Hi everyone! I'm quite late to the party but since I attended GPF last week-end I thought I could make a little post on my live experience
I was already a Shoma fan when I arrived in Marseille but even more now !! This kid is amazing. Let me explain.
I had the chance to seat in the third row for the Men SP (it was total luck, because my ticket was basically for the second category, in the balcony, but I met a Spaniard who had nobody by his side so I could seat in the so-called Carré Or). I didn't have a Japanese flag to cheer for Shoma and Yuzuru but fortunately there was next to me a very nice Japanese fan who didn't dare to wave her big flag alone, so we raised it together for Shoma
eace:.
During the warm up we were quite nervous because Shoma didn't look confident, and tense. But when came is SP.... It was incredible. I was just captivated by him. Even with just his opening pose, he has that presence, that charisma... When he landed the quad flip I screamed and thought 'Yes, he's going to do it!'. Well, everyone knows what happened later, but it didn't prevent me from being hypnotised by Shoma's skating. His speed, his SS, his commitment, at the end of the program I was like "What ? already finished ? No please, go on!" We were all very worried by his ankle but fortunately it wasn't serious.
On Friday, I went to the Men practice (I needed to take my dose of men skating lol). Talking about Shoma only, it was a heartbreaking moment. He was reapeating his quads, falling, making a new round, jumping, falling.... I was starting to be very concerned by his condition, but I heard he couldn't get enough sleep because of the jet lag, then we thanked god Men Free was only on Saturday. At this practice, "only" the 3A was going well, but it was enough to relieve us a bit, at least about his ankle.
On saturday, Shoma's practice was waaaaaaay better. he did land some very good quads, not everything was on point, but still a huge step up from the past days.
The Men FP was such a HUGE moment. The arena was ready to explode. Plus there was that introduction of the skaters before the warm up, with that epic music announcing the Battle of the Titans
And then the unbelievable happened. Shoma skated sincerely the BEST and the most beautiful program of the night. I decided at this moment that he had this season the best free program among the Men. It's truly a masterpiece. Every movement is in perfect accordance with the music. The musicality of the choreo is something that impressed me a lot. I think it's a very difficult music to skate to, but Shoma found the essence of the piece and the right interpretation. I don't think he put a foot wrong during his performance (except for the first 4T ofc). He had that commanding presence that said "Hey did you think I was lost ? I'm here, you haven't seen yet what I can do". I was on my feet before the last spin ended. I was so moved by the performance that I couldn't stop clapping my hands and screaming (I think I just shouted "I love you" when he bowed at us
). And everyone seemed to agree with me. During the 3 days, the audience was really warm to him.
Finally, I was so happy that he got to medal, even if he could have had silver in my opinion.
Last of my "Shoma experience" is after the competition, I was with my friends, we waited the skaters after press conference behind the rink near the door they were leaving by (what an adventure to pass through the security men but it was worth it lol). We waited them with two japanese journalist who took us an interview while waiting like "What did you think about Shoma and Yuzuru, why do you love them, what are you going to say if you see them..." it was so funny and dear, I think all Japan saw me fangirling in front of a camera ?
Finally, Shoma came out. I couldn't resist and asked him to take a picture. He was adorable, very kind to the fans waiting there, and I offered him some chocolates from my city, he seemed very pleased, so I think it finished to make my day
:
This concludes my experience at GPFinal! Sorry for the looong post and for my approximate English!
I hope this is the beginning of your greatest, most wonderful year ever.
Feliz aniversário, Shoma!!! (Happy birthday, Shoma!!!) 
Wow - what a practice. Talk about being totally in "the zone". Looks like it was taken on mom's phone. When I saw him, she was taking videos of his spins with her phone. Now if he can just skate that way at Nationals! I am assuming 100% that he'll go to Worlds, but I wonder if he'll also go to 4CC. I guess we find that out at the end of Nationals,
Happy birthday, Shoma! 
aired 2016-12-18 
And yes, I'm worried about his health as well. :hopelessness:
