Yuzuru Hanyu and other figure skating talk part 14

Link to previous thread.

Technical controller from Canada. I guess we can expect him to be a dick to Yuzu and for him to ratify Dmitriev's pathetic attempt of a 4A.

R2 I am a lady

Gracie Gold practice video:

Does anybody have a link to the Valtter comments about Hanyu on the last thread? I mean sure it’s admirable that he’s competing at an elite level while being a doctor, but that’s also (possibly, one of) the reason why he’s so... comparably bad. Gotta give up one to have chance of being the best at the other.

From new article on Yuzu linked below: According to this article, he did 3Lz in practice to be ready when he has to incorporate it into his program to recover his mistakes, like, in case he tripled 4Lo. However, right now he is not planning to do it in a program. He also said that edge jumps tend to get affected by ice condition and changes in atmospheric pressure which affect your semicircular canals. However, he seems to think that his condition today wasn't bad at all considering that it was after a flight and compared how he was in the first practice at Helsinki.

(I guess by "semicircular canals" he's talking about his ears? Some people's ears are affected a lot by flying and it can take days to get over it.)

Also - Tomono got a note from Yuzuru back in 2012 and he's put it on his Instagram: at The Ice Osaka 2012, Yuzu wrote 'I look forward to one day meeting in the same competition as rivals. kazuki ganba!!'

Bit of an interview with Tomono in Moscow: He said that he has done what he could do (to get ready for this competition). Now his focus is on showing what he can do in the real competition. After finishing 9th at Skate Canada his heart was almost broken but while competing in West Japan Championships, the joy of competing helped him to put that behind. He said that he thought, "This is just the beginning. I'm going to try over and over." On Yuzu: "Hanyu senshu changes the atmosphere just by appearing. That already makes me feel how amazing he is. This is the first time for us to compete together in a big competition. I think this is going to be a good experience for me."

R5: For what it's worth, here's a link to the article with Valtter Virtanen's quotes (in Finnish.) I used Google translate on part of it:

"Honestly, I won myself. After the Olympics, it's always mentally difficult to go to the new season, "Hanyu said. He hoped to end up with Finnish children for the hundreds of plush toys thrown into him. "Unfortunately, I can not take them all over," Hanyu laughed.

"There's a guy you do not like. The body structure is perfect for this species and the head is fine. He knows what he wants, "Finnish dancer Valtter Virtanen was astonished at Japanese.

"In the icebox, he got frustrated in the whips and jumps. The criteria have tightened this year. The audience probably did not figure out where the score came from. The direction of the evaluation is a bit wrong at the moment, "Virtanen said of the race, it was the first time in his career to follow near Hanyu skating in warm-up.

"'She already saw that she was in a different class than the others. The infinite talent that has only been able to skate since childhood. There was not much need to go to or study from the page,' Virtanen continued.

"Hanyu is treated in the world as head of state. In Helsinki he also had security officers and his own transportation from the airport. "He has a top team behind him, and all the pieces are right", said Virtanen, who himself came to the gp race almost directly from his job in Jyväskylä. Virtanen finances his training by arranging a visiting doctor's turn in Central Central Hospital of Central Finland.

"Hanyu is a respected sports star who lives and works in Toronto, Canada. It is easier for Japanese fans to fly to see him in Helsinki than to see Hanyu compete in his own country. Hanyu is the first man to win the Grand Prix series of skating figures four times in a row since 2014. Now is the fifth time, so unbeaten he is in his kind...."

I raised my eyebrows at the "gouy you didn't lime" before I remembered google translate.

I guess for for a skater like Virtatten, Hanyu and the whole effort surrounding him must seem like from another planet.

What does it take to get a twice-over Olympic Champion in FS? Rare talent, rare character, and a shitload of money and other people.

I hate amy keyboard

r5 I agree. No way in hell would I use him as my doctor.

r571 (from previous thread) I'm not the TSL fan but I just watched that video. If you're like me and wants to see anything featuring your favorite skater or if you know nothing about the judging system and can't stand to read the communications, it might be worth a watch - though I think it would be faster and more informative to read the ISU communication. The inaccuracies aren't terribly destructive and he does explain a lot of things well but it's simple enough for the average viewer to understand.

However, he misstates some of the bullets and, at times, he seems to judge skaters by different standards. For example, he says he wouldn't give Hanyu the good speed bullet because there's no acceleration during the spin. But the actual bullet is "good speed and/OR acceleration during spin". i.e. you can give the bullet if you only have one or the other.

Then, when Nathan was doing his combo spin, he gave Nathan the speed bullet in spite of the spin being slower and a clear deceleration on the camel spin. I believe he also gave Nathan centering in spite of more traveling than one of Hanyu's spin, where he noted the traveling. He said Shoma didn't deserve good body position because he wanted him to sit slightly lower (hip looked parallel to knee but everything else looked perfect) but gave Nathan body position for his very sloppy broken camel position - I suppose body position is subjective but Shoma's position was much clearer than Nathan's.

He said that Hanyu shouldn't get "steps before the jump, unexpected or creative entry" because the steps weren't unique or that difficult but no where in the bullet does it have a difficulty requirement and, once again, there's an "OR" in that bullet, which means you don't need to do everything to get credit.

He's also still saying asinine things like, he doesn't think Nathan deserves higher GOE on his 3lz/3t because it's just a 3/3 combo. That's not how the system is supposed to work - the lesser difficulty is already reflected in the BV.

For those who want to actually learn the system, here's the communication. It seems long, but a lot of it is values and stuff on pairs. If you want to put minimum effort into it but still understand things more, I would focus in on pages 8, 13, 15, 17 and just look at values if you want to look at a program more closely

For the Marilu Guarnieri fans.....and the Austrian commentator

from 5minute35 seconds mark

R10 Thanks very much for that analysis and especially for the link.

Yuna Shiraiwa’s Crowdfunding page

She’s already met her goal and I’m not sure if they take overseas credit cards. The donations come with various rewards, such as autographed postcards and banner towels. What I like about this crowdfunding page is that they properly list the costs associated with her competing and give a detailed history of her skating, including when she learned her jumps and combos. It says she’s practicing quads and studying ballet and dance.

Choreography & costume – 1,000,000 yen

On ice lessons – 1,500,000 yen

Physical/mental training (off-ice lessons) – 600,000 yen

Overseas accomodations – 1,500,000 yen

Competition expenses – 1,500,000

Total: 6,100,000 yen (Goal: 4,000,000 yen, page open until 2019/01/15)

For 581 from the previous thread:

Year-end Revenue

-37% Marketing (before deducting management salaries which is 10 million yen every year), mostly made during the Olympic season

-17.2% GPF

-12.6% NHK Trophy

-12.2% Grants and subsidies (this one is surprising)

-10.8% FS Nationals

-6% FS Broadcasting rights

-1.6% Other General Earnings

-1.1% Membership Fees (from athletes and affiliated organizations)

-0.9% Speed Skating Broadcasting

-0.6% Donations

I won’t be able to read it closely until later tonight, but the marketing revenue was not itemized, so the author isn’t sure what it includes, but likely all comes from figure skating. The main point is that all of the revenue comes from figure skating, but more has been spent on speed skating since 2013 at least while speed and short track are in the red. Speed skating does require more athletes to be sent abroad for competition because they include teams, but Seiko Hashimoto was also a speed skater herself...

Keegan Messing has a 4Lz in his FS layout again. I guess it's Kolyada's battle to lose.

r13 Well, whoever the people funding her are, they must be pleased brcause she's delivering.

The Technical Specialist tomorrow...in all her glory...

R11 HAHAHAH I love Marilu. This is what the Austrian commentator said: "Look at the coach's face and body language. She needs a lesson how to behave in the K&C...The coach is still in distance to the skater...oh oh, here comes the score."

Thanks R14 So 40.6% of JSF's revenue comes from hosting competitions and 37% comes from marketing? That's a whopping 77% that is dependent on fan loyalty and skater appeal. And I bet a good part of that 37% is from ice shows as well. I wonder why JSF doesn't go the route of promoting all the skaters - e.g., look what fun Team Japan is having hanging together! Look at their chemistry! They all have distinct personalities! Why put all their eggs in Uno's basket? Maybe they're just going with the strategy they used for the Mao/Daisuke/Hanyu eras and haven't readjusted. Do Japanese fans sour on lovable skaters who aren't champions or they like Americans who will embrace niche personalities with SNS presence?

I'm actually surprised there's not more interest in the women speedskaters. They were great at Olys, Miho was spectacular at Worlds. As a team, they have a very interesting dynamic. Why not more attention? Sorry, I have many questions, but I'll stop here and wait for you to actually read the article.

r18 The huge spike in the JSF revenues in 2014, which declined a bit over the next 3 non-Olympic years but still netted twice as much as in 2013, then it's obvious the spike was post-Sochi Hanyu driven. One big star. In previous years they had many stars but the growth was much slower so no wonder they're trying to replicate the one big star phenomenon.

Here's a video of Dmitriev's 4A attempt during practice.

Yeah, he isn't going to land that thing in competition.

R10 You make very good points, especially about the spins. Ugh. I won't bother with it. And TSL fans will just gobble it up. I have also seen Chen ubers cropping up saying he has great spins equal to Uno and Hanyu so the PR is working.

R18 I think the life span of figure skaters are so short and how long they stay on top is too short, that pushing a team dynamic is hard. Figure skating is an individual sport and they have to compete against each other anyway. Also, I eat those conspiracy theories on the big skating regions with influence vs the smaller ones. Lastly, Team Japan was cute and fun pre-2013, but then Hanyu's stardom came along and then all of a sudden the civility and sportmanship was still there but the camaraderie fell down the drain - not that Hanyu didn't try though with him playing and teasing the other kids and implanting himself in different groups, but it hasn't melt the ice in the same way.

R10 What is infuriating about this is that gullible fans especially those who are new to fs take what he says as if it was God's word itself. The dude is just another terribly biased and inconsistent fan whose opinion does not matter more than any random on Twitter.

Sean Rabbitt got +5 for his step sequence at Glacier Falls.

Being a doctor and skating competitively is impressive, but Virtanen’s practice time is double to almost triple that of Hanyu’s.

r18 Your question about why the fed is only relying on one or two skaters is being asked by everyone. Mao/Takahashi/Hanyu’s popularity is probably a factor. Regional politics with Uno coming from one of the skating powerhouses. Uno’s sponsor Toyota (also from Aichi) is the largest and most influential company in the country. Seiko Hashimoto?

Everyone has their supporters, even if they aren’t champions, but there aren’t many big personalities among the current competitive Japanese skaters and tickets are expensive. Frequent SNS use is not really seen in a positive light, unless the skater is foreign.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the demographics problem. The population is declining, salaries have steadily decreased, housewives are becoming rare, and fewer people can take time off or afford to go to these competitions, so it may not be possible to maintain current numbers with Japanese fans even if a new star is found. Chinese fans could make up that difference. Japan already sees millions of Chinese tourists every year.

Speed skating was very popular during the last Olympics. Kodaira has become a household name and the pursuit team seemed to appear on every TV show after they got back, but no one medaled in 2014 so the years leading up to Pyeongchang were quiet.

Hanyu practice (see account for other videos):

TSL reporter here and I'm sorry to have brought too much over here - I'm new to skating (since Pyeongchang) and just like the gossip. And I haven't even bothered with the video comparing Chen's spins (the only one I saw compared jumps of Hanyu/Uno/Brown.) If Dave is a Chen uber then fuck him. I like Hanyu a million times better. I like most skaters more than Chen, actually. Anyhow, I consider myself chastened and won't bring anything else over. I don't take him as an expert - but I do like some of the interviews like the one with Benoit Richaud.

I also have tried to watch a vlog with three women called "In the Loop" but they don't "gossip" as much - I guess that's what I like about TSL, even while knowing it's just their opinions as fans plus scrapings of gossip Dave digs up somewhere - oh well, I don't believe every word - and if he's pro-Chen over Hanyu, I'll be pissed and quit watching. I can't stand that guy's skating - his jumps are so ugly and there's nothing else, except awkward attempts at being 'hip' that don't work. I like Vincent better for cripes sake - he gives good SNS.

Over points from the article:

-Most figure skating competitions were profitable, including 2013 4CC. The only competitions that weren’t were 2011 Worlds and 2011/2012 WTT due to the tsunami/earthquake, and the JGPs.

-All speed skating competitions since 2013 World Cup have been in the red, including 2014 World Sprint. Same for short track.

-For training/deployment costs (such as overseas training camp fees), the fed spent 234 million yen for the 13-14 season and 286 million yen for 17-18 for figure skating, which was a 22% increase. But for speed skating, 321 million yen was spent in 13-14 and 439 million yen was spent in 17-18, which was a 37% increase. But short track and speed skate costs were combined in reports in 13-14, so that means the increase for speed skating was actually higher than 37%. Also, spending for short track actually decreased from 134 million yen in 16-17 to 120 million yen in 17-18. No one medaled in short track at the 2018 Olympics.

-In 16-17, the fed sent both Mihara and Sakamoto to LA, but only Mihara to Toronto right after. Uno’s name didn’t come up in training/deployment costs in 16-17, but reappeared in the following season. Hanyu’s name didn’t come up at all.

The Japanese women speed skaters are doing very well, but their sport is almost entirely funded with figure skating revenue. If figure skating revenue declines, so will financial support for speed skating. Can they still devote more to speed skating?

Mens SP livestream:

Thanks for the link! Yuzu looked great in practice so fingers crossed. I kept trying to check out Kolyada but the video I saw was solely focused on Yuzu (which I would have done too) because... nobody does it better! (love the curves, the thighs, the tilt to the side, whoa...)

I did feel a little sorry for the other guys because even during their run-throughs, if Yuzu did a jump, there was big applause. Didn't seem to be much for the others - even after a gorgeous quad jump I did happen to catch from Kolyada. And I think he's one who really lets it get to him. You need a mind like Uno to block it out I guess. Messing doesn't seem to fazed either -- btw, I saw a huge hug between Messing and Misha Ge, who stood at the boards right next to Orser and Briand - now there may have been some chit-chat or hugging or whatever, but I saw nothing at all between Ge and Hanyu. Wonder if they're still frosty?

Can someone give me a summary of there being “frostiness” between Hanyu and Ge? They seemed pretty chummy at the Olympics.

Oh dear I've stepped in it... I can't even remember the exact details but Misha was posting stuff about Yuzuru - "reminding" him that he'd been his friend since the beginning, through thick and thin, and he was buying copycat bracelets so he and Med could wear the same bracelets Yuzuru did and he posted a Weibo thing suggesting that Yuzuru was upset that Misha was touching Med - and this was either during or right after Yuzuru saying in an interview something to the effect that he didn't like all that ("They must be talking about some other Yuzuru" - I think that's what he said.)

I never got the motivation but I thought Misha might be upset that Mura was invited to Yuzuru's personal ice show and Misha wasn't?? Oh weird stuff was happening during last summer, and it seemed like Misha was either poking at Yuzu because he was angry at him or was using him to up his views/likes on his social media, and using the Yuzu-Med shippers to that end ?? Oh I never really 'got' what Misha thought he would get out of his stunts. Oh yeah, at the last ice show, Yuzuru was trying to wrap up and thank the musicians and stuff, and Med/Misha practically forced him to take a selfie with them while he was busy, and he resisted, then went along but put his hand over his face or something like that - a very uncomfortable looking scene, but seeing a longer video, it looked like it was Med's idea, holding Misha back from leaving the ice so they could be the last two on there with Yuzu, who was trying to wrap up, thank the music ppl, yell to the audience - his usual wrap-up as the headliner and they were pestering him and you could see he didn't like it.

Oh no yikes. I didn’t know all those happened (don’t follow Ge at all) but I do know all that sound like things Hanyu dislikes. Thank you for the summary!

The Weibo thing was awful! It was a split screen set of pictures - on the left was Misha and Med, sort of embracing each other - and on the right, was one of those photos of Yuzuru frowning in the middle of a quad jump, with his face looking at the other picture -- then it was captioned something like, "You can't have her Yuzu ha ha ha!" That's not it but it was something very ugly and suggestive that Yuzu had a thing for Med and was jealous of her and Misha. And Misha posted this in his OWN account at Weibo!

Right around that time there was another post but I don't know if Misha was involved. But they used six photos - the top two had Yuzu looking disgusted at Ashley Wagner - the middle had him looking disgusted at Satoko - and the bottom two had him looking very fondly at Med! (these were all separate pictures.) Anyway, it was during the same week or so that the Misha Weibo post was put up, so it all became part of the drama that Yuzuru looked upset about at the second ice show.

Oh and Med "liked" that picture disrespecting Ashley and Satoko! And she liked other Yuzu-Med shipping posts. And she posted photos of her arm with the copycat Yuzu bracelet on it - holding an apple - I think there was another one with a piece of fruit. Just weird! But anyway, it all seems to have gone away (fingers crossed) and she's posting stuff about some singer from Korea or something - fondling photos of him and whatnot. So hopefully she's crushing on someone else and has given up on Yuzu. And then Misha can't use her that way anymore. But does he have another angle? Let's hope not!

BTW, what the hell was he even doing at the boards during the men's practice (I think it was the first one, not today's). He's not coaching anyone is he?

Misha is Kazuki's choreographer.

Lazukin & Dmitriev both scored in the mid-60s, Paul Fentz went clean but only did a 3T-3T and no quad...78 something was his score

Is there a problem with the ice again? Lots of terrible jumps and falls.

OK I know Eteri is a bitch but she looks classy all the time lol.

[quote]OK I know Eteri is a bitch but she looks classy all the time lol.

So does Daniil!

Wow, that's the best I've ever seen Moris skate. And Keegan's chance for GPF is in serious jeopardy now.

Kolyada flops like every other time he skates. What an embarrassment.

110.53 for Yuzu.

R36 YESS. How can they look luxurious and classy all the time ?

110?????????????fot that???o my godness.. Do not tell me hanyu ubers that he is always underscored. He is overscored . Japaneses male sluts like shoma or him are always overscored.

R36 Is because my coat made of finest black labrador puppies. I tell Alina, each time she miss combo, I get new coat.

His combo deserved 3.12 GOE???(with cheated take off , even Hanyu cheats now lol like Shoma) I don't think so. Toe look lokkes UR His axel also wasn't the best. i dont get it.

Goodness. Our Hanyu troll seems to be upset. lol

Upset? Actaully irritated for big undeserved scored for japaneses skaters like shoma or hanyu. Whe shoma is overscored you are upset as fuck. Furious is better word. You cannot get over it. So don't lecture me, ok?

*undeserved scores

protools

Judge 1: Ms. Tomie FUKUDOMEt

Judge 2: Ms. Salome CHIGOGIDZE

Judge 3: Ms. Anja RIST

Judge 4: Ms. Katarina HENRIKSSON

Judge 5: Ms. Tatiana SHARKINA

Judge 6:Ms. Joanna MILLER

Judge 7: Ms. Deborah CURRIE

Judge 8: Ms. Claudia BRAMBATI

Judge 9: Ms. Lynne DEY

Kolyada now looks scared to jump.

I truly feel bad for Kolyada. He looked devastated.

R48 That's what happened to Gracie Gold.

I wonder if it would help Kolyada if his fans wouldn't scream out to him just before he starts to skate. I hate it when fans do that.

LOL that enormous goldfish on the ice for Hanyu

So then from not a troll, how did Hanyu and Kolyada do? Perhaps Hanyu's OGM bonus did come in effect after all?

Hanyu skated beautifully, slight awkwardness on the combo landing, but otherwise clean. Step sequence was amazing. Kolyada's skate was a disaster.

Didn't see the goldfish; I'll have to look for that when I watch again. Did just see a video of commentators Tat and Yagudin applauding for Yuzu while the Poohs were raining down.

Kolyada's fans baby him far too much. Oh, boo hoo, he has pressure because he's skating in Russia. Then what was his excuse in Finland? If you can't handle any kind of pressure or distraction, then you cannot be a top skater. Period. He bombs every time and it's delightful to see him get a realistic score for once. It's high past time people stopped pretending that he's some amazing skater in Hanyu's league.

Kolyada's team has to intervene or he's going to have a breakdown. That's too many bad skates and he's clearly not getting over them on his own.

Hanyu said that Tat helped choreograph his SP? Interesting. Or is he being generous and it was one of those things where she showed up to practice, pointed a sausage finger and said, "here, would be nice if you added twizzle, no?"

r52 It didn't. That backcounter-3A-twizzles was a fine example of what a +5 GOE across the board Axel looks like, which it didn't get.

r55 He's a Kovtun 2.0. Pity because he has always been a way better skater than Kovtun. In practice he seems fine, then fucks up, maybe he needs some professional sports psychology support.

With this SP score, Kolyada is unlikely to get the 2nd place he needs for GPF. If Messing bombs himself out of it as well, won't the GPF be fun? I'd like him to make it, though, because I like the idea of 3 older skaters in the GPF.

If Kolyada is still going to flop like this, he should just add the 4lz back in. Then he'd at least be a flopping quadster with a chance to make it up because of quads. I think it's not wrong to say he has as much talent as Hanyu, but clearly as an athlete Hanyu is in his own league.

I'm curious what TAT would about Kolyada this time. I would be surprised if her dirty mouth doesn't come after him. Russian skating community is such a toxic environment: shipping, bashing and bad mouthing their own athletes, sectarianism,... Basically similar to Japanese one but on steroid.

Misha Ge looked so professional and calm in the K&C but when you think of his childish behavior on SNS.... Lmaoooooo

My experience: Don't ever say Yuzuru is overscored. Cause you will regret later when you see Uno's scores.

I don't agree that he has as much talent as Hanyu. Good jump technique but he is a one-note performer. Did anyone actually like him as Elvis? Do you think he lights up the arena in this SP, whatever it's supposed to be about?

Stop coddling Kolyada, he doesn't deserve praise after all the times he's fucked up and held up with high PCS scores. Whatever TAT has to say about him would not be wrong. Come on, this isn't just a one-off thing. He's NEVER delivered except for his first Worlds and his SP at CoC last season.

Judge 2 still managed to give Kolyada a handful of 9s for that performance.

R63 Judge 2 will be at Worlds. Georgia has been drawn and she is the only their ISU qualified judge

Koylada was massively overscored considering what he put out on the ice today. If he and Keegan both finish off the podium, who's next in line for the GPF?

Samarin has a sliver of a chance if he gets silver or gold in France (god, I hope not). Then there's Cha...

Messing 4th would still beat Cha. Messing 5th won't beat Cha

R64 Thanks. Interesting, I would think she'd be more biased in favor of Morisi. She did give him high PCS, but not GOEs.

r25 TSL is fine as long as you regard it as purely entertainment and there are a lot of people here, including me, who enjoy your recaps. I watch them regularly and have recently started commenting because I'm hoping that at least some fans won't take their word as gospel. If anything, they're Uno ubers. It's only recently that they've acknowledged his technique problems and I'm sure it's only because so many people were calling Dave out on the comments. Dave's really turned around on Hanyu - a lot of Hanyu's fans quit watching TSL because he's thrown so much shade at him in the past but I think Dave's genuinely changed his opinion ever since he saw Haru yo Koi. In the previous 2 seasons I thought Dave was a Nathan uber but he's started acknowledging Nathan's weaknesses recently - I was actually surprised by how highly he judged that horrid spin.

r52 If anything, Hanyu got underscored. The step sequence, salchow, and axel should have gotten +5.

Cha has 22 points. There's a few that could get ahead of him. If Jin manages to win. Samarin needs 2nd place. The skaters ahead of Kolyada and Messing aren't exactly rocks either - they could make up the 9-13 points needed to get on the podium.

R61 I think Kolyada's not an athlete and a rockstar in the same way as Hanyu, but I still think he is as talented. Same as the millions of people who have great singing skills and voices and don't make it. When he lands a jump, it's lovely. His programs don't always fit him like the Elvis one. I think the "balletic lines" PR should be given to Kolyada because it's a joke with Chen. Uno is also one note but he has projection - he's a performer - which Kokyada is when he does his EX and isn't when he's flopping around in a competition. So it's Kolyada's consistency that is a problem, not his skills, and we'd be having a different conversation about his talent if he actually was a better competitor who landed his jumps. I would say the same thing about Han Yan, another great talent, but with awful programs and not good in competition.

It's funny how weak the men's lineup was here apart from Hanyu because RusFed wanted to make it easy for Kolyada...and it blew up in their face anyway. LOL.

anyone watching ice dance right now? dayum! this guy is wearing a sheer white shirt that's completely open down to his waist

The US judge gave Hanyu 3s on the 4S, 3A and 4T3T (with the awkward landing). I guess he couldn't be bothered to take his fingers off the +3 button?

R73 Some judges gave +4GOE and +5 goe for hanyus combo. Ridicolous

Poor Daitroll, you've had a rough time as of late, what with your favs withdrawing b/c of "injury" (are the rumors true????). Hopefully, they'll recover in time for you to throw your troll underthings at them in Madrid.

R47 Poor Hanyu freaks, Shoma is soo underscored but hanyu never... stalking hanyu is not enough? I bet you would love to see how he is taking a dump

Mhhhm, I was undecided as to whether I want the backcounter-3A gone or not but I do feel more relaxed now. After Kolyada it was a much-needed tension relief.

Tomorrow, a 4Lz attempt from Messing, a 4S attempt from Kolyada, and a 4A attempt from Dmitriev. Awesome.

Thank God his rounded shoulders which bothered me the most got a bit better this time. The biggest improvement this season so far.

R78 Did you have an orgasm?

R79 No. Not yet.

I hope you get it soon. It must be exhausting

R77 Add a 4lo attempt from Hanyu to that. I know he's capable of landing it but that little bugger has been giving him problems and me much unneeded anxiety. And the fact that he has a backup 3lz in case he triples the 4lo doesn't bode well.

Skating Scores is fast today:

[R25] I don't mind TSL discussion at all. They're just fans with opinions. Like everyone else here.

It is an honor to watch Yuzuru Hanyu skate. I know I'll never see anything like him ever again. Yes he has his haters like our precious daitroll here but he has more fans that want in to do well. I am looking forward to his free tomorrow.

I appreciate the daitroll. They make me laugh.

R86 Some people are amused when you freak out after Shoma scores. Remind you ? You are so "disgusted" hahahahaha

I sure laugh about that too.

Ashley Cain was channeling Ksenia for a minute after they completely missed the throw lutz. She looked ready to kill.

Did Ge skate his tribute to Ten yet?

I saw that Alina's posture was bad in her EX so I couldn't even enjoy it at Helsinki despite people raving about her EX and saying she was so much better in it than her competitive programs. I still wonder what kind of drugs people are on that claims she was a good ballerina.

Hanyu freaks wish themselves 250 for Hanyu tomorow! He will get 260

Tarasova morozova the same , overscored like hanyu. Big names from big federations will be alway overscored.. Too not steady landings and GOE is gigantic.. 78 ? 42 TES? Is this a joke? And they look satisfied. Sad

Almost 44 TES , lol I am scared what Alina will get

Gracie ..what was that?

Well, it's brave of Gracie to come back, but in this kind of form, I don't really see the point. I mean, anyone can have a fall or pop, but a 2-2 combo is not going to get you anywhere even if everything is clean. So why didn't she wait until next season at least? She missed competing that much?

Gracie had to do this event to get a bye to Nationals.

But why does she need to go to Nationals like this? I don't believe she's going to be in competitive shape by then...I just don't.

R83 I love that skating scores website. So interesting and informative. Who runs it?

Maybe Gracie thought she would be in better shape by now.

Did anyone watch her practice (it's posted at R4). Can't watch it now, but I wonder whether it was better and this was just competition nerves.

OMG. All of our jokes about Gracie vs. Alexia

I couldn't watch but I saw the scores, wtf did Gracie Gold do to get that score? Was her TES below 10? I didn't expect her tondo grwat but I didn't expect a result that bad.

Gracie has some of the most delusional and defensive fans I've ever seen on GS and FSU. I'm sorry about her issues, but for some reason, nobody is allowed to say anything about her that isn't gushing with positivity, and that was the case long before she needed a break. You aren't allowed to wonder how her training is going, criticize or even question anything she does. Good lord! I guess it's because she's the undisputed queen with so medals to her name...oh, wait.

Protocols for Ladies SP

Judges: Judge No.1. Ms. Julia ANDREEVA RUS

Judge No.2. Ms. Deborah CURRIE USA

Judge No.3. Ms. Miwako ANDO JPN

Judge No.4. Mr. Attila SOOS HUN

Judge No.5. Ms. Anja RIST GER

Judge No.6. Mr. Yuriy GUSKOV KAZ

Judge No.7. Ms. Malgorzata SOBKOW POL

Judge No.8. Ms. Kyung Won SAKONG KOR

Judge No.9. Ms. Claudia FASSORA SUI

R103 Her tech was 13.5 - She fell, 2 jumps invalidated, edge call.

R103 She doubled her combo, fell from the flip and got zero credit for her axel; TES 13.

FWIW, Trankov said she nailed her jumps during the warm-up.

This is probably taboo to say because of her eating disorder issues, but c'mon, she is obviously not physically in shape for competitive sports. All you have to do is take one look at her without a jacket and it's obvious that the jumps weren't going to be there. I didn't follow her before - was she really so horrible of a skater that this is actually improved artistry? The position in the spin was terrible and there was no expression.

It seems like a really bad idea for her to come back this soon. How can this not psychologically damage her further.

GOEs on Yuna's spin ranged from -4 to +3. On a brighter note, we got to see her cute coach. Also looking classy despite the cross dressing past(?).

Psychological damage is one thing, but her knees may get damaged beyond repair.

Yes, and I don't think that coming back like this can be helpful for someone with the issues she already had, even though you can't say this on other forums without getting crucified. I do think skaters can come back after an ED - Lyubov and Akiko did, after all. But she isn't ready and it's clear as day.

R104 That's why so many of us are here instead of on GS or FSU or even Planet Hanyu.

R103 I would love to see video of Gracie nailing her jumps during the warmup because I was wondering if it's her technique or her nerves that got the best of her. I didn't expect miracles but I did expect better than that. Certainly better skating skills.

Have to also say that her costume was extremely unflattering.

r106 r107 Thanks. Other than certain amount of shadefreude for the dumb fucks at FSU, I feel bad for her, if she indeed nailed her jumps in the warm up. I saw a practice (yesterday's? today's?) and she did a 3Lz combo (I think), not particularly cleanly but it was there. If she can do it, but not in competition, then she's going to get depressed again and it'll all go downhill from here.

There's this woman on FSU and GS who is the mother of a figure skater and she posted a couple of times that she was certain Gracie would withdraw from Rostelecom. She seemed to have some inside knowledge of how Gracie had been training and I can see now why she was posting that.

Zagitova's skating in SP isn't bad. Why it's fucking labored and ugly in FS ?

r114 Mother of Tiffany Zahorski who infuriated our daitroll because she mocked the cray 3000-North-Koreans-werep-hired-to-cheer-on-V/M P/C stan?

Well, maybe all Gracie wanted from Rostelecom was bye to Narionals.

R116 You are one of those FSU idiots. We know that. Because you believe in that shit with north korea, only one here I suppose. You and V/M ubers twisted his words. He never said that. All what you do is making up conspiracies. And later you assign them to Alain , or other french fans. It is quite pathetic. Anyway , that slut , Tiffany's mother mocked ANOTHER french fan , who did nothing wrong a few days ago on FSU. Only because he/she gets along with Alain. So he/she must be irritating as well as Alain. Soon, there will no no french fans there. Do you agree , FSU ubot?

R116 Yes, I think the bye to Nationals is what Gracie ultimately wanted from this but I doubt she expected to skate that badly. I thought she would at least have been able to do a decent 2A.

How wonderful to hear that Yuzu is having a great time now.

r118 Mental game probably.

r108 "Out of competitive shape" is putting it mildly. She won't be ready by Nationals if she doesn't get on a restrictive diet, but with her history it's pobably a really bad idea.

R120 She needs to lose weight very slowly if she's really serious about aiming for the next Olympics. Worst thing she could do is to try and starve herself now for nationals. One thing that would make her look instantly better on the ice is to get a costume that doesn't give her a wedgie and that highlights the upper portion of her body instead of the bottom portion.

Gracie is fighting against her natural body type. Like her twin sister, she's top heavy and gains all her weight in the upper body, which is a really rough shape to have in figure skating. It makes it challenging to rotate the jumps. It's tough skating past puberty when that's your natural frame and probably contributed to her developing an eating disorder. I'm a big fan and wish her all the success in the world as she pursues her comeback, but it's going to be an uphill battle against nature.

[R121] I'd like to see Gracie try a slightly longer skirt. The weight thing is hard. There's a good chance she's been taking some meds for her issues and some of those drugs cause weight gain that is difficult to lose unless you stop taking them.

R122 Gracie is much heavier all over her body. And it's especially noticeable in her thighs because of the flesh colored tights and poorly fitting skating panties.

R123 Yes. Some of those psychotropic meds can result in serious weight gain. And yes, definitely a slightly longer skirt. Speaking as someone who also struggles with weight, what you wear can add or subtract quite a few pounds from your appearance. I hope her FS outfit is more flattering and fits her better.

R119 I'm not surprised. He really staked his whole life on this 2nd OGM. For him there was no alternative. It was either win or God knows what he would have done. No, I won't start again on the whole suicide thoughts thing but let's just say that for his sake I'm glad he won and now that the pressure is off a bit that he can enjoy things more. Those 3 months between his fall at NHK and Pyeongchang must have been awful.

About Gracie it takes courage to come back in such a shape and to try and have a positive outlook so I hope it can work out ultimately for her or at least that it helps her towards getting better mentally, not the opposite. She reminds me of Yulia a bit and I have a soft spot for Yulia.

Gold kept adjusting the bottom of her costume throughout her performance.

R57 He was referring to Tarasova having choreographed Weir’s version.

R99 I don’t know but they’re great.

Judge Tallies for Ladies SP:

I know it's not the first time nor will be the last but each time I see scenes like this I get reminded of an animal in a zoo. Do they really need to film him in that moment.

Is he using an inhaler or eating something from a tube? - the caption seems to be saying the latter.

R128 Just drinking one of these energetic drinks. He never uses his inhaler in front of the cameras. I think only once before gpf 2015 was he seen using it backstage.

r128 It looks like ウイダー (uida in jelly) or a similar brand. They're jellies. Great when you're tired and need a boost (or hung over). Energy is best flavor. It's a regular product you can get at the supermarket and convenience store.

Well, well, seems like the very straight Trankov is a fan.

R125 Yes, that's why I thought it important to post what Tat said Brian said about Yuzu's state of mind post-Olympics. I'm so relieved to see him so relaxed and happy. The joy in his skating is palpable now--the way he just let loose in the SP today after completing his jumps was glorious. And the obvious love between him, Brian and Ghislain in the K&C is so sweet.

Thank you R129 and R130. I'm glad to hear that. I like to think his asthma isn't as bad - he doesn't seem to get as winded as he used to. I don't understand how my empathy always seems to be mostly for Yuzuru, especially after a day like today.

But I do care about the others - I don't know whether to feel worse for Kolyada or Gracie Gold. They looked in such agony :(

Gracie's SP at Rostelecom back in 2012. Wow. I can see why US Figure Skating thought she could win an OGM.

Thanks for posting that R134 - she was really great. Hope things work out for her.

So the French commentators seem to dislike Hanyu rofl. Now I know why Uno gets big scores from the French judge. I guess we can expect Chen to get WR next week. Not that the commentators are any indication of the fed and judges, but seems like that ilk is more their cup of tea?

Though if they say Hanyu has no transitions I guess Nathan and Shoma has too many quality crossovers as their transitions into jumps that has blinded them.

R136 [quote] Not that the commentators are any indication of the fed

Preaubert is also an official of French Fed.

Pechalat has always been an awful cunt and it's high time Eurosport France kicks her out together with Preaubert. No wonder French fs is in that state. It's full of absolutely terrible people like that. She honestly makes Eteri seem like a sweetheart.

R137 Wow that makes it even worse LOL. Seriously, if Hanyu slows down before he jumps and doesn't have transitions then who does? I know people like to make fun of armchair judges but the VERY IMPORTANT officials from ISU and the feds aren't any better.

Fanatism is scary, be it Hanyu fans who call for the French commentators to resign after saying something less than complimentary about Hanyu or Zagitova’s fans sending death threats to Trankov’s family when he said he cheered for Medvedeva at the Olympics.

R138 I have impeccable taste in costumes, you imbeciles.

R140 When a commentator is unabled to stay unbiased (they were awful to other skaters not just Yuzu) and spread factually wrong information as fact (Yuzu has by far the most transitions out of all the skaters) which casual viewers will take at face value, and keep judging the skaters' appearance or clothes, I'm sorry but they don't deserve to hold their job. I have disliked these two for years. I'll take the France 2 team (Monfort/Candeloro and Annick) even with how stupid they are sometimes because they at least don't take themselves seriously and don't trash skaters. But by all means keep defending absolutely awful people and whining about evil fanyus.

r139 He slows down before jumps and then....

... he lands them.

r143 Couldn't hear you because of all your whining. You were saying?

Thst was for r142

Damn I lost my whining momentum.

Those French commentators are idiots. Unlike these brilliant ones:

It would be funny if Hanyu was trying to overwrite Plushenko and Weir, and all of this time, all of these years since he was a little boy, his praising was just a ruse so he could fools us after he won his second OGM and finally performed these "tributes"!

[quote] anyone watching ice dance right now? dayum! this guy is wearing a sheer white shirt that's completely open down to his waist

are you talking about me?

Why do they say he doesn't have transitions when he clearly does? They should pick something worth critizing like how he still hunches over sometimes.

Here's the Brits' take on Kolyada's SP.

Kolyada reminds me of Artur Gachinsky in some ways. Some people just aren't cut out to compete at this level. He looks miserable af every time I see him and it's only getting worse.

Starting Order for Men's Free

R119. Thank you for posting that. I'm so happy he is enjoying himself. I could tell something was different. His smile at the end of the sp was like sunshine. I have never seen him smile like that after a performance.

I'm looking forward to Yagudin's commentary on Origin tomorrow.

Kolyada put his fingers in his ears as they were announcing scores of the skater before, Kvitelashvili I think. I think I remember hearing he did that before at another comp this year I think it was before Bychenko. -- Those aren't skaters that he needs to worry all that much about - I'd understand if it were Hanyu, Uno, Chen, the uber quadsters. If he can't bear to hear anyone's score, he knows he's got a huge problem with his mind playing tricks on him that he can't block out, like obsessing on a number he just heard ??

Oh I don't know. I guess there have been other skaters with this kind of problem. It reminds me of stage fright. Not that it's really relevant, but I remember Laurence Olivier saying that later on in his career he developed stage fright, when he hadn't had it before, and it was nearly paralyzing. Which makes me think this kind of thing can get worse, after a bad experience or something - and he's certainly had some of those. Today may be the worst? So sad, after such a great start winning at Nepela and Finlandia, just in the last three months.

If Nathan couldn't get 190 with home inflation....

R156 Nathan got 189 with just 3 quads and home grown PCS. He's not going to stay at 3 quads either and the PCS will keep growing. The Americans are dying to promote the new scholar-athlete storyline. He just has to stay upright.

I hope not - but trouble may be brewing. I was watching practice just a few minutes ago, and Yuzuru looked out of sorts. Slipped on entrance to a 4S. His 4Lo wasn't working - lots of pops. He was skating down the side of the rink and just fell down, for no apparent reason. Then his music started -- he had done some ok jumps before his music, but the first jump, the 4Lo, he had a bad fall and stayed down longer than usual.

He got up, skated around - looked like he was trying to keep his weight off his right foot - and after a few minutes, in the middle of his music, he bowed in all directions and left the rink. Oh and just before that he went over to Brian - some said it looked like he told him he was ok - who knows? They're talking about it on the Practice thread at PH. Linked is a picture of the bad fall that it took a while for him to get up from, during his music.

Here's the page at PH where they start talking about Yuzu's fall during practice:

He was icing his right ankle as he left the building but said he was OK according to Sports Hochi.

I hope he doesn't look so off because of some ridiculous pressure he puts on himself to skate Origin clean in Russia/for Plushenko. Fuck that. He doesn't even need to be clean. He should just focus on staying calm and not bomb and his ticket to gpf is guaranteed. He often needs several competitions to get the free under control anyway. As for his ankle, I think it's clear he is skating this season despite it being still fucked up. I guess as long as it doesn't reach a certain threshold of pain he can handle it. Or maybe all this happened because he fell off the bed last night. Hopefully it was because of some over enthusiastic stud giving him company and not because he had a nightmare or something.

He has an ice pack wrapped around it but it's probably just the normal thing to do anyway after a bad fall. Can't they just pump him with painkillers and have him skate like in Pyeongchang.

Very short video of him leaving from NHK:

What if Yuzu is like this because Misha Ge tried to pull a Tonya on his former bff in some dark corridor.

Well, that's strange. NHK deleted the video and replaced it with a photo. I still have the video open.

What worry me the most is that trauma after the fall will bother him and prevent him from performing well, even if his ankle is OK.

He was leaving the building and a reporter asked if he was OK. He said he was alright and half-jogged, half-limped away.

R166 Well, it's not like he will ever say anything else but that he is ok. And he has a bad track record of lying that he is ok, meaning at this point no one believes him anymore. Agreed about the trauma, I hope he doesn't put himself into a bad headspace. At least this year Orser is with him. I don't think lowering the content of his free will help him. If anything it might make him bomb even worse ala ACI 2017.

Now Tarasova's had a bad fall during their song and escorted out of the rink.

Tarasova apparently hit the boards and they're currently checking for concussions.

r170 Do you know who the other pair was? Some fans said she was trying to avoid another couple, hit the boards, then fell chest first onto the ice. She was holding her mouth as she left.

I don't understand why the NHK video was deleted because Hanyu didn't seem to be in too bad shape since he was almost jogging away. Other Japanese TV news just showed his fall and him getting on the bus.

What the hell. J Channel just aired a similar clip to the deleted NHK video. It's at the end of the video after they show his fall. Their footage and angle of the fall is also very clear.

R172 Hope she is ok. Nothing scarier than pair ladies' falls.

Efimova/Korovin were at the boards talking to their coach and it sounds like Tarasova got a little bit to close/they began to step back so her blades got caught against Efimova's and she went down. She's at the hospital now but hopes to be able to skate this evening.

My mistake, it was actually Korovin she collided with. Apparently she might need to have stitches in her chin....so we'll have to wait and see.

R174 r175 Thank you. That's terrible. At least they have some time before they have to skate if she can skate.

If you feel like torturing yourself some more, Prime Evening has footage of Hanyu jogging to the bus from the back at the end of the video.

God, I hate reading about these injuries in practice. Makes you wonder what goes on during their usual training that we never hear about.

this Grease version used by Kerry is really sleep inducing

Hanyu might be injured? Oh God. Just got up to watch this live but now I don't think I can. That fall of his looked horrible.

Lord, spare me from having to see these corny programs from Keegan at the GPF. I think he's toast.

2 falls for Messing.

146.92 FS

220.75

Into the lead

Edvin Marton is there.

Yeah, I never believed Dmitriev was going to land that 4A. He's a mess. So many skaters here are some of the worst offenders of my aesthetic sensibilities, and they only look worse in the shadow of Hanyu.

Dmitriev 179

Now Kolyada

he started well. but he has now lost the plot again. Popping everything

He should open a popcorn factory. He always looks down, never projects to the audience. No confidence at all.

225.42

Tomono is likely going to medal with this and given the names who still have to skate

Yeah, it will be well deserved too. He did great.

oh well Tomono's TES fell by 7 points compared to the box

Fentz just behind Messing

One really should skate to Game of Thrones with more power and speed.

Kraznozhan has major gay face

Krasnozhon behind Fentz

Will asians old whores and gays here will have an orgsm now?

butt down

and a pop to conclude

this program is bad

Wow, that's a low tech score for him, not that he's in any danger of losing anyway. Hope he gets some rest now.

steo sequance is poor , too much twizzles and posing....His shorts are always better, sorry but i dont find his FS's good . They are all the same to me.

TES 78l.25

PCS 90.64

FS 167.89

Overall 278.42

Come on Sasha and Moris, hold it together so Kolyada doesn't medal with that crap.

As long as 1 more person finishes ahead of Messing so Jun can make the GPF, I'm happy

Majorov is going behind Messing with this mess

Euler was ur? I was too scared to watch.

Eteri attemps a smile before Moris starts

I knew Yuzu would have a bad free but glad he did not have a complete meltdown. Tbh even without the fall or injury from this morning, I expected him not to do well with the free simply because of the stupid and unnecessary pressure he put on himself to perform this program clean for Plushenko. Literally every time in the past where he made declarations like this he ended up not having a clean run. There seems to be a fine like between regular pressure which he handles well and the 'I must show my best or it's shameful' kind of pressure. Today was the latter. Now I hope he can rest and take care of that ankle. Glad I went to Helsinki. Superstitious as he is, I knew he would do well there.

Kvitalashvili is fighting through the program and should be enough to medal and pushing Messing out of GPF

Daniil fistpumps

Plushenko was doing damage control on Japanese TV earlier today, saying how great Origin and Hanyu's Helsinki performance was.

Good spirits in K&C.

R208 Everywhere will be pressure. On GPF , on nationals, on Worlds, on 4CC if he decide to compete.

Second place for Kvitalashvili

Nice effort by Kvitalashvili, and I enjoyed his program. I've never heard of him before but am impressed.

I was so excited for Yuzu's free, thought this year I didn't have to worry, and the fall this morning ruined everything.

Could we see any Eteri-Orser interaction?

Moris is fun to watch when he isn't splatting everywhere. Hope this will build some confidence for him.

Scores

Euler downgraded

3A under-rotated

1 EU downgraded? How is that possible?

And how his score got only 4 point lower afterall if they downgraded two jumps , they got lower GOE much lower , then through skating and an edge call.

Hanyu said his ankle was too loose and there were times when he was confused because he didn't get to do a runthrough before changing the program.

r218 Thank you.

Yuzu's free was not bad at all (by normal human standards, not necessarily by his) considering the circumstances. Landed 3 quads on an altered layout with no practice and everybody freaking out over him possibly being injured, and he had more fire than in Helsinki and brought back some of the missing choreo.

How can we NOT be freaked out by the possibility of Yuzu being injured? That's even worse than the possibility that he might one day ask David Wilson to choreograph a competitive program for him again.

Why didn't they ask him about his ankle condition ?

R224 acccordung to Tat, it still hurts a lot.

Hanyu twice ina row has some URs , an edge calls. It is weird? Dont mention any pain, injuries or something. He had them before. just rules were changed and now they give URs top skaters either.

I didn't get any UR!

Lmao is that the dai-troll ranting again?

Anyway, Hanyu got dinged, rightly so, and we know he can do better so answers and his condition are unsurprisingly the focus after his skate.

R227 Still replying to Dai troll. Anyway I'm not the biggest Orser cheerleader but I really think his presence made the difference today. I remember thinking at NHK last year that had Brian be there things might have gone differently. Like I believe Yuzu is closer to Ghislain and Tracy but that at the end of the day and after almost 7 years together he needs Brian to be a bit more grounded. The only issue in the past was that Brian was often more carefully checking Javi's state than Yuzu. Not this problem anymore.

Here's more about his condition. Ughhhhhh

He said he wanted to do the Biellmann and was disappointed it wasn't possible today. He's been working with the spin coach between GPs. Also, brief awkward moment with Ge and a hug from Marton.

Yay about the Biellmann. I'm glad he is not thinking of dropping it and that it was most likely due to his pinkie injury that he didn't put it in the program until now and today for obvious reasons he couldn't.

R228 I d love too see your crying when Shoma will be overscored again, troll

poor Hanyu.. it is the fault of his condition. he will be bore us in his interviews with his ankle , that he cannot do biellman , jesus he will be justified his low score of course he had no problem to execute 3 quads with his "condition", but again no biellman, what a tragedy

Doctor says three weeks of rest and Nationals might be out of the question, too.

Again he found the reason to not go to nationals

Maybe he is scared of Takahashi ha hahahha

Oh, damn. He doesn't think he will go to the final. A lot of people will desperately be trying to sell their tickets if that's the case.

The thread is sure full of trolls. No matter how hard you troll doesn't change the fact that Takahashi is barely a threat for Juniors guys in sectional competitions and that Shoma's floop and crossover programs are overrated borefests.

Honestly GPF last season with Nathan and Shoma's rivalry and no Yuzu was a bore. So was the messy Worlds.

Without Yuzu in GPF the event will become a chore to watch. Japan agrees because ratings plummeted even with "golden boy" Shoma.

R236 The acidic Takahashi uber fans are the most scary. Anyway, JSF will never gift an old retiring skater a win over the current OGM anyway. So sorry to be you.

R238 it's just one troll who posts regularly. Just block it and don't talk to it. Do people not know about the block button?

He said he knew he probably made the ankle worse by going ahead and performing today but he went ahead because he wanted to perform for Russia.

R238 with Takahashi it was sarcasm, Chill out. You all here take everything too seriously

For some levity in other news, Ge is now taking credit for Tomono's medal. He did not choreograph his FS, by the way.

Welp he should WD from the gala.

Media should finally stop asking him about Beijing. The real question not being asked is if he plans to retire after this season.

And he's not his coach.

You beat me to it, R243. LOL! I thought the exactly the same thing when I saw that tweet. Why does Misha make it so difficult to like him? He's a talented guy, but so very narcissistic and obnoxious.

Keegan is in GPF??

R243 LMAOOOO

Thanks, Mr Ge for providing us with the laugh material that we need right now. How obnoxious is this guy, seriously.

R244 Agreed. I don't think his body can withstand the demands of competitive skating much longer. I feel so bad for him--and terrible for those of us who love his skating.

I cannot stand Stepanova/Bukin. Horrible programs, everything looks so awkward. What is the appeal, seriously?

They are terrible

125 LOL This is Russia

Well duh that was obvious. I can't believe how many people fell for the 'totally healed' story. As someone who got an ankle injury by overtraining for a competition like 13 years ago and had to stop competing and still feel pain occasionally when I push it nowadays, I could have told you that and actually did.

i believe they know thats not an objective score because they are in their own country

R251 Having seen them live in Helsinki I really found that they were a cut above everyone else. Incredibly fast and smooth and they have great chemistry.

R256 how many times you re gonna repeat that you were in Helsinki? I was in Barcelona twice, mediolan and Helsinki 1,5 year ago and what about it ? Having great chemistry doesnt not make program better. And if they are smooth I am gonna throw up

The dance panel is very Eastern Europe oriented today

Russia, Georgia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland and Kazakhstan

Spain, USA, Japan

OK but why does Stepanova look like a bitch all the time ? She reminded me of Plushenko's wife.

I insist on the seeing live because that's exactly how the judges see it and sometimes someone's skating doesn't transfer as well on tv or the opposite. Stepanova and Bukin are incredibly talented and in the current desert that is the ice dance field, we should be happy to have couples like them.

Stepanova is weak relatively speaking. Same as Sinistina

R261 There is always one half of the pair that is weaker. Just like Gabriela's ss are weaker than Guillaume. What matters is how they built around it and that the stronger skater manages to pull the other up.

it is a bit strange why Russia have stronger male ice dancers than female ice dancers when in many other countries it is the opposite (because they have few men doing it)

Ok, Bagin is even worse than Morozov's daughter but that is a different story.

They give second place to Khaliavin

Hurtado didn't fuck up today

I think Bukin is ugly, so maybe that's part of the problem. And the terrible music and clunky-looking lifts. I get why people love P/C, for example,and I enjoy G/P and H/D. As far the current Russian ID teams go, I prefer S/K, and I love Shpilevaya/Smirnov (who were totally robbed of a spot here).

R260 Stepanova/Bukin are incredibly talented? I see them almost every year live i dont see it . Their programs are the same , they have that akward , weird style that doesnt help. She has bad posture and she has to almost run to gain speed.

I guess it's a good thing Plushenko wasn't there. Can't imagine how much worse he would be feeling if he knew he was there watching him.

Gold withdrew from FS

God, I feel so bad for her. I'm feeling bad for everybody this season. This one is cursed.

R268 It was expected.

I wonder if Gracie was shocked by how low her PCS were. Her TES should not have been a surprise but getting such low scores even for her skating skills must have been a major blow.

TSURSKAYA was once promising.

The US judge gave Gracie 5.75 for Skating Skills.

Generally, everybody got 7+ for SS from everybody except Alexia Paganini and Matsuda who had some 6.something

R273 Yes and two other judges also gave her 5.75 for SS. I wonder about those two coaches of hers; both of them had that "deer in the headlights" look in the K&C.

Our Alexia almost medalled!

4th place

2 URs for Zagitova

1 for Somadurova

1 for Lim

3 for Shirawa

1 for Tursy

4 for Yamashita + 1 downgraded

4 for Tsurskaya

2 for Matsuda

Yuzu won't attend the gala tomorrow. I was really looking forward to see Haru to koi but he needs to rest. Also does anyone know what Nathan is doing at Rostelecom/Moscow ? How can a full time med student have so many free days.

R277 *Haru yo koi

R277 Training. Aratunyan is in Moscow with Lim. They meet there and train ahead of French GP

R277 Also, it's Thanksgiving break for Nate.

Yee gets Hanyu's Gala spot

Other men invited: Kvitalashvili, Tomono, Kolyada, Messing, Lazukin, Majorov

Imagine having to explain this basic stuff because antis are already jumping on him using his single crutch on what they think is the wrong side to accuse him of faking his injury.

Nathan's a first year undergraduate student, a freshman. He's not a medical student.

Yuzu's walking with a crutch? Oh my god. I haven't watched his FS yet because I know I'm going to cry all the way through it. I think I need to give up on this sport.

And this weekend started off so well too.

It's like the universe has some sick sense of humor....for this to happen to Yuzuru in a GP qualifier just like last year....that fucking ankle, man....which by the way I never believed the story was fully healed. Poor guy! For someone like him, it must be hard to admit having a weakness but a fucked-up ankle does not just go away. Just hope it won't become a career ending injury...Oh well that's the life of a high level athlete! I only just realized this was the GP event Denis Ten was gonna compete it....do you think he cursed it from beyond the grave....just joking btw, I use trash humor to cope.

Along less morose lines, here's Yagudin and Tarasova reacting to (most of) Origin. COR is Yagudin's first time seeing Yuzuru live and he got fully invested fast. Really funny seeing him so into his arch-rival's fanboy skating to his arch-rival's iconic music. It's too bad Yuzu isn't skating the gala because Yags probably would have been tickled as hell by the snow-throwing part.

R282. These antis are sick. And it will get worse as Japan nationals approaches. Stay strong Yuzuru.

Who are these "antis"? Shoma fans? Dai fans? Just plain nasty human beings?

R286 (con't) Here's the ending that was missing from the Yagudin and Tarasova video. You can see Tarasova digging around for stuff: she went to go see Yuzu right after he left the K&C and brought him some more music, so someone said. Remember that she gave him Notte Stellata. Maybe he'll have another masterpiece of an ex program next year, whether he's still competing or not.

GALA

Kamila Valieva (Russian Junior)

Yes

Tursy

Pavliuchenko/Khodykin

Majorov (why?)

Alexia

Evdokimova/Bazin

Cain/LeDuc

Samodurova

Yanovskaya/Lukacs (I guess they got invited because she is Russian and train there)

Messing

BREAK

Andrei Kutovi (Russian Jr)

Ziegler/Kiefer

Lazukin

Carreira/Ponomarenko

Lim

Della Monica/Guarise

Kolyada

Hurtado/Khaliavin

Shirawa

Kvitelashvili

Tarasova/Morozov

Stepanova/Bukin

Zagitova

The truth is that Hanyu broke his ankle to get away from having to meet and do Misha Ge's choreography in the gala.

Joking aside, I wonder if he will be at the Medal Ceremony tomorrow and the banquet (if there is one)? He basically is finished with the competition here unlike NHK and doesn't seem to need medical attention like at COC.

How come the reigning Olympic champion gets her URs called while Satoko gets a free pass? And at the same time, how come she never gets the PCs she deserves while Zagitova's are ridiculously sky high? Just looking at the protocols one would think the "artistic" one is Zagitova...........

I really don't know what's up with the judges.

Because generally Satoko prerotates , and judge doesnt care about prerotating....Sometimes she underates and then her mistakes are called...

R292 ISU likes the idea of well-rounded skaters so they help out where its needed.

Scores show that Zagitova and the previous seasons Med were the most well-rounded skaters the ladies field has ever seen. Great artistry, skating skills, and quality jumps. Miyahara and Osmond are just behind them.

Same for the men.

Well, this makes me curious how next season would go for the ladies then. This time, I wouldn't say the tech panel was anywhere near strict (they didn't call Yuna's flutz nor Alina's ! on her Lz), but just about everyone was hit with URs. And it was Russia! Makes me think that's the one thing the ISU won't forgive for now. So, how will Eteri's underrotating-quad queens fare? It's going to be hard to sell the well-rounded skater narrative if their money making jump gets < or << every time.

I guess, if they maintain consistency, that's one way to sell the narrative, but their success rate is like 50% I wonder how the ISU would handle this.

r284 The FS is pretty great actually, more fire than in earlier incarnations. The spins and step seq were fierce and the opening quad was landed impressivly on the note.

R397 That's nice to hear, actually. I decided to skip the cursed competition and haven't watched anyone's FS. Poor Hanyu, Kolyada, Messing, Gracie. Servings of shit for all.

Gracie

I’m heartbroken to withdraw from tonight’s free skate. It was a difficult decision to make, but ultimately I need to put my mental health first and focus on the big picture. Looking forward, I need to keep improving both my physical and mental condition.

I thought checking into treatment last fall was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, but skating my short program last night might have topped it. I do not want to undo the tremendous progress I’ve made in these last few months

and I feel that competing the free skate would be damaging to both my confidence and mental health going into Nationals. I thank you all for your support, and I am so sorry if I have let you guys down. This is just the start for me, and I know that greater things are yet to come

What makes you think they will call the quads of Eteri's girls when they can just pick and choose where to be harsh? Especially when judges have decided that Satoko and Shoma are VERY well-rounded skaters that barely UR.

R288. I think it's a mix of all three. I read some stuff already from these antis and it's disgusting.

r298 It wasn't so bad but I'm quite desensitized to falls and mistakes. Messing's falls are a class off of their own. Kolyada landed his opening quad sal and toe and axel combo so he managed not to give up on the program entirely despite the later but-of-course pops. He interpreted enough to make his Carmen watchable, and I'm saying that as possibly the greatest Carmen hater in this thread. Most guys were ok to watch, apart from the boring ones: Fentz and Kvitelashvili who were actually cleanish. I found Lazukin unwatchable because of his music.

I was impressed by Messing's falls. They're bad but his recovery from them is so smooth, he just bounces or slides right back up.

Can't forget poor Dmitriev and his ill fated foray into 4A (skid takeoff, underrotated, fall, -6.25, for those who didn't watch). I can appreciate his YOLO attitude but how anybody at his rink lets him train that with his lack of fundamental technique astounds me.

Just in case the point didn't get across: "There were many more behind scene: works, preparation, strategy, planning, training, minds, physiology and more. Good things takes time, but after half year of work : on to off the ice, we slowly moving that way."

r298 Tomono's FS was nice and you can watch Ge try to imitate his coach, who may have rolled his eyes once or twice, in the K&C.

I think this was already addressed upthread, but I don't understand Misha's role - he choreographed the SP, not the FS and isn't the coach, but he sat with Tomono at the K&C after both programs and talked about staying up late to plan an strategize. Is Misha even a bigger blowhard than we thought or does he have a more significant role and it's just not official?

I think Misha's role is a kind of choreography polisher. Most Russian coaching teams have someone in-house who fulfills this role (like Daniil for Eteri's team, Tatiana Prokofieva for Mishin, Olga Glinka for Rukavitsin) but I don't know what the setup is here. I'm sure he did contribute some help, but I also think he's starved for attention and probably exaggerating his importance. I'm guessing he's getting low on his narcissistic supply now that he's retired.

r305 His IG is even worse, but he didn't use the #coach tag there, although he called himself Misha-sensei. Ge's been describing himself as a kind of coach to Tomono ever since he was asked to choreograph the SP, but he's never been named a coach and even the most recent Japanese reports just call him Tomono's SP choreographer. He hasn't met with Tomono any more than Richaud has met with Sakamoto, and Richaud doesn't report everything on social media. Ge himself has been very busy running camps and seminars around the world since the summer.

Sometimes choreographers sit with skaters in the K&C, and I think the fed allowed him to be there since Tomono's second coach wasn't and Ge was in Moscow and in charge of choreographing the opening ceremony and gala. He didn't mention Tomono's coaches even once, nor Misao Sato who actually choreographed the FS, so that should give you an idea of his warped sense of reality and importance. He wrote Hanyu long emails after his injury before the last Olympics and kind of credited himself with helping Hanyu through that dark time after Hanyu won his second OGM as well.

He kept staring at Hanyu while the latter was trying to warm up yesterday and tried to say something to him after the FS, but Hanyu wouldn't look at him.

Yuzuru is probably crying in his bed because he won't be in the arms of a strong man during the group photo. Oh, wait... that's me.

I feel a great sense of relief that I won't have to suffer through Keegan's cringe-inducing programs at the GPF. Ditto for Mako's nails-on-a-blackboard SP. I can't get rid of that awful earworm now.

R306 R307 Thank you. I think someone posted this already, but the instagram is insufferable. Misha says, "Good things and habits takes time, but after half year of work...we slowly moving to that direction." Are you fucking kidding me? Is he trying to imply that he's now stepped in to guide Tomono in the right direction? Tomono's coach is the one with the leather gloves that we all liked last time. If he took care of Misha, many would be thankful and no one would have to know.

R 309 I don't like Messing's skating style either, but it's too bad he had to end things on such a disappointing note.

For the person who asked about interactions between Orser and Eteri. Not quite an interaction but telling nonetheless. What do you guys think? Is she undressing him with her eyes?

R310 Thank you so much for your post! You actually had me LOL--the first time I've laughed all day. That certainly is one deadly look Eteri seems to be aiming at Brian. She really looks pissed.

My heart was in pieces seeing Hanyu in the kiss n cry and his face looking as if he was going to cry. I wonder if it was because he wasn't perfect or he felt he let plush down.? I just hated seeing that. He deserves to always be happy.

R312 At least he's surrounded by two guys in the K&C who clearly adore him and are doing everything they can to make him feel better. It is still hard though to see him look so emotionally fragile.

Hi JDC, is Takahiko Kozuka, our favorite cunt mascot from thread 1 at it again? Did he just pen an article blaming Hanyu for being careless in injuring himself? Did the guy not get his coveted broadcasting job the first time he pulled this kind of stunt.

Yuzuru mentioned once that he skated a gala, thinking he would never skate again (a better fan would know when/where this was.) Anyway, I imagine Yuzuru has a lot to cry about. Wondering if he'll really be able to compete ever again, there in Russia, where he went to work with Igor and some woman not long before he transferred to Brian - he said the woman taught him how to show his emotions in his skating - and the home of his uber idol Plushenko, and there with TAT, who gave him a new cd of music for him to skate to, right there at the free skate (I read somewhere - don't know exactly how/when.) And then the pain - it was pretty sad watching him go immediately to be bandaged and then go to the press conference on crutches ai yi yi. I'm surprised he didn't cry more.

BTW, I found this on Twitter but can't read the captions or anything - was Nathan Chen in the audience for Yuzuru's skate(s)? The chairs are multicolored and there's a Winnie the Pooh nearby - and I read he was in Moscow to squeeze in some work with Raf before the GP next week. (link)

r310 Thank you. That's a great photo.

R314 That last line... What a fucking cunt.

In random news, Takahashi is holding a free seminar and talk show on real estate investment and to announce the "D-color" condominium/apartment building he designed with sponsor and real estate company Sky Court. The building will be completed this spring.

I'll take that red/black mix that Takahashi's hair is sporting instead of that horrid streak of bleached blond that I last saw him, which sadly, I think is the more recent 'do'. What is up with him changing his hair color more than any women I know? I'm NOT intending any aspersions (who, moi?) but I was just reading an article about borderline personality disorder and it said they're constantly changing their appearance. I don't know jack about his personality other than few snippets here and there and I do NOT see any other signs of him changing his look - it just popped in my head, especially after that Morticia Adams streak of horror.

Anyhoo, I wish him well, I have a feeling we'll see him at Worlds with Shoma - and I hope they give Tomono the 3rd place since his great skate in Milan is what got them that place when otherwise, they wouldn't have it. (Keiji did his usually Keiji-ing and was 13th or so - and I say that with love because I think Keiji is adorable)

R316 What was the last line of Kozuka's article? I read it through Google translate and only got the gist.

R314 Sorry, R316 was me (JDC). Yes, he blamed Hanyu and it ended up sounding more condescending than from concern. In the last line he basically said: "Instead of injuring himself and 'trying to do his best,' he should 'try not to injure himself.'"

It looks like Medvedeva has a new "friend": Oyaslim. "Argan Oil Blending Pressure Leggings" (pink compression socks) that will make your legs 7cm slimmer if worn overnight. Not a harmful product like diarrhea-inducing Rivaland, but there seems to be a theme here with her sponsors.

What's Takahiko's excuse for being a lousy 8th in his only Olympics and never winning Worlds, or GPFinals, after winning Junior Worlds and JGPF in 05-06? Did they idiot injure himself too much or did he just suck as a skater, compared to Hanyu?

So, is friendship between Yuzu and Mr Ge completely over? By the look of their (lack of) interactions it sure seems so. And I laughed at his ig post about Tomono because it sure reminded me of his tirades on how much he helped Yuzu on his Olympics journey. What a complete lack of respect for the actual coaches and people who actually played a major role. I hope Kazuki smells the fakeness and ditches him at some point. I'm glad Mr Ge stopped leeching off of Yuzu but I did not want it to happen to someone else either.

R319 Thank you. What a complete asshole. I honestly don't understand what he has to gain with such a low argument? Did it work the first time? Is it to troll fanyus? Is it for clicks? Is it to set the stage for outrage if Hanyu skips Nats but is picked foe World's? Can you imagine what would happen if Takahashi comes in third and they send Hanyu in his place?

I love this little video of TAT and Yagudin looking thrilled when Yuzuru landed his 4T/eu/3S combo. I assume they knew about his injury.

R322 Kozuka works for Toyota who sponsors Uno and their skating club. His wife works for Fuji which also supports USM skaters Uno and Takahashi. It's his job to promote Uno and to a lesser extent Takahashi as much as possible, but instead of just praising Uno, he's been condescending to Hanyu. What's ironic is that Kozuka himself retired partly due to injury.

R324 Thank you, but I guess my confusion is, why is he doing his job so ineffectively, in a way that could easily backfire on the people he's trying to promote and make himself look foolish in the process? Or is there a market for this kind of idiocy and he's trying to corner it.

Between Plushenko's sweet message "I'm proud of you" and this, I hope it helped make Yuzu feel a bit better. I don't care if part of it is interested coming from the Plushenko family because it means a lot to Yuzu either way. Especially now that being once again injured, so many uglies are out after him once more.

As for Kozuka, it's not just about him being on Shoma's side. It's the green monster called jealousy that all pathetic losers like him experience for people so above them on all accounts.

R316 Dirt Czar, how do you say "fucking cunt" in japanese and where did you learn such language?

Plushenko's full message. I'm glad he posted this.

R291, I lol'd. I shudder to think what choreo he has in store for the gala.

Apparently, Yuzuru plans to appear at the awards ceremony (schedule says 2:00 PM Moscow time, but that's for "all," doesn't break it down by discipline). Even if he was tempted to take off, I didn't think he'd let Kazuki down.

R330 Maybe they can ask Guarise or another hunk to carry him to the podium.

On another note, Yuzu being such an unapologetic Russiaboo reminds me of Johnny. These 2 have quite a bit in common (minus the crazy ass Russian husband. Let's hope sth like this never happens to Yuzu).

LOL I think Yuzu would love that - but it's gonna be hard for him to arrange I imagine. He'll probably take a pain pill and hop up on that middle step of the podium but I HOPE NOT!

I'm so delighted to see the two messages from the Plushenkos. Whew! My feelings are so sore on all this - especially reading about Kazuka. What an ugly creep.

At least Shoma has never played that game - not that I've ever seen. He's said nice things about Yuzuru - how he admires him, wants to keep following him forever - I mean, really more than necessary praise, and when they're together, there's a really sweet vibe. More uncomplicated that with Javi, imo. There must be other Japanese skaters who don't hate him? Nobu? Shizuka Arakawa? Kanoko Murakami? The one named Mura who skated at Yuzu's own ice show?

R327 Literally would be このクソマンコ野郎 (kono kuso manko yarou), but manko isn't quite as strong as cunt, so just クソ野郎 (kuso yarou) fucking idiot/bastard is fine. People also use the English "fucking" now, so you could also say fucking yarou. But don't use these words!

I don't think Hanyu cares enough about Kozuka to be hurt by his words.

Only Yuzu could make Yagudin cheer for a tribute to his arch nemesis. So cute how supportive both he and Tarasova were throughout the program.

R326 Aint no way Sasha Plushenko's gonna let that other blond attention whore kid upstage him.

R319 Is Med hard up for cash? These endorsements seem both off brand and beneath her. She's an elite athlete for goodness' sakes. Why is she hawking products aimed at people who want to look slim without having to do the work. She should start paying Brian in shakes and leggings. It would be win-win for both!

Raf, calm down pls. Just kidding. I love how much of a Yuzu fanboy he is. Has been for years.

Oh mercy I just watched the medal ceremony and Yuzuru came out on crutches. So many were crying in the audience and holding up signs (that I couldn't read). It's hard not to tear up watching that.

Oh and this! (and I hope he's not being pressured!)

jardin @michaeljardins passing on a message through the japanese fed: yuzuru states that as of now, he's going to receive medical care with all his might for the GPF (yahoo japan, 11.18.18)

5:09 AM - Nov 18, 2018

He yelled arigatou gozaimashita to the audience before he disappeared off the carpet/ice.

Victory Ceremony - Men

Ohhhh Ge's message for "other skater". No fucking "friendship" to scare people. Should I celebrate ?

Seriously, how many posts has he written since he arrived Russia for COR ? After Gala, there must be more of touching posts. I guess.

R340 How touching...not. Tbh I almost feel bad for him, from everything I saw this weekend seems like Yuzu was really pretending he was not there the entire time they were sharing a space.

Yuzu's hair at that awards ceremony was absolute perfection. Usually it only looks that good when he's doing a commercial or ad.

340 I'm not seeing anything objectionable in this one? It'd be more cunty if he didn't say anythjng despite having professed friendship in the past, given how sns active he is.

And maybe Hanyu was just too focused on training to look at him?

I know I'm grasping at straws but I always try to play the devil's advocate.

Maybe they fucked and it ended badly.

At the end of that medal ceremony, when Yuzu is exiting the ice, Ge is standing there looking like an assassin. He certainly works his ass off to get himself into videos and photos with Yuzu.

Misha is really getting kind of creepy. I suspect that with his annoying personality and constant travel, he doesn't have any real friends around to hold him in check.

Kazuki is really growing on me. He reminds me more of a young Dai than Shoma the gnome ever did.

He acted calm and smiled gently like a priest in the K&C with Tomono. And that made me laugh so hard.

That's what I was thinking R344. Where are those extra security, Russia? Why was he there but no sign of Brian or Ghislain? Shouldn't he have been busy getting ready for the gala in just a little while, backstage with the skaters or something? But noooo. Right out there, never smiling, staring at Yuzuru (and probably hating all the cheering and banners for Yuzu).

And then Misha posted a photo of him having bought dinner for Kazuki (when you win a medal and your coach buys your dinner) - something like that. But he's not his coach !!

And I agree - I like Kazuki's skating. I thought he reminded me of Yuzu but then I saw Tomoki Hiwatashi and he really reminds me of Yuzu - though I think Stephane Lambiel is his coach. God at least it's not Misha. Go back to China, Ge - and stay there!

Here's the picture/caption about Misha/Kazuki/coach/dinner. Maybe I'm misinterpreting it?

R347 There must be thousands of skaters who reminded you of Hanyu. The only skater who reminded me of Yuzuru is Sena Miyake, but it was when he was a novice. He and Yuzuru are as different as chalk and cheese now.

r349 Cha? He's got certain looseness and freedom of movement that's similar to Hanyu and the same coaching team probably contributes too.

Now you grumpies, be happy about Misha Ge. Hanyu's most likely out of comission until Worlds, whatever would we talk about if not for Misha Ge? And Vincent Zhou? We'd only complain about Nathan and Shoma being overscored.

R342 Yass I love his fluffy hair. I guess he wasn't in the mood for an overdose of hairspray like last year.

R350 Many topics still to cover even with Hanyu out.

Like who is going to bomb the most at Rus Nats for men, if the Rus fed will give Alina a win over their quadster (and if Med is still in the equation), also before that about how awful and boring the men's GPF will be or how Alina will be overscored at GPF, and without Hanyu at GPF the battle between overscoring and ubers of Shoma and Nathan will be glorious especially if its like last year and Nathan won barely.

I'm feeling kind of bad for Misha Ge about Hanyu. I find him annoying still, but the nitpicking is too deep. I feel like Ge overestimates himself, like the lonely people who you meet a few times at school and suddenly they claim to be your best friend (even though you only hang out with them at school because everyone else sucks and it's not fun to be a loner).

As sorry as I am that Yuzuru will have to miss the GPF, at least there is a little bit more suspense now about who could win bronze (because I'm sure Shoma and Nathan will fall on their asses multiple times and still take gold & silver).

Rostelecom is just barely over but moving on. Any news on Nathan and his condition preceding IdF?

I wonder if he will try more quads. His fans are adamant that his scoring potential hasn't been reached yet and he can especially get the FS world record with more quads. Though of course he has done great in PCS but I will puke if his choreo and skating content does down after such a great showing at SkAm and yet his PCS rises.

Also, will we get coasters this year or more plastic stars? The French fed never runs out of ideas. One wonders why they just don't shell out for the smallest upgrade of glass medals like some Challengers instead of going for the cringe. Stay tuned.

I hate that Yagudin looks... Like that. Just like Plushenko who hasn't changed his hairstyle in 30+ years. Those soviet fossils, smh.

Uno and Chen? Don't care about either of them. Boring, boring, boring. I'd rather chat about the Gracie Gold situation. On her updated ISU bio page she listed her hobbies as working out, Netflix, and eating and sleeping. Gotta love her sense of humor and snark. I wonder what US Figure Skating thinks about her now. Do they want her to shut up and go away? And if she does really want to make a serious attempt at regaining her past form, who does she need on her team? I'm thinking that those two unfortunate looking fellows who were sitting in the K&C with her are probably not up to the job. Yuka Sato perhaps?

I have good knowledge of lost causes. I coach the Japanese Pair along with my ex husband.

Yuzuru and Ge interaction for whoever needs it.

GPF ladies field should be interesting. At least it is less predictable than men. What Chen and Uno have to do is to show up, jugdes will do the rest to make sure they take gold and siver.

R337. I hope he isn't being pressured either. He needs to rest and heal. Jesus Hanyu please rest!

There was barely any interaction there

These are Hanyu's injuries.

R357 Well, that was really awkward. The delusional fans on Twitter who believe these 2 are still friends like before the whole Medo shipping/forcefully taken pictures etc. are clearly blind. Looks like former lovers forced to be cordial with each other because they are in public. Actually at first I thought when Misha moved to the back that Yuzu was talking to him but no because 5sec later you can see him coming back and then having that awkward hug and then Yuzu turning his head away from Misha or looking down. Any way what the fuck was Misha doing there. He wasn't even the main choreographer for the gala and certainly not a coach. It's getting ridiculous.

OK this should be more watchable. Yuzuru and Daniil Gleichengauz's interaction.

Apparently, Daniil had many things to say to Yuzuru. Eteri's team watched Yuzuru's practice and performance closely, they even freaked out when he left practice early after the fall. I bet they even care about Yuzuru's injury than his team lolll.

Interesting video about Koshiro Shimada and his life in Champery (with cameos by Stephane and Deniss). I don't understand Japanese, but I like to see where they all live. He has an apartment, but I guess they all eat together in that big wooden cabin? Deniss says that Koshiro always eats whatever he prepares, lol.

Any doctor in the house to interpret the severity of the injury according to the link that R360 posted? The article appears to suggest treatment will be done by GPF but surely that's bollocks.

Daniil is always looking at Yuzu like he wants to eat him up. Glad they could have a chat.

Unrelated but even without his skates on, Yuzu's legs still are longer than Kazuki's. It's cute. As for Kazuki I hope he can become Japan number 3 man. I love Keiji but I don't think he will manage to keep that position much longer. Well, as long as it's not Takahashi I'll be happy.

Daniil and Hanyu should bone to ease tensions between their two camps. Sometimes people overlook the obvious solutions.

Anyone can make a post like that but about Daniil and Yuzuru's friendship. It would be much more heart touching lolllll

Is there a guy more straight than Nathan Chen in fs right now. Dude looks and behaves like such a frat boy. No wonder he has no artistry. And not sure why Liza needed to conduct her interview of him on a bed but let's move on.

I think Liza was interviewing him for her Youtube channel, so the hotel room probably seemed like a decent quiet place for it. And her bf probably took the photo.

Alright Misha...we fucking get it already.

@mishage8 Im glad to see you grow” ( We just started ) #Coach #Student

What's Nathan's dating situation?

I love Zagitova. She's my favorite skater in a long time. With the extra height she looks downright lanky out there.

R366. Not a doctor. It doesn't sound that great though. Hopefully someone can let us know their thoughts.

R369, and with the bed half unmade too! -snicker-

Serious question, is Daniil gay? He's hot and always looks dapper. Yum. Someone said earlier that he and Eteri always look like the impeccably well-dressed villains, that's rather true actually! I like seeing them around, but I'm a bit on the shallow side, I think ugliness is the worst sin

R369 I find Nathan to be quite homely with zero charisma. It amazes me that anyone could possibly think that this guy winning an OGM would reinvigorate figure skating in the US. Did they learn nothing from Evan's win back in 2010?

R375 Any infos about Daniil's gf ( if he has one). Russian fans ship him with Zagitova like crazy but both seems not give a fuck. His insta doesn't reveal anything about his personal life.

After SP, Russian media asked Zagitova if she usually talked to Yuzuru. Yeah they was preparing a new FS couple lol but she said: " Absolutely no, I don't talk to him because of language barrier and I usually don't talk to anyone during competitions except my coaches"

r377 Zag sounds even more focused than Hanyu.

There are people shipping her and Daniil? Geez.

R377 Kind of surprised Rus media want to pair her with Hanyu, unless it was only because he was the top men skater at the event, because she seems to be more comfortable with Shoma and Nathan. JP media is ahead of the game.

R379 I barely remember her surname

R379 Japan constantly asked her if she had a bf and what was her ideal boyfriend last summer when she was doing shows in Japan but the girl is smart when saying she hadn't thought about men and only wanted to focus on skating currently. Who ship her with guys ( Daniil, Shoma, Nathan,...) is her own fans, most of comments under her IG posts are shipping posts if not bashing ones from antis. This happened to almost every Russian skaters including juniors like Alena Kostornaya. Russian fans are obsessed with shipping, partly because many of their skaters are in relationship at a young age. Elizaveta Tuk was dating with Gachinsky when she was like 14-15 years old. Yulia Lipniskaya 17 yo.

Not sure if this is updated injury information or what. I just saw this posted not too long ago on Yuzuru's injury.

"Tibiofibular ligament damage, triangular ligament damage, suspicion of peroneal tendon damage on the right ankle...Whether he will remain in Moscow or go back to Toronto is unclear."

Team Japan (sans Hanyu) before the Gala

It's interesting the cultural differences. The Russians don't mind at all a 16 year old possibly dating a 24 year old. I'm from Latin America and it's not that weird either, just a bit of side eye; but I've seen Americans screaming outrage and saying Alina is just a child and too young to date and god forbid someone of that age.

R382 Why the hell would he stay in Moscow when all his support system is in Toronto? I would understand him going back to rest for like 2 weeks in Japan for instance but I really don't see what he and his mom would be doing in Russia during that time.

R385 GPF is in Canada and going back to Toronto would at least put him in the right continent anyway so. Makes too much sense to return to TCC if he hasn't decided to withdraw yet anyway.

R384 Some in US would go crazy, judging by the reaction of this last year

Never mind. I just read that he already left Moscow and that article was pure speculation.

R364 Shimada said he’s been living there for about a year. His stay was only supposed to be for a few months but he ended up moving. The apartment is shared with other skaters including a Luke from England and Matilda from Switzerland, and they normally cook for themselves. 18 skaters from Team Hamada were there for summer camp which is why they were eating in that dining hall. Junior Nationals is next week.

R377 Someone (maybe it was here?) said Daniil’s on tinder.

R382 The article said that he usually does interviews the day after competition, but he just attended the ceremony and left, so the journalists weren’t sure when he’d be leaving Moscow.

This is kind of interesting. The person who manages Ge’s official Japanese twitter tweeted that Misao Sato choreographed Tomono’s FS and linked to Tomono’s ISU bio. Ge usually retweets his Japanese twitter but not this time.

R387 Yup, not surprised.

Someone on GS seriously thinks Shoma Uno would make a great interviewer....

Well, I'd pay to see it.

I have come to the conclusion that the Gracie Gold fans are as deluded as the deplorables. They kept talking about how artistic her program was and how great she did....Part of me feels badly for what she's going through, but as R104 mentioned in relation to the people on the major skating boards, sometimes her fans make it hard to root for her....

Well they are her fans. Sometimes it's pretty hard to look at your fave objectively. Even more if you stan hard.

I mean, it's not any different from the Alina fans who think she is the epitome of artistry, skating skills, and transitions and absolutely refuse to believe that her jumps have deteriorated then goes to cite her overrated scores to make an argument, as if those weren't gifted.

Or the Hanyu fans who lied to themselves and believed it when Hanyu said his ankle was all good and thought nothing of him bringing back the quad loop.

Or the Nathan fans who believe all he needs to do this season to best Shoma and Hanyu is to pull his 6 quads out from under his belt and the only thing stopping him is his studies, as if doing 6 quads in 4 minutes and not sacrifice any choreo is so easy.

What do the Japanese think of Ge's (almost) creepy interactions with Kazuki??

Keeping the Misha theme going, was he getting dogpiled on IG? He turned the comments off on his Yuzuru post.

You have a point, R394. But all of those skaters have achieved much more than what Gracie ever achieved when she was at her peak. She never medalled at Worlds, GPF, Olys, or even 4CC. The worship just seems particularly over the top to me relative to her merits as a skater.

That’s bullshit, R381. Tuktamysheva never dated Gachinsky, she has been with her current boyfriend (Lazukin) since forever, and Gachinsky used to date Ekaterina Bobrova. Lipnitskaya never dated Gachinsky either: she maybe has something going on with Miroshkin, but it’s not public knowledge since she was always extremely private about her dating.

Yulia was dating a skater at Sambo for awhile, Vlad Tarasenko, but I imagine that fizzled out when she moved to Sochi. Think he went to St. Petersburg and tried pairs for a bit but I don't know whether he has quit skating altogether now.

Yura Matsuda has some clips from the afterparty - wouldn't you know that Misha is right in there dancing near Kazuki trying to look like one of the cool kids? I just get a bad vibe from him, moreso now than ever.

R397 I guess. Then instead of those skaters' fans, how about Kolyada's then? Kolyada has managed to get bronze at the weakest of men's fields like 2018 Worlds and 2017 GPF despite huge mistakes.

His fans believe Kolyada can best Hanyu as long as he gets his shit together, and that it'll happen any day now, just you watch and the people who doubt him are just haters or wishes for him to fail.

His peak, last season, is actually kind of abysmal. Thinking about it, that's sad for someone I actually think is a more rounded skater than Chen or Uno. For him and Gracie, it's definitely the head that messed with them when it's peak time.

So apparently ratings in Japan for Rostelecom: Avg ratings for Men's SP - 14% >>highest is 22.8% when Hanyu got his score Avg ratings for Men's FS - 16.2% >>highest instance is 26.4% when Hanyu waited for his score

Broadcasters must be scrambling with the imminent WD of Hanyu from GPF and Nats. So folks expect more Shoma PR about how he is a much better skater than Hanyu in the next few weeks.

TSL Rostelecom Part 1 - I lied and said I wouldn't do it again but I am -- but focused on 'it's just gossip, not gospel!' please don't take it as received wisdom from on high etc... and it was so long (1.46hrs) and more rambly and disjoint that usual. Best bit, for me: Dave is doing an interview with Kurt Browning which should be up soon !!!

Anyway, the first 34 minutes were all about GRACIE Gold. Dave was on a tear (he works for an insurance company related to mental health issues so and had his own problems with alcohol (mentioned in earlier episode that skating rehab was like him trying to give up drinking - it's a many ups-and-downs process)... well, anyway, Gracie: he said he warned repeatedly she wasn't ready, and her problems were deep, with the "sweat lodge" being a red flag, and her father lost his medical license so maybe she's rushed for financial reasons? Also her coach Vincent Restencourt(?) is a nightmare: kicked out of France due to legal issues; fired by Ting Cui's dad; moving around so much, from Monument to Tammy then left there; didn't bother to hug/console Gracie; says Vincent probably wanted her there for HIS sake because his ego needs stroking, etc, since he needs a star and more visibility -- and she needs to get away from him and have someone like Meagan Duhamel or Yuka Sato (who don't have their own ego problems) to rebuild everything, from lifestyle to skating. Oh and Phil Hersh was weird when he was trying to be supportive to Grace "when it's not in his nature" lol (handbags at dawn?) - just everybody's letting Gracie down....

34: Then on to other ladies - ALINA's hunching, her wild flailing which caused her popped flip; she's probably going down next season but has enough talent she could be saved but why should Eteri care when she has an assembly line (which is why she never bothers to fix skating skills or jumps etc) - Eteri didn't bother to show up in kiss and cry for TURSY because that's what she does when someone doesn't produce and wtf is going on with Tursy's air position?; 44: SOFIA SAMODUROVA - interesting skater that they love but hideous bent-arm tano's. They skipped around alot so at 53: Nathan CHEN watches TSL Instagram/stories "all day" because they can see who watches - then back to women, 58: MED better go to Nationals (though they've been strategizing she cd skip it) because they have 4 women with a good chance for Worlds, Alina, Sofia, Konstantinova and Med, so she better show or it'll look bad on her. 1.04: Dave is sick that US released PAGANINI: she's pretty, great skater, great packaging and god does the US need her now. More self-promotion when Dave said Tanith fixed her Eunsoo pronunciation after watching her interview on TSL - and Jonathan said Eurosport had quoted him and Dave said ISF had taken Eunsoo quotes from his interview and put them in an article. (they loved EUNSOO's free/love Raf's way of dealing with her/they think she's on track to break out next year)

TSL Rostelecom Part 2 False alarm that they were moving to men at 1.07 with Dave hugging his Winnie the Pooh and bragging about HANYU's short breaking world record, so amazing that even the great Sasha Plushenko interviewed him after his injury (sorry I missed that but I saw the pic). Back to women: KAREN Chen was rude/selfish withdrawing so late and denying someone a spot. MED has apparently added double-axel/triple-loop combo and is dropping the second lutz (he didn't say how he knows this). Then pairs and ice dance I think...

1.36 finalllllly back to HANYU - Dave thinks Hanyu will be just fine, this may be a blessing in disguise, he's always handled injuries just fine, skated right after, was peaking too soon anyway - is in a higher realm from all the other skaters (Tarasova doesn't stand for just anybody) and actually the only one who 'could' even possibly be in his league is KOLYADA - IF he'd go to Raf full-time right now - there's something wrong in his preparation but his Carmen is "20,000 times better than Alina's" and if only Orser could have taken THIS one on (but it wd never be allowed to happen?) Dave is worried about NATHAN eating potato chips and surfing 'net at midnight ?? 1.41 KVITELASHVILI "accidentally" somehow did well; they love TOMONO - nice quality to his skating - other than him bending his legs midflight - he needs to work in the desert with Frank Carroll a while to straighten them out.

R395 They already predicted he would latch onto Tomono like he did with Hanyu when it was announced he’d be choreographing Tomono’s SP. They thought he was disrespectful to Tomono’s coach and constantly trying to get in the camera’s view. Everyone’s hoping he won’t accompany Tomono at nationals.

Lady in white made an appearance again (as well as another known stalker who was wearing the shorter white coat). She got quite close. I don’t know who took the video but they were almost just as bad. Hanyu is supposedly in Tokyo right now.

R403 thanks. I appreciate your recap because I couldn't be bothered to sit down for the whole broadcast

TSL is bullshit. I remembered they said Yuzuru's fall at NHK didn't look too bad and asked Daug Haw why it took him months to recover from ankle injury implying that he either faked his injury or exaggerated its seriousness.

I think Dave has learned from fan feedback to gush a bit over Hanyu - but basically, it was a gloss-over, made clear by talking about him way at the end, as an afterthought, though he bought a Pooh bear so he could hug it on-screen but he didn't seem like a real fan. I remember him and that first woman (the ice dancer?) - she was always talking about Hanyu's "club foot" and the other lady they call "La" fussed about Hanyu looking down all the time (Jonathan brought that up in this episode.) I don't think they're too interested in him. They seem more into the women (Dave's also a big fan of female gymnastics) - and they're more into pairs/dance it seems to me.

They also spent a good 10 or 20 minutes making up a fantasy ice show with greats from the past and thinking up who'd they like to have - Kwan, Yuna Kim, Mao, Lambiel, Plushenko, Dai, Nobu... they wanted Weir just so he wouldn't commentate, for that they wanted Tarasova, blah blah... just a weird waste of time, and going on and on about a very old ice show or competition at "Landover" that he wanted Jonathan to look up on Youtube. From back in the 80s or something. I almost turned it off it was such an indulgent waste of time.

Those stalkers are so creepy. And you'd think they'd pick nondescript black coats instead of white, which really jumps out at you. Shouldn't someone go up to them, each time!, and ask them why they are following Hanyu so closely and tell them to keep a respectful distance. Just glancing towards the end, I thought one of the guys near Hanyu looked like Vladimir Putin - so I thought Yuzu was really quite the phenom LOL. Anyway, it did look like some guards or security but they didn't seem to care about the white coat crazies. One woman at the end did seem to be looking back at them and others and putting her arms out or something to stop them ?

Or maybe they're afraid of making these nuts angry though I thought stalkers going "postal" was pretty much just an American thing - and the dangerous ones are usually male, but not always. Selena and Dave Letterman had some pretty scary stalkers - one murdered her former idol and the other broke into Letterman's house and told neighbors she was his wife (while he was away).

Notorious cunt Dave Lease dissing Phil Hersh and Johnny Weir is pretty rich.

Now that I think about it - Dave used Hanyu's picture on the episode, and teased at about the 1 hour point, but ended up talking about him way at the end - THAT's why he wasted so much time before getting to him on the fantasy show and that ancient Landover thing, he knew he'd have the stage and people would have to sit through it. I follow another youtuber who complained that people are always turning his videos off early (like 5 minutes into a 20 minute one) because he reads his analytics and maybe it even affects how much money you get on a monetized youtube channel.

Just what a notorious cunt would do LOL. He also dropped his "theory" that Hanyu hated Uno - and a few weeks ago he said Kaori was a boring nonentity but after NHK, she was the greatest thing since sliced bread... Oh well, his scheme may backfire because all his time-wasting self-indulgent shit has made me reluctant to sit through it again, especially if Hanyu's not in the picture for a while, because I couldn't care less about pairs/dance. I'll try to hush up about it for now thoug - It's IdF where I'm rooting for Med and Nathan to screw up - I'm not notorious but I might be a cu.... Hanyu is somehow exempted (maybe it's the ass) but like Dave, I usually don't tend to like top dogs or teacher's pets

I feel guilty and sad because I contributed to the damaging of a beautiful friendship. They had to hide their incredible friendship because of some bitches like me.

Uh...Youtube has the option to skip so most fans skip anyway. You couldn't pay me to sit through talk about ice dance. Dave just doesn't have much to say about Hanyu even if he pretends he does because his interest isn't there.

Misha is also the self-appointed tour guide for Team Japan in Moscow, because it's not like they could have found Red Square on their own.

Does anyone have a season pass on GS? Are the closed discussions worth it?

I'm contemplating it, though it's already halfway thru the season already so if I'm paying same as everyone who did earlier it's kind if stupid.

I paid and now I'm angry that they took Rostelecom threads (and all previous comps) down the day of the gala! I went to catch up because I couldn't get to it in time - and then poof, it was gone. It had wayyyy less trafic than Planet Hanyu, and even the event Hanyu wasn't in had more traffic on PH's event threads. But still, I don't think I'd regret it IF they hadn't taken down the old threads way way WAY too fast.

Typically there were 30 or fewer participants - I think at the height of the comp, there were 70 or so? Sometimes only six or seven people on a thread (during Rostelecom). It was weird. Much less trafficked than the regular threads - I think - like I said, I wasn't impressed with Rostelecom threads, so I spent most of my time on the PH ones, and planned to catch up at GS later... but of course I can't do that now :(

Still, at least it's only $6. It's FSU like $70 or something ridiculous like that. I wouldn't even consider that - I haven't even signed up for the NBC site though I've been tempted but it's $70 per year too and I already have NBC on satellite lol, and this obsession too shall pass... Rather quickly if Hanyu is out for the season if not forever. I only got into it during Pyeongchang and haven't found much else besides him to be all that interesting (reminds me of how I felt after Weir - like what's the point for a bunch of dullards)

When there used to be hundreds of people chatting about the competitions, it was kind of fun. Now it seems you pay money and are stuck chatting with only a handful (I didn't pay, but judging by the "viewing" statistics on the forum, it looks like a ghost town). DL is better even with the trolls and weirdos. You have trolls and weirdos there too, plus obnoxious mods (especially gsk8).

R416 Wait what do you mean they took down the threads? I thought they remained open or at least viewable to people who paid? So even if you have a season pass you only get a limited time to view a competition thread?

I'm actually only contemplating joining specifically because Hanyu is out. Less assholery about him since he'll be in blackout mode and I can actually enjoy the pros and cons discussions about skaters I'm less biased about. I roll my eyes too much in the edge and wondered how different the closed discussions might be.

R409. I would say stalkers are scary and still not sure why nothing is being done. Yeah some here might say not a big deal. It takes only one delusional person to hurt someone. Anyone doing this should be taken seriously. I'm truly in disbelief that so far she is allowed to continue. Are they waiting for something to happen before acting?

I'm the weirdo who is gonna ask for ass pics. This thread is in a drought!

I gave Ge the benefit of the doubt with the whole Hanyu thing since we'll never know what really happened behind the scenes and I did like his performance as a skater, but his behaviour in rostelecom is making me uncomfortable. Can't imagine what Kazuki's coach feels. Can't he just write a normal, short congratulatory IG post like Daniil/Benoit R/etc did when their clients medal?! Instead of making it all about HIMSELF

R418 I was wrong! I just went to check and all the comps that are over are grouped together in one thread called: 2018-19 Senior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (3 Viewing)

I'm pretty sure that all happened on the day of the Rostelecom gala - when before they were all separated with great big colorful flags marking each event, so I didn't think to study the list of threads to see that they'd been lump together with no big icon flag.

NOTE: Maybe I'm wrong about the details - it's hard to remember because, I mean look at the viewers now, three! (though I know the event is over but I don't remember it being above 79). OTOH, after seeing how sparse it was, I didn't go often during the events because PH was better, so maybe GS did better than what I'm reporting. AFter all, I was WRONG about them closing up the old threads, but I'm so happy because I'll get to read them now and get a bit of my money's worth!

I was DONE with Ge after that Weibo post basically making Hanyu out as a besotted fool for Zhenya. That was outrageously beyond the pail - cyber bullying imo - practically fraud. Not to mention gross.

I could have probably overlooked the stupid bracelets and even the whining on Instagram that he'd been Yuzu's bestie through thick and thin (an obvious lie but like you say, I don't know the extent of their private rel'ship though I doubted it was much beyond what we could see - palling around at the galas, and I think that's more likely to be true after all that's happened.

* oops - meant "beyond the PALE" and Zhenya meaning Med. He obviously IS besotted with the male Zhenya LOL.

R422 Thank you! I'll consider it a bit more I guess.

I think some people are as obsessed over Ge as much as he is over Hanyu. Hanyu actually personally knows Ge so he can defend himself. Otherwise Hanyu hasn't spoken publicly about it so even though Ge is annoying at the end of the day their past and current relationship is still conjecture and fan theories. In this case since Ge and Hanyu are "hiding" their friendship according to some fans because of antis, then it will die down again if Ge is ignored since there's nothing to show. Ge being like a parasyte to Tomono is more of a threat, especially since Tomono could do better and needs to rise above it.

R420 help us out! I googled Hanyu photos and Hanyu ass photos - and I keep getting what I think are repeats of pix we've already had here. Anyway, I'm the frontalist and like those just as well, if not better, because you can see his pretty little face too. This one has a pretty good picture of his curves and luscious thighs - I hope he doesn't lose them with all this rehab. He says his muscle turns to fat pretty fast if he doesn't work out.

I know Hanyu can defend himself - but that's not the point. Anyone who would do what Ge did to Hanyu is a jerk. That's the point. That's why I'm worried about Tomono because Ge's past behavior proves he's a user and a backstabber.

I don't think that means I'm obsessed with Ge. It means I saw his behavior in that instance last summer as a perfect picture in time of what his character is - very troubling!

And Hanyu DID speak publicly about it when he said, "They are talking about a different Yuzuru" - and at the same time, his complete demeanor changed around Ge, so we know that he was aware of what Ge was doing on social media.

None of that means I think Hanyu is incapable of defending himself - he DID and continues to do so by avoid the creep. Now let's hope he has a chat with Tomono and/or Tomono's real coach (who I believe I saw having his selfie made with Hanyu and they were talking before the medal ceremony.

What's up with this feeling we're obsessed with Ge? This is some good shit when it comes to gossip and this is a gossip board ???

[R416] what are you talking about? The GS K&C GP threads are all still there. Once the comp is over, the latest comp is moved from its position at the top of the thread and is replaced by the upcoming GP thread, but they are all there.

I know - I corrected myself at R422. But my recollection is the flags stayed up for all the events and they were separate threads, even after the comps were over.

I'll admit I stopped going there very often, so maybe they have always been moved to that un-flagged thread - but anyway, all's well now because I found them. And in any case, I don't think the Rostelecom flagged thread should have been moved as fast as it was - yesterday! The day of the gala and still an official comp day imo.

Fans who seriously believe Yuzu is forced to hide his deep friendship with Mr Ge are clearly not right in the head. Famous people may hide romantic relationship but you don't hide a friendship with a same sex person just because you fear mean fans will go after them. That's beyond ridiculous. The fact that they go so far into these kinds of mental constructs instead of facing the much simpler and likelier truth that Yuzu saw Mr Ge's real colours and decided to put a stop to their amazing friendship, is seriously scary. As for that particular fan from the tweet posted in this thread, she is a huge Medo fan and I wouldn't be suprised if she secretly ships her and Yuzu. Anyway enough with Mr Ge, I hope Tomono and his team learned something this weekend and will put some distance with him. Guy has clearly a few lose screws.

R426 Ok I'll see what I can do. R427 "What's up with this feeling we're obsessed with Ge? This is some good shit when it comes to gossip and this is a gossip board ???" I agree with this. Some like to pretend this is a classy thread but lmao it's not and I'm here for it.

[431] Classy thread? Nobody think this is a classy thread.

I wonder why no one speculates about them screwing (Ge and Hanyu). Folks have speculated about Hanyu-Fernandez for way less imo. Unless Hanyu is really screwing Med, not likely but I'd split my sides laughing if that was really the case.

Seriously, Misha Ge never learns. I watched a fancam filming Yuzuru before victory ceremony from a different angle. It's Yuzuru who offered a hug to Ge. I bet had it not been for that hug, there wouldn't have been that IG post. Ge had been looked awkward next to Yuzuru during COR and didn't dare to look at him too long in warm-up backstage/ practice. He didn't talk to Yuzuru UNTIL Yuzuru offered a hug. After all drama last summer he might feel shy to talk to Yuzuru,I supposed. He apparently looked kind of happy and relieved when he saw Yuzuru look at him and offer a hug. He should have felt this way: "Oh, he forgave me" and saw that as a signal from Yuzuru: "We are still BFFs" Then here we are. A new post about Yuzuru. If just a little interaction like that could lead Ge think that way, I can write a romance novel about Yuzuru and Daniil and win literature Nobel prize. I said many times Yuzuru's relationship with Misha Ge, Med, even Javier Fernandez... has been exaggerated among his fans.

R430 Oh, You are right. She is a shipper. She has a PH acc and I remembered she said once she gave Med " Continues with Wings" T-shirt when she was doing shows in Seoul. She posted about them sometimes and she said it's friendship but I fucking know she ship them as a couple after she retweeted shipping posts from Russian accs and that uber IG acc Team- Orser.

R420 The plumpest, juiciest Hanyu ass pics are from Rostelecom 2017. Trust me on this.

This one is from Helsinki 2018

The fancam I mentioned

Nah I like gossip as much as anyone else. That's why I'm here. I just find Ge insufferable and don't think he deserves any more attention. He's a blip on the international radar compared to Med. You all do you though. That's why we're here on a thread that branched off.

R433 Hanyu has a way of looking at people and interacting with them that shows how much he wears his heart on his sleeve. He's so straight with Ge there isn't much to misconstrue.

R435 I fucking those practice leggings.

Love*

R333 Sorry I missed this earlier, but thanks, JDC! Haha. Can't wait to try out my new skillz when they put me at the kids' table this Thanksgiving.

R437 I agree. Misha is a boring, unattractive, non-entity who, through his language abilities and general self-regard, insinuates himself into other people's limelight. The bracelets stuff I was willing to ignore because that was just silly. I can't give him a pass on disrespecting Tomono's coach and taking credit for Tomono's nice win. What a twit.

There are elections for the ISU Athletes Commission during Saitama Worlds. Will Ge stand again? Last time he got 6 votes out of 74 skaters who voted

R442 Did Misha vote 6 times?

R405 The way Hanyu's people flank him makes me think they're pretty aware of the fans creeping on him from behind and on the sides. Look at the fan who had to physically block the other fans from following him further as he got on the elevator.

Who wins the most random scoring at Alpen Trophy? Look at the Components

Pulkinen was ranked 1 by one judge and 18th by another

Stoll had one 5th and one 20th place

Dimistrescu from 4th to 20th

Actually, I almost like it. It's what happens when there is that kind of field. With established skaters, they often have pre-determined scores in mind who got adjusted by particularly good or bad performance on the day. Also because judges fear to "go out of the corridor" if they mark someone too differently from others.

R445 Thanks. That Skating Scores website makes all of this fuckery so clear.

R409 To be fair, if they’re not actually approaching Hanyu, what grounds does security have for doing anything? As far as I can tell, they’re not doing anything a thousand other fans don’t do - it’s just they do it more often.

R415 It’s only $6. I think the question isn’t so much whether the conversation is worth it but whether you want to contribute to GoldenScat. I don’t pay the money because I disagree with their moderating practices.

I barely visit that forum anymore. I went for the first time in a month and was pleasantly surprised to not see 4everChan anywhere but CanadianSkateGuy was still douching it up. First thread I open and there he is twisting some poster’s words because he’s too petty of a bitch to just let an argument go when it’s obvious he’s wrong.

If all you want to do is talk about the competition in real time, PlanetHanyu is very active for the singles threads and you don’t have to be a Hanyu uber to participate as long as you’re constructive in your criticism - obviously if you criticize Hanyu you’re going to get a lot of disagreement but the moderators aren’t going to step in unless you’re being an asshole to other posters, criticising other forums, or spreading gossip - and they’re fair and consistent about it. Ice dance and Pairs is kind of a wasteland but considering what’s out there, what can you expect. My only complaint about PH is that I find them to be a bit uptight. I just flip between here and PH depending on how bitchy and trashy I’m feeling.

R431 I agree. Yes, people go overboard but I just accept that as the price to pay for the fun and freedom. I come here specifically for the trash. You can go anywhere for the “mature” conversation.

R435 I noticed this too! Boy really shaped up for that event.

R441 I agree. I personally find the Tomono stuff more offensive than the bracelet crap. It seems so disrespectful to Tomono’s coach.

R420 Best. Costume. Ever.

R447 Jesus Christ that is the most amazing gif of ass I have ever seen. It clenches, it moves, it bounces, it does so many wonderful ass things.

I just hope he won't stir trouble between Tomono and his coaching team now that he's finally making a name of himself. Urgh. No more choreo by Ge pls, the FS was much better than the SP anyway.

Kolyada looks like a lesbian

r416 What do you mean that the threads disappeared? I don't have the pass so I can only open the main GP directory, and it says there are 3000 posts in the Rostelecom section. That would make under 800 posts for each discipline? PH never gets this many unless Yuzu competes (then it gets 6 times as many).

R450 That's the least of my problems right now.

Oh well I should have read all posts.

This isn't an ass shot but it's beautiful. Sorry if it's been posted already. And if it has it's beautiful enough to look at again.

He could perform wearing that and I wouldn't be mad.

R454 That photo has 121k likes on twitter, that’s insane. He has such a good figure.

*112k likes

The day I realized Hanyu had bigger pecs than Fernandez, my world was shaken off its axis.

^ What. Does he really?

R459 Javi's all arms and shoulders which makes one overlook the fact that he skips chest day. If you examine Super Javi or any of his tighter outfits (or his shirtless pics), there's not much there, but the biceps are deceptive. See below.

And see again. He has managed the dubious feat of buffing up his arms and shoulders while failing to activate his chest muscles.

R460 r461 This is the kind of high quality analysis that makes DL worth coming back to even when there's nothing going on.

His pecs are pretty noticeable. I think they're bigger now than in these pictures but I'd have to find some recent closeups to compare.

You know how so often when you see him, especially before a skate, he's jerking his upper body to one side very quickly, like you do just as you launch yourself into a jump? I think that may be what's building those pecs up.

Oh my god, Yuzuru clearly has bigger boobs. That's amazing.

Jack Gallagher from Japan Times is a dumbass on a normal day but even by his standards this is a new low. What an utter piece of shit.

R465 Yea, I haven't read his stuff for the longest time but for some reason this time I did. I didn't get very far. The article seemed to be written by a middle schooler with a skewed ideal on athletes.

R456. That shows how many of us think that man has a great body lol.

This is still the greatest picture to come out this year.

Yuzu probably smiled like an idiot looking at his screen for one hour after seeing this video and probably cried a bit as well. I don't think Sasha cares about all this as much as his dad but I guess it's less homo to say 'I'll always be by your side, we love you, your Plushenko san' with someone next to you. Though I'm sure Yuzu wouldn't mind these types of declarations from Puru-sama only.

The women of the In The Loop podcast kicked some serious French commentator ass on behalf of Yuzu and were also critical of the Brits for commentating about his FS with apparently no knowledge of his injury. This is their transcript of the podcast; the section on the men is about 3/4s of the way down. They also discuss the injuries that occurred at Rostelecom at the beginning of the podcast and the divided opinion as to whether or not Yuzu should or should not have skated.

r468 The infamous photo. Is he making a statement or is he just joking around? The reason why I think he's making a statement here - unlike with the scene with Oda up against the wall - is that it's part of official merchandise and that the other person involved is Lambiel. I think both Yuzu and Stephane are above cheap gay jokes and that Stephane wouldn't let himself be used for trolling if there wasn't some deeper meaning involved.

R471. I'm with you. He's making a statement. Our Yuzuru is finally being who he is and not giving a fuck what others think.

R471 You're looking too much into it. I think they were trolling around and there's no deep meaning. Yuzu likes to troll and tease btw and if you've seen bts videos when he does photoshoots there is always a moment where he just fools around with the people on set or the photographer, and those staff are sometimes just normal people doing their job.

Also don't think Yuzu fits Lambiel's type, even if they are both scrumptious.

Yeah, I think they're just joking around. Just wishful thinking on all of our parts.

Do you guys think Hanyu is going to 4CC this year?

R474 interesting you brought up 4cc. I think If he is able to skate he will go. He had an interview this past weekend saying something like paying respect to Russia and America skating. I would have to go find it again but I am certain he brought up Russia and America. Probably for plushenko and Weir.

In a recent interview, Raf said no one skates as beautifully as Honda and her talent is limitless, but she only uses about 30% of her ability. She improves with just a little tweaking, but lacks consistency and needs repetition. He created a 6-day a week, 6-7 hour training plan for her, but she improvises and tries new things instead. He thinks girls who want to jump triple axels should start at 13 or 14, before they grow, so he’s not thinking of having her train 3A or quads since she’s already 17. The main focus right now is to increase her stamina and get her to perform clean, precise programs. It will take two years. That’s almost identical to what Hamada and Tamura have said about Honda in the past. Her sisters face off this weekend at Junior Nationals.

Tomono’s coach, Taijin Hiraike, was Tamura’s rival. He placed 2nd to Tamura at Junior Nationals, was 5th at Junior Worlds, and got high as 6th at senior nationals. Tomono now has a big sponsorship from Central Sports, a chain of sports clubs.

Medvedeva’s private IG, e_moonbear_m, has been discovered or rather she wanted it discovered.

R475 I think Hanyu was just talking about Johnny when he's referring to "American" skating, but didn't want to be impolite, e.g., "I respect the Russians and Johnny."

R476

[quote] or rather she wanted it discovered

Why do you think she wanted it discovered?

R476 'Moonbear'..... like those Harry Potter fandom shipping names that smash two nicknames/attributes of the parties in question together. I like Evgenia well enough but subtle she ain't.

R478 OHHHH. I see what you guys are talking about now. I was confused because her instagram only had like 4 posts. It was name she wanted to draw attention to? Oh dear, what a child she is.

This is getting ridiculous. At this point I hope for her sake they are actually dating because otherwise it's really beyond creepy.

I agree R477. He's talked about admiring the Russian general skating style and "precision" before -- and he worked with a couple (Igor and somebody) in Russia before he moved to Orser (and Plushenko said he was asked to coach Hanyu by the Japanese fed! and offered a lot of money to do so -- and I assume that would have been before Orser too, so way back there when Plush was still skating -- in fact, that's why he said he couldn't coach Yuzuru, because he was a rival.) Anyway about the woman in the Russian couple - Yuzuru says she taught him so much about how to emote through his skating.

R475 I don't know if this is the interview you mean but he says: "Especially this season, I really pay tribute to Russian skater, choreographer and American skater."

and his English is SO MUCH IMPROVED! (the first half of the video is Yuzuru speaking in English about his injury). One especially sad part, to me, is: "Figure skating is a sport whereby even if you recover from injury and the injury heals. it doesn't necessarily mean that you can skate as well as you could prior to the injury. So after all, I need to give some thoughts overall about my skating."

Either Plushenko is in full damage control mode after criticizing Origin or he's an idiot (either is perfectly plausible), his wife is now apparently claiming he didn't know Origin was a tribute to HIM. He thought Yuzuru had asked his permission to do another tribute to Nijinsky, which is why he was saying there wasn't enough Nijinsky in it at Helsinki.

The one time in his life when the guy actually had full permission and reason to be obnoxiously self-centered about something and he wasn't paying attention. I did wonder why he wasn't bragging more.

I know next to nothing about skating - but is "precision" a trait you'd associate with Plushenko's skating?

Kolyada, yes (when he's not splatting), certainly not Eteri's girls, but Plushy seems a bit clunky to me.

R477 I wasn't referring to "moonbear, " but I guess you could also interpret it that way. She used her own initials for her ID and I think the profile picture is a new photo. She commented publicly on Brown's account (and he responded as if they were sharing an inside joke). If she didn't want to be discovered, she would probably use an unrecognizable ID and profile pic, and be more discreet.

R482 I think Plush is just in damage control after he received blowback for (very mildly) criticizing Origin. I wish fanyus wouldn't jump all over people who express their opinions about Hanyu in a constructive way and clearly have no malicious intent.

R483 I honestly see more Yagudin than Plush in Hanyu's skating, even though their styles are very different.

I haven't heard Yuzu be specific about how Plushy influenced him (technically) - but with Johnny Weir, he said he admired the way he used his arms and the smooth way he landed and finished his jumps. There was something else I can't remember. I do think I see that. And the Russian couple - dammit I wish I remembered her name - they told Yuzuru he had relatively long arms and legs and should use them to bigger effect in his choreography and skating style.

I think he just had a crush on Plush. Oh and the so-much-winning - and having a kind of command of the ice, but that's not technical.

Oh now I remember - Yuzu also admired Weir's innovative spins.

R481. It may have been that interview. I do think If he is able to skate he will do 4CC.

R486 I think you're referring to Natalia Bestemianova and Igor Bobrin. I read an interview with Natalia where she said they worked with him a few times a year as he was moving from a junior to a senior and that it lasted for a few years until he started training with Orser. He still sends them cards.

Igor Bobrin and Natalia Bestemianova. They appear at 5:20.

Thank you R489 and R490. I bet Yuzuru really wanted to go to Russia to train and Orser was a Plan B, after it not working out (and he probably started noticed Javi's improvement when he was looking for an alternative coach.) But I only say that because, like Weir, he seems to be a Russiaboo. Or it could just be his lifelong crush on Plushy. A 'safe' crush since he can't have him, at least back then. I wonder who his newer crushes are - Lambiel?

If Yuzuru indeed has a crush on Plushenko I side-eye the fuck out of him because he's ugly af. You look at his face and the only thing you notice is his nose.

He could be cute if he'd have a nose job, with the blondness and pretty eyes -- but I agree, sheesh. That think is like a hawk's beak.

OTOH, I think Danlil is hot! I wish I knew what he and Yuzuru were talking about backstage. I'd assume Danlil was telling Yuzuru how much he admired him? Would they probably know each other? I mean, how did Yuzuru get to know Tarasova so well apparently? And I loved the little video at Pyeongchang of Raf getting Yuzuru to give him his autograph and announce "I'm a fan!!"

Not sure where but I think a recent interview, Raf said, "even if someone wins over Yuzu on the ice, in life Yuzu is still inimitable." (and some other gushing I can't find right now) Is he trying to make Nathan jealous?

R490 Thank you. I've never seen that video before. For the longest time, I thought Hanyu attended one summer camp with Natalia and Igor and was surprised that he always talked as if they played a very pivotal role in his skating. I guess the relationship was much more significant than one summer camp. Nice to see him working with them.

Seriously, you guys ship Hanyu with every person he comes in contact with. Or maybe I'm offended because like R492 I just think Plush is unattractive. R493 Daniil I can be on board with. See, I guess I'm a hypocrite.

I think Yuzu admired Plush's dominance, confidence in his own skating, and his "top" status. Although Yuzu has feminine gestures he seems the type to be dominant and be in control (even if he says otherwise). I feel like despite all the blushes on tv, Yuzu's demeanor and thoughts towards competing and unapproachable aura in competition might have been shaped by what he admired in Plushenko's emperor status instead of just plain ol' crushing. He was probably trying to live his boy dreams when he went to TCC and thought there'd be an intense rivalry with Javi like Plu vs Yagudin.

He said he expected a rivalry like Plush/Yag but he hadn't factored in the kindness that he encountered in the gentle Spaniard.

R496 In other words, they fucked but not hard enough for his liking.

If Yuzu had been more like Patrick Chan and not pretty kind himself, he still could have had an antagonistic relationship with Javi. Though it seems to me that Javi got a little weird in regards to Yuzu as time went on. I think inside something irked him - Yuzu winning Sochi when Javi missed the podium and then he would have to be superhuman not to feel hopeful of his chance of winning gold at Pyeonchang after Yuzuru's injury - and then not only did Yuzu win the whole shebang AGAIN, but his little twerpy countryman beat him with uncalled cheated technique. Still, Javi, WhyTF did you double that third quad ???? There's a little Kolyada in Javi, isn't there?

LOL R497 - in our dreams... If the ice prince ever finally does get a lover, we'll have wet dreams about it. Well some of us... I shouldn't speak for all the cat ladies and bois of skating fandom.

Nobody gushes about Yuzu like Russians! I remember Tarasova going on about how beautiful his hands are. Anyway I found the translated Raf interview, after his short program at Rostelecom (before the injury):

Q Rafael, how can you evaluate Yuzuru’s performance? R I’ll begin not from today’s skating. I’ll begin with many people calling Hanyu another planet’s figure skater, a sportsman that descended from heaven. He has awesome abilities, which he embodies where he needs to – on the ice. Q Perhaps it’s also thanks to Orser and choreographers? R Also them. And in the main, his own talent. But aside from all this, there is something special in Hanyu. Q What is it? R His ability to be beautiful not only on the ice. He has his own line of conduct which is sports team and coach are unlikely able to suggest. Maybe the secret is his parent’s genes. Q But his father and mother are common/simple people. R There is something else, that was given to him from a higher/supreme being. Q From God? R Exactly. Someone, maybe, will win over Yuzuru on the ice. But he is inimitable in life.

I think Javier must resent Yuzuru at least a little bit. He was shining when his light got snuffed by Yuzuru. Also, while most will remember Javier as the great Spanish skater, there will be quite a few who will remember him as just Yuzuru Hanyu's rinkmate.

Javi is human and I wouldn't be surprised if he felt a little resentment. He seems understandably sick of getting asked about Hanyu. As R498 said, I don't think the relationship would've worked if Hanyu himself were petty and unkind, but it's probably easier to be gracious when you're the one coming out on top.

r500 Ehh? Javier wasn't shining yet when Hanyu started hitting it big. Hanyu won his Worlds bronze before Javier won Europeans.

I think the "Javier feels resentment" storyline is about as real as "Javier is Yuzu's best friend" one. Less so, if we take Fernandez's words and actions unto consideration.

r473 I've always thought it was a statement too. Not that Hanyu's into Lambiel or Lambiel into Hanyu, the photo is too obviously staged and exagerrated for that, but that Hanyu's into men. And it's well known thst Lambiel's into men. I can imagine Lambiel going along with something like that.

r476 After seeing more of him at Rostelecom, I maintain that Tomono's coach and his gloves are hot.

Also, moonbear? I hope she made that account at the height of her Fanyu phase and that it passed.

Eh, if that's a statement then Hanyu surprising that older guy from last year's media day by hugging him from behind is also a statement, as well as him getting twirled by Plush, getting lifted by many men, or giggling with Johnny. He's likely gay but also just likes fooling around and doing whatever pops up at the moment to grab attention. I don't think he poses with other dudes hoping others will get some deep message out of it.

I also don't think Javi resents Hanyu. That's a strong word. They were definitely not besties. Javi might be a little fed up with the circus surrounding Hanyu and the Hanyu-centric zone, but that's different.

r503 It's still not quite like specifically posing with your hand on a gay man's ass and slapping the photo on your official show booklet. It's the deliberateness of it all that makes me think it's a veiled statement. I could be wrong of course, but.

R502 The moonbear account is not even two weeks old. The name could mean something else, though I’m not sure what.

And I spoke to soon about her new sponsor (Biteki Lab (Fordel Solutions)/Oyaslim). It’s actually another sketchy mail-order company with the same complaints as Rivaland. Biteki Lab also used to sell breast enhancement pills until last year when they were stopped by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare due to the amount of pueraria mirifica in the pills causing serious side effects. Now they sell breast enhancement [italic]jellies[/italic], diet drinks, and creams to make your nipples lighter and pinker, in addition to the expensive slimming socks (which look suspiciously like Dr Scholl’s Mediqtto) Medvedeva is advertising.

I hope Med isn't seriously using those slimming socks. Her legs don't need to get any more skinnier.

Chen gets a new car and Med gets sketchy Japanese sponsorships. Did Russia drop her that hard? Honestly, Med's brand shouldn't have fallen that fast but this stint isn't doing her any favors.

But she got many good things from her 2 years as the anointed one so well she's still better off than that Japanese girl who had the gofundme like fundraiser recently.

About Med's IG account, I'm pretty sure Medevedeva means "bear". I remember I once read a long ass explanation from some anti about how her real name (from her part Armenian father) was not Russian enough and her mother's name was, apparently, too low class or something. So she goes with her grandmother's maiden name as her surname for her skating career, because it's much more Russian sounding. Do keep in mind that this person had nothing but awful things to say about her, but the part about Medved meaning "bear" is legit and widely known. I don't know what the "moon" part is about tho.

I don't see any problem with a young skater like Yuna Shiraiwa starting a crowdfunding page, especially one as transparent with expenses as hers. If I could I would have donated to her. Med is selling sketchy products that target people with body image/weight issues or impressionable young girls who may try these things b/c Med's endorsing them. On her instagram, she pushes these products in a way that doesn't make clear she's being paid to do it - I think for the stockings, her post says a Japanese friend gave them to her and she thinks they're great. For the diarrhea shakes, she just talks about how great they taste, doesn't even make clear they're not regular drinks. Maybe she doesn't give a shit about her reputation or young fans and this says a lot about her. I am one of the few here who always defends Med, but all of this stuff is starting to add up.

R503 "Eh, if that's a statement then Hanyu surprising that older guy from last year's media day by hugging him from behind is also a statement, as well as him getting twirled by Plush, getting lifted by many men, or giggling with Johnny."

. . . I . . . am perfectly on board this that explanation.

Yes, medved means bear in Russian. However the name derived from it is Medvedev and is such a common one in Russia that the original meaning doesn't matter anymore. It's like Smith. So allow me to doubt it has anything to do with Russian bears and more likely refers to a sweet Japanese pooh bear while the moon part refers to herself (Sailormoon. Her mascot is that weird moon cat). Sorry but given her track record it's far more likely. It reminds me so much of Korean female idols who want to make their secret relationship obvious on sns and that's why I said I hope for her sake they are really dating because that would be seriously pathetic otherwise. But if they are really dating and Yuzu lied back in May, he better be ready for the backlash from his Japanese/Asian fans.

So apparently Boyang is having visa issues to go to IdF. It would suck if he can't make it because the men's field is already depleted asf.

People were very suspicious when Alina reportedly had visa issues earlier this year - you'd think China has a long enough history of having competitors that this wouldn't come up with Boyang.

TSL's Dave has his Kurt Browning interview posted. If you're interested in his background and the skaters back then, it's a good listen - but nothing negative (drat) - well he's Canadian I guess. Lots about the "figures" of the old days, Yamaguchi, Boitano (who never made mistakes), and Orser - who Kurt says was a meticulous planner/trainer while he, Kurt, wasn't (he would go to Worlds having done a complete runthrough of his long program only one time!) Talked about doing his quads (practiced them in secret) and wondering why nobody noticed or cared, at first. He explains his troubles at each of the Olympics he basically bombed at, and he talks about what made him succeed at Worlds (four times I think?) Anyway, Boitano's apparently a very nice guy. And when he talked about Orser, it made me remember saying that Javi was like his cute kid he had to look after and Yuzuru was like himself at the same age. Says it all really.

And thanks R470 for the link to the transcript to the blog "In the Loop"! I was daft and listened instead and I don't know if it's subconscious misogyny or that I'm just old - but the upspeak grated - and they reminded me of middle-school girls. But the content was good. LOTS on Yuzuru's (and others') injuries - how they're dealt with in general - and a debate about whether Yuzuru is encouraging skaters to take high risks (or even moreso: all those calling him "brave" are encouraging bad risktaking). Oh and they don't like Alina's skating - does anybody other than Weir and the Russian fed? Anyway, I'll take your advice next time R470 and read the transcript. The content's good. (there's a discussion of the odds of who'll be in the GP Final).

Speaking of -- since Boyang has to win gold in order to make that final, maybe that's the real reason he and/or his fed don't want to see that happen - so voila, visa woes?

God it's too early - I mean "it made me remember BRIAN saying that Javi was like his cute kid...." and the Chinese don't want to see Boyang fail to reach the final and don't think he can beat Nathan so they may be keeping him away to avoid him missing the final (or even the podium). He's in a similar mess than Kolyada is. Boys!! Could there be an international group therapy team for skaters - to help Gracie, Gabby, Boyang, Kolyada, Vincent... hell maybe all of them. Instead of those champs camps, more frequent headcase camps.

r511 I only now remembered that Med's name means "bear" and sorry, for all that she may have shipped herself with Hanyu, it's much more likely that that her nick is derived from her name. I can stop eyerolling now. And if you really think there's a possibility they date.. lol.

r514 It won't do any favors to Boyang to miss another GP - unless his condition is really shit and they're sure he'll bomb. In which case... wtf happened with him. I haven't done the math, but if Boyang's second in France, can he qualify if Hanyu withdraws?

[quote] but if Boyang's second in France, can he qualify if Hanyu withdraws?

he will have 20 points (7+13) and go to the tie breaker with Messing and Rizzo. He will win it over Rizzo but with Messing it will depend on the score (he needs something like 259)

r516 259 looks doable if he doesn't bomb. It'd be stupid if Chinese fed to stop him from going unless he's a mess.

I was told a 2nd and a 5th (Messing) always beats a 3rd and a 4th (Rizzo) - because they always want the highest placement to matter more than points. (I think it was somebody on GS or maybe FSU). They originally planned all six winners of the Grand Prix to vie against each other - six best skates - so they prioritize the "best skate" overriding points, but if placements are the same, then the points break the tie. So Messing's in over Rizzo, assuming that's true.

Alexander Samarin of Russia already has a fourth place finish, so he'd have a chance of placing better than Boyang and making the final.

R518 yes, that is why he would beat Rizzo in the tiebreak. First tie break is highest placement. Second tiebreaker is total points

But it is points first. If tied on points, placement is looked at. And then sum of the 2 scores

for "points" I mean points in the GP standings (which are linked to placement)

1=15 points

2=13 points

3=11 points

4=9 points

5=7 points

6=5 points

7=4 points

8=3 points

9-12=0 points

If there is a tie by added points, the following criteria will be taken into consideration for tie-breaking:

a) the best place obtained in the two designated events will count for the better place/ranking; If there is still a tie,

b) the higher total of the added total scores obtained in the designated events will count for the better place/ranking:

If there is still a tie,

c) participation in two events will be considered better than having participated in only one event;

If there is still a tie,

d) the higher total of the added scores in Free Skating/Free Dance obtained in the two designated events will count for the better place/ranking;

If there is still a tie,

e) the higher total score in Free Skating/Free Dance obtained in one of the two designated events will count for the better place/ranking;

If there is still a tie,

f) the higher total of the added scores in the Short Program/Rhythm Dance obtained in the two designated events will count for the better place/ranking;

If there is still a tie,

g) the number of participants finishing the two individual events in which the tied Skaters/Couples have completed, will be added to the total. The higher number of participants will count for the better place/ranking.

If there is still a tie, all Skaters tied are qualified for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.

R519 Oh ok, sorry I misunderstood - arithmetic makes my head hurt... And the ladies field is even wilder. Instead of challenging myself to explain it, I'll just quote the women at "In the Loop":

Kite: There's quite a battle going on for the remaining spots in the Grand Prix Final in the ladies. There's three more spots up for grabs at the event next week in France, and there are no less than eight contenders for said three spots. Currently qualified, so they've gotten their points already, we have Alina Zagitova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, and Satoko Miyahara. On the bubble right now are Kaori Sakamoto and Sofia Samodurova. Kaori and Sofia both have a silver and a bronze on the Grand Prix already so it's gonna come down to their raw point totals, and Kaori wins the tie breaker if it comes down to that. Still to compete at IDF are Evgenia Medvedeva, Stanislava Konstantinova, Rika Kihira, Mai Mihara, Alexia Paganini, and Bradie Tennell. All of those ladies have a realistic shot at getting a spot into the Grand Prix Final, I would say.

Sam: Probably not Alexia, she would have to win.

Kite: Bradie and Mai would also have to win.

Dai is endorsing a skincare product. well, at least it's not Tatsuki Machida.

Scroll down for an update on Dai's D-Color apartment building venture (or hotel?) Some kind of real estate business he's involved in. I wonder if all this means he's out of the tv commentator/presenter business? He did say it was tough and he wasn't cut out for it.

Here's Tutkamsheva's interview with Nathan Chen, sitting on a bed together in a hotel room - one person thought she was drunk? She's reading English, very badly, from her phone, and you can hardly understand a word - finally he takes the phone from her and reads the questions himself. She shames him into following her on Twitter because she said he followed every skater except her.

Oh well, cute I guess. I think he looks a little startled when she moves over right next to him on the bed at one point lol. (there are other people in the room, filming - and laughing). It's six minutes long. It's the first time I've thought he was kinda sexy.

Is Takahashi gay? Any gossip about him?

I've read that he came out in his autobiography, written and/or published when he was living in New York City, right after he retired (the first time). Anybody know if that's true?

I do remember reading that he was asked about whether he had a girlfriend in an interview once, and he said while he was competing, he was way too busy to think about that. (lol) Yuzuru gets that stupid question. I thought it was intriguing when he answered once that he would be letting down his fans so he couldn't get involved with anyone. (I guess that answer will do for a lifetime? would they please shut up about it though??)

[quote]Could there be an international group therapy team for skaters - to help Gracie, Gabby, Boyang, Kolyada, Vincent... hell maybe all of them. Instead of those champs camps, more frequent headcase camps.

I don't think Vincent and Boyang are headcases. Vincent has poor quality jumps and chronic UR issues, Boyang struggles sometimes because of injuries, I think, but he has delivered several times.

Did he really say 'he would be letting down his fans'? That's so stupid, I hate that answer. And thank you about the bits about Takahashi, I've wondered because to me, he pings the most.

He did - I can't remember the exact words but I saw the interview on video. He paused - said, "How should I say this?" and after thinking a bit, slowly continued saying that many fans would be upset if he got married or had a girlfriend and he didn't want to hurt them -- oh for the life of me I can't remember his words, but he very carefully answered, to a roomful of reporters, to that one reporter who asked when he was gonna settle down or some such. Maybe it was one of those big press conference after he won at Pyeongchang (foreign press association or some such)? I'm pretty sure it was one of those things where he's the only one up at the dais, answering questions.

Oh and I remember another interview or part of a documentary where Yuzuru said he got many letters from fans - some from schoolgirls who tell him that someday they are going to marry him - and some from elderly people in the disaster zone saying that he had given them a reason to go on living.

@43:18

I felt like he kind of showed how he understood the mentality of some crazy fans but really just brushed it off though.

Anyway, he's a great interviewee that seems polite but honest, throwing shade although still trying to stay within the boundaries too. Very savvy.

R527 r529

We discussed Dai's homosexuality and gay affectation in the first thread. This is what Dirt Czar said:

[Quote][R265] He has photos cuddling with his boyfriend, spotted getting hotel rooms with his boyfriend, hanging out with fellow gays, spotted at gay bars. I think he hasn't officially come out because of his mom but he's open otherwise.

[Quote][R266] [R267] It's an affectation and speech called オネエ言葉 onee kotoba. It's happened on multiple shows and the hosts, guests and Takahashi laugh about it and how he's more feminine and pays closer attention to women's fashion than most women. I'll see if I can find some examples later.

[Quote][R267] I don't think so but he could have implied he is. [In response to a question about whether Dai came out in his autobiography]

R523 the account you link to belongs to that psycho-cunt Takahashi lover who says Hanyu makes up or exaggerates his injuries, among other things.

Thanks R532! Now I don't have to stress about trying to remember where I saw that! So I shouldn't have taken him literally? (I can be a bit too earnest) and basically he was just dodging the question? He did tell Nobu he thought he would get married at 25 or 26, but that was a few years ago so it might have felt like an eon lol. But he did answer the question while Shoma just sat there and said nothing when Nobu looked at him and told him he'd be a good father too. (I'm surprised he didn't laugh out loud - I know I did - Shoma was 17 or 18 then I think.)

I've always been one who felt uneasy when people pepper others with questions about why they don't have a girlfriend/boyfriend, when they're getting married, then when they're having kids, etc., so fucking rude imo! I always want to snap back, asking them every detail about their sex lives, do they masturbate, etc. (but I say that as an American -- I do realize Japan has a different culture so maybe I shouldn't consider it rude when they do it.)

OMG I'm sorry! I had no idea. I wish I could delete that post and link. I think I found it on Dai's thread at Golden Skate and had no idea what it was but I did find it odd that it was named "Road to Sochi" - like, you'd think they would have renamed it or something by now.

As a change of topic, what horrendous new type of 'medals' does the French Fed have in store for Idf. Last year's plastic stars and the laminated cardboard medals from gpf 2 years ago put the bar quite high but I trust our dear Didier and his team of useless twats to have found even worse this year.

R537 For all the whining about the classy plastic stars, which were classy, nobody will get medals this year, just an unlaminated certificate of participation.

Boyang got his visa.

But I guess he had to take a later flight so he's not arriving until Thursday.

But what can be even worse than laminated cardboard at this point? They destroyed the fun but going with the worst first.

Perhaps give everyone a ribbon. A ribbon instead of a medal though, lol.

Eteri with Voronov. LMAO she is a Disney villain.

R537 I got to see the cheap 2016 GPF one when I went to Hanyu’s exhibition in Japan and it looked so sad and fragile lying in its case compared to the previous years’.

When the Director General of your fed is your errand boy:

Zagitova gives zero fucks, I guess.

It's from 1:21 to 1:32

Didn't link to the specific timestamps, my bad.

r542 Omg. Poor Voronov, can't even feel depressed. Eteri's allb "camera's on, I'd better look comforting, why the fuck aren't you playing along?" She looks great though.

TdF is going to be intersting because of the GPF qulifications, especially if Hanyu withdraws and there are 2 spots to fill, and because of the mess potential. Boyang could. Samarin could make it. Theoretically, even Aliev could make it. Or they could all knock themserlves out by bombing and placing behind suddenly-good Brown/Vasilievs/Tanaka/Samohin, like non-factors Kvitelashvili and Tomono suddenly knocked out Kolyada. The only one who's 99% safe bet is Nathan.

In women's, Kihira, Konstantinova, Medvedeva all have chance to make it. I'm hoping Kihira amd Med will get in, I don't really care for Konstantinova or Samodurova.

Is there any chance we could go back to the old format of including a link to the previous thread and a summary at the top of the next thread? There were some very clever and hilarious summaries, and it might encourage new DLers to check the old threads for questions that have already been addressed.

About Takahashi and skincare: He once described his thorough and complicated skincare routine on television and said he carries about 15 pouches full of skincare products with him. The Hatomugi gel from Naturie is a very popular product sold at regular drugstores. It’s a good sponsorship and makes me question Medvedeva’s agent even more because she should be able to get the same or even better types of sponsorships unless something else is going on.

On Boyang’s visa, the delay was more likely the fault of the French embassy or government.

R548 But how popular is Med outside of figure skating? How popular is figure skating with the general public in Russia, especially during non-Olympic years?

R549 I was referring to her sponsorships in Japan. She's sponsored by Nike and Pantene in Russia, and enjoys a lot of home support. Zagitova has dethroned her in popularity in Japan, but she should still be able to do better than controversial mail order companies. Even her Japanese ubers are expressing concern.

R550 Oh I see. But maybe she's a lot less popular in Japan than you think. Especially after all that shipping nonsense with Hanyu.

R532 I loved that press conference. Such a smart kid--and so wise for his age.

r552 Do you understand Japanese? Because it looked like it was translated by a first year student and made little sense to me. Just lots of awkward phrasing and "such things".

R553, Huh, I don't speak Japanese and I thought the translation seemed fine - sure, not the most straightforward read, but typical of a Japanese to English translation. Maybe I'm wrong. I think Hanyu also has a manner of expressing himself that is long and complex with multiple parentheticals along the way, so you just have to stand back and take in the entire paragraph rather than try to understand it sentence by sentence.

Kovtun bombed his SP at the Cup of Russia, falling on all 3 jumping passes. The fun part is watching him get an earful from TAT and Buyanova for several minutes afterward, lol. I'm not sure what placement he needs here to qualify for Nationals - he was 2nd at the first stage he competed at.

R555 Geez, that was rough. And then when they wouldn't even look directly at him afterwards, I felt that icy chill in my soul.

I guess the only thing we can do is hope for the best for Hanyu.

R544 Zagitova doesn't give a fuck about anything. Just like Uno. I think whoever likes Uno for that personality should like her. I noticed that when I was watching JGPF 2016 conference 2 years ago. She was fixing Sakamoto's medal and let announcer wait and call her twice or more. And just like Uno, she turned into a cry baby when having a bad skate.

R555 Kovtun is quite tilted in the air when he jumps. Is that nerves or does he always jump like that?

R556 Gracie Gold knows just how Kovtun feels.

r558 I get the impression that Alina is more "no-nonsense" whereas Uno always seems like he just smoked some really good weed. They also have completely different strengths as skaters so I wouldn't think there'd be too much crossover fandom unless they become besties or something.

I was just listening to the Rostelecom review that Tony Wheeler does with P J Kwong and PJ said that when Yuzu kept apologizing in the K&C for falling on his 3A, Brian finally said to him "That's enough now." Glad to hear that because Yuzu's obsession with never letting his fans down is not healthy for him. Such a perfectionist!

R553 R554 I could only briefly look through the video and don’t see any major problems, but the translator did a very direct/literal translation, which is probably why the wording seemed awkward. That’s something you tend to see when the translator is heavily relying on dictionaries and translation tools. I also suspect they translated the transcript as a text, as opposed to spoken word, and then c/p their translation into the video as subtitles. It’s still a better translation job than the group that did the Asaichi video that was posted here before (and now someone here is going to get very pissed at me again), but they probably would’ve benefited from adhering to the subtitle letter/time limits.

Hanyu is a very eloquent speaker with an excellent vocabulary, but what makes him even more impressive is his ability to talk about complex topics in a way that’s still understandable to the layperson. But it’s very difficult to make that come across in translation.

R555 Is it bad that I’ve been more excited about seeing the coaches at these competitions than watching some of these skaters perform?

Uno Brothers (you can tell who the evil one is):

R562 Yes! I'm sure this is not what you meant, but I just saw a tweet of Yamato Tamura with a little Honda sister was looking forward to possibly seeing him this weekend.

Hearing Yuzu apologizing and seeing him to the point of crying this past weekend just killed me. This was supposed to be the season where Yuzu was to just have fun and have no pressures.

R562 The intensity and quiet allure of Itsuki's gaze just pierces one's soul, doesn't it? Why is such radiance confined to the printed page? He would have been the crown jewel of figure skating had he ever learnt.

I hate to break the trance of your dreams for the beautiful Itsuki - I worship him too! But as a side-note:

Men's practice in France with a fancam focused first just on Jason Brown - and then just on Nathan Chen, doing free skate runthrough (popping a couple jumps):

R564 I know. Seeing him apologizing to Tat and wiping away a tear really got to me. He's still seems so emotionally fragile. But it does look like Brian and the rest of his team recognize that and are doing their best to support him. I can't imagine what it must be like for him to have to endure yet another injury when he loves to skate so much.

Little Sasha Plushenko has an Instagram account and his dad filmed him doing several elements of Yuzuru's "Origin" (so cute doing an Inna Bauer and a hydro) - with this caption:

"These are the elements of Yuzuru san, that inspired me"

What is goin' on ?

Also in an interview: "Plushenko with some warm words to Yuzuru - he says Yuzuru’s skating is superior to his, says FS is continually evolving so he is no longer the role model. He says that Yuzuru is the best athlete in this moment, a ‘real’ figure skater without a doubt. However he says Yuzu has one weakness. Plushenko won’t say it now and wants to tell Yuzu himself once the season is over. Says if Yuzu can overcome that, there is still more potential to unlock."

So we're supposed to be on tenterhooks waiting for that one special bit of advice he has for Yuzuru to "unlock" his potential, lol. I know it could just be pure love and awe - but I wonder if there's some ulterior motive to all this tying little Sasha (and big Evgeni) to golden boy (goose?) Yuzu.

Link didn't work! I'll try again.

[quote]I know it could just be pure love and awe - but I wonder if there's some ulterior motive to all this tying little Sasha (and big Evgeni) to golden boy (goose?) Yuzu.

Of course. His parents will do anything to exploit him and get publicity. I don't follow them any more but I still can't get rid of that fucking kid from my Instagram search page.

Can Plushenko stop with the comments about Yuzu now. The cheer up instagram message was cute but enough is enough. Whatever weakness Yuzu has it's clearly part of who he is and what made him a 2 times OGM, sth that Plushenko himself did not achieve, so clearly he doesn't need advise from someone he has surpassed years ago on how to unlock more powers. He has done that and more. His only weakness is his body's fragility which makes him more prone to injuries but it's that fragility that also makes his body so beautiful and his skating so mesmerizing. And because of this stupid declaration Japanese auntie fans and antis alike are showing that they are just as retarded as Western fans saying things like Plushenko probably means Yuzu's weakness is that he doesn't have a girlfriend or that he trains at TCC. Surely having a wife did not help Plushenko in Vancouver Olympics but it's not like using their brains is this kind of people's forte. So yeah fuck you Plush, if you have sth to tell him you tell him directly not by leaving cryptic sentences in the media.

Yeah, the entire Yuzu-is-my-inspiration coming from a 5 year old is fucked. Like, what 5-yo is even an insta regular, that shit is so staged I feel sorry for the kid.

R570 Your comment about not being able to "get rid of that fucking kid" from your Instagram search page is why I love this site so much for posting about figure skating. (Still laughing.)

R571 Bravo! I wish Plushenko would just go the fuck away already. He's become more annoying than Misha Ge.

Plush needs to shut the fuck up. Hanyus weakness is having plush as one of his idols.

I wanted to add Johnny Weir isn't being an asshole like plush. Me thinks plush wants attention. Wish Hanyu would look up more to Weir between the two idols.

[quote]Your comment about not being able to "get rid of that fucking kid" from your Instagram search page is why I love this site so much for posting about figure skating. (Still laughing.)

I'm glad I can share my honest thoughts here without getting a warning like I would on GS, lol. I actually feel sorry for Sasha, though. He has no idea what his parents are doing to him. Imagine how insufferable they'll all be once he starts competing internationally. Between nepotism and the shady Russian Fed they'll probably promote him over other more talented skaters.

I went and made a new thread.

R577 I think Sasha is adorable and feel sorry for him too. It's hard to watch parents exploit their kid like that. And speaking of GS, Paula is now doing some kind of Christmas Card exchange. I wonder if she's trying to get back some of the fans she chased away during the Hanyu-Chan wars?

Well, Plush has been saying Hanyu will win OGM for a while now and exclusively praises Hanyu to high heavens without a thought to his own country men. Weir every once in a while claims Chen is as good as Hanyu or the best skater for the sake of NBC. It's no wonder Hanyu is as obsessed over Plushenko.

Once little Sasha grows up and starts competing internationally, Hanyu would have retired, and then Plushenko will probably start pushing that his son is GOAT. Just a few more years to go.

i accidently jumped the gun and posted this in the next thread but i to be honest past of the plushenko issue is that he needs the russian press.

if you look at the russians who give interviews most it tends to be the ones who have shows to promote/want to make sure the press will report favourably on them. plushenko has two big shows coming up at the end of the year so he can't afford to annoy the press/turn down their interview requests. and right now if you are a journalist in russia (well moscow if we're being specific) what is the hot topic to talk about?

zagitova could be but i think everyone is being very cautious about talking/writing about her right now because of how toxic and vile her ubers are (they sents death threats to maxim trankov that threatened his two year old and said he should have to watch her die painfully).

the next option is hanyu who just competed in russia and who the russians REALLY REALLY like. add to that the fact he just set a new world record in the short and then unfortunately injured himself/competed injured and yuzu goes from a good option for getting clicks to a really great one. and if you want to talk about yuzu, who better to call than plush (hanyu's idol and the person who's music yuzu is using). also plush likes praising hanyu which is great if you want to write a positive article.

they've also spammed people like Bobrin and Bestemianova (who worked with Hanyu when he was a junior) but they have less reason to pick up the phone/don't need to worry about keeping the journalists on side ....... and also tbh the twitter fandom seems keenest on translating and circulating the plushenko quotes.

R581 Thanks for the background information. Helps to put Plush's behavior in perspective.

Thank you so much for all those insights R581. Now it makes sense. Using that child is sad - but the little videos I've seen of the show - hell, he looks like the centerpiece of it, with his violin and skating, dressed as an angel and whatnot. And to whoever upthread who said 'what about his countrymen skaters?', I hadn't really thought about that, but yeah, has Plushy heard of Kolyada, Aliev, Kovtun, 16-year-old phenom Petr Gumennik?

I was also happy to see Yagudin gushing about Yuzu but wondered if Plush was thinking, hey, wait a minute, he's MINE, dammit, find your own superstar boytoy to latch on to. I'll do a few Instagrams and get him back in my sole possession! Come here Sasha and learn this Inna Bauer or nobody will care about you...

This is the first I've heard about toxic Zagitova ubers. We know all about the Hanyu antis. So what's up with this crazy crowd and have they set sights on the rising queen Rika yet?

I know Trankov suffers from the foot-in-the-mouth syndrome, but what did he do/say about Zagitova to turn her fans vicious against him?

R583 And don't forget about the pushy sweeper kid everybody mistook for Sasha. FakeSasha better watch his back!

R585 I think it came from this interview, linked below. I haven't read all of it, but apparently this is what caused controversy: "At the Olympics, all athletes, of course, rooted for Zhenya. No one rooted for Alina. She was a junior who just came to senior skating. Zhenya was already a two-time world champion and carried the whole Russian team on her shoulders. Of course, everyone was rooting for her. She’s spent four years gradually going toward this gold. Athletes understand how hard it is to be in the top for four years. At the same time, Alina absolutely deserved to win the Olympics. Her program was much stronger technically than Evgenia’s. This season they expect Alina to prove that she really was worthy of becoming an Olympic champion. Personally, as a fan and former member of the national team, by and large I don’t care who will win. The main thing is Russian flag being raised."

R587 I liked this comment from that interview: "I’m so sick of commenting on every breath of Alina and Zhenya, that I’m very pleased that Liza appeared and at least someone is beginning to be distracted on her."

I'm sick of hearing about the Alina and Zhenya rivalry too.

r587 "I don't care" is the worst crime, lol.

You know, now that I've been back following skating since February, I think I understand NBC propping Nathan so much. Skating is now 99% Russian and Japan, with the US sharing the other 1% with Korea. And by US, I mean one person. Just pitiful.

Oh I don't keep up with pairs/dance other than Shibs who made themselves impossible to ignore -- but now they're gone I guess.

Anyway, me too - so back to the Russo-Japanese show. It's interesting that they seem to like each other and each other's skaters, too. I probably only say that because I ignore Twitter and Instagram, etc.

Not really. Bandwagon ubers are claiming Russian nationals and juniors are the only competitions worth watching. Team Japan ubers claim their girls are underscored and the most well-rounded yet unrecognized for it.

R580. Yes. Johnny Weir says great things like that about Nathan because of NBC. I would think Hanyu knows that and understands it. Some of Hanyu's fans don't get it and weirs comments on NBC irritate them. I see Weir as someone who genuinely cares about Hanyu and I am glad he isn't doing the things plush is doing for attention.

I've never really understood how people find these ubers - on Twitter, Instagram, etc. I mean, I use those sites, tried to follow skating stuff and ended up with a timeline full of Japanese characters and pictures. I get tired of clicking the "translate" button and trying to figure it out and even when I do that, I don't see crazy stuff - I guess I've just picked mainstream sane sort of Twitter accounts. Mainly I've gotten tired of bothering with it - at least there's Datalounge for fun and GS/FSU/PH for info.

But what I meant R591 was that Japan seems to have adopted Alina and her puppy dog - her picture figured as prominently as Uno on some ads I saw (either for Japan Open or ice shows, I cant remember) and more prominently than their own women! And Plush, TAT, now Yagudin are fawning over Hanyu - the first two have been for years - and R581 said "hanyu who just competed in russia and who the russians REALLY REALLY like"... well, maybe he's the only Japanese the Russian like, but the Japanese seem to love quite a few of them - well, they seem to love all the big names I guess, especially Weir.

Is there cross-affection between Japan/Korea and Japan/China though? Maybe Yuzuru should retire before Cha becomes a rival - I shudder to think about a whole new crop of uber anti's driven by Cha devotion. I also shudder to think about the aches and pains Yuzuru is going to suffer as he ages and maybe he should stop before more damage is done (sorry if that's blasphemy)

R593 Pretty sure Koreans despise Hanyu, for being Japanese and for succeeding at his double gold while Yuna was denied hers. I heard something about Korean fans already going after him for beating Cha at ACI, so it's started. They just have Cha being his direct rival as a solid excuse now.

China seems to love him, though.

Technical panel tomorrow for Men: Jeroen PRINS (Netherlands), Vera VANDECAVEYE (Belgium) and Mamiko YAMAI (Japan)

Judges: Latvia, Canada, Russia, China, Japan, USA, France and Israel because they have skaters entered. The 9th judge is from Spain.

Referee is also from Spain

r594 I like to think it's just a few crazies, and that most Korean fans are sane.

In general, Cha seems more like Hanyu's successor -in that most of Hanyu fans like him - rather than direct rival. The only way they could become real rivals at the very top is if Hanyu decides to stick around until 2022, which looks unlikely after last week, because I think it'll take Cha until 20/21 season to become a solid Worlds podium challenger. (Knock on wood.) It'll be very interesting to see how he does if he qualifies for GPF, he's got potential to podium depending on the lineup.

Time schedule for men's short

r593 You’re not wrong. Zagitova and Tuk are popular among Japanese figure skating fans (some of the Japanese fans who traveled to Rostelecom were there for Zagitova, not Hanyu) and most other Russian skaters have a fair amount of Japanese support. Even Leonova is quite popular. Med is the only controversial skater and that has more to do with the hotel and events over the summer. Even her original antis were fans of another Russian skater, Lipnitskaya. Many were not happy with what happened to Satoko and Yamashita at the GPs, but there was no hate directed at the Russian skaters and many Japanese fans also complained that Tuk was robbed of Silver at NHK. Japanese ubers usually hate on other Japanese skaters and you’ll also see many complaints about American and Canadian judges, but hardly anything about Russian or satellite judges. I’ve only seen foreign fans on GS take a very anti-Russian stance and claim the Japanese skaters are the most well-rounded.

Cha has soooo much work to do before he can become the next big star. He has the cuteness factor down, but that's about it for now.

Cuteness factor and fan suuport are quite important in making a star, though. But yeah, judges are mostly blibd to the cutenesss factor so being a top 6 is still a few years ahead, especially if there's no points-worthy flag next to his name.