Yuzuru Hanyu and other figure skating talk part 7

Previous thread

Now that’s the way to open a new thread. Bravo!

Matteo Rizzo's SP at Lombardia was a prime example of well-tailored pants and watchable ass. Can't wait to see more from him.

I will have to miss the mens short program from ACI next Friday. I have to work unfortunately. If anyone can please post a link of Hanyu short program I would appreciate it deeply. I should have no problems for the freeskate since it's on Saturday.

And thank you to whoever made this thread. I have been pretty busy the last few days with school and my practicum that I forgot about the next thread. You are a life saver. Thanks!

R4 Sure.

SP Men Lombardia Trophy

1) Shoma Uno 104.15

2) Lazukin 87.92

3) Aliev 86.57

4) Rizzo 85.51

5) Tomono 75.47

6) Dolensky 71.06

LADIES SP

1) Tuktamysheva 65.69

2) Samudorova 64.05

3) Lidfords 62.68

4) Glenn 58.57

5) Yamashita 55.33

6) Toth 55.1

9) Sakamoto 49.91

PAIRS SP

1) zzzZabjako/Embert 72.50

2) Della Monica/Guarise 66.93

3) Boikova/Kozlovskii 65.21t

4) Digerness/Neudecker 53.90

5) Ghilardi/Ambrosini 48.48

6) Barquero/Maestu 45.94

Shoma SP

Dump and dumper in the Kiss and Cry

*DumB

Entered in the last thread without realizing it was ending.

Can someone explain what this latest Misha's post is all about? The link in the previous thread doesn't show anything. What did he say about "someone else" or some other skater or whatever it was that he said?

Maybe he has a cold but Daniil looked like he was trying not to cry is the K&C with Scherbakova.

Stop the press: Shcherbakova fell in her SP! Got only 65!

I shit on Daniil's choreo all the time but after watching this again, the program, not the fall, it's actually good choreo? Shcherbakova hits every single note and it's pretty awesome to watch. She even held the spiral long enough for it to be a nice transition. Only the odd leg lift remains problematic.

R12 I think it's lovely. Beautiful, actually.

r10 He posted a video of a Chinese junior girl skater's SP that he had choreographed. Notte Stellata by Il Volo. Considering the girl's costume, she was pretty obviously inspired by Hanyu. Misha commented "This program had nothing to do with the other skater, it was the client's decision." He probably got comments that he ripped off/was inspired by Hanyu himself and that was his response. Maybe he was trying to make a point after the shit he got for name-dropping Hanyu before, but people thought that "the other skater" instead of just saying Hanyu was bitchy/infantile/condescending.

R12 Thank you. That was really lovely. Eteri's three juniors - Trusova, Shcherbakova and Kostornaia are going to be exciting to watch. It'll be nice to have some ladies to root for based on their actual skating (Zags and Med aren't my cup of tea; I root for Zags b/c she seems to have little support and appreciation, and for Med b/c she's fighting an uphill battle).

R14 I try to cut Misha some slack b/c English isn't his first language, but seriously, he has a way of calling attention to himself/his relationship with Hanyu and then getting all bitchy and self-important when he doesn't get precisely the kind of attention he's looking for. Dude is 27 fucking years old. Needs to grow up.

I was moved by her last season’s free program where she fell three times. It’s nearly unbelievable for me but I began to follow her competition ever since. Poor girl she fell this time in short so I wish her good in long anyway

What Ge actually said was "( P.S. Just because other skater* used that music version before, doesn’t mean that this choreography was created in relation to them. Music decision by the client. )"

The program and Ge as the choreographer was announced more than a month ago. There was no backlash then. There was no backlash after the skater performed the program at Linz.

R12 I agree that it's one of the better programs by Daniil and the music editing isn't bad either.

Last year Shcherbakova broke first her arm, then her leg. Either she had some really bad luck or the training methods are bad for her. ( See: Eteri "Abusive Bitch" Tutberidze)

Next season she, Trusova and Kostornaia will all be eligible for seniors. It'll be interesting.

Actually misha post that video on 9/4 and people here talk about it on 9/5 and other place like planethanyu even later. So I felt that most of us might not care about what he’s done not to mention that happened aroung at the media day,most of us cared for this more maybe

R18 I didn’t know she also broke her arm? Too bad for her. Hope she’ll be fine in free program

r3 I concur. That is definitely an ass I can get behind. I was also impressed with Aliev's. As someone said on the other thread, I need an ass to look like an ass, not a shelf or something people jump off of to end their misery. Hanyu's is still the gold standard for me. I've never seen anything like it, actually, despite being a lifelong ass connoisseur. It is round and soft (looking), yet also muscular. The fans talk about his face or whatever, but I have no idea what he looks like. Does he even have 2 eyes? Probably, but if he doesn't I don't care.

Vincent just bombed his SP at the US Classic. Fell on his combination and popped his other jumps. Looked very sad in the K&C with Coach Tammy.

Nam Nguyen has grown into a very tall, attractive young man. Amazing what braces can do.

1 Nam NGUYEN, CANt80.28t 2tMichal BREZINA, CZEt79.57t 3tYaroslav PANIOT, UKRt74.97t 4tJimmy MA, USAt73.21t 5tSlavik HAYRAPETYAN, ARMt69.00t 6tVincent ZHOU, USAt61.72t 7tHarrison Jon-Yen WONG, HKGt57.80t 8tMicah TANG, TPEt56.81t 9tHiroaki SATO, JPNt56.34t 10tAndrew DODDS, AUSt54.77t 11tYamato ROWE, PHIt49.75t 12tJordan DODDS, AUSt45.62t 13tChih-Sheng CHANG, TPEt40.17t

My apologies for the lousy formatting.

R22 Thank you! I'm kind of looking forward to watching this later. Good to see Nam back in the game again. Too bad about Vincent. It'll be less fun to mock him if he's having a tough time.

I'm assuming the skating events will be saved on the skate Canada YouTube channel? But I went to their site and emailed them to ask about events someone may miss during their live stream. Hopefully I get a response. lol

Or maybe on dailymotion

When you see skaters bomb hard in competitions, don't forget there's Hanyu who's capable of bombing harder than all of them.

I hope his programs will turn out to be decent enough to save me from trash programs of other TCC skaters. I find all of those programs I have watched unbearable. I’d rather bleed from the eyes.

Will Jimmy Ma have GP spot?

R27 LOL You should be prepared for some more bleeding then. Will Hanyu score above 80 in his SP next week?

Whoever said in the last thread that Hanyu stans Johnny wasn't joking! LOL!

R29. Shoma scored over 100 in his sp. If Hanyu doesn't score over 80 I'm hunting those judges down.

Gogolev bombed too in Junior GP yesterday. 63.63 points in the SP, 7th place

Hiwatashi leads with 76.81 points

According to that interview earlier, Vincent couldn't train much and still has bach problems. So not that surprising that he bombed.

r27 I find Gogo's programs good, both music and choreo. His interpretation and costumes are subject to discussion though.

Ticket information for Japanese nationals now up: https :// t.pia.jp /pia/events/figure-japan

Li Zijun choreographed Heung Lai Zhao’s programs. He’s in 18th place at Richmond with 40.86.

Muhammad Dwi Rizqy Apolianto is one of the Indonesian skaters Miki Ando trained for a week for a TV show this year. He’s in 20th place. Sorry, no subtitles but Ando does speak to the skaters in English.

Vincent has "Bach problems".

Do tell us more...

Trying this again.

Ticket information for Japanese nationals now up.

Li Zijun choreographed Heung Lai Zhao’s programs. He’s in 18th place at Richmond with 40.86. Muhammad Dwi Rizqy Apolianto is one of the Indonesian skaters Miki Ando trained for a week for a TV show this year. He’s in 20th place. Show posted above. Sorry, no subtitles but Ando speaks in English to the skaters.

I just saw Vincent's skate. Holy shit that kid's skating is ugly. Stiff, but good at emo faces, I'll give him that.

Say what you will about Shoma's terrible jumps, at least he actually has good skating skills and pleasing-looking movements.

Yuma was cute. Nice 3A. Poor Gogo. Brian seemed kind of frosty today. Eteri must have rubbed off on him.

Just caught Vincent's program. The choreo was atrocious. He looked like he was really struggling out there and in the end he looked so down I felt truly regretful for all the times I made fun of his insta.

r39 Why do you think it was atrocious? It's as geeneric as choreo to Exogenesis can be but it doesn't ignore the music, there are a few nicely placed elemenys. Vincent was clearly not in shape so it probably looked worse than intended.

The prospect of Vincent holding it together in the FS looks grim though.

r37 If only Shoma could actually add some nice transitions and not just do crossovers for half the program...

Nathan isn't doing any Challengers, is he?

Caught up on junior men. Hiwatashi has got some a good "it" factor and great flow. I hope he replaces Krasnozhon in the future. He seems to have the short and stocky body type like Uno.

Gogo's had a bad day. Seventh place for now zlthough I expect he'll pull up in the FS with the quads. Gumennik with one of the most impressive full-body splats I've seen this season and a terribke last spin managed to get 2 more points in PCS than Gogo, deservedly so. He was quite engaging.

Sena Miyake had a great idea but the exacution sucked. Dude, if you're dressed as a motorcycle racing driver and have kinda electro music, you need to skate fast and sharp, not lukewarm.

Kazuki Tomono impresses me. He's cute, he can skate (nice 3A), he has charisma and an appealing cross-eyed kitten look. He's very marketable. I wonder if he'll end up sneaking up and stealing the title of Japan's next darling from under Uno's nose, after the JSF and Itsuki have been working so hard for it. I don't think Shoma is particularly interested either way.

News Watch 9. You can see his injured pinky.

Not only does he want to successfully jump the quad axel for himself, he's been told by the people around him that they want to see him do it and he wants to make their dream come true.

Tomono practicing Riverdance. There's more footage of the practice by this twitter account. I don't think Tomono has publicly performed this free yet.

R40 It was the unvarying nature of the choreo that I disliked. All stiff outstretch arms up, down, to the side, to the front. Like you said, maybe the music or his condition made it worse, but the lack of detail was striking to me, even for a start of the season performance.

R43 Uhh it’s complicated lol. I wonder of whom around him told that they want to see him do quad axel. Maybe Tsuzuki sensei. Some of us,at least me,want to see a quad Axel is because Yuzu wants to jump it. Succeeded he’ll be very happy to be the one made history.

The German girl at Lombardia skating to four seasons... that costume is way too literal girl. Hilarious sound effects too.

R46 One of them must be Plushenko lol. Didn't he tell Yuzuru at CWW that he wanted to see him do 4A ?

Just saw Gogo's SP. Agree that Brian looked pissed after it.

The back of Sena Miyake's costume: "Racing, competing, it's in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else. R A C I N G"

Intense.

R46 He said everyone around him, so I don't think he had anyone specific in mind.

Lombardia Ladies 1tElizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVAtRUSt206.07t1t1 2tSofia SAMODUROVAtRUSt184.82t2t4 3tMako YAMASHITAtJPNt182.22t5t3 4tKaori SAKAMOTOtJPNt180.85t9t2 5tViveca LINDFORStFINt166.93t3t6

Watching US Classic Ladies SP. After ten skaters, DL fave Courtney Hicks is currently in 7th place (50.89) and my sweetie Satoko Miyahara in first with 67.53. Waiting for ice resurfacing to finish. Five more to go including Kardashian wannabe Daleman.

Gabby in third place after doubling a jump. Her wedgie was seriously impressive though.

R43 Hanyu injured his pinky because he stuck it in a hole in the ice while doing that dramatic as fuck ending pose for Origin. Can it get any gayer than this?

So i did get a response back from skate Canada email address. They said the event will be archived on their site which is good news if anyone misses the live stream.

And I also purchased the nbc sport gold package for the figure skating. I figured many of the events I want to watch I will be either sleeping or doing something else. I can just watch when I get time on their site. If I like nbc sport gold I might purchase again next season.

R55 I have the NBC sport gold pass too. Watching US Classic on it today. So far so good. Major improvement over IceNetwork.

R54 Yuzuru Hanyu literally fingering the ice seems poetic, appropriate, and on-brand.

R54 Yes. We haven't seen his costume yet.

Is it possible to watch US classic without NBC gold? Richmond JGP ladies still going on.

R58 Yes, people host rabbit rooms. I see it on my twitter timeline all the time. If I see it for ACI next week I'll post the link here. I'm supposing these people wouldn't mind since they're tweeting the link for all followers? Don't know what the protocol is with respect to these things.

R58 Sorry, overlooked that you were asking about JGP. Live stream and videos can call be found here, thanks to Ted.

Oops. I forgot that ACI isn't Geo blocked anymore. No need for rabbits then.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I'm following Richmond but don't know how to watch US International Classic. What are rabbit rooms?

Rabb.it rooms are a way to watch videos with other people on the internet. With respect to FS, usually someone who has access to a show or a live stream will host a rabbit room and post a link on their twitter account or in a forum like PH. You create an account, click on the link and the room is either opened or you just ping the host to be let in. A lot of Japanese ice shows can be watched this way as well as competitions that are available only through a paid subscription. For example, I follow this person, who I think is one of the hosts for the in the loop podcast we've discussed here. She posted a link to her rabbit room. Again, I'm posting this because I figure if these people are tweeting out the link to everyone on twitter, I don't think they'd mind if I post a link here. If that's not the case, please let me know.

R56. I haven't watched anything yet. I purchased earlier today and hopefully will have time later to watch. I think there is an app for the roku if I'm not mistaken. It sounds like it might be a good purchase. Thank you for for letting me know how it's working out for you.

R63 Thank you. I will look into it.

Scherbakova fell on the quad lutz. Tarakanova seemed disappointed with second. She had some big jumps.

1tAnna SHCHERBAKOVAt ttRUS 195.56t1t1 2tAnastasia TARAKANOVAt ttRUS 190.69t2t2 3tRion SUMIYOSHIt ttJPN 174.96t7t3

Anyone else besides me like how Hanyu runs? : )

r66 I always thought it was cute, especially when he was late for that award ceremony and his hands were flapping behind him. While he's running is when I most notice the limp wrists.

A new gem from Patrick Chan. "Anyone can do jumps. Anyone can do quads. What will separate the great skaters and the legends, will be who can do the quads with the quality of skating". You just know that he was referring to himself.

For shame, r3 and r21. You tease us with word of quality ass without providing a pic? It's a good thing Matteo's form isn't as poor as yours.

R66 I do. There is nothing gayer than his little run and perpetual limping wrists.

R48 oh yes how could I forget his remarks on cww XD. Sorry not reply u until now. Really busy today

R66 R68 Wanna catch his limping hands and lift him lol

So Nguyen won.

Great quality all around....

Brezina is second with 2 falls, 1 pop and 3 URs. And Ma takes third place with 2 pops

Zhou won the FS (with 4 URs and 1 fall) and finished 4th overall

Paint did 3 quads and 5 single jumps. lol

I just watched Uno again and realized that he is limp wristed throughout most of his skating. His arm movements are powerful, and yet everything ends at the wrist. Does this mean the ice makes him gay?

Transitions for Ma ranged from 4.5 to 7.25...

R72 I am rock hard, cool and punishing. They're all gay for me.

shomas free skate is terrible

Boyang Jin's new SP. Very promising.

A messy Uno wins ahead of Aliev. Lazukin third. Rizzo 4th Tomono 5th also in FS

I guess Aliev just... decided he didn't want any triple axels. Or forgot. Somewhere Patrick Chan is weeping.

Shoma's FS at Lombardia

That was one lousy FS from Shoma. So little speed and flow out of his jumps. And the program itself really sucks.

R76 Boyang does look promising for beginning of the season.

R79 That wasn't good. 4 minutes of Uno skating around not keeping up with the music and falling.

Who comes up with the ideas for Shoma's programs? Because whoever does needs to be replaced.

R82 His coach Mihoko Higuchi

Javi and Eric at it again. Tsk tsk.

Well, Shoma made up for his lousy skate with a great aspie moment.

Composition 9.0, Interpretation 8.9, Transitions 8.85, Performance 8.8? Even his biggest fans can't say a positive word about that program, except for the judges it looks like.

C/L RETIRED , SO THEY LOOK FOR ANOTHER THE BEST ITALIAN COUPLE, THATS NORMAL

R85

Polish, Italian and Russian judges didn't go below 9.0 in any Components.

In Composition and Interpretation the lowest score was actually the Japanese one

Lombardia is historically generous, I guess, but those scores are ridiculous for that skate.

R67 R68. I saw a few photos of his limp wrists but I just love how he runs. And he probably doesn't give a shit what people say or think LOL.

Oy! Uno was awful. Glad it looks like most of us agree with that.

R84 I can just see Yuzu watching that and shaking his head. lol

R87 Why are these other countries even more generous than his countrymen?

R76 He seems fine there but kind of goofy and lacking the maturity necessary in this practice for his long. At least he's trying something different. But he also looks skinnier than usual in some of the Skating China photos.

Talking about how Hanyu runs and this occurs to me. He’s so talented at being dainty

R72 Shoma’s hands looks wired to me like his movements make him so fierce in all programs and yet this is MS. Will he ever quit those awkward jerk of his hands?? Or is it the only way he can express the notes of the music?? Try to use other parts of the body please

He is wooden.

If only Itsuki could skate, he would have rocked this program. Modeling has taught him to work all parts of his body.

I gotta watch Kaori’s MS again to keep a good impression of this music

P/c re geniuses then.

Gogolev did not do well in the FS at the Junior GP today. Was interesting to see Orser looking very grim in the K&C. I don't know why this is such a big deal for Brian; Stephen is still very young and it's probably good for him to experience some setbacks now.

R98 didn't get the grim face either. Gogo might not make the gpf but he is so young. At least put an arm around the poor kid, Brian. Some surprises today. Petr was good.

Brian talks about him in an air of superiority in interviews and maybe he really practices it very well then the result is suddenly unacceptable

R92. LOL! I love dainty Hanyu.

Orser might have thought it prudent to save his consoling for when Stephen was off-camera and wouldn't be as embarrassed. If I were that young and bombed one of my first big competitions in my own country, I'd burst into tears if anybody there-there'd me.

US Classic Ladies

1 Satoko MIYAHARA, JPN 1 67.53 1 133.70 201.23

2 Eunsoo LIM, KOR 2 64.85 2 122.45 187.30

3 Yelim KIM, KOR 4 61.30 5 115.35 176.65

R98 You weren’t exaggerating about Orser’s grim face. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Maybe it’s the culmination of Russian test skates, Doug’s interview, Gogolev’s gpf chances and next week’s AC? He wasn’t as bad, but it reminded me of how he acted with Rippon during their final season together.

So the mom of the little redhaired girl who visited TCC this summer posted a video of Hanyu doing a 4T3A on her daughter’s IG and gave the problematic Team Orser IG account permission to repost it, then deleted the video and all photos taken inside TCC except for one with Jason Brown and another little girl. I hope mom didn’t ruin the daughter’s chances of training at the club again. Did anyone see it?

R103 Oh little red-headed spy! She should have quit while she was ahead, but I guess she took it one video too far. I saw it. It was a good looking jump. He was in his black practice clothes and it looked like it was taken from behind the glass window where there are places for people to sit and watch the skaters. I thought it was a little strange at the time because it wasn't like he was in the background or anything. He was the focus of the video.

I don't even remember how Brian acted with Adam in their final season. Must have been a dreary time for them both.

Joubert (in the K&C with the French kid at JGP yesterday) is not aging well

R103 Love your comment about Brian & Adam in the K&C because that crossed my mind as well when I was watching him with Gogolev. Brian usually puts on a good show in the K&C now and so seeing him revert to his Rippon days really surprised me. He sounded exasperated when the kid's scores came up. I wonder what Gogolev's parents are like.

And then Brian had to endure hearing about how Daleman did at the US Classic. Not good.

Brian's charges do not seem to be doing well right now. I hope that doesn't also hold true for Yuzu next week.

Here's Adam & Brian back in 2010. Such a lovely program, even with the errors.

If you want a horror movie for sunday night, this is perfect for you.

R108 Horrifying dress.

I hope Canadians fans accept the truth that her bronze at Worlds 2017 was a fluke. She's worse than Russian/ Japanese juniors.

Heh. I watched that Daleman performance this morning. I know this is mean but I kind of loved it because, as R109 just said, her bronze at Worlds was a lucky fluke and I am so tired of hearing how wonderful she supposedly is. I just do not see the talent there that so many keep yapping about. She has some fairly decent skating skills thanks to Tracy Wilson but that's about it. What's the point of jumping high if you can't control those jumps? And I see no artistry whatsoever in her performances.

R107 Thanks for that. Adam was a real Pre-Raphaelite beauty back in the day before he cut off his hair, wasn't he? He's a beautiful skater. I would rather watch him skate, falls and all, over the ugly jumpers we have nowadays. I thought Brian was actually a lot more encouraging here than he was with Stephen, actually.

Cha programs apparently are

SP : Cindarella (Wilson)

FS: Romeo and Juliet (Bourne)

jesus fucking christ

fuck my eyes (and ears).

R111 Yes, Adam and his curls. So lovely. I've watched that program many times.

And you're right. Brian wasn't encouraging at all with Stephen. What was it he said to him after the scores came up? "I just don't know"? I'm recovering from oral surgery this weekend so my memory is a little hazy. But I do recall that it wasn't something I would say to a 13 year old kid who just had a terrible skate. It seemed to me kind of like "Well, I just don't know what to do with you."

And Cha is skating to Cinderella? Words fail me.

r112 Wtf.

Is he havig a secret affair with Bradie Tennel or something?

On the other hand, can anyone give an example of a male doing Cinderella? Could be interesting, I guess?

Orser was much worse during 2011 US nationals. This is Rippons SP. He was also like that after the LP.

Doug must be embarrassed after talking up Daleman so much and hating on Tuktamysheva.

R112 Oh, Jun-hwan...

Which R&J, though? Conrad Orzel is doing the Nino Rota, so we can maybe assume it isn't that one.

No wonder it never worked out with Yuzu. Javi wants to feel small and be lifted too, not to play the macho man.

I wonder who got the brilliant idea of those 2 warhorses for Cha. Really, I cannot phatom what thought process goes through the choreographer and skater's minds to end up with those. Or with Carmen. Maybe it was like with Hanyu's POTO. I read somewhere that Hanyu had wanted it since he went to Orser and Orser and Wilson managed to resist until Sochi, so that was entirely on Hanyu himself. Maybe Cha really loves Romeo and Juliet and was inspired by somene and he's chasing his childhood dream too. And maybe Cinderella is the least evil, maybe Cha's first choice was Carmen, despite the fact that his exhibition choices veer towards kpop. But... Wilson. Is Wilson capable of something more modern? His last season Gypsy Dance for Cha was actually really good but maybe he was the one who gave Cha the choice of Carmen, Swan Lake, Sheherezade, Bolero, Les Miserables and Cinderella.

Does the new system mean that people are not going to be scoring so high anymore in general?

123 Exceptions may happen, but generally yes.

In Men's they cut one jumping pass, so that lowers the BV by about 5-6 points (a triple). They lowered the bv of jumps, that's another 4-5 points off the program BV, and they limited backload bonus, another 2 points off BV. And only 1 quad can be repeated. So the BV alone is going to be about 10-12 points lower. The new GOE is high reward/hard punishment system. Messy skates are going to score much lower if judges apply the GOE correctly.

Somebody re-calculated Hanyu's 2017 WC world record score and Nathan Chen's almost-world-record score from WC 2018. They converted +3 into +5 for example.

Hanyu's TES, despite lower BV, actually became higher, even if you took away one lowest-value jump pass. 123.12->123.70 (BV 103.43->93.64).

Nathan's TES dropped 127.62->114,52, mostly because his lowest value jump pass was a 4T, but also because his GOE gain was smaller. (BV 115.11->98.98)

So, if they have stellar skates, with super-high GOE everywhere, they might score close to or more than in the old system. But if the do just ok or are messy, they'll score much lower.

Women's scores are probably going to be closer to the old system. Good skates will earn more, mistakes will be more costly.

R122 For the FS most likely but as seen with Shoma's SP at Lombardia if the judges want to throw undeserved candies at a skater for whatever reason they have even more ability to do so now and so a rough around the edges program with bad jumps gets 104 with plenty of +4 GOEs, the devaluation of quads changed nothing.

Huh. Boyang Jin's SP is actually great, Lori Nichol CAN deliver sometimes, apparently.

I'm on board with the FS too, even though his performance was an epic tragedy, if hadn't come at the very beginning of the season, it'd count for total meltdown. A fall on. a downgraded 4Lz, a fall on a 4S, bad landing on UR 4Lo, both 4Ts popped into doubles, lost one combo, underrotation on the euler...

After seeing Uno, Jin, Kolyada, Aliev, Zhou, I wonder what kind of a mess Hanyu will deliver.

Jin's FS for the curious, although audio's so bad you can barely recognize music.

R126 Jin's skating hasn't quite come together yet, but out of all the men that are left after Hanyu retires, I think he has the most potential. He seemingly understands his weaknesses and has tried to work on them. The whole TCC mess this summer was disappointing, but if he can stay home and still improve and grow, all the better for him. Hopefully, not every skater has to make Hanyu-type sacrifices to be great. Jin's programs get much better as the season progresses, so even though he looks messy now, I think he'll get better.

I watched the linked interview with Javi - someone kindly translated it into English. At about 20 minutes in, he said that sometimes his friendship with Yuzu would be strained but it was never his (Javi's) fault - he was always chill, whether he won or lost to Hanyu - but that wasn't the case in reverse. If true, that may explain the need for an extra rink in Toronto because, as Brian said, the boys "butted heads" sometimes -- but Brian was nice enough to not say it was Hanyu's fault (again, if Javi's telling it straight - and who is straighter than our boy Javi who loves kanoodling with Eric Radford (and being swung around in a pairs move - I bet Hanyu was hella jealous if he saw that!!)

One of the comments to the above video documentary about Javi was about Hanyu and it rings true to me, because it doesn't seem to have an agenda or be some kind of salacious gossip or whatever - but who knows - anyway I thought it was interesting, especially because Javi has said he was bullied in school - but this person claims Hanyu wasn't:

"Hanyu seems very cheery and affable in the media but his former classmate said he was very much a lone wolf at high school. The only friend he had was some jock on the baseball team and they sort of kept to themselves. He wasn’t bullied or anything for being a figure skater but some of his classmates didn’t take his aloofness and disinterest in them very well. He didn’t small talk, was very much in his own inner world, just went about his business and left school. He loved mathematics, had no interest in English. I guess school life or social life was just never part of his grand scheme for life. Hanyu is a very particular personality type, intensely single-minded about achieving what he set out to do. Javi seems, although comparable to Hanyu in talent, a more normal young bloke with normal social skills. I think Javi is lucky. It’s good to know genius-level talent doesn’t have to be isolating or alienating."

Eric lifting and spinning Javi upside down! The pairs are pretty empty now - maybe Javi and Eric could team up?

Oh sorry for reposting a video - didn't see Javi lift upthread.

R129, the comment you quoted about yuzu’s school bully issue was left by this chima chibi person who seems to have a tendency to go around and leave negative messages about hanyu, so I’m not sure how much we should buy into that.

In the recent video from TSL where they addressed the backlash of Doug’s comment on female skaters weight, chima chibi commented the following:

“Is this weight issue thing absent among the guys?? It’s interesting it’s always the girls who get comments, but with the recent explosion of quads we’ve been seeing a kinda dominant body type among the boys....I don’t know if we just happen to be seeing extremely slender boys for the quad techniques require or favour a certain body type or it’s merely an aesthetic standard started by Hanyu and it’s just a passing thing. I wonder how hard it is for the boys to stay in shape whatever the shape is. But I look at Hanyu and become, rationally or irrationally, concerned for the other boys, like his is not the body shape healthy growing boys should or can aspire to. ”

R129 It’s known he was bullied in high school because a couple of his bullies stupidly bragged about it under their real names on twitter at the time, calling him “faggot” and “weirdo.” One even tweeted a photo of her work. She dumped someone’s lunch over his chair. You can see the tweet in the linked article. But those bullies were suddenly his friendly classmates when interviewed on television and bragged about knowing him after he won his first OGM.

Hanyu went to a famous sports high school where many students go on to become professional athletes and it has a reputation for bullying because of the competitive sports environment. Some of his classmates were resentful of the attention he got from other students and the local media after he won Junior Worlds. But he wasn’t at school much after his rink closed following the earthquake and Brian became his coach, and he just ignored the bullies. He supposedly had two close friends at his high school, a boy on the baseball team and a girl on the track team, so he probably wasn’t a sad loner, just absent a lot of the time.

R133 I think all of these things were just gossips going round on SNS which we are unable to verify. Some were made up by netizens, some were well-known yet unconfirmed rumors.

Hanyu was a "lone wolf" in high school? Wow. Amazing that he didn't become a serial killer instead of GOAT figure skater.

R129 Yes psychopath lone wolf Hanyu who doesn't have friends out of his own choice and poor lamb Javi. What a joke. It's very obvious Hanyu was bullied. There are plenty of proofs, not least of them his own words. And if you look at him with the media sometimes it's clear from his body language how nervous he is: fiddling with objects or just his fingers while pretending to be fine. It's called a coping mechanism. Not to mention how easily he cries which is more often the case with depressive people. Also why should we believe Javi when he says it's not his fault the relationship between him and Yuzu went sour. From what I see he is also very competitive and doesn't like to be in the shadow of someone no matter how he plays the nice guy. If anything Hanyu is too gracious never saying a bad thing about Javi while the latter keeps badmouthing him and his team every chance he gets.

Thanks for the info guys - I really didn't know anything about chimi chiba or the girl's "work" on the chair, etc., and you're right R134 about needing to be careful about naively accepting anything someone posts on the 'net and especially about Hanyu.

I did wonder if Javi was being fair - in a way, it's not like Brian to fudge things by saying the boyS were butting heads and it was understandable.... that doesn't sound at all like it was just one of them. And at that point, the year before the Olys, though he had extreme stress due to the injury, he had just taken Javi's world title away from him and even if he went with his easier layout, which he did because Nathan wiped out, he still had four quads instead of Javi's three - and everybody was talking about how much Javi's season had sucked. I get your point R136 and it makes me wonder a lot about how many sides Javi has -- the standing in the closet, being spun by a guy one, for example. Whoa...

I think Javi is quite fake and that ties with him being likely closeted. I don't think he is a bad person though. Just not the sweet gentle Spaniard most fans believe him to be. There are instances between him and Yuzu which fans film and post as shipping moments and where all I see is a weird tension and awareness of the cameras coming from Javi.

I see that too, sometimes, R138 - Javi seems so tense, like he's afraid of something so much of the time. And after Olys, you can clearly see how frustrated he was, in his eyes, even as Hanyu hugged him and cried his heart out.

What really got me was crazy Dave Lease suggesting that Hanyu hated Uno. WTF? It makes me think he never pays any attention to the body language of those two, outside of skating -- but it also makes me think Dave just thinks up some controversial shit to throw out there to get publicity or stir things up because it gets off on it. If for no other reason, what on earth does Hanyu have to be jealous of, when it comes to Shomita, and he knows him since he was 3 feet tall and awkward as all get out -- remember when it took forever to realize Hanyu was trying to shake his hand on that first junior podium?

I might be the only one that doesn't listen or read anything from a Dave Lease? He sounds like a jerk.

I agree with Javi not being a bad person. I think what got me with Javi was when I heard he said in an interview he wasn't friends with Hanyu. I agree with you R139. I also felt Javi was frustrated when I saw him hugging Hanyu. Who knows for what? Maybe he was thinking about his freeskate?

It kills me when I see Hanyu cry. I just want to hug him and say everything will be ok.

I've heard so many people say they think Javi deserved the silver at Pyeongchang. But even with the fall, Shoma had four quads to Javi's three - and Javi doubled his third quad Salchow! I think Javi is drop-dead gorgeous so I hope this isn't taken wrong -- but I find his skating to be stiff and many of his programs dated and corny. He makes me nervous when he skates - I don't know if I'm picking up on his nerves or maybe just always remembering his kayak at Sochi and his general tendency to screw up something in every program. Well, most of them do in this high-risk era, but he seems more rattled than others...

In that documentary thing - Brian, or maybe it was Tracy, said that Javi "competes better" than Hanyu because he's more laid back and relaxed. I thought to myself - well, it sure doesn't look that way! He may have competed better twice, at the World Championships, but does he really compete better in general?? If so, though he's clearly capable of it, why didn't he add a fourth quad? This was the end of the road, so why play it safe? I don't think Hanyu would do that and I certainly don't think that's an example of "competing better."

Yuzuru and Javi. That's a weird relationship. I get the impression it's far healthier and more honest from Hanyu's end than it is from Javi's. Javi has years of issues to deal with, and when it comes to Hanyu those issues manifest themselves in a deep public wariness. Yet, when he isn't careful, his slip-ups are so interesting. Meanwhile Hanyu unashamedly waxes poetic about how Javi is the light of his life.

Even with his laid-back , lazy personality, Javi achieved a hell of a lot. I think if he only put his mind to it, he would have been more than a match for Yuzuru and Shoma. Yuzuru worked his stunning little ass off to get where he is and wrecked his body in the process. And Shoma, I don't buy his always sleeping, I live only for video games attitude, I think he's also hella driven to be the best, there's disappointment in his eyes whenever he loses to Hanyu (which is everytime). Some of Javi's programs are corny sure, but he's such a natural showman and entertainer, I love watching him. I don't think he's fake. I think he has a tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve and that's what made him vulnerable. And everyone who knows how many times the media fucked him up understands why he appears to be tense and afraid in front of the cameras. I don't think he's closeted, just a guy trying to live his life and not ruin his image while he's at it. Now Hanyu, he always knows how to project whatever image he wants to get the desired result, so good for him. He's a fierce queen, I respect that.

R141 I agree with your entire post. I'm the one who always calls Javi's programs "dinner theater on ice" and that isn't meant as a compliment. And even when he did something I like--Black Betty--I noticed the stiffness with that program too. And yes, he's typically a very nervous skater unless something distracts him--which is what happened at 2016 worlds where he was distracted by a problem with his foot.

Some good points, R143. I admire Shoma for keeping a lid on what must be a very frustrated "always the bridesmaid" kind of life. Even when he gets his chance at '18 Worlds, he has the horrible boot problems (ankle too?) And then at Lombardia, yes he won, but when he walked off the ice, he looked like his knee was in terrible shape. I read the ice there was really bad.

Anyway, I hope he's ok but watching his landings, I've been worried about the boy's knee for a while. It can't be as titanium as they say his heart is (and it ain't - he cried when he was 7th at his very first senior worlds). I'd love to see him win - but then I'd also love to see Kolyada have a breakout season. And my newest skate crush is Andrei Lazukin who was third at Lombardia (after being a call-up when somebody dropped out.) God he's gorgeous...

Anyway, Iron Klaus tweeted this quote from Hanyu, from years ago, and I just love it. Now whenever I look at him, I can't unsee him as a cat (I've always admired how open Yuzuru is about his flaws - like here with his "selfishness" - I can't think of many who are like that:

Q: When are you having the most fun?

YH: "When I'm skating. I also like to listen to music and play games."

Q: Compare yourself to an animal...

YH: "A cat. I have a cat face. I am also selfish and like to do things on my own time like a cat?"

R145 Shoma is lucky af. He should be grateful that he has never suffered any serious injuries like other quad-jumpers even with that kind of technique. Hanyu, Chen, Jin's...career would have been ruined by injuries if they had Shoma-like landings. When you have to suffer tragic injuries like Chen, Hanyu..., it's a miracle that you could skate again, much less win Worlds or Lombardia lol.

R143 I don't think Javi's that laid back or lazy (or maybe you're saying compared to Hanyu, but who isn't I guess). I don't even think if he worked harder he would have been a match for Hanyu (and if we're delving into hypotheticals, would this be a match for an uninjured Hanyu?). It's clear from his time with Morozov that Javi's skating was kind of a mess and he had to work pretty hard to get where he ended up. This quad has been Hanyu against himself and his injuries. Javi, Shoma and Nathan were drummed up and promoted for the drama. I'm saying this as someone who's not a big Hanyu uber. People feel bad for Javi because he's always getting asked about Hanyu, but I think Javi's benefitted plenty from the association. He's been promoted by the powers that be in FS, including judges and commentators as the more masculine alternative to Hanyu's androgynous style of skating and his affable reputation allows people to overlook the fact that he gets freebies as much as anyone on PCS and tech calls. That said, I don't think Javi's fake. He's been screwed enough times by the media and his own lack of savvy to be understandably wary of everything he says about Hanyu.

R118 Holy cow! I'm glad Adam left Orser's bitchy ass then. This is more like the Gogo K&C, so I guess Orser hasn't gotten much better. The exasperation, angrily tapping that water bottle, no hug or words of encouragement other than, "well, I guess it's not over til it's over; you're going to have to fight hard tomorrow." Someone upthread suggested that maybe Gogo just didn't want a hug, but I think Adam clearly needed one here. People criticized Eteri's demeanor with her students, but this isn't much better. Maybe Eteri's not an anomaly when it comes to hard ass FS coaches, just more honest.

R124 Shoma's scores were annoying. The judges at Lombardia are usually generous, so hopefully this will be a SB that he will actually have to work to meet or surpass. IIRC, last year his scores at Lombardia were his PBs.

I think Brian's demeanor in the K&C improved a lot after Adam dumped him--he learned that being a bitchy ass can cost him. Which is why I'm really surprised at how he behaved with Gogo.

I wonder if Brian's been spoiled by having Yuna and Yuzu. He's been bragging WAY too much about Gogo - it's such a turnoff, especially when combined with his put-downs of Trusova and the other Eteri wonderkind - when he's even worse about promoting one of his own.

He also was rough on poor little Shingo at Minto - it's been a rough time lately for Bri - Minto, Evgenia's test skate where she forgot her choreo, then his reaction to Gogo, who just WON at Kaunas or whatever, right? Orser needs to get his head in order - I think he's let his elite position inflate his ego. And how much of Yuna's and Yuzu's success was really down to him. Maybe a lot, but he sure had a helluva lot to work with with those two. Even Tracy said on Javi's documentary that he (Javi) was their biggest success story, I assume because they weren't gifted with an overachieving huge talent (or at least as much as they were with the other two).

He hasn't been perfect - Adam, the circumstances of Yuna leaving, Tursy just left him for Eteri!, Nam just won with a new coach (forgot what he won - all these comps are already running together).

I watched the videos of Adam's performance and all I can say is poor Adam! No wonder he left Orser. Orser appears to have learned better PR since then, like acting supportive to his skaters while the cameras are on him, and leave the cold shoulder for later. I read somewhere that his skaters only get a small portion of his time per day, only the 'elite' like Hanyu and Fernandez get an hour, and that's still little in my opinion. He's been lucky to get some high profile students but I think they would have been just as great with any other coach.

r141 So many people say that Javi shoukd have one because Shoma's fallen quad was underrotated, and if the underrotation was called as it should have been, math would have been on Javi's side. Other than that, ots of people believe, myself included, that Shoma is way more overscored than Javi, especially on jump quality.

r150 Gogo didn't win at Kaunas, he wasn't at Kaunas? He won the Bratislava JGP and was 5th in Richmond GP. Chances are that he won't get into GPF, his 22 points may not be enough.

r151 Actually, given that Hanyu reportedly has only 2 hours of on-ice training daily on order to avoid injury, 1 hour with Orser seems plenty. When it comes to Gogo, it's always seemed to me that his primary coach was Lee Berkel, not Orser. Maybe now that Gogo is on the junior circuit, Orser took over to a greater deegree and it's not smooth sailing. But frankly, Gogo has never been that consistent in competition, maybe Orser built up his expectations too much. As mentioned, Orzel, Phan, Daleman aren't doing great either, maybe the dude is questioning his school's methods. ACI is going to be intersting, Orser's long-time students Hanyu and Cha are going to be there, so we'll see how they will fare. But then again it's not like Orser, or we, should have high expectatioons, Hanyu at least bombed his fair share of beginning-of-season competitions.

R151 Yuna and Yuzu would probably have done just as well with any competent coach. Javi apparently needed someone to "mother" him (get him out of bed and to the rink to train) and Orser was willing to take on that role for him.

r153 People here like to say that, but I disagree. Orser and other TCC coaches seem to actually believe in that "flow of a program" thing. We could see it with Yuna, with Hanyu, with Javi, with Cha, even with Tursy and Gogo, although his interpretation was lacking. Hanyu probably would still have done well, but I don't think he would have become a complete skater that he is under Arutyunian or Zakrajsek or Yamada/Higuchi or Morozov or Mishin or Eteri or Lambiel. Frank Caroll? Would Hanyu have been able to pull off Ballade or Let's Go Crazy if he had trained under Frank Caroll? Or the crazy complicated steps we've seen in those new snippets? No, I think what we see in Hanyu at least is the combination of a superb talent that had been given the best possible enviroment and direction to flourish.

Javi and Jeff Buttle getting familiar at Stars on Ice. Unfortunately for Yuzuru, it appears Javi is into Canadian men.

R154 Is that you Brian? lol Yuzu had wonderful programs that "flowed" before he ever went to Orser.

r156 Not quite in the same way.

R156 Agreed. TCC sure helped Hanyu polish his skating skills and gave him a favorable environment to develop but he already had beautiful flow and expression to his programs before moving there. His biggest problem at the time was his asthma and linked to that his lack of stamina. Moving to Toronto was clearly beneficial in that sense. Actually he and his mom chose Toronto also partly for the air quality compared to other training grounds as it was said to be better for asthmatic people.

R154 R157 Do you think his flow improved after coming to Orser because of Orser? Could it be because he started working with better choreographers and became a better, more polished skater? Not necessarily disputing what you're saying, just hoping you'd clarify. Hanyu and Javi had programs with smooth transitions and they both regularly picked up higher GOE scores than other skaters. This might have been Orser's doing in Javi's case, but I've always seen Hanyu as someone who not only paid attention to the GOE math, but was very OCD about how he wanted his programs to look - that jumps have good entrances and exits and be integrated in the program, that elements matched the music etc. Not sure whether he's always been that way.

Lee Barkell is Daleman’s main coach, so I don’t think her performances affect Orser that much.

Is Daleman that much thinner and more graceful and feminine than Tuktamysheva?

R134 The story in the paper about the baseball player yelling at him about the autographs could’ve been a rumor someone overheard, but the tweets happened in real time by twitter accounts that had been tweeting personal photos and interacting with the twitter accounts of other students from the school and same sports teams for years.

Jason Brown’s official Japanese fan club twitter is shutting down after 5 years. The owner will be closing the account next month, but will continue to attend Brown’s events as a member of the media.

R155 Years ago, someone on DL posted a video of Javi going around a room warmly cupping and molesting just about every man and woman from the ages of 18-89. That why I never thought there was anything going on with Hanyu, although unlike the others, he always lingers when he touches Hanyu. LOL what a fuckin tease.

R141. I also think Javi is stiff when skating. Not as bad as Nathan Chen though. Nathan gets the gold medal as being the stiffest skater.

Even with his corny programs, I definitely prefer Javi to Nathan. No contest.

Do I look stiff here?

R136 holy shit this is next level creepiness, dude. People are "depressive" because they fiddle with their fingers? You can read their history of being bullied because he gets nervous when a camera and mic are shoved at his face? Really? Man, I hope you don't go around armchair diagnosing everyone in your life like this.

R147 Javi is a historic figure in his own right, I think he actually would have gotten way more spotlight if he hadn't shared an era with Hanyu. Hanyu's quirkiness and his catlike Asian face might have won him an unprecedented number of weeaboo fans but that hasn't turned out to be a blessing for anyone. Javi is known to be the lazy genius, and considering how little support he got in his earlier years and how fast he rose after he started getting the right support, I think it's true. Not all geniuses are hard working or ruthlessly determined, after all, and can end up underachieving.

After moving to Toronto, Hanyu gave multiple interviews about how he's relearning the basics. He was saying he's learning to skate so much faster and jump so much higher with so much more ease, he's excited to be able to skate like Chan, etc. etc. He also corroborated Orser's comments about not having enough control of his body when his emotions took over, which is basically every time, so he was learning to keep it under control. So yeah, he might have been a flowy, passionate kid before, but he did get a lot of polishing in TCC, which he referred to more as a team of teachers and less as a Coach Orser entity.

R165 Learn to read before you call people creepy otherwise you'll look like an idiot. I didn't say Hanyu having small coping mechanisms while dealing with the media means he is depressive, I said that in relation to him seemingly dealing like a perfect and unfeeling robot with them which these tiny gestures show isn't the case. I mentioned depressive when it comes to him crying very often which he has mentioned himself doing on a regular basis. That's not armchair diagnosis but my doctor's when I came to him the first time while heavily depressed and crying. Do you want his number? You remind me of stuck up Hanyu fans who don't like when people mention things like this about him because we should only talk about unicorns and happy smiles. Although from the rest of your post you sound like a Javi's/Orser's uber. I guess what triggered you is me not buying the nice guy image of Javi and whatever crap he says during interviews.

R165 Are you seriously saying that it's Hanyu's "quirkiness" and "catlike Asian face" that has won him "an unprecedented number of weeaboo fans" and this is why he gets more attention than Javi? You can't think of any other reason other than his personality and appearance why Hanyu might be more prominent than Javi? No? I get that you're not a Hanyu fan (you've said this many times), but this is next level delusional.

Are you that person who keeps going on Tumblr/Twitter and coming back here to complain about Hanyu's weeabo fans? What is your obsession with that fucking word anyway?

r166 wtf, that's your doctor's diagnosis of YOU not a diagnosis of Hanyu. Are you nuts?

Like, he had an actual chance to get to know you, talk to you and interview you, and his diagnosis was not based on seeing you cry through the lens of a camera in the moments of extreme success or failure.

Also, I'm r154 and r165 is a different person, so make us at least 2 Orser/TCC ubers.

For person who asked about clarification: I meant complexity of programs. TCC boys are capable of some of the most complex programs, and Hanyu stands out even amongst them. Uno/Chen/Kolyada would not have been able to skate choreography like Ballade or Let's Go Crazy. No again, most of coaches like Mishin or Arutyunian wouldn't have prepared Hanyu for that and those who would like Lambiel wouldn't have prepared him jump-wise. So, no again again, I don't think he would have become quite who he is under "any good coach".

And frankly, I have no idea what crawled up your asses and brains regarding Orser, but my opinions are based less on my ubering of Orser and on the existing fact that Hanyu's talent+Orser/TCC=the skater capable of amazingly complex programs with extremely high technical content. So your opinion that if you changed one of the ingerediets you will still get the same result is quite interesting. It's like all those people saying that if Nathan Chen had skated SP cleanly, he'd have won the olympics, because somehow they think the rest of competition would have remained exactly the same.

They gave Javi that quiz where you give one word to describe other skaters and for Yuzuru it was something like "comical". Some people were confused by that but I think Yuzu is very quick-witted and playful, so I think I know what he meant. For Shoma, it was "little boy" - which is cute, and apparently Shoma tied his skates too tightly for his short program at Lombardia - he needed Mommy Yuzu around to look after him (or Uncle Keiji).

Oh and on the long program, Shoma said it was harder than he expected to be, now that it's only four minutes, and he was more tired afterwards, having to jam everything into less time - like Yuzuru has already said he was worried about.

r169 From the context I interpreted it that Javi mean "comical" like "from a comic book". Which, basically, yes because Hanyu's like "I'll get this done even if it kills me" and "nothing's too difficult to try" etc.

Oh I think you're right. But I think he's funny, anyway, like a jokester or comedian. Maybe it's just me.

Introducing Lombardia bronze medalist Andrei Lazukin and his beautiful bride Shoko

Lazukin is with Tuktamysheva? Or am I confusing him with some other Russian skater?

Shoma's costumes looked ugly on him. I know no one can look beautiful with that ridiculous body shape and no costumes or clothes can make it look better but I can't help shaking my head everytime I see him in competitive costumes.

R173 Yes, they're dating.

Aww I think he's cute. Even Scott Moir said he was a "good looking guy" when Shoma worked with them on his skating skills (they said they could learn from him, his skating was so good.) Speaking of Shoma, the TSL guys said he ought to work with Benoit Richaud because he has modern dancing ability and could pull off more avant garde stuff (unlike Bradie Tennell, who they said definitely can't.) Dave and Jonathan liked his Moonlight Sonata and especially his short Stairway to Heaven.

But speaking of body types, they were dreadfully embarrassed by Doug Haw saying Tuktamysheva was too fat -- and yeah, it looks like she's Lazukin's girlfriend! Or at least used to be - social media full of photos of them as a couple. And yes to someone upthread - why is Tuk too hulky but Gabby's perfect? The TSL boys thought Gabby should get in touch with her inner Tonya Harding and stop trying to be dainty and delicate like Satoko because it's just not her - that she doesn't even know who she is, with the glamor fingernails and uncomfortable Instagram stuff - apparently she broke up with somebody and did some gut-spilling online? They're really full of the shade. Oh and the one who got the worst of it: Vincent Zhou - they said without his jumps he had nothing to offer, and they even said they thought it was too late for him to fix his problems!

R174 I really liked his blue Turandot costume, which worked with his proportions and was a great color. But this black and white business gives off a pyjama vibe and de-ages him five years. It's about as good as the program itself is. He had a purple and black one in summer ice shows that was still kind of a mess but looked a lot better, but it also looked almost exactly like Winter. Being him, though, he'll have another new one the next time we see him.

And speaking of costumes, I'm more terrified for what Hanyu's going to show up in on Friday than I am for his programs.

As long as it's not blue Dory with the taped on bright yellow shawl, I'll be alright (I think)

Most Shoma's costumes worked pretty well for his body type think. The best, possibly due its simplicity, was his 2015/16 SP one, the sorta clubby-music one. The blue Turandot, gray Winter and Loco were good too. The new ones are pretty awful, though. "Pyjama vibes" is a good description.

R177 I read it as pygmy at first and found myself nodding along, but I i guess pygama works too. Also, until now I had now idea there were two ways of spelling "pajamas."

I'm excited about both costumes for Hanyu. I feel they will both be beautiful. I have liked almost every costume he has competed in.

R180 I think 'pyjamas' is the Commonwealth spelling. 'Pajamas' is probably more accurate though (closer to the original Hindi). However it's spelled, Shoma's wearing them. Maybe since it's Moonlight Sonata he's ready for bed.

the judging panel at Autumn Classic for Men event

Referee: Ms Karen Howard (Canada)

Technical Controller: Mr Jeroen Prins (Netherlands)

Technical Specialist: Mr Raoul LeBlanc

Assistant Technical Specialist: Ms Evelyn Rossoukhi-Schneider (Austria)

Judge#1: Ms Veronique Verrue (France)

Judge#2: Mr Odhran Allen (Ireland)

Judge#3: Mr Andreas Waldeck (Germany)

Judge#4: Ms Maria Fortescue (Iceland)

Judge#5: Ms Miwako Ando (Japan)

Judge#6: Mr Doug Williams (USA)

Judge#7: Ms Lorna Schoroder (Canada)

Raoul LeBlanc is Canadian. He used to do Pairs at beginning of the 90s

How awesome would it be if Shin is tech specialist when Hanyu first attenmpts his 4a and calls it UR.

I know Shin does ladies, but is there a Shin equivalent in men's?

Lol some of you are insane. "I cried in a doctor's office and he called me depressed so Hanyu must be too because I've seen him cry" Okay dude.

I like the guy fine. I just think he has way too many creepy fans that creep on him based on a weird "he looks like an anime character!" fetish than for his real skating skills, and I feel badly for him for that.

Not a fan of Orser though, not sure where you got that from.

r176 I heard an opinion (real life, Irish fan) that they like Zhou better than Nathan Chen because his skating is not so empty, more interesting and that he emotes better.

I don't know, Zhou's 17 and technically ahead most of the competition. Given how much of an overachiever he seems to be, it's likely that he'll develop artistically, right? Especially considering his, er, sensitive poetic soul.

If he stays with Tom Zakrajsek, he may not develop artistically at all. Well, at least.he can't regress. Nagasu regressed

And let's see if he will solve his UR problems. Nagasu (another Zakrajsek's student) is full of URs too

R187 It's not just about my own experience. People who cry a lot very often are more likely to suffer from depression than not. And Hanyu has admitted to cry on a regular basis/people around him said he cries easily so I wasn't basing it on his tears after competitions. Not saying he is necessarily depressed but it was in response to someone depicting Hanyu as some kind of ice cold bitch and Javi as a poor tender soul. I don't believe in that crap. Just because Hanyu is a monster competitor doesn't mean he doesn't have weaknesses. It's obvious he is very sensitive. Now it doesn't mean he is a perfect person with no default and I can imagine him being difficult to deal with on a daily basis because of how stubborn he seems to be for instance.

It does seem early to write the guy off, R188. Is he one of those who changes coaches a lot? Maybe he could leave Tom for somebody better with artistry. The coaches don't seem to care if you underrotate - maybe it's just too hard for the tech specialists to see? Weird that fans can see it though, and they can't. Or is it all politics - with the big-fed women's flutzes and all.

Or Vincent could work with a better choreographer? Especially for a man, I would think it would take time to develop - the other US jumping bean Chen is no better - or worse, as your friend says R188. I think he has time - but it's gonna be a cage match for dominance after Hanyu leaves. Shoma and Chen look positioned for dominance, based on judges' scores and tech, but maybe somebody else will emerge.

I shouldn't say it, but Dai said the most important trait for a skater is to be gorgeous. (people can argue about Hanyu but he's better looking than Zhou imo, and I think if there's any truth to what Dai said, Zhou's at a disadvantage.)

* I meant the judges don't care if you UR -- not the coaches.

R187. I believe Hanyu did suffer depression. We know he tried to harm himself or attempted to kill himself. That came out of his own mouth. Many elite athletes suffer depression. First one that comes to my head is Michael Phelps. Do we think Hanyu was going to look depressed on the ice? That's not how that works.

Zhou had 4 URs called in the FS last week

At Milan Worlds, he had 7 (!) URs called in the FS

Shows what I know lol R194. Is that typical? I keep reading that Med and Satoko and Shoma, etc., get away with URs and wrong edges all the time - but when I watch jumps, I can't even tell a triple from a quad, so I don't tend to see the problems unless they step out or fall down. Well, I see the stiff landings, like Chen sometimes has (and many others, I'm sure, but for some reason, his really stick out and make me cringe.)

I think I'm still peeved at all the pre-Olys hype about Chen -- but he did beat Hanyu twice, right? So it seemed like if he did the jumps, no matter how he did them, he would win - especially when doing 5 or 6, and if Hanyu or Shoma fall or make obvious mistakes. His rigidity didn't seem to be held against him at all. And who wants to see that? Ugh. And sometimes he skates like a frightened deer in the headlights.

R188 That’s an interesting point. For someone who thinks of himself as a poet and artist, Zhou’s skating is very flat.

Camden Pulkinen and Tomoki Hiwatashi will be joining the seniors soon and they’re a lot more artistic and interesting to watch. Jason Brown should also be doing better this season with the new scoring system. I think the overachiever in Zhou has worked against him. He spent too much time on getting (poor quality) quads so he could rise to the top as quickly as possible and neglected everything else.

R195 Miyahara actually gets called on her underrotations now. Her jumps are more scrutinized than the other ladies.

r195 Zhou had a terrible skate at Worlds and last week, lots of fall s and bad landings I think judges tend to look at those more harshly but overlook underrotations when the skate is overall good. At Olympics Zhou got an UR on his solo 4Lz though, and a flat edge on his 4F, so the judges aren't completely lenient on him.

Zhou's coaching team includes Christy Krall and Tammy Gambill, maybe they could instill some complexity and artistry into his skates. There was a girl from Hong Kong on the junior GP from this coaching team whom I liked very much, so maybe there's hope for Zhou.

Vincent needs to spend time with a former ice dance coach like Tracy Wilson. Per Jason:

"When I first got to Toronto, I worked with Tracy for three hours a day just on stroking -- the way you bend your knees, the way you move," he said. "And I was exhausted, did I ever get a workout. Having a coach focus on the look of the crossovers, the knee bend, and the feel of the ice -- that's really cool."

Vincent has spoken!

I skate simply because I love skating. I love being free. The value of skating to the individual is so often defaced by outside influences--and so my next task is to find myself again. Success is another entity whose value is spoiled by arbitrary definition. True success will only be achieved when I reach inner peace. Until then, I will continue my infinite struggle for self-betterment.

R182, you guys sleep with sequins and lace detailing up to wedding-dress standards? I don't mind the flashy white top, but when you're short, the abrupt color difference doesn't work out very well - makes you look even shorter. I like his costumes where the colors blend as they go down - but I think his sequinny mostly one-color jumpsuits are good for his body type. At least he doesn't go with plain black practice clothes, which I think both 2nd place Aliev and 3rd Lakunin both did. More boring than Chen's Vera Wang, and that's saying something!

Looks like Hanyu's costumes are popular - even Misha Ge had a mockup of the Chopin light blue top Hanyu wore at the Olys. I even saw a little boy in a Seimei outfit but it's not at this link. Next year may be Shoma's year to be copied by the youngsters.

Hanyu's costume for Chopin is one of my all time favorites. It's a great look for him.

And yeah, Shoma (and other short skaters) should not cut themselves in half with their costumes. Hanyu can get away with that because he's reasonably tall and model thin.

Just posted yesterday: Hanyu's Johnny Weir R&J costume by the Chinese acro-gymnastics team.

The Chinese have gone Hanyu-crazy with the costuming! Those guys are so thick, it looks funny on them R202 -- like that chubby Hanyu impersonator on the variety shows in Japan lol. You'd think the Chinese would be copying Boyang instead.

If anybody's interested: If you scroll down 14 posts to ralucutzagy's post at the link from Planet Hanyu below, you can see the kids wearing Hanyu's Seimei and POTO costumes.

r199 Holy shit he really said that. I think he's just outdone himself in pretentiousness.

So I guess there's no hope for him.

(Does he read here? Or is this response to TSL?)

I think Vincent should quit competitive skating and take his existential soul to college.

Oh mercy R199. And who knows if it's us or Dave R204? Maybe neither - hasn't he been writing like this all along?

Maybe a literature major is in his future - or a Zen monastery? I have trouble seeing him break through - they sort of demoted the quadsters in favor of the quality skaters with the new rules (well, it seems so, so far)

Poor Vincent. I'd rather watch Jason Brown's tearful youtube confessionals. Well, maybe not. Oh TSL were happy to see his social media calmned down from the happy happy joy joy over exuberance. Jason I mean. I don't know if they've commented on Vincent's prose - probably - its irresistible.

R203 Hanyu Yuzurenai is not chubby!

Watch to the end to see Orser and Uno.

R206 Jason's kind of turned into a narcissist (like everyone else) since he got his new haircut. Didn't expect that to happen. It is much better than the pony tail.

r206 I may have misunderstood his message. I took it as "I skate simply" as in responding to accusations of being flat and unartistic. I guess he meant "I skate" "simply because". My bad.

r207 I broke and loled at winnie the poohs. I hope the dude was singing something funny.

OMG R207, that's hilarious! I think I like the Shoma impersonator better than the Hanyu one - it was cute where they had Hanyu rubbing Uno on the head, like he did after the Olympics.

Kanako was cute - she's all over the place in media now, doing interviews and such. Somebody, maybe here, said she might be in some cult that runs a tv station - like a Scientology kind of thing? WTH?? She always seemed like such a level-headed girl (if yet another headcase on the ice).

I don't think people give Hanyu enough credit for keeping his shit together, with all these other skater breakdowns. Oh and titanium bulldozer Shoma. It's a jungle out there.

R207 R209 The poohs broke me too, as well as Shoma's cantilever. I'm kind of excited for ACI, but Hanyu's gonna bomb isn't he? That's why I can't be this dude's stan. It's not some principled objection to his skating; it's b/c I'm a pussy and can't stand to see the suffering and the drama.

r210 When the comment about Kanako was posted, I looked it up, and it was a Buddhist denomination, but the Wikipedia article was all about its philosophy (peace, attaining happiness, self-improvement, education, the standard).

Oh good! Thanks for that R212. I always liked her so it bothered me that she might be into something scary.

I know what you mean R211 but when I stop and think about it, most of the skaters are on the edge of disaster most of the time - if not injuries then screwing up and having mental issues (or anorexia or unfair judging... it's always something to break your heart if you start to care about any of them)

R212 The Wiki entry talks about its cult status as well though. I guess even the most questionable cults can be marketed as pursuits for self improvement etc. Isn't Scientology kind of like that?

Do you have a link or know the name of the cult? I'm a catastrophizer so I thought of that crazy cult leader who spread the toxic gas in the subway in Japan all those years ago. I can't imagine there would be many that bad.

I'm not the person who originally posted about this, but here's a NYTimes article about the cult's rise and people's uneasiness with it. It talks about the nerve gas attack as well. It's called Soka Gakkai The article is quite dated (1999), but if you look up Soka Gakkai and cult there's plenty of discussion.

Why are people being assholes to Tuktamysheva? I've seen quite a few of these on my TL already. Has it always been like this or did she do something recently to set off the haters? I don't understand why people say shit like this and then tag the person they're trashing.

Thanks for the information R216. I wish all the best for Kanoko and need to not judge anyone's choices. I don't have enough background knowledge to even begin to make a judgment about Soka Gokkai and probably shouldn't have brought it up. But she's lovely as a tv personality so I hope that goes well for her.

It's ridiculous that fans or anti-fans, I guess, become so vicious. Reading an early reply to that Tuk attacker, someone told her "Marin would not approve." Kind of random - unless that responder knows that this person is a fan of Marin. (I'm not picking on Marin - I bet every skater has fans who attack other skaters, but maybe that's a factor in this particular situation)

r217 She talked back after that TSL episode that tsaid she'd get higher pcs if she lost 10 pounds.

I’m the Japanese dirt czar and the one who brought up Murakami and Soka Gakkai. If you click on “view history,” you’ll see that SG members have been revising those Wikipedia pages.

In Japan, it’s common knowledge that SG is a cult and they’re officially recognized as one by the French government. They call themselves a Buddhist peace organization, but they’re actually a new religion offshoot that worships their leader. They’re very similar to Scientology in that they’ve been involved in many serious financial and criminal scandals. They also use similar pushy recruiting tactics, harass members who try to leave, wiretap political rivals, and threaten critics. They have their own political party (New Komeito), schools, arts organizations, and own several newspapers, including Jack Gallagher’s [italic]Japan Times.[/italic] (But I doubt they’re involved in Ice Talk.)

Like Scientology, converting to SG can lead to more job opportunities if you’re in the entertainment industry, so if Murakami is a convert, she probably only converted for business purposes. Antis frequently accuse skaters they hate of being SG, but the rumor about Murakami wasn’t started by antis and has some credibility. The show she now co-hosts, Merenge no Kimochi (the show where she interviewed Uno and Arakawa), is believed to be SG-run because all their past hosts were known SG members and the MC is a very top-ranking member.

Other than Murakami, I think one of the Japanese juniors goes to Soka High School or Soka University (Japanese one), but it doesn’t mean he’s SG.

The most thorough and recent article about SG I can find in English is a Forbes article. Their leader claims 10% of all Japanese are SG believers, but even 1% would be a huge exaggeration. The “darker allegations” refers to a murder case.

Thanks for the details, R220 - you know your stuff! I can't do anything but hope for the best for Kanako. She had a rough ride as a skater, I guess due to injury? I wasn't following women's skating much then.

Speaking of women - Zhenya's Lutz in the more recent lower video looks pretty good to me, edge wise, though I'm hardly an expert. But it would be cool if she could fix her flutz. I have this nagging fear that it's now or never because of Trusova and Kostornaia coming onboard seniors next year - probably others I'm not aware of. Say what you want about Eteri, she's shaken things up - and I think lit a fire under a few Japanese hopefuls as well, pushing them to try harder elements.

America might as well give up? Canada's limping along too, with Osmond and Daleman aging and/or wimping out? - well, so it seems. It seems like young, uber-talented Russians and Japanese (and Korean) ladies are springing up like weeds!

Here's a link to the results page, schedule and livestream for Ondrej Nepela Trophy.

Zags withdrew from Ondrej Nepela Trophy

Russ Fed claims Zags withdrew b/c of visa issues. Maybe I'm just overly suspicious, but I'm not buying...

exactly. is she going for the first time? what a laugh

I wonder if Vincent would have been lauded as a great poet and a sensitive soul had he been spewing this sort of poetry in the 17th century. Maybe he's just too classical for our times, guys.

At 17, I think he has plenty of time to improve. But you can't improve on what you don't have, and I don't see him having innate musicality or dancing skills or any kind of self awareness, which you actually kinda need as a performer.

I think we need a picture - Thunder Thighs Yuzu:

I think I see a panty line! Do they have dance "briefs"?

R227 Please note the sign above the door, #6. Is there a reason you decided to go off topic?

You know how it goes - some are into fronts and some are into bottoms. But I'm sorry! I'll try to keep my untoward attentions behind me in future.

What is the schedule for this week?

R231 The In The Loop team tends to be on top of these things. The ACI website also has a detailed schedule including all the practice times. I haven't checked Nepela but they're probably the same.

Here is the official livestream for ACI.

Zagitova was added to Nebelhorn.

Kolyada 96.82

Votonov 81.77

Tanaka 77.53

Kvitalashvili 76.43

Samarin 76.3

Sean Rabbit 70.98

Carrillo dropped out of Autumn Classic.

Medvedeva denied the Eteri babies/retirement conversation ever happened.

R236 Carillo stopped midway during FS at the Mexico competition last week

Johnny Weir tweeted this not too long ago. I'm sure he can't wait to see Hanyu perform this program. I wonder how much will be similar to Johnny's.

R237 Was he injured?

Kolyada's SP.

Briand was added as a coach to Hanyu's bio today.

r239 What makes you think that? Seemed like a typical start of the season outing for him. The choreo/music/performance were off though. He's really a beautiful skater, one of my favorites, but it seemed like random rink music was being played in the background and he was skating to something else. No comprendo.

I do not understand this - but I've never seen Javi be so prissy. He's wearing a bonnet and shaving Plushenko's face ?? Well, I think that's what's going on. Weird. I think they're currently in an ice show together in China.

r242 I think Javi's been trying to tell us things. The bonnet is from Hanyu's Origins costume.

I'm too lazy to find the pic of Nijinsky in the lace bonnet that's been floating around these threads, but you guys know the one.

Samohin's SP got a -5 for time violation.

His SP is simply... 27 seconds too long. (The video shows timing.)

Hanyu's practice group about to go on.

Yuzu is looking good!

Pretty determined not to show more of his choreo than has already been revealed. That stsq though. Nice. His ass is also in fine form, for those who are wondering.

Glad to see Yuzu recovered his quad loop however wtf is that part in Nijinski's stsq where he does this weird extension with his legs spread like he is Bambi walking for the first time or me on skis when I was a kid. It looks awful like he is losing his balance. What were he and Shae-Lynn thinking with that move. And seeing how determined he is not to show his sp, I'm now even more curious about it. I also hope his costumes take from Weir/Nijinski in terms of eccentricity and fabulousness.

R248 The important things in life.

Cha's R+J music is a hot mess.

R250 Anyone have a clip? I heard disco.

You people are just asking for disappointment. Expecting eccentricity and fabulousness and he'll come out in a black pants and plain black shirt. Now that we've seen the purple pants and the swan outfit, there's nothing more he can do to surprise but go plain.

The plain black shirt might have nipple cut outs.

r253 Go full Johnny Weir, you mean? Eccentricity yes, not sure about fabulousness thogh.

I'm putting my money on no costume, with just strategically placed feathers.

R255 Oh, I would LOVE that!

Hanyu's practice at ACI

R254 You're kind of hard to please, aren't you.

LOL at Samohin's time violation. It is really careless by his team

R252. I would be surprised if he went plain. He is going to shock us all. I hope anyway LOL.

And the judge who scored Kolyada 0.5 in interpretation!!

Just clicking on random numbers..

r261 Lol, I missed that.

It wasn't THAT bad.

R252 And the ( golden) waist belt I fuckin' hate. I'd rather see him in black pants and plain shirt than see that belt again.

R261 Lol. His scores for 3lz ranged from 1-4.

R264 that +1 was from the judge who gave the 0.5. She is Vera KVARCAKOVA from Czech Republic.

R249 Not only that, a bunch of bizarre moves in his FS. Not that I care much though.

Age is the great equalizer. Brian Joubert at a jgp recently.

r265 She also gave Samohin an 8 in the Interpretation, higher than any other judge. I approve. Well, I'd score him even higher in that component, I love Samohin's over the top expression, but to be fair he always chooses over the top music.

The Turkish judge is a fan of Sean Rabbitt. She scored him higher than Samohin in components

Ummm....

I suppose Reynolds has looked worse at some point in the past

Reynolds doesn't look like he's 12 anymore, so that's good?

R249 What? I didn't see that. I thought the stsq looked great. Or was my judgment clouded by ass?

r273 Clam down, your judgement was not cluded by ass, it was a really cool bunch of moves, 90% of people watching it are gonna love it, including the leg extension which flows great with other moves.

Brian was smiling and laughing during everyone's practices!

r241 Usually when skaters stop during their programs, they're injured or something's wrong with their boots. But that's typical for Carrillo?

r250 What version of R&J is he using?

Hanyu looks less skinny than a month ago. He also looks like he's ready to kill someone (except when he's carrying Mr Pooh).

R275 Sorry, misunderstood. Thought you were talking about Kolyada.

Med sure is going for a different look this season. Phil Hersh says she's going for a Petty and Vargas pinup girl look.

I actually liked Med's program. Didn't like the giant pink sequin spider in the middle of her chest though. What's up with Brian? He's looking so cold and awkward in the K&C with his skaters.

R275 He always looks like that during practise, hyper focused and pulling weird faces. And I don't think he is less skinny than last month. We didn't see him without his jacket last month and he looked about the same today before he removed it. In general though he wears 3 layers up and 2 layers down during practise so if you want to have a better idea of his physical condition wait for him to be wearing his costumes.

Med's SP

Forget Med and her gloves....here is Sean RABBITT SP

I don't recall Wakaba being so slow and sluggish. I thought skyfall was great at Worlds but don't really follow her. Is this just how she is?

Didn't like Med's program at all. Bradie's was great and, as Phil Hersh tweeted, she was underscored. Really getting sick of this shitty judging.

As for Brian, I've watched him closely in the K&C since 2015 and he does look unusually tense to me.

Medvedeva RUS 70.98

Tennell USA 69.26

Meite FRA 58.23

Higuchi JPN 57.54

Andrews USA 56.70

Craine AUS 56.20

Paganini SUI 56.07

Maybe Brian saw how much Elizabet has improved under Eteri and that's what is making him tense.

Where can I find Bradie's program? Heard it was good but I missed it.

The judges for Ladies tonight are

USA

Canada

Sweden

Iceland

Germany

Russia

Japan

Technical controller is from Finland. Technical specialists are from Austria and Mexico

Referee is American

Here's Bradie's SP

Here's Bradie

Found ladies and pairs SPs here

R275 Cha is using the Baz Luhrmann movie music, and the cuts are as jarring as Zagitova's SP. It goes between that dramatic choral music you hear in movie trailers, the romance theme, and the dance music from the party scene. If someone had never seen the movie they'd have no clue why anyone would put those pieces of music in the same program. And there are tons of voiceovers, including Leo screaming JULIEEEET.

R290 Holy shit. I totally want to see this program now. Sounds epic.

R278 I was joking about his facial expressions, but his jaw and neck looked fuller to me than during media day (especially compared to the interview footage with 9 and NHK). He was also wearing his jacket during much of practice today.

R281 Her right calf was cramping up so much during practice yesterday that she had to adjust her jumps. But her skating always seemed a little heavy and slow to me and today was worse.

R290 Was Shae infected by whatever Daniil has? I hope there's video!

R291 R292 Found it. You can't see him very well but you sure can hear the music...

R293 OH MY GOD.

R293 Oh my god!!! I take back everything I've ever said about Daniil!!! Where did that disco music come from? How can the judges not burst out laughing at "JULIEEET"? But I can't wait to see Cha perform it. I hope he has an equally crazy costume. Will Cinderella have voice overs, too?

Wakaba said her right calf was still cramping today. She couldn't move her ankle and foot during the 6-minute warmup, so her axis was off when she jumped and she couldn't save the landings. She thinks it might be due to dehydration. Judge 1 really doesn't like her. 5.75 for transitions.

Call me crazy but I like it! At least it's not boring. Go Cha Cha! Some of those jumps were gorgeous. I thought I was watching Yuzuru for a while (because I didn't read carefully - but anyway, I'm always gonna love a boy who skates Cinderella. What balls! (and I'm so happy he finally got his second GP, though they're back to back - they kept skipping over him for skaters ranked lower)

r240 It's about f'n time Briand got official credit! If I were him, I'd be pissed that he wasn't on there.

r257 Wow. Nijinsky looks incredible. All the jumps and spins look iffy right now but the command of the choreography is mesmerizing. It looks like it's going to be so dynamic. It's amazing how much more tension and drama is in his skating since Sochi, or even since 2017.

r263 I think he uses the belt to correct his proportions. Hanyu fans like to call him leggy but he actually has a pretty long torso. The belt is always high on his waist so it makes his lower half look longer. I especially notice this when he stands next to Javi, who is significantly longer in the leg while only being 1 cm taller.

Does anyone have the starting order for the men's SP tomorrow?

I think Med's SP choreography is okay for what it is. It will never be my favorite because I don't like that style, but the choreography suits the style of music. The performance was underwhelming but she'll likely polish that up as the season goes.

r298 Hanyu skates in the 3rd group.

The Cha SP sounds so wonderfully trashy

Tennell had an UR called to her 3F. 2 spins got level 3 instead of 4.

The panel also called unclear edge to Medvedeva's flutz. Stepsequence level 3, spins all level 4

Here's the schedule, with start times, for the competition.

R297 His skating has developed so much since Sochi. While I liked PW, it looks pretty spare and simplistic compared to his more recent programs.

Seriously, this guy. He wears a jacket on top of his jacket on top of probably two other layers and he still looks skinny as hell.

Caught up on Med: the program suits her, I think, she moves great on the flirty parts, and I do see where the Katelyn Osmond comparison comes from. Did she gain some weight or does the super-short skirt makes her look fuller? She doesn't look coltish-skinny anymore, it's a good look on her, although if she did gain a bit of weight I hope her jumps won't suffer. The downside is that, like Katelyn Osmond's programs, Evgenia's seems empty in places. There are some strong music beats where nothing happens skating-wise. Maybe Daniil brainwashed me into liking cluttered programs but Evgenia used to have moree transitions.

On the opposite note, Tursy's program is busy, and frankly her Moonlight Sonata is better than Shoma's but there are moments where the choreo has little to do with music. Did Daniil do the choro? It looks like a Daniil choreo on the off-day. Maybe he used up all his creative quota for Shcherbakova.

Bradie's SP is very enjoyable to watch. If she cleans up those URs, she could be climbing up the ranks fast.

What the fuck? Why medvedeva gets ! but Wakaba e ??? Evgenia jumps from 2 feet , she used whole blade to jump , ridiculous

Maybe it's just me, but it looks like there were streaks of gray in Yuzuru's hair when this photo was taken (this summer I believe.) Or maybe it's reflection from the white shirt? I know Nathan Chen has some gray hair.

What are all these quads doing to these boys?

Bradie's SP is pretty good, but she's still missing something for me...a personality, I guess. I prefer Starr. She seems to have pretty good nerves and performance ability.

Yuzuru's warmup session - his practice short is coming up after this Irish guy McCallister and one more

Bradie's SP is excellent. Exciting to watch and plays to her strengths. Starr is great as a personality but she's seriously lacking in technical ability.

I love Starr, but I'm not sure if she'll ever have the goods to be competitive at the world stage. Bradie, OTOH, could challenge for the world podium this season with her improved programs and content.

R306 I also think she lacks of charisma. I watched her for the first time at Worlds Junior 2017 and she was a mess then. I kinda like her SP, she improved so much, a huge step for her from last season.

Hanyu's short is stunning. It's like his Chopin on steroids.

Here's the practice run through for Hanyu's short.

The same old hanyu, yes, chopin no.2.. whyy change anything ?His choreographer didnt get any new ideas since chopin

I was wrong in R307 - it was a live stream of Yuzuru this morning - but it wasn't for his short - it was his long that he did a runthrough of and I think that link is closed now - but I'm sure someone captured it and has put it on Youtube or something by now. Fans were making videos of him standing, waiting to get on the ice, handing his phone and ear phones to Ghislain (Orser was carrying Pooh), etc.

I think his actual short program Otonal will be about 2pm or 3pm Eastern time? (not exactly sure) - maybe some kind soul could put up a link? Johnny Weir tweeted that he was excited to see it today.

Nathan for Spur. Video at bottom of the page.

Any footage of Brown or Reynolds SP/FS practices?

More photos added throughout the competition.

Saw some footage of Yuzu's SP practise and while he clearly half- assed it, I must say that what I noticed and found a bit surprising for him is that his jumps were not perfectly timed with the music. It's like he is jumping and in parallel there is some music in the background and while I know it's like this with 99% of skaters, he so far got me used to jumps seamlessly incorporated into the music and choreo so I'm a bit disappointed. Only his 3A was perfect in that regard today. It's probably nitpicking but after such a masterpiece as his Chopin SP where every single element was perfectly timed to the music, this 'sloppiness' becomes really visible. I hope to be eating my words when we will see the real thing later today though. Also looking forward to the costume reveal.

R317 LOL you're comparing a program he perfected over two seasons with practice footage of something he's performing for the first time in competition? You Hanyu fans are a greedy, spoiled bunch.

For those asking about Kevin Reynolds, the warm up for his group is starting now. He's skating 6th in that group.

Here are detailed start times for the men's short at ACI

R318 That's exactly why I mentioned that I got spoiled by Chopin. And yes most Hanyu fans are greedy to some extent because we know what he is capable of. I know it's unfair for him compared to other skaters but what can be done when he is that superior to them.

Did Kevin get a Mike Brady perm? LOL.

his hair are shorter. I mean james brown

I like this new Jason.

I didn't catch all of it, but I loved Jason's program. Haircut looks good, skating was great.

JAson was fantastic

I read it was Orser's idea to cut Jason's hair. I wonder if he'll have him skating to Frank Sinatra and doing Charlie Chaplin routines next. But it's all ok - I'm glad he's there to befriend Evgenia and her mother (he says he talks to her off and on all day!) and keep everybody calm and happy. Everybody needs a mensch in their lives.

Not a fan of Jason normally but that was a beautiful skate. And he looks so much better with short hair so if Orser is behind that haircut, kudos to him.

Brown SP

Is the first quad by Yee in competition?

Brown's program is great, I hope the scoring will climb up!

Ted: Stay with us because you-know-who is coming up soon!

Yes, that's why I'm suffering though this with you, Ted. To see you-know-who.

They barely show Yuzuru in this warmup. Compare to Lombardia where they only ever focus on fucking Shoma. Find a happy medium, guys.

What the fuck was that? Is the camera person a Patrick Chan fan? No closeup of Yuzu and his costume? Asshole.

It might have been posted earlier but is there a link to a stream?

here it is

God, they really don't know how to package Cha , do they? Cinderella with literal clock choreography? Dreadful stuff.

Here's the stream.

He has such great musicality , and they gave him such music , what was that??

Who designed Hanyu's costume? We need to talk.

British guy dressed for casual Friday going before Yuzuru...couldn't you at least try, a little bit?

more then 36,000 viewers , lol

what the fuck he is weraing???

Everyone there for the British guy score

I want Yuzu's blue top. Gorgeous!

r340 Johnny Weir?

I gotta give it to you costume nerds, he didn't disappoint. That was half Shoma Uno, half Elsa.

Great program even if he fucked up the spins.

For the poster who had to work today:

r337 I liked it. David Wilson seems to be doing a good job on Cha's SPs in general.

Here's a longer version:

I hate the costume. The top is too short.

But all TCC men did a good job. Too bad we couldn't see the Kiss&Cry for Cha and Hanyu. Orser should be happy, right?

That blue blouse is absolute perfection. Even his necklaces look good with it.

I liked Otonal more than I thought I would given the practice and the costume is so typical Hanyu it makes me laugh. You do you, Yuzu. Be fabulous when everyone else goes for boring shirts. There was some shaky landing in the 4t 3t combination and one slight issue with one of the spins but overall a very strong SP and a bit underscored but that's typical from judges when it comes to Yuzu especially in Canada. However his issue with the 4t makes me think his ankle is still not fully healed. It reminded me in shakier of how he jumped it at the Olympics and I remember thinking watching him jump 4t at Pyeongchang that it's obvious he is still injured and indeed he was. At this point I think it's pretty much a chronic injury and not much can be done about it. Hopefully it holds long enough for him to land the quad axel.

now the battle for the top of Ireland skating??

Fuck the quad axel. It's artistry I want to see from Yuzu. My favorite part of this SP is when he finishes the jumps and then completely throws himself into the music.

Hanyu and Reynolds were the only ones who actually looked up the word "costume". Meh.

His costume is great, looks pretty gay. What else did y'all want

Invalidated spin. "Invalidated spin in Yuzuru Hanyu's short cost him 4-5 points (including potential GOE loss) - there's the difference between 97 and 100+"

arrogant asian fans ran away, they dont care about skating

It's not just the spin. He was lowballed in PCs too but I suppose that after years of competing in Canada and getting lowballed (apart from his WR SP from last year but the judges would have had to resign if they didn't reward properly that masterpiece) he got used to it. And I mean it's not like you expect those assholes to be fair to a guy skating a tribute program to Johnny Weir in a fabulous costume.

His spins and combo were undeniably shaky so I understand that, but those PCS...it looks like Hanyu's going to have to keep going above and beyond for his points this season.

Skating Skills-Transitions-Performance-Composition-Interpretation

Odhran ALLEN(Ireland): 8.75-8.5-8.75-9.0-9.0

Doug WILLIAMS (USA): 8.75-8.50-8.0-9.0-8.50

Maria FORTESCUE (Iceland:) 9.5-9.5-9.75-9.75-9.75

Veronique VERRUE (France): 9.5-9.25-9.0-9.25-9.25

Andreas WALDECK (Germany): 9.0-9.0-8.50-9.0-8.75

Lorna SCHRODER (Canada): 9.50-9.25-9.25-9.25-9.25

Miwako ANDO (Japan) 9.25-9.0-9.0-9.25-9.50

I wish Anglos were banned from judging.

Search "Evgeni Plushenko Nijinsky Costume" on Google if you're curious about what his new FS costume looks like.

4S: all +3 or +4

3A: +1 by Irish judge. +3/+4 by others

Combo: -1 by Irish judge. 0 by US judge. from +1 to +3 by others

Flying Camel spin: level 3. All +3 except Iceland judge (+4)

step sequence: level 4. +5 by Iceland, Canada and Japan

combination spin at the end: level 3. From +2 to +4

Allen and Williams were also less generous on the elements. Only +1 from Alen on the triple axel. I can't see the other men's score sheets, but his did Allen grade the others on 3A?

R365

Allen to 3A

Cha +3

Brown +1

GORODNITSKY +2

Allen and Williams put Brown in the lead in PCS

If he had fell, his PCS would have dropped to 39-40pts. I didn't expect they underscored him that much. At Skate Canada 2015, he even received the same PCS ( 45 pts) with a disaster SP ( TES 28, if I'm not wrong)

chill out,guys it is not an important competition.

WALDECK is not impressed by Cha

6.0 in Skating Skills (average of the panel 7.70). 6.25 in Performance (average 7.75)

45PCS for a clean program ????? Since when has he got underscored that much ?

That Irish judge should be barred from judging. And in general Yuzu should not have gotten lower than 4 on that 3A. Going from a backcounter into twizzles. It's disheartening to see how much details he puts into things only for them to be ignored anyway. That Shoma is getting +4 on his jumps and Yuzu +1 shows everything that is wrong with ISU. Let's not even touch on the PCs for what was a clean program. I still am not sure where this mistreatment from judges comes from tbh. Is it really because he is too androgynous for their taste and they don't like it and treat him as they did Weir. I mean how crazy it is that a 2 times OGM is getting lowballed like this at his first outing since the Olympics.

R366 R370 Thank you. So much for rewarding difficult entries and creative exits. And that German judge was so brutal to Cha on all of the elements. I hope we can see reactions in the K&C tomorrow. I thought Tennell was also a little underscored yesterday.

jesus christ, it is the BEGINNING OF THE SEASON.yes, shoma got 104 ,but it will be his SB for whole season , I bet while yuzuru, score will improve for sure

Irish judge doesn't have qualification to judge at major events (Worlds, Olympics, etc). He can judge at GPs but no chance to see him as there are no Irish skaters at that level

IIRC he is a gay guy

this is me

R374 it's not just this one time. He is literally lowballed all the time. When others do half of what he does they get the same scores and when they make mistakes or underrotate the judges are genuinely lenient on them whereas they go hard on Hanyu each and every time. And it has been going on for years. Take his sp at Worlds 2017 a small mistake on the combo jump and the whole element was invalidated while you can bet that if it were Shoma or Nathan the judges would have closed their eyes. It's beyond frustrating especially because it's obvious it doesn't come from a postive place on the judges' side, like knowing what he can do and scoring him according to a different grid as everyone else. It's usually plain rubbish which make no sense and honestly the only valid reason for that is that they hate him.

R375 I agree with you that he has no place judging an international event but him being a gay guy doesn't necessarily prevent him from being bigoted. So many gay guys hate on guys who are too feminine because they are so insecure themselves they believe everyone else should be.

R373 Sorry. "elements" should be "components." I don't understand why the German judge so hard on Cha.

I prefer Sleeping Beauty to Cinderella

He is literally lowballed all the time.- lol. All the time? 45 points in PCS in first competition is bad?

We're living in a world where 2 time Olympic Champion gets scored like a skater just out of junior circuit.

R381 With a CLEAN program, my friend.

a year ago, medviedeva with broken foot got 80 points in euroepan B challenger, now she got 70

[382] it was NOT clean, thats the point

R383 She was overscored. That's the difference.

R384 No fall = clean. TES is different story.

I dont call a program clean if there invalid element in it

Tomorrow's schedule.

Golden Skat thinks Cha is Chinese!

R380 That explains everything. Should have gone with the German fairytale!

Hanyu's program was beautiful. There was a casualness in some of his hand gestures that I loved, even over the more polished details of Chopin. I wish he did the head lift at the end, like he did in practice. For once, I agree with the hysterical fanyus. He was way underscored. Fuck the anglo judges. And while we're at it, fuck Shoma too and his overscored ass. The fact that Jason's program and Hanyu's program received lower PCS scores than Shoma's is why nobody gives a shit about FS.

As for the costume, what self-respecting gay does not understand autumn colors? It's is our best season, for casual cashmere scarves, light but put together layers in beautiful warm colors. WTF why more ombre blue? Homage to Johnny I guess. I like the deep v.

you cant compare scores from two events, jesus.. Shoma woulntd get here his pcs from lombardia

R389 go choke on a cock Daitroll. We know you only have a hard on for P/C and Dai.

YOU have a hard on for Dai. ONLY ONE HERE You dont talk with your boys from whorehouse , so fuck off

Dont worry , your Dai will compete in a few months. Be patient, honey

You can perfectly compare 2 events or at least you should be able to as the rules and scoring system are the same. That judges purposedly don't apply them is the issue. And let's not pretend it's just a ACI /Lombardia issue. Yuzu gets chronically underscored regardless of the competition whereas skaters like Shoma and Nathan are time and again overscored and before them PChan was. I clearly see the Weir treatment in what they do with Hanyu and I remember reading a comment from someone on this 2 or 3 years ago I think: that if Yuzu didn't have the technical ability he has he would have been buried by the judges because of his style.

I could understand his costume color choice if the music was about something relating to Ocean or Sky but apparently it was about Autumn. Did you even know Otonal means Autumn ? Yes yes, it's you Johnny Weir. I'm asking you.

ok whatever , you say . I wont argue. You will all see iin a couple of months

I'm so pissed at the scoring that I'm not going to watch any more of this event live. This is such a fucked up sport.

They've fixed it now and deleted the comment alerting them to their mistake, but GS twitter had a Chinese flag next to Cha's name. After learning about how they tried to recruit the troll, I don't like the idea of GS getting near Hanyu or any of the skaters, and that better not be CSG/Ted's hand.

R396 Seriously, the scoring today has made me gone from longtime FS fan/casual, neutral appreciator of Hanyu's Hanyuness to some pissed off uber (I now hate myself). The new scoring system just makes all the issues with the previous ones that much more acute and obvious.

Forgot the GS video.

R347. Oh thank you! I thought the program was brilliant. His costume? I loved it. I think he was underscored

It really is outrageous that Kolyada could be so close to his score and Uno's score was a fucking joke (but Lombardia always is like that...puke!) I can't wait to see what BS scores they'll give Nathan.

Yuzu in K&C with his three coaches. That look on his face after hearing his score!

Darn. Couldn't get that link to work here. Anyway, he did not exactly look pleased at his score.

At least this scoring bullshit is sure to have lit a fire under Hanyu. His "I'm not too worried about results, I have achieved a state of fulfillment and self-actualization and I'm just skating for myself and for fun!" attitude can probably be considered officially dead (personally, I never believed him; he's too much of a tiger). He's gonna be out for vengeance now, and I'm looking forward to it.

1) Tennell 206

2) Med 204

3) Meite 178.9

4) Craine 167.8

5) Higuchi 167

I don't like any of the senior ladies. I can't wait for the Russian and Japanese juniors to graduate so I can care about ladies singles again.

Hanyu interview after his short program. He's disappointed. Maybe that's a good thing.

R399 R407 Is that Paula Slater's hairy arm and sausage fingers shoving a recorder in Hanyu's face?

I know it's just a flaky challenger, but Bradie Tennell beating Evgenia Medvedeva - I do wonder if it's an omen. Zags hasn't proven she isn't falling apart yet. This could be one strange year, to be followed by possible doomsday for all the current women when the likes of Trusova and Kostornaia hit the seniors next year.

I've had a weird ominous feeling about Hanyu, as well. Could the undercurrent Zeitgeist be that he should have moved on and we'll just give him some nudges?? Kinda like they abruptly stopped Chanflation. Nothing connected between them re scoring - I'm NOT saying Hanyu was ever overscored and believe he's certainly had his share of underscoring (I think they freaked out when he broke too many records and, even if subconsciously, decided enough of that - they don't want one unassailable star at the top - no drama... but is there always a backlash when someone reaches the pinnacle? I wonder...

I'm also worried about his ankle - especially combined with his focus on the 4A, even after its value was lowered. Is it a case of Icarus just has to keep flying higher because he can... until fate or some law against the tallest poppy swoops out of nowhere to find our hero's Achilles heel (or ankle.)

God I'm reminding myself of Vincent Zhou -- better shut up and get on with fandom, with less of a heavy heart. I have to pinch myself for feeling sorry for a two-time consecutive Olympic gold medalist. There's just something about the guy that tugs at the heartstrings. The anime "cat" face? The vulnerability? Oh I don't know - why aren't I feeling sorry for Dai or something? OH and finally Cha wasn't ripped off by the judges! This may be a breakthrough for that cutie! I hope so but who can tell when the fields are so narrow in these challenger thingies.

r402 Is this what you were talking about? Thank you for trying anyway. It’s nice to see all three coaches together. Orser doesn’t look that cheerful but better than before.

David Wilson is having a fan meeting dinner at a Tokyo steakhouse tomorrow. It’s 21,000 yen per person and includes a full-course meal and wine.

I quite like this Otonal costume although it seems more appropriate for a Winter program.

Interesting but I saw on Twitter. It seems that it was Yuzu's decision to put all his jumps in the first half of the SP because he preferred the flow and Order let him do it. Doing so he doesn't get the 10% bonus on the last jumping pass so it really feels like he was sincere when he mentioned wanting to skate only for himself from now on. If he cared about scores he wouldn't lose voluntarily those precious few points. He also once again mentioned in the aired interview about his sp during media day that after winning his 2nd OGM all the pressure he has carried for years was finally lifted. I hope he keeps enjoying things to the fullest from now on.

I guess jpn media had all this footage if otonal after all. I liked the bits with Jeff. The program is beautiful.

Bev Smith wrote about Hanyu.

How can an almost 24 years old guy look like such a baby. His skin is unbelievable even by Japanese standards.

Is it a gender split or a coincidence?

The 4 women in the judging panel put Hanyu first in Components

The 3 men scored him below 45 and behind Jason Brown

But Jason was fantastic.

R416 Great catch! And no, I don't think that was a coincidence at all.

R417 It's easy to be great when your technical content is so low. Bradie has a more difficult triple/triple combination than Jason.

R410 Yes, that's what I was trying to post. Thank you!

{417]hahah It is NOT easy to be great when your tehcnical content is so low, wait...so you now justify boyangs and chens pcs ???? So you think top skaters like hanyu is not THAT great??? Both skaters, Juziu(i mean hanyu) and jason had step sequance after jumps. And componenst , you think depends on technical difficulty?? you re right , so you have to admit that shoma gets GOOD components coz he is fantastic "textbook" jumps???? SO all in all you prefer skaters who gets high componets for their ACTUAL FANTASTIC SKATING SKILLS , or you prefer skaters like shoma who gets very high PCS coz he jumped 2 so called quads? It doesnt matter if someone had easier layout, so he must be better artistically . It doesnt work like that. He is fantastic skater and he must be awardet for it.

maybe not boyangs , but chens for sure....

*he has fantastic "textbook " jumps

R415 He sweats a LOT, drinks a lot of water, and hasn't gone outside in twenty years.

r416 So... was he hit be the lack of manly black shirt or by tribute to Johnny Weir?

R412. Do you think Hanyu will change his sp as the season goes on to get more points and the bonus? He didn't seem happy with his scores yesterday. I know he said he wants to skate for himself but I wonder if his attitude has changed now after taking the ice.

I loved Johnny Weir's tweet or Instagram message or whatever about Yuzu's Otonal - however, why did he put the score in the message?

And his Insta-stories today showed him doing a bunch of pretty skating of his own and some working out. I practically stan both of them but I wonder if he's just a tad salty or stung w/nostalgia about his piece being reconstituted by Yuzu? Oh probably not - and maybe some of the the lackluster scores/GOEs will give Yuzuru a newfound purpose (other than that risky 4A, concentrating on which will not help him fix his little issues like spins and leaning jumps needing his cat landings (though they never ding Uno for them - speaking of whom, that blue top makes me think of what Uno would look like after a growth spurt):

Johnny Weir: “Otonal” now belongs to Yuzu-kun. [crying face emoticon]. Magnificent season debut from Olympic Champion Yuzuru Hanyu. He scored 97.74. Wonderful costume, softness, style, transitions & heart. Excellent work @J_Butt!

Nepela Ladies

1) Rika Kihira 218.16 (2 3As)

2) Elizabet Tursynbaeva 192.30 (one fall, maybe UR)

3) Stanislava Konstantinova 180.02

4) Polina Tsurskaya 154.61 (disastrous)

5) Katie McBeath 154.56

6) Yujin Choi 150.14

7) Megan Wessenberg 143.47 (big fall, she hit her head on ice mid way the FS. She went on and looked ok)

Today's ACI schedule with times and starting order

R426 Wow 2 3As! Good for Rika.

R425 I don't think Yuzu was experiencing much jump lean in his practices. I think he was just a little nervous like he always is when the competition season begins. He knows everyone expects so much of him and it gets to him.

Satoko was at the Autumn Classic! Do you think she was: a. There to support Yuzu? b. There to size up her rivals? c. There as a representative of some Japanese media outlet? or d. There to talk to Brian Orser about becoming her coach? e. Other. (I won't go there with shipping, promise!)

Somebody had another (boring) theory :)

tilda @tequilda 17h17 hours ago

satoko in canada to cheer on wakaba, wow i love friendship 2 replies 12 retweets 64 likes

R423 A bit of both I would say.

R425 I don't think Johnny is jealous. Maybe nostalgic a bit but mostly proud and flattered that Yuzu is skating a beautiful tribute skate to him. For a guy that was constantly mocked and mistreated for not being manly enough to be a competitor it must be sweet revenge that the 2 times OGM and skating legend is so unabashed about being his fan.

Good point. I remember an interview when he said he was SO proud to see Yuzuru standing there in Sochi wearing his costume on the podium after winning the gold medal. And in the ISU bio now, it states that Johnny Weir was Yuzu's idol growing up (no mention of Plushy though that's probably an oversight). They did update his coaching staff and added Ghislain to Brian and Tracy, and it seems like that would be due to an intervention by Yuzuru himself? Surely the ISU wouldn't bother to worry if they had mentioned enough of his coaches on his bio ?

R430 Even if by some miracle Yuzu was straight and dating her, I doubt she would so openly go to cheer him up at competitions with hundreds of media and fans around. It would be much easier for her to visit him in Toronto under the guise of some training camp. I am curious what she was doing there though and with so many fans seeing her and saying hello I'm surprised not one of them asked her why she was there.

Yuzu's practice session this morning: Steps, 3Lo, 1F, 3F2T, 3A, 3A2T, 4T, 4T3A, 4S3T, 3Lo, 4S3T, 1Lo (4Lo POP), 4Lo (saved), 4Lo FALL, 1Lo (4Lo POP), 3A. The runthrough: 4Lo, 4T, 4S3T, 4T FALL, finishing with kuyashii 4T3A (I don't think 4T3A even counts anymore under new rules - not sure why? maybe new rep rules)

@axelsandwich: "Left practice early and in quite a hurry, with a little flourish only on the ending beat of origin, was in conversation w Ghislain for a bit. I don’t know if I’d set store anything by practice but he def has murderface focus on - It felt like he was all ‘fuck this shit I’m out’ (after getting revenge jump in) rather than ‘having genuine problems’"

Same practice session: 4S attempt from Jason - “almost successful”

4t3A, no jumps in the 2nd half in the SP. Why do I feel like this is Yuzuru's way of saying fuck you to the judges. It's like he is beyond caring about losing points.

[quote] The runthrough: 4Lo, 4T, 4S3T, 4T FALL, finishing with kuyashii 4T3A (I don't think 4T3A even counts anymore under new rules - not sure why? maybe new rep rules)

3 4Ts

Oh ok thanks R438. Couldn't he take one of the other 4Ts out to accommodate his beloved 4T3A? The quad loop looked problematic. Anyway, sometimes a bad practice doesn't mean anything - and is this even bad? He does seem in a weird mood.

PJ and Bourne have seen Hanyu do the 4A? According to Japanese twitter.

Pj said she saw it but it wasn't quite there yet. It's in her long insta interview with Shae.

Sorry just realized it's probably not on her insta. Here is PJs interview with Shae

R435 "Murderface focus" ? That's our boy! lol

R437 I hope he is saying fuck you to the judges. Because that's certainly how I feel about the way he's been judged over the years.

R442 Thank you. What a great interview, such thoughtful answers by Bourne.

Apparently Hanyu arrived sporting LGC hair. For you PPS lovers, maybe today's your day.

R446 I guess then I will have to watch him live because there's no way I can wait to see his PPS hair.

R447 Perhaps this will tie you over til then.

R448 Thank you! Isn't it great to see Ghislain with him? He's such a happy fellow.

That hairstyle is nice but I sure hope his costume looks nothing like the lgc abomination.

Oh I love LGC costume - especially the white one. Love that program!!

The white one was ok but the purple was beyond ugly. First of all the colour didn't suit his skin tone and made him look sickly and most importantly because it looked plain cringey ala has been rockstar. I was never a Prince fan so that might be why I disliked it so much though.

R451 Me too! I sometimes wish he had kept the white one but then the purple one had its pluses too.

I understood the purple because of 'Purple Rain' but I didn't understand why the shade of purple in the shirt didn't match the shade in the pants. I think I would have been ok with it otherwise. And you've got a point about skintone - a deeper shade of purple would have worked, I think.

I love him in red - but after CoC collision, I'm not sure he would ever wear red in competition again. That may be my favorite Yuzu costume of all time though ;_(

R452 All you can remember is whether the color matched his skin tone?

Last group left also in Nepela

Somohin leads with 197, only a couple of points ahead of Sean Rabbit. Everyone else lower than 180 points.

His new costume is gorgeous!

And Jason's is hideous. WTF?

Omg! Hanyu's costume! I love it.

Well I just saw Yuzu's costume for Origin/Nijinski and let's say that I'm disappointed. It doesn't look bad but it's so unoriginal. I expected him to go all out.

Why the 2 events scheduled the final group of Men against each other? It doesn't look too wise

Yuzu looks like a million bucks compared to the other guys.

Kolyada

TES 87.05

PCS 91.5

-1 deduction for fall on 4T

total FS 177.55

total total 274.37

Better costume than Plushenko but SORRY IT MADE HIM LOOK LIKE A HAIRY GORILLA .

That costume is a hot mess, too many things going on but there is no cohesion and he tried too hard to imitate Plushenko's style. And what's up with the collar area. It looks dirty.

R464 Those are probably his necklaces under his costume. And I don't agree. I love it.

Forgot to add that i'm also loving his hair.

Oh that costume... He's officially gay like a Christmas tree

That program i dont like

I think Hanyu yelled kuso! or chikusho! (Shit!) after he finished.

Cha was great!

cha is not stiff at all, very charismatic

cha should be first

I liked Jason's SP a lot better. He's such a beautiful skater; deserves better than Wilson.

Cha was great today, so fluid. Hanyu seemed very stiff today and he was out of breath in a way I haven't seen him in awhile.

I don't understand how every year people expect so much from Yuzu's first skate of the season and evey year he splats hard and people start writing him off. It's honestly a normal score for him and especially given that it's his first competition in 7 months and before that he only COR since last year's ACI. The guy has been injured for months and only competed twice in a year but people expect him to pull clean free skates out of nowhere. Not feasible especially with his asthma and stamina issue and seeing his lips looking deathly pale earlier in practise today I wouldn't be surprised if he had an attack recently. All in all much less disastrous than his FS at last year's ACI.

R473 Oops I meant he only had COR (cup of Russia) before the Olympics.

R473 You're right, this is not atypical for Hanyu. Poor Jason.

Nobody expect him to be 100 % perfect but he was stiff , that program was weird...Music is too fast for him. Comparing hanyu to cha , he is even more stiff , cha is like a gum

NEPELA

1. Mikhail Kolyada 274.37

2. Sergei Voronov 239.73

3.Keiji Tanaka 221.92

4. Morisi Kvitelashvili 221.63

5 .Alexander Samarin 215.69

6. Daniel Samohin 197.80

7. Sean Rabbitt 195.83

R473 Excellent post. A lot of figure skating fans are assholes. Don't let them get to you.

Kolyada tonight

Only US judge below 9 in Interpretation. 3 of them gave him 9.50

Voronov

Yuzuru should change choreographers. They re eating their own tail

R481 Like you're eating yours, Daitroll.

[482] Your Dai have wilson if i recall well/ So you should be worried, my dear. Another bore from Orser team

Dai troll is out tonight. Funny how even when it tries to write normally it is still too obvious and makes avoiding its posts quite easy.

haha i dont avoid anything you moron I write what i am capable of Once better , the other time - worse... how do you know I pretend write as someone else? Just ask iif you have problem , i will tell you it is me. Dont be shy and dont be an ass

He always has the prettiest hand movements no matter when. I guess it helps to have small and dainty hands to begin with.

And hanyus 4 loop gets 2.10 ahahhaha +3 and +2 goe . LOL and some ubers say that he is underscored there, in canada

TANAKA

OMG watching the medal podium - Cha runs exactly like Hanyu! So cuuuuute!

I actually loved Hanyu's long program. I think he will work on it more. I believe making the program shorter is harder for a lot of them including Hanyu. It's the first competition for him. He looked like he was gasping for air there after he was done. Whoever said he might have had an asthma attack earlier might be right.

Lol right after the podium ceremony Yuzu offered his hand to Roman to help him put on his skate guards when he hadn't even finished putting on his own. Go get it, Yuzu.

Hanyu should hold a seminar on how to do a black shirt costume.

Hanyu's program might his best yet, kudos to the choreographer, music cuts better than Plushenko, awesome starting pose and ending. Needs more practice I guess.

Cha's program IS delightfully trashy, I'm loving it.

Brown's FS is a booore. Go back to Rohene, pass David Wilson.

Aymoz has one ofv the most awesome elements I've seen, the ina bauer/hydroblade thing. He's also officially hot, seems to be a new-Cizeron-in-making in terms of hotness, and is a French champion in baton twirling which tops Hanyu's prancing, Lambiel's sugar-daddying and Radford 's instagram in terms of gayness.

Did the Irish judge and German judge switch places? Or maybe Irish judge doesn't like DiCaprio?

Hanyu seemed off even before the music started.

R492 Are you serious about the baton twirling?!

R491 you mean this?

Cha's program is almost more cringeworthy than what it sounded on paper

Juuulieeeeet

Chas programs are terrible , this season I agree. He is much bettee then his programs thought

R493 they are sitting like yesterday

German judge liked Di Capri. So his problem is only with Cinderella.

Yuzuru must be struggling with nerves now. Apparently he didn't have any issues with jumps or spins in practice, his run-through looked wayyy better than his performances. He was a hot mess both yesterday (with mostly spins) and today ( with jumps). Poor posture floppy skating, uncontrolled jumps, .... which he somehow managed to fix since moving to Canada reappeared today. I'm sure it's more about nerves than stamina or anything else ( ofc stamina also played a part). His whole body was shaking when he skated and he can't control it. It's weird because it was just a small competition. I don't remember him ever being that nervous and losing control with his body that much. It seems his " I don't skate for WR, scores, medals" attitude didn't benefit him at this point.

Cha was robbed today. He was underscored but so was Yuzuru ( especially his PCS,last year he received 89 PCS with a disaster full of pops).

He was not underscored in pcs , program is bad or he was not into it, so it looked like it was bad. i dunno. it is the beginning of the season . Yet he was oberscored in goe, very much..so it is even , especially for you

R498 He literally always starts the season with a big splat and being better during practise doesn't mean shit. He rarely does the entire run through during them so you can't compare. Finally not competing for more than half a year and being injured for months for someone with asthma means a long and painful process to rebuild his stamina. As I said in an earlier post nothing weird with today's skate and if anything happened it was probably asthma related. Last year he was in perfect shape and scored 155 in his Seimei fs at ACI. That was a disaster not what he did today.

We should just be greatful that Hanyu didn't include any of that fake violin playing.

R494 Yes, I laughed. Really smooth, Hanyu.

R500 Yes. I'm just happy his overall finish was first. Love the program and the costume and can't wait to see him nail it.

Apparently Roman is quite the fanyu which would explain the way he looks at Yuzu throughout the ceremony. Also lol at Yuzu not accepting his fate as the smallest of the podium.

R504 Ohh. smooth move, Roman, that little wrap around. Did his hand slide down to wrap around Hanyu's arm? Roman's cute. I remember him when he was little, Can't believe he's already 19. He's over the finish line, Yuzu, go get it!

r493 Serious.

R504 From the fro t.

Look at him on his tippy toes and really his body lines are ridiculous, especially when compared with the 2 guys next to him. How many on hrt would dream for that silhouette.

His body lines are to die for. And Cha could pass for his wife with that face and hair.

R506 LOL That was great. That dramatic ending pose, reminiscent of Origin, no?

This might be a little nothing competition, but Hanyu's probably also nervous b/c he knows Plush and the Russians are watching and he seems to care what they think.

Hanyu's SP costume consists of ruffles and sparkles with deep neckline and his FS costume consists of black mesh and golden feathers. He's outgayed himself.

r510 Now, there's image of Hanyu trawling Youtube for ideas and French baton twirling comes up, and Hanyu's all "That's it!"

R506 Impressive! If only he had better taste in fashion.

Hanyu feels he isn't able (physically) to keep up with the LP yet.

Hanyu looked exhausted before he even started. He was probably up all night stewing over his SP. Apparently he said "fuck!" in Japanese at the end of his skate, even knowing there were Japanese news cameras on him. Getting edgy, are we. I like it.

His costume was gorgeous and on-brand, as with his SP. Feathers and gold. Both are a little sexier than we're used to seeing from Hanyu, too. I'm getting the overall impression from his look and his programs that he's ready to grow up and showcase his maturity.

R514 I didn't even know there's a Japanese word for "fuck." Let's face it, no matter what he says, all this skating for myself etc., Hanyu is never going to be chill. Intensity and the overwhelming desire to be his best (not just to win) IS him.

Between that dirty mouth and his peachy ass, I find Hanyu incredibly hot. I'm going to miss him when he retires. He always gives you something to talk about even when he fucks up his actual skating.

r508 Savosin's body proportions are even better though. Noticed while he skated. Bit like a swimmer's, but not as exaggerated. Broad shoulders, trim waist, muscular legs. Wouldn't blame Hanyu if he wanted to tap that.

R514 He swears all the time in Japanese. He was swearing at GPF 2015 before his LP because he wanted the crowd to cheer for him when he was on the ice and not Javi who had finished (the crowd was a bit rude tbh). He has quite the mouth to him which is funny because he is also so polite and proper most of the time. And why would he spend the night thinking about what was a clean sp even with the shaky landings. Again it's standard for him for the first comp and even more so after such a long time away from the ice. He will get better as the season advances as usual unless he gets injured again.

Just watched Jason's FS. Thank god Yuzu is smart enough not to let David Wilson choreograph any of his competitive programs. And his costume--is Jason supposed to be dressed like an elderly man? Ugly and baggy.

jason looked like an old man eating dinner at his mother house in sunday, after visiting the church

LOL You guys are so fuckin mean! I want Jason to do well. I love his skating. ARGGGGH David Wilson, what a boring ass program that's not worthy of him.

i am a woman , but thanks . I like jason veeeery much

R520 LMAO!

The thing is, Jason looked like an old man eating dinner at his mother's house on Sunday but in the 1970s, not in the present day. Those were some seriously tacky street clothes he was skating in.

Also, I think he looked better with the pony tail. It made him unique. Now he looks like just another mid-level skater.

Roman's too busy looking at Hanyu to pay attention to the lady giving him a medal.

The french judge must have been a baton twirling fan. He put Aymoz over Hanyu in the FS.

r525 Maybe there should be a Eurovision rule, you're not allowed to score a skater from your own country.

Nepela podium...they gave them too many things....medal, flowers, diploma, gift, bag, cup ..and they couldn't handle anything more at one point

The amount of detail that went into this costume is staggering. It resembles a Shoma special from afar (they used the same designer and people have already started the comparisons) but up close it's layers upon layers. One of the most intricately textured FS costumes I've ever seen.

Is this an Asian fetish thread? Why is Hanyu still skating? Is he a greedy bitch?

Daniel Eaton is Yura Min's new partner. They will represent South Korea.

R529 Please, ass appreciation transcends race and nationality. To be honest, I feel for ass bigots such as yourself whose backward assumptions prevent you from savoring the sumptuous feast that FS has to offer. As the great Dick Button once observed, "a yellow peach is as succulent as a white one and just as sweet when you're licking it clean." Also, of course Hanyu's a greedy bitch. What of it?

R528. His costume is gorgeous. I zoomed in on the photo you posted. It's amazing. So much detail. I believe he is being free. Being who he is. I thought deep inside he would finally just say fuck it. This is me. You don't like it? Too bad.

Watch the way Junhwan runs over to Roman at the beginning of R524's video. If anything, it's gayer than Yuzuru running! Even though he's a bit taller, at 16 with that baby face, he's such a mini-me Yuzu.

When I saw that his free skate had a higher score than Hanyu's, I thought about Dai dealing with the 16 or 17 year old Hanyu clearing gaining on him back in the day - Dai beat him but by the skin of his teeth - and he knew what was coming. Different guys so I don't expect a similar trajectory and anyway, Hanyu has reached the top, but it was a bit eerie. But the prancing was a true delight.

*... Hanyu clearly gaining on him ...

And the way he runs back to his podium spot after embracing Roman is even more swishy than the first run!

Our Roman is into Asians but not the kind with dick.

Maybe our Yuzuru turned him. He sure seemed to have the look of love (lust or some such) in his eyes and the way he slid his hand down Yuzu's arm - um, I don't think I've seen that from a dyed-in-the-wool het

- well, wait, there's Javi... and of course we know how straight he is (bonnets and making out with Eric aside - which I'm sure is just typical male bonding/horsing around).

R530 how many seasons will we give them given their historical record of previous splittings?

Well, that was fast. It took one little nothing competition for him to lose all chill.

R538 I know everyone is saying that but I disagree. I think it's not about wanting to be the first. I mean in the end he won the competition. But it's about not showing the best he is capable of and it's something he is always aiming for, even when he is just skating a piece for an ice show. If it was just about the result, well duh he won so he should feel satisfied. Just like he was satisfied at the Olympics even though he didn't win the free program. But because at that time he did all he could and even with the mistakes was able to show a free skate he was not ashamed of and of course won. And anyway it's funny how so many people, especially his supposed fans, make fun of his competitive spirit. As if you and I don't want to come of top when playing a stupid board game on Sundays. That's just human nature.

So Yuzu found another victim to do his wedding pose. Not that I think Roman was minding too much seeing how his hand was like glued to Yuzu's waist the entire time.

Thanks for the link - I enjoyed the interview. I also saw this comment someone translated from one of his post-short-program interviews, and someone upthread mentioned that his body seemed to be shaking and I wondered if this was why: “It’s been a while since I have competed and the focus (was lacking) on my jumps, things like that. I skated, in a sense, with a taste of fear."

I was impressed with his cat comment because of the last phrase, about him feeling that he needs to grow up. I guess other skaters are open and vulnerable like this, but maybe I don't pay very good attention to their comments because I don't find them as fascinating (though I'm thrilled with Kolyada's win at Nepela and also happy Tanaka made the podium):

Q: If you were to describe yourself as an animal? A: I think the cat? (laughs)  Willful, follow my own pace, and erm, well as I really do things as I wish, it is also with the meaning that perhaps I need to become more grown up.

R140 - I do realize this guy posts on social media with photos of him with his girlfriend, but it really did seem weird how he was so handsy with Hanyu. I mean, just imagine if young Hanyu put his hands all over Plush at Sochi like that - it would have seemed wild, almost inappropriate. And I didn't really understand why Hanyu was so concerned with helping Roman get his skateguards on - he only had one of his own when he stopped and helped - and the big young guy was very near the boards and could have propped himself up like Hanyu did!

I've seen Orser do that, mainly with the girls, like Tursy, but it doesn't look so weird then because they look like little children - but here's this big young hulking hunk of a skater and Hanyu props himself on one skate to help him, like he's a little girl or old lady or something. Weird!

And I can't stop thinking about Cha's mincing at the podium, when he first came out and hugged Roman. It almost seemed as if he's watched Hanyu a lot and has decided to move like him. I felt that a little during the performance but I need to watch again to be sure - mainly I was impressed with at least one absolutely beautiful jump that reminded me of the best Hanyu jumps - it made me think that observing Hanyu so much had "taught" him the same near-perfect technique (at Yuzu's best - today was odd - but at least he has a newfound burning drive to get somewhere - other than that scary 4A that keeps me on edge when I imagine him trying it.)

Wonder if Keegan Messing has landed his 4A, out of harness. I heard that was his 2018-19 motivation as well.

R541 Him regularly describing himself as a cat (neko in Japanese) makes me laugh because neko is also used to mean a gay bottom in Japan (in opposition to tachi for the top or active partner). His uncle fans usually have a field day when he describes himself as such or wears cat's ears (nekomimi) like he did during last year's faoi.

Oh hell, I meant R540 and Roman's podium behavior (which didn't seem unwelcome by Hanyu who's been known to sort of rebuff people when he doesn't want them to mess with him). Oh and what a pity Jason was less than a point away from the bronze medal.

I'm very happy Roman ended up on that podium with Yuzu instead of Jason. Jason did not deserve any kind of medal for skating to that piece of shit program. What the hell is his coaching team thinking? Wilson's choreography makes no sense with most of that music because most of the music is unsuited for the technical requirements of a competitive skate.

I think Roman was probably dazzled by standing next to the GOAT. And drawn in by Yuzu's charisma--straight or gay, male or female, what skater or skating fan wouldn't want to touch him, feel him up a bit? And then there's that magnificent well-costumed ass of his that most of us adore--who could resist that?

That Roman is disgusting. Typical ukrainian. Face of the idiot

I wonder when he is going to get his injured pinkie finger checked and why he hasn't done it yet. It looks twice it's normal size and he apparently got injured more than a month ago which means it's probably broken or it would have healed by now. I find it strange how he so often don't get his injuries checked properly. It was the same with his ankle at the beginning. Go see a doctor, Yuzu.

That's one swollen pinkie.

[R546], Roman is a hot piece, your taste in men is shite. Hanyu needs to see a doctor about his finger. I had an infection like that a few years ago and ignored it for weeks because I was a moron until it became all red and swollen. Then I went to see a doctor and I needed to have surgery on the finger. I walked around with a big ugly bandage for almost 2 months and I still have a scar. I don't think Hanyu can afford this unless he's going for the mummy look so he better take care of it soon.

Roman is a HOT piece. omg . What do you know about my taste in men, asshole?

R547, I agree it is strange he never learns his lesson and leaves his injuries unattended. In every season there's something physically wrong with him, something he's ignored until it got too serious. That one poster who suggested he's depressed may be on to something, he may have a self-destructive streak.

R549 You are talking to the troll there, of course its taste in men is shit. Its ideal is something that's hirsute, covered in boils, weighs 1600 tons and carries a spiky club. For some reason though, it does have heart eyes for Cizeron and Dai.

Yuzu certainly seemed pleased with the attention he got from Roman. Much more so than when Misha Ge wouldn't leave him alone at the 2016-17 Autumn Classic.

{552} haha you think you re funny but you arent ...I dont like japanese men, they look like boys, crying boys mostly. they use too much pink for me ;)and Cizeron is not my type. He looks like waiter or barber :) Not of fan of southern type of beauty

R553 Yeah, he clearly enjoyed every minute of it, this fucking tease.

Hanyu does hide his injuries and has a self-destructive streak, but I'm sure the pinky's been looked at. Doesn't matter if he neglects it - as long as they know about it, mom, JSF and the rest of his crew are going to be on it.

{552} if you want know something about me, just ask. dont make any conclusions and make up things, coz you suck

Oh wow. I heard about Hanyu's pinky finger but first time getting a look at it. It looks awful.

Hmm Hanyu does seem happy with the Roman attention. Roman is a cutie like Hanyu. Hanyu seems to love attention from non Japanese guys. Am I wrong?

R558 He seems drawn to the big boys and most of the Japanese figure skaters around him aren't big. But of course, there was Shohei.

R555, dont be mad, Javi, there's plenty to go around

R556 It's more that I have the impression that he and his mom are more in favour of alternative forms of treatment. Like he wears these stone bracelets and necklaces to help for his asthma and his nerves. I might be wrong but I feel like unless it's really too serious to ignore they will try to find a 'soft medicine' way to help. I know it's quite common in China for instance to prefer Chinese traditional remedies to Western medicine unless in case of very serious illness. That's pure speculation though based on what I have seen or read on this from him.

Created a new thread. This one looks like it's almost done.

R558 R559 He clearly enjoys the attention from tall, good looking guys. I think it was at last year's Rostelecom cup but there was this hilarious picture of him next to a Russian fan who was quite fat and unfortunate looking and the look on Yuzu's face was priceless, as in a ' get me out of here pls' kind of way. It was so different from his happy smiles when posing with good looking dudes. It was hilarious really.

I got a sense Hanyu was cold to Roman BUT strangely he checked Roman ( rather, his dick and ass) carefully. This's a fancam before victory ceremony.

Hahaha

R563. LOL. I would have loved to see that photo. I don't blame Hanyu for wanting good looking and ones that take care of themselves.

R565 Can you imagine the number of bi-curiosities Yuzu has awoken around the world. All with the power of his tiny waist and cute face.

R365. Ha Ha! Hanyu has a lovely waist! So darn pretty too!

R563 R566 I'm curious but would rather not see that photo posted here actually. Let's not drag in and make fun of some poor random fan who just wanted a pic. In any case the pic might have been taken at an odd moment/angle. Hanyu is the king of weirdo faces.

The Russian and Kazakhstani judges worked hard to keep Kihira down at ONT (Russian put her in 4th for PCS), while the Russian and Japanese judges tried very hard to keep Tennell in second at ACI. The Japanese judge was the only judge to put Tennell second for TES and 3rd for PCS, and was nice to Higuchi on PCS but gave her the lowest TES of all judges?

What happened to the American judge Doug Williams who gave Hanyu 7.75 for Transitions and was brutal to Cha on all components? The ISU page doesn't elaborate on a harassment grievance files last year?

And Hanyu is back to his old ways as everyone predicted, saying the competitive fire inside him has been lit again and all he wants to do is win.

It's sad how Japanese judges are usually the only ones not trying to prop up the skaters from their country. If anything they are even often quite harsh on them. Meanwhile every other nationality is being ridiculously biased, worst of all being American judges. It's especially tragic for Japanese ladies who keep getting underscored.

R570. Omg that is a shocker! Kidding here. Yes we all knew he couldn't just be let the juniors take over and I don't care about scores and wr Hanyu. I am glad something is motivating him besides 4A. He just loves competing. He lives and breathes skating.

R571 Will JSF start putting their weight behind the JPN ladies? Why are they so fucking invested in Uno? Is it bc no one cares about Satton? I'll be so pissed if the ladies continue to get screwed over in favor of Uno. Rika is great.

Lol check out Roman's gloves

R570

The Japanese judge at Nepela (Saeke Yamamoto) did her best for Kira. Not that she needed it. But she scored her higher than the rest and kept Tursy as down as possible in both GOEs and PCS

FS

Real scores Kira 147.37 Tursy 122.31

Japanese judge marks would have led to Kira 155.08 Tursy 118.01

SP

Real scores Kira 70.79 Tursy 69.99

Japanese judge marks would have led to Kira 72.83 Tursy 67.58

In all segments she had the highest score of the panel for Kira and the lowest for Tursy

but yes, she wasn't as outrageous as the Russian and Kazakh judges

Russian judge liked Higuchi's SP for some reasons over scoring her like there was no tomorrow

Russian judge didn't overscore Med and downscore Tennell too much in the SP....only one point different compared to the average of the panel

In the FS she worked harder +3 to Med and -5 to Tennell compared to their averages

As said at R570 Japanese judge held Tennell back....reward for the Russian judge helping Higuchi in SP?

The 2 judges were sitting next to each other.

R574 Lol. I knew he was a fanyu because I read that he often likes pictures and posts about Yuzu. Will he fight it out with Medvedeva and Misha? I'm rooting for him. At least Yuzu seems happy to be around him.

R577 Hanyu's been the top skater for a number of years now, so it's not surprising that some of the younger skaters look up to him. I actually feel bad for Roman that we're teasing him here (and I'm one of the guilty ones). It's hard when you're not used to your every gesture being analyzed and gifed for all to see on the internet. Hope he can take the joke and brush it off, but I would understand if at his age he finds it a little overwhelming. I hated the Med/Misha over analysis but Misha especially was just asking for it.

Someone asked upthread about Julian Yee's quad. Yes, it's his first quad in competition and I think the first by a SE Asian male.

R574 R577. Med and misha have no chance! LOL. That is so cute with the gloves though.

R578 I doubt he is visiting this place so better go tell that on Twitter where most of the teasing happened. Anyway it was all in good spirit so even if he might be a bit embarrassed I don't think he will have any kind of trauma from it. I personally support fully his fanboying and him going for the waist when he got the chance. I would do the same.

He looked like he was about to kill someone. Black costume, heavy music and hostile expression... I was almost convinced his FS theme wasn't "Origin" but "Evil" or smt like that. Fortunately, he didn't name it "Nijinsky". Otherwise, it could raise Nijinsky from the dead.

A fan was chatting with Ghislain Briand and apparently he confirmed that Hanyu has landed the quad axel, but it isn't clean/consistent enough yet to put into competition. PJ Kwong also said she saw him practicing it.

Did someone say something about ass? No? Oh well, since I'm already here...

r575 For Kihira’s SP, the Japanese judge gave only 0.20 more than Russia and Khakzakistan for PCS. (Slovakia gave the lowest score and marked her 2nd or 3rd on all components except for SS.) For Tursynbaeva’s SP, Japanese judge scored her higher than three judges in TES and only 1 point or less than three judges on PCS. I agree about the FS scores. That judge also gave Konstantinova the exact same PCS as Tursy.

R576 I don’t think that Japanese judge was just returning a favor. She held Tennell back and helped Medvedeva from the beginning of the competition. She was the only judge who placed Med 1st for TES & PCS for both SP and FS. Even the Russian judge put Med 2nd in TES for both programs. Russian judge wasn’t that favorable to Higuchi for FS (8th for TES, 4th for PCS), and gave the highest TES and PCS of all judges to Meite, who skated just after Higuchi and finished 3rd. Also gave Meite second highest TES and ranked her 3rd on PCS for SP. Meite’s SP PCS ended up higher than Higuchi’s and also just barely beat her on SP TES.

Meite’s PCS are even stranger between SP and FS. USA judge hated her FS. 48.20, (8th) for PCS, 6.0 (10th) for performance, and 5.72 (12th) for skating skills. But for SP, put her 2nd on PCS, 2nd in skating skills, and 1st in transitions? Canadian judge also placed her 2nd for PCS and 1st in skating skills for SP. She skated 14th that day, after Tennell and Medvedeva.

R583 Here:

R584 Bless you. This will be filed in the wank bank under "He can read my mind and is 100% supportive."

Jesus, this is what Javi's bonnet was for. I hope he finds his way after he retires and that it's not this.

R586 That's just so sad.

I'm not sure what makes the clip of Javi any worse than those cheesefest Stars on Ice shows. It's the same shit he skated to in competition, anyway. He's a huge star in Spain & he could easily do TV, but it seems he's most interested in coaching. Don't forget he also has his own ice show with a bunch of tour dates now.

Most of these elaborate shows are not designed for hardcore skating fans, and never have been. It's a big spectacle with music & circus-y shit for the hoi polloi that just happens to have a little skating thrown in.

R588 I agree. I also don't get the negative reactions. Javi has always done this kind of funny pieces like his aerobics or toreador gala programs. It seems to be something he actually enjoys doing. And this Opera on Ice concept is actually nice. To perform with professional opera singers and a live orchestra is quite unique. And in any case it's not like skaters can keep competing forever so doing this kind of show is an expected stage at this point in a career.

You're getting the negative reactions from those of us who hate that childish skating crap. And also hate those cheesy Stars on Ice shows.

At least with the corny ice shows the corny numbers are the main attraction. Here Javi looks like some sideshow act that is making fun of skating or opera or both.

New thread

Maybe I'm being overly testy about minor things today, but can we not start writing in the new thread until the current one is done, especially when the topic is something as stupid as Cha's prancing? I'm not the poster(s) who made the observation, but so what, Cha was prancing like a little gay, which in this forum is not an insult, but an endearment. He trains with another prancing little gay, so people are comparing them. If you don't agree, fine. But did you seriously think the 9-10 posts left on this thread were insufficient to address this topic so that you had to attention-whore your way to the start of the next thread?

[quote] For Kihira’s SP, the Japanese judge gave only 0.20 more than Russia and Khakzakistan for PCS. (Slovakia gave the lowest score and marked her 2nd or 3rd on all components except for SS.)

Russian and Kazak judges were operating on a generally higher scale. They were the highest scoring judges for many skaters. They even gave 29 to Hugec or the Megan from USA when other judges were giving them 24.

I'm excited for Kihira! Also for Bradie Tennell. And Junhwan Cha.

I love Senior B's, where the new stars (hopefully) start to break out and gain some confidence so we can see greater things from them from now on, hopefully. And some program kinks can get worked out.

I watched Hanyu's Origin again - and I got flashbacks to Let's Go Crazy. I may be wrong but I think there are parts of that program that are too intense or maybe frenetic. I think it keeps Hanyu from calming down, the way he was able to so often with Hope and Legacy, Chopin, and Legacy. Well, it's just the first competitive performance - as he said, he needs time to build up the stamina for it, but he never got a clean LGC, so I'm worried.

* when I said Legacy the second time I meant Seimei ofc.

And Kolyada is another won, winning Nepela! Beautiful skater.

Well please indulge me if you hate to hear about Dave Lease and his sidekick Jonathan on The Skating Lesson podcast but my OCD is nagging at me that we don't have this thread finished but the other one is up and running! So I'll fill this end-of-thread up with TSL tidbits. All this according to Dave - but apparently he doesn't have at least some insider info:

Apparently there were multiple versions of Med's dress -- I think he meant the free dance. He says there are too many cooks possibly spoiling the soup with her. He thought Orser would be doing a lot of drinking about her loss to Bradie - but he thinks she shouldn't worry but use this as testing ground. It bothered him that she said "I will skate clean next time as he thinks she shouldn't be focused on that at ALL but in incorporating the changes that are needed that they're trying to make. I think he said they're 20% there. He said her jumping peak was 2016 but then puberty/chest changes - even a slight change can make your jumps different - and Eteri has girls using their upper bodies too much in the jumping technique. He thought Med should look at Carolina and do more correct leg/foot execution for jumps and stop powering them with upper body. Anyhow, he thought Eteri was doing better with Tursy than Orser.

He got off on something I had noticed for a while now -- there's something political about who sits in kiss and cry with TCC group -- it swaps around so much and must mean something. He didn't elaborate and I don't know either but it can be weird. In the long, Hanyu hugged Tracy and Ghislain - but not Orser, though he stood there dutifully with Pooh and towel. They ALL scrunched to sit together. Anyhow so weird. With Jason, just Tracy and that other woman (Dave called Jason Tracy's "little injured bird" though it wasn't that bad in general.... But more about Jason later..... This is Med time. THE TANGO WAS MED'S OWN CHOICE! Surprised me, maybe all you guys knew. David's worried she's following Julia's Lipnitskaia's path but probably main problem: lots of women are making their moves upward (particularly Bradie and even moreso Rika Kihira). Dave very suspicious about the Russians messing up Zag's paperwork - basically doesn't believe the story.

Politically Dave thinks Tarasova's support means the world with all the "traitor" type social media stuff surrounding Med tho all she did was switch coach, which she needed to do - everybody should see that. THey have hopes for Bradie due to "hard work trumps talent if talent doesn't work hard enough" ?? Anyway, this was a breakthrough for her -- and a breakdown of sorts for Wakaba. They said she had too much riding on her left leg in her jumps (similar to male skater Aymoz) which made them tilt (Wakaba). He also has worries about Satoko's jumps - thinks Rika Kihira could really really break out as next star esp IF she would copy Satoko's styling (hair, costumes) because hers aren't so good - please no more tights over boots. Two 3As in a program. First 3A-3T combo since Midori Ito in practice. Her 3As are better than Wakaba's because they're not as wham-bang so she could add a combo. Mao's were very light/technically good - and he thinke's Rika's are midway between Mao's and Wakaba's - anyway, great quality.

Said this is Marin's chance too (with Wakaba faltering and Satoko waning?) if she'll work hard and she and Rika are "new wave" -- think that's the women (other than Starr was more of the same and they don't think Raf or good coach would take her, not enough promise, and "Tom has Koreans who can jump" - Bradie should study Carolina for tall girl technique and personal style - that her current programs are good and she's headed in the right direction with Rohene - but programs too cluttered BUT with she broke out beating Med and if others falter, she'll be right there.

TSL about MEN (except Hanyu): It was mostly Cha Cha Cha !! That he's possibly the next superstar. Great personality, unique and great skating, Dave said he's the "thorn in Jason Brown's side."

Nepela: Kolyada won with Carmen, with a killer quad toe, he still wants to do quad lutz & still working on it. They think he is on an UPWARD TRAJECTORY -- solid top 5 top 3 in the world but it can change with the day that’s exciting. It may be Carmen that made the difference! They think he has great skating skills. Like Russian machismo making a come back. Expressive upper body and power. Very masculine, very strong upper body skating, very effective – like a Russian pairs skater, Kulik, or Baryshikov. Exciting for russia to have 2 strong men with both quality and jumps (Kolyada and Aliev).

Jason Brown on paper was meant to make his mark and did in short from Rohene BUT..., sandra somebody "stars on ice" type questionable stuff with simon and garfukel, missed all jumps – usually 0 mistakes so so glaring, when he misssed that axel - basicallys all he has. And basically, he doesn’t rebound well after mistakes. Dave's tired of waiting, doesn’t think quad’s coming so he struggles w/them putting it in even for believability – and it's not worth it: the quad is not getting enough more points. He’s a performer not an athlete first and foremost. If he starts off wonky it’s hard to pivot for someone like that vs an Adam Rippon – even just trying and failing revved Adam up and there wd still be intensity – for Jason, not a good idea. 3 to 5. system should actually be helpful to Jason to stay relevant – and short looks ready to compete, but if he didn’t medal at a senior B. cd he pull off bronze at a grand prix? Why not? Because other skaters are improving too much – he needs 9s in components to even come close to having a chance. and David Wilson's long program too "non-specific" for Jason (should have brought Sandra in to collaborate)

JUN-HWAN CHA IS COMING ON SO STRONG RIGHT NOW. Short music not great – noise. Free skate his personality is coming out despite silly 90s leo dicaprio – 2 quads, great technique, his pesonality is emerging. Jun is developing nicely – should go more of that free skate direction. World 2020s/fall of 2020 they predict he will be fighting for biggest medals. He is on right trac - this was a real statement. He was still junior last yr – he had jr grand prix movement – slow and steady wins race. Jun is becoming more expressive (a la Yuna after leaving Korea). He has an engaging personality – sweet endearing subtle but nice quality – should work on extension. He has great knees, overall lightness on ice is really nice.

R595 And LGC is a short program while Origin is a long one. After watching it a few times, I think it's not a good choice for him to either compete or just play around with it. Maybe I'm wrong. Like LGC, I saw great potential but I got a sense he felt uncomfortable with it. It was kind of overwhelming and too much for him. He looked tense and vulnerable throughout the performance. On other hand, Otonal's performance was rough too but apparently he was much more comfortable with it. Anyway, looking forward to next comp and we will see. But I won't surprised if he never skates Origin clean.

TSL on our boy HANYU: Programs are "nice." Theyd on’t scream tributes which they think is nice. They enjoyed both. Delightfully uncluttered.

Hanyu has a swagger – cocky but not in negative way – confidence that he can do anything w/his body and know it’s good – that confidence shows thru – and is very effective. He’s doing iconic things, his entraces and exits to 3a are things ppl will continue to study-- spread eagle to 3a to twizzle some of best ever seen. Quads will get there. Dave LOVED Hanyu's Origin costume - and like that program better than Otonal.

"Nathan is coaching himself you can kind of see where this is going."

Zhenya and Yuzu haven’t worked on their spins or runthrus but these 2 aren’t here to win, they’re here to practice. For Jun it’s the biggest moment – not even a blip for med or hanyu -- just a practice or test run. For Bradie it’s a huge moment for confidence. (btw Jonathan loved one of Bradie's unusual 'swinging leg' final spins)

At about 50 minutes in: PAIRS - I won't go on with this sloppy transcript - but a good bit of shade on Meghan Duhamel!! Oh and some stuff about emotive tributes like to Ten and Whitney’s addiction which has appeals to the “cat ladies of skating" that Dave follows on social media hmmm (lol?) Apparently a pair is politically savvy about planning a tribute to Whitney and focusing on opioid addiction. THE END