He was definitely not slow at SOI. Nathan is in general a very competent skater. But the number of quads does wear him down in competitions and compared to the other top skaters his ss is weaker. But weaker =/= weak.
Also agile and nimble movement is definitely not mutually exclusive from efficient, long strokes. Andrew Toegashev for example has some of the best skating skills but still is able to exhibit both very fluid and nimble qualities. Jason Brown as well.
LOL at the two of us carrying on our conversation about SS with all the the birthday hoopla going on here!
I don't know, didn't Nathan always skate like this, even before the quad-mania?
(although I do observe that whenever he's doing a runthrough without the jumps, it's very noticeable how he's putting a lot more into his skating, but I'm not sure how much this is true for all skaters?)
Ok, I’ve never looked at Torgashev closely, so I watched his FS from this past season, and I actually didn’t feel that his skating came across agile and nimble… especially not when I compare him to (junior or senior) Nathan, whose movements look almost feline to me, like he’s pouncing or something.
Yes, Torgashev’s stroking while doing crossovers is powerful and he has a deep knee bend, but his overall movements and footwork don’t look particulary sharp and quick to me, and don’t have the type of ease I like about Nathan’s skating.
Also, in his stepwork, the movements of his upper body, arms and legs looked somewhat untidy and laborious, if I had to describe my first impression (but maybe he was just tired towards the end and his legs were too heavy). Nathan’s body movements in contrast to that look more mmh… precise and economical …? Even when he’s throwing himself into choreo moves.
I also noticed another thing… and yes, I know this is superficial, but then again, this is FS… it looks like Torgashev either has slight bowlegs or he has a rather bow-legged stance or leg posture while he’s skating (this is actually true for many male skaters)… in any case, I don’t like the way it looks, and I think this is another reason why Nathan’s lines look good to me (well in this instance his leg posture) and his skating is aesthetically more pleasing to me than that of others (choppy or not).
(poor Torgashev
didn’t mean to be so negative about him, he’s just not my cup of tea
)
and 
in his Vanilla Vera
