Yuzuru Hanyu and other figure skating talk part 23

Link to previous thread.

So 2020 Junior Worlds

3 spots for USA

3 for Russia

2 for Italy

2 for Canada

2 for France

2 for Georgia

2 for Japan

rest with 1

JUNIOR GPs....

2 spots in each GP: USA, Russia and Italy

1 spot in each GP: Canada, Francia and Georgia

(Canada would be entitled to fill in top 3 leave some spots vacant which will be likely for Italy)

1 spot in 6 GPs out of 7: Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Israel

1 spot in 5 GPs: Austria, Turkey, South Korea, Sweden, Germany

1 spot in.4 GPs: China, Estonia, Thailandia. Belarus

1 spot in 3 GPs: Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Spain, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Poland

I may have got something wrong with the GPs entries.

R2 The Italian men did very well this week. I can't wait to see more meltdowns from Rizzo once Grassl starts surpassing him. Those Italians know how to do K&Cs (looking at you, Marilu).

Rizzo upped his game after being beaten by Grassl at Nationals. At this speed, they will do 4As before everyone else just not to lose the inter-regional competition

Does anyone know how do spots/quotas for JGP work?

It’s Jun in the background of the bunny ear video

Thanks R6!

Ladies FS at Universiade streaming live now, with P. J. commentating.

R6 It's Yuzuru. Not sure about shoes but I noticed his bag. And the hair is also more like Yuzuru's. especially the bang.

WTF was Savosin's coach wearing? A full on military ensemble with a bandolier slung over his shoulder like a beauty pageant sash (with what looks like actual bullets).

R8 it's definitely his ass.

I could have sworn I heard the Russian commentators say "Vladimir Putin" while they were showing the K&C with the guy in the military regalia R9.

You guys would make great bird watchers. I can't tell if it's Yuzu or Jun. The long legs make me think Jun - but Yuzu has long legs too - they just look so alike from a distance, especially when you can't see the face very well.

Late to this game but loved Hiwatashi's reaction to his win. So glad for him. It's been a tough few years.

3rd group of 4 ladies' warmup at Universiade now - Soyoun Kim of Korea; Gjersen of Norway; Gabryszak of Poland; Kuchvalsas of Latvia; MARIA SOTSKOVA of Russia is last of the five. (one withdrew: Ziquan Zhao of China.

Final group has Mihara, Konstantinova, Tursynbaeva, Meite (France) - forgot who else.

Sorry - So-youn Park (not Kim)

I think I'm the only one who likes Sotskova. I just like how happy she looks whenever she thinks she's done well, until she sees her scores.

R9 better compare to verify

Sotskova into second behind Park - lots of jump issues. She's the same height as Yuzuru! 5ft 8.

R15, I have a soft spot for Sotskova. I like it when tall skaters compete.

Tursy attempted a quad salchow and fell - looked better than last attempt to me.

1 Mihara 220.68, 2 Tursy 214.77, 3 Konstantinova 205.91, 4 Meite 179.56, 5 Park 175.66, 6 Takeno 175.38, 7 Sotskova 170.20, 8 Galustyan 161.89

Sotskova is beautiful and always has great dresses so she's pleasant enough to watch but she's a rather boring skater tbh.

r17 She looks even taller to me. Maybe because the other girls are so short. r18 I’m glad I’m not alone. r19 I wouldn't argue she's an exciting skater.

Fuji TV has upset figure skating fans (mainly Mao fans) again for using Mao, Hanyu, and Kihira to promote their latest episode of “Chokugeki! Shinsou Sakagami,” which was mainly about retired USM skaters, although it was supposed to serve as promotion for Worlds. But the first part of the show was actually quite informative.

Ito and the 3A was the topic of the first segment. Chokugeki interviewed Ito and showed footage of her performance as a special guest at the 1980 NHK Trophy when she was in 5th grade. Her jumps were great even then, though she fell on a spin. When she first went skating, she thought it was easier than walking. Then they showed her 1988 Calgary Olympics FS where she jumped five different triples seven times. In-studio guests Suzuki and Takeshi Honda pointed out she would’ve easily been a top skater today with such tech and jump GOE potential. However, Ito placed 5th in Calgary due to her lack of artistry and poor figures, and that was why she decided to focus on the 3A. She knew she wasn’t elegant or naturally artistic, but could increase her tech difficulty. They briefly showed Kihira doing the 3A when they were explaining the difficulty of the jump.

After Ito medaled at the 1992 Olympics, the JSF started the Nobeyama Gasshuku project (“Zenkoku Yuubou Shinjin Hakkutsu Gasshuku”), an intensive summer camp in Nagano for the most promising young skaters from across the country where they train all aspects of skating and performance, and seeded novices are decided. (You’ve probably seen footage of Hanyu there.) At first, they didn’t mention names, but showed images of top skaters who went through the camp: Ando, Hanyu, Kihira, Kanako, Oda, Takahashi, Asada, and Uno. Then they showed footage of a rough Ando (15), Kanako Murakami (11), Sara Honda (9), and Arakawa (11?) at Nobeyama, as well as some of the training and food. Apparently, the Russians based part of their system on the camp.

After they showed Arakawa’s Sochi FS and suggested the camp had a hand in her win, they then named the other top skaters from the camp who medaled at international events: Suzuki, Asada, Ando, Kozuka, Takahashi, Oda. No Hanyu or Uno despite their Olympic medals and theme.

[quote] Does anyone know how do spots/quotas for JGP work?

they take Junior World results. One skater per country and order them

top 3 countries : 2 entries in all GPs

countries ranked 4-6: 1 entry per GP

countries ranked 7-10: 1 entry in 6 GPs (they miss one)

rest of countries with a skater in the FS: 1 entry in 5 GPs (miss 22)

rest of countries with a skater between 25th and 30th in the SP: 1 entry in 4 GPs

rest of country with a skater at Junior Worlds: 1 entry in 3 GPs

rest: 1 entry in 2 GPs

that is for Ladies and Men

I'm watching the Universiade gala and Stanislava skated to MJ...she looked like she was having an epileptic fit. I really can't stand her skating.

Kind of funny that Russia couldn't win gold in ladies or mens' singles here, at home.

MJ ?That pedo? BLeeee

Unless I made a mistake in my calculations (PCS factoring and the missing choreo difference), Mihara and Tursy would win junior worlds.

r23 Lol, Russian champion couldn't win over a runner-up from Italy.

There is an archived thread at GS titled "Chan v. Hanyu 2015-16" which has *1639* posts.

4LZ UR 3 loop UR

150 lol her 3l3loop got - 0.15 GOE, what a joke

3lo considered rotated. All 0 goe except for negative by judges 1-4-9..belarus, hungary and mexico

Judge 7, turkey, gave +1 to Shcherbakova's 4lz

this is pathetic

Congrats to Ting Cui on her bronze medal. The US regains 3 jr worlds spots for next year and 2 spots on every JGP in the fall.

So you can now do 3 lutzes during one program? Two of them in combo? Only 1 axel?

r33 Well, if you do a 4Lz and 2 3Lz, then yes, you can do 3 lutzes. In order to repeat a jump, for example a 3Lz, one of them must be in a combo but nothing says both of them can't be. The triple jump that Nathan Chen repeats is a 3T, both part of a combo. He also does 2 4Ts so altogether he does 4 toeloops. Hanyu and Fernandez had layouts with 3 salchows, two 4S and and one 3S. Hanyu habitually puts both his 3As in combos.

That's so frustrating, JDC, that Fuji would be so open in disrespecting their double Olympic gold champion (and their #2 man). WTF? Just based on jealousy? And yet use him to promote the thing. At least they used a bit of footage of Hanyu at the camp - they used Mao to promote the show and never mentioned her at the camp - OR her 3A prowess? How can you do a long segment about Ito and the 3A, then show Kihira to demonstrate it, and not mention Mao Asada at all?

I'm a fan of both, but I'm almost relieved they also left out Uno along with Hanyu when they listed the "medalists" from the camp. I'll just tell myself they're so mega-mega-famous that nobody needs to be reminded of their medals. Wish I could believe that though. Is it what they call in the west - well UK/Australia anyway - the "tall poppy" syndrome, when the society doesn't really like for anybody to get super-famous and the instinct is to cut them down when they do?

Shcherbakoba had two solo 2A's in a row - and they both counted - so that's ok? But only for axels?

r36 I believe the "thou shalt only repeat it in a combo" rule is only for quads and triples.

* oops now I see that Asada was shown in the footage of students at the camp. At least there's that - but leaving her out of the 3A discussion still pisses me off.

Thanks R37 - now I see (darkly through a smudged mirror). But sometimes I think I understand judging about as well as the judges do, when I look at range of scores for the same elements.

Looking at Shcherbakova and Trusova's layouts, it's remarkable how the -3Lo combo frees up a jumping pass for a higher-rated double. Or a quad. Now, if they could do a 3A.

Shimada officially confirmed he will be going senior next season and his sponsor this season was the insurance company his dad worked for before he died. Shimada was 13 when his dad passed away from lung cancer. Dad was the managing director at Ehime Bank, and director and managing executive of Sompo Japan insurance. He used his son’s photo for his facebook profile and gave updates on competitions in his timeline.

R35 I haven’t posted part 2 yet. Mao is treated like Japan’s sweetheart by almost everyone other than Fuji, so it’s not tall poppy syndrome. Most likely, there was some kind of agency or managing dispute a long time ago that involved Fuji and they’ve held a grudge. (Mao’s agency is IMG.) Probably the same for Hanyu as Fuji also treats him more poorly than the other stations. Uno’s treatment was interesting given the time devoted to the other USM skaters (Arakawa, Takahashi, and Kanako Murakami).

Part 2 about Chokugeki:

Honda was asked to describe Arakawa's personality when she was younger. He said Arakawa was very mischievous when they trained together and despite her outward demeanor, liked to pull pranks. She’d make tiny holes in the ice and Honda once got stuck and fell. Their coach berated him thinking he was goofing off while Arakawa just laughed on. (I'm not sure why Honda chose to tell this particular story. He was supposed to make Arakawa sound like a warmer person.)

Second segment was about Takahashi. They talked about Honda just missing the podium due to a step out at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Then they showed Takahashi, with Miyamoto (introduced as Mao and Hanyu’s choreographer) describing the beauty of his step sequences. A month before the Vancouver Olympics, Takahashi’s boots broke and his new boots were impeding his jumps and steps. (The boot company had changed the model he usually wore.) He tried over 10 different pairs, but couldn’t find one that properly fit. Honda (who was his jump coach) gave him a pair of his own he’d purchased for an ice show but hadn’t worn and they fit just right. Takahashi went on to win bronze at the Olympics and Honda said this was a particularly emotional moment because foreign coaches had always been saying that a Japanese man would never medal. They briefly showed Hanyu’s SP at Sochi and FS at Pyeongchang, then Uno’s FS and the Olympic podium, to illustrate the progress of the Japanese men since Vancouver. However, Honda said he didn’t receive anything in return from Takahashi even though Takahashi technically medaled with his boots.

Then in the final minutes of the show, Ito had been asked to choose what she thought was the most legendary Japanese figure skating performance. She chose Mao’s FS at Sochi. They made it sound like they were going to air the full program, but first they showed Mao’s falls in the SP. Then they showed her landing the jumps in her FS. That's all.

Some news sites have been reporting the complaints regarding Mao's treatment by the show. However, nothing about Hanyu, Uno, or Kihira who all received even less screen time, though I don't think Uno was used in the promos.

What does Honda mean he didn't get anything in return? He got the gig as special judge at Super Japan Cup that neither Takahashi nor Arakawa wanted! lol

I'm wondering why they regurgitate these old anecdotes that we've already heard at least a dozen times (the boots story and Arakawa's penchant for pranks*) to promote this year's WC? Seems like they didn't have/communicate a clear concept of what the show was supposed to be about. Either use the history and development of figure skating in Japan since the days of Ito until present times as the main selling point or focus on current skaters with brief mention of their successful predecessors. The 2nd option would've made more sense, if they intended to generate excitement for worlds. But then they would've had to show more footage of Hanyu and they likely tried to avoid that, if there was a dispute with his management (his mom/Shirota?). All the politicking going on in the background is making my head spin. Wasn't Shirota responsible for the development of the Nobeyama Gasshuku project before she was demoted due to the misappropriation scandal she was involved in?

* At least they could've chosen the fun anecdote of when Arakawa and a bunch of other skaters shaved Dai's legs while he was asleep:

@Benoitrichaud 6h6 hours ago Congratulation to my little boy Daniel Grassl for his first medal at his first Jr World 🇮🇹👍🏻🥉

Is Benoit the French Misha Ge? lol

Did Stephane choreograph this Elvis Costello ex for Koshiro? He's 17 years old skating around to some sentimental ballad sniffing a piece of fabric for 4 minutes? Yuck...

R43 Maybe I've just missed it, but I don't see Richaud overstepping in the way Ge has. He choreographed both of Grassl's programs and congratulated him. Didn't pretend to coach him through social media, try to eclipse Grassl's coaches or go on at length about their "journey" together (when he had been associated with Tomono for just a few months). Richaud's also worked a lot with Sakamoto and seems genuinely fond of her, so I'm not surprised he's raved about her on social media.

R42 The story about Honda's boots was new to me, so I found it amusing. The leg shaving thing with Dai was funny, but not the hole in the ice. It's dickish to find humor in someone falling and possibly getting injured. Lots of skaters have injured themselves seriously because of holes in the ice.

44, that does seem weird for him to be skating around with a hanky. I can't help but get creepy vibes when I see Lambiel now after his weirdness with his other student, Deniss.

Congratulations to Tomoki on his win. Too bad about Camden and Alexei melting down. Alexei's future in the sport doesn't look promising. He needs to work on his basic skating and carriage. I've seen adult skaters with more grace and control.

R46 same for Camden’s future. His spins moved so much it looked like a step sequence

r46 I saw Krasnozhon live in 2015 at a JGP, and my impression was "dude's heavy, this Anna Karenina program really needs a different skater". He was 3rd in the FS after Yamamoto and Vasiljevs, and the difference between him and Vasiljevs was like night and day. I kinda kept an eye on him to see whether he'd improve, but the only thing that seemed to improve is that he occasionaly tries to be engaging. The rest - posture, carriage, spins etc seems worse. Somebody at FSU who was at Junior Worlds said that Krasnozhon skates like a truck driver, not a figure skater and I agree.

Kolyada skated a new Chaplin ex at the jubilee for Mishin and Moskvina. Is he trying to copy Javier's whole career? I'm sorry, but I don't understand his popularity. Cringeworthy and corny af (not to mention how many other shitty Chaplin programs we've had to suffer through already).

R49 I never want to see another Chaplin program again but otoh, it is nice to see Kolyada for once not looking like he's praying for his soul to leave his body.

r49 What's with thast camera work...

You'd think an exhibition program would do a better job of building the movement to the music but Javi and Keegan 's programs were miles ahead in that regard.

[quote]The leg shaving thing with Dai was funny, but not the hole in the ice. It's dickish to find humor in someone falling and possibly getting injured.

Exactly. It's weird they chose to portray her in such a bad light. Maybe USM's influence on which content gets a greenlight on Fuji TV isn't that extensive after all.

r42 They just used worlds as an opportunity to promote their own skaters and added a little bit of Mao and Hanyu at the end to get people to tune into the show. They apparently showed Hanyu at the Nobeyama camp in one of the promos, so they had the permission and footage, but aired Murakami’s interview at camp during the actual show instead. Shirota is the one who started Nobeyama. I don’t think she had anything to do with Fuji’s antagonistic relationship with Hanyu, since it started a long time ago with Mao. I think it’s about Mao and Hanyu not joining USM and maybe turning down some exclusive Fuji offer, therefore becoming the competition. But some higher ups must’ve taken it very personally given the extreme way they’ve treated Mao and Hanyu in the past. They were also against Hanyu receiving the People’s Honor Award. R52 They used it to make Arakawa seem less rigid. They actually said, "Arakawa seems cold and mean on the outside but..." so I think it's more Fuji being tonedeaf, which they often are. Part of the show was devoted to her Olympic win. That was the purpose of the focus on the Nobeyama camp, which they also used to tie her and Takahashi to Ito.

R44 That ex is actually over two years old, before he moved to Lambiel, so he was 14/15 when it was choreographed. Could be Morozov’s, Miyamoto’s, or Sato’s. I guess he never got a new one choreographed. He didn’t perform at the GPF gala because he had nothing prepared.

Was Chaplin, Elvis, and Nightmare Before Christmas Kolyada's idea?

Trusova as Sia

Thanks, R53. I'm glad to know Lambiel didn't choreograph that program, but it's even creepier to think of a 14/15 year old skating it. It's kind of odd that they couldn't come up with something else after all this time.

Oh, and Rabbitt finally got his wish. He's skating in a show in Japan at the annual Kyoto Figure Skating Festival with Tomono, Shiraiwa, Tokura (Oda's big girl), Sasahara and some others. March 31st. It's free.

Hanyu apparently has a surprise new endorsement: Kose's Sekkisei skincare line. After all the chocolate, bath salts, mattresses etc, this is an endorsement that actually suits him considering how nice his skin is.

TSL 3/10 Jr Worlds – Part 1 – Dave thinks the original report that Kostornaia fractured her fibia is correct, but Danlil changed the story due to talk of Sambo overtraining. 6 They’re bored w/Trusova vs Shcherb but D thinks Trusova is built like a little gymnast and has a better chance of keeping her jumps – he can already see Shcherb torquing her body into jumps plus she already broke her leg– similar problems as Zag and Med have. They find Shcerb more musical but Trusova’s body’s stronger. 9 D compared their components. 11 Danlil says all 3 (Trusova, Kostornaia, Shcherbakoba) are going to seniors and they’re all working on the 3A this summer. 16 Ting – beautiful arms and unlike Russians, great posture. D thinks she shd hurry and work on knees/ edges (maybe w/Lori) because there’s a small window for it. She cd be the next Kostner. You can see what happens when you miss the window like with Krosnozhon and Max Aaron. 19 D’s heard they want Ting to go to Raf. 20 D fussing about Tom Z’s failings. Ting hasn’t spent time in Colorado since Jr Worlds. 21 Both fussing about Facebook/Instagram self promotion of skaters/clubs. 23 Hanna Harrell has potential/needs to work on SS. 26 Mao/Yuna/Vancouver reminiscing. 33 Sinitsyna – weird jumps/has potential. 35 Young You should straighten her legs.

TSL 3/10 Jr Worlds – Part 2 - 37 UNIVERSIADE. Jon thinks Mai is improving. Her triple-triples are impressive. 39 Tursy resurgence interesting. (It’s “Eteri’s FU to BO”) 43 Denis Ten had quite a nice apartment in LA so Kazakhstan can come up w/the money when they want to. 46 Med v Tuk. 56 D talking about ¾ siblings – like when two Jackson brothers (Randy & Jermaine) had kids w/the same woman ?? Then “Leaving Neverland” gossip. 1Hr Then about “Losers” about Surya Bonaly and her really bad SS, even worse than Max Aaron! Lots about Surya. 1:13 D & J are judging the Nagano Olys for their Patreon viewers. (I skipped ice dance and pairs) 1.21 MEN JUNIORS. Gogo, hates to lose, dull samey costumes. He stabbed his leg and kept going! What a fighter! Camden – J thinks it’s mental; D thinks it’s Tom Z prob not having him do full runthrus & he needs a sport psychologist, before it’s too late like it became for Jeremy. 1.33 Gracie said Tomoki was the only skater yelled at by Ourashov more than she was. He said Tammy and Tom must hate him (Tomoki) – same rink and they were so close to winning. Tomoki’s the little engine that could/nice skating. 1.36 The Russian Roman Savosin: good jumper. J: He has weird looking coaches. They love Danielian – lots of potential. Another who shd do full runthrus. They think he cd be a superstar. 1.42 They’re wondering what kind of name Grassl is – he needs SS but has talent. They prefer Matteo’s skating. Eteri was not as Jr Worlds (or Universiade). 1.45 Coaches not going is a good sign – lesser coaches want face time. Then a gabfest about adult coloring (Dave shows off his work) and Golden Girls’ episodes. END

"Because we are the people who are alive,we need to live life fully,to those who passed away,and to those who are living in pain now,I strongly believe we need to live in a manner that we can be proud of."-Yuzuru Hanyu

His voice made me sad Today is Tōhoku earthquake day 3.11

Are senior girls allowed to attempt quads in SP ? I'd like to see Trusova add 4T to SP layout next season. 4T is her best quad jump so far( high and the most stable quad)

R58, adult coloring? What is it Dave does exactly? Thanks for the recaps!

R60, women can't do quads in the SP yet. It'd be great if Trusova could get a 3Axel to put that in the SP.

[quote] adult coloring? What is it Dave does exactly?

He buys coloring books and uses colored pencils I guess - but maybe crayons - to color the way children do. He has a Golden Girls' themed one. Oh, and he also wants to get a Victorian doll house to decorate because his mother would never let him get one when he was a child.

R59. Thanks for sharing. Makes me sad too. I can't even imagine what he and others went through that day. So many lost their lives. We are lucky that Hanyu is still here and skating.

Fingers crossed that Hanyu will be inspired to emulate more than just Plush's programs and haircut.

r64 French stalker! But why was she crowdfunding for new skating boots? She’s still a student but started figure skating last year, went to ACI and half of the GP, going to TCC again this summer to stalk Hanyu, claims to be friends with the owner of the largest figure skating store in Paris, who might arrange for her to interview Hanyu and Uno for Patinage. (I’ll be shocked if the Patinage job turns out to be true.)

Whoever leaked about Hanyu and Kose in December on 5ch was right. Not that he needs the money, but the Sekkisei products are hugely popular. He said he's glad they used his performances in the CM. He doesn't actually like to act in commercials. Sekkisei:

R65 I hate to be bitchy about a 20 something rando, but I'm gonna: you have money to go galavanting around the world to eavesdrop on and stalk figure skaters/coaches (not just Briand, but also Fernandez, Lambiel and Vasiļjevs to name a few), attend various camps at exclusive clubs even though you're a recreational skater, but you want to crowdfund to buy an expensive pair of boots? I don't understand kids these days.

I'm surprised a skincare line hasn't snapped up Hanyu before, given his frauen fanbase. I wonder if Hanyu's careful about his image and doesn't want to appear frivolous or vain - it's funny that he tries to tie in his philosophy regarding pursuing beauty in skating with the product, but he doesn't actually talk about using the product or his skin care regimen.

r65 I suspect he doesn't have a skin care regimen. But maybe he'll start one now, because otherwise that fresh-faced look will be gone in a few years, and it'll be bye bye endorsement.

However, commercials often rather make comparisons or imply rather than mention using the product directly, it's less heavy handed. Though that commercial could use a 3 seconds image of Hanyu putting that cream into his luggage next to his skates or something.

I can't remember the product but I love the one where he was ironing - oh yeah, it was colorful detergent "pods" - they also show him doing laundry before he takes out a white shirt and starts ironing it, all while wearing an apron. That one was fun! Better than the chocolate-making or the head-measuring for pillows (and sleeping on the magic mattress or whatever)

R66 Supposedly Kose has made multiple offers over the years but he's refused them until now.

Kose is a sponsor of Team Japan too.

I'm guessing Hanyu feels the end approaching and is looking to the future -- he's going to need some cash to finance any future editions of Continues with Wings, and though he can't always depend on his ankles he can depend on his skin for a while longer.

R69 Good. I hope he's making a bundle out of it. Is this first new endorsement he's picked up since the Olympics?

R70 I highly doubt Hanyu has to finance CWW out of pocket. That cash cow will fund itself and then some whenever he decides to take it up again. Hanyu has the gift of gab and the talk show segments of CWW made it very interesting to me, even though I usually find the ice shows corny and boring.

ANA and Kose are also collaborating on amenities for their business class starting this month, so maybe that’s why he said yes.

Long but heartwarming interview with Tracy Wilson. Here's a link to the transcript that you can use 'search' on if you're just interested in one skater or whatever. She's so Zen.

Yuzuru: "The Olympic SEIMEI was about how to communicate the beauty of Japanese things to the world" "It’s when non-Japanese people speak Japanese to me saying things like: Konnichiwa, Arigatou or Sayonara. Surprisingly, Japan seems to be of interest them. Even if it is very basic Japanese, when anyone speaks to me in Japanese I feel proud that I am Japanese."

How did ESPN figure out Hanyu's endorsements? They have him at $13.41M

Or, ESPN could just be guestimating and no one has a clue what Hanyu's worth: "Now for the fine print: If we could not find accurate endorsement figures, we estimated an athlete's endorsement dollars based on the search, social and endorsement data for all athletes under review. For Chinese athletes, we used the Baidu search score and Weibo social numbers because Google and Western social platforms have been blocked in China."

R70 I don't think Yuzu care much about money, the man gave all prize money from 2 OGM to charity right?

If he want to have money without doing anything, either competing or doing those cms, all he has to do is selling his skates, gloves or whatever he want to sell. Now his skates was sold at 64,000 usd for charity

R77 Kose announced they will be donating some of their Sekkisei proceeds from last December to January to “Mori ha umi no koibito (mori-umi. org).” The NPO’s latest project is reforesting the devastated areas of the Tohoku region. The Hanyu-Kose deal was leaked in December, so that’s probably not a coincidence.

Russian pairs are already in Japan but down in Fukuoka. Someone said the rest of the Russian team will arrived in Tokyo on the 16th.

Medvedeva should replace her manager with Tracy. Med and Ge unfollowed Tuk on IG yesterday. There was some kind of meme contest on VK for Tuk and maybe they didn’t like the memes Tuk was reposting? Anyway, Med later started following Tuk again. Sometime between or after, some Med fans began harassing Tuk on her account.

Meanwhile, Med’s manager immediately told Russian media Med never unfollowed Tuk. She can’t follow or unfollow anyone because she’s too busy preparing for Worlds and she doesn’t use IG before competitions. Maybe it was a technical error by staff.

If he had to comment on it, the manager should’ve just said he messed up and accidentally unfollowed Tuk since he claimed to personally run Med’s social media accounts during his last big interview. I don’t have an IG, so I don’t know if Ge is also following Tuk again, but Tuk never unfollowed both.

Statement from Med’s manager:

r78 Drama! Misha is not following Tuk. I didn't pay attention to whether he did before. I hope it gets even pettier. Someone check to see if Lazukin's been unfollowed!!! Won't anyone think of Andrei's feelings?

I looked at Tuk's twitter and instagram and the memes were just self-deprecating stuff. I don't see the offense.

Hanyu is writing blog posts for Kose! Here's one: "I like pussy. They are healing/rejuvenating because they are soft and fluffy. However, I can also be healed/rejuvenated by other living things that rise with genuine/honest enthusiasm [at the touch of my hand or my eager tongue]."

Hopefully, that Dirt Czar isn't around to nitpick my translation. So annoying!!

R81. Lmao! I hope this is something Hanyu continues doing. I love hearing and reading what he says.

R81 We know its wrong because obviously Hanyu likes D like Javi's.

HANYU LIKES CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ... sorry for yelling

D as in DOG. But I was wrong because Javi actually has a cat. I meant to say Hanyu likes C...ock-- I mean, Cats... like Javi's.

I can't fucking believe following/unfollowing someone on social media is something a manager has to address. The whole drama belongs in middle school.

Is Yuzuru going to demonstrate the use of skincare products on this doll?

Agreed R86. I can't believe people even take the time to notice that stuff.

Kovtun has withdrawn from Worlds due to medical reasons. Andrei Lazukin will take his place.

Kind of feels like karma...well, I never liked Kovtun. I knew his "comeback" was going to be a bust.

I wonder if Kovtun's "medical reasons" were caused by his 14th place at Europeans. I doubt Lazukin will do much better but I suppose better to take a chance on something new than trying again with a proven choker

First skaters announced for Dreams on Ice 2019. Men: Kazuki Tomono, Tatsuya Tsuboi, Shun Sato, Sora Tarumi. Ladies: Yuna Shiraiwa, Yuhana Yokoi, Tomoe Kawabata, Nana Araki, Rika Tejima. Synchro: Jingu Ice Messengers. June 28-30 at the Kose Shin-Yokohama Skate Center.

Fuji TV (@online_on_ice) will be live streaming pairs, ice dance, groups 1-3/4 for ladies and men SP, the opening ceremony, warm up areas and K&C on their Worlds website. (The K&C stream shows the entire K&C which you can’t see on broadcast.) Should be region-free. Times are approximations in Japan time.

March 20 (Wednesday)

10:30AM Pairs SP

2:15PM: Opening Ceremony

3:05PM Ladies SP (Groups 1-4), Ladies SP Warm up Area, K&C

March 21 (Thursday)

10:30AM Pairs FS, Medal Ceremony

4:00PM Men’s SP (Groups 1-3), Men SP Warmup Area, K&C

March 22 (Friday)

12PM Ice Dance RD

5:30PM Ladies FS Warmup Area, K&C

March 23 (Saturday)

12:30PM Ice Dance FD, Medal Ceremony

5:30PM Men FS Warmup Area, K&C

Commentators: Takeshi Honda (Men), Shizuka Arakawa (Ladies), Miyamoto Kenji (Ice Dance), Narumi Takahashi (Pairs). Guest commentators: Takehito Mura (Men), Kanako Murakami (Ladies)

Fuji Worlds Website (video will appear on page during streaming time):

R81 Glad to emerge from a 5 day blackout to find this thread is as fun as ever.

R92 oohh, is this the first time K. Murakami is commentating? I can't wait for when a jelly and territorial Arakawa starts leaking anonymous stories about how sloppy, old, fat and barren Murakami's been looking.

I'm so glad Mura is the secondary commentator instead of Kozuka. He was such a good sport when Yuzu was bullying him into trying a spread-eagle 3A in CWW.

r95 Mura just seems like a nicer person in general. Glad that little bitch Kozuka orgied himself out of a job.

R92 Thanks for the streaming link. So glad we won't have to scramble for live streams for at least some of the events. Apparently, the ISU will be streaming the competition through Eurovision Sports Live for countries that don't own broadcasting rights. Anyone know which countries don't own broadcasting rights (ie which country I should set my VPN to)?

r96 Singapore used to work for me, but also try South America.

Tamura in full make-up - enough for Ru Paul's show. God, he's beautiful!

I'm not a fan of Kovtun's skating but am sorry he got injured. Lazukin might end up placing about the same. A shame Voronov wasn't on the alternate's list. Is he injured too?

Yes, Voronov apparently tore a ligament in his knee.

Time zone converters for the Men's SP and FS. Totally ungodly hours for me, but likely for the best. I think I'm going to quickly check in here first before I watch the whole thing. Can't stand the suspense.

Sui was injured in a practice fall after a show on Feb 15. S/H didn't start training again until last week.

R101. I will have to watch the replay on NBC gold. There's just no way for me at that time. People have to work lol. I will stay off any social media until I watch.

I can't face it live either. I foolishly watched the practice at Rostelecom where Yuzuru injured his ankle again. I have NBC and NBCSN, so I assume they'll show the main events - the next day or something.

TCC just had a sendoff for Orser, Tracy, Ghislain, and the Worlds skaters, except Hanyu didn't appear to be there. I think the photos have been deleted by the original account (Mexican skater at TCC).

Ge said he’s going to Worlds on Jackie’s twitter. He also hinted he’s performing at the gala on IG. Maybe he deleted his original post about worlds because no one was supposed to know about the gala at the time.

Hanyu’s junior high school classmates talk about him tonight at 6:10PM on NHK Sendai’s Teremasamune. Clip at @nhk_sendai.

Zhou is in Osaka.

Kozuka is going to appear on “Koujou he ikou” (@koujouheikou) next Saturday. They’re doing a mini-drama special on Kozuka Blades on TV Aichi (local broadcast only).

R94 She’s done it many times now. I think it’ll be like nationals where she did commentary for the early groups and Arakawa did the last two groups. Murakami is also doing the commentary for the exhibition.

R98 Hide from X-Japan:

People speculated that Hanyu was standing between Briand and Cha (you can see a tuft of hair).

Then someone found this picture.

R107 Hanyu looks like shit. Kose should pull the deal.

Surprise twist: Hanyu was actually the one taking the photo.

Ge is going to Saitama also because The vote between him and Redford will take place there.

[R105] The Mexican skater didn't delete anything. It's in her Story.

r106 Poor Lee! Everyone forgets about him. Me included.

R110 Thank you. So it was inevitable. Strange that he deleted the original post in that case, but now I remember he also didn't allow comments on it. Maybe it was to avoid questions about the gala.

Coupe de Printemps today.

R111 Thanks. Is there a reason why people aren't crediting the original accounts on twitter?

Checked PH and sorry ??? What tf with people crying over Hanyu not being there ?

R114. I don't go to PH. What happened with Hanyu not being where? I'm lost. sorry.

R114 Are you talking about Hanyu not being in the TCC Worlds Send Off pic? I just checked and seems like people are bored and having a bit of fun speculating where he is. Kind of like when we're bored and post ass pics.

More on Sui/Han. I guess Han's injuries are getting worse too. Wtf??? Are they going to last through the quad?

"Hello everyone this is Yuzuru Hanyu. It's Friday, the latter half of the week. What are everyone's plans on their days off? When I have nothing on, I play games a lot. To me, it's 'my time' to restore my energy. Hope everyone has a wonderful break."

'When I have nothing on, I play games a lot.' Hmm...OK, Yuzu, whatever you say... It definitely sounds like fun.

"It's Friday, the latter half of the week."

Stop the press at that breaking news.

What will we learn tomorrow? That the sun rises in the east? That it's windy? That he likes listening to music?

R120

Today is Saturday. A different day of the week from Friday. But do you know what will stay the same no matter the day of the week? DL will still be filled with shallow, ungrateful cunts who don't care about my views on meaningful issues like cats, games and days of the week, and only concern themselves with my sweet sweet voluptuous ass, that's pert and soft like a baby's bottom, but legal to touch. You can't satisfy everyone I guess. But here's a gif to keep you warm til you see me next at an airport with my creepy stalker(s) in tow. HUGZZZ & LUV

R120 Excuse me, but we learned a lot from his riveting personal statement. First of all, that he plays a lot of games naked. Secondly, he needs serious "me time" to "restore his energy". The one thing I actually wish he included was a video/detailed photographs of said naked game playing and/or "me time" for the purposes of scientific research.

Is this photoshopped or did Gabby loot Med's shit shake supply?

r123 It's not on her instagram so chances are it isn't photoshopped. She looks thinner than Med in that photo,mdefinitely stole the shake from her. I didn't realize she was so short.

R124 Unfortunately, it originated from Gabby's Instagram, so likely ps. Someone tell her she looks fine and doesn't need to do this shit.

r125 Hopefully, she's just sucking in her stomach in that photo. I guess we'll know when we see her on the tv broadcast.

Med's legs look skinnier. Gabby is showing good muscle on her thighs.

Definitely photoshopped.

Old Junhwan Cha's interview with the Olympic Channel. His English is impressive.

And here an interview from a month ago, after one of those competitions his fed made hi. do, maybe it was posted before. Basically he says he's been injured since Skate Canada but had no time to rest, and that his boots are falling apart at an alarming rate.

He's got a very pleasant manner of speaking and those cheekbones are to die for - though a haircut of some sort might be in order.

R97 Thanks so much. I'll try those countries.

R129 Cha moved to Canada when he was 13, so I guess I'm not surprised.

R130 This is totally annoying. Poor Cha has had to go back and forth for a million national competitions when there is no other South Korean man on his level. Don't know if I'm misremembering, but I think he's in Korea now to check his injury.

The skater who posted the ig story at r106 said Hanyu isn't in the picture because he was already on his way to Japan. When will we see Sadako and her fab mask?

Jun's English is actually about what you'd expect for someone who moved to Canada at a young age. I was more impressed with Eunsoo Lim's interview with TSL after only a few months of living in the US.

Useful time zone conversion chart for all events

Mainstream news is reporting that Takeyama has already notified JOC executives of his intention to retire in June. The board of directors will be meeting on Tuesday to discuss possible replacements. It’s between Yamashita and Hashimoto with Yamashita in the lead. Takeda was absent from the Olympic Council meeting in Bangkok earlier this month.

r132 I was wondering if the latest photo was taken at a different time and Hanyu had already left. They lose a day when they fly from Toronto to Japan to the time zone change. The rest of the TCC team is really cutting it close if they haven’t left yet. Practice starts 8AM on Monday.

The coach/choreographer has returned:

[quote]From staff: @mishageofficial has arrived at Japan to attend three skaters as their coach/choreographer at ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019 in Saitama. Also, he will work for other things. Hongyi Chen (CHN) SP/FP Eliska Brezinova (CZE) SP/FP Evgenia Medvedeva (RUS) SP

Sort of sneak preview of the Worlds opening ceremony with Mura and sopranista Okamoto:

Takeda, not Takeyama. Sorry.

R136 Is Ge the coach for any of these skaters? With Tomono, I think you mentioned there was at least an actual arrangement to help with the coaching.

R137 I said that Ge's deal with the JSF was a packaged deal that included choreographing for a number of skaters (mainly juniors and novices) in addition to Tomono, which is supposedly for two seasons. Ge claimed on TSL that the JSF asked him to help improve Tomono's spins and skating skills in the process, which he interpreted that as becoming Tomono's coach. Maybe he doesn't know how other choreographers work or wasn't aware of how often Japanese skaters meet with their choreographers throughout the season, but he hasn't worked with Tomono any more than Miyahara and Kihira have worked with Dickson, or Richaud has with Sakamoto. Probably less in Richaud's case. There's an interview with him and Tomono that just came out in Quadruple magazine that might tell more, although you can't completely trust Ge's word. Thinking back, despite all the IG posts, he didn't use the word "coach" until Skate Canada, almost half a year after he started "coaching" Tomono. Ge has only been referred to as Tomono's SP choreographer on the Japanese side. I don't know about these worlds skaters but I assume that's just Ge's interpretation again.

R138 Thanks for the clarification. Okay then, sounds like Ge's just an insufferable twat.

Why so much hate for Ge ?

R140 Because I don't know. Always I try to put positive into the world, but sometimes, negative just come back to you from unhappy people. What can you do? I tell my students including two-time World Champion and special artistry genius from Russia Evgenia Medvedeva who is also coached by Brian Orser at TCC along beside two-time Olympic Champion *somebody*, just keep to work hard, grind hard, striving for excellent, and you will succeed! Some of my students KAZUKI needing to take this message a little more to their heart KAZUKI but we will work on it. Love and light!

R141 Clearly, you're just misunderstood, Misha. You're my light and inspiration. Hopefully, you can be my coach someday, even though I don't skate and never intend to learn. It will be a perfect match!!

R141 Thank you Misha. I shedded my tears reading your post. Such an honor for Yuzuru to have a friend like you ( and Evgenia Medvedeva) who support him through all the ups and downs. Please don't care about some crazies Fanyus, they all envy you for your wonderful friendship with Yuzuru. I miss your skating and I LOVE your choreo. Please do choreo for Yuzuru !!! Looking forward to your collab with Yuzuru in the future. Please upload trio pictures too. I always support you. Go go go Misha. On behalf of Yuzuru, his fans and Team Japan, thank you so much. Fanyus, share my post to spread positive energy.

R143 I've actually seen posts like that around the webs. Specially the 'spread positive energy' part.

we are ignoring Coupe du Printemps...

If I were a skater, I would want Daniil G. to give me private lessons. The guy is so handsome.

Ok, I just saw the ranking of Junior Synchronized Skating Worlds... a selection of the names of the teams..

TEAM HOT SHIVERS JUNIOR

TEAM JEANNE D'ARC JUNIOR

TEAM SEASIDE JUNIOR

TEAM ZAGREB SNOWFLAKES JUNIOR

TEAM ILLUMINETTES JUNIOR

TEAM GOLDEN ROSES JUNIOR

Team Jeanne D'Arc? Who skate to popular hits about teenage martyrdom?

R148 We are fabolous

TSL 3/16/19 Worlds Preview – Part 1. 3 Dave (very manic this episode) starts off by excitedly showing off his Itsuki/Shoma book, sent by “one of our favorite viewers” – he shows off some photos from book, then onto lots about Aljona Savchenko, hiking in ‘Hello Kitty’ pants etc... 8 Her first husband Ingo, a real jerk, was in the Stasi and he spied on Katarina Witt for East Germany! 9 Nam’s last name is pronounced Win. 22 PAIRS. Will Sui be healthy? – off ice 10 days since 4CC. J: It’s Vanessa/Morgan’s to lose even if S/H have finer qualities. D: It’s now or never for J/C. 32 D: Peng has sex appeal/Ashley Cain has none: he hates their 1920s theme short and wonders if they can make top 10 to get the US 2 places next yr. 33: D misses Alexa and loves her energy, she’s exciting – J wonders why she blocked him in Instagram. 38 ICE DANCE. D: May be the deepest discipline. D: P/C win by landslide. 41 C/B vs H/D. 42: D says TAT really did good work in fixing the vote for Med. [somewhere in first part,Dave said he had to learn to run without his limp wrists flopping all over]

TSL 3/16/19 – Part 2. 54 MEN. Chen’s been sick and didn’t get to go work w/Raf. He’s gonna go for clean, not for broke, and he’s using his Nationals’ layout. 57 Chen isn’t 100% sure he’ll be taking all his classes next yr. 58 Hanyu: it’s good for him that he had the time to heal for 2 mos in one spot w/his team whereas Nathan’s had more indecision.“It comes down to what he’s risking in this chess game against Nathan.” 59.30 Uno: J: This will be the rare event where it all depends on the skating that evening so it’ll be exciting – Uno’s right there w/other two – D: Jin cd be a spoiler as he seems to be on an upward trajectory. 1.01 Zhou has been with Mie Hamada & it’ll be interesting if she’s in K&C w/him whichD says has been discussed. 1.23 They’d much rather watch Aliev than Samarin. 1.03 Jason – D: How will he do without Kori. Will he do the fake quad? Should he? 1.05.50: D is giving Hanyu an edge (in Japan/they’ll want Hanyu to win “he’s the king”) J: “It’s just a matter of his health. If they both skate clean, I think there’s no question that Hanyu will win.”

TSL 3/16/19 – Part 3. 1.06 LADIES. D wonders why they haven’t yanked Gabby; he thinks they should have. Her situation has become alarming: she photoshopped half of her body out of the group photo on IG. J doesn’t look forward to watching her. 1.08 American girls. Can they get 3 spots? 1.10 Bradie shd do lutz-toe but will she? If she goes for lutz-loop again and misses it, a lot of ppl will want to wring her neck. But her coaches are inexperienced so may not advise well. They mention again they want Ashley to make a comeback, and she or Ting cd get that 3rd spot. 1.12 D: The spoiler will be Tursy (if she does quad). She’s improved w/Eteri though they don’t like her skating: juniorish, bent legs but her choreo is much better than it was with DW. 1.14 D: Where is Tursy in Eteri’s pyramid? (Trusova is the top – she was the only one to get a phone call from Eteri at Jr Worlds). D thinks Tursy’s in the 2nd row because Zag has just been “a problem for them” - a lot of pressure’s on Alina. 1.16 D loves Japanese fluff piece that implies her dog plays around on ice during practice, all fun and games. 1.17 D tells Doug Haw to shut up & not tell him again that Med will win (D doesn’t think TAT has enough money for that) – D: the Japanese may take top 3 (but Zag cd make it) END

Very uncomfortable TSL- Jonathan rolling his eyes and not engaging half the time

What was up with him? He looked like he was jumping out of his skin. He's talked before about rehab for an Adderall addiction (also problems with alcohol but he didn't seem drunk - just wired - like a cat on a hot tin roof ;) I shouldn't scoff though if the guy's got problems. Jonathan was very gentle with him - but had his hands full keeping a relatively even keel with Dave all over the map.

R152 Thank you. Your post prompted me to check on Doug Haw and he and Orser were in Vegas together earlier this month.

The FS Branch conference is on Tuesday, same day the JOC board is having their meeting.

Part 2 of the Plushenko/Sasha games in the last 30 minutes of “Honoo no Taiikukai” yesterday. I haven’t seen any uploads yet, so I don’t have anything to link to right now, but they showed Sasha’s room and visited Plushenko’s academy which looked very fancy.

Sasha had the fan drawing from FaOI last year of him, Hanyu, and Plushenko, on display in his bedroom. Sasha said he likes Hanyu because his skating is beautiful and he’s really nice to him.

Angels of Plushenko has a big training room above the rink, ballet room, meeting and banquet room, a restaurant, and some fancy hotel rooms. Sasha practices 5 hours a day. (It’s 9-10 hours a day for the 9 year olds at Sambo, so that might be standard for elite skating clubs in Russia, though I don’t see how their little bodies are going to last.) There are 100+ students.

Back in Tokyo, Plushenko and Sasha did the skating obstacle course together and like Zagitova and Medvedeva, failed the first time and finished it on their second try. (Sasha tripped the first time.) As a reward, the show took them to the Bic Camera in Yurakucho where Sasha was allowed to choose whatever toy he wanted. He chose a bunch of Takara Tomy minicars (they’re less than 500 yen each) and insisted on carrying the shopping bag himself. For some reason he knew the Japanese word for “Don’t worry, it’s OK.”

Sasha also came out in a Cheburashka costume and gave the Honda sisters one of his creepy “ChebuSashka” dolls.

Chebusashka:

I don't know how to judge - how is Jason's Japanese? (at the airport) Is it comparable to Yuzuru's English? (love his little waddling run)

Thread pet and esteemed Coach/Choreographer Misha Ge, Esquire, is there for his three students.

Benoit is also there - he posted his badge on IG, which said "Coach/Choreographer"

I hear Hanyu’s ice show starts this week.

Where is this gorgeous ass..? I am starting to worry.

I want to pat that butt. With love.

Anyone else nervous for worlds? I'm so nervous I don't think I can watch live. We haven't seen Hanyu in months. It would be nice to see him win this competition. I just worry about Hanyu so much.

Don't worry, they won't give URs in Japan.

For Hanyu, of course.

Nice photo.....

Thank you! Staring at this delicious peach eases my nervousness...

First practice in about 3 hours and still no Hanyu- he’s such a tease.

British skater Philip Harris announces retirement

Peak of his career

22th at 2016 Worlds

24th at 2018 Worlds

13th at 2018 Euros

15th at 2015 Euros

18th at 2016 Euros

1 GP (2018 Finland)

won Mladost Trophy 2013 ...whatever it is...

Hi everyone! The time has finally come to hang up my boots and officially retire as an athlete ⛸ I was waiting to announce anything because if none of our current senior men qualified for the World Championships I was going to make the trip and represent the country one last time, however, a huge congratulations are in order for @pj_hallam for recently qualifying and saving me the trouble! Your hard work has gone a long way and you deserve it buddy, have an amazing time in Japan! Since the #isugrandprix event in #Helsinki I have backed away from the competitive scene and I will now continue to put all my focus into coaching and choreography full time. Of course, I will still train on occasion, I always will, and I’m always available to perform if the opportunity arose, but the pressure is off and it’s time to relax. Looking back from where I started in Blackpool it has been one hell of a ride! National titles, major championships, injuries, travelling the world and meeting so many incredible people just to name a few. I will be forever grateful of the journey I’ve had, and for the people involved. We have been on this journey together and I really do love you all! ❤️❤️ It’s time to wave goodbye to these moments for now, and move on to the next stage of my career ��������#thankyounext .

Who will retire after Saitmana?

Majorov...only him?

Or will Virtanen finally stop?

World men planned programs out. Hanyu- Helsinki layout with 4A-3A

Oops 4T-3A- Freudian slip

Feds drawn for judging panels

Men: Canada, China, Taipei, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Israel, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey

Ladies: Austria, China, Taipei, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia, USA

Pairs: Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Switzerland

Ice Dance: Australia, Bulgaria, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine

45 minutes before the SP 9 of them will be drawn to sit on the panel. The remaining 4 will judge the FS along with 5 out of the 9 who judged the SP. This draw will take place 45 minutes before the FS

So glad there’s no US judge for men. Also glad no JPN judge, don’t want to hear about bias.

I guess Buldge Judge is retired from active duties. He has not judged anything this season. Spain will send someone else

Philippe was at Junior Worlds being referee for Pairs. If France send someone else, it is a blow for Shoma.

R170 you almost gave me a heart attack with that 4A 3A LMFAO

My heart jumped in my throat too with the 4A.

Shoma's ankle must still be bothering him. While Yuzu and Nathan are doing 2 quads in short, 4 in free - Shoma is planning 1 quad in short and 3 in free. He's not doing any kind of Lutz and instead of tacking a triple onto his quad combo in the free, he's planning a double toe. That's not like him, typically, is it?

Chen layout: 3A, 4F, 4T+3T – 4Lz, 4F, 4T+3T, 3A, 4T, 3Lz+3T, 3F+eu+3S (2/4)

Hanyu layout: 4S, 3A, 4T+3T – 4Lo, 4S, 3Lo, 4T, 4T+3A, 3F+3T, 3A+eu+3S (2/4)

Uno layout: 4T, 3S+3T, 3A – 4F, 4T, 3Lo, 4T+2T, 3A, 3A+eu+3F, 3S+3T (1/3)

Pairs practice now.

Fuji reported late last night that Hanyu hadn’t arrived in Japan yet because they didn't catch him at the airport. Their promos are also getting more intense. Keep an eye on their twitter and IG: @online_on_ice and Mura’s IG: @takahitobh5d

r156 Jason is a beginner. He speaks as if each word is its own sentence though you can always tell he’s memorized what he’s going to say. “Good morning. It’s 5:30AM. I’m at the airport. I’m going to Japan soon. I’m excited!” Hanyu’s been living in Canada for years, so it’s not a fair comparison.

Fernandez is commentating on Hanyu’s programs for S1 on TBS this weekend. S1 focused on Kihira’s training in Colorado last episode. A lot of nice footage, including a little from the worlds arena last night:

Omg. Now I'm more nervous looking at his layout. 😱

R169 you almost gave me a heart attack!

Shoma usually does two quads in the short, but sounds like he's still having trouble with his 4F. Strange that he chooses to do such an easy combo as 3S+3T when he used to do 3F+3T. The free layout is the best he can do without a 4S since he doesn't do lutz jumps anymore and repeats both 4T and 3A.

Boyang may be the dark horse. His layout is impressive too

Boyang may be impressive on paper but he's not landed 4S since the Olympics.

everyone will splat and Matteo Rizzo will randomly finish in top 5

Rizzo? I doubt it. Keep bringing us the inside scoop on Worlds, JDC. Your news is much appreciated. I really wanted to attend worlds but couldn't even get 1 ticket. The time difference is going to be dreadul but I'm going to try to get up early to watch those short programs.

Sponichi is reporting from the men's practice rink. Deniss and Lambiel are there.

Plushenko was left out of the updates on Hanyu's bio, oops.

R183 Thanks.

I read practice starts soon for the men?. I heard no video allowed so hopefully anyone who is lucky to be there can let us know if Hanyu went to practice and how he did. 🙏

Practice for the first mens group already started but apparently only Deniss and Lambiel showed up just to take a look at the rink. Too early in the morning for anyone who arrived yesterday. Lots of press waiting, so there will be video on news programs later.

[quote] I read practice starts soon for the men?. I heard no video allowed so hopefully anyone who is lucky to be there can let us know if Hanyu went to practice and how he did.

Jackie Wong reports on training at his "rockerskating" site (and on Twitter.)

Everyone gets two practice sessions per day. The morning session is only at the practice rink. The afternoon one will be at the main rink, so it's likely more skaters will show up.

Nathan is there.

Ghislain is also there.

Jackie Wong ‏ @rockerskating 47s47 seconds ago

It's official: Yuzuru Hanyu is not here (wait for reaction)

Nathan showed up well before his time to practice?

Tracy Wilson showed up and then left.

Jackie Wong: On practice ice: Deniss Vasiljevs has the rink (and the adoration of the practice crowd) on itself; none of the Japanese men and Igor Reznichenko are on this practice.

r175 Uno has to tack a 2T onto his quad because he's already has a 3T combo and repeats 4T and 3A. Without a lutz, that's indeed the best he can do.

How reliable those planned layouts are ? Aren't they usually outdated ?

Shoma doesn't do lutzes at all? Or just because of his ankle? Does he have edge issues? I don't pay much attention to his layouts.

r195 Edge issues. He seems to have dropped the lutz completely in the 2017/18 season.

Shoma flutzes so badly Stevie Wonder could spot them from the opposite side of the rink.

Shoma is Yuzu’s successor for japan in 2022, he better get his act together. He needs to take better care of that ankle. No one else is really on the horizon, though i still have hopes for shun sato.

R198 If he can fend off any other major injuries, Sota Yamamoto is going to be a surprise to us and to Shoma in the next couple of seasons, mark a random anon's words.

Yeah, I was going to say Sota seems to be getting back on track.

r199 I think he lost too many years to that injury, it broke his technical progress trajectory. I don't think it can be resumed.

R192 Maybe he overestimated how long it'd take to get to the rink? It's about 40 min by train or car if no traffic from hotel, though they're commuting during rush hour. Luckily, most commute into Tokyo from Saitama in the morning. Samodurova was told it'd take 1.5 hours one way.

Lambiel and Ghislain were sitting together. Only Chen now, everything good until last combo. Raf not even there. No Brown. No music submitted for no-shows.

Promo for Uno for worlds has been surprisingly subdued considering the first half of the season.

R199 I see your hopes. But shun is only 15 and kind of has a quad already, sato is 19 and comparing him to a 19 yo nathan is really not a realistic competitor

Jackie is reporting Zhou and Cha, but haven't see any Japanese reports yet. Britschgi?

Japanese skaters are still sleeping

Sorry, I meant Japanese twitter not reporting on anyone except Chen. Press also only interviewing Chen so far.

Why is she such a creep, always imitating his every move or gesture. There is nothing cute about it. I know that account on insta is run by a loon but Med is giving her plenty of ammunition for her ramblings.

Hamada with Zhou at the boards; Med with Tracy and Ge (coach/choreographer); no Hanyu to be found. Wtf is this??

FNN news (@FNN_News) will be livestreaming the Japanese men’s press conference tomorrow at around 12PM. IF Hanyu doesn’t show up at practice later tonight or first practice tomorrow, we will definitely see or hear from him then. Nothing really notable about the ladies press conference, except Miyahara said her steps in SP have changed.

Orser also hasn’t shown up and didn’t arrive with Tracy and Med at the airport. Zagitova has finally appeared. Ghislain also currently at the subrink?

Tech panel has been added to Worlds results page: www. isuresults. com/results/season1819/wc2019/

Men: TC – Leena Laarksonen (Finland), TS – Evgeny Martynov (Ukraine), ATS - Masako Kawai (Japan). Mao ubers absolutely hate Kawai and are going to go crazy.

Ladies: TC – Mami Maeda (Japan), TS – Vanessa Gusmeroli (France), Katerina Kamberska (Czech Republic)

Hanyu found! (sort of):

Still no Eteri or Orser. Dudakov is coaching Zagitova while Tracy is coaching Med again. Ghislain was at the rinkside while Hamada and Tamura were there for Kihira and Miyahara, but now sitting.

R209 Was Kawai strict on Mao's URs or was it something else? Thanks for all the updates.

I want the bitching for all involved in the race for the 24th because Nicole Schott has Gusmeroli, her choreographer, in the Technical Panel

r207 I find people obsessed with criticizing Med's every move far creepier than her juvenile behavior.

R211 Yes.

R212 What?! She was also on the ladies Sochi panel...

R212 LMAO. That Emmi bitches about everything though.

This season track record for the TPs

Kawai: no event

Martynov: Salt Lake City challenger (Ladies)

Gusmeroli: Rostelecom (Ladies)

Kamberska: Warsaw Cup (Ladies), Nepela (Ladies)

---

Laarksonen: Autumn Classic (Ladies), Finlandia Trophy (Ladies), Universiadi (Ladies)

Maede: JGP Richmond (Men)

Uno and Tanaka have arrived.

R216 Thank you. So there's no doubt about Gusmeroli.

Come on, you must remember me

Hanyu arrived in Japan today.

Prime News showed Zagitova arriving at the airport at 11AM today. I didn't see Eteri or Daniil, only Dudakov was with her. Masaru doesn't listen to Eteri by the way. Had footage of Japanese ladies, Medvedeva and Chen at first practice and interview with Kihira.

R218 0.0 0.0 Go back to the circus, VANESSA.

Hanyu at the airport:

The Swan has landed.

R207. I'm to the point where I don't even like her anymore. Something is wrong with her. She isn't some little child. She's an adult.

R222 It is to be expected but damn he looks tired.

Even thinner than he was at Pyeongchang. When Hanyu rolls up to a competition with his double chin mostly gone you know he means business and shit's gonna be real. He's drawing on his fat reserves like a polar bear. We can only hope and pray his ass has survived.

R225 why do you put the fear of God on me but implying his ass may have not survived

R226 Upon reflection I realize since it appears to be pure muscle rather than fat, his ass should be fine. I hope that makes you feel better.

Jackie Wong @rockerskating

Nathan Chen's current program layouts look to be:

SP: 3A 4F 4T3T

FS: 4Lz 4F 4S 3A 4T3T 4T3T 3F1Eu3S

R227 Thank you, I appreciate it.

Yuzu gave an interview. He's officially back.

R230 I really don't get why he arrived so late. He might not have jetlag issues like Shoma but anyone will feel tired for one or two days after such a long flight. It's almost like he wants to stay at little as possible in his country nowadays. I know that's probably not it but still, the past year out of 12 months he barely spent 3 months in Japan. Same the one before. I also don't get how his mom can stand being away from her husband for months at a time since 2012. I understand being there for your son especially when he is such a high level athlete who needs a huge support system but sacrifying 7 years of your married life as well as the time with your other child is really crazy to me. I mean when he was a minor (so until his 20th birthday) it made sense but he will be 25 this year and has won 2 OGMs, does he really still need mommy to be there and hold his hand 24/7. I'm admittedly one of his biggest fans but this familial arrangement is really strange. But maybe I'm just too narrow minded.

Wong "Shoma Uno's quad salchow is back in his free skate, right in time for Worlds" - he also did a run-through of his short program with two quads. And Wong said Nathan was doing FS run-throughs with five quads.

R231 There's a cultural difference - many Asians don't see this arrangement as out of the ordinary. I went to a school where there were quite a few Chinese mothers who accompanied their children while the husbands stayed to work in their home country. The school was middle school through high school, so we're talking about 8 years abroad. I imagine as an elite athlete, the stakes are even higher. Hanyu's case is well advertised, but there are plenty of athletes living away from their families with one parent. Also, the arrangement seems to work for them and it's none of our business.

R232 I saw that Jackie tweet too. I think Shoma's doing 2 quads for his SP, but I don't see Nathan doing 5 quads.

Maybe you mean you don't see it as a likelihood or possibility? But just in case - here's the tweet where Jackie guessed Nathan's 5-quad FS plans, I assume by watching what he's doing in practice (I added commas to make it easier to read):

Jackie Wong @rockerskating 9h9 hours ago

Nathan Chen's current program layouts look to be:

SP: 3A, 4F, 4T3T

FS: 4Lz, 4F, 4S, 3A, 4T3T, 4T3T, 3F,1Eu3S

Oops too many commas - the last jumping pass is 3F1Eu3S

R230 I thereby confirm that I have no chill and I can't skate for fun. Also, I'm only happy when I see my competition perish.

Asian culture is a thing where even 30 or 40 year olds may still live at home as long as they want to, even if they are already making bank or have a career and can live independently. Of course, not everyone lives like that, but it isn't considered out of the ordinary. Nowadays some may see it as strange.

Also, doesn't Hanyu's mother also play a dual role as a manager of sorts for him? Especially since he doesn't have an agency so that he can focus on his skating and studies and she does a lot of everything else. He probably trusts her plenty as she's his mother.

What is up with Team Japan men and terrible orange highlights?

R233 I know perfectly well about Asian parents going abroad with their children while the other stays home, that's why I mentioned that it made sense while Yuzu was a minor so until 20 or even let's say until his 2nd OGM as it was his life goal. That she is still with him all the time nowadays and especially given that they stay in Japan less and less as years go isn't normal even by Japanese/Asian standards. Not only that, she still goes with him to TCC and stays and watches his every practise, same with literally every where he goes. She is always somewhere in a corner. You don't see other Asian tiger moms or Medvedeva's Russian bear mom do that.

R231. I understand what you're saying. I think even though he is 24 he does need his mom. She is like his guardian angel. He's been through so much. He probably feels better having her there with him.

The only place free from mama Hanyu's clutches is the locker room. Just imagine all the things that may have happened there

R234 Yes, I meant I think it's unlikely that Nathan is planning a 5 quad program. I saw the Jackie tweet too, so I'm not questioning your info. I just think that with the already shortened time frame, the greater penalties for falls, and all his talk about wanting to build his artistic side, it just seems odd to fall back on that now. Maybe Nathan's practicing in case he needs to trot out the 5th quad if he's behind/close after SP and wants to pull out the big guns.

R239 Med's mother is in Toronto with her and is very involved in her career; Jin's mother had planned to move with him to Toronto even though he's 21 now; Yuna is 28 and her mother runs her business and was/is probably even more involved in her training, life and career than Hanyu's. Maybe Hanyu's mother wants to be there? Who knows. I guess Hanyu's unusual in that he's not retired at an age when many skaters retire, so maybe they're just continuing the routine they are used to. I don't understand the fascination with their relationship/living arrangement when the details we have are at best sketchy.

Oh sorry R242 - I do think it means he's trying to keep his 4S on the backburner - I mean, it's definitely what Yuzuru would do - pull out all the stops.

A new interview (sheesh I'm becoming the Chen troll and I'm more of a Yuzu fan, but anyway)"

"How well Chen skates at worlds will factor “to some degree” in his decision about whether to enroll at Yale for next fall. He has until August to decide. “It depends on what my goals are in skating,” Chen said. “I can always find time to continue my education. Skating has more of an end date.” His skating schedule after worlds is to include appearances in nine of the 13 Stars on Ice shows in April and May, and he might return to Japan for the World Team Trophy in mid-April. Both are lucrative gigs.

And about not seeing Chen before Worlds, Raf said “I didn’t want to see him right before a competition because he would try too hard to impress me and get tired.” [yeah, right]

R239 I'm not sure why this topic is getting your panties riled up, but obviously Yuzu is not just any “Asian”. He’s a star athlete and essentially a family business. He’s not just some Asian kid coming to the US to study abroad. If she wants to watch her kid skate everyday, so what?? Hanyu has had injury issues and with any aging athlete it gets harder and harder and he needs to invest more time to do as well. If it makes you feel any better, I’m sure when he retires, he’ll return to Japan. I mean technically it is the only language he speaks.

I don't know why Hanyu attracts all the creepy analysis into his personal life. Every gesture, every person he trains with, encounters or looks at. Even his mother, father and sister who eschew the spotlight and don't invite the intrusion. The only creepy analysis I make an exception for is his ass - he clearly invites deep and penetrating inquiries into this particular area.

>I also don't get how his mom can stand being away from her husband for months at a time since 2012.

You must be quite young to make a comment like this.

R245 Disgusting. And you think you are not creepy?

R247 This a Hanyu ass lusting thread, what are you doing? Get out if you are going to clutch your pearls like that. More ass pics meanwhile, please.

R248 You're talking to Daitroll at r247, given the fact that it doesn't appear for me. Please have a heart - Daitroll probably grew up with warty, hairy asses that smelled of low tide and undigested orphaned children, so it just doesn't know any better.

Not ass, but perhaps a glimpse of abs will do for now?

i hear 200 people showed up to the first Yuzu non-practice, I wonder how many will be there today -a 1000?

R248 You are disgusting. Hanyu farts as well and takes a shit, you realize that?

R249 Ah damn. I had forgotten about the daitroll lol. Blocked now.

R252 LOL What Daitroll? Ha, ha assHOLE , you are pedophile like Jackson. Kids have buttoms like that. Hanyu like all those losers from Japan , lives with mum because she has to do laundry for him. He is useless. He is a bore.

R249 You, whore live with mum as well? Maybe Hanyu should go to school, like Nathan or other skaters , not to listen music and play games all the time. He is grown up man, who doesn't even know how to clean dishes.

Well well well who do we have here. What is pouty face up to, JDC? Is he sitting or standing? At the boards rearranging skate guards or just looking poutily into the distance. Spare no detail!!

Something a little different from the usual ass shot to tide the thread over for a few hours.

R256 His ass doesnt look like that in reality. Everything is bigger and rounder in camera . Close up does the work. Keep dreaming that he looks like that

r231 r239 Medvedeva’s mom is at practices, accompanies her daughter on show tours, and involved in all aspects of Med’s career, while Hanyu’s mom doesn’t touch the skating. It's rather well-known in Russian fs. Med’s grandma even shows up sometimes. Chen’s mom has also gone with him on tour, not just to practices and competitions, and she’s the one who kept changing his program layouts at the Olympics. Both skaters have an IMG agent who accompanies them.

Hanyu suffers from non-injury-related medical issues (such as asthma attacks induced by air travel) and that’s why the family has always insisted mom accompany him. She’s not just his agent/manager, but also acts as his bodyguard. She’s had to stop fans from grabbing him, and not even TCC is safe from stalkers.

(Speaking of asthma, it’s cherry blossom season which is absolute hell if you have allergies or asthma.)

And Hanyu “goes home” more frequently than most who live abroad. Three months is a very long time, especially considering his training base is in Toronto and Sendai doesn’t have the facilities to allow him to regularly practice and keep his ass in shape.I

Anyway, some bad fan behavior going on reserving seats.

R258 LOL Nice try, but you forgot to mention that she is a housekepper for him and he is an adult

OK, I don't really care about Hanyu's life but you can't compare him to Med and Chen who are both still teenagers.

R259 you must be poor. I’m an adult and I have a housekeeper.

R261 hah so Hanyu is stingy, too , his mommy does everything for free. Or maybe not. She is wasting her life , so maybe our loser pays her

Usually when you're successful you have people take care of you. Cook, clean, do laundary, get feet massages. When your child is providing for your entire family, they make sure they do whatever they need to do to help him succeed. Plus he’s pretty much a national treasure so they are being good Japanese citizens.

R260 Med/Chen and their families have invested and been involved in every aspect of their lives since they were young. If they go on to be OGMs in 2022 and then continue to skate and become multimillionaires, their families will not stop managing their lives and say, you've turned that arbitrary age where it is deemed by certain cultures that you're adults and must live independently on your own; so while this arrangement might have worked out for us for the last 20+ years of your life, and no one seems to be complaining, we're going to up end your life and ours, just because a few Americans can't wrap their heads around the fact that other cultures/families have different values and dynamics. Even now, as Nathan's living "independently" in New Haven, Raf is still grousing about the family council making skating decisions for him. Anyway, it was R239 who brought up Med and other Asian tiger moms, not R258.

[264] That may or may not happen but the point is until they turn 24 the comparisons are not valid.

R264: Win gold in 2022?! Ha ha They’ll be done by 2020.

Yuzuru is on MR!!

R267 Has the ass survived all the weight loss?????

He came earlier , only to see P/C, as always!

Med and Zag won’t be able to compete with up and coming quadsters and 3 axelers from Japan, US, and Russia.

Chen, however, does not have real threats on the horizon til 2022. Hanyu likely retire, Shoma back to silvers, Jin’s PCS is always gonna be low except with Chinese judges, Gogo is dull with low PCS. Anyone else?

R270 Jun Hwan?

Jun barely has 2 quads

To compete with Nathan a skater will need to have 3 solid quads. I mean assuming Nathan doesn’t get injured and can keep his current skills.

R265 There are no easy comparisons because there hasn't been another skater with Hanyu's level of notoriety, money and responsibility who has had to live and train abroad continuously from their teens until their mid twenties. I can only think of Yuna, but Yuna returned to Korea when she was 19 and even then her mother continued to be extremely hands-on.

Freakin Japan with their no phone rules. We’ve resorted to hand drawings, really!?!?

R275 The drawing looks hilarious. Is that Hanyu bending over? If so, ass is still +5.

R275 that's hilarious

The King is back!

Crazy eyes in top form. He looks to be jumping well too. All his planned quads + a 4T-3A-high kick.

Our bro Radford knows what the people want and has his eye on the ball, as it were.

Olympic Channel on top of it as well

R281 Great pic.

Someone google translate Ge for me. WTF is he trying to say? I hope Radford wins. Ge will be insufferable.

PC stream:

Last five questions only for Hanyu, including one from Chinese reporter about 2022.

Uno thanked a reporter for being so considerate when he was finally asked a question.

R285 oh does he care about attention now

R284 China wishes for Yuzu cash cow in 2022.

Exactly R287. Wish they would stop asking him about 2022. Leave him alone about it.

Stream was in and out. The only new info is Hanyu started jumping the loop about 3 weeks ago, landed 1 out of 50. Then slowly strengthened his ankle and increased his endurance and stamina to withstand the jump because he needs to do the loop this time unlike the Olympics.

r285 Uno and Tanaka are good sports. It would be understandable if they were sick of all the attention Hanyu gets, but they seem to take it in stride.

Mama Hanyu's gotten some attention here for her attentiveness, but she has clearly failed in teaching her son how to comb his hair. He's like those young children with underdeveloped fine motor skills who take a comb to their heads and just roughly pull straight down.

Ugh, Hanyu talking about how the fire in him almost died after COR. I now want to vomit each time I see him jump. Does this make me a fan or not, I can't tell.

I'm on edge too. There was a collective gasp in the arena after that quad where Jackie Wong said he grimaced.

I'm remembering a recent interview with Tracy Wilson. I think she had watched a rugby game or something - and she said she thought of that, skated up to Yuzuru, and told him to think about the Japanese rugby team. "At least no one is going to hit you" I think she said. WTF? I keep wondering about the why's of her doing that. Was he down or worried or something? Surely he knows about Japanese rugby already, and race car drivers, and that fellow-medalist skateboarder he grilled about rotations - lots of sports are brutal. Remember Yuzuru saying "Try something new" in the boxing gloves...

I guess that's the thing about sports superheroes - we empathize more with them - why don't I feel sorrier for Boyang being fourth at the Olys (surely one of life's big blows) and then talking about his depression? Or the scores in skating who've dedicated their lives but will never get anything near as much back from it as Yuzuru already has.

Oh never mind. I need to chill out (and not watch till after it's done). He's the reason I'm keeping my over-priced satellite dish so Worlds will be on my DVR. Dammit with all the geoblocking and then after, taking youtube videos down.

Skating order for ladies SP out.

r290 [quote]Ugh, Hanyu talking about how the fire in him almost died after COR.

Where did that come from? I hope that’s not being passed around. That’s not what he said.

He said he was able to use up a lot of his competitive “fire” when he performed in Rostelecom and a small part inside him that had been smoldering was finally freed after he was able to get through his FS even though it was tough. But it was hard watching competitions while he was unable to compete because he still had the fire and the oil, but was like a single flame burning in a tiny room. Now he’s like a violent blaze burning brightly in a large box. (Yeah, his choice of “large box” was weird. I think he meant to say “tiny box” and “large room.”)

No wonder you guys are always panicking and find everything he says tragic.

I'm going to wait til Gabby Daleman to tune in. Word is that none of the Canadians have been doing well in practice though.

Nathan Chen was in the next group to practice after Yuzuru's.

Sina Sports headline: "Yuzuru Hanyu's first practice to thousands of cheering fans. After he got off the ice all 50 cameramen left"

Wonder if them leaving had any psychological affect on Nathan. And did some of the audience leave as well?

I hope I'm wrong, but it looks like Gabby has been starving herself.

R294 cue all the gatekeeping and raging that Fanyus (and JPN media) suck despite this being practice

R292 Zhenya - Kihira - Zags. Will be very interesting. Let's see if the glaring differences in their condition or skills will affect their scores or not, skating after one another.

R295, Gabby probably photoshopped herself in that photo, which she often does. It's concerning that she does that but better than her arriving to worlds emaciated, I guess. I wish her the best this week.

I'm so excited for worlds. I delayed the start of my new work gig to next Monday so I can watch everything.

R292 Lol it's also no wonder that people messed up the translation of all that, he sounds like purple prose.

R298 No, 'tis I who is the prince of purple prose.

Fuj, yellow teeth , wrinkles, he looks like 35 years old

omg

R300. Really? He looks good to me. Glad to see him smiling.

R302 Seriously? He looks terrible

I think he's beautiful.

He looks very, very thin. Even more slender than before...I think. Maybe a bit too tired and stressed but absolutely breathtaking all the same, imho.

R304 This is photoshopped

R305. I admit he lost weight. He must have done that for a reason. I'm guessing because of his ankle. He doesn't look horrible though.

That was for R303.

Maybe there are new people in this thread, so let this be a public service announcement to you all - it is never worth it to respond to Dailtroll (r300/r301/r303 etc), even about seemingly innocuous things like someone's looks. It will inevitably end in an inchoate shitstorm that is at best mildly entertaining but never ever worth the trouble. The other thread managed to get rid of our psych ward friend because people just blocked it and stopped responding to it. Please help the rest of us out and do the same.

R308 I dont care he lost weight or not. He looks old . Obviously ,he sometimes wears make up , but not on practises.

R292 Thank you for clarifying. It was from this tweet. I get what he's saying now that you've put it in context.

R309. It reminds me of one of those anti trolls on Twitter that make fun of how he looks and saying things about his teeth. Will block now.

R309 The point is I am not some daitroll. you block many posters here , because they claim something you dont like. And later you think all of those people are one person

R312. You realize there are more people who think that his teeth are disgusting? Fuj, they are yellow

...he didn't go to their hairdresser for the highlights

R305 That's from him training at 120%. His 120% is probably my 920% which means it would kill me, but it was just weight loss on Hanyu.

R316 That thin , short japs is stronger then you? You re such a cunt

R291 I understand what u mean, that some skaters may never get anything back after all the hard work. But Yuzuru get much back that because he has more talent and hard work. What he is doing right now, put difficult entry to quad, is the hardest thing, but didn't get reward that much compare to how hard it is. 4T+3A seq is also difficult but the point is stupidity low. Basically because it's new thing and the rule maker never do theses thing by themselves so they don't know how hard it is.And I don't know how he survived many years of competition with skater that get candy score from judges many time. Anyway his fame also come from his personality, His charity giving all the money from 2 OGM.

Can u quess what height is his jump?

R250 more than 3000 people showed up for Yuzu practice, that’s more than some competitions (combined)

R304 Beautiful GOATzuru! The majority of the world agrees with you . He is also the rare one without any plastic surgery on that list.

R319 Majority? No one know him. Even in Japan he is hardly known

Laureus jumping on the bandwagon

R313: Yeah, getting tired of the thread cop.

I don't mind others having different opinions. But it's disgusting to make fun of how someone looks. I don't find it funny at all. The one doing that needs mental help. Being obsessed with teeth? Wow.

Lol, I am not obssesed. So who are you then if I am obsessed one ? I am just pointing out his bad aging

R311 Thank you. Oh, god. Everything in that tweet is wrong, every sentence. And so many have retweeted it. I don't even know where they got "It was very painful."

R321 Laureus is shameless.

R325 I smirked a little at Laureus as well, but below is their mission. If they can make Yuzu and figure skating known more world-wide, it's a win-win IMO.

Our vision is: “using the power of sport to end violence, discrimination and disadvantage. Proving that sport can change the world”.

We Support more than 100 sports-based community programmes in 35 countries to combat social challenges facing children and young people, such as violence and crime, discrimination, lack of education, unemployment and preventable diseases.

Every programme which we support is addressing at least one of the following six social issues, which are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

Health: Enhancing mental wellbeing and encouraging healthy behaviour change Education: Increased access to and completion of education Women and Girls: Promoting equality, empowerment and safety Employability: Developing skills and creating pathways to employment Inclusive Society: Creating communities which embrace ethnic, cultural and physical differences Peaceful Society: Resolving conflict, promoting community peace-building and creating safe spaces

Back to the good stuff. After 2 practice sessions I can't believe there aren't more pictures of you know who.

R327: I know, where is Mischa Ge!

"crossovers, 2 footed skating, forward skating doesn't matter, it's the hand gestures and face that creates passion"

speak of the ~devil~ coachoreographer

Bless Under Armour forever. Amen.

R331. Nice photo! ! I have a question. He looks like he has something under his top. What is that? And for what?

R332 It's likely a heart rate monitor/sensor or some similar device monitoring his vitals. The ones you wear around your chest are more accurate than something like a fitbit (at least when I looked into them a few years ago).

Ladies SP starts at 15.05 local time and finish at 20.56

The not to missed first group is

Hongyi CHEN

Elzbieta KROPA

Marina PIREDDA

Julia SAUTER

Valentina MATOS

Second group is maybe more iconic...

Pernille SORENSEN

Dasa GRM

Eva Lotta KIIBUS

Alexandra FEIGIN

Natasha MCKAY

R333. Thanks for responding. I thought maybe it was because of his asthma or something.

He really looks very thin even by his standards. Hope he is ok. I feel like he is even thinner than he was in Pyeongchang.

R336 It's totally photoshopped. The guy's orca fat IRL. Sad.

Great shot. Old chap behind Yuzu looks like he is enjoying the view.

R336 Yeah, his underarmor doesn't look as skin tight and the team jacket looks big on him. I guess it was necessary to keep as much weight off his ankle as possible.

R258 As another poster said both Nathan and Medvedeva are still teenagers and that's besides the point: Med's mom is divorced and hence not sacrifying her marriage for her daughter. Nathan may have a tiger mom with a dumb understanding of winning Olympic layouts but he is living independently nowadays. Even Shoma is living with his brother not with his mom. The only comparable case was Yuna but that did not last that long. Again this configuration is pretty rare and I am just genuinely curious as to how mama Hanyu copes with it. Staying 9 months per year away from your husband is very long even for a son who brings you glory and money.

R340 no worries, the Coach / Choreographer / Caretaker will resolve this big issue for ya all folks after this worlds. Only if I win the ISU Athletes Commission though.

R340 *eye rolls* ...bored...obviously you don’t understand other cultures. People outside of America are used to having to sacrifice for their children - even if that means living apart. You have an unusual infatuation with mama Hanyu and her marital relations.

Perfect physique and proportions

R340 why do you want him to be alone so bad? I think is nice he has a support system.

R342 Not American, thank God. I can't deny the "unusual infatuation with mama Hanyu's marital life" bit though. We are all weirdos here anyway.

R343 Bless. Bringing it back to what this thread SHOULD be focusing on.

R342 R344 Right? It's just his mom. They make it sound like he lives with someone creepy like Misha Ge or something.

R231 I think you have your own explanation , you are “too narrow minded”

r348 That statement, in this thread, takes the hypocrisy to a wehole new level.

R349- it’s a direct quote!!!!!

r350 Okay. It's funny AND hypocritical. Like this entire thread. So let's bring on more of that ass before it disappears.

>Staying 9 months per year away from your husband is very long even for a son who brings you glory and money.

I hate to shock you but, for many married couples, this setup is often ideal and can actually help rather than hurt a marriage.

asian people dont fuck with each other after 40, so they dont care.

First time poster. I ask, what this forum is that says laughter things about my handsome son, Misha Ge. He travels world, offering service of art, working bottom hard at low rates or votes to Athletes Commission and for this, he is called "creep"? I am peaceful woman (with much sexy times, unlike mother of unnamed skater), so no hard words - I will win over thread with photos of my boy from the rear. That seems popular on thread, no?

A favorite of mine. He looks like angel with ombre panty hose. I said to him, "you go more see through, show them beautiful." But he is shy boy.

Misha Ge, an angel we don’t deserve

R355 Well his ass does look rather nice in that picture.

r340 Uno and his brother are supposed to be living in an apartment near the family home, yet mom still wakes him up, takes care of his food, does his laundry (remember, he doesn’t even know how clothes dry), packs his bags, takes him to and from the rink every day, is known as his “second coach” for instructing him during practices, even carries his wallet because he can’t take care of it himself and it’s not an issue because she’s always around (Uno’s words). Almost every aspect of his life is decided by his mom or team. That's how he gets those crazy hairstyles.

You’re the one who brought up Med’s mom (and the tiger moms) for comparison and erroneously said she isn’t around when she’s always around and more involved than Hanyu’s mom, so it’s rather unfair to turn around and now say we shouldn’t compare them.

It’s also common for dad to be transferred to a different part of Japan or world and live apart from the family for years. I still think you're underestimating the fame/stalker and health factor.

R354 Why does no one ever ship Ge with anyone, not even his “best friend”?

My boy is getting new fans already! So many good tastes here!

[quote]Why does no one ever ship Ge with anyone, not even his “best friend”?

Good question, Dirty Tsar, I ask my baby all the time, "Why I find so much sticky tissues and socks in your room? The nice girls line up to be your tissue, why not pick one?" He says to me, "Mama, I'm good boy and focus on work. My people see me as figure of authority and pay much respect, unlike unnamed skater who shows off bottom offerings to whores on sodomite forum." This is heavy burden my angel must carry for having noted multi talents.

More present for new friends of this thread

some streams????

I'm using this stream...it's pretty reliable

Martin Bidar and his brother are super hot! I don't think he was wise to break up with his previous partner, though.

Sorry, the Bidar boys got me so excited I forgot the link.

Or this

Thanks!

Trennt MICHAUD is cute.

R92 The Fuji stream is da bomb. Thanks so much. I wish they were streaming for all events. K&C audio is really clear. Pairs results:

1. Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov RUS - 81.21 (44.14, 37.07)

2. Wenjing Sui/Cong Han CHN - 79.24 (42.73, 36.51)

3. Cheng Peng/Yang Jin CHN - 75.51 (41.28, 34.23)

4. Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro CAN - 73.08 (38.87, 34.21)

5. Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii RUS - 69.99 (36.95, 33.04)

6. Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres FRA - 68.67 (34.61, 35.06, -1.00)

7. Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise ITA - 67.29 (34.40, 32.89)

8. Ashley Cain/Timothy LeDuc USA - 66.93 (35.81, 32.12, -1.00)

9. Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nolan Seegert GER - 64.28 (34.77, 29.51)

10. Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer AUT - 63.65 (33.62, 30.03)

R365 I know. I already got him

Skater gossiping about Papadakis and Cizeron in front of the warm up camera. Something about Papadakis rooming with her or someone else, something about what Cizeron said, something about talking to someone you don't want to talk to sucking out your energy...

I think it was Laurence Fournier Beaudry who was gossiping. You could hear the audience screaming for Hanyu in the background. (Men's practice going on).

" But it's disgusting to make fun of how someone looks. " - Sorry but this line made me laugh, lol. Posters here do plenty of that when it's not Yuzu. At least some people here admit and embrace the thread's hypocrisy.

I'm here just in time to watch our fave Alexia Paganini!

Alexia and Emmi in a row now

Nice photo.

R371 did she live up to your expectation?

Really rough skate for Paganini, it looks like she's not going to make the long program. As her official fan club, we'd better send her lots of hugs and teddy bears.

Emmi ahahaha

R368 we want details!

Still waiting for the full list, but Hanyu going first in last group, then Uno. Chen last.

the judges in the Ladies SP are

Mr. Yuriy GUSKOV (Kazakhstan)

Mr. Teri SEDEJ (Slovenia)

Ms Yu WANG (China)

Ms Agita ABELE (Latvia)

Ms. Stanislava SMIDOVA (Czech Republic)

Ms. Mary CHAPMAN (Great Britain)

Ms. Deborah CURRIE (USa)

Mr. Nikolai SALNIKOV (Estonia)

Ms. Kari-Anne OLSEN (Norway)

Nicole Schott in the lead with 63.18

r377 Two people behind the camera were talking about the Chinese fed earlier: "They can shut it down if they want." Also, something about Deanna telling someone to stop, or someone telling Deanna to stop. Later, I think it was Hubbell who said she went shopping in Shinjuku. Someone else liked the pasta and salads provided.

Stream for the warm up area:

"Someone else liked the pasta and salads provided." This is so hilariously random, I love it.

Rajcova should be out with the popped triple and negative GOE on 3+2 combo

R381 thanks

Stream is geo-blocked for me.

I rely on you if something juicy will be told later

Eva Lotta KIIBUS from Estonia is the last qualified so far with 55.38

There are still a couple of skaters at risk

Chartrand, Brezinova and Toth

Then of the last 3 groups...in what shape will Daleman be?

Toth TES is at the level of those fighting for 24th place

TES fell 2 points.

Isadora Williams get in

Toth is the first not yet qualified. PCS put her in contention

Tamura is there! Massaging Kihira's legs. Papadakis and Cizeron were talking to some other people for a long time right in the middle of the room, but too far from the camera to hear anything.

ah that fat pig now on ice

So many difficult skates in the Ladies SP today, a lot of skaters I would've expected to make the LP are probably missing it, for example:

Alexia Paganini

Emmi Peltonen

Nicole Rajokova

Kailani Crane

Ivett Toth (on the bubble if a higher ranked skater bombs)

It'll be interesting to watch the long programs of a lot of skaters I'm not very familiar with.

"pigs can't fly" Brezinova qualifies

She has a Ge's choreo. So she deserves it

Misha Ge looks to be in high demand. I'm seeing him a lot on the Kiss and Cry.

Doesn't he have 2 skaters at Worlds? Med and Brezinova. The others he choreographed (Tomono, some Russians) didn't get to Worlds

McKey and Kiibus are the biggest surprises among those who made the FS?

Speaking of pigs, who was the stocky girl in the black long sleeved dress? She qualified. If she's working out so much she must have bad genes to still be so chunky.

Ge is in the warm up area now just standing on the side. Med practicing her jump take off and landing form. Kihira walking back and forth with trainer. Bell doing mat work. Richaud walked through earlier. The ice dancers are gone so no more gossiping by the camera.

Trqcy just showed up but still no Orser I think.

Men SO

R397 Orser was with Daleman

Daleman survives the SP and goes into the lead.

What's this talk about Mariah Bell purposefully bullying and injuring another skater? Apparently a complaint was filed against USFSA? Anyone got any info?

r399 Thank you. I tuned into the K&C stream just at the right time, but nothing particularly interesting was said. Daleman just excited and talking fast. The ladies have all left the warm up area now. Samodurova was there for a little while, but Zagitova and Miyahara warmed up in the hall.

Raf to Bell: That was not at all bad. (About ice scope?) It doesn't give you anything.

Nice skate for Mariah Bell. 71.26 SB into 2nd.

Turfy into the lead with almost 76. Highest TES and PCS

Aaaand in comes the Eteri bashing in the skating forums I'm reading.

Lecavelier at risk to go out

TES is lower than Toth

Daniil and Tursy laughed together, Eteri smiled and pat her knee but silent before the main camera was rolling, then pat her on the knee again after scores.

TES went up

She qualifies

[quote] Doesn't he have 2 skaters at Worlds? Med and Brezinova. The others he choreographed (Tomono, some Russians) didn't get to Worlds

I think Hongyi Chen of China is one of his?

R410 You are right. I already forgot her!

Samodurova behind Bell, into 4th place

Have any URs been called since Toth?

I'm glad to see Sofia behind Mariah Bell, her skate was solid but somewhat uninspired. Good judging there.

ISU president comes to see final group

Sakamoto into the lead

Stunning skate by Sakamoto.

Miss Consistency and nothing else can't rotate a fucking triple toe!?

Jackie Wong @rockerskating

Oh boy, definitely an under on the 3T for Bradie Tennell

That was probably Bradie's weakest SP this season, UR 3-3 combo and only level 3 steps. Normally I like this program as a vehicle for her strengths as a skater, but today she looked tight and lacked her lacked her usual power. Going after Sakamoto made her PCS qualities look weaker.

69.50 score and into 6th, deservedly behind Bell. It's going to be hard for the US to get 3 spots back now.

yes, they finally find an UR ...after one hour of sleeping by the panel

PCS higher for Tennell than Bell

Tiny Queen Satoko - combo looked UR (possibly both jumps?), tiny jumps and visibly poor speed and ice coverage after the last two skaters. 70.50 score into 5th, IMO she was marked generously and is lucky this event is in Japan.

Medvedeva TES fell by 3 points. PCS highest so far

Third place

Med - Muscles out her jumps and hangs on, appears stronger and more confident than 6 months ago. She finished with some great footwork, which helped me (and the judges) forget the labored skating up until that point. SB 74.23, into 3rd.

popped 3A

And Rika landed three 3As in warmup - says Wong. [pout]

Boy did they reward Med in PCS. More than 2 pts higher than Satoko? Sheesh.

Med to Orer: I heard you scream. Yeah! Orser: Lots of good hing. Nice performnce, too. Tracy: Good control. After scores. Orser - Not bad.

Hamada gave some advice but can't hear over background music. I think she was telling her to just go for it.

R423 Great footwork?

Kihira - Once again pops the 3A. I still dislike this program for her, it's too pretty princess, and she's a power skater in a similar vein to Bradie Tennell. 70.90 into 6th.

Mariah Bell is going to be in the final warmup group, how cool for her.

Zagitova will win the SP

and very easily

82.08

Was she that much technically superior?

Zagitova - She did a fantastic job, easily her best outing of the season. Her jumps looked high and fully rotated, with difficult choreography preceeding them. The music cuts remain bizarre, but she performed the hell out it. 82.08 SB, well deserved 1st place.

Questions going into the long program:

Can Zagitova hold it together, or will she bomb again?

Can Kihira come from behind and win again?

Will Lilbet land a quad salchow and shock everyone by winning?

Will Sakomoto's steadiness gain her a world title?

Will the US have a LP miracle and regain 3 entries in 2020?

Will Canada lose also the second spot?

Maybe Rika REALLY trying to follow Yuzu footsteps from 2012 Worlds. At this rate she’ll win gold in 2022.

Japan is lucky they have Kaori - this season has been a real break-out. At least it seemed to me that in the past, she was second tier, with Mai (who also has a lot of talent.)

The future is a real death-match between Russia and Japan in ladies. Everybody else can stay home.

Zagitova and Medvedeva's PCS were just silly, as usual, though Med's steadiness impressed me. I didn't know what kind of mess to expect. On the other hand, even though she landed everything I got an uncomfortable vibe off Alina. I don't know how the free will go for her.

So bigger question going into the free should be, which top 3 lady after the SP will stay in top 3 after FS?

I think it will change.

Alina deserved to lead after SP. It was the best I've seen her skate all season.

Hot take: I think Kaori should be leading. PCS gap shouldn't be there because Kaori's superior skating skills should make up for Alina's plentiful transitions. Everything else in components is subjective. Kaori should have had higher GOEs to pull ahead.

PCS: Zagitova 37.36

Medvedeva 36.63

Sakamoto 34.88

Miyahara 34.23

Tursynbaeva 34.18

Kihira 33.98

Tennell 33.41

Mariah Bell possibly being a bully will probably get buried.

Protocols

Where are you guys getting this stuff about Mariah? I want to hear more!

Judge2 on Tennell's 3F

Here’s the stuff on Bell and Lim for those interested.

I'm not the OP on the Mariah Bell info, but this is what came up when I googled "Mariah Bell bully."

Oops R446 just beat me.

Who is behind Shoma and Keiji ? He looked good !!!

R449 Maierhofer? But I am sure, I went by exclusion

Loving this tea on Maria. Why Eunsoo out of everybody though

R450 It could be him !!! Why I never paid attention to this good looking boy before ????

Luc is 16 years old, you creep! (and a quite average looking kid in my opinion)

I think Vladimir Litvintsev from Azerbaijan is handsome, and he's 18, at least.

R451 Could be a jealousy issue. Mariah isn't quite the star student she hoped she'd be after Ashley left and maybe she's jealous also of how kind Raf is towards Marin and Eunsoo. Now she probably wouldn't go after Marin because she's a star in Japan, her brother is there with her and JSF is a strong-ish fed. So why not go instead after Eunsoo whose fed is pretty weak and she's there pretty much alone. What she didn't count on though is how damn vicious Korean fans are. They've already begun posting comments on Mariah's instagram and under videos of her on youtube. You really don't want to fuck with those fans.

This is purely speculation though but I wouldn't be surprised if it was partially true.

Honestly ironic that prior to the Ladies SP I've seen concerns that Rika might win and get backlash for inflated home field advantage, but the Olympic champion inflation is too strong I guess that all those rash concerns went into the gutter.

Wow, those Korean skate stans are fucking nuts, looking at some of the stuff they wrote on Mariah's IG.

I hope this isn't all being blown out of proportion...there are always 2 sides to every story. She might be awful, I don't know, but I don't think online bullying and harassment is going to help matters.

JDC, please, will you comment on the following? As far as I understand there is a whole troll-factory in Japan (people getting paid to appear as Uno fans in social media, commenting favourably about him for money and dissing Hanyu along the way). There is this whole pro-Uno, Dai and Mao fraction who aim to unite their forces in their battle with Hanyu's impressive popularity and say that if you are 'a patriot of Japan it is naturally to hate Hanyu'. I never knew Hanyu's antis are so batshit crazy. Also it looks like 'Nagoya mafia' is really strong and there are some big money behind Uno-Itsuki project and the whole hype over Uno as a 'great skater who is meant to surpass Hanyu'. Looks like in JSF htese forces are quite powerful too. All of the dirt in this sport is disgusting...The poster of the thread is also attacked by antis with threads. I have read the translation in Russian so far and would really like to hear your opinion about the scale of this in Japan.

R457: Get some sleep.

Zagitova cheated the 3L more than 1/4 turn, but gets full credit and a nice +3 for execution.

Sakamoto should be far in the lead.

R456, I'd also like to see more on this story before drawing any conclusions, particularly citing sources from outside Korea (ideally in English). Skaters do sometimes intimidate each other in practice, but this sounds bizarre.

R456 I just took a peek at Mariah's instagram too. Wow, the comments are unhinged. Lots of stuff about her pussy smelling, something about her father's dick, apparently she looks like Wayne Rooney, an ape, someone's cock, a pig. My personal fav is someone writing "You're a horrible bitch" followed by a wall of text in Korean. Didn't know the Korean language was that nuanced.

Korean fan's behavior towards mariah remainds me Sotnikova matter.why are they always like that?

Just found Adam Rippon's response to the allegations against Mariah Bell - he says it's all a load of crap.

Fuck Rippon. His fifteen minutes are up.

R463 How would Rippon know what's going on? Didn't Lim just join Raf this season after Rippon retired?

Rippen choreographed Bell's short

R457 We covered a lot of this in previous threads, so you should reread them, especially JDC's posts. JDC didn't start signing their posts until late into the Hanyu threads (maybe part 6 or so?), but you can isolate their posts by using the block button. When you do this, you can see what they've posted since thread 1 of the Hanyu threads. There are, however, some juicy tidbits from the regular skating threads - I think the posts go as far back as Figure Skating 2018, Pt. XIV. Unfortunately, some good stuff was deleted along with Figure Skating 2018, Part XV.

It's worth a read and if you're a frau, you can cradle your mug of hot cocoa in front of a crackling fire while savoring the warm, comforting bedtime stories full of orgies, hookers, tissue throwing, affairs and (not so secret) abortions.

Can you unblock people? (I assume that's what the X is for up in the right but I've never used it)

Also, I think when you get blocked, it's a negative mark against your reputation - and if enough people block you, you could be suspended or banned. So using it for a favorite poster to get their posts together might hurt them?

Holy shit, the James/Guarise crash looked bad.

R468 Yes you can unblock people (by clicking the "X" next to the ignored poster). It's unclear what effect the block button has (and how it's separate from the FF (flames and freaks) button).

R391 Is it pigs or elephants that can't fly? I'm serious. This question has been bedeviling me. I thought he said elephants.

Or was it cows?? Fuck, someone please put me out of my misery.

It was pigs - I saw a little fluff piece or fan video or something of Mariah and Nathan Chen, in Japan, out on an excursion during an ice show, and they talked about it, on camera - that Brezinova was told by Raf "Pigs can't fly"

R473 Thank you! You're a lifesaver.

Haha. This is why I thought of elephants. It's from the NYT article about Adam's eating issues:

[quote]Arutyunyan said he had since learned to address his skaters’ weight with a new vocabulary, in his nonnative English, and realized that he could not be as blunt as when he worked in the Soviet system and thought nothing of calling an athlete “fat.” In the United States, he said, he has attended seminars that drove home the point that “it’s kind of abusive or maybe they can get sick.” So now Arutyunyan will tell his skaters that they look sluggish or that they need to be in better shape. “But basically,” he said, “same time I’m thinking, ‘O.K., how I can make elephant to fly?’”

Maybe he thinks pigs was a nicer thing to compare her to than elephants - so see, he's learning!

Apparently, Adam has had to take away Mariah's phone so she doesn't see the sns firestorm. Maybe he should shut down her insta comment section too.

It is 3.am in japan, so i think she has been sleeping

This might get Mariah on Dancing with the Stars! (Adam has connections)

Are fans on Twitter getting excited over nothing or is it confirmed that Javier Fernandez will be in Saitama starting tomorrow? I guess it would be a nice way for him to officially say goodbye to his fans since terrible planning prevented him from staying for the gala at euros. It's also smart marketing for his upcoming flamenco show in Japan.

Is Adam the guardian of raf's team or what. He's acting like a dad

Sorry to be obsessed over this, but this is where I got cows: Finnish skater Kiira Korpi came out with a skating tell-all, saying Raf regularly called Ashley a cow. Here's the thread. Also some things about David Wilson (nothing too new, just that he's always late and a cunt who doesn't listen to what skaters want). Lord, I love Raf's preoccupation with large flying animals.

I'm curious to see whether Adam will eventually back down if ATS takes things further - ATS (Lim's management) is run by Yuna/her mom and Adam's always trying to suck up to Yuna.

I don't think Adam's had any contact with Yuna for a long time, why would he want to suck up to her nowadays? Also, I'm so fucking tired of this cancellation culture. Go cancel Tessa Virtue as she liked Adam's latest IG post, that's basically the same as slashing Eunsoo's calf according to skater stan logic.

I saw this on another thread, and the first thing that popped in my head was "She looks like Yuzuru!"

Kovtun retired ?

How can Adam be the guardian of Raf's team if he is essentially implying Eunsoo aka another rinkmate and student of Raf is a liar or it's all a misunderstanding?

He should've just kept his mouth shut, not to mention that Eunsoo is out of her country and a minor, it's a bad look.

R484 I guess I got this impression because Adam frequently named dropped her in interviews talked about her on his social media, even after they stopped training together. Or maybe they're just friends. In any case, that would make his vociferous defense of Mariah a little awkward. Are people cancelling Adam? I don't even understand what that means.

Who is this Jacob skater guy? I remember him getting in trouble on twitter before for implying that besides Zhou, there are lots of other popular skaters with bigoted/problematic views (but refusing to name names). Here's what he said about Lim/Bell

[quote]I have a couple close friends who train under Raf. When I asked them about the Mariah/Eunsoo drama, they said this whole thing is just rumors and there is no bullying going on... Adam has taken Mariah’s phone so she doesn’t see the drama being posted about her. One of them even said Eunsoo has been problematic to not just Mariah but to the rink as a whole. Again, this is all just what I’m being told. This is not in any way my opinion on the drama, just saying what I’ve been told.

I'm confused. Does he mean that he as a grown up man is sharing locker with an underage girl on a daily basis or just that when they are not there he sits his ass there as well? In either case it doesn't look good on him.

R490 Someone should ask this very important question. Perhaps he also showers with them.

Supposedly Bell's bf also called Eunsoo a liar.

R489 Looks like flying blue whale. I weep for sport full of fatties.

And as if the day wasn't dramatic enough. Here's Johnny on the fainting couch. For American celebrities, "exhaustion" usually means "someone filmed me doing lines of coke" or "my sex tape is going to leak in 8 hours." Which is it, Johnny?

R491 Yes - someone screencapped Romain's comment.

Weird choice of words from Adam-- he "sits in" the same locker room as the girls?? Not having seen video of the incident, it seems unlikely that any skater would deliberately injure a competitor in plain view of thousands of people. I do find Eunsoo to be a better skater than Mariah though. Much respect to her for skating so well in the SP with an injury.

From what I've seen all of Team Raf share the same locker room. It's more of a place to just store their stuff, so nobody walks around naked or anything like that.

Lim is definitely a better skater than Bell. And much younger. Lots of potential there.

R489 A bunch of third party coming to Bell's defense. Why won't the skaters at the rink just speak up instead of telling it through the grapevine?

It's just rumors, so its made up? So then rumors made the separate rinks and training time happen.

Honestly wonder if they will drag Marin into this or ask for her version if there is an official investigation. Despite her season, she's still a star skater.

Twitter is full of skating stans "cancelling" this skater and that. And calling Adam (!) "an actively toxic presence in the skating community", for example. These people are the toxic ones. During the JC drama in January, they collected lists of skaters who had even "liked" a post about JC's passing and then called upon everyone else to "cancel" these skaters. Soon they will have no one to stan, hopefully then they'll go the fuck away.

People are reprimanding Adam for siding with a bully but Adam seems once more to be on the side of the weaker party, what with the Korean mob in Mariah's mentions.

Also, how the hell would Adam have managed to take away Mariah's phone? He's not in Japan.

R498 I don't know, I am busy having fun with Sean Rabbitt instead of thinking about these 2 flying cows

And my brother got highlights

[quote]These people are the toxic ones. During the JC drama in January, they collected lists of skaters who had even "liked" a post about JC's passing and then called upon everyone else to "cancel" these skaters.

R499, that is a completely different issue. JC was accused of harassing underage girls. Gross! I am still trying to recover from those disgusting red hats at US Nationals in support of John Coughlin .

Kudos to Deanna Stellato and her partner for not lowering themselves to the vile pit of snakes that is the entire US pairs.

I'm glad people are calling Adam out. He needs to shut his mouth since he wasn't even there.

If Adam is the bad guy in skating, soon you'll have no one to stan.

Adam attacked the person who merely translated those articles saying that the titles are "clickbait". Yeah Adam, because you speak and understand Korean. He doesn't even realize that several of those news outlets are very influential and important in Korea. Also why does an American news outlet need to report on this for it to be believable? Are we really saying that only English speaking newspapers are reliable?

I don't think you know what the word "attack" means. Oh, and go take a look at what filth is being sent to Mariah on IG. There's your attack. After seeing that, I understand completely why Adam said what he said.

R504 Adam specifically said he wasn't attacking the translator, and that he was addressing the clickbait articles. I agree that it's ridiculous to say a story isn't reliable until an English language newspaper picks it up. However, as an English speaker, I think maybe what some people are saying is that it's difficult to know the reliability of a newspaper source and/or a translation when you don't speak the language.

I went to GS to see what theu say about the topic and the thread was locked 3 pages in, lol. Something actually controversial happens so of course purple can't talk about it.

conclusion of the day

Brezinova is a pig

Rippon in an elephant

Wagner is a cow

The cow has spoken on today's events

I'm just going to put this out there, there is a real person on the other side of the screen. I understand the anger and frustration some people must feel in the skating universe today, but bullying should NEVER be met with more bullying. Kindness will always go a lot farther❤️💕

I'm just saying be nice, nothing more nothing less. Nothing to read in-between the lines. Just remember that when you feel something very strongly, it is easy to turn towards social media, but words a lot hurt too. Try to turn your frustration into kindness however you can 💁‍♀️

He didn't call Brezinova a pig, he called Brezinova's sister a pig. Last summer, Alina did an instalive during a tour for an ice show (I think it was FOI??) and you could hear Mariah, Dmitri Aliev, and Nathan talking in the background. Dmitri asked about Raf, if Raf yelled alot and if he was mean, and Mariah said "not really." Then Nathan brought up Brezinova's sister coming for help on her jumps and Raf said "I can't make pigs fly." Nathan said that was super funny, and Mariah insisted it wasn't funny, it was mean.

R509: So the cow is saying that Bell is a bully?

They could wait with publishing it after worlds. How she is gonna compete right now? I mean Bell

R510 Brezina is boy pig. Brezinova is girl pig. Everyone getting fatties mixed up today.

R510 IIRC they talked about Brezina's sister...who is indeed Brezinova

and mind you, given who was one of the former coaches of Brezinova...I guess she may be used to be insulted

Chen: 'Dude the only Russian I know - (mentions Raf) - he called ... you know Michal Brezina - he calls his sister a fat cow.'

Mariah: 'When she first came to the rink, he said - I don't know why you're here - pigs can't fly ... He's so mean.'

and anyway I am outraged that useless Nathan Chen has downgraded Brezinova to just being "Michel Brezina's sister"

R515 Jesus, that's right - Fajfr. Where is that fucker now? Hopefully in prison.

Methinks there's going to be a booing show for Mariah.

R518 still coaching in Oberstdorf

Kovtun retired?

Toshi (from X Japan) is one of the Fantasy on Ice musical guests. Tamura must be jealous. Beni and May-J were also added.

Bell is supposed to perform in The Ice again with Uno, Chen, Boyang, Ponsart, and Marin Honda, but that was announced before the news about Lim…

R457 Tweeter claims their brother’s friend and friend’s classmates were looking at recruitment ads for part-time work and came upon an ad about making multiple fan and anti SNS accounts to praise or bash athletes in certain sports, figure skating in particular. A classmate emailed the company behind the ad for clarification and the company said they wanted people to create SNS accounts and post comments on twitter, IG, blogs, articles and videos bashing Hanyu and promoting Uno, while also praising Takahashi and Mao. Pay would be per account, comment, and like. If they kept at it, the company would gift tickets to shows or competitions, and provide 2000 yen for transportation. The company claimed their trolls have already generated 1000-1500 accounts. Average troll earns 60,000 yen a month or 150,000 yen a month if they get their family or coworkers involved.

R457 First of all, I’ve never heard of a “troll factory” for figure skating or any kind of sports fandom in Japan. It’s true the JSF and Hashimoto (JSF president) have treated Uno and Takahashi better than Hanyu and the media has been supporting the two. (Even the performance in the opening ceremony yesterday was an ad for Takahashi’s show “Hyoen.”) But Hanyu has had social media antis for at least seven or eight years. Why would the JSF need to hire internet trolls when it’s already being done for free? Hanyu antis usually are a combination of Takahashi, Uno and Mao ubers, but Mao is not in the same agency as Takahashi and Uno. If some organization was trying to recruit trolls to bring down Hanyu and bring up Uno, and it wasn’t just some crazed Uno uber, it’s far more likely that Uno’s agency or Dad's company would be behind it and bringing Mao into the situation doesn’t make sense.

Here's my problem with the screenshots of the supposed recruitment ad and emails from the company:

The first screenshot (recruitment ad) came from the tweeter’s younger brother’s friend. The second (company’s email) came from the younger brother’s friend’s classmate. The name of the company that placed the ad, the URL of the ad, and sender’s email address have all been cut out, so there’s no identifying information to verify if it’s real or where it came from. What’s the point of the screenshots if you’re going to cut out the most important part?

Fajfr managed to get an accreditation for Pyeongchang. I guess it was from Czech Republic

Germany Olympic Committee wouldn't allow that like when they had to step in and embarrassingly get rid of him ahead of Sochi because well, German Skating Fed was (and is) not chalant about that.

And even more embarrassingly for them was what happened during the Wende/Wende's K&C after the FS

r521 Does that online anti stuff actually has any effect? Hanyu's reputation seems untouchable. The recent Japanese music ad for Worlds, the one of the with the opera singer and Mura randomly doing some show, still manages to kinda present Worlds as a Hanyu show. All those magazines, awards, charity reports, international adoration, etc. Looks like poor Uno doesn't stand a chance.

r457 The email from the company sounds too unprofessional. “Why does Hanyu need to be criticized? To be frank, he’s in the way.” “You see, we have big plans for Uno.” “We want Itsuki to become a famous celebrity.” “We want people to think Hanyu’s time is over and it’s Uno time now.” Would a professional organization or company say that? They also claim they’ve been trying to lower the reputations of Kihira and other skaters. Why would the JSF do that to Kihira?

The pay is too good. 200 yen per blog entry after 10 articles. 100 yen per twitter or IG account, 500+yen a month for keeping accounts active, 25-150 yen per comment on a video or article, and they’ll even pay you (OK, only 2 yen) for just liking an article?

As for the DMs from Takahashi and Uno ubers calling the tweeter a traitor to Japan, the usernames have been blocked out, so we can’t verify if those are real, either. Even if they are, what does that prove?

I’d believe it if it was something like USM trying to recruit people to write positive amazon reviews about Itsuki’s book. (They were definitely behind those series of weird articles calling Itsuki a hot supermodel.) But this seems too good to be true, like someone’s trying to provoke Hanyu fans into causing drama.

R520 R523 Thank you. JFC I thought the Americans had a monopoly on embarrassing displays of support for sexual miscreants.

R524 "Poor Uno doesn't stand a chance?" Please, don't feel sorry for "poor Uno." I think he gets plenty of chances with all the uncalled URs (that are visible to anyone with eyes). I actually like his skating quite a bit and love his personality, but even I recognized he is an overscored little troll.

R524 didn’t you hear Hanyu’s ice show is going on his week in Saitama?

r527 To a sold out crowd too, I heard.

r526 Lol, by "poor Uno doesn't stand a chance" I meant that all the antis efforts to get him more popular than Hanyu are bound to fail.

R480 This article says Fernandez will be in Saitama. Probably there to promote his ice show, but the yuzuvier fangirls will read into everything he does.

Oh yes, I forgot, I guess he's also there to commentate on Hanyu's performance.

R524 Media uses him and his fans as much as possible in both positive and negative ways to sell whatever it is they're selling. Often when there's the slightest reaction or even no reaction to something anti by Hanyu fans online, its picked up by the mainstream media and used to bash Hanyu and characterize his fans as crazy. (I don't share everything here because it happens too often.) Many people do still seem to be duped by rumors on twitter about him lying about the earthquake. I'm surprised Uno hasn't done any commercials yet, not even for Toyota. I'm sure he's had at least one offer.

R531 This is precisely why I'm happy to be distracted by Raf's penchant for flying animal analogies and the Bell/Lim drama. Hanyu's skating and career trajectory have been dramatic as hell, but he has never personally courted or encouraged any of the shit that swirls around him. It's sad that people aren't going to leave him alone until he stops skating and is out of the public eye.

When you say there are people who "seem to be duped by rumors on twitter about him lying about the earthquake," do you mean sane people? Or are these people just crazy antis who will believe anything bad about him, no matter how preposterous?

I know no one here cares about Satoko, but why the fuck is she getting the same PCS as Tursy now.

r531 Huh, I didn't realize Shoma hasn't done any ads. Really surprising, given his family's push and his management. But maybe he's actually thinking about his skating and doesn't want distractions? That's probably the reason why Yuzu has so few endorsement deals.

533 I actually think Tursy's PCS were fine. She deserved her PCS more than Med or Alina. But Satoko was way underscored.

r534 Or rather, I should have said, Tursy's PCS were fine given the general inflation, and Satoko should be getting 40 by comparison.

R535 Yes, this is what I meant - I'm used to her getting underscored compared to MedZags, but now Tursy too?

Satoko got what she deserved

How will the Japanese react if Satoko is underscored in the LP?

R537 Ann, darling. I thought we came to an understanding.

It is a joke. Med with UR got such big PCS , but Satoko also with one UR has gotten much less. Seriously? Why? Satoko is a porsche comparing her Evgenia who skates like a truck

R538 Sorry, no one gives a shit about a barren has-been who can't jump.

[R540] I do agree that Med skates like a truck. Thanks for that.

OMG - the hate messages on Mariah's instagram has reached almost 2K on one post. I'm not counting the hate messages on the other posts.

In latest news, Pogo had slut-shamed Liza and so Liza shaded her on Twitter.

Ladies is much more interesting this season.

R544 Thanks for bringing this up. Apparently Pogo said she would never do a strip tease like Tuk on ice and she's glad Med is going to WC. So Tuk responded with this (microsoft translated): "Anya, you've been paying too much attention to me lately. Although I have no problem with attention. Are you worried about my future children? First of all, I will teach them to respect their elders, their coaches and the work of other sportsmen, not to seek excuses for their failures in other people."

I've read in passing that people think Tuk's sluttiness might have cost her the worlds spot. Has anyone else seen this or believe it? I mean, I love to call her slutty and fat, but that's because she's neither. She's 22 and people are alarmed she talks about having sex?

But she has to talk about sex? Who cares anyway? She thinks if she has saggy tits she can behave like that?

Made a new thread. We'll be needing it soon.

R543 don’t mess with Korean netizens. They will take you down !

R548 Do you think japanese ones wouldnt behave like that? They are nuts, too

R532 A mix of people who just lack critical thinking skills and people who need a better reason to hate him.

R533 The writing was on the wall with that tech and judging panel. I don't think I'll watch until the scores are out. Don't even feel like eavesdropping in on the warm up room even if there's gossip about Bell.

R534 Uno has done fashion shoots, other sporting events, and some TV (non CM). Maybe family insists Itsuki should also be in the commercials.

r538 That depends on Uno's scores and placement. If he's overscored, JSF will be accused of selling out the women for him. Also depends on others PCS (Med especially, it'll be tango vs tango).

R545 No, it was all TAT and Russian sponsors. Also, Pogo is probably regretting her marriage at 19.

Figure skating charts:

Satoko's tango is exquisite - one of the most beautiful programs I've ever seen. In a fair world, Med would never be able to touch it, PCS-wise.

I hate nbc commentary

Anyone watching pairs?

I'm watching, but I'm very tired. I'm afraid the Austrians and Germans are going to put me to sleep...and if they don't, Z/E will for sure! And I want to watch at least the last 2 or 3 groups of men live. This schedule is a pain.

No comments.

Anyone else annoyed by Kristen Moore-Towers and her plastered on cheerleader smile? You're skating to Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, dear. I really hate that cheesy North American style. Bring on the Chinese and Russians!

Worst Cain & LeDuc could finish at this point is 9th, so 2 spots for US Pairs in 2020.

The judges really don't like giving points to the Chinese pairs teams...

I'm guessing this is the last season for Michael Jackson programs.

Philippe Meriguet is among the judges today

Judge No.1 Mr. Miroslav MISUREC

Judge No.2 Ms. Antica GRUBISIC

Judge No.3 Mr. Albert ZAYDMAN

Judge No.4 Ms. Bettina MEIER

Judge No.5 Ms. Ariadna MORONES NEGRETE

Judge No.6 Ms. Cynthia BENSON

Judge No.7 Ms. Anny HOU

Judge No.8 Ms. Saioa SANCHO

Judge No.9 Mr. Philippe MERIGUET

Redford 27 votes

GE 23

Rest didn't bother to vote

Glad Cain & DeLuc got the the 2 pairs spots back for the US. I wish it was that easy to win back the 3 ladies entries.

We'll find out soon if I can make it to the free skate this year!

So Cha kinda bombed. 79 points. 8th place. Aymoz is leading with 88

Tanaka obviously bombed because he performs well only when it counts (for him)...at Nationals to get the selection

Look at me, skating my way into 5th place and the FREE PROGRAM!

So the cut off will be after Yee (73.63)

Cha looked nervous.

Given Orser's comment in the K&C about pain management and Cha's interview from 3 wee ago, they must have been expecting this.

One big splat for Boyang. He is not going to beat Aymoz today

That was a spectacular looking fall from Jin. Kind of epic, even.

This is the weirdest men's ranking I've seen in a long time.

84.26. Third behind Aymoz and Brezina

Vasijevs fucks up his axel and combo. They really need to invest in the jump coach or just stick to shows.

Vasiljevs barely over Julian Yee

yes, Vasijevs should change coach if he wants to improve.

Deniss was lucky to qualify for the free skate with that effort.

Nice skate from Rizzo. I hope he ends up top 10 so he and his teammate can both go next year.

Rizzo 52 TES. Respect, even though the program's a bit boring.

Matteo is very bland in my opinion, but he's one of the most consistent men in awhile.

ok, Rizzo in the lead now. 93.37

Bychenko looks improved from earlier in the season. Guess he's back to training hard again and partying with his girlfriend less.

Up next: DL fave Vincent Zhou!

What are they smoking with those GOEs?

Looks like we can look forward to a happy journal entry, I mean instagram post, from Vincent later.

Tough break for Samarin popping the quad.

The King is on the ice!

I assume you mean me, R588!

Sorry, I just finished.

POP.

Wow, what a shock to see Hanyu pop a jump like that.

Planet Hanyu must be losing it right now.

Zhou may have said he proved he could podium at Worlds, but Hanyu just proved that he can do half the number of quads and still beat him.

Is Hanyu really in first after popping a jump? That's amazing.

and Uno goes down

I like Shoma's costume, it gives his body more elongation and the royal purple suits him. Too bad about the fall.

Did they inflate Hanyu's scores?

Jason Brown in first place

R598, depends on how much of a Hanyu fan you are.

Is Jason Brown going to go into the lead with his quadless program?

R600 nah either they did or didn't.