Road to Milano: Men's Figure Skating

[Skater Boy]

Let's discuss Men's skating as it progresses throughout the season to the Olympics and Worlds in 2026.

 

[Skater Boy]

What can one say about the men. Ilia. Ilia. Ilia. World record score. More quads than can one dream. Flashy costumes and skating. He is unbeatable especially as the Japanese men have not been particularly consistent and pcs wise not getting the marks ahead of Ilia. No matter who Japan goes with assuming Yuma will be one they will have at l east two contenders for medal. An Italian and two French men (Who have not impressed this season but have the goods to challenge for the podium and usually the programs/artistry. Cha has not looked good. Nika may have skated too many events close together but is a chance for bronze. Mikail looks still like a shot at silver but i can't see anyone beating Ilia even without overly inflated pcs. I mention Jason Brown his skating will always be on point and interesting but hard for him without a quad and sometimes issues on the axel. But as no one but ilia and maybe Yuma have really impressed it will take mistakes by others for him to sneak on the podium. Any doubt of his spot on the us team is erased as all the othe rcontenders or pretenders have all had quite bad skates even with a good one. Andrew T, Camden, Jimmy, Tomoki, Max, Jacob et al are figthing for one spot really it woudl appear at this point with no clear leader. Canada's interesting battle is really mediocre skaters fighting for one spot. Glimmer of hopes are easily eroded by a bad skate. Gogo boy, Roman who truly is a beautiful skater but will not get the pcs until he stars getting consistent. Keegan appears to be unable to get his jumps back and time and opportunities are running out. Whoever gets the sp ot should take out the other two for a good meal but they will not be a factor at worlds or the olympics.

 

[ladyjane]

Why so negative? I love all the men, even when only one is dominating. There's still a lot to watch. All, and I mean all, Japanese men have great skating skills, Jason's the real PCS man, Mikail as you say can do well, who ever joins Ilia and Jason will be lovely to watch (there are just too many examples of watchable American men), Junhwah has always got his beautiful Ina Bauer, Canadians have good skating kills as well, so who ever goes it will be enjoyable, Donovan is a star, Jin is getting better in his Free Skates, Kevin is always adoreable, and Adam usually delivers, Nika's programmes are getting less jump-to-jump, Matteo, Daniel and Nikolaj are all in the mix, we've got upcoming Adam (the Slovakian Adam), Deniss is always a joy to watch. I am already looking forward to the OG!

 

[gsk8]

Talking about US Men, OMG, Kevin Aymoz in the K&C at Skate America . Always bringing back a Rudy Galindo for me So happy for Aymoz and hope he gets stronger throughout the season!

Rooting for J. Brown as always. Great Programs this year!

Got my eyes on Vladimir Litvintsev...

 

[noskates]

This Olympics is Ilia's to lose. There just isn't anybody even close to him when he skates clean or with only a minimum of mistakes. I love Jason and wish him well but Skate America kind of scared me. To be in the conversation he has to skate absolutely clean or his PCS won't be enough. Vlad is great to watch and other than that wailing woman caterwauling in his music in his free skate I really enjoyed his programs. BUT....he really needs to work on his presentation. I'm betting Yuma for silver at Olys. I think bronze is going to be quite a battle and there are a few guys I don't think you can count out.....Kevin, Matteo, Boyang, Adam SHF, I only wish Andrew Torgashev could find consistency....and then there are a host of Japanese men who might survive the utter bloodbath of their Nationals this year. In my uneducated and personal opinion, Deniss and Junwha are not going to be a factor. Dark horse sneak in - Stephen Gogolev.

 

[Marius]

Ilia is a lock for gold, but I hope the performance of the night in Milano will be Yuma's (that Free deserves its Olympic Moment). Ilia is just too ahead technically that even with 1-2 mistakes he'll probably still win. Bronze, my pick rn is Adam Siao Him Fa, if he can consistently perform as he did in GP France.

 

[Jammers]

Ilia is a lock for gold, but I hope the performance of the night in Milano will be Yuma's (that Free deserves its Olympic Moment). Ilia is just too ahead technically that even with 1-2 mistakes he'll probably still win. Bronze, my pick rn is Adam Siao Him Fa, if he can consistently perform as he did in GP France.

No one is a lock we all thought that Nathan would at least be on the podium in 2018 and instead he skated the worst he had ever skated in his career at the time. That's why i wish Ilia had gone to Beijing in 2022 just to get the experience he needed. One advantage Ilia has though is he's much older and experience then Nathan was in 2018.

 

[Marius]

No one is a lock we all thought that Nathan would at least be on the podium in 2018 and instead he skated the worst he had ever skated in his career at the time. That's why i wish Ilia had gone to Beijing in 2022 just to get the experience he needed. One advantage Ilia has though is he's much older and experience then Nathan was in 2018.

I agree regarding Ilia's experience, also at the time Nathan had much less success in his career than Ilia rn and was much less consistent (he won 4cc the year before but was 6th at Worlds and then won the 2017/18 GPF despite far from great performances). Ilia not only has a TES advantage but he is also very consistent. Then again, the field in 2017/2018 was probably the peak of male skating - there were at least 5 contenders for the Gold Medal and all three medalists got a score over 305 points, insane. I think the situation here is different with just one skater able to consistently score over 300 points.

 

[lariko]

There are still three months until the Olympics, and a lot of skaters will start gaining their form now, for their respective nationals and then the Olympics. If anything, Ilia's awesome form right now is scary, unless his peak is higher than this. But going for a higher peak than this is a scary thing too. The skaters who will have to skate in both the team competition and individual will be at a disadvantage, as are those who would do a GPF. At least this season pretty much anyone is possible in second and third (if Ilia remains in this form) not trying to snug the bronze with gold and silver spoken for. Even when it felt spoken for, men cactused. Wait until February to see the actual medals.

 

[SmileHappy34]

For me a least, the men competition from their prospective countries are set except for the 3 rd spot i. Some or second I. Others.
The medal possiblt 3 way between Ilia Yuma, Adam so fa him
With Mikhail, the Russian Peter or Evengy i don't remember which one has the okay.

France Adam , and Kevin for France 3rd spot Luc or Francis

Kaz Mikhail 2nd spot up for grabs

Japan Yuma and Shun 3rd spot up for grabs

U.S. Ilia
2nd 3rd up for grabs most likely 2nd goes to Jason but could go to Max, Andrew, Jimmy, Tomoki.and maybe Jacob

Italy between Daniel, Nikola and Matteo

Swiss Lukas

Georgia Nika

Canada between Roman , Stephen

Denis Vasilejev
Czech , Poland

 

[SmileHappy34]

I forgot Korea Jun had Cha could have impact on podium.

Camden on natl podium since he has bye