On Site Reports: GPF 2015

[Sugarpova]

isnt practice's purpose IS usually jumping, feeling the ice :scratch3:
I doubt Zhenia needs to train choreo ...
From what I get lots of things is decided when you are actually ON the ice during actual competition thats why people have this saying 'there's champions of practice'
She didnt do a full runthrough all committed to all the choreo nuances? did some combos that won't be in her actual program. She took breaks during the programm etc etc
& I'm surprised people see her as a jumper only
Liza yeah I'm used to fans just dismissing her as a jumping bean nothing new but with Zhenia....

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I actually often complain that Zhenia over sells her Choreo and I wouldn't complain one bit of she toned it down a bit. Feel free to substitute Ashley's name into that sentence too if you catch my drift

 

[theskatingbutterfly]

Does anyone have any practice reports of Nathan's FS?? With the 4 quads in there now, this should be interesting.

 

[matmuh]

Odd question, can Satoko jump clockwise? I know she can spin both ways, but could have sworn I saw her do a jump clockwise at the end of the practice session today... ?

Yeah, she used to jump clockwise when she was in US but after they moved back to Japan they said she cant jump that way bc ice rink was crowded and it risk of colliding with other skaters would be high (not exact words but sth like this)

 

[dooliegirl]

Medvedeva is a beast! I think this is hers to win or lose.

She's amazing!

 

[shyne]

Yeah, she used to jump clockwise when she was in US but after they moved back to Japan they said she cant jump that way bc ice rink was crowded and it risk of colliding with other skaters would be high (not exact words but sth like this)

If only clockwise and counterclock wise jumps count as two sep jumps～～

 

[Pamigena]

so, I don't do the "waiting for skaters at the exit" thing........ but I could totally give you a live report about when one of the big guns is coming out we're at the Marriott right next door to the venue and our window is open - and I can hear the screaming loud and clear this is hilarious!

 

[Franklin99]

so, I don't do the "waiting for skaters at the exit" thing........ but I could totally give you a live report about when one of the big guns is coming out we're at the Marriott right next door to the venue and our window is open - and I can hear the screaming loud and clear this is hilarious!

Who was it?

 

[Cherryy]

I'll keep this one short since I overslept, didn't take notes and am now too excited after seeing that 110 score pop up

Men
I was late but during the practice everyone seemed to be doing fine. I took extra notice regarding Shoma's speed and I can truly say he doesn't appear to me to be slower than Javi. Patrick was doing fine but then again, competition pressure. You could see he wasn't confident during the warm up. But the most scared one was definitely Javi, home crowd pressure doesn't do him any favors. During the competition I think each one of them performed very well, even Boyang and Murakami connected very well with the crowd. Yuzuru seemed to be completely chilled out. Also, I don't know if you noticed, but he was rooting for Javi in the Kiss and Cry and later on when Javi was skating, Yuzu stayed in the arena until the final jump just to make sure his program went fine and only then did he go backstage to take off his boots. A really classy guy. And his SP was magic, what else can I tell you

Ladies
Mao had some troubles with 3Lz, didn't try as many 3F-3L and 3A as yesterday. The 3A was still unreliable. Her step sequence is gorgeous. Spins looked better than expected in that they were well centered and with ok speed. Her SP run through had a clean 3A, 3F-2L and 2Lz (?).
Side note: I love Nobuo Sato sooooo much! He looks the cutest while crossing the road with his tiny steps and almost closed eyes.
Satoko did some double jumps at the very end but it seemed to me it was just for fun/practising general skills. She looked solid in the practice.
Gracie did a run through of the SP, I think she might have had a mistake on the 3Lz. I remember she than practiced it a lot and she hit almost all of them.
Ashley did a FS run through, she sells it so well! She had some troubles but I don't remember anything specific.
Elena was solid as a rock today, huge difference compared to yesterday. I can't stand the music but she's performing well. It's definitely not the style of my preference, for me it's a bit overdramatised.
Evgenia finished her practise 15 minutes early or so? Her run through had 3-3, 3-3-3 and 2A-3T, if I remember correctly. Was solid in general.

Pairs competition
The crowd liked Kavaguti/Smirnov better than Stolbova/Klimov (and so did I). Megan had major problems with lutz in the warm up, so you could tell something would go wrong. Chinese pairs were visibly slower.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

so, I don't do the "waiting for skaters at the exit" thing........ but I could totally give you a live report about when one of the big guns is coming out we're at the Marriott right next door to the venue and our window is open - and I can hear the screaming loud and clear this is hilarious!

Throw some Winnie the Pooh dolls out of the window at them. I am willing to bet you have at least one with you.

 

[Pamigena]

Who was it?

I have no idea. I can't actually see the exit of the venue, but I could totally hear the screaming from around the corner so my best guess is as good as yours but I have my theories

 

[Pamigena]

Throw some Winnie the Pooh dolls out of the window at them. I am willing to bet you have at least one with you.

I'm afraid that is one bet you'd lose

 

[Winnie_20]

Wow, what an evening. What a day! I remember the excitement last year when Hanyu skated so well, but this is like being in a different universe. Am feeling so lucky that I could be there to witness this live. Thank You, Yuzuru Hanyu.

Was I the only person dumb enough to not immediately understand why the ???? Patrick looked so utterly devastated after his SP? I thought his SP was pretty decent, pffft.

Only, PLEASE, no more Skimo cam kissing things. Once was embarrassing enough, but twice in a few hours is just Not Fair.

 

[FS_rrb]

Yuzuru is already a legend, isn't he? That was awesome...and he created such and atmosphere in the arena! Sad for Patrick, though. He moves sooo effortlessly across the ice! But he looked nervious and tentative today

 

[Franklin99]

I'll keep this one short since I overslept, didn't take notes and am now too excited after seeing that 110 score pop up

Men
I was late but during the practice everyone seemed to be doing fine. I took extra notice regarding Shoma's speed and I can truly say he doesn't appear to me to be slower than Javi. Patrick was doing fine but then again, competition pressure. You could see he wasn't confident during the warm up. But the most scared one was definitely Javi, home crowd pressure doesn't do him any favors. During the competition I think each one of them performed very well, even Boyang and Murakami connected very well with the crowd. Yuzuru seemed to be completely chilled out. Also, I don't know if you noticed, but he was rooting for Javi in the Kiss and Cry and later on when Javi was skating, Yuzu stayed in the arena until the final jump just to make sure his program went fine and only then did he go backstage to take off his boots. A really classy guy. And his SP was magic, what else can I tell you

Ladies
Mao had some troubles with 3Lz, didn't try as many 3F-3L and 3A as yesterday. The 3A was still unreliable. Her step sequence is gorgeous. Spins looked better than expected in that they were well centered and with ok speed. Her SP run through had a clean 3A, 3F-2L and 2Lz (?).
Side note: I love Nobuo Sato sooooo much! He looks the cutest while crossing the road with his tiny steps and almost closed eyes.

I really hope (since her 3lz is unreliable ATM)) that Mao changes her layout to 3A, 3F-2Lo, 3L. Because if she hits them all clean, the competition is her's to lose.

 

[Li'Kitsu]

Okay, so I'm just at my phone and don't want to write tons of text, but just some little side stories:
I'm carring a Seimei Pooh around. That prompted a lovely japanese fan to give me a present - 2 of these I-don't-know-what-their-called, gorgeous Yuzu pics with signatures... just like that

Also, when we went to eat something, sat there and talked... one of the cooks (owner?) came over and was like "are you Yuzu fans? I am too!" And then she talked to us for a while.

Being a Yuzu fan is pretty fun, I'm just saying

Edit: clear files? I think the gorgeous pics are called clear files in Englisch xD

 

[peeches726]

Just watched medvedevas LP practice video - wondering if that jump layout with the two 3-3-3 combos (flip toe toe and salchow toe toe) violates the zayak rule? That's 4 triple toe loops but two of them are on the back end of a three jump combo so I'm not sure how that is evaluated? Can anyone clear this up?

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Just watched medvedevas LP practice video - wondering if that jump layout with the two 3-3-3 combos (flip toe toe and salchow toe toe) violates the zayak rule? That's 4 triple toe loops but two of them are on the back end of a three jump combo so I'm not sure how that is evaluated? Can anyone clear this up?

She only does it in practice as far as I know.

 

[andromache]

Just watched medvedevas LP practice video - wondering if that jump layout with the two 3-3-3 combos (flip toe toe and salchow toe toe) violates the zayak rule? That's 4 triple toe loops but two of them are on the back end of a three jump combo so I'm not sure how that is evaluated? Can anyone clear this up?

She does them in practice just because she can. She doesn't compete a 3-3-3.

 

[peeches726]

I see... Hypothetically then would this practice jump layout garner more points? Or would it zayak her? Furthermore... Would it be more points to skate a 3-3-3 for one of the combos she normally competes and then solo the other jump or does the usual two 3-3s max her points?