Yuzuru Hanyu and other figure skating talk part 18

Link to previous thread.

I miss Yuzu, everything else seems like fluff

JNats women_bring on the the bloodbath !

More on JWB Interview. He didn't say anything new about Yuzuru, just that he doesn't know that much about his injury and all that because of the privacy. He talked about how Yuzuru was more free and started to communicate better with the team after the Olympics and injury recovery. Said that it was a shame he got injured again because he was skating more beautiful than ever. He said Yuzuru is still going because he loves skating and competition and all that same shit. Said that the 4A is in the backburner and it's going to stay there for a while. He talked a bit about Javi and said that Yuzuru misses him. Brian said Javi is going to be in Toronto for a "three week training" before Europeans, he's going to be there with Javi.

In the last thread 597 was talking about Wakaba not going to Brian - I think it was Dave Lease who said it was her decision because she didn't want to follow Brian's plan of delaying her work on the 3A so he could do his usual "build from bottom up skating skills" thing and wait one to two years for results from that. Something like she knew it was 'now or never' with the quad and other 3A girls coming so she was in a huge hurry and didn't like that slow and steady plan.

Like with Boyang guess we'll never know. But that ONE comment Boyang made "I'm not the one who can answer that" - something like that - when asked what happened with TCC - well, anyway, that kind of convinces me it was the Chinese fed. The coincidence with their tantrum and pulling out of the GP - it's just too suspicious. I think it was the same damn week (the GP pull out and cancellation of Boyang to Canada).

I really appreciate the summary of Brian's interview. I can't figure out why I have such a love/hate rel'ship w/Med. I will say I thought her dress was perfect for her - the dark middle section gave her a waist (and she looked thinner - I could see it in her face.) I wish Tracy had gone with her though. Brian doesn't look healthy and I bet he's reeling from the Gogo mess. Oh well... another Icarus who thought too highly of himself, that he could take this champ girl and soar like with Yuna (did he not care how bad her technique was?), and also: whoever picked that Orange Sky shit that she started the season with should be put out to pasture permanently.

R5 yeah, she must tried to lose some weight. Her new dress did a good job hiding her large waist.

any chance of Gogo and Orser make-up. Not sure if parents are smart or not.

R5 personally I find the DW sp to be fine, I’d agree it’s a wrong match for Zhenya tho. DW was clueless of the limitation in the skater he’s working with, should have given her something more interpretation friendly, something more within her comfort zone. I don’t buy the accusation that DW was too buzy to help polish the program though, he was not away for that much even he was on the ROI full tour. If we look at the other ladies who got an SP from DW, namely the Japanese girls (Kihira, Sakamoto, Mihara), they all had decent outings of the SP as the season progresses. Ok, Rika with her 3A is a ticking bomb and while I don’t care much for her SP in particular, I would not say the choreo has been a setback for her. Which is the narrative I’ve seen going around from the Med fans now. TSL is also kind of hinting that too, which I’m sure it’s what Doug Haw the appointed TCC PR rep have been feeding Dave.

572 from the other thread

[quote] I saw your post and I though they had gave her 49PCS or something. They used to give Med 48PCS for a performances with a falls. So If she skates clean, I can see they're ready to boost her PCS to top Zag's score.

40 PCS is max in the SP (50x.8) Zags got 38+. Med at the peak of her overscoredness at Olys got 38+. I don't see them giving Med that score anytime soon.

R8 I also found Med's SP to be the more tolerable of the two programs. It's her choice if she wants to dump it, but confidence, technique, physical changes are the source of her issues this season. No choreo is going to mask falls and shitty spins.

Med seems needy and BOser said on the interview that she required a lot of his time. Maybe better for him in long run if she dumped him. I hope she doesn't blame him though, since I agree with R9

Men results at Russian Nationals has killed off Voronov's chances.

A top 3 made of Kovtun-Kolyada-Samarin won't get overlooked for him

I think that's as it should be - they all have more potential than Voronov and they're a lot younger. I'm so glad Kolyada was able to rally and earn his place, even recovering from illness (and a plane trip immediately before). Screw the Russian press attacking him for his "character"

And anyway, it looks as Voronov's injury is not something light. So he will likely be out anyway from Euro consideration

Watching the japanese ladies SPs right now. Tomoe Kawabata's 3Lz is exceptionally pretty, it almost looks like she has ZERO pre rotation. If she was an Eteri girl, they would have had her do quads. Does anyone know if she's going senior next year?

R14 Her Axel technique sucks tho. I don't think she will turn junior next years, unless she gets a Junior Worlds spot and does well there.

R15 In which way does her technique suck?

Poor Kolyada looked he was about to die like Carmen at the end

Hopefully Kolyada gets better soon. What he did out there with a bad infection was impressive.

When she was at Sambo, Medvedeva used to do 1.5-hour runthroughs with no breaks, spending sometimes 6+ hours on ice a day. It was probably bad for her technique and long term physical health, but it must have helped a lot with consistency and building confidence. She even practiced her pantomiming and mouthing. I wonder if Orser underestimated how long it takes for her to get competition ready even without the stylistic/technical/bodily changes because his other students didn’t need to train as many hours.

r4 Not that I don’t believe the story about Hanyu missing Fernandez, but I think Orser is unconsciously talking about himself from the way he keeps bringing it up. He was about to cry when he told the story about the Olympics FS practice for the fourth? time.

Speaking of Fernandez… The Coy Javis:

Just to add a little to what others have said about the JWB interview with Brian:

Hanyu at around 10:00

1) describes the old Hanyu as "manic" 2) he and Hanyu sat down and studied new rules before the beginning of the season to figure out how to maximize points. 3) Describes Hanyu's team as private and careful about what they want to reveal about his condition. Says he's a part of Hanyu's team, but speculates out loud "I hope I am." LOL. 4) Shows he's very aware of how judges perceive athletes outside of competition, that they have a preset score in mind for most skaters. 5) Much of this has come out already, but Brian is very aware of the tone he set for Fernandez and Hanyu at Olys - Hanyu's first practice session where he jumped a handful of singles and a 3a and left; Hanyu and Fernandez doing stroking exercises together and commenting how they held the judges' attention that way in contrast to all the skaters doing quads around them. 6) Actually mentions Hanyu's sister helping to sort pooh bears along with Brian and Hanyu's mom.

Med around 24:00

1) When he talked with Med in Korea about joining TCC, he expected it to be a 30 min conversation. Ended up talking for 3.5 hours. 2) Said Med doesn't really know how to work on her own. Said most of his time is spent with her and that it's been difficult for him to balance it with other skaters: "I've taken a few hits because of that" (wonder if he's talking about Gogo). 3) He's been trying to get Med to understand that the new system is about quality. She's in a hurry to learn the 3A and 4S and is impatient. He used the example of Mao and Yuna in Vancouver - that while Mao had the 3A, Yuna's program was more quality overall and that's why she won. 4) Med feels like she has to justify the choice she made to move to Canada. Brian makes clear that choice was between skating and retiring. 5) Jason had an ankle injury before his short in zagreb

R19 Exactly my thought. C'mon how many times a week did they hang out in the past when they was training together ? They even practiced in different rink, different practice session before Olympics when the tension between the two of them escalated. Their relationship isn't that deep.

R20 Smart move for Gogolev. Orser's PR game isn't good for him, he doesn't need it, what he needs is to train in peace with a coach who has time and can pay enough attention to him.

R21 I doubt Hanyu and Fernandez's relationship was all that deep, but Fernandez sure made it interesting for us by caressing Hanyu's body every chance he got. I miss Javi too!!

Speaking of Gogolev, he will be competing at Nats. Take a look at the entry list. It is depressing. Gogolev at his best can win this competition. Ladies field isn't any better.

An update on the Kozuka situation:

Today's TV schedule says Kozuka is commentating the Men's SP on BS/CS Fuji from 4:30PM-7:00PM. Then Takeshi Honda and Shizuka Arakawa will take over from 7:00PM-9:00PM on the main Fuji channel. Also, during Kozuka's time, the main Fuji channel will be playing Takakashi's 1-hour documentary.

Did I already post this? From the New Year's Day special. TV host who hates Kozuka is in the middle. Meier looks good:

R16 sorry to be slow to respond - just saw your question. Med's technique issues, to my mind: Hunched skating; ugly tanos; muscled jumps with her arms (an extreme case) - from not using legs enough; the famous "flutz"; small jumps; melodramatic delivery (though that's an artistic choice I guess that some may like). Some complain about her skating skills but I don't usually pay attention to edgework and can't remember her spins offhand so I don't know about that - not what bothers me in particular but the earlier items do - I keep hearing her SS have improved so I assume there must have been some kind of deficit there.

R20 How realistic is it for Med to attain a 3A or 4S? I don't see her body being capable of that, no matter how hard she works.

R26 Her muscled jumps are the biggest problem I have with her skating. And yes, her jumps are small which is why I'm surprised Orser even mentioned the possibility of her upping her tech.

Do russian girl skaters turn into pumpkins once they turn 18?

R20 Why this sounded like Med moved to TCC for 3A and 4S instead of aiming to fix her crap technique and improve SS ?

R27 Small jumps don't mean being unable to jump quads. Just that not every skaters have the luxury of jumping 3A and quads. Yuna Kim has good Axel technique and her 2A is big yet she can't jump 3A, she tried but can't while Rika Kihira, Asada Mao,... who have smaller jumps can land 3A at a very young age ( 12-13).

R19 hmmm I don't think Brian misses his lazy ass lol

Can't find the link now but I read about Satoko Miyahara practicing the 3A in a harness (maybe a quad as well)?

Speaking of jump technique, there's an interesting article about Yuzuru by Max Aaron in the current ESPN magazine (Yuzuru was 11th of their "Dominant 20" athletes of the year.) This is an excerpt and the article is linked below:

"...The quad axel is uncharted territory. There’s no right or wrong answer, and you don’t know how to go about it. The jump is so difficult—the air time you need, the force that is created. It’s four and a half rotations. But with Yuzuru’s ability, it’s achievable. The amount of rotational force has has in all his other quad jumps, which he creates with so much ease, is huge. There’s only one other guy who has all that, and that’s Nathan Chen. When you look at how locked in they are, how quickly they get their legs and feet together, it’s unmatched. Not a lot of commentators emphasize how quickly they get their feet in. Not a lot of people have that... Technique will get you very far, but you’ve gotta have the muscle, and I know Yuzuru is very strong..."

* The amount of rotational force HE has in all his other quad...

Yes we know his amazing ass and thighs are gonna make history.

R32 Thanks to Max Aaron for pointing this out. Hanyu's an extremely efficient jumper. I think the best example besides his 3A is his 4Lz with that incredible delay on it. It's depressing we likely won't see it again.

Shoma has a new SP costume and it's like a cross between Otonal and Origin. Where all the Unofans at who jeered about Yuzuru supposedly 'copying' Shoma's old designs?

R25 I thought the host told Kozuka he better not show up to his show? So they saddled Kozuka with commenting on 2.5 hours worth of a bunch of junior boys at a time when most people aren't going to be watching and if they are, they'd be watching something else. Nice, but this is too subtle for me. I prefer my public shaming to be more medieval. Hopefully they're just building up to the good stuff.

R37 I also read that the CS fuji channel have option for no commentary audio track, some Japanese fans are glad they can enjoy the comp without having to suffer Koz’s dull chattering.

I like Shoma's costume - but he looks younger there for some reason. And his lower cheek is often red looking. I wonder if he shaves dry - somebody may need to teach him how. Assuming he shaves at all - maybe it's something else.

R26 Well, thanks for that detailed explanation of Medvedeva's issues, but I don't see what that's got to do with Kawabata.......... I said Tomoe's jump was pretty and asked if she was going senior, someone else said "yeah, nah" and that her Axel technique sucks, and I asked why. Not sure where you got Medvedeva from that.

I'm sorry R40 - somehow I thought the question was about Medvedeva! I was quickly reading to catch up and don't know how I got so confused. I'll try to be more careful.

About Yuzu missing Javi, I believe it. People keep mentioning how they didn't hang out so it means they weren't close and while it's true that on Javi's side that's likely what he thinks (based on the things he has said about their relationship), I think that for Yuzu it doesn't matter. It's not like he goes out with anyone in general so for him time spent at the club even if that's just training is meaningful and Javi was obviously a big part of TCC world for him for 6 years so I can totally believe he missed him. He is a creature of habits and dislikes big changes in his environment and Javi leaving is obviously a big change. As for training separately they actually only did that for a limited period of time last year and from my understanding they still had stroking lessons together. Javi on the other hand is having the time of his life back home and doesn't give a shit. I alsogot the feeling that Brian was a bit fed up with his yolo attitude. His "3 weeks training" plan. Hope he gets his ass handed to him by Brezina or the splatting Russians at Europeans.

3 groups done in Japan

Shimada leads with 80.46

2 groups left.

Next one has Shoma, Tanaka and Takahashi

R37 Same host but different program. Kozuka is scheduled to appear on his afternoon talk show “Vikings” next week, the same show ripped him apart for the affairs, and the host said he’d better not show. This other program, “Fujiyama,” is a New Year’s special and I think the host forgot or didn’t realize that Kozuka was also going to be in it.

You can watch the K&C and interviews live on periscope.

Hugs!

Uno may have hurt himself practicing 3A.

Why are the weren't the Japanese up in arms when one of their top female skaters had a child out of wedlock? The thot.

Shoma clean even if the combo was 4+2 instead of 4+3

102.06 for Uno

R47 It was a typical Ando move. I

Rest of top five are juniors.

Tanaka out of the race.

Fall on the quad.

Combo good

3A labored landing. I though it was 2 footed but on replay it looks ok

79.32

in third place just behind Koshiro

Nakamura 77.11

Now Daisuke

Takahashi clean

TES obviously way behind Uno but better than Shimada and Tanaka

I want to see his PCS now

Uno PCS are 45.25

88.52

44.14 for PCS

R53 PCS 45.14

Honda's brother!

Raf: "Good for now. Lots of pressure. First time. First Axel. Too Stiff. It's OK." Brother seems to understand English well. 19th place.

Tomono fell on 4S and Ge is insufferable. Hiraike looks very concerned.

Yamamoto fell on 3A. He's probably the last of Takahashi's competition today.

R56 didn't they send Brother to Cali basically just to be chaperon (language, etc) for her and help her ?

R59 Yes.

Uno was just interviewed. Said he feels less pressure since the attention is on Takahashi instead.

1 Shoma Uno 102.06

2 Daisuke Takahashi 88.52 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far for 4CCs and Worlds

3 Koshiro Shimada 80.46 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far

4 Keiji Tanaka 79.32

5 Shu Nakamura 77.11 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far

6 Yuma Kagiyama 74.51 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far

7 Kazuki Tomono 73.09

8 Yuto Kishina 72.96 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far

9 Taichiro Yamakuma 72.73 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far

10 Sota Yamamoto 71.95

11 Tatsuya Tsuboi 69.95 * No International competition to get minimum TES so far

12 Ryuju Hino 69.63

Mentor Torun Cup (Poland) and EduSport Trophy (Romania) are the two events left to get the minimum TES for 4 Continents.

Mentor entry list is already out and no Japanese men are entered.

R61 haven't had a chance to watch but the list is filled with stars (*). Thought Hino was doing comedy/improv. Maybe he looked at the entrants list and thought, eh why not.

R59 I wonder if they have power rankings in the Honda household based on earning potential, looks and talent.

Brian: "I'm not saying I'm going to get #EvgeniaMedvedeva on the Olympic podium again, but we're doing everything we can. I don't want her to lose her love for figure skating."

So the goal now is that she maintain her love for skating. Lol

R42 I’m thrilled ROI is a success, and obviously Javi has to do lots of promo. But at this point, he likely believes banging his girlfriend is sufficient off-ice training. (And he’ll likely post evidence on Insta too.)

Ranking Competiton in South Korea. I believe it is the qualifier for 4 Continents

Ladies Sp

1 EUNSOO LIM KOR 68.98

2 YELIM KIM KOR 64.98

3 SEO YOUNG WI KOR 61.53*

4 HAEIN LEE KOR 60.17*

5 HANUL KIM KOR 59.22

6 SEOYEON JI KOR 57.02*

7 SOYOUN PARK KOR 56.96

8 SUBEEN JEON KOR 53.57

9 YOUNG YOU KOR 53.47*

10 YUJIN CHOI KOR 52.97

MEN SP

1 JUNHWAN CHA KOR 77.28

2 SIHYEONG LEE KOR 65.29

3 YOUNGHYUN CHA KOR 63.75*

4 JUNE HYOUNG LEE KOR 63.72

5 GEONHYEONG AN KOR 57.67

6 SEJONG BYUN KOR 54.59

7 SUNGHOON PARK KOR 52.31

8 JAESEOK KYEONG KOR 52.08

* too young for Senior

Piece of... art

R60 LMAO I was right! He always need someone to hide behind in order to do well. Uno hasn't grown at all. Despite his scoring potential, once Hanyu retires Uno is in major trouble.

Speaking of R67, I was wondering why Dai had a half skirt on, covering his backside - do you think he's a lurker and knows he's got some insurmountable competition in the booty area, so hell, let's just cover it up with a backwards apron? and distract with a lovely shock of blond hair flopping around on the top of his head?

Fashion choice aside, I thought he looked lovely - well, he skated lovely, hope this mini-skirt thing isn't a trend!

Medvedeva one fall in the 2A+3T combo. Rest ok

205.90 overall

R67 Ah so beautiful. I never get tired of these pics.

R70 I enjoyed Med's skate. She looked like she had some spark back.

R69 I liked his costume very much, including the half skirt. I think it suits him.

What the hell happened to Uno? I hope his injury isn't serious. What he said about waiting to comment after the free concerns me.

Oh, Med also has a new costume. Very pretty, I like it.

Sotskova and Turskaya fall behind

R73 I like its form and design, but it didn't look good on him, maybe he looked too old for that kind of costume. Better than his old costume anyway.

So despite having a disastrous SS, falling in her FS, and sucking all around this season, Med will make the Worlds?

R78 Unlikely that Kostantinova and Samodourova should stay ahead of her if they don't implode. Add Zagitova. And also Tuktamysheva could be selected over her

It should be "Unlikely. Kostantinova and Samodurova should stay etc

I hope Med has a come to Jesus moment and gets it together.

R80 Who knows. Stanislava usually bombs and Fed doesn't love Samodurova. TAT loves Med and... Orser. Her power helped to send Stanislava to Junior Worlds and Worlds last season.

Only 6 left. 3 are Junior age, so they aren't in contention for Euro and World teams

Kostantinova is loved by Fed...or I wouldn't understand her scores from the past

I want Med as third Senior age woman...so Fed would have to choose between her and Tukt....some heads somewhere will explode

SP in Germany

Nicole Schott and Natalie Weinzierl comfortably in the lead. Germany has 2 Ladies spots for Europeans.

R85 That will be interesting.

Samodurova 209

Shcherbakova t229

Kostantinova 212

Med is out

Zagitova is falling apart

Her FS is lower than Med's. Her lead was enough to keep her over her

Kosantinova has beaten Zagitova by 0.something

They tried to save Zagitova as much as possible with PCS and not calling URs

Wow, if Trusova doesn't have a complete meltdown we'll have an all junior (and Eteri's girls) russian podium.

How stressful, I don't see how it'll be sustainable to have four elite senior skaters next year. Someone's bound to leave Eteri. My money's on Alina.

Holy shit that was wild. Even the ordering of the Juniors is a little unexpected.

R95 Once she leaves Eteri, she's done. I don't think there is somewhere she can go to. My bet is she will retire.

Damn, wish I could watch it! What are the reactions of the skaters?

Do you think there will be backlash against Eteri? Skaters should be able to adapt from year to year. The revolving door of skaters does no good.

Zag meltdown will be Med and Orser’s proof that Eteri is some kinda skating devil.

Wow. Those kids are amazing. Loved watching them. Putin's skating factory is really turning them out.

Feel bad for Zag but at least she has that OGM to comfort her. Wasn't she planning to retire soon anyway?

As for Med, no way can she come close to the talent of these kids. Even without the high tech content they're already more enjoyable to watch than she is.

Short starting at German Nats now..

Fentz

Stoll

Dimitrescu

and somebody called Piontek

I got 22 points at TES. How many Russian girls would beat me?

Can't believe all these junior girls beat the seniors. Embarrassing for Med, Zag and the lot of them. I wonder how Tuktamysheva would have fared.

I don't understand the high scores for Konstantinova.

It's not weird to lose against two skaters with vastly superior BV, but to have yet another meltdown is concerning. All Alina had to do was go semi clean, and the judges would have given her all the points. This is nationals after all. I know people have been saying she's prone to anxiety, but I had the total opposite impression of her. When she added that +3L on her second Lutz AND timed it to the music in her FS at the Olys she showed nerves of steal. Maybe it's all the pressure finally getting to her. Also, for the longest time, I've wondered if she really has Osgood's as is rumored, because that shit can be extremely painful and only an idiot would suffer through the pain 'cause the treatment mostly consists of doing nothing, as in slow down any kind of heavy physical activity that could put a strain on your (mostly) knees, so I thought it was ridiculous that someone would be skating through such pain, but maybe she is? I just can't see how a 16 years old girl could possibly be physically "deteriorating" otherwise as people have speculated as well (Medvedeva's peak was when she was 16-17 years old), other than the anxiety thing.

German Nats

1) Paul FENTZ 76.41

2) Thomas STOLL 61.22

3) Catalin DIMITRESCU 56.94

4) Fabian PIONTEK 48.34

Alina did look at times like she might be in pain or had injured herself. But that stiffness could also have been due to nerves. I know she's also grown quite a bit so that is probably also affecting her jumps and thus her confidence.

Tara Lipinski won her OGM when she was still 14 years old and then retired from competition. So seeing all these 14 year old girls at the top is really nothing new.

Alina reminded me of Anna Pogorilaya, once she bomds, she bomds hard.

Bombd*

Bombs* fuck

R106 they were on YT for a split second, but ISU took them down. Wouldn't be fair to the broadcasters.

Wow puberty is hitting alina hard, she looks like she cant jump. And she doesnt have any musicality to save her she looks like a flailing robot. Med looks like she will be ok, she looks moviestar enough to be watchable, if only gor that. Too bad, I find “older” girls more watchable, those stick legs on scherbakova and the others creep me out, they look like they will break if they land on them wrong.

What a crazy event it was…None of the top three is actually going to WC or Euros. Wow. Also it is a bit depressing to watch, the way FS is heading now, where after three or two years figure skaters can only retire instead of evolving and leave a lasting impression. Trusova and Sherbakova won’t keep their quads and even if they do (which is really improbable) there will be someone new to come from Eteri factory to replace them. I can’t imagine what it is like to train in such a group under constant enormous pressure. Zag won’t last and Med is done also. There will be a constant rotation of young girls, of who would outjump who. I really hope Kostornaya would somehow survive and stay a bit longer but perhaps it is a utopia.

R111 Are the South Koreans taking them down because Stoll can challenge Cha?

No one is holding a gun to the heads of those girls who train with Eteri. There are certainly many other coaches in Russian they could train with. I assume the reason they go to her and stay with her is because, if they succeed, the rewards for them are substantial.

They're disposable and they learn it fast - Alina is staring at her use by date less than a year after OGM. Tutberidze doesn't give a fuck about any of them, plenty more where they came from....

116 -- absolutely true.

Jackie Wong has the videos on his site - rockerskating (add dot com). At least some of them still up just now (almost 3pm Eastern time in the US). He has the Japanese ones too.

This is better than Dai's costume.

That man can really rock polyester. Speaking of costumes, I thought both of Med's were perfect! I'm so glad she had a redemptive skate which would have been perfect if she hadn't fallen. Poor Brian looks like he's been through the ringer with this girl. I can't get over him saying she doesn't really know how to work on her own and that most of his time is spent with her and it's been difficult for him to balance it with other skaters.

Is Tracy not on board with Zhenya being at TCC? You'd think she would work with her and take some of the load off Brian. He's like a guy who hooked up with a needy girlfriend and doesn't know how to get himself out of the mess he's in. (sorry if that's gross - I don't mean it in a sexual way at all - but the neediness and demands on his time - sheesh - Brian, Just Say No!

How did she make it at Sambo - with all those girls, was there always somebody with her to hold her hand? I doubt it. I think she's just running the show because she can get away with it at TCC.

Javi, why did you get your old daddy into this mess ?!? Just imagine if he had Boyang too!

R119 Ah Machida. We should talk more about him.

R121 we have. Look back at the old Hanyu skating threads. There was even a Machida ass day.

R120 What I don't understand is Brian prioritizing Med over Gogolev. After what he said in that interview about her needing so much of his time, I can understand why Gogo's parents were upset with him. And I wonder if it was exhaustion from dealing with Med that made Brian so uncharacteristically irritable in the K&C with Gogo during that GP event.

As for how Med survived at SAMBO, Eteri was holding her hand every step of the way there. It was well known that Eteri adored Med and was not happy that she missed out on that OGM.

Brian talked a bit about Gogolev in "Insideskating" interview.

"Yeah, it was unexpected. You know, and also unexpectedly, I lose skaters. I had a really good junior boy that left me. And I’ve had him since he was 7. [Brian is obviously referring to Stephen Gogolev – Ed.] And he’s really good, and going to the Grand Prix Final in junior level. And that’s disappointing. That happens. So, unexpected that I’ve got two great skaters join in, and unexpected that I lost one really great skater. But I just keep doing what I’m doing. I’ve had a lot of people that wanted to come"

r124 Two great skaters? Is he talking about Jason Brown?

PCS war between Uno (45.25) and Takahashi (45.14):

Judge 2 gave Uno and Takahashi same PCS.

Judge 5, 7, 8, 9 gave Uno higher PCS.

Judge 1, 3, 4, 6 gave Takahashi higher PCS.

Judge 9 (Yutaka Osada) gave Uno 9.00-9.50, Takakashi 8.00-9.25.

Judge 4 (Ritsuko Horiuchi) gave Takakashi 9.25-9.75, Uno 8.75-9.0. (Also gave Uno 3 on every single element.)

Third highest PCS was fourth place Tanaka with 39.19. Shimada (junior) had second highest TES at 44.22. Takahashi said he won’t decide to add the quad to his FS until the very last minute.

Judge’s Scores:

R125 Brown and Med.

I thought Gogolev skated poorly at Canada JGP because of nerves but apparently it was because Orser ignored him for Med. No doubt his parents were upset. They did a good move for their child anyway.

Maybe he will come back to Orser when Med knows how to work on her own.

1 (Ms Akiko Kobayashi)-3 (Ms Miwako Ando)-4 (Ms Ritsuko Horiuchi) are International level judges

Which are the names of the others? Google translated me as

Judge No. 2 Mr. Sasaki Sasaki Judge No.5 East Etsuko Judge No. 6 Yumiko Furuhata Judge No. 7 Ken Nuniko Judge No. 8 Ayaka Shimoetsu Judge No. 9 Mr. Nagata

I guess some aren't accurate....East Etsuko...

I'm all for pushing the technical boundaries, and I don't particularly care for great technique as long as they get their results (although a well executed jump would always be a treat), but 180°+ pre rotation on a Lutz is more than just poor technique. Pre rotation has never been an issue for the ISU or the coaches or the athletes, it's just a difference in technique, but with the new Russian wunderkids on the block, I wonder if they'd addressed it. That Japanese girl I was asking about yesterday should really go for the quad, she gets about the same rotations in the air as Shcherbakova.

r127 I don't think skating as badly as Gogo did then was caused by not enough attention from the coach seeing as he had won a jgp comp a few weeks before. It seeemed mostly mental, but the kid's mental condition, his confiddence, was affected by Orser's being occupied elsewhere.

*was maybe affected

Gogo’s parents were ok when Javi was there, but not with Med and Jason? Maybe his team thinks they deserve more then the newbies- who knows. I hope he’s not gonna be a Patrick Chan and change coaches like underpants.

Jgp Richmond where Gogo bombed was in September. Med got there in June. You dump your long time coach because you fucked up one competition and he was supposedly inattentive for maybe a few months. Gogo/parents sound snowflakey and high maintenance.

Gogo should consider coaching himself. Then he'll get all the attention he needs.

What did you guys think of the judging at Men's JNats. I haven't been able to see all the programs, but just looking at numbers it seems they just wanted to bury all the younger skaters.

r129 1 Ms. Akiko Kobayashi 2 Ms. Meiko Sasaki 3 Ms. Miwako Ando 4 Ms. Ritusko Horiuchi. 5 Ms. Etsuko Higashi. 6 Ms. Yumiko Furuhata 7 Mr. Kenji Amako. 8 Ms. Ayako Shimode 9 Mr. Yutaka Osada

r130 Her coach is Hanyu's old coach, Shoichiro Tsuzuki and daughter Nanako Tsuzuki.

R133 Orser must have displeased Gogolev's parents since Med moved to TCC and he spent most of time to work with her. Then Canada JGP outcome was too much for them to take. So they decided a coach change, maybe just a temporary change because Gogolev is still training at TCC. He turned junior this season and started to compete internationally, his parents ofc want him to get closer attention. Fernandez didn't require too much time and attention from Orser because he knew how to work on his own and already got used to TCC working style, unlike Med.

R137 Thanks

Therefore

1 International 2 International (but hasn't judged anything internationally this season) 3 International 4 International 5 not qualified for international competitions 6 not qualified for international competitions 7 ISU (also qualified as ISU referee) 8 International 9 not qualified for international competitions

At Russian Nats they have gone for 4 ISU judges, 4 International and 1 National

And given Gogolev is his longtime student, well 6 years, long enough, they might think he deserves more attention than those newbies.

Gogo should work with Raf

R141 I hear his student started college so he has lots of time now

R141 I could see that happening at some point.

R142 he is busy coaching me

But I might come back after I find myself in Boston. Save a space for meeeee!

R126 Would've been very interesting to see what the PCS for all three would have been if Hanyu had been there.

R141 I support.

1. Raf is an excellent jump coach.

2. Raf doesn't hype his skaters up in media like Orser, which just put immense pressure on them and is the last thing Gogolev needs.

The most entertaining thing about Gogolev going to Arutyunyan is that he will probably trash his parents in a random interview to Russian media within 6 months

I hear Misha Ge is looking for clients.

R149 u mean looking for victims to give bracelets to

Speaking of coaches, what is Naname Abe doing nowadays

Alina and stasya to Euros.... third?? Probably Liza , likely not Med

R147: Yeah, Raf coached all those gold medalist. His students— Chan, Rippon, and Wagner— did so well in the 2018 Games. One lost a medal by ignoring his coach by dreaming up his own routine, the other is known as the middling gay skater, and the other watch the olympics at home.

I am an Olympic Medalist!

A Bronze medalist like that lazy skater from Spain

R154 TEAM BRONZE

R154: A TEAM bronze medalist.

And you are welcome for winning you a medal.

They should always say TEAM before the medal, otherwise it’s like telling a white lie

r133 r134 I can't remember in which interview (JW Blades?), but Orser said Medvedeva doesn't know what to do when he isn't coaching her and he ends up having to stop what he's doing and help/coach her when it isn't her time. She also calls him in the middle of the night. Orser being constantly exhausted and distracted even when coaching Gogolev and others was probably another problem. Fernandez didn't require as much attention.

And Orser recently brought in yet another skater, Ekaterina Kurakova, despite admitting to spending all of his time with Med to the point of neglecting everyone else. That was supposedly the final straw for Gogolev's parents.

Draw

Last group starting order is

Tanaka

Kagiyama

Nakamura

Uno

Takahashi

Shimada

Shoma looks sleepy, Dai is an uncle

Shoma is limping! He had said he'd say something about his condition after the free skate. Oh noes!

This has been a crazy ass year for Alina. She went from been the European and Olympic champion to having one of the worst meltdowns ever at worlds and therefore "done", then she grew I don't know how much and was "definitely done", only to throw some good showings and become the #1 lady once again, but having Rika steal her crown right away and now she lost her number one place at Nats to three juniors AND Konstantinova. She was the indisputable top lady like 5 times and a has-been like 7 times just this year. That's wild.

Orser watching Med

R163 could be cultural, Eteri has to deal with bare chested Putin

I don't understand all the "poor Brian" posts. He's not doing charity work. He agreed to work with these skaters - you know, work, that thing you do for money which isn't always fun and games...and he knew exactly what he was getting into. Of course Evgenia isn't used to working on her own after spending her entire life in the robot factory where you do exactly what you're told, around the clock. Duh. Obviously she will learn to adapt, but it has to take time. As for why Brian would have lost interest in Gogolev...maybe because he's boring as fuck apart from the quads. And maybe because of his pushy parents, which seems to be one of his biggest pet peeves. Why does he need that shit at this point in his career?

Who said his parents are pushy?

Ok, just acting pushy, and flakey

Who said they're acting pushy and flakey?

Zags and Konstantinova have been chosen for Euros. Third spot will be chosen by coaching council and Rusfed.

R152 already posted

Whoever noticed Yuka Nagai's coach is right - he's dishy. I'm a fan.

Is Oda coaching now? HIs student looks like Rebel Wilson and had surprisingly high jumps.

Zagitova, Kostsntinova and Samodurova is the Euro team

Tuk left out. She has been assigned to Universiade

Med is the reserve for Universiade. Lol

Men, Pairs and Dance Euro teams are the Nationals podium

South Korea ranking competition has finished

Team for 4 Continents is expected to be

Cha and the 2 Lees

Eunsoo Lim, Yelin Kim, Hanul Kim

I thought one had to be at university to go to universiade?

Universiade

Ladies: S. Konstantinova, L. Tuktamysheva

subs: E. Medvedeva, M. Sotskova

Men: M. Kovtun, A. Samarin, A. Lazukin

subs: D. Aliev, A. Petrov, A. Shulepov

Pairs: Poluianova/Sopot, Koshevaia/Bushlanov, Ozerova/Bobrov

Subs: None

Dance: Evdokimova/Bazin, Popova/Mozgov, Skoptceva/Aleshin,

Subs: Shpilevaya/Smirnov

R177 yes, technically. I guess many can show they are enrolled to some kind of online university...

At Universiadi there is the limit of maximum 36 Ladies. After registration they had 48 potential entries. So they cut some of them. Basically Russia and Japan got 2, everyone else 1 except for Argentina which didn't even get the 1 requested.

The Feds who asked for more than 1 Ladies were: Russia and Japan that wanted to enter 3 skaters but they will just get 2; Malaysia and Brazil also wanted 3 entries, Mexico, China and Kazakhstan asked for 2.

In Men there were less than 48 spots asked. So no selection took place. That's why Russia can take all 3 men.

Ayaka Hosoda successful 3A+2T, 3A

Somebody mentioned Tomoe Kwabata before? I like her for the sole reason that she made a tano look good. That's a major achievement, nevermind the falls.

We know, Misha.

Rika Kihira clean, 155.01.

I'm warming up to this program. It's Eterti style but when clean, it looks good.

A pop and an UR cost Miyahara the title. Botched SP cost Kihira the title. Sakamoto win with two great skates.

Seeing as Russdian seniors are not unbeatable and Japanese ones have been killing it, there's actually gonna be a serious fight at Worlds for all the medals.

Who said JSF didn't give a fuck about their ladies ? Today, they worked their ass off to push their ladies for Worlds 2019.

Sakamoto has won

1 Kaori Sakamoto 228.01

2 Rika Kihira 223.76

3 Satoko Miyahara 223.34

4 Mai Mihara 220.80

5 Wakaba Higuchi 197.63

6 Mako Yamashita 197.14

4 Continents and Worlds selection quite easy now for JFS

Sakamoto FS

R165 I seriously doubt it was Brian who lost interest in Gogolev. Gogo was Brian's hope for being the coach of a Canadian man who would finally end the Canadian "curse" and win an OGM. He bragged about him in almost every interview he did.

And I don't believe that Brian had any idea how much of a time and energy suck his Russian Yuna would end up being. If that wasn't a big deal, he never would have mentioned it in his interview with Jackie Wong.

I'm sad for Mako Yamashita. I thought she was great during the assignments and her short program was the one I truly enjoyed this season.

I like her too but she's only 15. To finish 6th is an amazing achievement for her, with only the biggest names ahead of her in the top 5. And she has happy-Buddha Plushy as her coach, and as Uno one of her other students, I'd imagine she'll get the benefit of the doubt from judges more than most.

I feel sorry for Ayaka Hosoda, with two triple axels in her free! She is turning 24 in February, has never been higher than 15th at Japan Nationals and didn't even qualify for the FS at Japan Nationals last season. Better late than never I guess. Also, a little bit sad for Mai Mihara who missed the bronze by less than half a point and skated really well. What an amazing group the Japanese ladies are. I can't figure out if they're more exciting than the Russian ladies or not.

* I said Plushy and meant Fluffy - don't know why I have Evgeni on my mind - I'm not even a fan. Now if he had a nose job...

r191 A 24-yo with triple axels? Bodes well for the Japanese 3A jumping youngsters. Unlike the tiny Russian quadsters there are goid chances those 3As are there to stay throught their careers.

Two gorgeous clean 3A's today for Ayaka - here's video of hers and Rika Kihira's side by side.

* I made a mistake. Mai was more than half a point out of 3rd place (more like 2 and a half). I was looking at the difference between Rika's 2nd and Satoko's 3rd.

All today's real action here....

Once Yuzu retires-which I hope wont be for a long time- unless the men can find a replacement in popularity, the focus will go back to women. Women always ruled this sport until Yuzu came along. If japan is smart theyll back the gals.

When is Shoma gonna win a gold at a big event...so frustrating

R196 Not have to wait until Hanyu retires, the focus is already on ladies, especially Rika Kihira atm.

What a beautiful stream R195. I did watch one of them - she had a beautiful costume. And a shaky skate and a splat... To think the only woman to have back-to-back Olympic gold is German. What has happened to the West when it comes to FS? Sheesh. American girls especially have been a real let-down after dominating singles for so long.

Oops how could I forget Norway's Sonja. She sort of started all this - I think she pioneered white skates for women (a dubious honor but anyway, a real star)

Those on West will never go back to back OGM, because they’ll retire if they win one.

Figure skating is a dying sport in the West thanks to the incompetence of the ISU. All their decisions for the last several decades have had the effect of making the sport a major bore to watch--assuming one could even find a way to watch it. I only came back to it because I accidentally stumbled across Hanyu's skating and was blown away by how unique he was--something I had not seen since the days of Torvill and Dean. When he retires from skating I probably will retire--again--from it as well. And I don't think I'm alone in this.

Poor Nathan was hoping to win so he could retire and go to college

So what’s this with SBS deleting Yuzu videos but not Yuna videos. Her videos with millions of views still on YouTube. What’s up ?!

1) Nicole Schott 167.77

2) Natalie Weinzierl 155.91

3) Ann-Christin Marold 143.71

4) Alisa Scheidt 143.14

5) Kristina Isaev 138.90

Schott and Weinzierl will go to Europeans, Marold to Junior Worlds

Somebody said it might be the Koreans behind the deletion of Hanyu videos - because of Junhwan Cha. If that's true, leaving Yuna's alone would make sense.

I still wish they'd sell dvds of all of Yuzuru's skates - I'm old school, but you never know when streaming will be taken down - or your hard drive will crash or whatever. I used to buy videos of Eastenders that a fan made and sold - also Strictly Come Dancing seasons - it's probably illegal but who the fuck really cares?

yes figure skating is a sport that's not very popular over here but one of the reasons is that the figure skating rings over here open in November and close in February . So how should kids that want to become figure skaters even train here ? Its impossible unless you live in a big city with a rink nearby that's open all year long.

Cancer Dance defeated in Germany.

[R133] Brown does not take up Orser's time. Orser said he only oversees his overall plan. It's Tracey and others work with him directly. Orser only goes with him to comps if he is already there for another skater.

Brown has spent a lot of time with Med - especially in the beginning. And with her mother - whom Brown said he texted with "all day" and he used Google translate to communicate with her. So if anything, Jason has been helpful in the Med situation. I still suspect Javi played a big role in this. I wonder if Raf would have even considered taking her on? They'd have the advantage of no language barrier.

Ah - Kolyada: "This silver is more precious to me than the gold... Thanks to everyone who supported, it gave me strength to skate!"

All the tiny, athletic American girls are in gymnastics now. Slightly cheaper for the parents and lots more opportunities to compete.

R198 you should have waited for the award ceremonies....the third placed girl splatted while trying to reach the podium. Fentz stood on the wrong side of the podium.

During Pairs, Seegert fell down in the middle of the steps before a throw...and the girl basically looked at him putting her hand over her mouth...

Anyway, German team for Euros

Paul Fentz

Nicole Schott

Nathalie Weinzierl

Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nolan Seegert

Annika Hocke/Ruben Blommaert

Shari Koch/Christian Nüchtern

R211 these short messages seem more sincere and are more endearing that the novels others write.

R213 No Cancer Dance!

R213 it is an outrage. we have to suffer a poor version Quasimodo

R214 I am busy writing my Christmas wishes post. I hope it will be 20 pages long

are Japanese selections announced tomorrow after men FP or later?

R165 Wow. This is bullshit. Brian would lose interest in Hanyu before he loses it in Gogolev. First, everybody knows how much Brian loves having Gogolev as his student and expected greatness from him. He had been pridefully singing the song "I have a very talented novice" since forever. You will never know how much he was looking forward to Gogolev's junior debut.

"Stephen Gogolev. He’s a phenom. He’s a natural. He’s ahead of his curve, this whole jumping curve. He’s an athlete and he wants to jump, but he’s really smart about his body, so there are times when we don’t jump for a couple of weeks, and there’s time to re-do. But he does all the quads. He just turned 13, just last month. He has a nice quad Lutz, and nice quad Toe, and could beat off triple Axels. But he understands the value in doing stroking and skating skills. Not just stroking for cardio, but he understands how the blade glides, and he understands transitions, and how important they are. They have to work on his presentation, ’cause he’s a boy, you know. But there’s something special about that sort of shy skater. He has great speed, he’s got these great jumps, and FINALLY, this year he’s going into Junior circuit, Junior Grand Prix. And I’ve had him since he was 7, and I'M EXCITED about that, sort of taking him from the bottom up" Have you ever heard Orser praise anyone in that detailed and exciting way ?

And he couldn't sound more regretful and disappointed in recent interview when he talked about Gogolev leaving him. "You know unexpectedly, I lose skaters. I had a really good junior boy that left me. And I’ve had him since he was 7. And he’s really good, and going to the Grand Prix Final in junior level. And that’s disappointing. That happens"

Second, Gogolev doesn't have only quads, he has good spins and ss. He is well- rounded and his skating is mature for his age.

I know I sound like a broken record but I just can't believe Brian sacrificed just-turned-14 Canadian phenom Gogolev for a 19-year-old Russian figure skater with highly questionable technique. This has to be related to his loss of Yuna Kim because it makes no logical sense whatsoever.

R220: Gogo will be back with Orser. He has no real choice if he wants to advance.

Not too thrilled with Med being blamed for all things going wrong. If Med and TCC weren’t focused on Eteri being the devil, things would work out better. There’s no excuse for this mess. It’s obvious he wants Med gone. She was always going to be the loser in this.

R181 I was the one going on about Kawabata, but now I'm not so sure, she seems like a headcase. I gave her the benefit of the doubt because this season was her first international outing, but she keeps making these little mistakes that escalate into almost meltdowns. Shame, because, intentional music choice or not, she really does remind me of early Yuna: exceptional toe jumpers, top-notch jumping technique, graceful arms. She even has the same issues Yuna had to deal with, like lousy spins, awkward spirals, lips and in need of some SS training. Tomoe does have a (good) Loop, unlike Yuna, and and she even used to do 3Lz+3L from what I saw on some videos, but it's not going to do her much good in today's competitive stage if she's not consistent. She's the same age as Kihira as well, so unless something drastic happens, like getting that 4Lz I suggested, the JSF is never going to back her. However, if what Orser truly wants is a Yuna 2.0, I can't think of a better fit than Tomoe.

R222 getting a 4lz ??? The best joke of the year. Can't you suggest something realistic and doable for her ? Eteri girls must have spoiled you with their quads. If you think the height on 3lz indicates if someone can jump a 4lz, Mikhail Kolyada and Yuzuru Hanyu will disagree with you.

And the award for Trashy EX of the year goes to... Popova/Mozgov featuring Denis Khodykin, Anastasia Skoptsova and Kiril Aleshin.

R219 “ Brian would lose interest in Hanyu before he loses it in Gogolev. ”

LMAO, so delusional. Let’s talk present not questionable future. Gogo has lots of potential but Same questions as Eteri girls with maybe a bigger growth spurt. Hanyu is on a different level (reminder 2 OGM) and Brian loves the envious looks he gets from other coaches. Gogo team needs to chill, should have let Bryan take care of him as a kid skater, and quit looking at him like a future meal ticket.

R225 lol. It was a joke. But if you want to take it serious. Yeah, 2 time Olympic champion, seriously injured every season and can retire anytime.

R225 don’t forget the GOAT

R227 GOAT talk is bullshit.

Misha Ge is the GOAT

R226 no confusion, I took your comment as a joke

R221 Why would Gogo need Orser to advance?

And you think Orser is trying to throw Med under the bus now? If that's true, that would mean he's not the nice guy so many seem to think he is.

Indeed R229. Skating's Renaissance man. Glam rocker, lyrical balletist, talented accessorizor (specializing in bracelets), Weibo and Insta PR wizard, armchair/cellphone therapist, BBF to A-listers (even ungrateful ones!), poet second only to the Laureate himself Vincent Zhou, choreographer/coach extraordinaire, he does it all!

R232 and womanizer

R232 lmao jfc

Russian junior Aleksandr Galiamov is quite cute.

Uno skipped practice yesterday, but Itsuki had his second book signing. @granmodels_official has some photos but like last time, nothing reveals the scale of the event.

R171 Hiyori Tokura! Oda choreographed both of her programs. The Russian coaches would have a stroke if they saw such a big girl (and 19 years old) on their ice. I don’t know where he finds the time, but Oda coaches several skaters with his mom. He’s also the director of the Kandai (Kansai University) skating club.

About Ge and Tomono: According to Ge, the JSF approached him after Worlds and asked him to choreograph for 7 skaters (Tomono and six lesser senior, junior, and novice ladies), so it was a packaged deal. Tomono had no sponsors and the fed was subsidizing his choreography fees. It’s believed Ge was chosen because his rate is very low and Tomono couldn’t afford a foreign choreographer before. Ge was also already going to be in Japan for ice shows, so the fed could save on hotel and travel, and reserve the Kandai and Chukyo rinks for free.

Ge posted a photo of his nationals “coach” pass on IG, but turned off the comments. I don’t think it has to do with haters commenting on his account because the previous post allowed comments and his recent Med post also allows comments.

Ge should take note from Richaud. He congratulated, named, and thanked Sakamoto’s coaches on her win and he’s worked with Sakamoto more than Ge’s worked with Tomono.

R223 Have you seen her Lutz before dismissing her? Believe it or not, she has the best Lutz in the business right now, be it senior or junior. Great height, good distance, pure toe pick technique, and she leaves the ice completely facing forward, I don't think it's even humanly possible to get less pre rotation than she does, meaning close to zero rotation on ice. When I said she had an exceptionally pretty Lutz, I meant it, it really is exceptional. You'll have to turn to the men to find a better one. Now, I know quads are extraordinarily difficult and normally I would scoff at the suggestion as well, but like I said when I first brought it up: if Eteri's girls and some men can get away with 3.25 rotations in the air quads, then why can't she? Satoko Miyahara addressed her UR issues by retooling her technique and allowing more pre rotation in her jumps and, for the most part, it worked fine for her. Kawabata takes an eternity to get into position to start spinning (probably the reason she has so little pre rotation) instead of spinning as soon as possible like it's now taught, so I think there's a case for her if she takes a page from Miyahara. Do note, I referred to it as "something drastic", I realize the magnitude of a quad.

I don't get what you're trying to say in your last comment. That Yuzuru and Kolyada don't have a big 3Lz? I think they do. Or that they can't jump 4Lz? They've both landed 4Lz.

Ge’s undercutting the other choreographers is hysterical.

What we could have had this weekend, but which was cruelly taken from us.

R237 Where did I dismiss her lutz ? I saw her 3Lz, many times, because I watched her compete at JGP circuit all summer. And seriously have you seen Nana Araki, Polina Tsurskaya, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Anastasia Tarakanova's 3lutz? They all have huge 3lz. Eteri girls and some men jumped 4lz WITH THEIR TECHNIQUE which is different from Tomoe's. The only one who is jumping 4lutz atm with correct technique like her is Nathan Chen. So if you want to ask, let's ask why Nathan Chen can jump it, not her. So basically I get that you suggest her to change a correct technique to a wrong one to jump a 4lz. First, it is almost impossible to change technique. Second, there are tons of skaters who have that wrong technique ( PR, UR) can't jump 4lz. So what you said is bullshit.

R239 squeeze squeeze squeeze

R239 How fortunate for us that he obviously loves showing off his perfect orbs. No baggy pants for him!

R237 The last time I replied to your post because it's just too dumb and I can't take.

R241 can't squeeze because it isn't squeezy

Would like to try, anyway.

Yuzuru- slowest striptease ever during practice , for your viewing pleasure

A porn

*porn gif

R245 I love how the other coaches sneak a peek at him when he turns his back to them and starts undressing. And then they quickly turn away when he turns toward the boards again. lol

R240 I literally listed all the qualities of her jump. The height of her Lutz it's not really the sole reason I think she has the best one........... I'm not suggesting she gets "bad technique", just adjust the one she has by tackling her delay in rotation. I'm pretty sure Orser has addressed the difference in jumping technique with the avalanche of the quads: with the triples you were taught to jump as if you're climbing a stair and then spin, that's what Kawabata does. However, with quads, you need to start spinning as soon as possible, no time to waste. That's how triples are taught now, as well. Some other skater, somewhere, must have gone through that adjustment at some point. And I gave you an example of someone who successfully retooled her technique (Miyahara) in a different, but similar regard. I admit it's crazy and super difficult and she probably won't even attempt it, but I believe it's possible. You sound overly upset by this, it’s not like I'm suggesting she grows wings or rockets out of her feet.

And Nana Araki? If you wanna name them japanese juniors, I'm pretty sure Yuhana has a better 3Lz than Nana, and look at the difference:

Yuhana:

Tomoe:

TSL highlights part 1 Russian Natls - (they're doing JPN Natls tomorrow). Starts w/Ted Barton's suck-up interview of Eteri, where she named Boitano as her fav (she rubbed it in: "He's so handsome and has such big jumps!" - Dave loved the planned-out shade and says losing Olys is a huge sore sport w/BO).

He noted Eteri sat with Trusova not w/Scherbakova and she was angry when Tru lost - Scher is "Danlil's baby." 12.30 Med/Zag - something's wrong w/Zag (wrapped knees) and they confirmed Sandra did Orange Colored short & Wilson did the boring long. Dave talked to Doug Haw about Med who said she looked "rough" at start of summer/jumps were gone. 16.50: Eteri said something mean to Kostornaia walking away from K&C. Dave said Brian really thought Med wd win Worlds this yr. 18.40: Orser lets his skaters get away with sloppy - Frank Carroll wd never do that - Daleman remained messy/wild. 20:00: Doug called Dave saying Brian was upset at what ppl say about Med's spins, Dave said well it's true, Doug, angrily: "Well you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink".

Dave quotes Raf: In US, "the skater makes himself" but in Russia, every detail is overseen and dictated - like, Hanyu trains his own spins etc. Dave says they need to bring in help - Ghislain is not even working with Med! Dave thinks she shd work on quad sal & of course posture. But he thinks her mother may take her back to Russia after this yr. Dave said Eteri grades her skaters every day, giving them GOE marks - also Brian uncharacteristically is looking too nervous at comps which doesn't help Med's confidence. 29.10: Dave said Russia is putting pressure on Brian, calling him the "homosexual Canadian coach" in the press, and Orser is letting all this get to his ego. 33.30: Dave's skating coach Natasha angrily fussed about Orser: "He change her technique - what is wrong with 2-time Russian champion?!" 35: TAT and Eteri hate each other; 36.40 maybe TAT had something to do with Med going to Orser; ditto w/Buianova vs Eteri and it's personal but he can't divulge what he heard (something about somebody's husband?)

TSL part 2: 37: Jon thought Scott Hamilton was always nice to skaters but Dave said he was never nice to gay ones. 38.45: Zag so labored now in jumps, using too much of her body/back and throwing herself forward to get up into jumps which is bad for your back long term - and he noticed Trusova uses her back too much also, but top 3 girls in Russia are a once in a lifetime great trio (lots more about the 3 Wunderkinder).

Then MEN at 1.01.30: Eteri said the girls are better than the men in Russia - Jon: "You're not wrong honey." Dave says Kovtun was not as clean as ppl make out - he's hunched like Med/Zag but they used his costume (upholstery said Jon) as a disguise for bad posture. 1.05: Kolyada needs to go to Raf/needs a big change or it's "over". Aliev meh - terrible falls. 1.08: Dave's coach loves Samarin and Dave said, "Oh god I pay you too much money." 1.38 PAIRS, Tarasova/Morozov boring but apparently they are argumentative with each other - Morozov, the ginger Sean Rabbit, is a diva and a "yeller" and Tarasova's face has no expression (nor does his). 1.21 Dave told Aliona "That Ingo may be a horse's ass but he is still good looking". Last 15 minutes: Ice Dance - mostly about how rampant the cheating is among the judges, depending on which coach they're in cahoots with.

1.35: About microphones in K&C, Med said the F word twice; Brian said, "OMG you know your mom is gonna freak out!" A Russian commenter said there's a video of Med telling Brian "My back hurts" - she has a compression fracture that hasn't healed and it's why she's not doing laybacks and why she has weird magnetic metal circles stuck on her back. Some fans are angry that Med took Alina's photo after comp but someone said, "Diana is best friends with Alina so that excludes a Med/Alina friendship" - as if there would ever be one now anyway. THE END

Dave obviously reads this thread, it's the only place anything has ever been mentioned about Eteri and Buyanova's husband. Sounded like total BS to me, but that never stops him, does it? Dave is absolutely clueless when it comes to the Russian skating world and is talking out of his ass as always.

[quote]Some fans are angry that Med took Alina's photo after comp but someone said, "Diana is best friends with Alina so that excludes a Med/Alina friendship" - as if there would ever be one now anyway. THE END

FFS, are you all 13 years old gossiping about teen girl friendships like this? Who gives a flying fuck if they are friends or not?

I wrote down the wrong time for the pairs - so I don't know when they start. Sorry about that. But not about the gossip but won't belabor it. I don't care but I do find it interesting - the breakup of Med/Eteri and the strange relationship status of Eteri/Med/Zag and how it was uprooted at the Olys, and I'm curious how Med is perceived, not just by friends or former friends or Eteri - but by Russians in general. I think the Med story is one of the most interesting ones of 2018 - maybe 'the' most interesting. (esp if you like gossip, and this is a gossip board, n'est-ce pas?)

Jfc are we policing the gossip now? It is what it is. It's ridiculous to complain about what's posted on a gossip forum.

I think someone is touchy because they're a Med fan? Anyway, we talk about Hanyu/Javi rel'ship all the time. What's the difference? I don't know why there tends to be gatekeepers on this thread. Gossip is rampant at this board because that's what it's for - especially these threads because the other forums are micromanaged and sterilized.

Zagitova always looked more like Daniil's baby than Eteri's, however, no one doubts Eteri's position as her main coach (including Zagitova), so if the next true russian quad queen turns out to be Shcherbakova and not Trusova, I'm sure Eteri would get over it quickly. Shcherbakova is still her student.

Daniil certainly looks more invested than Eteri during Alina's programs.

Before Alina skated, I think the free, Danlil sat with his eyes closed for a few minutes, like he was praying. That guy is growing on me.

R253 Thanks for the summary. The discs on Med’s back were Phiten Titanium Power Tape, a common athletic tape used by many athletes. Some Med fans were claiming that Hanyu had given them to her (and therefore they’re secret lovers) because Phiten is one of his sponsors. However, TAT said she gave them to Orser to give to Med.

Orser complaining about a not particularly harsh comment on TSL is funny, but he’s even more thin-skinned (maybe it’s the stress?) than I thought. He’s clearly been using Haw to leak to TSL all of this time and it’s interesting that it’s been Haw and not Ghislain who’s been working on Med’s jumps. Ghislain has been helping Kihira, Miyahara, and other Hamada skaters.

But it’s kind of disturbing that he actually believed Med would win Worlds this year despite her injuries and the loss of her jumps. So he wasn’t being sincere with that “it takes two years” talk?

R261 He was holding back tears after in Zagitova’s K&C.

R262: BS. This is talk bashing Med because she will be leaving TCC. It’s time to cover asses. Where will she go next?

So I guess it's not only the most delusional Med fans who are claiming that Orser ruined a 2X World Champion's jumps, but others as well.

Either they're blind or they didn't get the memo that Med seemed on course to lose her jumps anyway since the awful technique doesn't work for her anymore.

Exciting Free in Pairs

2 entries

1 withdrew

the winners had 3 falls

Second group of JPN men are skating now (free skate). 3rd group has Tomono. 4th group has Uno and Takahashi.

Tomono 227.46

Tsuboi 214.87

Kishina 214.35

Yamamoto 212.69

Yamakuma 212.23

One group to go

Tanaka 236

Tomono, Ge, leather gloves coach and an animal mask

Uno now

a couple of messing landings at the beginning, one step out.

289

239 for Takahashi. He stays ahead of Tanaka thanks to PCS

Takahashi messy, one fall and some stumbles but kept the energy going and didn't look disappointed. Pretty great choreo sequence. 151.10 and into 2nd.

R272 that’s a shame after that performance

r274 Tanaka wasn't better.

Koshiro 219, into 5th

Final standings

1) Shoma

2) Daisuke

3) Tanaka

Lol, Takahashi is being interviewed instead of the winner.

Underwhelming JNats, lots of fluff without substance

Uno is getting his ankle sorted

Takahashi's hair are terrible

Tanaka is probably booking his flight for his 14th finish at World

JSF should stop sending Tanaka to major competitions. Aren't they tired of watching he fuck up again and again there ?

Dai has to meet minimum TES but JSF considering sending Dai to worlds

r281 What choice do they have? It's not like coach Misha is doing miracles for Tomono.

Well, now they have Takahashi.

The most amazing part is that Uno is ahead by 50 points, what the fuck Japan.

the cup is larger than shoma

....

R283 but they only have that third spot at Worlds because of Tomono, and he was 4th today. And he was 3rd at Rostelecom (9th at Skate Canada). Keiji was 8th at Finland and France.

I think an argument could be made for Tomono - but I don't now how strict they are about Nationals podium always = worlds spot.

Maybe Dai will go to the Nordics to get the minimum for Worlds.

I don't think he will show up in Romania in 2 weeks to get 4 Continents minimum but there is still lots of time for Worlds.

r287 He'd have to skate better than today to get that minimum.

R288 today's score was below the minimum. He needs 64 in the FS

Maybe at Sofia Cup if it is rigged to push local boy Nicky Obreykov over the minimum (he has 63 so far) and get others over with him

4 Continents

Shoma Uno, Keiji Tanaka, Kazuki Tomono

Kaori Sakamoto, Rika Kihira, Mai Mihara

Suzaki / Kihara

Komatsubara / Koleto

Worlds

Shoma Uno, Keiji Tanaka, Yuzuru Hanyu

Kaori Sakamoto, Rika Kihira, Satoko Miyahara

Suzaki / Kihara

Komatsubara / Koleto

Junior Worlds

Tatsuya Tsubo, Koshiro Shimada

Yokoi Yuhana, Tomoe Kawabata, Yuna Shiraiwa

Universiade

Tomono, Nakamura, Sato

Mihara, Takeno

Takahashi was offered Worlds but declined.

R294 how nice for him to leave the spot to Hanyu

R295 Unfortunate that you won't do the same for my protege, Kazuki.

r296 Preach it, Misha.

Watching Dai after Shoma just drove it home how overrated Shoma is, at least PCS-wise. I get that he's injured but there was just nothing there...nothing at all. And he really has no range other than dramatic flailing. Dai obviously had a lot of errors, but he sold the hell out of that program until the end. There is nobody like him. I'd prefer to see him skating sloppy than Keiji at Worlds, obviously. But I understand why he didn't want to commit. Just as long as he keeps going, it's a win in my book.

R292 Yuna Shiraiwa? Didn't she get two senior GP spots this year and is on her second senior season? I know seniors age eligible for juniors are sent to junior events sometimes (like Konstatinova last year), but I did not expect this one. Did the other junior girls do that bad that the JSF don't want to send them to Jr Worlds?

R298 don’t let Uber fandom cloud your mind, Dai did a lot of tired flailing too. There was almost 50 pt difference between Shoma and Dai. Dai gave it to his fans one last time, his international career is over. He’ll skate to crowds nationally, especially with this JNats boost and PR. Dai knows this and is planning his second retirement announcment.

Despite standing on different podium steps, the three guys wound up the same height.

[quote]There was almost 50 pt difference between Shoma and Dai.

And an even larger point difference between Shoma and the 22 other competitors. I guess they all should be making retirement announcements too.

R302 if you can’t tell the difference between an up and coming teenage skater and a 32 year old uncle-sure

R299 Shiwara hasn't done a Junior competition in 2 years...she needs to do one now to get the minimum TES (minimum for Junior Worlds must be achieved in a Junior event)

R300 Dai says he has no intention of retiring.

What Dai wants and what his body and TES says are different things...time will tell. One thing for sure, Japan needs a future Shoma and Yuzu, no one is close to where they are to compete with future quadsters.

R306 yet for some reason they are trying their best to bury the 14 year old quadster whose TES was second only to Uno.

P305 well certainly in a professional competition he shouldn’t, couldn’t (?) do worse. He got green in only 6 of 12 elements

Crap R305 above

To be fair Dai stole the spotlight from Shoma, third straight JNat champion and silver OM but the press and documentary was all about Dai. I get he’s an attention whore and has a decent Japan fan base, but does he really want to give crappy performances and steal attention from younger skaters who should be developing their own fan base?

R310. I don't think Shoma minds this at all. He likes the backseat.

Dai's SP was not "crappy" at all. And it's not his fault that he's much more charismatic than Shoma. If he wasn't incredibly popular and beloved, if the odds against him were not so huge with this comeback, he wouldn't be getting all that attention. Shoma doesn't have any interesting backstory...he's a socially stunted, privileged little troll who's being pushed as one of the greats despite his many glaring flaws, and not everyone is buying it. So of course the comeback of a World champ and Oly medalist returning after years away is far more compelling.

R312 Dai’s free skate was pretty crappy

Uno sprained his ankle in the warm up of the SP. His coach asked him if he wanted to do the Free and he said "that is my life". He is grateful they let him skate today. He thinks he should be fine in 2 weeks. He has faith in himself now

I actually really like Dai's FS (more so than the SP). If he continues, I hope he keeps it because I'd like to see it clean. It was cleanish at Western Sectionals, but the performance at Nats was better. That said, both Shoma and Dai were overscored. Lots of two-footed skating and few transitions. I hope we see more of Benoit Richaud. His FS for Kaori was good too even though I dislike the music.

Ladies were amazing. Men's event sucked. I hope Shoma gets better. Fucking ankles this season.

r312 I think the fact that Uno seems "emotionally stunted" is something that mostly protects him from any greater backlash caused by the privilege and the push.

JSF should get on their knees and thank Shoma for skating. This is Japan after all, if their national champion won with a score of 239, that’s would be an embarrassment. Those are small fed championship scores.

1 hour ago

Iron Klaus Retweeted 結羽

「世界選手権に間に合うように頑張って調整する」 "I'll do my best to be ready for the #WorldFigureSkatingChampions2019." #YuzuruHanyu

R304 Then why are they sending her to Jr Worlds? Are there even any junior level competitions left she can apply?

Award Ceremony - Men

Award Ceremony Ladies

R317 I kind of wish that would have happened. lol

r317 Well, makes me curious what kind of scores US men post at Nationals. I'm thinking Brown in 2nd with a 50 pts gap from Chen. Just don't let Krasnozhon on the Worlds team.

R318 sweats nervously

National Male Champions scores so far

Russia Kovtun 281.59

France Aymoz 262.65

South Korean (Ranking competition) Cha 257.01

Sweden Majorov 253.20

Italy Grassl 246.10

Australia Kerry 228.38

Austria Zandron 225.93

Germany Fentz 211.49

Switzerland Britschgi 210.72

4 Nations Belohradsky 207.91

Great Britain Newberry 200.55

Estonia Selevko 192.66

Finland Galay 191.94

Spain Alonso 191.80

Ukraine Shmuratko 186.12

Bulgaria Obreikov 179.44

Belarus Zenko 177.87

Turkey Demirboga 170.45

Denmark Pedersen 125.04

South Africa Samuels 124.45

New Zealand Lee 107.62

In Latvia, Serbia and Belgium Senior Men event wasn't held because of 0 entries (Deniss skipped it in Latvia). In Norway they directly selected Sondre without bothering to run an event.

who wins for the biggest over-scoring?

TSL JPN Natls – Part 1: @Minute 12: Great about the older woman w/3A’s, then poor Marin Honda. Some Dai chat at 16. The Japan fed pays very well, but Korea doesn’t. 20 Satoko. Mia Hamada has good taste and gives all her students good programs – uses the best: Zueva, Nichol, Bourne, Dickson – has good taste. Talked about Yamaguchi who had small jumps too. 25 Kaori – her jumps looked huge because she went after Satoko plus her great speed. Mentioned American commentary being vapid (Russian and Japanese much better – Japan’s creates intensity, along w/shots of skaters backstage warming up). 30 More Kaori gushing. Jumps enormous, artistry not tip-top but has skating skills and performance is ok. Unique entrances. 34 Shade on Nathan Chen, who’s working in Montreal – in his Instastory, he was skating between Chock and Bates and commented “I also would like Evan Bates to pull me in competition” (they giggled) 35 Rika Kihira. Bad fall – flower guy almost ran into her so stressful start to her short, right after Marin. 46 Satoko. They love short but don’t think tango fits her and lyrical wd be better. Then Mai/Wakaba. 1.02 ICE DANCE. They have 3 teams now; need more pairs/but no tall male skaters. 1.04 MEN. Dave loves Tomono but he’s tentative; needs to do shows. Dave said Misha Ge is becoming a “real presence” in the kiss and cry. Tanaka has great cheek bones; has improved.

TSL JPN Natls – Part 2: 1.06 Daisuke. They loved short program. Lousy jumps in the free other than 3As though. Loved his step sequences and the lunge. Jon thought he 2-foot skated too much and Dave said maybe. 1.11 Shoma looked more centered here than we’ve seen him all season. Dave LOVES how intense he is (said in an aroused sort of way). Talked about his older coach (Yamada?) being tough, with almost a Yoko Ohno vibe - maybe Fluffy was a bit jealous of her place being taken (when older one talked intensely to Shoma before the skate – and Shoma was like, “Uh, I gotta go skate now.”) Dave said Shoma was “wonderfully artistic” and Jon said “Outrageously so! Beautiful skating, to me.” Short was “really spectacular here and the long was better.” 1.14 Discussing his costumes and Dave said, “Has anyone bought the book with him and his brother where they’re hugging on the cover?” - Dave wants someone to give all the tidbits from the book in the comments. Jon about Shoma’s skating: “It’s liberating, it’s free, there’s such a sense of self… so beautiful and powerful.” 1.20 Jon’s moment of natls was watching Daisuke do his hand/arm choreography, seeing Kaori’s personality shine through (Dave: someone you’d like to invite over), and Wakaba’s short. For Dave, Wakaba also, Sakamoto’s short, Rika’s free, but especially Dai’s short, which was “really spectacular.”

I heard Nathan Chen not going to 4CC, Yuzu out too. It’s his best chance to break his silver run. But with his bum ankle, who knows...

R328, meant Shoma’s chance

Oh god that would be amazing. Who's gonna step up if this is Hanyu's last year? (but perish the thought so never mind...) And I know who'll step up: the LADIES! They already have. Bye bye boys. (except little Shoma - I'm like Dave and Jon - could watch him all day - never mind wonky jumps, they still "look" good to me, with that whooshy arm ending he puts on them.

I don't understand why anyone ever thought Yuzu would go to 4CC. Talk about wishful (and delusional) thinking!

Is this Vincent's chance for a podium? Who else is there besides Japanese? Cha, I guess. And Messing. Can't see anyone challenging Uno unless he's hurt and so far, he's skated well w/injuries. Gotta catch up to him (and Yuzu) someday. Well, it may already have with Hanyu. I'm not sure quads are the best thing ever for skating - or at least the bodies of skaters.

Thank you TSL recapper for taking one for the team by watching it.

r333 The fact that r326 is able to recap a 1.5 hour talk in a few sentences reveals the extent of their sacrifice. If those episodes were 15 mins maybe they'd be watchable.

This season has been a splatest for men for the most part. GPF was mehhhh. Also there’s Hanyu, Chen, and Uno then everyone else so if only one of them - expected win, we need more challengers. If Yuzu retires- so many fans gone. The same thing happened with PChiddy and Yuzu in 2013-2014, then threw in a Javi, then in 2016 came Boyang, Nathan, Shoma. 2017 worlds - best ever. Gogo is big question mark since he hasn’t had growth spurt, Cha need quad consistency- anyone else?

Thanks goodness for the ladies!

R327 So if TSL/Jon said Dai did too much 2 footed skating, did he then totally ignore that about Uno? Having flashbacks when their standards were shit and nonlinear for GOE in their grading videos.

They lust after Uno. Objectivity is hard when that happens.

I'm the recapper and I lust for Uno so I got excited - and was about finished so wasted more words on that part than I should have (sorry!) I don't remember them lusting for Uno before but I don't recap all their stuff. But I had already heard a lot they said about Kihira, Mihara, Wakaba, so that's one reason I didn't quote them as much, and with those three, it was more about "process" -- should Kihira work on quads? Mihara's costume was bad, Wakaba's choreography is this or that and can she reach her potential.

Oh, and they'll lust after somebody one show and you notice, several weeks later they'll reverse. I remember a show where they thought both Mai and Kaori were dull, nice girls who'd never amount to much - then, Kaori has some success and now they're finding new things to love about her every week (that she does well). They also, of course, pull things out of their ass - like the week they said Hanyu resents Uno. Like what? And give me one good reason why -sheesh. I think he just saw Hanyu watching the monitor and Uno was skating and he thought he saw an attitude or something -- like the Olys? Well, when you're on the verge of winning your 18-year quest and you're 23, you might be on edge for the last skater - or you might be worried about your Spanish pal - who knows? But to blow that up into resenting him was crazy. (They quickly reversed course and now Hanyu's untouchable because I imagine there was a lot of flak).

Oh and by 'they' it's almost always Dave, not Jonathan who has the attitude. Anyway sorry for the defensive essaying sheesh -- to the 2 footed skating argument -- Dave did defend Dai's skating skills and way at the end of the defense, he said, well, he could do less 2-footing but he's not Patrick Chan, something like that. The "maybe" came after a pretty long thing about how he has good knees, good edges, and such. It IS hard to turn 1.5 hours into something that isn't too long - and I do pick highlights that I personally like, esp this week when I realized I had more space left then I thought and Uno was at the end (I try to fill one page and not go overboard)

R331 And think of him not competing there as something surprising. 4CCs never has been and never will be an important event to him.

I just watch Brian Orser's 40 minute interview with Jackie Wong, and I'd read most of the stuff - but I was especially struck by something he said about Med. After a bad skate, she was bemoaning the problems, and said, "I'm supposed to be superhuman!" I'll have to think about that some more, but it just struck me as weird. Orser also said when she left Eteri, her choices were to change coaches or give up skating. So maybe it's true that Eteri told her it was time to retire.

I guess the only other thing that was sort of new to me - he said they sit there and go through everything thrown on the ice to remove notes, letters, etc., and to send thank you cards - anyway, he said he'd been on the "team" that does that and so has Hanyu's sister. I think that's the first time I've heard her mentioned (since the bios about him as a child.) It's sort of amazing how private the sister and father have managed to be, considering the magnitude of his fame.

you can have your captions

Uno has pulled out of the gala.

He said he didn’t withdraw from the competition because that’s his “way of life.” When asked to explain what he meant, he said “I don’t want to miss a single competition. To put it simply, it’s my pride. If I can walk, I want to compete even if I have to strain myself.”

Meanwhile, an article in Nikkan Sports by Kozuka was published this morning praising Uno for overcoming his injury to put on a great FS despite the pain and anxiety the poor skater must have suffered.

Kozuka’s appearance on “Viking” has been canceled.

R254 it’s not just here. After the Olympics, it was all over the Russian press, I’m sure it’s been discussed on FSU, and Dave reads FSU.

R261 Daniil was commentating the RNats gala and he said Alina skated with a leg wound (severe chemical burn) from her grandmother using undiluted dimexide for a compress. Apparently she was in a lot of pain, not only jumping - see the aborted Biellmann spiral in the LP.

Poor Alina - that sounds awful. Hope she recovers completely.

I can't believe these guys are landing quads on sprained ankles (Hanyu, now Uno). Makes me cringe just to think about it.

And I think one of Eteri's quadsters broke her leg doing a quad! And she's still doing them (Scherbakova?) Good lord.

Dai’s response about why he’s not going to worlds.

r347 So basically he acknowledges that he's a headcase enough to cave in under the international pressure? Kinda admirable to know oneself well enough not to try to bite off more than one can chew.

Dear my gay friends and also gay frenemies and many ladies in Certain Skater And Other Figure Skating Talk thread. You call me self-important drama queen and suckerfish bracelet-wearing attention whore through the year. Thank you for giving your honest opinion, much appreciation and love. For showing no hard feelings, I prepared a present for you: I lured certain skater with gold ribbons and he is tied under the tree now. So easy if you knowing how to do it. (I do because we are good friends for many years [except that time when he get mad at me but we all good now I hope] and he telling me all what is on his mind like his weaknesses and future hopes and sexual fantasies. He seems like Japanese fembot but he is a real person with feelings and BDSM urge just like you and me. Please respect.) Treat him nicely because Brian sensei is my coworker now (I made a passion and dramatic SP to Tosca for certain Russian skater who's his student, you know! Thank you all for collaboration and support! #art #alwaysworking) and Brian will get angry if he hurt in a not nice way. Have a beautiful Christmas and not spreading the hate, spreading the love instead!

R349 We love you, fuckface! Happy holidays and thanks for the laffs.

Tanaka hair in the Gala

Men’s fs fan magazine Quadruple Axel interviewed Tomono and Ge for their next issue.

I watched the livestream of Tomono’s K&C which wasn’t shown in full on broadcast. Coach Hiraike was irritated and told Tomono they’d start practice the next day and no time off for New Years! Then he said something to Ge, but I couldn’t catch it.

When Ge joined The Ice in 2015 when he was still trying to latch onto Mao and Takahashi, he revealed the opening costumes and routine on IG or twitter. They were supposed to be a surprise. Fans complained to IMG and sponsors, and that was the first and last time Ge was invited to the show. (FaOI is run by CIC)

R341 Hiraike looks annoyed or worried in every photo Ge has ever tweeted. R349 Shame on you for making him likeable. He could use some pointers for Zhou though.

-he could use some pointers from Zhou, not for Zhou. Sorry, Vincent.

Does Misha speak Chinese or Russian any better than he speaks English? I think all that moving around he did as a kid really stunted his social skills, and now he's pushing 30 surrounded by a lot of younger skaters without anyone telling him to grow up. I suppose Japanese people are too polite to let him know when to back off. Poor Kazuki.

r354 I'll play my part of universal apologist: I 'd wager Misha Ge is not as bad as he comes across from social media. Social media always make people seem more immature and socially awkward.

R352 What are you mean, I am so likable. Everybody liking me! I come in and I hear people say "oh God Misha is here" because they so happy (thanking God we are together again, even if atheist that's OK, all love) and then "run" (run towards Misha because it's so happy occasion) but then they get distract because the room is so busy and I don't see them. Certain skater even write "Certain skater is mean 'friend'" on my shoe because I am lovable. I cover the "friend" part with Bic Wite-Out tape (not sponsor, but DM if interested) when I got mad at him because I think he love Javier Fernandez more than me (HE DOES NOT) but then he hugging me with one arm in Russia so I scratch it off and we're friends again.

Vincent Zhou is beautiful boy with beautiful poetry inside his soul. Such pure and sensitive true artist. If he ever win another medal we will do an exhibition together!

Also Dai- if you need cheap choreo, PM me on Instagram. I always liked you better then “certain skater”

Well done, R356/357. Ok, someone do a Vincent post now!

R358 I'm sure someone will get drunk enough for that at some point.

The Japanese juniors did tributes to the programs of the 2019 Worlds team. Some of them improvised, but Hanyu fanboy Shun Sato (14) went balls-out and attempted to skate Origin. It didn't go very well. The twizzles were too much for him. Props to him for going where most other grown men would fear to tread, though.

R359 They did this thing also last year.....it is always cringeworthy to assist at the poor guys pretending to do a tribute of Suzuki/Kihara's programs...

R360 chill- they are juniors TRIBUTING seniors, they r not supposed to be as good at it

R361 you missed the point....Suzuki/Kihara are generally so weak that no-body would do a tribute of their programs

R349 R356 Bravo. This is hilarious.

R352 It appears Misha has renewed his efforts to latch onto Dai - from a recent insta post:

[quote]For a long while i have not receive this kind of emotions. While watching Daisuke doing His run through before the show, i caught a thought : That is one the reason why i Loved skating when i was little, and this is what is calling True Skating”. L.E.G.E.N.D. 🙏🏼

Looks like Daleman is planning to go to Nats.

Tomono found a sponsor. Maybe JSF won't need to buy his choreography through Groupon anymore and save everyone the aggravation.

Seems like Med is still into Hanyu. She was on a radio show yesterday and on a question whether or not she ever liked a man who was much older than her and if she still likes him she said "It doesn't matter". Everyone were like wow, was he that much older, and she said that he wasn't much older but it completely doesn't matter. Her fierce tone made it sound like it does matter though.

Wasn't she into some KPop star?

r363 Misha Ge apologist here: c'mon at this rate the dude won't be able to express admiration to anybody without it being latching on.

r366 I still have difficulty believing it might have been Hanyu. It boggles my mind that one could get a serious crush on somebody who they see twice a year at most and with whom they can barely communicate. (I was never that age.)

R367 Huhh ? Do Kpop stars have anything with a question about who she likes as a boyfriend ?

I thought she actually knew one personally. I think I'm actually thinking of some guy who won a singing contest on TV? Oh I don't remember precisely and shouldn't have brought it up. Sorry.

R368 You can have a serious crush with someone whom you only get to see on TV.

R370 You might be thinking of Kristian Kostov who is actually younger than her and was on the radio show with her yesterday.

That's probably it and I got it mixed up with some stuff she posted about a guy that I thought was a KPop guy. And she knows them 'almost' as much as she knows Yuzuru, seems to me. We've never seen her and Yuzu out on a date or anything.

Here's full transcript of the radio show. She repeatedly says it doesn't matter and she also doesn't want to disclose his name so assume she does know that man personally and it's not about a celebrity crush since she is not shy admitting she likes k-pop idols. Also Kostov was there with her but it doesn't look like she is interested in him. I heard they have the same pr guy. And he is yonger than her anyway.

Orser said Javi was going to train 3 weeks for Europeans. He was kind of a mess at Spain Nats ex. Is he doing any jumps during ROI? I hope he doesn’t embarrass himself.

no comments

r374 If he waters down his content to 2 quads, he's got a chance to go clean enough to win it, I think.

On that note, is it known what the owner of our favorite ass is doing? New year with family in Japan or rehabbing diligently in Canada?

No it is not known what he does right now but he said that he wants to be fit for worlds in march and my guess is that he is still in Canada for rehab and because his training ground is there ! But I guess that we will not know what he is up to until the end of march !

R374 there are some fancams on youtube from ROI's last week show....and it looked like Fernandez had the same jump content of Javier Raya....

they had a new show yesterday...maybe he got more triples back...

r378 I'm just asking because now when he can't train extensively seems like a good time to visit family. If he's planted his delectable ass in Canada and just rehabbing and slowly training 4 months before his next competition instead of taking a logical break, it makes his approach all more different from Javier's yolo three weeks of training attitude.

Maybe we're selling Javi short. Hanyu was able to win Olys on 3 weeks of training, maybe Javier can achieve the Euros gold against the Russian splat masters and Brezina.

r379 Well, the stakes are way different. A final goodbye in a weak European field vs being a contender for the gold at Worlds. Javier seems done with competitive skating, and after years of being an elite athlete, I too will take it easy. Fuck training.

Sounds like Javi will now recycle both programs so that should help a bit. He's clearly moved on so I don't think he cares that much whether he wins. Obviously, a win would be nice, but he's not going to agonize about retiring with the perfect performance. Seems likely a perfectly fine outlook, frankly.

Anyone have streaming info for Chinese Nats?

I just hope Javi doesn’t have a performance like Dai at JNats free skate. I’d like for him to end on a high note.

r382 Can't deny that. Fairly healthy mindset.

we will see what happens at EU with Javi but I guess that he´ll be there to say goodbye to everyone and not for a podium finish

Yuzuru won the Olympics on 3 weeks of intense training preceded by months of strict self-discipline, mental preparation and off-ice work aimed solely at that goal. Can Javi win Europeans on 3 weeks of intense training preceded by months of watered-down ice show content, shooting TV spots, and romantic photoshoots with his beautiful female girlfriend who is a woman? I eagerly await January to see if the men of Europe fuck up enough that Super Javi will get to have his cake and eat it too.

The route of Javi's success

Kovtun won't have the PCS overscoring gently given by Russian Fed in internal competitions

Kolyada will die killed by Carmen in the last minute

Samarin will make 3 falls

Brezina has already done his 3 clean skates of the quad

Vasjlievs is busy doing bakery activities rather than learning to jump

Rizzo won't skate the FS in protest of Grassl outscoring him in the SP

Grassl skating skills will bury him

Aymoz will be withdrawn by Didier because Didier hates him (and everyone)

R388 LMAO. Thanks.

R388 Javi wins Australian speed skater style.

R388 So what you're saying is that Paul Fentz will be the dark horse at Euros

R390 The awesome thing about that event was that Bradbury (the Australian) was way behind the others the whole race - that's why he wasn't caught up in the crash and just cruised across the finish line.

2 much awaited selections for Euros

Hungary: Alekszander Borovoj

Ukraine: Ivan Shmuratko

I must confess one thing...I don't have a clue on who Borovoj is.

I am impressed by the second jump here

R375 That photo cured my hangover, thank you.

R387 LMAO! Great post.

What I'm wondering is if party-loving Javi will still fit into his form-fitting Olympic costumes.

Javi could just wear his ex outfit- off white sweater, khakis, brown belt....wait ...I may be remembering the sales guy at the GAP.

He could also do this exhibition - just needs to add 6 jumps, 3 spins, some choreo and step seq...

Just joking Javi-we still love you

r392 The entry to that jump is a wow moment, the landing seems fine and then he trips over his own feet? wtf.

R392 That ring-around-the-rosie entrance is, uh, interesting. Go Visegrad!

ISU season bests of skaters doing Euros (only those >200)

1) Kolyada 274.37 (Nepela)

2) Brezina 257.98 (GP Helsinki)

3) Samarin 248.78 (Skate Canada)

4) Kvitalashivili 248.58 (Rostelecom) I forgot about him!

5) Kovtun 247.55 (Tallin)

6) Aymoz 231.16 (French CP)

7) Samohin 231.58 (Golden Spin)

8) Grassl 230.50 (Alpen Trophy)

9) Rizzo 227.97 (Lombardia Trophy)

10) Majorov 227.47 (Golden Spin)

11) Vasiljevs 221.26 (French GP)

12) Fentz 220.57 (Rostelecom)

13) Hayrapetyan 209.58 (Tallin)

14) Fa 207.04 (Junior GP Final)

15) Britschgi 206.76 (Finlandia Trophy)

16) Bychenko 202.33 (GP Helsinki)

I may have missed someone but maybe not...

I expect around 35 entries in Men. Deadline is at the end of the year IIRC

r388 r398 Just realized that Javi's JPN Open FS score of 157.86 where he (and Nathan) got outscored by both Alina and 4 year retired Nobu is higher than Kolyada's last 3 international competitions, 3 of Samarin's last 4, 2 of Brezina's 4, 3 of Kvitilashvili's 4, 2 of Aymoz's 3, and most of the rest.

When did European men's skating get this sad? I realize JPN Open is a cheesefest but if his score there is this competitive after a summer of doing shows, I take back what I said before - he might be the favorite if he actually trains a little. He got that score with only 1 quad, a popped axel, 2 step outs, and 3 level 3 spins/step sequence. Landing a 2nd 4 toe instead of a single axel is already enough to get a higher score than any of the European men's season's bests except choker Kolyada.

So Javi can win with his Spanish Nat ex routine- good to know

I still like watching the European men better overall than the field at 4CC. I love Yuzuru and Dai, but they aren't going to be there. I just find the Euro guys more charming and fun to watch, generally. Give me Brezina, Daniel Samohin, and Deniss over boring Vincent, Keiji or cheesy Keegan any day. That said, I'm not really looking forward to this Euros if Javi is just going to recycle his same old tired programs. And Bychenko is still partying it up per his Instagram, so I don't expect him to deliver. Why doesn't he retire since he's clearly not into it any more?

Look at the size of that right thigh! Nice distraction from the yellow tape-on Dory "wings" or whatever that was supposed to be.

Anyway, Fantasy on Ice is going to be in Sendai - which I think is unusual. Well, it didn't go there last year. Starts in May. Hopefully Yuzuru's ankle will be ok. And for Worlds in Saitama. It would be a shame to end on a sour note, not that I think it will be his last int'l comp but it could be.

Sorry to break the fun streak, but I remember someone mentioning that Nathan said in Japan Open that "Yuzuru and Shoma will always be the best". I can't seem to find this anywhere. Does anyone have a source?

I saw Nathan say that in an interview but I don't have a link. I think it was, "Yuzuru and Shoma will always be the best skaters..." I thought he was referring to PCS and I think it was an interview right after the Japan Open, but I wouldn't even know where to look for the interview now. It may have been taken down.

R388 !remind me 1 month

Guess who's choreographed a program for whom? A DL match made in heaven.

Isn’t Kozuka in some scandal mess right now? What’s the choreo for?

R408 Not only that, weeklies have been reporting that the wife's team is going to leak more about his past misdeeds.

Hanyu says he's going to try to do the 4A next year.

R409. So we will have Hanyu for another season. I just worry with that 4A. He could really hurt himself. Let's just hope for an injury free season.

Ge vs. Wilson 2019

Misha can be a huge PITA, but I think his choreo can be pretty good sometimes. David Wilson is just too stuck in his old fashioned queen tastes. I liked Daisuke's SP, but you know he doesn't feel that inspired for most of what he puts out.

R409 I got the impression that his statement about the 4A, filmed in July, was in reference to *this* season. Though I don't doubt that with his injury setback he'll stay another year (and probably recycle his FS) just to do it. I'll laugh if he lands it at ACI 2019 and immediately retires.

I just hope that yuzu will be patient and that he will not try to land the 4A as soon as possible ! I do not want him to get injured again when he decides to skate next season !

R413 It was a new statement he made to the show. The July footage was unrelated.

R415 Ah, I see, thanks. I was thinking it was a translation of the part where he'd written 4A in the notebook. Good to know, and it's interesting that he's showing his hand so early re: next season. Guess he's more relaxed about things now.

What the hell. Kozuka is appearing on a Kansai show with Kanako to talk about Hanyu and Kihira on the 30th. It will air past midnight in the Kinki region only.

R427 Wtf? Is Kanako that desperate for work or does she just not care?

This video is her quad lutz, but in the comments, someone said Trusova did a quad flip in practice!

She also has a quad toe. Does she have a qual sal too? Good lord.

Here's Trusova's quad flip.

LMAO, no wonder he wanted to come back to skating. Dai at 1:30

R421 Dai-ing on the inside.

R404 Here's the link (I hope it works anyway) to the interview where Nathan says: "Yuzu and of course Shoma, they're always going to be the best skaters"

Scroll down to the video where it says Interview/Fluff

This twitter site is drama seeking. Not sure why they #yururuhanyu

R423 Thank you!

Japanese tv is incomprehensible to me (not just because of the language barrier).

Gabby Daleman says she has anxiety, depression, ADHD, and an eating disorder. I feel bad for her, but is she really ready to compete again? It seems like something you'd want to take your time getting treatment for. It seems about as ill advised as Gracie's attempted comeback. Take the whole season off, come back in the summer or early autumn at some little local competition. It's not like there are any better Canadian ladies waiting in the wings.

Well, if Yuzuru has to cut his skating career short, this looks like a job interview to be a housekeeper. He's doing laundry, playing with the detergent pods like they're toys, and actually ironing a shirt while wearing an apron.

Talk about Japanese tv being incomprehensible. Although I like their "Mr. Clean" better than ours.

R427 Wouldn't you love to know what his mother thinks of these commercials? Probably laughing as much as we are!

I feel sorry for Gabby, not only for for her issues but for all the concern trolls that have been armchair diagnosing her based on selfies of her being just like any other young college age girl: "she must have self esteem issues because look at how she photoshops herself" or "poor girl has mental issues, look at her makeup". I'm glad she spoke up about her issues - hopefully it will stem the malicious concern trolling.

r427 If he only bent over a bit deeper, those commercials would be worth watching.

r421 what was that for, some entertainment show?

The other figure skating thread said Dai has done lots of shows since Sochi (around 150) certainly he could just go back to that. Maybe he just wants a few more medals when the domestic field is so weak.

r426 I need to hand it to the girl, that's a great costume.

In the absence of Osmond, Canadian Nationals are almost like a little local competition. If she has a good skate there, she could repair her self-confidence and maybe think about Worlds.

I am ready to fight Alicia Pineaut for the title

Just realized Shoma is a master silver collector. He is currently #1 in ISU world standings without ever winning a gold in major international comp. Shoma-get your act together!

I have lots of Lombardia Trophies

I don’t see any problem with Gabby or Goldie competing if theirs feds say they are qualified and can. They will deal with consequences if any. Hopefully their coaches prepare them for potential disastrous score though so they are mentally ready for it. This is not an open invite to start talking about Goldie being Olympic champion “if”...

Zagitova is also training a quad flip. Somebody rescue that girl. She's in no condition to start going for quads.

r418 We don't know when it was filmed and usually someone in Kozuka's situation would step down and disappear for at least a year, so I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't expect to see him there.

r419 I thought it's been reported that she has all quads except for the axel.

r424 They're definitely trolling. I've seen their instagram although I can't remember the username, but the Hanyu-Medvedeva shippers took the bait and have been whining about it while continuing to post their own Hanyu/Med shipping material.

r430 It was either during his press conference or in an interview right after, Takahashi said that ice shows just don't do it for him and he wants the excitement and pressure of competition.

Uno had his pants on backwards during the FS at nationals.

r436 Then I've got nothing. If what Dai wants is the excitement and pressure of competition, he should be going international. Does Nationals once a year really cut it?

Dai is already old news, his national season is over. 32 for a skater is middle age. He needs to get over his crisis and decide what he wants to do with his life.

Can we talk Russian quads versus Japan triple axels. The potential for Beijing Olympics is amazing.

If judges and ISU ratifies any of Zags' quads like they are doing her triples (pretending she doesn't chronically UR this season) then it's not technically all of Eteri's fault. Like her junior quadsters with their ratified prerotated quads and Uno, they get medals anyway so they will keep on going. Zags got on the podium at GPF so of course they aren't too worried about her triples.

Who gives a shit if Dai is 32. He's more interesting than the vast majority of skaters who are supposedly "in their prime". Not to mention he just beat several of them...

R438 I would place my bets on the slow and steady approach the Japanese are taking over the Russians overloading their bots with quads and hoping one will be left standing by 2022. In any case, sounds like Rika will have quads too. Is Kosto working on quads? For me, she's the most watchable Russian.

Otoh, I hear Eteri has 12 year olds with quads. By 2022, they'll be just the right age to continue the Olympic tradition of upsets by the barely pubescents.

[quote] Uno had his pants on backwards during the FS at nationals.

Lol did someone notice this or did he admit it? I didn't even notice.

R440 I loved watching Dai skate, especially his FS. His tech on the FS isn't competitive internationally though. If he's okay with that (and he doesn't seem to be) then I'd be happy for him to stick around and skate to his heart's content. If there were younger Jpn skaters worth watching and he was sucking up the oxygen, it'd be a problem, but there is literally no one, so I don't see the problem with letting the geriatric have his fun.

Everyone "does quads" at some point in training, I mean, why not? But I thought the Quad Revolution for ladies would take a long looong time, just imagine, a few years ago a clean 3-3 program for a lady was incredible. In some ways, I still think we won't see a significant difference, but I was dead wrong about the quad barrage in the men's field (and so was Patrick, I guess), so I don't know anymore. The most likely scenario is a program with one quad only, like Shcherbakova, but who knows if it's sustainable. Yuzuru showed incredible drive, foresight and competitive spirit when he kept upgrading his technical content, and I'm not saying Alina or Rika are or will be like him, but if they're serious, I commend them for it.*

R438 I was told Eteri's novices don't have quads, nor a 3A, but I guess that can change any week. The one novice eligible for juniors next season with a 3A is actually an American girl, can't remember her name.

*It has been reported that Rika is going to Colorado to train quads, while Alina has tried her hands at the 4F in harness.

Russian v Japanese gals is really interesting because of difference in style and technique, I think Japanese have likely more longevity, however not sure if it matters if 15 year olds win gold and retire like Lipinski. I know Alina and Med are still around but their outlook seems questionable unless Med relearns her technique. Rika has long way to go in PCS, noticeable when compared to Kaori skates, but I think Ambesi called it. PCS without jumps... stay home. Question is are Russians going to plan for new 15 year olds or are Eteri girls gonna learn to keep their quads-latter less likely?

r437 r440 There's more discussion on the other thread, but his FS TES didn't meet the minimum, so there's no guarantee he would've been able to qualify in time. He also probably wouldn't get the same PCS at an international competition and he wanted to be able to do a quad. He's thinking about trying for worlds next year and said he would've gone if he had started two seasons earlier instead.

r442 Fans noticed, but I'm not sure if he figured it out until the medal ceremony when he tried to adjust his pants. (Or maybe he never figured it out?) Once you know it was on backwards, it's hard not to see. It's unusually loose and long in the front.

R443 geriatric - harsh-I think just past prime is better. Dai should really think about what he wants to do. Oda has really retired in a respectable way- coaching, announcing, ice shows, and low level comps such as Japan Open. Yuzuru still able to compete at elite international level, but will retire in a couple years and his future is set as 2 time OGM- he can basically do whatever he wants. Shoma (hopefully injury free) is aiming for 2022 Olympics at age 24. Poor Dai, seems a bit lost and I feel kind sorry for him. His return is seen as commendable but also kind of desperate. I kind of wish he would take the Oda route, give up his “idol” status and seek happiness without the need for being center of attention. His fans love him and will be there for him and those who just like him would support him more if he wasn’t so flaky.

r447 Is he really? For some reason I thought Shoma wouldn't want to hang in there for an entire new quad, he alredy has an Olympic medal. I thought it'd be Chen vs Gogolev for the OGM in 2022 (at least that's the narrative until now, Aside from Gogolev, I don't see much hype from younger and/or junior men).

R448 Good god, I hope not. Chen vs. Gogolev would be the grimmest, most boring suckfest of an Olympics known to sport.

I was thinking more like Cha threatening the Chen / Uno / Jin trifecta by 2022 but who knows from this far out.

r450 Maybe Gumennik and Grassl will be contenders by then? Hopefully, Shun Sato, too.

If you’re curious about the viewership during Japan nationals, the ladies won again although they still couldn’t beat Rostelecom,

- Ladies FS average 16.6%, highest 25.8% at 9:03PM after Miyahara’s score

- Mens FS average 15.4%, highest 23.9% at 9:01PM after Takahashi’s program

R363 Ge has listed Takahashi as one of his choreo clients on his website, but I can’t recall any programs he’s done for him. He did do a tribute to Takahashi for The Ice (Mao’s show where he spoiled the surprise opening). I wonder who set him up with Kozuka.

R451 I bet Hanyu introduced Misha to Kozuka: "Misha, since you are my bestest friend, I give you tip - Kozuka is big now in Japan. All over the news. If you choreograph for him, you will be biggest celebrity too! Trust me."

R451 I am very fond of Gumennik. He has a nice classical, balletic style. His 3A is good and I think he's working on a quad. PR-wise, he always seems to get overshadowed by Danielian.

Shun Sato is another one I'd like to see do well, mostly because JSF seems to be fucking him over for whatever reason.

R451 Tomono's coach set Misha up with Kozuka

JDC, didn't you say Hanyu is due in Japan for some TV appearances at the end of this month? Was it just the documentary we've been talking about or something else?

Shun Sato bored me to tear. Worse than Gogolev, more boring than 14 year-old Chen. His jump technique is so-so, edge issue on both Flip and Lutz, he doesn't have toe pick on Lutz and Flip either. Skating skills, I watched him after watching Yuma and Tsuboi's performances, his SS is visibly less matured than both of them while Yuma is only 1 year older than him.

Forgot about spins. He isn't amazing spinner either.

A couple cute videos to wake the thread up. In the first one, Yuzu gives his mom a fist bump after getting off a bus. Then they show him wort of working out - wiggling his bum while lying on his stomach, then you see Orser sitting on one of those huge gymnastic balls and Yuzuru swipes it out from under him and then they play with it.

And I was reading somebody's account (maybe here?) - they happened to be on the same plane as Yuzu and his mom and they said he talked the whole trip while she just occasionally nodded. In the most recent Orser interview, he said Yuzu used to be manic - but now he's settled down. I can see that, lol. And I don't mean anything pathological like bipolar - just a lively bouncy boy. With all the Sturm und Drang, he seems happier than a lot of skaters, so that's nice to think about.

And I'm actually glad Kanako will be doing the show with Kozuka. I can't imagine her saying mean stuff about Yuzu - she made a point to go hug him after his free skate at Sochi (to congratulate him). She can maybe be damage-control when it comes to creepy Koz.

* Oops - trying again on the videos _ and "wort of working out" should have been "sort of working out"

Yuzu's mother is so pretty. And hahaha when he finally falls off that ball he swiped from Orser.

What year are those videos from?

Misha's latest humblebrag: @mishageofficial Really surprised how this time in Japan people recognizing me so often. On the streets, shops, caffe and restaurants. Nani ? •,•”

The videos came from an Instagram account in the name of "yuzuru.yk"

R444 I find the Russian jump technique with turn, high back leg to kick off the jump so unappealing. It doesn’t allow for any good transitions into jumps and stops any flow. Compare that to Rika and Kaori at JNats. By the way, I also dislike the helicopter arms-looks like arm is broken and flailing during the turn.

I’m just comparing jump techniques, in steps and choreo- depends more on individual.

Oops I misunderstood your question R459. I was wondering what year it was myself. Using Google translate on the comment that goes with the videos: "Speaking of Sendai Sekisui Heim Super Arena in 2012 N cup I still did not fall asleep to you, I watched everyone as a player as a cheering player, but a game where various emotions were born"

So I guess some time in 2012? Would "N cup" mean Japanese Nationals? so maybe December 2012?

R451 what was Rostelecom viewership?

R453 Shun Sato seems like one of few Japanese juniors with jump potential, what is JSF doing or more likely not doing?

R459 2012 NHK, here is the fluff video

Isn’t this when the Yuzuru takeover began? Is this the first time he beat Dai to win gold?

Those who think that Beijing will be Chen vs Gogolev need to think again. The field post Pyongchang is quite different than post-Sochi. Post-Sochi lots of strong skaters retired and there were plenty of talent cooking in juniors. Post Pyongchang most of strong skaters were young enough to remain, many of them just having started in seniors, and there's little talent in juniors.

Gogolev will be 17 in 2022, in his second senior year if he switches at 15, some 4 inches taller than now, very likely still affected by the growth spurt. It was a big deal when Hanyu won at 19 but he had with a 4 year momentum going on, was past the growth pains - and he still took fucked up enough that it took others fucking up for him to get the gold. It was a big deal when an 18-year old Nathan had achance for gold and what happened? He screwed himself out of the podium. History is against Gogolev in a big way. Now, Gogolev will be 21 in 2016 so from that standpoint history would be in his favor if he prevails until then.

yes thats the year when he won gold at japan nationals against dai and was booed on because he did win !

R465 R466. Even in the video at 21:00 the question is “who will be the king?” Whether JSF and/or media set it up, the answer then and after was clearly Hanyu.

Gogolev is nowhere near being a complete skater. Anything can happen in 4 years I guess but I find it hilarious that anyone would assume he is a medal contender based on the fact that he learned quads early. I saw him in Vancouver and I was not impressed, sorry.

R467 I agree, even going to Sochi, PChiddy was a shoe in until GPF. Yuzuru wasn’t really considered the contender until 2013 leading to Olympics. Nathan had all the technical goods, but he was a mental mess at age 17. Also with all these quadsters, can they all stay injury free in the next 4 years ? Too early for 2022 predictions

The Chinese fed should reconsider sending Boyang to BOrser.

I have booked my Silver at Benjing

Can someone tell my parents to send me back to Brian...I’ll be good next time...I promise...

What's wrong? You won gpf!

Boyang SP at Nationals today

I think Gogolev's best chance for a gold medal will be in 2022. 2026 is over seven years from now and that's a long, long time for someone who's already been competing as an elite skater.

Maybe there will be new talent that rises between now and then? I mean, who would have thought that Shoma would win an Olympic Silver four years ago? He couldn't even jump a triple axel then and now he's an OSM. Maybe the wonderkid with the quads is big now but things will be completely different by the time the Olympics roll around.

this is 2014 Junior Worlds result

I love these who were >20th back then and are still >20th 4 years later

R478 Yes, I agree. It's too early to tell who might emerge just in time for the next Olympics.

Let’s see, taking a stab at who’ll win or podium in Beijing – Chen 2 to 1, Cha 3 to 1, Uno 4 to 1, Gogolev 5 to 1, Hanyu 6 to 1, Jin 7 to 1, Gumennik 8 to 1, Tomono 9 to 1, Grassl 10 to 1 Dark horses? Aliev, Kolyada, Shimada, oh I don’t know. Hanyu’s so low because I’d be surprised if he’s still skating competitively when the Beijing Olys roll around.

I remember a video of Hanyu winning Junior Worlds I think - and the British uncles were saying "Wrap him in cotton wool - you never know what'll happen - but we may be looking at the future..."

Whoever I'm coaching then will win, obv

Who are the biggest stans? The British uncles or the Italian uncles

R483 where have you been? The Brits have moved on from Hanyu. It's clear Chris Howarth is an Uno fan.

Omg really since when

They've been in awe of him since he was small. But let's face it, despite his jumps, Uno does have talent and always did show it since childhood. And the British uncles never stopped gushing about Hanyu - they just have nothing more to say than that he's simply the best, "but everyone knew that so w/e". But they don't hold back from critiques either, even when it comes to Hanyu or Uno, which is refreshing.

Brits came back to Hanyu this year for Helsinki and Rostelecom SP. I think Shoma started skating at Howarth’s rink or something, so political.

Let’s talk worlds, anybody want to predict odds? Except 100% chance Shoma gets silver?

R486 I appreciate Uno's skating for what it is. However, Chris goes too far by insisting that Uno's FS is packed (compared to Hanyu's empty FS) and that TES can't be fudged so Uno deserves what he gets from the judges.

When Hanyu won Junior Worlds 9 seasons ago

I forgot about Nan Song.

I kinda remember Gachinski.

Messing was obviously still American.

Grant was already pretending to be straight

Can't remember the Canadians who was 6th

Dmitriev and his not existent 3A

who the hell was the US man who finished 10th?

Javier Raya was not last....

Cipres was doing single

then the remaining names....

well, Jorik did have a respectable career

a couple of these switched to Ice Dance

The Armenian guy is still around

Howarth is the skating coach and assistant general manager at the Glacier Ice Arena in Illinois where Shoma has been getting Jump training since 2016?/2017. Of course , he’s gonna talk it up, but even his co-commentator called BS when he said you can’t fudge TES with GOEs. He should mention his connection as a conflict of interest before he makes himself sound more like an idiot.

R491 Was just going to post that. And I agree that he should definitely mention that Shoma has been training at his rink. Very naughty of him not to.

R490 LOL. Then again, 2 of the top ten from that list also got onto the Sochi podium 4 years later. I guess we should be analyzing 2018 JW for new blood.

Just go and see 2006 JW results to see how much you can rely on those results to predict the coming Olympics.

2006 was pretty predictive for women, for men it’s more difficult because they tend to have longer careers. The 2010 Olympic medalists were all seniors already in 2006. Hanyu was kind of a one-off thus I think second youngest after Dick Button.

r493 Grassl and Adam Siao Him Fa.

r495. Which may just as well mean that all 2022 medalists are already seniors at the moment.

Hanyu 3 time OG medalist it is.

Olys 2022: Cha, Jin, Uno.

R499 And Nathan Chen? No OGM for him?

Italy team for Europeans

Daniel Grassl

Matteo Rizzo

Lara Naki Guttman

Lucrezia Gennaro

Nicole Della Monica / Matteo Guarise

Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini

Charlene Guignard / Marco Fabbri

Jasmine Tessari / Francesco Fioretti

Carolina Moscheni / Andrea Fabbri

Third Pair spot vacant as there is no else with minimum TES.

Kostner has not recovered yet and just announced she will skip it

Ladies selection is quite LOL but top 2 at Nationals are below 16 They will barely make the FS. Guttman is the one with Mary Poppins SP and Gennaro is the one with the Dracula FS fake lipstick/blood at the end

I don't think I've ever heard Howarth mention Uno without mentioning that they go to the same rink. That's a part of his talking point when he praises what a nice guy Shoma is, how great he is with the kids, how hard working he is, and how often he splats on the ice. He loves to call him Zamboni.

Anyway, it is pretty sad that Chen is one of the strongest contenders for OGM at this moment. I hope he manages to look less like a wooden doll by then, if his body can keep up. If any of these quadsters can keep up, really. Maybe Dai will snag an Olys medal at this rate.

Kozuka (@takakozuka) posted photos from the Kansai show and hashtagged Hanyu, praising his 4S at the Olympics. He’s having a skating class and a talk show/dinner in March in Fukui, but the rink’s just reported that tickets aren’t selling out. His new program (for PIW Nagano?) by Ge is Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours.”

No one would recognize Ge in Japan except for avid figure skating fans, and they’re a small minority among the general population. He’s more delusional than I thought.

R452 Please let this be true!

R454 I was referring to some New Year’s special, but he likely canceled for rehab.

R464 Average was 16.2% but went up to 26.4% when Hanyu was getting his FS scores.

Speaking of Gogolev, I wonder how Orser felt when Hanyu mentioned him at the Helsinki press conference. Gogo had already left him by Rostelecom and Richmond was mid-September.

R501 Gennaro looks like she's skating to some other music.

R500

Nathan retired in 2020, deciding that school was more important. He now lives in true hipster chic style in a tiny apartment off-campus with a mattress on the floor and a lot of spider plants and is finishing up his B.S. in Chemical Engineering. He and his blonde girlfriend (international studies major) adopted a boxer-pitbull mix together from the local shelter and named it Rafael. It has its own Instagram and speaks entirely in memes.

Shoma felt it his duty to continue to 2022 as Japan's best chance for a gold. Unfortunately his jump technique did not hold up and he suffered a landing knee injury that left him barely able to keep up when the Games came around. His PCS and reputation pulled him through. He retired with no regrets and now makes a killing at his long-awaited second career, professional gaming. He also grew a patchy goatee in homage to his hero Daisuke.

Boyang fixed his training issues and got his jumps back. His free skate costume is tacky and hideous, red with gold embellishment, but he is proud of it because he designed it himself. He became the first man to land all non-Axel quad varieties in one program (Alexandra Trusova did it on the women's side in 2019 before retiring). Unfortunately he fell on his 4A attempt and it cost him the gold. He is a Chinese hero anyway and got a parade in his honor, where the good people of Harbin threw plushies at him like confetti for the entire length of the route.

Backed by the power of cuteness, solid jumps, skyrocketing PCS and the entirety of kpop fandom, Junhwan became the new rockstar of figure skating after Yuzuru Hanyu's retirement. #junhwanouriceprince and #junhwanfighting trended internationally for three weeks leading up to the Games. Brian Orser was unbearably smug when he won, got carried away and implied in an interview that Jun might actually be better than Hanyu at the same age. The Korean-Japanese flame war that ensued lasted for the next two Olympic cycles, made the Yuna/Adelina fanwars look like two wrestling kittens, and possibly resulted in an assassination attempt which was hushed up by Japanese authorities for fear of panic.

(Yuzuru was offered 20 million yen to go to Beijing as an analyst and commentator for Fuji TV. He laughed in their faces and told them he'd do it if he got to have his old Pooh with him on camera at all times. Because Xi Jinping was still president, that silly old bear, the Chinese government refused as he knew they would. Yuzu watched the games on livestream inside his nice spacious ultra-high-security apartment with his very hot European significant other massaging his ankle.)

[quote] Gennaro looks like she's skating to some other music.

it is the soundtrack by Wojciech Kilar from Bram Stoker's Dracula

There are also the voice overs..."I have crossed oceans of times to tind you...who are you??? ....Dracule!!!

the creepy laugh at the end of the combo at 1.30 is epic

it would have been even better if she fells on the combo and the laugh starts...

I've never heard so much about Kozuka before. His skating was nice back in the days but it's been years since he was relevant as a skater. Now he's looking more out of shape and toadlike just as he makes a splash in the news as a lecherous jerk.

I don't get how these older skaters like Takeshi Honda and Midori Ito are still getting work showing up for skating shows looking awful. Is Honda gay btw? He used to look decent when he was younger.

Good for Dai wanting to make a comeback, but his skating isn't up to snuff anymore. The dismal skating at Japanese nationals probably made Takahito Mura and Dice Murakami wish they'd stayed in another year.

Glad to see Kaori Sakamoto rise to the occasion and Satoko's old lady, sourpuss look skating sink in the rankings. Rika K is amazing. As Dave Lease said a while back, Rika Hongo might as well retire. She must be from a rich family to be able to train in Canada with no sponsors, i assume. Marin Honda was also overrated. Neither she nor her brother get height in their jumps. It's not in their genes.

R506 I think Honda is married with at least one kid.

R505 Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply she wasn’t skating to Dracula, just that I expected more intense choreography with the drama and spookiness of the soundtrack. Her dress is reminds me of Great Gatsby or of a baton twirler with a ketchup stain than 19th-century vampire story.

R506 Takeshi Honda was the first to start the trend of Japanese figure skaters getting their girlfriends pregnant. He was a fan of hostess clubs before he got married. He had his own scandals.

Kozuka didn’t really stand out during his time despite his skating lineage, except for when he forgot something important like his skating boots or costume again. That's why his nickname was the “Forgetful Prince.” Now, everyone suspects that forgetfulness was really a result of hard partying and being hung over.

Before nationals, Marin's brother said he was going to train for two more years and give up skating if he couldn’t produce results. He was 25th in the SP and failed to qualify for the FS. He was kind of distraught in the K&C and interview. "I didn't do anything right." "I feel like all of the work I put in this last year was pointless." "I don't know what to do."

Are the Hondas going to turn into the Dodds family of Japan??? (I know they have show biz and other stuff to fall back on, but the way they've been skating lately...)

Looking back at the 2010 junior men's results, it's sad that Javier Raya has barely progressed after all that time. Forget Zhenya...how the hell does HE afford to train at TCC?

R504 You seem to have a knack for this. Now tell us, were all of the programs choreographed by illustrious coach-choreographer, M.Ge? Or, is he such a celebrity at this point that he simply goes by "M"?

R505 That music would be perfect for a skater with a light touch and a sense of humor. Gennaro does seem to be skating to something else.

R506 ugh. I feel bad for Honda and all the D-list skaters like him who work hard and don't go anywhere. He's 20. He should quit now and try his luck at something else. Hmm, where could a young, good looking dude with a pert figure skater's ass training less than an hour away from the San Fernando Valley make a little money these days...

So, Takeshi Kitano has said in one of Japanese TV shows that Hanyu is gay...Hmm...BTW, I love his movies! The old man sure knows his stuff)

r511 For fantasy's sake I want him to be right, but are his sources like ours, meaning "I think he's one" or is it something more?

R511 No, he called him a homo in a derogatory way. Big difference.

r513 Sorry to hear that.

Boyang got 204+ for a 3 quad FS.. Nats inflation aside, sounds like he did well. I guess this is Chinese Fed's way of showing Chinese Fed made the right decision not to send him to Orser.

r515 Any vids? I hop Jin gets back in saddle at 4CC.

Scores, video and Protocol.

His jumps are good, but lol 94 PCS

I’ll take Boyang’s jumps over Nathan any day. Jin’s quad lutz height/ distance is amazing. He has 3 years to get his PCS in order. It’ll be a fight for gold and bronze, since Shoma already called dibs on silver.

R511 Kitano is probably closeted himself. In 1999 he played the role of the vice commander of the Shinsengumi who had troubled (lustful yet uncomfortable) thoughts about a beautiful young man who just integrated the group causing issues because of his beauty and insolence (basically many of the men wanted to fuck him). The movie is called Taboo (Gohatto) and the actor who plays the beautiful youth looks a lot like Yuzu.

R they trying to piss off Fanyus even more . They should think twice before #yuzuru

R520 That'd be a nice twist, but I don't think that character looks anything like Hanyu, other than a kind of feminine beauty. Kitano also made a plastic surgery joke about Sara Takanashi, the ski jumper, though I honestly don't see what work she's had done. Apparently also made fun of Shohei, but I don't know what he said.

So basically Kitano is an ass hole

Kitano is one of the ugliest people I've ever seen. I tried to look for a younger Kitano and those pix were ugly too - not as bad as the recent ones but still... revolting. He could play a monster in a horror movie without any help from makeup or prosthetics.

Yeah he's just a regular homophobe

R524 I think he got into an accident, so one side of his face is paralyzed. He was pretty good looking in his younger days - more of the gangster rugged variety (which he often played on screen). I really liked some of his movies; too made his comedy schtick is so crude and dickish.

Thanks for the info - I guess that explains it. I'd feel sorry for him but nah, fuck him. He should hide and not inflict his hideousness (inside and outside) on other people.

I mean, look at this monster!

So glad to see Boyang with his jumps back! He's got a ways to go with the PCS, but I always enjoy watching him skate. Sue me, but I wasn't a fan of S/H's short and I usually love them.

I can’t even figure out Nathan’s programs, he’s so busy trying to not fall on his ass.

I happened to notice in this fancam that the elusive Mother Hanyu was hiding behind the right side curtain during the Rostelecom medal ceremony. She peeks out a few times to check on him. Nice-looking woman. I'm surprised she's managed to attract as little attention as she has so far through his career considering she's at every competition, but she's good at keeping herself unobtrusive.

Back to SBS- a Korean broadcasting company -taking down Hanyu YouTube sites. They didn’t take down Yuna sites/channels, then SBS invited Jun to their end of year awards and promoting him like crazy.

Likely not a coincidence? Currently Fanyus mostly like Jun cause their cricket brothers. Are the powers that be stupid enough to anger Fanyus and potentially turn them against Jun ? Although Jun is not at fault...

R 531 then there’s creepy Misha awkwardly close to get in all the fancams.

R520 He has multiple mistresses (his motorcycle accident happened on the way to one of them) and a love child in addition to his other children. As he's gotten older, he's developed a complex with people who have a clean image or have achieved success early in life. Hanyu was just one of several young and successful people he insulted that day. He’s been making these kinds of jokes and having such outbursts for years.

Mai Asada is expected to announce her engagement or marriage to the vocalist of One OK Rock after New Years.

R534 The implants paid off! Thought she was going to be his forever sidepiece.

Two

Gosh that's such a bad photo.

They are both really pretty

Are Shoma and Itsuki just the male equivalent of Mao and Mai?

R539 can't wait for Itsuki to get implants then.

R539 will leave it open to discussion.

R535 Yes, we all thought she was just a “friend” he would dump once he found his blonde American, but she’s proven us wrong.

R539 What?! Itsuki is so much more than Mai… Unless you’re implying he’s the Mao of the family. Then yes, he agrees!

Saw someone complaining that Nathan Chen videos are also vanishing, so it isn't just Yuzuru SBS are targeting, it's just more obvious because there are more to start with....

R543 what’s your point? R u saying you agree with R532. Nathan’s fan base is no where near Yuzu, but SBS and whoever is doing this will make Nathan fans turn on Jun too?

Dai and Stéphane

Yuzuru and Stéphane

Here's Shoma with his pants all bunched up in the front because he had it on backwards. Either that or his junk is extremely malformed.

R547 He falls asleep in a press conference, he falls asleep at a restaurant, he falls asleep at an award ceremony, he throws his wallet in a trash can, he puts laundry away wet, he puts his pants on backwards for one of his most important skates of the year. Shoma's absolute hopelessness has earned him a special, warm place in my heart. I root for that guy like you'd root for a puppy with short legs trying to climb some stairs for the first time.

R547 the seams are in the back where they belong, they are not on backward

Shoma once did a Gala with his pants unzipped and zipped it during a spin

R 549 pics from other comps show the thicker seams are in the front. Unless he had them on backwards all the other times. lol.

R548 I don’t get how some people find that behavior cute on a grown man. 5 year old sure but 20/21 year old... just grow up. If you fall asleep eating dinner at home whatever but at a restaurant hell no. Sleeping/constantly yawning at a press conference is disrespectful to the people trying to do their job and bigger stars than figure skaters can do that without falling asleep. He’s not a child anymore and hasn’t been for awhile so he should slowly start acting like it.

R552 but he looks like a child

I think that's the issue with Shoma, he perpetually looks like a 12 year old.

puff, I will report all you to coach Yamada. And she will tell you off, bitches

Lambiel with Cizeron. They totally fucked afterwards but Gabby turned her camera off for that. Didn't seem right.

Hottest couple. May 2019 bring us more like them.

Boyangman casually changing into his costume at the side of the rink at Nats. He was never big but going by photos he looks like he's getting thinner.

R552 Surprisingly, too many adults do not act like adults. I find it fascinating how some people will tell Yuzu to grow up just because he carries a Pooh though he's so professsional in everything else.

At this point I think Hanyu carries that Pooh because he knows his fans like it. I wonder whether Uno overplays this I'm always sleepy image because it endears him to a lot of people.

R560 Itsuki overplays Uno's sleepy, endearing image. Uno himself is just doing what comes naturally to him. I am an adult and am nothing like Uno, but I also don't see the big deal with Uno's idiosyncrasies and don't see the need for him to "grow up." Some people need coping mechanisms to deal with high intensity situations and maybe being clueless is his. It's innocuous enough and doesn't hurt anyone so I hope he doesn't change if it works for him.

If Shoma was just weird or quirky, whatever - I don't find it endearing, but I could ignore him. Unfortunately, the way his fans coo over every stupid thing he does and coddle him like a little child or a puppy is straight up nauseating. That, combined with the special treatment he gets from judges and tech panels, makes me loathe the little fucker.

The Shibs have added a couple new "designs" to their Amazon store. I can't get over how crappy and half-assed this stuff is. $25 for that cheap-looking t-shirt and $40 for a sweatshirt? Embarrassing.

I’m not a shib shib fan but whatever it takes to earn a living. If someone is dumb enough to pay for it, power to the shibs.

I mean, I think they would be more successful on this if the designs were good. Everyone likes a cool t-shirt.

Shingo Nishiyama, TCC's Japanese Javier Raya, is going into ice dance.

R563 I also support their right to make a living, but these Ts are seriously banal. Wake me up when they inevitably turn to porn.

[quote]Unfortunately, the way his fans coo over every stupid thing he does and coddle him like a little child or a puppy is straight up nauseating.

That's rich, in this thread.

R567 Yuzu Yuzu.!!! We love you, you little puppy child.

R568 lmao that's fair.

R567 is clearly talking about the obsessive Misha Ge stans on this thread who keep us abreast of his every new client and career move. Seriously, get a grip guys, he's soo talented and fascinating but enough is enough!

R567 I don't really understand what you're getting at.

Guys, guys, have we seen Hanyu's ass from this angle before? Probably? Well, I'll post this picture just in case.

TSL NYE Part 1 of 3 -- Korea:. (I don't know if I was more scattered than usual or they were - but for what it's worth:)

Eunsoo has one of the best short programs in the world. Unless Rika does 3A then she doesn’t deserve to beat Eunsoo. Definitely in top 3 shorts in the world, and Dave thinks she’s in the top female skaters 5 in the world, fighting for a medal (because those who might have been locks in the past are faltering – Med/Zag struggling, Kostner out). Minute 17: But for all her talent, she did not win this ranking comp – the winner was Tom Z’s Young You. We’ve seen her working quad lutzes – it looks like they’re rolling the dice with her. She did a 3A in the free skate here. She has to practice with a lot of ppl, like 40 others on the ice w/her, so she doesn’t get the kind of practice she needs - but she’s so athletic but needs a choreographer working w/her almost every day to be the complete skater she could be. Her dress needs to be burned. (They’re going to talk to Tom Z about his new book in the coming weeks). He sees more potential in Korean skaters now than Japanese for the future. Dave says, “Why are the Americans in the same academy not making the same strides?” 24 Yelim Kim another up and comer. Lovely skater. Jon thinks she needs lower knees. Dave says she sort of skims the ice and needs to get down into it more, a la Tonya. 28 One named “Lee”? In general, Korean technique is more like Chinese or North American – Japanese skaters are unique in their deep-knee skating, even back in the 90s, that makes for exciting jumps. 31 Junhwan CHA. Dave wanted to ask Doug Haw about Cha (Haw was supposed to be there tonight but got sick and cancelled.) Cha needs to get more down in the knees but Dave thinks he’ll mature and do better later. His quad salchow is iffy. Dave said, “God they need a good ballet teacher at the Cricket Club – it could help them all with their deportment.

TSL NYE Part 2 of 3: 32.50 CHINESE NATLS. He said he’d learned more about Chinese fed arrangements because Aljona is there working (so they talk?) Details about who’s really running the fed (I didn’t get the names.) 34.30: Japan is willing to pay more money than Korea which is why you might have seen Rafael at Japanese natls but not in Korea w/Eunsoo. Chinese are now spending money – bringing in Aljona and Benoit. Chinese dance team/pairs stuff incl Sui/Han. 38 Discussion of why Rippon and not Miner on team and the way the US chooses makes everybody mad. And why did the US get on the Karen Chen train so rapidly? There was growing politics against Ashley the last two years. Dave had some gossip: allegedly a skater may have complained about the housing arrangements at Skate America where the int’l skaters stayed in a hotel but the American ones in dorms – one skater may have alledgedly sent a letter to the head of US figure skating and they may have turned around a swift kicked them at Nationals “and that’s the way US figure skating goes when they get mad at you.”(a mistake Dave said – Ashley would have been better than Karen w/boot problem which was embarrassing.) Ashley has talked about being depressed after the Olys like she was wronged. Adam used the Olys to promote himself just right.

TSL NYE Part 3 of 3: 45 One thing Doug Haw was going to talk about was social media – with what’s been going on with Gabby and “obviously” with Med. It has changed skating. Some guy called Med the “c” word on a video (47:45). Ashley got death threats when she went to Olys instead of Mirai. Then lots of Peng/Jin and Sui/Han stuff (and that big one - Zhang?). 1.01 BOYANG JIN: Great skate, quad lutz was beautiful. Jon thinks he needs Tarasova for choreography (instead of Lori) because she would know how to “fake it till you make it”: Wrap him in a silvery cross with some over-the-top music/his limitations could be hidden better. Dave: what’s good for the unartistic skater? How about Rhapsody in Blue in a hideous costume? 1.09 – Eteri’s old dance partner is running Maryland (where they don’t have SS)/Tarasova/Bukin/Bestianova(?)/Shae Lynn connections. 1.18 Yuna Kim skating with Javier in his ice show – she’s the girl with the umbrella in the Charlie Chaplin thing -- then back to Boyang – Jon loved his Spiderman and thinks that’s fine for him. Then something about Oda pantomiming Chaplin with the hat – he was charming enough to pull it off. Back to Jin: Jon thinks Lori should give Boyang a Marvel Comic series. He needs a gimmick. 1.27 some gossip and shade about Lysacek making skating more “masculine” (and looking ridiculous) - about his costumes and Vera; 1.31 HAN YAN IS COMING BACK and not in ice dance – he’s got his 3A and he’s working with Peng and Tong(?) - so interesting that he’s Boyang’s opposite skating-wise. THE END

R571 it’s hard to tell if TSL and DL actually mean what they say or are just trying to get clicks. Their 180 turn to start flattering Hanyu ( unlike making fun of 2017 worlds costume instead of the amazing performance) and not even mentioning the JNats men (likely not wanting to criticize Dai’s iffy free performance) seems too planned. Makes it hard to respect their discussion as honest opinions instead of just ass kissing click bait.

R575 I think TSL did do a JNats men episode. Right after RusNats. I didn't see it but I remember our TSL poster recapping the episode.

So Han Yan finally recovered from the crash? Took him 4 years.

I think like so many now on YT, they're monetizing - thus, the plethora of interviews - lately with Gordeeva and Kimmie Meisner - but this year with Benoit, Doug Haw, Meagan Duhamel, maybe Kurt Browning - oh I can't remember them all. Oh yeah, Aljona Savchenko. I guess that makes me give them more credence than some. Jonathan used to annoy me but now I like him - he's sweet and earnest so I don't think he's behind any clickbaiting but I would imagine Dave pays close attention to the response (thus changing gears on Hanyu - but he's done the same with others, like Kaori). Anyhow, I try other vlogs but haven't really gotten into them as they're the more tradition suckup type, and "In the Loop" can be ok but it's not really gossip - more like an impartial literal recap and/or some textbooky stuff. Oh I don't know - I didn't like Jonathan and now I do so I should give them a chance. Oh and Dave used to love sweet Ted Barton but turned on him after the obsequious interview with Eteri - oh well... it is what it is. I'm so glad he got off Hanyu's back! (so to speak - I didn't know about the '17 Worlds insults boo hiss!!)

I would like to thank the TSL poster for sparing me from having to watch the actual videos, which I’m willing to suffer through only for Yuzu. I give a shout out to the time stamper on those videos as well. You are both taking one for the team.

Let's ring in the New Year on a high note.

Thanks! God I've always loved that LGC costume. Seeing Boyang strip down today - and noticing how skinny his legs are - Yuzu looks quite filled out.

Made new thread.

Legendary Purple Pants of Sin.

Med and her Bulgarian twink wish DL a shitty new year.

R576 - the JNats (which I called JPN Natls) is in this thread - R326 and R327 - they didn't like Dai's jumps (except 3As) and Jonathan even complained that Dai did too much two-footed skating. They mostly went on and on about how much they adore Shoma (but they did like Dai's short program a lot - and one of Jonathan's favorite parts of JNats was Dai's arm/hand choreography)

* Oops I meant to address that last post to R575

[quote] But for all her talent, she did not win this ranking comp – the winner was Tom Z’s Young You.

maybe they should check the results better!! She lost the FS but she won by 13 points overall

Whatever happened to TSL selling merch with other skaters images? And yes, DL changed tunes on Yuzuru cause he wanted more views. His Hanyu containing segments has most clicks.

Happy New Year, bitches

r485 Anyone knows where this pic comes from originally? It looks so posed PR, with Med's skates slung strategically over her arm and Kostov wearing those idiotic hipster pants. I wonder does anybody actually wear such pants outside in the middle of winter in Russia? Do professional skaters go to skate at outside rinks for fun? The pose screams "young love!" despite them professing to be just friends. I wonder for whose benefit that photo was taken, Med's or Kostov's.

Lol, I'm theorizing about a fakeness of a photo od 2 teens. I'm turning into a 13-yo girl, somebody bring me a tinfoil hat.

590 this is a photoshoot taken during the recording of a collab music video for Kostov’s Beautiful Mess with Med skating around him. Some PR moves probably, didn’t someone say they are signed under the same agent?

I saw Med and Kostov's photos posted on her IG. She gave interviews saying" no no no we are not a couple, we are BFFs" then she did the opposite, constantly posted couple photos, even if they're not a couple, who would believe anyway? Her agent's PR game is always cheap and dirty like that. I can't help but imagine she takes these pictures with Hanyu instead then uses hashtags #TCC, #rinkmate # friends #BFF #winter #snow #itscoldbutmyheartiswarm.

Hanyu is smart when keeping his distance from her, at least on SNS. Better to keep himself away from those toxic PR moves. Who wants to get involved with her PR game anyway ? I bet Brian Orser, Alina Zagitova,... no one is willing.

The only thing I can think of that Hanyu's done that is remotely connected to Med since she got to TCC is pose, with everybody else who was there at the time, with an enormous Russian flag (he was in the back row, next to Javi #2 and Conrad I think (as well he should be and so would I!)

Somebody had been abusive toward Med, something to do with being ashamed of being Russian - oh I don't know - I think the flag was mentioned -- so she got everybody together and they posed with that big flag. This wasn't long after she posed at TCC with Orser with him wearing a "SAMBO 70" jacket.

Come to think of it, I haven't even seen much social media of her with Jason Brown, though when she first got there, there was a lot. He even picked her and her mother up at the airport in Toronto. Let's all ship Jason and Med just to give Yuzu a break. "Zhenjason"? Oh well, guess there's no point, now that she's got this new guy Kostov. May they live happily ever after (or not) - but it doesn't seem like it's been a problem w/Yuzu. Now if we can just keep Misha Ge out of TCC - he's so toxic.

December 28 "Every" show with English subtitles. Yuzuru couldn't land his quad sal during warmup and was very worried during free skate at Pyeongchang - and fixated on landing the second one after being able to land the first. Sounds like he's saying he was going to withdraw if he hadn't been able to finally land the quad loop because he thought he needed six quads in the free to win and he didn't want to go if he couldn't win. (because Nathan?) And he says again that he didn't land the quad loop till the day before leaving for Korea but he had been trying for a while. It's 18 minutes long.

r591 Thanks for the info, all things considered a music video is a fairly mundane explanation. Glad there's actually one for Med skating 8n an outside rink and those stupid pants. If those coupley pics are gonna get them talked about more and raise their profiles, can't blame the agent,

r594 Jesus fuck, that he skated as well as he did and that he won is nothing short of a miracle. No wonder he turned on such waterworks first after the skate then after he won.

Yuzu gives a lot of credit to Ghislain - getting him through his panic in the warmup before the free skate at Pyeongchang. I wonder if he added Ghislain to his coach list on the ISU page after the Olys? Seems like before it was just Brian and Tracy but I'm not sure.

Trying to finish this thread off!! Anyway, at Christmas I saw this Instagram message from Chris Reed (I'll forever wonder what happened with him and Kana Muramoto. Her instagram had a few posts about respecting yourself and walking away if you're ever abused (though maybe that has nothing to do with Chris.) But they were already assigned GP spots - and they were scheduled to perform at the gala after the Japan Open, but they split up one week before. So abrupt!

chrisreed77 [on xmas]: Although it’s a blessing to be with family (missing our fun sister Cathy!), there is a certain emptiness of not being at Nationals in Japan. Still will keep smiling for the future! Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone! I love you all!

R598 he can do tryouts with Shingo!

Great idea!! I was thinking Shingo was kinda small for ice dance - but if he could do the girl part - no problem!

Here's the new thread link again:

[quote]I saw Med and Kostov's photos posted on her IG. She gave interviews saying" no no no we are not a couple, we are BFFs" then she did the opposite, constantly posted couple photos, even if they're not a couple, who would believe anyway? Her agent's PR game is always cheap and dirty like that. I can't help but imagine she takes these pictures with Hanyu instead then uses hashtags #TCC, #rinkmate # friends #BFF #winter #snow #itscoldbutmyheartiswarm.

Clearly nothing she could have said would satisfy you. If she said the opposite you'd bitch about her PR romance just the same. Do you get your panties in a bunch every time someone does something for PR? Remember the whole fauxmance between Meryl Davis and Maks on DWTS? It worked for her, they won but I don't remember anyone tearing her down for it even though she never let on that she was still dating Fedor Andreev throughout the show.

And I've yet to see any proof that Evgenia is as nearly obsessed with Hanyu as some of you psychos on here.

Just to make it clear: r601 is not me.