies
SP: Kiira Korpi, Euros.
LP: Liza Tuktamysheva, Euros. Ashley's Nationals LP is a close second though.

I don't follow dance or pairs closely enough to choose favorites, but I love the Shibs' exhibition. Best EX of the season in all disciplines. Nothing in pairs has really inspired me at all this season aside from the dramadrama K/S's LP and how impressed I am with Marchei and Hotarek. They have great chemistry, and their programs this season make me excited to see how they develop in the future.

 

[BlackPack]

Dance: P&C's Euro FD
Ladies: Tuk Euro LP
Men: Denis sometime, somewhere
Pairs: I stopped watching pairs

 

[sabinfire]

Pairs: I stopped watching pairs

What is it with Pairs lately? During Europeans, I decided to sleep instead of watch Pairs live. And despite watching Pairs during 4CC, I couldn't really come up with much of a list here, so I just went with Pang/Tong. My interest in this discipline is at an all-time low.

 

[BlackPack]

What is it with Pairs lately? During Europeans, I decided to sleep instead of watch Pairs live. And despite watching Pairs during 4CC, I couldn't really come up with much of a list here, so I just went with Pang/Tong. My interest in this discipline is at an all-time low.

COP-mandated "difficulty" resulting in ugly lifts, entrances into spirals, lack of aesthetic appeal, general disregard for matching leg lines, extensions, and positions, lack of genius, charismatic talents, poorly designed programs...

When will we see another Berezhnaya again?

 

[MaxSwagg]

Because pairs is boring without the likes of V&T and S&S...

 

[Crossover]

Because pairs is boring without the likes of V&T and S&S...

No. pairs is not boring; it just depends on personal tastes and preference, not to mention about the shift in a generation. I've never been fascinated with V/T, so their comeback would not be special for me. However I loved S/S, so new S/M would be exciting. Ice dance is my least discipline because it emphasizes on a chemistry between a man and woman in a boring traditional role without jumps and eye-catching techniques unlike pairs. Sometimes I wonder why pairs and ice dance teams have to be so conservative like always pairing with opposite sex skaters. Synchronize swimming is paired with same sex swimmers and fun to watch.

 

[QuadThrow]

No. pairs is not boring; it just depends on personal tastes and preference, not to mention about the shift in a generation. I've never been fascinated with V/T, so their comeback would not be special for me. However I loved S/S, so new S/M would be exciting. Ice dance is my least discipline because it emphasizes on a chemistry between a man and woman in a boring traditional role without jumps and eye-catching techniques unlike pairs. Sometimes I wonder why pairs and ice dance teams have to be so conservative like always pairing with opposite sex skaters. Synchronize swimming is paired with same sex swimmers and fun to watch.

:thumbsup:

nice thoughts... i love pairs skating more than single skating. The throws make it very special. Ice dancing has usually been a little bit boring....

same sex pairs? i think a strong man and yuzuru hanyu could perform a 5STh

 

[Li'Kitsu]

same sex pairs? i think a strong man and yuzuru hanyu could perform a 5STh

Javier Fernandez, obviously

For the actual topic here - how can so many of you limit it down to only one performance? At least for the men, I'm 100% incapable of doing that... quite a few ties ahead

Men SP: Tie between Javier Fernandez' CoR SP, Yuzuru Hanyus GPF SP and Joshua Farris' Nats SP.
Men LP: Tie between Joshua Farris' 4CC LP, Jason Browns 4CC LP and Takahiko Kozukas Nationals LP.

Ladies SP: Alena Leonovas NHK SP
Ladies LP: Satoko Miyaharas Nationals LP, but I also really liked Liza Tuktamyshevas and Elena Radionovas European LPs.

Ice Dance SD: Hurtado/Diaz' Europeans SD and ShibSibs 4CC SD
Ice Dance FD: Weaver/Pojes GPF FD

Pairs SP: uhm... probably Yu/Jins GPF SP
Pairs LP: Pang/Tongs 4CC FP

 

[Sandpiper]

nice thoughts... i love pairs skating more than single skating. The throws make it very special. Ice dancing has usually been a little bit boring....

Pairs is slowly edging ahead of men as my second-favourite discipline. Or rather, men has plummeted from my favourite to near-third at this point (though it's second if we consider juniors, and would still be second overall if Machida hadn't retired...). While I understand some people's qualms about COPairs, I've gotten used to the entries/levels for the most part. They haven't resulted in a notable increase in splatfests, as far I could tell. I object more to men's under COP, but that's another matter...

I'm too much of a pleb to understand ice dance. I appreciate the difficulty more than I used to, but I still prefer the high-flying drama of pairs.

For the actual topic here - how can so many of you limit it down to only one performance? At least for the men, I'm 100% incapable of doing that... quite a few ties ahead

It was difficult for me too, but I forced myself to narrow it down to one. Then, after reading the thread, I realized I forgot about Alena Leonova's SP! So in retrospect, my pick for Ladies' SP is actually that one, and LP would be a tie between Ashley at Nationals and Liza at Europeans.

 

[donezo]

Pairs was difficult to watch in the early CoP days, but I really think this is the deepest and most exciting field in forever. Pang/Tong's return is the icing on the cake. I even have some love for the top American pair!

 

[Mrs. P]

Actually I enjoyed the pairs a lot this season. It arguably enough to pass the ladies for spot no. 3. (yes I just put the ladies in last...

 

[LRK]

Actually I enjoyed the pairs a lot this season. It arguably enough to pass the ladies for spot no. 3. (yes I just put the ladies in last...

Mrs P - for me it's:

1. Men
2. Pairs
3. Ladies

 

[astronaut]

Ladies' programmes? I'll just name my faves. Same 2 ladies. Radionova and Tuktamysheva at Russian Nats and EUROS. Their short programmes and freeskates. They were both going all out for gold and handed in some wicked good performances. In these 2, Russia has a 1-2 punch in ISU ladies equal to, if not stronger than, Kwan/ Lipinski of the 1997/ 1998 season. I believe they are that good. I don't think either of them will leave the ISU in favour a pro career anytime soon. Another thing I like is their obvious comradary. I know they both want that gold everytime, but it's a friendlier rivalry than the Tara vs Michelle thing.

I do also watch the men's events, but have yet to be blown away by any of the men so far this season.USA's Farris is my fave. I still don't get why men's scores are generally so much higher than ladies' scores. I can see programmes with quads and multiple 3 axels receiving big numbers, but even a splatfest/quadless men's freeskate scoring higher than the best ladies' freeskate from the same event.................is what I don't get.



Mike

 

[sabinfire]

I still don't get why men's scores are generally so much higher than ladies' scores. I can see programmes with quads and multiple 3 axels receiving big numbers, but even a splatfest/quadless men's freeskate scoring higher than the best ladies' freeskate from the same event.................is what I don't get.

It's because falls are not punished very harshly in this current system, and the judges can boost a skater's PCS seemingly on a whim.