World prediction for men: Chen or Hanyu?

[4everchan]

Chen ftw

 

[Flying Feijoa]

If everything goes as planned and there are no WD, i´m predicting Nathan for gold, Yuzu for silver and Brown for the bronze.

That podium would be awesome in any order! Go Jason
Oh, but I'm rooting for Misha too... Fans have it tough!

 

[DizzyFrenchie]

(...)
Rink was shut down after recent Fukushima earthquake, don't know what he did after that or if it's reopened yet

(...)

The rink closed during one week.

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

The rink closed during one week.

Ok, thanks, glad to hear it's back open!

 

[Silvia451]

Japanese nationals give me hope.

As for the bronze, I'll go with Yuma.

 

[bouncy]

Or even Keegan as apparently he was landing 4Lz in his monitoring videos.

Does anyone have the link to Keegan's monitoring videos?

 

[Arbitrary]

With all unlimited respect to Hanyu I'm betting for Chen for this WC.

 

[Seven Sisters]

I respect both gentlemen, but what I want to see at Worlds is Kolyada skating that astonishing Nureyev free program to perfection. To me, that is one for the ages. One of the best men’s programs ever.

 

[Mista Ekko]

I feel like I haven't seen Hanyu in forever.

I don't understand this comment since he gave two very packed and very clean performances
at his nationals a couple months ago

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

My money would be on Chen. He just delivers when he needs to and his BV is higher, and he's cleaned up his execution a bit more (although there's still room for improvement). And he's closed the PCS gap with Hanyu.

Hanyu could eke it out but he'll need a mistake or two from Chen. I'm also curious to see how the judges internationally will regard his programs since he hasn't had a ton of mileage on them this season.

Should be a good battle though!

I'm thinking Yuma for bronze but might be Zhou.

 

[Olympic]

IDK - Chen got to compete at SkAm and Nationals. He also is used to training himself, so this past year should have no real effect on him.

OTOH -Hanyu looked surprisingly good at JPN Nationals

Over the past 2 seasons, Chen has outdone Hanyu and if you forced me to pick, I would bet on Chen. But you never know.

As others said, battle for bronze will be more interesting - Uno, Kolyada and Zhou are probably the biggest bets. Uno and Kolyada have gotten some mojo back but Zhou has really refined his skating. He gets an award for most improved. He could really set himself up in the SP.

Boyang is right there and looked better than normal earlier this season. He has an outside shot.

I don't see Messing quite there. He looked OK at SkAm but how much competitive skating did Canadian skaters get this season? Cha didn't look that great recently either.

 

[rollerblade]

I don't understand this comment since he gave two very packed and very clean performances
at his nationals a couple months ago

mrrice probably did not stay up at wee hours trying to catch a live re-stream. And Japan Nationals videos get taken down quicker than the speed of light, it's not a surprise he missed the performances.

 

[Mista Ekko]

mrrice probably did not stay up at wee hours trying to catch a live re-stream. And Japan Nationals videos get taken down quicker than the speed of light, it's not a surprise he missed the performances.

It's on Youtube...

 

[Skater Boy]

This is so so tough.Bot Yuzuru and Nathan are amazin at getting the quads done especially Nathan. I do think Nathan is overmarkedin the pcsbut its goig tohappenwhenyou skate clean. with difficulty. I think Nathan will win - less rusty, more competitive experience this season.

 

[Skatefan15]

I realllllyy want Yuzu to win (since he’s my fav men’s skater ever). But it’s going to depend on the GOEs and PCS they give Nathan. I respect Nathan’s technical aspects but in terms of PCS he should be like 5th at Worlds (behind Yuzu, Shoma, Jason, and Mikhail) imo, maybe even behind Han Yan and Keegan for skating skills. However, he also has more competition experience than Yuzu (and a lot of others tbh) this season, so we will see.

The fight for bronze is going to be interesting! I personally hope that it’s either Shoma, Yuma, or Jason (would really love to see a Jason quad at worlds ).

It’s kind of hard for me to get overly excited for these worlds because of how worried I am for the competitors (because of the “bubble” — doesn’t really feel like a bubble though). I hope everyone stays safe and that this event doesn’t become a superspreader

 

[TontoK]

Maybe my memory is failing me, but I *think* Nathan has won every SP and LP since the Olympic Short. Someone will correct me if that's wrong.

That streak is probably going to end sooner or later, but until it does, my money is on him.

 

[1111bm]

but I *think* Nathan has won every SP and LP since the Olympic Short. Someone will correct me if that's wrong.

He lost the SP at GP France in 2018.
(I'm still laughing at Raf's sombre face in the KnC during those messy, first GP comps in that season, seemingly resigned to the fact that he just lost his straight A student to his dream of going to college, telling a pretty relaxed and rather elated Nathan at Skate America "At least you had some fun..." )

 

[TontoK]

He lost the SP at GP France in 2018.
(I'm still laughing at Raf's sombre face in the KnC during those messy, first GP comps in that season, seemingly resigned to the fact that he just lost his straight A student to his dream of going to college, telling a pretty relaxed and rather elated Nathan at Skate America "At least you had some fun..." )

Thank you for the correction!

 

[Mista Ekko]

If you were betting I would say the logical choice on paper is Chen,

But something about Hanyu's FS at Helsinki 2017 makes me think
he takes coming into the Olympics as the World champion very seriously

 

[el henry]

Maybe my memory is failing me, but I *think* Nathan has won every SP and LP since the Olympic Short. Someone will correct me if that's wrong.

That streak is probably going to end sooner or later, but until it does, my money is on him.

@1111bm is of course right, and three guesses as to the American man who *was* leading after the SP at 2018 GP France (the first two don't count)

I was just reading the IFS magazine article on Nathan, and I remain so impressed by him as a person. You would think someone with his track record has the "Destroy everything in my path" attitude, but quite the opposite. He knows that skating isn't life, and I admire that.

Jumping off, as for Yuzu vs. Nathan, I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole either. Jason's training mate vs. Jason's team mate.
Oy!