Yuzuru Hanyu and other figure skating talk part 13

Zagitova's jumping didn't look very confident during this competition. Did she go through a growth spurt? She looked a little taller to me.

R1 she said she grew 2 inches.

Actually, she said she grew 5 ~ 6 cm, so a little over 2 inches?

Well that explains her under-rotated jumps. She'll adjust in time.

Back from the ice rink and reporting again from Helsinki. Zagitova is indeed quite tall compared to other skaters now. As for her jumps they were ok. Not all super smooth but tbh she does so much more than most other ladies before each of her jumps that it's a miracle she is as clean as she is. There were at least 2 instances where the jumps were literally camouflaged as in you couldn't see the jump coming at all. As a small negative she isn't as fast live as I expected but she does so much on the ice I understand where the high scores come from. Kaori and Yuna were my favourites after Alina and a bit underscored. I also liked Kim Haneul and Loena (the Belgian skater). Now off to ice dance, Stepanova and Bukin were majestic, sharp and fast. They are so fast compared to some of the other ice dancers I got scared a few times during warm up because they ended up cutting the path of other skaters a few times. They are not the only ones though. Ice dancers are so fast in general it's impressive. No clue what the American couple was doing on the podium but oh well. As for the cancer duo. I guess better watching this than being dead but that was really awkward and you could see most of the audience wondering what the fuck is wrong with them. I think I understand now what might be the issue with Hanyu Japanese fans. They don't care about pairs or ice dance. The venue was full for ladies and then 2/3rd left once it was over. I guess it makes sense for them not to care about either since they don't have strong skaters in those 2 fields.

I'm an American and I don't care about pairs or ice dance either. And it can get uncomfortable sitting for a long time in a cold ice rink. Fans don't have an obligation to sit and watch events that hold no interest for them. As long as they get up and leave before the next event starts, I don't see what the problem is.

R6 I don't mind either. I stayed for ice dance because I like it but I can see it being boring for most people. I was just saying that it might be an explanation to the criticism that fanyus are bad fans who don't care about other disciplines. But actually seeing the turn out for ladies, almost as much as for men, even that is incorrect. I guess trying to make sense of antis' argumentation doesn't work.

Why are they so dumb.

Can you believe that Yuzu knew it was Plushenko's birthday today. He mentioned it during a post sp interview. Either they keep in touch or he is such a fanboy that he knows it by heart.

Yuzu's got no time for disrespectful fans.

Watching the men now and noticed that there's a very long line of flower girls covered in dark blankets to keep warm. I guess they need a lot of them to clean up those Poohs after Yuzu skates.

Takahashi has beaten Tomono by 11 points this morning at Sectionals in Japan

Meanwhile, Tanaka is imploding in Helsinki

Damn. I like Keiji. The fall at the beginning seems to have really thrown him off.

Bychenko is Dracula after he has eaten a girl?

Just to give a sense about the level of the competition so far. The technical score of the 4 who skated so far (Harris, Virtanen, Tanaka and Bychenko) is below the minimum Technical Score for 2019 Worlds.

R7 You had to go to the competition to see it live to make such conclusion? Yuu are so smart. Wow. They are rude. They dont about skating itself. They care only for their idols

I wonder why Bychenko didn't retire after Olys. He spent the entire off season partying with his GF based on his IG. Nothing wrong with that but you can't expect to come back and be competitive if you aren't training at a decent level.

And why does Krasnozhon have such weak content? Jumps are literally all he has...

And if ice dancing was boring for most people, we wouldnt have full audience on europeans or worlds.

GALA (some random choices in and there)

Lidfors

Man

Tessari/Fioretti

Kim

Pavliuchenko/Khodykin

Man

Turkilla/Versluis

Angela Wang

Suzuki/Kihara

Man

Popova/Mogzov

Shiraiwa

Synchornized team

INTERMISSION

Guignard/Fabbri

Kostantinova

Ryom/Kim

Man

Carreira/Ponomarenko

Sakamoto

Della Monica/Guarise

Man

Steapanova/Bukin

Zagitova

Zabjako/Enbert

It looks like they literally grabbed the first people who stick around

3 and 4th in Ice Dance aren't at Gala but 7th and 8th are invited.

Zabjako/Enbert who the most boring pair out there as the closure number

Angela Wang reworded for her last place? If you are this desperate, get Emmi Peltonen. She is local and she is beautiful. She doesn't have to jump in the Gala

The Japanese pair is a mess. We don't need to see them one more time

there is a Man also between G/F and Kostantinova. So 6 men in total

I guess Hanyu, Boyang and Kolyada regardless and then the others based on ranking (we are obliged to get Virtanen again?)

Che fell on the 4S. Everything done

TES fell by 9 points compared to the box. Some URs called

160 FS

overall 243.19

Cha is very pleasant to watch. He's cute and doesn't let one fall screw up the rest of his skate.

Kolyada begins with a splat

and a second fall immediately follows

he was about to fall twice in the step sequence

That Carmen music always makes me want to re-watch the original Bad News Bears movie. lol

8.25 Performance for that

He stays behind Cha. 238.79 points

and Boyang goes down too

and again

and third fall

this is an egregious splatfest

What a disaster.

jesus christ, program is good but those mistakes

hanyus free is terrible

no falls for Hanyu

a couple of jumps with negative toe (the 3A sequence and the 4Loop)

102 TES on screen

japaneses old bitchies have an orgasm now ,hahahah

TES fell to 98

190 FS

297 overall

Daisuke would've medaled here.

men are a mess

I think we forget sometimes how hard those jumps are. Falling only once is a major accomplishment now.

Anyone catch what Brian whispered to Yuzu when his scores came up?

Brezina second.

he will qualify for Gran Prix Final!

that was supposed to be the "bad" event for second lines likes Brezina because of Hanuys-Kolyada-Boyang. But in the end he turned out a good opportunity for them given the general splats

How many times do I have to tell you all that Kolyada is a damn mess? Why does anyone believe in him?

R46 Maybe it's because he's attractive--he's good looking with a very nice body and moves well over the ice. Good costumes too. But you're certainly correct about him being a damn mess.

2 UR f for hanyu. It is nice that they dont treat him like a saint cow

Judge 6 Performance Brezina 9.25 Hanyu 8.75 Kolyada 8.50

What a great podium! They all looked so happy to be there.

Terrible competition for Jin and Koly though.

I was about to say TP was doing great job because I thought they called two 3As UR but wtf they called 4T and 4lo which were rotated. Or at least more rotated than 3As.

No, both toe loop and loop were UR. Not much , but they were. The point is that 3A in a combo was also UR. They had pity on him, i suppose.Because it is more costly

Finally getting around to watching the free dance. I cannot understand the appeal of S/B for the life of me. Hideous, in all respects.

Reporting from Helsinki Ice Hall. The ice looked even worse today, not surprised about the splatfest. There was especially a corner where it was all melted ice. Felt bad for Boyang and Kolyada. Brezina was awesome. Cha is like a mini Yuzu but a bit more stiff. He is adorable. And Yuzu what to say about him. That 4t 3A is mad. He basically does the 3A from a stand still. His waist is ridiculously tiny and his butt even plumpier irl and his Origin costume looks a 100 times more blinding irl. He looks like a Christmas tree. A sexy one. And he has such an aura. When he is on the ice you can look at no one else. So happy about that podium. Can't wait for the gala and to see Haru yo koi live. I guess Finland is really a lucky country for Yuzu. Did you know that the national emblem is the swan. Might explain the success rate he has here.

R54 I mean mini as in younger obviously. Boy is so freaking tall. Yuzu looks tiny next to him.

One more important thing I forgot to report. I saw Oda and Matsuoka up close as they were filming for Asahi and Matsuoka is such a handsome man really and Oda is as bubbly as on tv.

[R1] Agree, Alina looked very awkward, IMO a lot like Medo at SC. There's something off with their lines and posture. Hunched and not graceful.

Hanyu gets last slot in the Gala

Brezina, Cha, Kolyada, Boyang, Tanaka and Virtanen are the other men invited

Music choices

Stream for gala here.

Downtime. The chat for the Gala stream lmao. People talking about its understandable that some Koreans have been hating on a Japanese Athlete just because of history. Oh okay.

Poor Boyang. That was a tough outing. I hope people don't blame it on his alleged unwillingness to move to TCC. It's not like Brown/Med are having a spectacular season. Seems like ice was a factor this comp too.

R62 I wonder if Brian is feeling relieved now that Boyang did not come to TCC. He has more than enough students to keep him busy.

It was incredible that Hanyu saved all his jumps and didn't pop anything or give up any of his elements. He fought for that one tooth and nail.

R64 Yeah, I'm glad he stayed upright, but the energy he expended to do it took away from his performance. He also looked exhausted at the end. It's annoying that they couldn't at the very least provide safe skating conditions.

LOL Brezina's outfit at the gala. He's not just using clothes from his closet, he's pulling out stuff from the donation bag his wife forgot to take to goodwill.

I feel like Yuzu's FS is still a bit underwhelming in the artistry department. It should equal or transcend Plushenko's version, but it isn't quite there yet. Needs some "wow" factor apart from the jumps. The SP is much better.

Remember: The guys only have four minutes now for their FS. Four minutes to get all the tech in. Shoma looked like he was going to pass out at the end of his FS at SC. Yuzu did much better than I thought he would this early in the season.

R62 Imagine if Boyang had gotten that Simon and Garfunkel program.

R66 I hope he's just waiting out until the final to stun with an amazing costume, because that's just unacceptable.

R68 Yes, all the guys with high tech content look like they are going to pass out. Hanyu looked like he wanted to save himself for the 4T3A. I think Origin can be much better, but it is early in the season. Hanyu said if he's going to bring out the 4A, it won't be until after JPN Nats, so I hope in the meantime, we'll get an improved Origin that's more than just novelty jumps.

R54 Thanks for the ass report! Good to know it's not just photogenic.

Speaking of ass, Dirt Czar, did you ever find the clip of the announcer who talked about Hanyu's ass? Was she commentating on one of his programs or was it on a TV show?

Hanyu's new Ex is beautiful; I liked the sustained note at the end. Did that weirdo kiss the ice again? LOL.

R73 Not yet. It was on a TV show, probably a morning or sports show.

R75 Thanks, that makes more sense now. I thought it was a commentator saying something like, "Great ass on that 3A, +5 Goe all around; and by around, I mean round, and pert and... oh yeah, the jump wasn't bad."

I would love to hear Simon Reed unleashed--"Best skater and best ass of all time."

R74. Not sure he kissed the ice but he could have if he wanted to. I agree It's a beautiful EX.

This made me laugh so hard - he purposefully skates to the back and just keeps jumping until someone notices and lifts him.

Your news reporter from Helsinki. First of all about Origin, watching it live it was amazing and those jumps he saved, guy is indeed a cat. I understand now all those Japanese aunties travelling the world over to see him. Everything is so much better live. Alina is such a fighter and her exhibition really suits her. Girl is a survivor of Eteri's dungeon. I admit I wasn't the biggest fan of Kaori initially but girl has so much energy. She won me over. Kolyada and Keiji are 2 beautiful skaters that you can enjoy more during galas. It's a pity they can't handle the pressure of competition. The Italians were on fire during this gala. Bless them. Haru yo koi was also gorgeous and lol at Yuzu purposedly going at the back for the group photo so that he would need to be lifted by a strong dude which ofc happened. You ain't slick Mr Hanyu.

R79. LOL! That is hilarious. That's our Yuzu! If he wants to be lifted he better be lifted.

Look at how proud of himself he is.

Mr. Hanyu is a shameless whore and I love it.

R67 Origin is a program that needs fire and intensity to come alive, and both times we've seen it in comp he's been focused on just getting through the jumps. Some details that looked incredible in his media day practice he just glossed over today because he was clearly trying to conserve his energy. I think the bones of greatness are there. Like that quote of his about artistry being founded on technique, when he's got his timing down and is able to nail those jumps, the artistry and the wow factor will come.

R83 Totally agree. I loved the bits of it we saw during media day. I hope we see its potential fulfilled at some point. It's a shame about the 30s, as it's clearly affecting people's performances this season.

Yuzu oggling the arms of his next victim.

Takahashi's FS that has beaten Tomono today

Better shot. He loves his life and his throne of hot muscular men also seem to love their lives too. Now he's lost some members of his harem this season he has to groom some new ones.

He was also eyeing Brezina up like something delicious in the press conference. Brezina mentioned he's done 4S-3A in practice, that he likes rock music because it gives him energy, and then spent a while diplomatically criticizing the -30 sec. All that probably made Yuzu hot under the collar.

The cover of Itsuki's tell-all book. Sexy.

I was kinda ok with that cover until I noticed that Itsuki is straddling Shoma. WTF?

R86 Thank goodness, a much better skate for Dai! From what Benoit Richaud was saying, I thought he would be in worse condition. Glad to see his spins are still hilariously shitty though. It's the rise of the geriatrics this season!

R88 What secrets did Itsuki reveal? Anything juicy or is it just, "Shoma is soooo anxious in public. My touch is what calms him."

I wish I was that successful at getting guys.

Javi who?

Junhwan is one lucky boy.

TSL on Helsinki: Davoholic here with an attempt at a briefer summary than usual... First Dai at sectionals (wonderful - should be 3rd Japanese at Worlds because Keiji ugh), then dull talk (to me) to the 35th minute about couples (they thought pairs was a "shitfest" in Helsinki and some gossip about interpersonal mismatches and bad choreo/training situations)...

Then singles: 2 possible “faders”: (1) Boyang (working on artistry and not getting there while losing what got him a seat at the table in the first place: his jumps); and (2) Alina (bad jump technique starting to bring her down and there are girls-in-waiting like Tuk who should grab this chance to displace her – Med’s in hell now but changing her similar jump technique issues may save her – maybe Danlil/Eteri just don’t know any other way to train.

-– 3 “risers”: (1) Jun – may reach top 6 skaters this season – beautiful jumps, improved choreo/personality on ice, just needs tweaks - like to open up his chest; (2) Hanyu on to even bigger and better things – looking to solidify his place in history with stunning confidence and presence now (he can sell what they think is iffy choreo) – remarked on his amazing quad+3A plus uncanny ability to save jumps; (3) Kaori - loving her personality and big jumps – unlike so many, she’s extremely engaging to watch.

They’re meh on Brezina but think Kolyada needs to be there working with him and Raf (he needs competition with training partners - something like that) – he could be so great (they call him Baryshnikov) if only...

The lady asking the questions at the beginning of the press conference asked Yuzuru whether he would like to give the poohs to 'poor people' and I cringed super hard. I'm a poor person, so give me a pooh I guess.

R96. The wording was not good. I knew what she meant. She should have said it differently. Maybe less unfortunate children? Or donate them to children at local hospitals? Anything better than what she said lol.

R95 She actually asked Yuzuri that question. Yuzuru played hide and seek at the press conference.

I wish I could be Junhwan.

I assume right after Brezina's skate, he was congratulating and hugging Yuzuru. Are the days of resentment among rivals gone forever?

Which reminds me of a quote today from that old sweetie-pie Mishin about Lazukin: "In the short program, he showed he is an athlete with great future. In the free, he tried to erase that statement." Nothing like a grouchy old Russian.

R99 tell us more. Was there resentment between Brezina and Hanyu? I don't seem to remember this.

No! Sorry that was misleading. I was thinking of Patrick Chan making saying shit like he "let" Hanyu win the GPF because he was waiting for worlds (where he lost to him too) and Yagudin vs Plushy, etc. So far, there doesn't seem to be any hard feelings - except maybe Javi looking pissed that Alina beat his score at Japan Open lol.

Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be a man as douchey as Patrick competing right now. I could see Vincent similarly making an ass of himself if he was winning medals and given a microphone, though.

R89 He's not straddling him. He's slowly trying to strangle his brother so he can take his place.

Hanyu said it was difficult to jump edge jumps in the Helsinki rink. He was landing his quad loops back in Toronto and was surprised how much trouble he had at practice in Helsinki. During his last morning practice, he realized he could land the loop and edge jumps if he reduced his speed and power, but he also thinks the reduced speed might have caused the underrotations.

I also noticed English articles reporting that he'd said his condition wasn't well going into Helsinki, maybe because his English was a little unclear at the press conference after his SP, but in Japanese interviews, he'd said he was in good condition before he got to Helsinki and then things weren't so well after he arrived. He didn't elaborate at the time, maybe to avoid offending or sounding like he was making excuses, but I think his poor condition was really the condition of the rink after reading this latest interview.

R102 I was delighted when Patrick Chan finally retired. So tired of hearing about his "superior SS" from both him and his obnoxious fans on GS. He's one of the very few skaters I really dislike as a person.

R103 Thank you for clarifying that.

His Origin bored me to death. The first reason is that this style didn't suit him! The music is tense and heavy, which is characteristic for Plushenko and suits his stiff skating but it is conflicting to Yuzuru's style, which is very soft and flowing. OK let style talk aside. Maybe I expected too much when I watched media day's footages. Technique-wise, it was better than ACI but still jumps and spins weren't as good as it should be. I can compromise on shaky jumps but his spins were still bad. And that made me frustrated the most because spins, in most cases, are matter of practice, even some bad spinners like Wakaba Higuchi can practice and spin well, I can't accept Yuzuru who used to be a very good spinner to travel from Sochi to PyeongChang on spins. Performance-wise, there was no improvement all. Stsq was slow and laboured. His postures got worse, choreo and costumes didn't help. I really can't stand his rounded shoulders when he was skating, not to mention flailing arms which didn't bother me but will make his skating less appealing to some people. His team did good job in hiding those weakness for years( mostly by good choreo), I can't get why all of them are back this season. Otonal is better, it suits him but again the rounded shoulders prevented me from enjoying it.

R105 I know you are trolling but his spins during both sp and fs in Helsinki were really good. Fast, centered and with all the position changes. It wasn't like at ACI at all. As for Origin, one of the Italian Eurosport uncles, Angelo also mentioned that this style is not what we are used to from Yuzu and while I agree, I think at least from watching it live there is still some elegance to the skating which is typically Yuzu's even if the program is a bit more tense.

The ice quality was indeed pretty bad and there was this corner with melty ice where all the skaters before Yuzu splat (opposite side from the kiss n cry) and when he went there to jump the 4l I was worried he would fall but he manage to held on and I knew he would be ok.

Anyway Helsinki was such a great grand prix apart from the Japanese ladies getting robbed. Konstantinova being 2nd was a joke. I also didn't agree with ice dance results apart from S/B but I'm not an expert so probably the couples I liked more were just less good technically.

I'll just leave this here.

Different strokes for different folks. I'm not fond of Otonal. I can barely finish it despite the program being much shorter. While I could not concentrate on Origin at ACI, at Helsinki I thought it was sensational and will only get better. Hanyu does soft and flowing well, but I think he also does dramatic and intense well too.

The ice definitely betrayed everyone. Which was unfair to the skaters becauase I don't think they would have splashed so hard were the ice in better condition, Boyang would have been better, I believe. I'm glad Hanyu managed to stay upright but he was preocuppied with that and his peeformance suffered from it.

Here's confirmation of something we've long suspected, the thing Yuzu really really has the hots for is the ice.

R106 Trollling ? Here no one cannot has their own opinion , even if it is negative? Grow up

R108, is that when he offered to throw him? I wish Yuzu would progress from lifts to throws, I miss 3A throws in pairs skating

He could probably land a quint throw and see what it feels like. But don't do it, Yuzu - you ankle!!!

And even skinny Yuzuru is probably heavier than the female pair partners, at 125 lbs or so, plus being much taller - it might be harder to throw him, so a triple would make more sense -- although he could help more than the women, with his part of the jumping.... oh I don't know what I'm talking about -- but Johnny Weir said the great big, rather old Chinese pairs skater threw him in a jump once - I can't remember that guy's name - Zhao?

If anybody else is a fan of Yuzuru's English, here he is saying thank you to fans at Golden Skate - just so adorbs, decked out in his frilly pink blouse:

R114 Yeah maybe pair skating would be a bit difficult (although those pair dudes are crazy strong) but he could totally go for ice dance. He is about the same height as many of the ice dance ladies and probably not that much heavier. Last I heard his weight after muscle gain the past 2 seasons was 57kgs and tbh he looked quite thin this weekend so I could see him being around 55/56 which I'm sure is not much than girls like Papadakis for instance. Anyway let's be honest he enjoys having the arena for himself too much to go for either discipline.

R113 No, is that even the same guy? I don't think so. The Italian guy who was carrying his legs (and had his hand on his inner thigh) proposed to throw him while he was still being carried. If you go watch a fancam you will see.

Unrelated but I just read a comment under Yuzu's sp video on youtube by some deluded Jason fan saying that Jason clearly had a huge influence on Yuzu and that you can see how his artistry improved since Jason joined TCC. I need to thank them for the laugh.

[quote] No, is that even the same guy? I don't think so. The Italian guy who was carrying his legs (and had his hand on his inner thigh) proposed to throw him while he was still being carried.

Different skaters. The Italian guy is Guarise and does Pairs

The guy at R108 is Ponomarenko who does Ice Dance

I wonder why Boyang doesn't try to fit in a challenger before his first GP to work out his kinks if he usually has problems at the beginning of the season. I think he'll be fine and that his issues likely had to do with ice conditions, but between the summer drama and this showing, I think that TSL is right to say the narrative on him will change if he doesn't start improving.

R114 GoldenSkat posted that? LOL. Their servers are down again. It seems to be happening more and more these days.

Matteo can stick his hand in my inner thigh any day. He is a former roller skater who was hot af in his younger days.

I saw some comments on a japanese skating blog complaining about Yuzu's exhibition program and especially his costume. That he is almost 24 years old now and it's time he does something 'cooler' and stop wearing frilly things and doing lyrical programs. I really hope he never forces himself to go for boring masculine just because some pathetically backwards people (supposedly his fans) make him feel bad for wearing the kind of costumes he loves wearing at his age. I guess he is at a stage where he doesn't care anymore and I mean the fact that he is coming through with a tribute program to Weir is proof of that but he is still pretty sensitive and easily hurt so let's hope he only sees the billions comments showing their love for the frills and not the few killjoys.

I agreed with TLS on Zagitova's parts ( that she's regressed). Bad technique started to hurt her jumps. All of her jumps are borderline UR. New rules ( if applied fairly) will put her in disadvantage. Ofc we need to see how she does at COR and what her team is going to do after her jumps were called. But I don't have much faith tbh. Eteri is notorious for prioritizing quanlity over quality. I suppose they will find way to hide her weakness instead of fixing them. And Zagitova appears to be very dependent on her coaches, unable to work independently ( Eteri won't let her )

TES scores achieved in the first 3 GPs compared to the minimum TES for 2019 Worlds

FINLAND

Men SP: 9 skaters out of 11 got a TES higher than World minimum

Men FS: 6/11

Ladies SP: 7/11

Ladies FS: 9/11

Pairs SP: 7/8

Pairs FS: 8/8

Short Dance: 8/10

Free Dance: 10/10

SKATE CANADA

Men SP: 11/12

Men FS: 11/12

Ladies SP: 8/11

Ladies FS: 10/11

Pairs SP: 8/8

Pairs FS: 8/8

Short Dance: 8/10

Free Dance: 9/10

SKATE AMERICA

Men SP: 9/12

Men FS: 7/12

Ladies SP: 9/11

Ladies FS: 7/10

Pairs SP: 6/8

Pairs FS: 6/8

Short Dance: 7/10

Free Dance: 10/10

____

Men FS are generally messier, possibly due to the riskier technical content attempted, even if men at Skate Canada were overall solid

Ladies seem to have more problems in the Short, apart from at Skate America

Pairs are messy but they seem to get over the minimum required even with shitty skates. I guess it is due to all Pairs splitting this season...because of lack of potential entries, ISU probably set for a more achievable minimum.

That shit is hilarious. Poor guy looked terrified of being killed by flying poohs.

Honestly iconic.

he likes it

R124 He really, really likes it!

He certainly does have a talent for getting very attractive, very muscular fellows to happily pick him up.

R119 Agreed. Also after finland supposedly some anti Koreans are at it again slandering his personality in a campaign. Boy can't breathe in a sea of fans and haters alike.

R120 Eteri's packaging this season isn't actually hiding Alina's current glaring weaknesses though, but the judges love it anyway so can't blame the team for doing what works. The judges just can't see her weaknesses. Until of course the next anointed one, and then the previous it girl like Med will shockingly realize how bad her skating skills actually are that the scores didn't reflect. Someone on GS said it correctly, if Alina is the top ladies skater in the world right now, it's not an impressive look on the discipline. Alina should have bolted.

I can't believe the judges are not aware of the Russian ladies' weaknesses.

R125 Look at happy he is. A model for all twinks around the world.

R126 Hardly surprising when they were leaving him death threats on the official Pyeongchang sns. See also, almost every video of Adelina on YT, or Med, or Zags or any Russian figure skater. Korean fandom is next level cray rooted in historical grievances and well, just cray. It will also get worse with Cha on the rise.

Senior Russian ladies right now are boring as shit. With the new eteribots turn senior, Zags won't even be able to get by on her tech content anymore and when that happens, her PCS will go poof along with her relevancy.

R128 That's the best pic yet! Watching him has given me so much joy over the years that seeing him so happy makes me tear up.

R119 What is it like to be a gay man in Japan, is it a big deal or makes no real difference? Do celebrities come out? Are tabloids speculating about Yuzuru? I wonder if/when he comes out, will his popularity suffer, or will he still be widely accepted and adored just the same?

Interesting that Hanyu gave a shout out to Gogolev during his FS press conference. Someone asked the question whether Hanyu could imagine a program with only quads and 3As. Hanyu said he didn't think that would be possible for him, but Gogolev from his club, already jumps most of the quads, so he was looking forward to to Gogo's future. Nice, encouraging words given that Gogo's first JGP season didn't go as planned.

R119 They weren’t being hateful or that critical at all. Most of them just said that they didn’t like the design of his top although they thought his performance was great. One person found the rip in the frills distracting and was also hoping Hanyu would try a different music genre like jazz or rock, even though they still think his ex is beautiful. And the person who made the comment about wanting him to wear something more grown up and masculine acknowledged that he’s the only skater who can really pull off the androgynous fairy look and program well, but felt all of his exhibitions were becoming the same and wanted him to wear something more simple because he looks great in his practice clothes. No one said they hated his lyrical programs.

You don’t have to love everything your skater wears or does, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting them to try something different.

Some things that could be understood from Yuzu's post-win conference: the ice was shitty, the reason why his Sunday practice was so much better than earlier ones and why he was one of the few who managed not to fall on their ass was that he figured out that if he reduced his speed, he'd be better able to control his jumps.

So I'm guessing as long the ice at Rostelecom is better quality, we can expect a cleaner, sharper performance. Maybe Kolyada will land his jumps too.

Btw, apparently Kolyada, who was skating after Lazukin, stuck his fingers in his ears so that he wouldn't hear Lazukin's score. Has this been noted before? Does he usually do that or only this time because he skated after a Russian rival?

R133 Hanyu has skated to a variety of music, including jazz and rock. Have they forgotten those Purple Pants of Sin already?

Only twice . Rest of his programs are lyrical shit

R134 Has Kolyada always been this fragile? I know he's inconsistent, but Lazukin is hardly a threat. But it's got to be pretty bad when the commentators (I think it was BESP) start talking about sports psychologists when they are discussing why your program fell apart. The judges are so eager to prop up Kolyada - the great anglo hope in a sea of yellow faces - that I never discount his chances. He just has to stay upright to be a contender.

r137 I'm not sure but I think Kolyada has only done well when not under pressure. He shot to elite with clean performances and 4th place at 2016 Worlds. But since then I think the only time he skated well, as in just 1 fall as opposed to three and a pop, were this season Nepala and Finlandia Trophy where he was without any serious competition. I don't believe he's skated a clean FS in a major competition since 2016 Worlds. Reportedly, adding extra quads exacerbated his health issues, but as someone put it here, he basically chokes every time he's up against any serious competition.

If Kolyada has lost his confidence, even Lazukin might have seemed like a threat, given that he had a good SP and Kolyada made an effort to remain unaware of how Lazukin did in the FS.

Judges do what they can but Russian guys usually will fuck things up beyond help. First Kovtun, now Kolyada, and Aliev's hardly Mr. Consistent either. Or Lazukin.

Sorry, my Americentrism is showing. Kolyada's obviously not Anglo. I just meant a white face, whether Anglo/Slav/Euro.

Link to a useful tweet showing placements the remaining men will need to qualify above Cha for GPF. Seems Kolyada's still in the running. I don't think Boyang is though. Too bad.

What am I looking forward to most at NHK? Catching a glimpse of Satoko's/Rika's cute cross dressing coach. No, not talking about Mie Hamada.

R128. I love that photo. I am delighted when he is happy.

Pretty sad that some misguided idiots thing that being a figure skating fan makes them entitled to be racist. There are plenty of homophobes who hate on Yuzu in every country and yet there's a massive Twitter outcry denouncing the evils of Korean fans on twitter now, disparaging their culture and Kpop (?) and gatekeeping with holier-than-thou condescension. Why can't people just be a sane fan of the sport and athlete without being a crazy idol-worshipper who fails to realize that they're only the flip side of the coin of the crazy hater.

R114, Johnny Weir did throw jumps with Lambiel all the time. Lambiel had no problem throwing him. R136, the 'lyrical shit' as you so eloquently put it does happen to fit him. I cringe everytime he tries to do one of those 'cool' dynamic programs. It just isn't his forte, he doesn't feel comfortable doing it, people should accept it and move on. I must be the only person on this planet who doesn't like Yuzuru's gelled back hair and think it looks douchey and common. Probably because I know a lot of douchebags for who this is the hairstyle of choice, so I may be biased. *Shrug*

R143 Well, he likes to act cool. Mind you. But his "product" is .... uhmm... horrifying.

R142. I saw lots of tweets yesterday about that and I chose to ignore for the most part. It's the best thing to do but of course some don't think that way.

P/C WD from NHK

R135 They were just talking about his exhibition programs. It's been several years. Which reminds me that a lot of people here were complaining about his Wings of Words costume, but no one was accused of hurting Hanyu's feelings

R135 That's an ironic statement considering the "disparaging" remarks you've made about Japanese culture and fans. I guess it 's only offensive when it happens to Korean fans.

R146 Wow! The seasons keeps getting crazier.

R146 No, why. Is it injury related again?

R14 8 No formal statement yet. I saw it on ISU Twitter.

I'm guessing the WD is injury related. It would be beyond dumb and inconsiderate if they were WD at the last minute because their FD isn't ready.

back injury it seems. Nothing serious

Cizeron injured his back during practice.

The Skating Lesson @SkatingLesson 1h1 hour ago

Aljona Savchenko is helping the Chinese pairs in Beijing.

(Dave mentioned something about doing an interview the same night he recorded his and Jonathan's recap of Helsinki. Wonder if it was her?)

Sorry - I should have checked first: it was Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres

Of course a swan would do well in the land whose national symbol is the swan.

[quote]Finland's national bird: whooper swan. The whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) is a graceful, northern, pure white, wild swan that features in Finnish folklore and culture, from the Kalevala folk epic to the works of composer Jean Sibelius.

Lmao. Yuzu sure seems to have a type.

The boy loves bears, plushy ones and otherwise.

R156 Yes, he definitely does. And it doesn't seem to be a type like Javi either. lol

R158 About that...

For your own sanity, just ignore the wall of text of pure thirst below the pictures though.

That photo with Javi makes me wonder how he likes training without him now. Guessing it has both positives and negatives for him.

r160 Considering he won his first GP for the first time in his career, it doesn't go too badly. Besides, he seems quite buddy buddy with Cha.

Very clear video of the perpetrator and the crime scene. From 3:07 on you can clearly see him flying from the front all the way to the back where all the big beefy dudes are.

R162 That's great! He's certainly not shy, is he? He really knows how to play to the crowd. Amazing charisma.

This is clearly Hanyu's best costume.

Higuchi out of Rostelecom Cup

Plushenko is apparently a bit disappointed that Origin isn't about Nijinski and while I love the program (especially after seeing it live) and understand what Shae Lynn and Yuzu went for, I agree with him. Initially I also thought there would be clearer references to Nijinski. I hope Yuzu can listen to Plushenko's criticism and go read/watch anything he can about the legendary dancer and take back some inspiration. I mean I understand he wanted to pay tribute to Plushenko himself and that they went for other sources of inspiration such as Japanese and Greek mythology but when you choose a program which was a tribute to such a gay/ballet icon like Nijinski and remove all those elements from it, it's a bit of a pity. I guess the fact that this comment comes from Plushenko will probably have an impact on Yuzu. I just hope he doesn't get too upset and stresses himself out and ends up bombing his FS at Rostelecom as a result.

R166 Tbh it's a bit of a dick move from Plushenko to do this via media. I'm sure they have other means to contact each other. But oh well. Poor Yuzu he was so happy on Sunday saying "Zhenya san spasiba".

I couldn't finish Plushenko's version, but how close was his program and interpretation to Nijinski? His skating is so stiff I can't imagine that he did it better even if he tried to make it a tribute. I can understand the disappointment, but competition wise I think Yuzu shouldn't change anything because he already made changes from ACI to Helsinki and by Rostelecom he should be getting used to a program, not trying to switch it up again.

Hanyu's skating is probably closer than Plushenko to how the actual Nijinsky would have danced. And Hanyu does have a direct Nijinsky reference in his ending, and Plushenko references sprinkled through (some of which he left out of the Helsinki skate because he was conserving his energy).

But knowing Hanyu, he'll probably just go "oh Plushenko-san criticizes because he is so concerned about my further evolution and he understands my feelings about never being good enough!" Plushenko could step on him and Hanyu would say thank you.

What makes you think Yuzuru ever looks at Rsport? I'm no fan of Plushenko but I feel the same way about the program. Doesn't mean he has to do anything to it now during the GP, but I hope in the latter half of the season it will become much more interesting.

He remade Plushenko's programwhich was to pay tribute to Nijinsky and stated he skated it as a tribute to Plushenko but it's about his origin? Sorry but it was like a mess. Too convoluted. No wonder it created so much confusion in interpretation of the program that anyone can have a theory. I can't blame Plushenko, he must have failed to see any references to Nijinsky or his Ninjinsky program to suggest Yuzuru to add more Nijinsky's moves. Ofc Origin wasn't about Nijinsky but still it took aspiration from his Nijinsky program, Plush has the right to complain like that. And tbh I don't think Yuzuru was fully aware of what he was doing with the program and he might be in conflict with himself about Origin ( ideas, theme, concept,...). In Origin, I didn't see any references to Plushenko ( I didn't mind, really) because he said the program was a tribute to Plush then he failed.

*inspiration

R169 Actually, no. He never said that his Origin has something with Nijinsky as far as I remembered. That pose was just fan's speculation.

The Japanese mythology inspiration was just Bourne's interpretation. Hanyu named the program "Origin" because Nijinsky was one of the programs that inspired him as a skater when he was little (it's part of his "skating origins") and he always wanted to skate to the music.

R165 She should have WD earlier. It was clear at SkCan she wasn't getting any better. In fact, I wonder whether she should have made the decision at the beginning of the season when it was clear her programs weren't ready and she was injured. This matters because there is a line of Jpn ladies who could have taken taken her spot.

On top of Higuchi withdrawing, Rostelecom have 3 Ladies never seen this season (Gold, Chen and Schott)

Chen didn't withdraw? I thought she was also injured. That will be very interesting.

R177 Not yet. She only withdrew from first one. Idem for Schott who withdrew from Finland with short notice (the vacant spot last week was her's)

Reading further into the twitter thread about Plushenko, the owner of the twitter account was relying on Google Translate and it sounds like google made his words seem far worse than what was actually said and some of the comments were the journalist's own words. Google Translate is a useful tool but not so great at interpretation and often attributes quotes/text to the wrong speaker. "no no, I think he just wishes to see more more arm choreo a la nijinsky but understand its tough at this stage of season with tech difficulty because its raw. i think he knows intentions , at least from his insta post :) yeah I just wanted to clear up. "

Plushenko says he communicates with Hanyu's team, so they probably know what he was actually talking about.

R178 Thank you. I'm going to keep an eye on her SNS.

R174 Thank you. It's as simple as that - Hanyu wanted to skate to music that inspired him. It's other people who made it convoluted and confusing trying to figure out what the philosophy of the program is. Even when asked what elements he took from Plush, Hanyu pointed to one instance and said he would let people find the others. As R179 stated, the suggestion from Plush isn't that big of a deal and I don't see it as a complaint.

R171

[quote] And tbh I don't think Yuzuru was fully aware of what he was doing with the program and he might be in conflict with himself about Origin ( ideas, theme, concept,...). In Origin, I didn't see any references to Plushenko ( I didn't mind, really) because he said the program was a tribute to Plush then he failed.

This is Hanyu's first grand prix comp. UNDER NEW RULES after being sidelined most of last season and spending most of the summer fulfilling OGM duties. You expect a fully fleshed out program at this point in the season? Most of the skaters at this point are trying to figure out the best strategy under the rules - should they go for less difficult but clean programs, equally difficult programs with less complicated choreo, the most advantageous jump combos + seq etc. This is all straightforward practical stuff - no need to go into this "he might be in conflict with himself" bullshit.

This should be a better tribute to Plushenko lol

I think people and Plushenko are thinking Hanyu's program is a tribute to Nijinsky like Plu's was. It's not. It's a song that was the origin to Hanyu's skating, that's the relation to his program and was thus named.

I went to the FSU P/C thread yesterday and it was LIT. Someone suggested that Skate Canada paid for and planted 3000 North Koreans to cheer for V/M. A V/M fan said P/C were just a blip at the Olympics and completely overshadowed by the amazing Moulin Rouge, someone called Tessa fat. I didn't even spend that much time on the thread. I'm sure there was more.

"A V/M fan said P/C were just a blip at the Olympics and completely overshadowed by the amazing Moulin Rouge, " hahhahahahaha you mean it was really P/.C thread? LOL. i believe that sentence was posted by "neutral" fan(well, she claimed to be ) but ocasionally when she has to , she post biased canadian messages . But most people there are no P/C fans. They pretend to be. Most of them are ubers V/M. . I gave up that site some time ago. BTW North Koreans werent paid , but if someone wants to tell me that north koreans KNEW who V/m were...Well without youtube, internet and TV it would be amazing.. But V/M are such great couple that even there they are known. Canadians make a shitstorm that p.c fans are delusonal making conspiracies. But they are believing that N.K came there applausing for V/M because they were fans of them .Nothing has changed. They are still stupid

r183 Lol wtf, I went there and the nutjob is serious about the 3000 North Koreans. I think it even tops the fanfiction being written in this thread.

R185 You mean Alain? So you think antis are right about what north koreans were doing there. You think they came there on their own to cheef for V/M ?Omy god , thats fanfiction! You are just dumb

*cheer

R186 What?

Time zone converter/schedule for NHK

R188 You're talking to Daitroll, who apparently believes Skate Canada planted 3000 North Koreans to cheer for V/M.

R189 No, no skate canada, idiot that was South Korea, jesus. There were emty seats there and they invited North to fulfilll the audience and they were doing what South was doing.

If you think North came there because they love V/M and they got money for tickets. ..They had to , if they came there on their own. Delusional idiots..

who cares what North Koreans cheerleaders were doing?

it is not that they have a vote.

Some do , because they make propaganda and want people to think that V/M got the the biggest applause because all of people there(according to them -neutral audience) thought that they were better. But that only biased fans and north koreans who even didnt know where Canada is

Our dear friend Ashley Wagner is going to be commentating for the Olympic Channel at NHK.

Daitroll, you are always a beacon of mental stability and good sense, especially when it comes to P/C!

I am not Daitroll

R195 Nice try, but even without the ignore button, your cray essence jumps right off the page.

R196 Try? you have to explain to me why you call me like that. Dai? We know you love Dai and cannot stop thinking about him. But yeah , right, better to believe that North Korea knows who V/M is. You are a joke.

Keiji Tanaka should be fined for being so aggressively forgettable. Tech or not, Takahashi would be a huge upgrade on the world team

Who's gonna post the entries for this weekend's competition. I would but I don't know how to do the pretty formatting.

Dammmn, sad about Higuchi. I don't care much about P/C but the shit that's going on in Dance is unbelieveable. It's a miracle that Men's discipline remains relatively unscathed.

r198 I actually quite like him, there are glimpses of a good performer in him, but his tech almost always fucks up the impression. He's just like Kolyada. But if Takahashi beats him at Nationals and decides to take a spot at Worlds, I'm all for it. No matter how Takahashi does, there wil be drama.

R198 It's crazy how deep the JPN ladies pool is compared to the men's. Keiji is a better show performer; he's not a good competitor.

Men Entries tttt t t t t t t t t t t t t t 1tKevin REYNOLDS

2tMatteo RIZZO

3tHiroaki SATO

4tShoma UNO

5. tSota YAMAMOTO

6tDeniss VASILJEVS t t t 7tJune Hyoung LEE

8tDmitri ALIEV

9tSergei VORONOV

10tYaroslav PANIOT

11tAlexander JOHNSONt

12tVincent ZHOU

Reynolds ' new FS music is from Chrono Cross, another Japanese video game. I'm posting the insane broadcast schedule for NHK Trophy on the other board.

Haha. Okaay. I tried. Apparently I can't get the formatting right either.

Men Entriest

1. Kevin REYNOLDS t 2. Matteo RIZZO

3. Hiroaki SATO

4. Shoma UNO

5. Sota YAMAMOTO t t t 6. Deniss VASILJEVS t t 7. June Hyoung LEE

8. Dmitri ALIEV

9. Sergei VORONOV

10. Yaroslav PANIOT

11. Alexander JOHNSON

12. Vincent ZHOU

Ladies Entries

1. Kailani CRAINE

2. Mae Berenice MEITE

3. Rika KIHIRA

4. Mai MIHARA

5. Satoko MIYAHARA

6. Eunsoo LIM

7. Alena LEONOVA

8. Maria SOTSKOVA

9. Elizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVA

10. Mariah BELL

11. Courtney HICKS

12. Angela WANG

[quote] But if Takahashi beats him at Nationals and decides to take a spot at Worlds, I'm all for it. No matter how Takahashi does, there wil be drama.

if he finishes third at Nationals, to go to Worlds he needs to get the minimum TES score in an International competition. He can't go to 4 Continents because he doesn't have the minimum and by Japanese Nationals it is too late to achieve it. But there should be some shitty competition in Europe between Nationals and the deadline to get the score for Worlds...let me check the calendar

Wikipedia tells me this is the 6th program with Japanese video game or anime music that Reynolds has had. Legit weeaboo.

Streaming and other info for NHK here:

r202 Looks like an easy win for Uno. I'm guessing Voronov or Aliev for silver, unless Zhou learned how to rotate his jumpos in the last 2 weeks.

r201 The difference in depth between Men and Women in Japan is staggering. I remember Yamamoto, but Hiroaki Sato who? Who would have thought 5 years ago that Men would be so underwhelming apart from the top 2, that NHK would have to fill host spots with third rate skaters. I'm guessing the wave of "I wanted to be like Mao" is hitting but it's too early for the wave of mini Hanyus?

r206 Thanks, I forgot the minimus TES requirement. Maybe he won't go for it after all, considering the injuries have been plaguing him again.

Minimum TES score must be reached 21 days before the first day of official practices in Saitama

Challenge Cup (Netherlands), TallinK Hotels Cup and Ice Mall Cup (Israel) are the last events to get it (they end on Feb 24)

Jegvirag Cup, Dragon Trophy & Tivoli Cup, The Nordics Open, Sofia Open, Bavarian Open are all in February

Reykjavik International Games, Europa Cup Skate Helena, EduSport Trophy, Mentor Cup are in January.

Japan usually send skaters to Challange Cup.

r210 I had no idea there were that many ISU commpetitions, and that's only Jan/Feb.

R209 Really? You don't think Dai will go for it? I think Worlds was what he was gunning for all along, he just didn't want to say it. Getting to Nationals was nothing - he only needed to get top 13 at each of his sectional comps to advance. Even though he fucked up his FS at Kinki with a TES of 39, he still placed 3rd. He picked a good time to come back.

R211 Out of these Challenge Cup, Mentor Cup and Bavarian Open are the most distinguished events. They usuall attract a decent number of entries and some known names.

The others are really low level. Some of them sometimes got cancelled

The Nordics Open is Majorov, Virtanen and Sondre Boe. All the times. Forever

R207 It's great that he's skating to music he likes, but I wish he'd stop saying he's doing it for the Japanese fans... They're not that into anime/video games and don't recognize most of the music he's chosen.

R 212 Takahashi did say he wanted to go to Worlds. He doesn't want to take anyone's place away, but if he makes the team... was what he said. As long as he's scored fairly, there won't be much protesting given how the other senior men outside Hanyu and Uno are doing right now.

R214 Kazuki sure bit it this season, despite the promising WC performance. I always forget he's no spring chicken either - he's 20.

this week there are 2 other Senior events other than NHK

Volvo Cup in Riga

Alphen Trophy in Innsbruck (which is parte of the Challenger Series)

Takahashi is skating at Legends on Ice before the NHK exhibition gala.

r212 I've been thinking about his injuries. He might be fine enough to podium at Japanese Nationals, but if he's he has health problems, he can't hope to place for example in top 10 at Worlds. Would he really go for Worlds in such situation? I'd like him to make it, though, it'd certainly add color to the season.

t215 lol. Well, the graveyard material Brezina and Voronov seem to be doing just fine...

Sorry, he's skating in Legends on Ice, the show before the gala. I posted the info on the other board.

ah no, Alphen Trophy is next week

R218 Have there been updates on Dai's injuries? Benoit said Dai was hurting, but then I heard he's better now.

Is Legends on Ice Lambiel's show, R219 or something different?

r221 No, I'm just repeating old info, but if he re-injured himself so soon, I don't think it bodes well. I hope I'm wrong and he's fine and will continue to be fine. Fingers crossed. (For him and everybody else.)

r222 I've checked again and looks like it's "Legend on Ice" without the "s", and possibly all pretaped, or the interviews will be live at the rink but old performances aired.

R224 Sorry, I just saw the info you posted about it on the other thread. I was curious b/c I was wondering whether Lambiel was reviving his show. I think it was called Ice Legends. These ice show names are so interchangeable it's hard to tell them apart sometimes.

R225 No, thank you for pointing that out. I think the Japanese title is the same for both shows. And I've found their main page and it does sound like a live show with performances choreographed by Hanyu's former coach Nanami Abe, with live interviews and some video projection with fan collaboration (figure skating fans were asked to send photos of flowers earlier).

R226 Midori is almost 50 and doing 2As. She's amazing.

Uno's planned layout

Schedule for ladies sp

Schedule for men's sp

Technical Panel for MEN

Controller: Raffaella Locatelli, a retired teacher from Italy. She was the TC for Men at Olympics and Lombardia Trophy

Specialists: David Santee from USA (Silver at Worlds 1981) and Natalia Lebedeva from Russia (Siliver at Euros 1989 and 1990)

Judges: the 8 countries with a skater competing + China.

Italy sent Walter Toigo who was once banned for 2 years because in a Junior GP 2010 he was caught (and filmed by people in the stands behind him) waiting for his neighbouring judge to enter the mark, looking at the screen and only then entering his own marks.

LADIES

Same technical specialists. Technical Controller is a lady from Australia. Judges: Meité doesn't have a judge because she was a late replacement and no French judge was originally invited. Japan, USA, Russia, Korea and Australia (Craine is a late replacement too but they already had an Australian judge invited) are on the panel because they have skaters + Taiwan, Germany, Canada (because it was Daleman who was supposed to be here), China

PAIRS

Aussie lady as Controller. Troy Goldstein from USA and Marie Arai (Japan, the girl who skated with Shin Amano at 1998 Olympics. They were a disaster) as Specialists.

Judges: Russia, USA, Canada, China and Japan as they have skaters. Taiwan, Germany (the Spanish pair is a late replacement of the German pair), Italy and Latvia complete the panel.

Seeing Uno's planned layout and that the Technical Controller is from Lombardia, can't wait for Uno's 4F to get the highest GOE of the entire event.

Does Japan orgasm about his 4Flip (especially since his is the first ratified) like how Nobu does for Hanyu's counter 3A?

I wish Dai could go to 4CC. It's not far from me and he is the only person that could get me to pay those ridiculous ticket prices.

Yuna Shiraiwa got Higuchi's spot at CoR

R198, stfu, I happen to think Keiji is hot AF Random thought here: Does anyone know why Papadakis/Cizeron weren't invited for FAOI this year and instead their arch rivals were? Or they were and they declined? I'm clueless about this, sorry!

R234, awesome! Looking forward to seeing her again, she is a ray of sunshine and has a lot of potential!

I wish Rostelecom was this weekend. Can't wait to see Yuzu again and am also looking forward to seeing Gracie Gold's comeback.

Going on a Queen binge and remembered one of my favourite videos of Yuzu: him having a blast to Don't stop me now at the end of GPF 2015. I love that we are 3 years later and he is still here blessing us with his fabulous self and glittery costumes.

So is Hanyu going to have a disfigured finger for the rest of his life? That guy needs to take care of himself.

I love Rika but she needs more neck.

Another PDA from Yuzu to Jun - and Yuzu namechecked Gogo when asked if he could forego triples and he said no, but Gogo probably could. So nice to see camaraderie at TCC

Tukta 76.17

Myhara 76.08

Mihara 70.38

Lim 69.78

Kihara 69.59

Leonova 68.22

Bell 62.97

Wang 60.82

Sotskova 60.75

Hicks 59.10

Craine 58.21

Meite 50.49

1 UR to Mihara

1 UR (the 3A with fall) to Kihira

1 unclear edge to Lim

1 unclear edge and 1 UR to Bell

1 UR to Sotskova

1 downgraded and unclear edge to Craine

1 DG and 1 UR to Meite

Russian judge (it is Alla) put Tukta ahead of Miyahara in PCS. But she puts Mihara above both of them

R243 I was going to say something about Judge 6 giving Tuk 9.25 for transitions, but he just seems to like all of the top four.

Yamamoto, who's a big Hanyu fan, skated. Beautiful spins but messed up on the combo. Still in first with 74.98 so far. Reynolds is last and pissed about his underrotations getting called again. Does he not realize he's doing it?

Kori was with Hicks.

OK, Reynolds tripled his quad toe, but after he's already used it in a combo with an interrogated 4S. But he seemed angry at his score like it was unjust.

Underrotated, not interrogated.

Nobody wants to do their quads today

I guess we'll have to hear Tom Z. bitching about Vincent's scores again. I can't stand either of them.

Uno fell on 4T, judges also had to help him on 4F so he could get first place.

Voronov should have been first place here

The GOE on Shoma's flip is disgusting. I hate him. Sergei's program is kind of empty but he skated perfectly...wtf

Let's see how they cooked the scores:

Judge 1 is Keen from Canada

Judge 2 is Toigo from Italy

Judge 3 is Johnson from USA

Judge 4 is Makarova from Ukraine

Judge 5 is Zhao from China

Judge 6 is Koh from South Korea

Judge 7 is Yamada from Japan

Judge 8 is Abele from Latvia

Judge 9 is Kozhemyakina from Russia

Only 2 URs for Zhou. Can we consider a success for him?

It's sad when Tuktamysheva is leading because she's actually not that great.

Tom Z. is angrily banging away on his keyboard with another manifesto as we speak.

Tuktamyshevas whore attitude make me sick

After looking at the PDFs of the men and women and reading the comments here, I'm not sure I want to bother watching their actual performances. Such fucked up judging.

After seeing those absurd PCS and GOEs, the best strategy for Yuzuru this season is being consistent. I fucking hope he knows that.

The men's event was mediocre other than Voronov, who should be in first. Didn't wake up in time to catch the ladies.

I love how Dmitri Aliev wears his pants, he always looks delicious. All the men should take note.

So how hard will Shoma fans work to validate his scores? The judges have such a hard on for Shoma. I wonder if Japanese media is going crazy with praise.

I was told Shoma was the most consistent of the inconsistent bunch in the top men, but thinking back his skates aren't always clean he just get overscored anyway and doesn't flop as hard as some.

Shoma's score. Disgusted but not surprised. I'm sick and tired of this little goblin constantly being overscored and his mistakes ignored. Do the judges realize they are making him hated with this shit. Even many of his fans are getting annoyed now.

which mistakes were ignored?

The ladies event was much better and worth a watch. I'm tired of the Japanese women losing to Russians getting overscored on PCS with much inferior skating skills while Uno doesn't have to do anything to win, but at least Tuk's jumps were high and rotated.

I'd like to watch the FS to support Voronov and Yamamoto because he is a beautiful skater (if you like Takahashi, you'll probably like him), but I don't think I can stomach the constant Uno promotion anymore. I've barely touched on it in this thread but it's been ridiculous. Even his brother seems to get more attention and opportunities than the Japanese ladies. Quite a few Japanese fans have said they cried because the scoring was so shameful and embarrassing, and are now mobilizing to protest to the ISU and Japanese judge (Yamada).

The thing I find perplexing is that Uno's scores can't even be attributed to national bias - the Japanese judge gave him high scores and gave him the highest PCS, but it wasn't out of line with what other judges gave him. For TSS, the LAT and UKR judges gave Uno even higher scores than JPN.

R266 Because all the judges are bought and paid by jsf to promote their boytoy. It's utterly shameful. Even the British Eurosport guys were arguing about his score. Jackie Wong and everyone else was saying Voronov should be 1st. It's getting so blatant that even Shoma supporters can't stand it. If Shoma had a backbone he should say something about how he knows he doesn't deserve his scores and hopes the judges will stop this but ofc he won't. Too obsessed with wanting to beat Yuzu to care about fairplay and improving himself.

On a positive note, I'm happy to see all these older skaters like Brezina, Voronov and Tuktik do well this season. Not a fan of them although Brezina kind of won me over in Helsinki but it makes things interesting and gives hope that skaters don't need to retire at 23 or 25.

R265 I love Yamamoto's style, what a beautiful skater. When he came back after his injury, he was only jumping singles. So nice to see him land his 3A.

R267 Uno's scores are shameful but why would you expect him to say anything? It's not like he's loudly trying to justify them like Patrick Chan.

R267 Honestly, Uno won't say anything. He has no shame. If he did he wouldn't be putting his highscoring ugly quad floop in both his SP and FS.

I literally cannot laugh enough when the media and his fans were so excited at him trying a new quad last year because then he'd get the quad arsenal along with his ugly barely rotated 4loop. If judging was fair, he'd be fighting with some of the second tier men for a bronze.

R265 I'm kind of surprised at the reaction, but I feel like this was the general sentiment, exactly the same mirroring the SP at Skate Canada where the men's SP was unwatchable but Uno led, and then the FS happened and all the outrage died down again.

What's the reason for the Uno promotion? Why are trying to prop him up so hard?

I feel like at every competition, I can say "[insert name of Jpn ladies skater] was robbed of PCS." No way was Mai below Tuk in PCS.

Uno comes from one of the top skating regions in Japan.

He is endorsed and coddled by 2 of Japan's skating legends and darlings, Daisuke and Mao.

He skates manly with intense glares and arms.

He was made part of the quad race (nvm the fact that he shouldn't even be a part of it with the sad state of half of his miserable quads).

Anyway, Uno was the replacement for Hanyu (but Hanyu said fuck it and stuck around). ISU likes to level the playing field when it comes to the men at least. Bring Uno's TES up. Bring Nathan's PCS up. Well look at that, we have a rivalry.

I figure that was supposed to be the narrative at Olympics 2018 like Med vs Zags, but again uncle Hanyu stuck around at the top.

Judges lowballed Mai Mihara's PCS to punish her for making them fall asleep with that super boring skate. If I were them, I would do the same.

Raf just did an interview in Russian press. He hates Skype and wants more interaction in person with Nathan, who will be flying to Moscow to train for a couple days to get ready for Grand Prix France. Raf also said the only consistent Russian male skater is Uncle Voronov.

Interesting points R273 but I don't know.. I imagine Japan is addicted to having someone at the top so they're throwing all they can behind Uno to stay there (expecting Yuzu to either quit or get injured again like last season - and who else do they have?)

Uno is one of a tiny group of uber-quadsters - there are only what? THREE skaters in the world doing 4 quads reliably in a FS: Chen, Hanyu, and our gnome Shoma. Who's also cute, sweet, and promot-able. And has better artistry than Chen. Actually, they probably started getting addicted to having a top man with Takahashi, so I'll just blame him (since I have him only a notch above Chan when it comes to lousy personality.)

Also btw, poking around at GS: Nathan is getting $100,000 per year scholarship from Yale (one year tuition and room/board at Yale is about $71,000)

R274 LMAO. Okay I don't agree but that was funny.

I don't find Shoma cute at ALL and I'll take Daisuke's charisma & personality over his Aspie ass any day of the year.

Mai Mihara just seems so sweet. I agree that her programs are boring, there's no high point, but I am always mesmerized by how soft and smooth her skating is, which honestly her softer programs show off but sadly it doesn't help her SS scores anyway.

I also happen to like Mai's Cinderella program more than her current FS.

R275 Uno is only a part of that tiny group of leading quadsters because he was gifted that spot by JSF and the judges. Uno's quads are only reliable because he doesn't fall on his ass on them. He is part of the quad race because ISU keeps on ratifying his quads, like the 4loop and 4flip. He URs them often TOO but aren't called on them. In a parallel world, we'd probably be saying, "Ah, Uno's floop got called again! Oh boy, his UR loop costed him that silver at Olympics. Why does he even put those jumps in?"

Look at it this way. Switch this around and say, Zhou who also doesn't fall on his ass on quads. Before ISU called his jumps, the story was that he was nipping at Chen's heels. He was a part of the quad race because his jumps were ratified, like the 4lz at Olympics. ISU decided to call his jumps now and all of a sudden he's a wild nonfactor. Now for him, it goes "Yep, another UR call. It's costing him."

Zhou has a similar quad arsenal as Uno with as bad technique, but one gets high GOEs and another doesn't.

Yea, I think they want a star. Japan is pushing Uno instead of the ladies because Russia is much stronger in the politics game and has a foothold on ladies, so Japan decides to push a male skater Uno instead of their league of ladies.

No arguments with R277 and R279 - well, I do find Uno very handsome - probably the best looking of the lot, held back a bit by being so damned tiny (though Chen is apparently only a couple inches taller, but anyway...)

I've always cringed while watching Evgenia skate - it's so ugly to me - that I guess it doesn't really register that Uno's quads suck. At least he's pleasant to watch and has a kind of intensity and expression that excites me quite often - I still think of that last minute at Pyeonchang - I had goose bumps. I don't know shit about skating technique, just what moves me. Anyway, if Med can be top of the world with that ugly hunchy awkward skating, then I just accept that the whole thing is rigged, so I'm grateful they're rigging a male skater to the top that I like (and not Zhou who is boring - but he'd probably be right up there if Chen didn't have that spot.)

And I forgot about Boyang - I guess he should be in the top group ?? But even at its outer limits, only 5 multi-quadsters? And Uno's one of them. No wonder all Japan's eggs are in Shoma's basket, deserved or not. After Chanflation and Med's former dominance, I'm not as bothered - at least he's beautiful (sorry R277 - I agree Dai is good looking too but I can't see him pulling out one, never mind four quads in a FS, even UR'd - and he'll be 33 in March! so he's just not in the same league)

Just as bad as his overscoring is how much Japanese media keeps pushing Shoma everywhere and using Yuzu all the time for that purpose. The recent episode of the Legend was a perfect example of this. They used Yuzu's name to attract viewers but then there was actually barely anything about him in it and most of it was recycled material or things to make him and his fans look like weirdos while showing Shoma in a cute and popular light. They keep doing this shit. Like in Pyeongchang while most international media mentioned only or mostly Yuzu and his incredible repeat victory not seen in 66 years, in Japan all the talk was about "Nippon one/two finish" and how amazing both of them were equally as if Shoma was in the same league as Yuzu. It's infuriating really. I could care less if they want to promote his ugly globlin brother and play up the invest card but I wish they would at least not use Yuzu's name to try and make the gnome popular.

R280 You know you can dislike both Medo and Shoma's equally ugly skating. They are very similar with their ugly technique and one more expression. And I agree with R279 he is only a quadster because the judges made him one by ratifying his ugly triples as quads. As for his supposed skating skills he only has good edges, he literally does nothing on the ice apart from crossovers. He is a much bigger fraud than Chan who actually was a good skater at his prime.

R281 Yuzu likes to tease and coddle him too. Uno has Mao and Daisuke, and that's not enough to make Japan love him, so they have to use Yuzu and his brother. They and JSF lay the red carpet for him, he just needs to keep doing the same program to different music every year and then fall asleep.

Although I think Uno is a hard worker and he has buckets of projection and charisma, as well as a handsome face aside from his nose, which helps him sell it.

Even the British uncles on BESP were complaining that Uno would probably score over Voronov but didn't deserve to.

Sorry to be so shallow - like R283 said, I find his projection, charisma, looks, and apparent humility to be irresistible. In an interview, someone asked Dai once what the most important thing was in skating - and he said, to be "gorgeous." So maybe I'm not the only shallow fan. I'll try to be more critical - but his skating doesn't look ugly to me - I think he has panache.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't see how someone's beauty should be relevant to one's skating skills or blatant bs judging...For me Uno is ugly as is his overhyped skating. Fed pushes him up so much and today it just got even more glaring. Well, good on him, I guess...Nothing can be done about that. This sport has always been this way: politicking and playing favorites. I just need some tequila to go along with all of the salt after today's SP...

Volvo Cup - Men

1) Vladimir LITVINTSEV (Azerbajan) 209.97

2) Mark GORODNITSKY (Israel) 200.16

3) Ivan SHMURATKO (Ukraine) 199.39

4) Graham NEWBERRY (Great Britain) 193.01

5) Aleksandr LEBEDEV (Belarus) 191.72

Another episode of Yuzu vs. English, always good for a cringe giggle - gushing about his pal Habi's great skate

Jesus fucking christ. I wish I could says this outpouring of hate towards Uno takes the cake, but alas, I remember other shit being said here. So hypocrytical. I remember people being outraged at how Hanyu was called "a sickly yellow kid" back when he won over Takahashi, but apparently calling Uno "an ugly little gnome" is just fine? Look, I'm as annoyed as anyone at the overscoring but you fuckers are just as hateful as any antis. Will you start booing too when he takes the ice?

r287 Thanks for lightening up the mood. Somebody post some nice ass pics, Hanyu or otherwise.

R288 Sorry, I don't see the outrage, Uno is a cute, overscored little gnome. But as a peace offering, someone found the song Hanyu was lip syncing in Helsinki and dubbed him. Hilarity ensues.

R289 Is this something new he's doing to relax before competing? I love it! The other guys are looking so solemn and he's rocking his heart out. lol

Also: Shoma is not ugly. A few years ago he reminded me a lot of Fred Savage at the beginning of his Wonder Years TV show. Shoma is not as cute now but he's still an attractive guy. And I would not characterize his skating as ugly either but it is seriously flawed--as is the skating of many very "entertaining" skaters. And instead of being penalized for those flaws when he skates competitively, he's being rewarded. And judging like that is killing the sport of figure skating.

R290 I think the demonic singing has been around for some years now. Poor Matsuoka is trying his anchor best to look serious.

r289 Lol, the contrast between Hanyu looking like a loon and Kolyada looking like a bundle of nerves is hilarious.

I hadn't seen this before - Yuzuru shaking Junhwan's shoulders from behind - and affectionate gestures toward him in general. And he mothers him like he also does Shoma - adjusting his microphone, taking his medal off when he was supposed to, etc. I hope both the Japanese and Korean fanbases see that these guys really care about each other!

r289 What's he singing though? "Imma fight, never give up, sell my soul for gold, just gimme gold"? I need translation of what pumps up an Olympic champ.

R292 I've seen him do that backstage but never before he's about to step on to the ice. I love how uninhibited he is now that he's got OGM #2.

this is Kovtun's Carmen

He finished second in a stage of Cup of Russia, beaten by Gumennik

Loving the ass and the hulky thigh - so skinny and yet so curvy!

Are Yuzuru's thighs twice the size of Satoko's? I'm worried about the girl.

r298 Well, the costume's OK.

But, is it me or are there really no more than 2 transition elements?

Now I know who Brezina's Quasimodo 4sal technique reminds me of.

r299 I still find it kinda amazing that Hanyu doesn't look like a gust of wind would blow him over anymore, he's actually muscled now, even on his arms. Hot. And that ass is delectable.

r270 The inflation was anticipated, not only after Lombardia and Canada, but with the recent increase in promos and articles about Uno becoming Japan’s ace while knocking on Hanyu and ignoring the others. But the errors were too much this time compared to Voronov’s clean skate and it happened on home soil, which embarrasses Japanese fans more even if their judge wasn’t the only one involved.

NHK is already being bombarded with furious emails and tweets. People are contacting the Japan Sports Agency, not just the ISU and JSF. Takeshi Honda is getting heavily criticized for not being harsh enough in his commentary on Uno’s flip and toe, and for praising his 3A. (The announcer Funaoka? was worse, in my opinion. He really pushed Honda to compliment Uno’s jumps.)

According to fans at the rink, Voronov also received far more cheers and standing ovations than Uno, and the NHK broadcast confirms it.

R266 R271 The ISU is trying to get him ready to take over for Hanyu. Marin Honda isn’t working out too well and that may have compounded the issue. At least Shimada is starting to get some attention and Yamamoto had a few shout outs this time.

R279 Uno is still a much better skater and spinner than Zhou. I think Zhou’s skating skills have improved this season, but not enough (unless you’re that American judge) and his country’s juniors turning senior skate better. Vasiljevs can’t land quads or clean triples, but he has unique spins and great skating skills to make him engaging.

R295 He’s singing Rhythmic Toy World’s “Boku no Koe.” It’s the opening song to a popular anime about cycling. It kind of became a big story but this is not a new thing. The same thing happened when Hanyu was filmed lipsyncing to One OK Rock. He was also fiilmed doing it at ACI this year. Your summary of the lyrics is not off.

R297 The worse Carmen this season so far. From costume to choreo. R299 The girl and her team should shut up about reworking her jumps. They are still small and ugly. She will be consistent forever. Good for her. Who tf could fall on those super small jumps ?

Here's One On Rock's Dreamer. The show did a great job editing it into a music video.

r303 That actually, literally, not figuratively, made me laugh out loud aat the jumping jacks.

R298 love it, I want to spank him.

R303 But that video shows him backstage, not at the boards rocking away just before the six minute warmup. What I'm wondering is if this is a new strategy this season to keep himself calmer just before he competes.

R305 We all want to spank that adorable ass.

R306 Filmed from the back, but you can tell he's lip syncing here at 2017 Rostelecom

Forgot to add the link.

I think he does that to get into the performance mode.

r306 His intense lip syncing at the rink before taking the ice has been reported by fans since 2014 or 2013 or earlier, but I was talking to r295 about how the lip-syncing itself became a big story (Rhythmic Toy World's been tweeting about it and record stores are adding little blurbs about Hanyu to the band's ads) and it's not the first time something like that's happened.

r308 Thank you.

Tuk skipped practice this morning while Kihira was landing her 3As again, but she also landed them one after the other in practices leading up to yesterday's SP. Miyahara was on point as usual. Mihara made a lot of little mistakes.

Ehime Asahi aired a nice interview with Shimada about preparing for the JGPF and training with Lambiel in Switzerland. He thinks the altitude has made a difference. There are five clips altogether:

I remember Hanyu singing before SP warm ups at Sochi. It definitely has gotten more possessed and aggressive over the years though.

R310 I hope Rika gets more consistent. She has the potential to be a complete skater. Great jumps when she's on and a joy to watch.

Oof I wanna bounce some coins off of that ass

Translation of recent interview with Rafael, talking about Brezina, Kolyada, Chen, etc.

Pairs has finished. Ladies next.

R313 Raf using his son's failed skype long-distance relationship as.an example and then spilling the beans on Chen's new girlfriend's father is the best.

Bell was amazing. The wait for her scores took forever. 135.99 for 198.96 total.

LIm and Mihara had a collision during warm up and it may have affected Kim's performance.

2 triple axels done

Yes!!! Kihira!!!

154 FS for Kihira

That should've beaten Zagitova's world record.

well done grandma Leonova

R320 So it didn't?

But let's not forget that Alina also has the "best" interpretation, skating skills, performance ability, and choreography in the world right now. Lol.

I want to say that Helsinki was generous to the disciplines and that's why Alina got her WR but forgot Rika is skating at home with a great FS and NHK just gifted Uno yesterday. Wake me up when JSF starts giving a fuck about the ladies, aside from bargaining for Satoko's TES.

Slight delay before Tuk. There was a bug on the ice. Mihara is third below Bell. I think first jump was under.

R322 No.

Nevermind, Mihara is second but third in Fs after Bell. Waiting for Tim's scores.

Kihira still in first with 244.31 Tuk is second with 219.02.

so Miyahara is going to beat Tuk. Let's see if she beats Kihira by PCS

TES drops. They called her UR

Kihira wins

Myiahara ahead of Tuk by 0.5

Kihira!!! By almost 5 points!!!

Thank goodness. JSF better recognize fast that Kihira is the future for them, especially with next season and quads coming.

THANK GOD Miyahara didn't win. She went clean but can't beat unclean Kihira. I'm fucking cringy at how they have boosted her TES for years. If Kihira's consistent, WR is only a matter of time, can't wait to see her knock down Med at at IdF and Miyahara at Nationals.

2 UR for Sakoto. And 2 unclear edges

Lol someone on Reddit was like Ladies GPF is going to be more interesting than Men's because of the possible upsets. I mean I get Rika being a darkhorse but did they just not witness Rika's FS and 2 3A's get less in scores than Alina's ugly, wobbly FS?

On the men's field, at least the battle to cook Chen, Uno, and Hanyu's scores (but especially Chen and Uno depending on what gets called and how randomly high their PCS will get) makes it more of a fight.

Alina can bomb with any ladies field and still win, but Hanyu can bomb and might not win in a field with Uno and Chen.

If I had the will, it'd be interesting to see Alina's PCS last year as a new senior at her first GP with Rika's this year at NHK.

Ugh, Hashimoto. Takahashi was there yesterday. I hope he avoided her.

Despite the promo, Kihira was the focus before the ladies skated yesterday on NHK. They know she's the future. The problem is beating Zagitova, who even the Japanese media believes is more bankable. Their need to prop Uno is a big part of why they probably don't fight for their ladies as much, but not the only reason.

R333 Ohhhh. I'm glad Rika got gold over Satoko, but I've also seen comments that said Liza deserves silver over her, but if she already has so many calls and I think Liza gets too high PCS and Satoko not enough, what's the truth?

R335 I see the JSF's stupidity over prioritising Uno over the ladies, but I think it's even more stupid if the Japanese think Alina is more "bankable" than Kihira. JSF doesn't give a fuck while the media has a boner for Marin and the Honda sisters and if they just shift that attention more to their future breadwinner they'd actually get results. Kihira has the same standard "sweet girl" image like the other Japanese girls, but the fire in her is very apparent even to someone who doesn't really follow her. She might actually have a personality and win hearts, like Kaori who despite all of a sudden being a darkhorse and getting the Olympic spot over Wakaba last year won hearts through her bright personality.

I totally can see Kihira beat everyone ( including Zagitova) this season if she skates clean. While Zagitova's TES and PCS have been maxed out, Kihira's haven't. Her PCS will go up, that's for sure. If she continues to beat big names like she did today, I expect it will reach 70-72 for a clean skate by the end of season. At the moment, her PCS is 32 PCS for a unclean SP with a fall and 67 for free, not bad at all. She turned senior at the right time: skaters who can beat her are having hard time. Med's struggling and lost momentum, Zagitova's also struggling to cope with growth spurt, Miyahara has problems with UR jumps and edges, Wakaba Higuchi is injured, Eteri's girls haven't turned senior.

Coming from the land of GS and the Russian ladies thread - Japan is "fishy" because Liza got a bronze and puts her in a bad position for the final.

Geez, I wonder how Kaori who should have been a lock for GPF by now last week ended up in that position with also a bronze?

Any bets on how many URs for Reynolds today?

59 on screen now

it goes down to 50

Stays behind the Korean Lee

Sato another disaster. He goes behind Lee

Liza will be in the final...can't see how she wouldn't qualify.

Alena scored very respectably here. Some people on FSU hate her for some reason. Jealousy because she's living her best life?

And Paniot popped everything. TES is atrocious. It is at Angela Wang's level

Alex Johnson doubles his way to the lead. Still below 200 points

I don't remember so many sub-200 scores for men on the GP in recent years...or maybe I just forgot all the terrible skates.

Skate America had 9 over 200

Today Johnson will finish 8th with 199

And Vasjlievs has delivered a TES lower than Johnson. LOL

I don't really like this program for Deniss. He seems to be regressing a bit.

Johnson keeps the lead with his 199.75

Vincent TES on the box is 83

Let's see the final one

Dropping as we speak, lol

Happy for Kihira, if jsf and judges can't stop their boners for Shoma, at least let them drop Satoko and her equally ugly jumps. Med better be prepared for idf. It might not be an easy battle for her in the end.

71.66

I can't wait for Vincent's navel-gazing essay on Instagram

Rizzo beats Zhou by 1 point

Debacle for Aliev

Rizzo is on the podium

Those GOEs for Shoma are the joke of the century. Are the judges fucking high?

183.96 for Shoma

94.14 TES 89.78 PCS

Skating Skills 9.21

Transitions 8.86

Performance 8.82

Composition 9.11

Interpretation 8.89

Voronov is easily taking second place

Voronov should make the GPF as 6th

Uno, Hanyu and Chen

Brezina

Messing has a second and a second at Rostelecom will qualify him. A third will tie him with Voronov and his Skate Canada score is high and should guarantee him to win the tie breaker

Who else can catch Voronov's 3+2?

Kolyada would need to beat Hanyu at Rostelecom. Too difficult IMO.

Why are Aliev and Kolyada such headcases. They are both beautiful skaters with great skating skills and jumps (when they land them) but they keep choking when it matters. Happy for uncle Voronov though.

Samarin would need to beat Chen in France to pass Voronov

R361 Don't jinx it about Yuzu. He has finally won his 1st GP in 9 seasons of senior competition so the balance of the universe may have been broken. I really hope he has great skates in Moscow and doesn't put too much pressure on himself about performing Origin in front of the Russian audience.

R364 Amen to that!

Scores

Let's have fun

order of judges is still the one indicated at R253

4S UR for Uno

Canadian judge savage with Voronov. 6.25 for Transitions

4 URs for Zhou

3 for Rizzo

The marks for Interpretation to Alex Johnson were pretty random...Canada 8.0 Italy 6.75 Ukraine 8.25 China 6.50

They didnt want Satoko to win , but also didnt ley Elizaveta to get silver , so satoko got such weird calls.. 2 lutzes with unclear edges? lol yesterday they were fine.. 2 loop and 2 A with UR? They were fine to me . They couldnt have called her triples , coz it is too costly and then she would lose 2th place

It's funny how any competition with Shoma as the main competitor ends up being so shit. With splatfest, biased judging and shit performances. I guess it's fitting for such a bad skater who doesn't deserve to be as high as he is. When I think of all the people he has robbed of their rightful medals like Boyang and the gold and Javier and the silver, I'm glad Nathan has the strong backing of the powerful U.S. Fed or else there would really be no one else apart from Yuzu to put a stop to this shameful display. He makes me want to stop watching figure skating because he represents everything that is wrong and ugly in this sport.

here we go

Vincent has spoken

After dislocating my shoulder and not being able to skate all week before I came here to Japan, I struggled through my practices, every step on the ice feeling foreign and arduous. However, in the end, I emerged victorious--perhaps not over others, but over the immense difficulties I faced this week. Simply making it through my two programs was more than I could have thought to expect from myself during the flight here. I am so, so fortunate to compete, and the love I have received from my fans has been overwhelming. For that, thank you. Until next time, Japan 🇯🇵❤️~ #NHKTrophy2018 #domokun #domo

[quote]Why are Aliev and Kolyada such headcases. They are both beautiful skaters with great skating skills and jumps (when they land them) but they keep choking when it matters. Happy for uncle Voronov though.

Dima struggles a lot because of injuries - it seems that might be the case again now. Kolyada has no such excuse, however.

R371 He looks like he's living his best life. Good. LOLL

NHK organizers: we run out of money for normal size flower bouquets

They blew the budget on Shoma's laurel wreath (and buying off judges for him)

Does Kevin Reynolds win for saddest Grand Prix (and career exit?)

You have all convinced me to not bother watching the NHK even though I spent $ to get that NBC Gold Pass. Just reading your posts about the judging is raising my blood pressure.

Watch them try the same shit with Kolyada next week. Please, Yuzuru, stay healthy and do your thing.

R377 forget the judges, you can not bother to watch it because 3/4 of the performance at Men event were really unwatchable

Just to give you an idea...the third place has gone to Matteo Rizzo who fell on his two footed attempt of solo quad, jumped an under rotated 3A and under rotated even euler. And that was enough for bronze medal because some of other FS were pathetic.

Leonova has delivered an higher Technical Content Score than Aliev today.

Gala

Rika Tejma (a Novice Lady)

Zhou

Lim

Ice Dancers TBD

Yamamoto

Knierims

Tuktamysheva

Ice Dancers TBD

Vasiljevs

Mihara

BREAK

Sora Tarumi (Novice boy)

Bell

Moore Towers/Marinaro

Rizzo

Ice Dancers TBD

Miyahara

Peng/Jin

Voronov

Ice Dance Winners

Kihira

Zabiako/Enbert

Uno

Well, at least they had the money for proper medals and podiums. Those bouquets are pretty and tasteful. Size isn't everything, R374.

R371, ever since Vincent has been the judges' favorite punching bag, I feel very sympathetic towards the guy. Oh well I'm sure he'll say something arrogant soon and restore balance to the universe.

[R371] Someone needs to take Vincent's instagram away. He is pathetic.

Not to pile on, but Yagudin said this about Vincent: "This guy would win the championship of URs." LOL.

Ladies event was spectacular. So happy with the placement. So glad Rika was able to seize the moment. She is such an exciting, potentially complete skater. A fucking crime her score was lower than Zags - that FS was better than anything I've seen from ZagMeds. But it's not those two she will have to contend with - it's the other rising Eteri juniors. I want JSF to be ready for this fight - finally a ladies skater (and some other younger ones too) worth flexing their big fed influence for.

I know you all hate Satoko for her cooked TES, but she is a beautiful skater and I would much rather watch her than someone like Tuk who is all jumps and hand waving. Tuk is so fucking slow she basically jumps her 3A from a standstill.

R384 Yes becayse jumping 3A from a standstill is piss easy, right. What a dumbbass comment. I don't like Liza's attention whoring on Twitter but she is a very good jumper and well rounded skater but I guess the general sentiment is that only Japanese skaters are complete and Russians are just jumping bots.

R383 The real king of URs is Shoma because he keeps getting away with it.

I like most of the top women. But Shoma and his uncalled URs make me want to stop following this sport. Which I probably will do when Yuzu finally decides he's had enough.

R385, Sure, I'll give you that - jumping a 3A from a standstill is impressive. In fact, she should dispense with the formalities altogether and do a program consisting solely of jumps done from a standstill. She won't have to move around as much and she would waste less of our time pretending she cares about choreo. Win-win for all.

Where did I say this is a JPN vs. RUS thing? Tuk is a total fucking bore, regardless of her nationality. I guess Doug Haw would agree with you that she's a well-rounded skater. I didn't say anything about the Russian juniors who I think are great so far and have potential.

Stop being so ridiculous, r487. Feel free to dislike Tuk as much as you want but trying to make the ability to jump a 3A from a standstill sound like a bad thing makes you sound like an idiot, and trying to make Tuk's jumps appear worthless make ypu sound like a butthurt twit.

Just because she does it from a standstill we have to lick her ass?? She has no transistions

R388 I acknowledged Tuk has great jumps. You are the one trying to argue that she's a well rounded skater. Thanks for the laffs, Alexei.

Hey Dirt Czar, what can you tell us about Mie Hamada? She gets flak from fans sometimes b/c of the supposedly harsh things she says about her skaters, but I've seen some of her interviews and her interactions with students at the K&C and she seems great and supportive. What's her reputation?

Not Dirt Czar but I remember she got hate from twitter stans when she supposedly said that Marin Honda is too lazy and that she should be like Satoko, who is a hard worker. Or something like that. Who knows. But it was all abuzz at that time.

R392 LOL I remember that. Maybe something was lost in translation, but even if she said it, I don't see the big deal. Most people would be considered lazy compared to Satoko. Hamada apparently also sent Rika into the FS telling her she lacked competitive spirit and a desire to win. Sounds like a character.

r380 I'm a different person than the one who argues she's a rounded skater, but if you think what you wrote is "acknowledging her jumps", boy, you've got a problem.

That was for r390, sorry, my bad.

I think someone asked about this: Karen Chen pulled out of Rostelecom.

R394 You're seriously coming to an anonymous forum known for its cuntiness and snark to lecture people about tone?

r394 No, I'm lecturing about being an idiot. But even if I lectured about the tone, I'm sure if they can dish it, they can take it. I guess you'll have to get over it.

Seems like the first show of ROI is a success: sold out seats and standing ovation at the end.

And I guess we got our explanation on why it never worked out between Javier and Yuzu. How could it work if both of them are bottom bitches with a sense for drama. As the great Freddie used to say: there is space only for one drama queen in this band.

R394 My apologies for not more clearly acknowledging Tuk's impressive jumps! How about this: she skates like a slow moving zamboni. I've never seen a zamboni levitate and turn 3.5 revolutions in the air. What a miracle! I'm so impressed! Is that better?

Chen delated her post about withdrawing from Rostelecom.

That's interesting, R401. Here is her post. I wonder what part of it she regretted.

R402 thanks

I didn't see it but it sounds a pretty normal withdrawing announcement.

Unless she changed her mind..but in that case, it means she is a bit out of her depth

R338 Mako Yamashita also has something to say about that.

R336 Skating scores (@SkatingScores) has a breakdown of the judging and the outliers for the top three were Taiwan (+Miyahara), Russia (+Tuk), and Germany (-Tuk). It was the German judge who was hardest on Tuk despite putting her 1st in the SP. Taiwan also had Tuk above Miyahara for SP, but below for FS.

[bold]For SP:[/bold] Taiwan, Russia, Germany, Australia, Korea had Tuk above Miyahara. Canada, Japan, USA, China had Miyahara above Tuk. [bold]For FS:[/bold] Russia, Canada, Australia, Korea had Tuk above Miyahara. Taiwan, Germany, Japan, USA, and China had Miyahara above Tuk.

Miyahara had 2 urs and 2 edge calls. Tuk landed her 3A with a turn and a leg down on her last combo. Her TES was 4.32 higher than Miyahara. PCS was 4.86 points lower, though only 0.91 less than Kihira. (By the way, [bold]Russian judge put Kihira 7h in performance and 6th in PCS.[/bold] How’s that for “fishy”? Korean judge had her in 5th.) You can argue the judges overscored Miyahara on her SP jumps, but I don’t think Tuk was being underscored according to the guidelines.

Long preparation for jumps is a -2 to -3 deduction. Tuk’s jumps have great height, but the setup and lack of steps or creative entries and musicality should also keep her from getting the very top marks, although she still received 4’s. On other elements, she also had 4’s and a 5 (which not even Miyahara managed) on her choreographic sequence and 4’s for the combination spin.

But I think some Russian fans are particularly upset because Tuk with a bronze makes it harder for Medvedeva to qualify for the GP final. I’m glad she likely made the final and very curious to see how she will be treated at Russian nationals.

Not about anyone in particular, but I just noticed a choreo sequence that “does not correspond to the music or lacks creativity/originality” is supposed to get a -1 to -3 deduction. To get 3 minimum, you must have creativity and originality (+ effortlessness and musicality that reflects the concept/character of the program).

GOE Guidelines:

R404 How well does Med have to place at Idf to get into the gpf?

TSL is now selling Hanyu merch? I'm not an IP lawyer, but I'm questioning the legality of this.

The phone case was reproduced from artwork by Liam Cross, Aljona Savchenko's husband. I don't know a lot about copyright law, but a celebrity's image/likeness is considered a property right and artists have been sued. I think it depends in part on whether the drawing was based on a picture of Hanyu or if Cross was drawing the image from his own imagination (if he's drawing from a picture, he would likely need releases from both the photog and Hanyu). It also depends on the jurisdiction because some states/countries have statutes specifically protecting works of art. Not sure if that would apply to works of art used to sell phone cases though. In any event, the celebrity would have to sue and I don't see Hanyu suing.

I'm not R404 but I can't resist - My attempt at assessing Med's chances to make the GP Final: Satoko a lock with 28; Tuktamysheva likely at 26; Kaori ??? at 24.

So to reach 26, Med would have to WIN, beating Kihira, Konstantinova, Mai Mihara, and Bradie in France. (if she was second, she'd have 24 points and tie Kaori, and the five at the bottom could down one placement to tie Med)

To tie Med-if-she-won (along with Tuktamysheva) at 26 points, the following five skaters would need these placements:

Kihira and Zags 3rd;

Yamashita and Konstantinova 2nd;

Samodurova 1st.

Well, I'm sure that cleared everything up lol - but I think Med needs to win France for a likely lock on the final -- and if she's second place there, she better hope for high scores and some slippage by five frontrunners who still have a comp left.

R406 Disregarding the legality of that move (because I have no idea about that) but that artwork is gorgeous. Wow, he got the face spot-on.

Kihira is planning to add a quad next year.

Legend on Ice:

Honda - Concierto de Aranjuez,

Oda - Le barbier de Séville

Kavaguti – The Swan (Honda appeared and they successfully pulled off a throw jump)

Suzuki - Hymne à l'amour

Takahashi – The Sheltering Sky and Mambo for encore (had to use hand for opening 3A but much more emotional and complete than regionals in my opinion)

Arakawa – Turandot

Ito – Scheherazade (only 1A today)

Then the oldsters (Ito, Arakawa, Kavaguti, and Honda) did a talk and complained about having aches and pains, then watched video of their old performances and one of Honda's embarrassing costume. Ito was bubbly and hilarious as usual.

Then the youngsters (Oda, Takahashi, Suzuki) watched their old performances. Suzuki sounded a little emotional. They showed obligatory video of Oda sobbing. They also showed his sobbing clips at the beginning of the show.

Fans are excited to see if Tuk will take her shirt off on NHK TV.

Vincent fell twice in his ex. He tries so hard to be cool but flops as always.

[R411] Has he instagramed about it yet? 5...4..3..2..1.....

Oh my god, they're taking a break to patch up the ice and Midori Ito is interviewing the Japanese men while they wait. She immediately asked Uno about his URs.

She complimented Sato for attending a good university (Iwate) and studying while skating, then said to Uno, "He's studying AND skating. What about you, hmm? What about school? What about your vegetables? " Said she's known Uno since he was little, since he was always crying, crying about getting kicked (didn't elaborate) and crying about getting scolded by mom. Also, it took him a long time to get the 3A. Uno looked like he was going to cry.

R414 LMAO. Didn't Takahiko Kozuka spill the beans on Uno's mom as well, said she was scary as hell and he was always crying?

That would explain a few things about Shoma.

Takahashi is going to add a quad for nationals.

R390, she's a well-rounded skater in the same way as Plushenko is one and there are LOTS of people who think he is. Same Russian school. Both good technicians, a lot of flair, a lot of charm. That has a lot of people fooled. But well rounded? I agree, not so much.

R414, I cringed. Was that supposed to be funny? Here you guys are laughing about Shoma being bullied, if that was Yuzuru you'd be up in arms and wailing about it. I guess it's Shoma's turn to get all the hate, last year it was Nathan, I wonder whose turn it is next year. Don't mind me, I'll be here with the popcorn.

R418 How is reminding him of his URs, something people should be doing more often, in particular the judges, considered bullying? I didn't see you defend Vincent against that awful bullying but I guess that king Shoma shouldn't be treated like a commoner, right?

r419 I think the difference is that it's public bullying. And maybe the pile-up of negtivity - if he was just asked about URs, ost of us - myself leading the way - would clap, but if there's also implying that he's a lazy ass, a crying waekling and not really talented, then it's too much and you kinda start feeling sorry for him. And, r419, have you read this thread? Shoma's the furthest from being treated like a king here.

Thad said, I'm finding Midori Ito's attitude both a bit cringeworthy and funny, just the idea of a Japanese interviewer being blunt and not politically correct is funny.

R419, the post I replied to made no mentions about his URs so I have no idea what you're talking about.

Everytime someone talks bad about Shoma Uno and Med here, there're always one or two posters who jump out, defend them and teach everyone human principles. Miraculous.

Midori Ito should interview the technical panel

R422, as opposed to adding to the herd mentality by bashing them? Miraculous indeed, I agree!

Are there any problems asking skaters about URs ? Media asked Yuzuru about UR calls on 4lo and 4T.

So Uno has a mean mother? Yes, that would explain a lot about him. Sad.

r422 That would be me. I also defend Orser, Eteri, Nathan, Tuk, Scherbakova, and Javi. I think the only one that I didn't defend was Kolyada, I just can't forgive him the Carmen, and he doesn't get as much hate as others because he always fucks up so epically that even overscoring can't help him. The thing I have difficulty letting pass is the unreasonable, illogical harping on skaters.

r425 Media should be doing it more often. I like how in Hanyu's case it's something uncommon enough that asking about it doesn't come across as embarassing and just "what hapoened?" with an air that there must be a good reason, which he always provides.

From an old interview Re Suona being scoled by his mother

" Machiko Yamada said she remembers how both Kanako and Shoma’s mothers were very scary, so whenever Shoma’s mom scolded him, he would just cry when Machiko passed by. When she asked him “What’s wrong?” Shoma would be like “MY MOMMMM MY MOMMM!!” and so she would go calm down his mom. Whenever he was home and his mom scolded him, Shoma would be like “I’m gonna call Machiko-sensei!!”"

Yeah, it all does explain things about Shoma.

Out of curisity, does Boyang Jin also have over-demanding parents, like Shoma, Vincent and Nathan? He seems like a chill guy, so I'm guessing not?

R418 It was funny because everyone knows about the criticism of Uno's jumps within the skating community, but the URs have never been talked about in front of him (unlike other skaters like Miyahara who gets asked about it all of the time), but Ito is oblivious and has no filter. She blurted out about it because they showed a clip of his jump. She wasn't saying it to be be mean and said the new rules make it so hard now.

She also wasn't interviewing him as a reporter but as a friend or an old relative, and teasing him because she's known him since he was little, so he's special to her. Japanese skaters do this to each other all of the time and everyone thinks it's hilarious when it also happens to Hanyu. Uno wasn't being bashed by some anti. (Not to mention, he's almost 21, but more coddled by the media than any Japanese skater and can get away with doing and saying things that no one else can. Your comparison to Hanyu would make any Japanese person chuckle.)

By the way, the things Ito teased Uno about had been said by his coach and especially his brother to the media, and not spontaneously but as part of an image his agency has been trying to create to make him interesting and appealing to the public. So if you have a problem with it, you should take it up with his family and team. Uno was embarrassed because he didn't see it coming, Ito is spontaneous and blurted things out at random unlike a professional reporter, and he didn't have an answer planned unlike for the first question.

Tbh I feel bad for Uno too, but that's exactly the kind of gossip and dirt I'm in to this thread for. Tell me more about the skaters and their shitty mothers

R430 Yes, of course the ribbing from Midori was funny, just as it's funny when this happens to Hanyu and other skaters. As far as I can tell, Midori Ito doesn't have a mean bone in her body (if this is not true, don't disabuse me of it, I love her). It's only the thread's self-appointed concern troll and decency ambassador who would call this "bullying."

Sorry to do this to you guys, but this is the single most unattractive picture of Hanyu's ass I've ever seen.

R433 Isn't that Yuzu's frontside? Or is he in the grips of demonic possession and able to twist the top half of his body completely around?

And speaking of parents, anyone have photos of Hanyu with his father? I've only seen a couple of pics of him. Was he at the Olympics?

R434 I just meant the lump in the back. I don't understand what it is. Muffin top? Part of his thigh? Ass mound? Hard to say.

I don't think I've ever seen a picture of Hanyu's father. The one pic of his father I thought I saw was actually of his coach, Tsuzuki. His grandparents were at the Olympics. I'm guessing the father keeps a very low profile because he's still working and they don't want him getting harassed at school.

Pretry sure that's his ass, it's just a very unfortunate angle. Very funny though, thank you.

A lot of skaters have that shelf thing on their asses - it shows up on Adam Rippon all the time, not just in a photo that catches it due to the weird angle. I think Sadovsky has hips like that, all the time too. Oh, I've seen it on lots of the men. Must be part of the ordinary musculature, more marked in some people than others - but then, all muscles are like that - they vary by person and how much they work, etc.

R435 I've seen what was supposedly a picture of his dad (black and white from a newspaper or newsletter, him sitting in his office), though I couldn't find it again. Whoever he was, he was a pleasant, mild-looking guy, kind of cute in a scholarly middle-aged salaryman way, full head of hair and glasses. Hanyu takes strongly after his mother but there was a resemblance around the eyes and mouth. If it was indeed Dad Hanyu then the full cheekbone gene comes from both sides of the family, I noticed, though Hanyu's particular structure is his mother's.

I want to say somebody translated his name as Hiroaki but I could easily be conflating that with someone else, it was months ago.

R438 Thanks. I know I saw a photo of his dad driving him to a competition in Japan but that was quite some time ago.

While I admire his parents for staying out of the limelight, it's hard not to be curious about the people who raised such an amazing kid.

R438 Very close. It’s Hidetoshi.

R414 I think everyone at his rink has said that at some point. Yamada described her as the scariest of all moms and she was known to act as a second coach who was stricter than his actual coach. It’s an open secret that she’s behind Itsuki’s twitter.

R391 Hamada is known as “The Crusher” and “Demon Coach.” Her critics believe she’s the cause of her students’ pre-rotation/under-rotation issues and constant injuries, forces them to re-use choreography from other skaters, and can’t coach seniors or girls who aren’t tiny, which is why she’s sometimes referred to as the Japanese Eteri.

She’s said the most important thing a young skater needs is “discipline” and doesn’t care if she’s not liked. Her students always say she’s frightening. Miyahara has said she can’t think of a time when she wasn’t, although she has complete trust in her. I think Miyahara is Hamada’s first skater to make it to senior worlds, which makes her extra special in Hamada’s eyes, and Tamura has been more in charge of Kihira for the last couple of years.

On Kihira’s FS, Hamada said she told her the day before that she needed a stronger fighting spirit (other articles reported she told Kihira right as she was about to skate to set her on fire, but I didn’t see it on the broadcast), but she knew Kihira would get those high scores and was grateful to her for bringing them that far.

On Honda, Hamada said Marin possessed the ability and charisma to skate well, but would easily break concentration and wouldn’t practice enough when she needed the repetition to become consistent. (Tamura has said the same in nicer terms.) She also scolded the media for giving the girl too much praise and attention, so I think Hamada said what she said because she felt the media focus was ruining Marin.

Hamada’s mom was a hibakusha, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing who suffered radiation poisoning, and Hamada visited her grave during the competition this weekend. I don’t know if that contributes to her manner, but it must have had a profound effect on her worldview.

Photo of young Hamada when she was training in the USA with Peter Bets (?) where she learned how to dance and use edges. She got as high as tenth in Japanese nationals:

Satoko does appear to have a chronic fearful expression on her face. I guess she has Hamada to thank for that.

I must the only one who is glad that Yuzuru confirmed he wouldn't attemp 4A in competition anytime soon, which helped shut up quite a lot delusional fans who acted as if he would throw 4As here and there right tomorrow. Not that I doubt the guy but despite the hype on 4A by media and his fans after Olympics, I never thought he could land decent 4As in practice, much less land it consistently to incorporate it in his layout. Oh well, I'm right. At 5% success rate, even sheer luck couldn't help him land it in competition.

R440 Thanks.

[quote]Hamada’s mom was a hibakusha, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing who suffered radiation poisoning, and Hamada visited her grave during the competition this weekend. I don’t know if that contributes to her manner, but it must have had a profound effect on her worldview.

LOL "The Crusher" I love it. Yeah, I'm sure being so close to such unfathomable suffering and hardship is going to affect your worldview. I can see why someone like that wouldn't have any tolerance for people who don't work hard for the opportunities given to them.

R441 I think Satoko just has a problematic resting face. Kanako recently said that Satoko is very funny and talkative once you get to know her, but it takes a long time to get to know her. They asked Kanako how much of a personality Satoko has before you get to know her and she said: zero. I saw it briefly on twitter and am paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it.

R442 Do we really know his success rate in practice right now? When he threw out the 5%/20% numbers, I thought it was unclear whether he was talking about how often he was landing them or how close they are to his ideal (in terms of +GOE etc.).

But I agree, landing a 4A is no small thing. If he wants it, I hope he gets it, but sometimes people just aren't realistic about what it takes to get to his level - you can't have a complete, clean program + a dangerous unprecedented jump 2 competitions into the season. I know Hanyu often rises to the occasion, but he is human and some of his fans are way too greedy.

R442 No, you are not the only one. I never thought Hanyu should have worked on that 4Lutz; I thought the 4Loop was enough for another Olympic win. And I'm not at all in favor of him destroying his body just to be the first to get a ratified 4A in competition.

R445 I want him to land it in competition, the first or not, to fullfill his dream. If he doesn't, I don't mind though. I'm just annoyed at greedy fans who talked about 4A day in day out and wondered when he would jump it in comp. It's partly his fault, I wish he hadn't been so loud about it which lead his fans to believe he already landed it many times in practice and was waiting to perform it in competitions one day. But more than anyone else, his fans should know he talked about possibility of 4A in such a confident way because he has the habit of thinking big ( or he forced himself to do so) which helps propel him towards the achievement of his goals, NOT because he already mastered it. Anyway, he never can live in peace because he's always put under pressure by himself, media and by his own fans.

Okay, I know that I might not be reading the room here. But I like this program a lot and I'm glad Shoma's finally doing it EXs. (even if the EX comes after a competition with ridiculous overscoring).

So I finally finished watching the men's sp and fs. Not surprised Uno won. He was definitely overscored in the sp. I'm just glad he didn't beat Hanyu's record. I probably would be more upset.

I agree some of the Hanyu fans need to cut it on the 4A. He will do it when and if he feels ready. I don't care of he is the first to land it or not. What I don't want is Hanyu trying a 4A when isn't ready and injures himself badly. That would be devastating for him.

R447 Welcome! No point in reading the room. We all say shit that will annoy at least one other person. Hopefully, you have thick skin. I like the Great Spirit program too, but he needs to lose the makeup. LOL I heard Deniss applied Shoma's makeup. Didn't know Deniss had such a great sense of humor. That, or he was very pissed about the overscoring.

[R449] I love the makeup. It looks like he's trying so hard to be fierce and threatening but he's so small and cute. Like an angry squirrel. An angry, underrotating squirrel.

That squirrel and Shoma share the same hair colorist.

R449 I didn't hear about Deniss. That explains a lot. And thanks for the welcome.

I'm pretty sure that squirrel doesn't have a hair stylist. It just gets tangled into knots with twigs and assorted detritus of the forest floor.

Oh wait no that checks out.

Forgive me if this has been posted here already. Why does he look so damn perfect?

R452

deep thoughts from Shoma:

Q: what kind of image is this exhibition program supposed to convey?

Shoma: I have no idea hahaha

Q: what kind of image is the face paint supposed to be?

Shoma: uh, well even I have no idea but when I asked the skater Deniss......uh. I don’t know his last name. but when I asked Deniss senshu, that’s what he ended up drawing

Deniss passed up a great opportunity to draw cock and balls on Shoma's cheek with a sharpie. Tsk. what do they teach there at Champery? Not life skills obviously.

r455 I feel like Shoma will do pretty much anything unquestioningly and then just be like ... "I don't know". All you have to do is intercept him halfway to the ice and tell him that there's been a last minute change in plans, and you could get him to go out there doing whatever you wanted.

r456 Shoma wouldn't notice. Or if he did, he'd just be like ... "I have a penis on my face. Is this sex? Did I just lose my virginity?"

Don't know if I should post this or not -- just my un-tidy notes from the latest TSL on NHK , if anybody's interested - not much on Uno's over-scoring controversy which surprised me as Dave does a lot of jump studies - he's doing (or has done?) a video comparison of Hanyu/Uno/Chen jump technique from their first three GPs this season -- but anyway, for what it's worth:

At 34 minutes they talk about Uno (after pairs discussion discussing Aljona/Kneirems bustup) – Dave said Uno has best extension of the men, loves his skating, he skates big by extending – he has flip problems and is inconsistent (his flip’s gotten worse?) – Hanyu is best overall – but Uno is the best performer, though he can’t go clean because his technique fails him. Zhou has affinity for Tammy not Tom, but why were they both there? - If you think Shoma is hit and miss Vincent is worse – Zhou bad technique (straight leg; he can’t open up; his quads are cheated; his skating skills are not there) – Mia Hamada told Zhou “You can’t skate” – his program is jarring/hard to watch; plus embarrassing social media posts. At 44 Jon says Zhou posture is like a duck or a scared dog due to tailbone placement. He’s doing too many quads and T&T are letting him train himself into the ground. Rizzo eyelashes are great -- [then some ice dance talk (I think)]

1.01 ladies: Mariah bell stepped it up, but why wasn’t Raf there? If Bradie falters, Mariah could be #1 US lady. Dave loves Alex Johnson’s hair and costume. Zach – something about his pelvic floor – Dave just enjoys his ass. Eunsoo Lim was beautiful. Poor Marin while her sibs are doing great –he said she must be stress eating. Eunsoo just amazing. Her short should have been 3rd. Tuk doing great selling herself like Miki Ando. Tuk has more baby Plushy in her than we think: Sasha Plushenko: playing violin, doing shows, etc. (1.11) - Sasha’s mother is engineering quite a product. Satoko: you could tell by her face Hamada was afraid Satoko wasn’t going to win after Rika’s skate. Rika: Tom Dickson’s work was great – Dave doesn’t like her costume – Rika, Eunsoo and Tuk jump w/their legs – so they have better technique (and staying power?) than Eteri girls. Both thought the ladies was best of disciplines at NHK – though Jonathan loved his fave Aliev’s short.

R455 I don't know how anyone can read this and still say Uno has great interpretation when he interprets everything the same way. Doesn't take away the fact that he is a great performer because of his undeniably natural talent and skills.

R459 I'm interested in his video comparisions, does he have a channel of something

Golden Spin entries are out

46 Ladies.....Gosh, it will long...

Pogosplat is back. Tuk, Bell, Tennell, Megan Who will be there

30 Men...Jason Brown, Krasnozhon, Bychenko, Samarin, Samohin, Kovtun, Vasiljevs, Majorov and his bother

Ice Dance is tame this year after last year big riggings, erm, fights. There will only be showdown between the cancer dance and the other Germans ahead of Nationals.

Christopher Caluza is entered at Golden Spin??? I thought he's been skating on cruise ships the past few years. Never expected to see him come back.

If only they were treating their piggybank a bit better. Shoma with his ugly URs, millions crossovers and grandpa skating style clearly doesn't bring in the masses no matter how hard the media propaganda machine is trying to make you believe he does.

R463 maybe the cruise ship had a stop in Zagreb planned for December|!

r464 That's quite telling... I wouldn't have expected Uno's event to beat Hanyu's, but the viewership was significantly lower than Ladies?

The surprising fact, though, is that the NHK Ladies event had lower viewership than the Helsinki one, even though Helsinki Ladies skated in the middle of Japanese night. But somebody posted a Japanese broadcasting schedule of NHK and it apparently collided with many other broadcasts of sporting events, so perhaps that's the explanation.

Anyway, I guess all you complainers about how JSF should throw more weight behind Ladies instead of focusing on Uno are completely right.

Torgashew has withdrawn from Junior GP Final

Gogolev is his replacement

R467 wow! Lucky break for gogo.

Schedule for Rostelecom with time zone conversions

R467, what?!!! THAT I did not expect..... Why did T retire? (Better be a damn good reason....)

R461 - maybe he meant the linked video where he compares Uno, Hanyu, and Jason Brown (I might have misunderstood when I listened last night when I thought he said Chen but it was Brown- or maybe he's doing another one?) They do have a channel at Youtube, but here's the link the the three jumper comparison:

Why is the Golden Spin at the same time as the Grand Prix Finals, what the actual fuck ISU

Why is Javi always into these cheesy outdated numbers. I thought it was because poor him had to suffer through David Wilson's music and choreo choices all these years but clearly the guy loves it. It's a pity that such a sexy beautiful man like him goes so often for either comedic or cheesy programs.

R462 Is it even possible to do all of the ladies in the same day?

R466 Friday was a regular working day and Ladies SP was during working hours. The broadcast also kept switching between two NHK channels due to J-League and other sporting events, which was very frustrating and probably confused a lot of viewers. They also interrupted the medal ceremonies. But Men was during golden hours and Uno had far more promotion than anyone else, so his team and JSF is probably freaking out right now. The general public seems to like him as a character, but apparently aren't as drawn into his skating, so they may need to rethink how he's being packaged. With Hanyu, everyone knows records might be broken and history could be made, so there's an incentive to tune in even if you're not big on figure skating or not interested in his personality. Zagitova also gets far more attention than any of the Japanese girls.

R473 last season at Junior Worlds the SP had 48 skaters. They started at 11.15 AM and finished at 6.45 PM

The problem at Golden Spin is that they have 44 Ladies also for the FS...I think there is no cut between SP and FS

Pogorilaya has withdrawn from all events she was supposed to be skate so far. I highly doubt that she would show up at GS. Anyway, she won't be eligible for R Nationals.

Was Karen Chen officially out of COR ?

R475 yes, tonight Re Chen

R473 If the channel during ladies SP kept switching to other sports, the board and higher ups might just chalk the higher ratings up to it being because of the other sports.

JPN Nationals is going to be so fun. They wouldn't do it, but I'd love to look at ratings during each skate. Olympics, Hanyu skated before Uno, but Uno was also last performer and his score announcement determined who got OGM. I wonder how ratings went.

I must avoid being assigned to Golden Spin judging panel. Or they will want that I remember all the marks instead of copying them from the sheet I brought from home!

Wait, why is Pogo not eligible for R Nats? She's a sentimental favorite of mine, I'd love to see her still skate.

R479 not qualified through internal cup events. And no GP (which give them a bye)

Thank you for the video R470

Dave Lease is a moronic asshole.

In other news, Karen Chen has FINALLY officially withdrawn from Rostelecom. And so far, Gracie Gold has not withdrawn from anything. Fingers crossed for her to do well this weekend.

thank you, Karen, for having waited until the last minute and so the organizers won't call a replacement

r482 I just realized that Gracie Gold might just be the most interesting and unpredictable competitor at Rostelecom. We know what we may expect from Hanyu and Kolyada and Zagitova, but Gracie Gold? It's gonna be really interesting to see what shape she's in and whether she flops or not.

Torgashev: I’m really sad to announce that I won’t be competing at JGP Final this year. I’ve been struggling with injury and unfortunately my body is healing slower than originally expected. For the better of my health and future I must make the smarter decision and let myself fully recover. Never the less, I wish the best to my training mates and competitors to compete and skate great. Thank you for all of your guys’s ever lasting support, I’ll be back

Here's a new interview with Takahashi (with an interpreter, though Dai seems to understand the questions in English - but he always answers in Japanese.)

I'm torn about his hair. It's better than the all-blond, but the one streak of blond or two-tone look, I'm not so sure.

He says the difference between skating now and his earlier career is he can cheer for others. Oh, and he's planning one quad for Nationals.

Do we expect an exciting battle between Gracie Gold and Alexia Paganini?

R486 I fucking hate the hair, but he looks better overall. I wish he would just drop the quad and focus his energies on areas where he is strong. I would love to see a great performance from him, nevermind the jumps.

R487 Alexia was the break out star of Halloween Cup!

R487 That could be quite embarrassing for at least one of them.

The crazies are already gunning for little Rika Kihira. Someone's trying to float the argument that she prerotates her 3A by 180 degrees. LOL.

Erokhov out of Rostelecom, replaced by Lazukin

r486 The interpreter kept forgetting half of what Takahashi would say, which is understandable given how fast the guy talks, but then he (the interpreter) kept adding things that Takahashi never said to make up for what he forgot. Nothing big or controversial, but you could see Takahashi’s face go “what?” whenever the interpreter added something.

In his second to last question, Takahashi said training didn’t go as well as he’d anticipated when he started in May. For example, the injury (he pulled the abductor muscle in his left leg in August) he had made it difficult to practice at the same level as before. But now he’s finally found his rhythm and been able to maintain at least the minimum condition where he can practice with few problems. If he's able to sustain this pace until Nationals, he’d like to do a quad. The interpreter added “my body wasn’t moving as much” “a serious case of injuries maybe” and more. The idea is mostly the same, but he didn’t say those things.

Schott out of Rostelecom too

Only 10 left...

Let's see if Gold shows up

Almost all skaters who withdrew from one GP ended up withdrawing from the other as well. I wonder what keeps them from issuing a withdrawal notice sooner? Are they hoping their health would hold up after all or they'd manage to get trained well enough to be ready?

Does anybody remember the GP situation in singles in 2014/15? Were there as many withdrawals to original assignments as now?

Huh, what do you know, Wikipedia has info on that.

In 2014, 8 men withdrew from their assignments and another 3 withdrew from one of thed two they had, compared to 3 men withdrawing completely in 2018 (not counting Denis Ten). So far.

In 2014, 8 women withdrew from all their assignments, 1 from one of the two, compared to 10 withdrawing completely and 1 from one of the two in 2018. So far.

Compared to past seasons Men are holding up remarkably well, but Ladies are withdrawing en masse.

The less said about Pairs and Danced the better.

I wonder if Erokhov will be ok to skate at RN. Or if it's going to be Adian Pitkeev all over again.

I read that Hanyu will have security with him this weekend. Apparently he needs too protect himself from his crazy ass fans.

Yeah that's pretty much standard for every big name famous person with lots of fans.

You mean someone with cray fans.

^^^ Someone with lots of fans will always have some cray fans.

r496 They're paying the price really young, aren't they? Is Nathan Chen the only one so far who has managed to recover from major injuries as junior to sail to the top?

R500 Pretty much, yes. Not pretty, but truth.

In honor of Rostelecom and Mishin's bitchy comments about the JPN ladies today, I thought I'd bring back this oldie but goodie that someone translated on FSU last year.

ON ASIAN BOYS WITH OLIVE STEM LEGS:

AM: Current trend in men’s skating is find Asian boys with legs size of olive stems and hurl them into the sky. Yes, they may win medals but when they are 32 with titanium hips and steel kneecaps, that is taking the metal part very literally! Of course, intelligent coach like Orser send skaters to work with me, knowing I have eaten many dogs in the science of quads. This is opposed to U.S. attitude, “It is not sport, it is art, so take dance class and have many transitions.” Listen to me well—U.S. skating has become very fond of transitions at loss of science. Too bad sport do not follow trend of politics, where opposite is true.

ON EVAN AND MOTH TESTICLES:

AM: Journalists across West whine like female cow when my skaters out-jump theirs for years, but then when Evan’s ridiculous gold medal happen, Russia news agency obtain thousands of photos to prove Frank Carrol had been warming the sheriff for months! He provide judges with expensive fedoras, fancy perfume very old people wear not to smell so strongly of moth testicles, and blood pressure medication he badly need during entire career of Grace Gold. I may have a lot of grandmothers, but I do not give anything to ensure my skaters have victory. I am a humble, frugal person—you will recall there was one season where I only wear one shirt to competitions!

ON PLUSH BEING HIS TRUE WIFE:

AM: Yagudin was born in exciting, elegant St. Petersburg, city of culture and basilicas with many onion domes. Plushenko comes from pathetic, small village. They say every sandpiper praises its own swamp, but I feel connection to him because my home city is now capital of nation of Georgia, horrible enemy of Russia. Plushenko, of all students, was my true wife, and you know that husband and wife are one Satan! Just as he called me Professor Higgins after character in famous play, I now refer to him as Davankova because she is youngest and therefore most favorite of all wives of Morosov, my professional colleague.

ON TAT BEING A SHIT CHOREOGRAPHER (AND FAT, I THINK):

AM: Funny you ask. You are too young and beautiful to remember 1966 European Championships in Bratislava. That was glory days of iron before Czechoslovakia have worse breakup than Uzova and Zhulin. Now, you may not believe it, but guess who was competing for USSR aside from us? Tatiana Tarasova! Before she spend life pretending to do choreography and including traditional recipe for Solyanka in color commentary, she was pairs skater. Her partner, bless him, let’s just say he is ultimate example of Russian saying, “It is easier for the mare when a woman gets off the cart.”

R503 it is a spoof. The Ivana Komova's interviews are not real

R504 LOL Thanks for correcting. It's a great spoof, then, because it sounds just like him.

Gracie Gold still has not updated her ISU bio page. She is still listed as being coached by Frank Carroll with Lori Nichol as her choreographer.

In reality according to USFSA she is coached by Vincent Restencourt and Pasha Filchenkov and her programs are by Jeremy Abbott

r503 I was trying to figure out the moth testicles, and it took me some time to get at mothballs. At which point I cracked because now I know what that rerminds me of, a google-translated article.

Innsbruck (Challenger Series) Men SP is at 6 PM local time

Many Juniors are trying the Senior event: Camden Pulkinen, Daniel Grassl, Jonathan Hess, Adam Siao Him Fa, Luc Maierhofer, Tomoki Hiwatashi

Roman Sadovsky is also there and probably the favorite.

I don't know, I think Grassl could win that thing.

Live stream from Innsbruck

Ladies are on now

R504, I thought it was google translated, and quite accurately too, knowing Mishin

Elvis is in the building! (Moscow Airport)

Here's the Google translation of the Japanese that went with these two pictures - and thank god Brian is with him. I worried he might neglect his money-maker but he's been pretty attentive this season, seems to me - sometimes even Ghislain sits with them in the K&C.

Anyway the translation because with the KFC and NASA signs in the background, I wondered if this was Moscow or not: "Hanyu Yuri enters Russia "I've been to doing" 16th opening Grand Prix to the Russian Cup / Sports / Daily Sports"

A little more Rostelecom info (it looks like Gracie is gonna skate!!!)

"According to Alexander Polinsky (Director General of the sports and entertainment activities of the city of Moscow), additional security officers will be provided for the security of Yuzuru and also at the hotel for him and the others skaters"

The practice schedule for tomorrow (Thursday) is at the link. Looks like 12 men, 10 women, 8 pairs and 9 ice dance teams.

He looks like such a little tease. I love it.

Grassl 83.42

Sadovski 77.91

Pulkinen 71.85

Miliukov 71.44

Stoll 67.69

Maierhofen 66.32

Virtanen 62.16

Rest below 60 so far

1 Group to go

What do you all think of Grassl? He has a 3a and what seems to be a pretty consistent 4lz. Last time I watched him at a jgp he seemed slow and stiff with some issues with his free leg and landings but otherwise promising. For those who know him, any recs for programs I should watch?

Ah the German Ted Barton - or wherever he's from. I love listening to the Innsbruck commentator. The sweet old uncle you wish you had... I might would watch the ladies tomorrow but it's 3am my time I think. I read there wasn't a stream of the practices in Moscow but maybe there will be?

R515 Beautiful smile!

Hitawashi 77.22

Dalla Torre 66.0

Britshighi 62.16

Lynette 61.64

Nice reference photo for Lotte merch (hot chocolate stirring spoons with tiny Yuzus in different poses on top).

I admit I just tried doing this, could hardly get my free leg off the floor and pulled something in my side.

R521 OMG. I also tried this in my office. Someone knocked. I fell over.

R521 I'd love to see that exact pose without the t-shirt.

Where’s our Itsuki fan? He’s having an autograph signing on December 9 at the Nagoya Junkudo Bookstore.

Any Gracie Gold sightings yet?

I think Misha Ge is going to Rostelecom for Tomono. He recently wrote a novel for Zabiiako/Enbert’s ex.

Jeremy Abbott talks about Gracie in this article. Apparently she wants to be more than just the "jumper" she was known for being.

r525 Translation: "I haven't recovered my jumps."

So I will beat you? R526

r527 My newfound artistry will shine through and lift me up above others.

Not to mention the flag next to my name adds more points than yours.

My theory about Gracie is that her ultimate goal is to do what Adam Rippon did--use her skating to get herself a media career. Before she stopped skating she would say in interviews that she would love to have her own talk show and that the most exciting thing she did during her skating career was to juggle on Jay Leno--she actually said that before she remembered to mention that, yes, going to the Olympics was exciting too.

r592 She'd have to do what Adam did, get on the Olympic team again and do well enough. Given the situation in American Ladies, the former looks doable within the next 4 years, the latter, not so much.

So I guess Misha patched things up with his ex-beard, then? Sorry, ain't nobody got time to read all that nonsense.

This is the least exciting men's field for me, apart from Yuzuru, obviously. Actually, I'm not terribly interested in any of the lineups at Rostelecom. Mildly curious to see how Gracie will do, but I can't say I've ever been a fan and I must confess, I'll be very entertained by the forums freakout if she doesn't deliver. Maybe she'll be more interesting now that she's been through some shit and changed coaches, we'll see.

So honestly how hard does Kolyada have to bomb to not get 2nd place at Rostelecom?

r532 Messing's Sk Canada score was significantly higher than Kolyada's last 2 outings in spite of a fall in the free. Even w/an extra 5 points added for hometown inflation, if Kolyada skates like the way he has been and Messing skates like he did at Sk Can, Messing should win comfortably.

Misha Ge the romance novelist, good lord. (and he needs a proofreader)

I forgot that he choreographed for Tomono. Oh well, hopefully he won't be invited to the gala - but I wouldn't be surprised.

I'm rooting for Kolyada - he had such a good start, winning Finlandia and Nepela - and then he was only 4 and a half points off the podium at Helsinki. But I like Messing too, so whatever. I hope Lim, Yamashita, Shiraiwa, Samodurova, and even Tursy give Zags some competition.

Such a pretty man in black! "Yuzu said he didn’t feel well after Helsinki but good now. This competition is to make adjustments. And he is hoping to finish official practice safely and something like last year won't happen."

^ that's kind of ominous.

This may be a reach - but I wonder if he was hurt enough by Plushenko's comments about Origin that he had an emergency session with Shae Lynn to change the choreography?

One of Hanyu’s known stalkers was following right behind him at the airport (likely on the same flight) and also caught on video waiting for him at his hotel. Woman in white wearing the mask:

At the hotel:

Does his stalker have a stalker, then?

R539. I am scared looking at it. I can't imagine how he is feeling. Why isn't anything being done to stop her? Restraining order? Not sure how things work in other countries. I imagine Hanyu would need to do that himself.

R540. Good! Let this stalker be filmed so everyone can see what an idiot she is.

That's so creepy. I'm glad there were official looking men - bodyguards? security? - with him at the hotel but didn't see much help at the airport. And she got on his flight?!? Looks like she could be identified and at least kept off his planes!

R538 I think I saw her once on The Ring. She was climbing out of a TV.

I always thought these stalker stories were blown out of proportion until I saw a few things recently, including these videos. This woman's manner is really really disturbing.

Damn and she's wearing white, that somehow makes her exude even more creepy vibes.

Is this stalker known for doing crazy things? I'm just curious how people can tell her apart from the usual uber Fanyu. I mean, it's got to be another fan filming her at the airport and hotel, right? Is it just that she tries to get close to him or has she done anything worse than that?

[R 546] I don't know anything about her, but if you look at both clips, she's heading right towards him, and she's already well within "the bubble" in the second one. It's one thing to stand in one place and film or cheer. I still think it's not great to always be trying to engage someone with that, which is why I wouldn't do it (one of my previous jobs had me working pretty frequently with celebrities, and I would just let them me ... be cool, people). But that's just regular fan behavior. It's not overtly threatening. There's a big difference between standing back, and keeping in one place -- and what she's doing, which is to get in close proximity and then continue to move aggressively right towards him.

R546 I'm curious about this too. JDC, do you perhaps have more info about this person?

Here's another stalker one that's making the rounds. This one actually touches him.

Omg R549. Where is his security at? The one promised by Russia? Or did this take place somewhere else? Wth is wrong with people?

What is gravity.

R517 that is his SP yesterday

I don't like his pre-jump posture.

The 4 Lz got +1/+2

The 3A all +2

The combo +1/+2

PCS were wild. From 5.75 to 7+

Oh, we have the video of Leccardi's K&C...not that we care about her but she got a low score and Marilu, the nicest coach on earth, was there

Practice stream for Hanyu's group

r543 Funny you should say that because her nickname is “Sadako.”

R546 R548 Threads devoted to tracking Hanyu’s stalkers have been following her for at least two years, but I think this is the first time she was completely captured on video and mentioned outside the threads. She’s always alone, wears an oversized mask, and never takes out a phone or camera, so she can’t be identified. She follows Hanyu at the entrances/exits of his hotels and arenas for competitions. She was at ACI and Helsinki this year. I think she’s getting bolder and closer, and that’s why more people are taking notice and we’re finally seeing better photo/video of her. I assume Hanyu flew from Toronto, but does that mean she flew from Japan to Toronto, to get on the same flight? How does she even know what flights to take?

R541 She appeared in many news photos of Hanyu at the Moscow airport yesterday, so maybe it will go viral. There are anti-stalking laws in Japan, but I’m not sure how they apply when the stalking occurs overseas.

Behind Hanyu at Helsinki:

Wait till the end of each video. She followed him every time he left and returned to the hotel for 2017 Rostelecom (although I also have to wonder about the person who filmed these videos):

Thanks for posting those videos JDC. It can only be a good thing that more people are aware of her (and the other one that they have a good shot of the face - poor Yuzuru really clenched up when she reached out and touched him. It must be horrible to know two or more people are stalking you relentlessly and getting bolder about it.

The planned layout for Gracie Gold:

SP: 3Lz+3T, 3F, 2A FS: 3Lz+3T, 3F, 3S, 2A, 2A+2T, 3T, 3S+2T+2T

Looks like Gracie has all her triples back except the loop, plus her money combo. Nice.

Ah, a photo of Yuzuru skating and behind the board, thread-fave Misha Ge, with one of those badges - is he Tomono's coach? or someone else's?? Anyway, Yuzuru was smiling. There was another photo of TAT reaching out to touch Yuzu on the shoulder (and he wasn't shuddering like he was with the stalker.) I think he might have hugged her? Don't have a link to that but do of our Mr Ge, the skating coach/choreographer/romance novelist.

Yuzuru comment after the first practice: "I don't feel pain anywhere in my body. I think my conditioning is going well so far." "My condition is much better than it was when I arrived at Helsinki. I want to spend this day checking my own condition as well as ice condition."

Dmitriev attempted a 4A but it was underrotated and he fell. In practice, Dmitriev attempted a 4A but it was underrotated and he fell. Looks like he's going for it in his FS.

Misha Ge will make choreography for Sunday Gala EX at Rostelecom Cup.

=Yuzuru Practice:

Before the run thru, after some good jumps, Yuzuru fell twice, I think on a quad salchow and a quad loop, but landed them both later, the loop at least twice.

Italian commentator Massimiliano Ambesi tweet: "Today #YuzuruHanyu'FS run-thorugh - 2Lo, 4S (with turn), 3Lo, 4T, 4T+3Aseq, 3F+3T, 3A+euler+3S. Excellent secon half, good impression"

Somebody said he did 3Lz3T, maybe replacing 3F3T !?

I wasn't aware Misha Ge was a thread-fave.

r562 Just like Vincent Zhou.

R563 Oh, right. Of course.

I'm tired of the hype about Dmitriev and the 4A. Even if he does land it, the quality will suck, and the rest of his skating is so ugly and rough that I can't bring myself to care.

Sorry - I was being sarcastic R562. Anyway, Ge looked all serious, dressed up, and professional so maybe he's turned a new lea... wait, the romance novel. Oh well, it seems eons ago since the ice show mess and now he's got all those Chinese clients (plus Tomono) so maybe he's moved on from his Yuzu bothering hobby...

Dmitriev's planned layout includes 3 triple axels - so one of them is likely the 4A. This is his only GP this season and may be his last ever, so I guess I get it - now or never, and his only chance to hit the record books and all that.

More from Yuzu interviews in Moscow: "I will properly do things that I can do" "I want to do better than the performance in Finland. I will try my best, one step at a time" [His edge jumps Lo, S were apparently affected by ice conditions at the practice] “Rather than only jumping with an image in mind, but I want to jump the way I‘m aiming for”

R565 Who tf cares about the quality ? If he lands it and TP calls it clean, he will be the first to land 4A. The guy already did insane jump combos, he doesn't give a fuck about scores. I don't care about him but I totally get the hype about him and the 4A.

Origin is getting busier. And I fucking hate that. Zagitova did high kick and side lunge in Carmen and everyone acted as if these moves broke into their house and murdered their families. Also those gushed over Yuzuru doing unnecessary high kick and side lunge in Origin. They even didn't match the music, if anything, they just made his program jam packed and less elegant.

I guess he picking his nose could make his fans go crazy now.

Talking about the quality about Dimitriev's 4A being ratified, Shoma got in the record books for an ugly 4Floop and the skating community and judges got their panties wet over it, and today it still gets good GOE. I think the lower tier guys should get their share of the fun. If I knew I wasn't getting near any podium, I'd do whatever I want.

Yes, Artur Dmitriev Jr. can be in the history books just like me, and nobody will ever forget him!

TSL Anon, you have the deets for their Chen vs. Hanyu vs. Uno video? Is this worth a watch, informative, or just a lot of garbage and misinformation?

Panel tomorrow

Technical Controller: Beth Crane (Canada)

Technical Specialists: Ivana Jakupcevic (Croatia) and Fernard Fedronic (France)

Judges for Men: Japan, Georgia, Germany, Sweden, Russia, Australia, USA; Italy and Canada

The Georgian judge, Ms Salome CHIGOGIDZE, has been also drawn for 2019 Worlds too

Made a new thread.

Poll:

1. Will Hanyu beat his Helsinki score? 2. Will Kolyada manage not to splat more than once across 2 programs? 3. Will Kolyada beat Messing? 4. Will Dimitriev get the 4A ratified? 5. Will Gracie Gold beat Alexa Paganini?

R555 It looks like Hanyu's stalker has been following him for more than two years - I checked out the videos you linked at R556 and when they ended, the next video that automatically played was one from after practice at 2015 GPF Barcelona. In one video, you can see her in her white jacket. In the video I link, she's in a grey suit. You can recognize her from the mask and the darting gait. Now that you point her out, she's easy to spot.

To spare you from having to watch the whole crazy mess, she's in a white coat/beige-pink handbag at :41, and then in the grey suit/same handbag at 1:30.

Hanyu has been taping over the UA on his practice clothes recently. Anyone know the reason?

Article about JSF net assets with graphs. Big difference between 2013 and 2014. There was recently an article about how Hanyu and Uno are likely the only Japanese skaters whose expenses can be covered entirely by sponsorships and everyone else needs to find other means. Shiraiwa just started crowd funding and I will post the link in the new thread when I can find it.

R577 Thank you. Someone on twitter said she's been there as far back as 2012 Nice, though I'm skeptical. Others have said they noticed her since 2014, but more for her weird demeanor and dress (never claps for anyone else and disappears during other performances at ice shows, just silently stares at Hanyu and very scary to sit next to). There are also rumors that she told some older fans she has a place in Toronto and Hanyu's Sendai neighborhood, but I doubt she's spoken to anyone.

Thanks for the article, Dirt Czar. I read this through google translate so most of it I didn't quite understand, but if I'm reading it correctly, 37% of JSF's revenue comes from broadcasting rights and 17% from marketing. Does this explain why JSF is so invested in finding the next big star, because it's how they get paid? What does "marketing" mean - does this mean the percentage of fees they get from skaters' commercials and endorsements and such?

If the stalker covers her face with a face mask and change her coat in two years, how would you even know it's her from fancams though?

R576 1 Hanyu seems the type to peak around his second GP and with no new jumps (although he's struggling with 4lo) I predict a higher score especially since Russia seems to like him too.

2 Kolyada will land all his jumps in the SP but one will be messy perhaps a stumble or step out. I predict him to fall twice in LP.

3 Kolyada will win over Messing. Gogo miraculously made it GPF so Canada can rest easy now and won't boost Messing's GOE or PCS to override Kolyada's PCS advantage.

Hanyu brought out the 3lz. Maybe it means his ankle is getting better.

R583 Hanyu said he's practicing the lz in case he messes up during a program and has to use it. At this point, it's not an official part of his planned layout.

Can someone tell us why this stalker is still allowed to go anywhere near Hanyu? Like at his hotel. His practices. His competitions. I know a celebrity that banned his stalker from attending anything he was doing. I guess I'm not getting why nothing has been done.

Yuzu is lutzing again? Didn't expect that!

R561 I'm the TSL Anon and I learned some things from the Hanyu/Uno/Brown video. The first 5 or 10 minutes is an explanation of the five or six "bullet points" - they have to get all three of the first three to get a +3 and then they have to add from the others to get higher than that. I think the necessary points are good take-off landing; good height and distance; and - well I'm not sure - ease of execution or something. One of the others is fits with the music just right. Oh anyway, you can get through that pretty quickly - I think the video is only 20 minutes or so.

Then Dave grades each jumper from this season and compares what he gave them to what the judges did. That part's ok - he doesn't come down on Uno for technique much though in one of the videos (maybe not this one), he's said that Uno should lose a bullet point because of prerotation (maybe on the take off and landing - and his landings are so skewed and torqued, quite often, so looks like he'd seldom get that one -- but of course, the judges are so damned flaky or corrupt - and it goes so fast. And after reading about their finances above, I understand a little better why they desperately need a "star" to bring in the dough. Yuzuru is set for life as far as enough fame to suit their purposes, so why bother with him anymore. but they probably feel that Uno still needs a lot more pushing - hard. As they say, follow the money...

R585 She's just following him around. And let's be real, a large bunch of his fans follow him around, she just does it in a very creepy way, with all that odd beheavour. But she hasn't tried to interact with him/his family or hasn't tried anything dangerous for Hanyu. What I'm saying is that unless she tries something serious, I don't think they would bother with a restraining order against her.

Innsbruck

1. Daniel Grassl 230.50

2. Roman Sadovsky 204.95

3. Tomoki Hiwatashi 199.21

4. Konstantin Miliukov 199.19

5. Luc Maierhofer 198.29

6. Camden Pulkinen 196.55

7. Adam Siao Him Fa 187.90

8. Thomas Stoll 183.82

9. Lukas Britschgi 182.27

10.Valtter Virtanen 180.96

R589 It's the effort that counts, Valtter!!

Time schedule for men's short.

R590 I have beaten lots of people today. It is lazy R589 who didn't type all of them!

I'm sort of miffed at Valtteer who said that Yuzuru had always only skated and didn't have to go to school, like he, Valtteer did. Uh, just throw out an excuse why you're not as good as Yuzu and don't even bother to do any research about it?

He also said Yuzuru had the perfect body for skating. Another excuse - like it's so easy for Yuzuru since his body is made for it. There are busloads of skinny skaters - how come they're not as good then?

Maybe he's just more talented than you are - have you ever thought of that, Valtteer?

I am a doctor!

R593 Valterr, your instagram handle is valtterthequaddoctor. Would it be impertinent of me to ask...do you jump...any quads?

R594 Yes, I landed it at Bavarian Open when I got my minimum TES for Worlds!

Sorry it was the Challenge Cup. Another important competitition.

Ehh, whatever makes him feel better, I think it's kinda admirable, being a doctor andvskating at GP level. Or at leasdt trying to.

I have to work unlike all those lazy German, Austrian and Italian skaters who just get the army salary

R598 Why work when there's gofundme?

What army salary?

Is gofundme an effective way of getting money? Do people give enough suport to cover skater's expenses?