Yatagarasu

That's not really the point. He should have gotten one now. He lost extremely valuable international experience this year. This is when he should have had a bit of room to breathe and stabilize fully, among other things, thanks to that experience. Instead they have pushed him aside for very obviously less talented skaters who will never do anything at all in international competition, and for what? Usual JSF nonsense. There are three folks here who should have gotten two assignments and that's Koshiro, Shun and Yuma and while two did, the third and IMO most talented of those three was left out to dry. Next season ... yeah well, we're just starting this season and his is practically over. And what if something happens, knock on wood it'll be fine of course, but skating is not an easy sport. Injuries happen. He will have no experience whatsoever to fall back on in that case. You don't get JGP spots by how old you are once you get into the Junior age range. You should get them by looking at your overall talent and development of that talent. It's really no comfort at all to think well, there's next season. Shun thought that last season too and oopsie.

No, we're not missing anything. 1) His other quads need major work, his Lz isn't even a proper quad, or a proper Lz 2) Right now, he only jumps the Lz, Sal and the T, there are still the F and Lo that aren't even used in competition and most importantly 3) If Brian allows a 14yo to even try an unassisted Quad Axel he should be banned from coaching. Not that he would, I am sure of it. It's madness.

Oh he did? Well if so, then questioned answered. That leaves us with Yuzuru this season and perhaps AD Jr who is always a giant question mark. Well, knock on wood, Yuzuru settles this issue this season. Personally I do hope it's either Helsinki or Cor latest, so that he can start getting used to it.

About those Kanto regionals, we've spoken a bit in Team Japan in re to Shun Sato and JGP so let me bring the scores/protocols over: https://www.jsfresults.com/National/2018-2019/fs_j/block2/index.htm

Of those that went public that they're training the 4A, yup. I mean Keegan's in an interesting position. He could actually break through this season if he could stabilize that 4Lz. At SC it's an interesting field - Shoma, Kazuki, Jun, Jason, and ok, even Samarin maybe. So if he has a clean skate he could position himself pretty well for the GPF with a 2nd or 3rd but his 2nd assignment isn't easy at all. He's at CoR with Zu, Dima, Kolyada and Kazuki. So who knows what he'll decide. He could go for it even if his 4A is not in a good state, with a I've got nothing to lose, or he could decide to solidify his reputation with a clean skate, even if his 4A isn't that bad in practice and even if GPF is a bit too far this season. Lots of variables.

Oh I want him to land it first too, and tbh, it's not just one reason at this point. I really, really do. I'd still be in awe of anyone who does land it, first, or otherwise, because it is such a monumental feat and I'd offer my congratulations. I'd be disappointed for sure if Yuzuru doesn't land the first one but it is so hard to begrudge anyone tbh; it is such a monster jump, Nessie is. But that just brings me back to this - I still believe that Yuzuru has the greatest chances of landing it first, knock on wood, precisely considering the difficulty of the jump. And everything crossed that everyone trying is safe and healthy. I don't think that even with more people trying, we'll end up with many people succeeding. At least not in the near future.

This got me thinking - in re to scores: Shun Sato, 217.73 (Yuma Kagiyama 200.47) JGP Bratislava - would have been 2nd 1. Stephen GOGOLEV (CAN) 226.63 2. Mitsuki SUMOTO (JPN) 210.31 3. Daniel GRASSL (ITA) 199.26 4. Andrew TORGASHEV (USA) 194.75 5. Roman SAVOSIN (RUS) 189.86 JGP Linz - would have been 3rd 1. Camden PULKINEN (USA) 223.95 2. Koshiro SHIMADA (JPN) 220.45 3. Roman SAVOSIN (RUS) 211.10 4. Conrad ORZEL (CAN) 200.46 5. Daniel GRASSL (ITA) 191.38 JGP Kaunas - would have won 1. Andrew TORGASHEV (USA) 201.63 2. Kirill IAKOVLEV (RUS) 199.01 3. Yuto KISHINA (JPN) 191.80 4. Egor MURASHOV (RUS) 190.32 5. Geonhyeong AN (KOR) 178.56 JGP Richmond - would have been 2nd 1. Petr GUMENNIK (RUS) 220.04 2. Tomoki HIWATASHI (USA) 213.24 3. Adam SIAO HIM FA (FRA) 199.14 4. Yuma KAGIYAMA (JPN) 194.73 5. Stephen GOGOLEV (CAN) 187.67 ... 10. Sena MIYAKE (JPN) 165.19 JGP Ostrava - He would have won 1. Andrei MOZALEV (RUS) 217.12 2. Camden PULKINEN(USA) 212.45 3. Joseph PHAN (CAN) 207.80 4. Kirill IAKOVLEV (RUS) 205.92 5. Mitsuki SUMOTO (JPN) 201.55

Guys, we have a Junior skaters thread for this stuff. And forget it. JSF are a bunch of incompetent morons. It's hardly the first time we see this. That's why Shun's not showing up at JGP this year either. They nurture talent only when it suits their agendas. He'll have to fight his way through by force, with no help by JSF. Same old, same old.

Fan of an idol =/= fan of an athlete and in Japan, the difference is quite big. There's no going back now unfortunately, he is treated as somewhat of an idol but the proprietary nature of that [idol] culture makes me shudder. My only consolation is the hope that once he retires, in a year or two after that, things should settle down for him there.

He has tried it before in competition (has anyone else, come to think of it? I am not sure, I don't think so?) and he was far from it. Even in practices, if we're being lenient, he's managed to underrotate it at best. I am not sure this is a wise choice for him but on the other hand, I have so much admiration for this guy. He has been trying for years.

Tally so far: Names in red have qualified for the JGPF, blue are substitutes Men Ladies Ice Dance Pairs Camden PULKINEN (USA) 28 Andrew TORGASHEV (USA) 24 Stephen GOGOLEV (CAN) 22 Kirill IAKOVLEV (RUS) 22 Mitsuki SUMOTO (JPN) 20 Roman SAVOSIN (RUS) 18 Daniel GRASSL (ITA) 18 Petr GUMENNIK (RUS) 15 Andrei MOZALEV (RUS) 15 Koshiro SHIMADA (JPN) 13 Tomoki HIWATASHI (USA) 13 Joseph PHAN (CAN) 13 Adam SIAO HIM FA (FRA) 11 Yuto KISHINA (JPN) 11 Alena KOSTORNAIA (RUS) 30 Anna SHCHERBAKOVA (RUS) 30 Yelim KIM (KOR) 26 Young YOU (KOR) 20 Shiika YOSHIOKA (JPN) 16 Alexandra TRUSOVA (RUS) 15 Alena KANYSHEVA (RUS) 13 Anastasia TARAKANOVA (RUS) 13 Anna TARUSINA (RUS) 13 Kseniia SINITSYNA (RUS) 11 Viktoria VASILIEVA (RUS) 11 Rion SUMIYOSHI (JPN) 11 Elizaveta KHUDAIBERDIEVA / Nikita NAZAROV (RUS) 30 Marjorie LAJOIE / Zachary LAGHA (CAN) 28 Eliana GROPMAN / Ian SOMERVILLE (USA) 18 Loicia DEMOUGEOT / Theo LE MERCIER (FRA) 16 Arina USHAKOVA / Maxim NEKRASOV (RUS) 15 Sofia SHEVCHENKO / Igor EREMENKO (RUS) 15 Natalie D'ALESSANDRO / Bruce WADDELL (CAN) 14 Avonley NGUYEN / Vadym KOLESNIK (USA) 13 Maria KAZAKOVA / Georgy REVIYA (GEO) 13 Elizaveta SHANAEVA / Devid NARYZHNYY (RUS) 13 Polina IVANENKO / Daniil KARPOV (RUS) 13 Diana DAVIS / Gleb SMOLKIN (RUS) 11 Ksenia KONKINA / Alexander VAKHNOV (RUS) 11 Eva KUTS / Dmitrii MIKHAILOV (RUS) 11 Darya POPOVA / Volodymyr BYELIKOV (UKR) 11 Anastasia MISHINA / Aleksandr GALLIAMOV (RUS) 30 Polina KOSTIUKOVICH / Dmitrii IALIN (RUS) 28 Kseniia AKHANTEVA / Valerii KOLESOV (RUS) 26 Apollinariia PANFILOVA / Dmitry RYLOV (RUS) 26 Anastasia POLUIANOVA / Dmitry SOPOT (RUS) 22 Sarah FENG / TJ NYMAN (USA) 16 Laiken LOCKLEY / Keenan PROCHNOW (USA) 14 Riku MIURA / Shoya ICHIHASHI (JPN) 13 Patricia ANDREW / Paxton FLETCHER (CAN) 13 Cleo HAMON / Denys STREKALIN (FRA) 12

This is my only issue too. All I can think of when I see that front is this and it kind of makes sense because how Shoma is built. But Yuzuru is not Shoma, so I get this same feeling of a skosh too small. There is no need to try and elongate him. In fact if he had a high collar there of some sort it'd work better. I mean I still love it because the details are truly incredible but it is too-Shoma like to enjoy it as much as I could have otherwise. Origin is truly something, I am in love with it. It is so impactful that any similarities are driven out of my mind in an instant. I actually do not even think of them. He looks quite commanding, and dark, in a good way and frankly adult in that lovely mature way, that I am simply too googly eyed to think of much else. Those shoulders. Mmmm. I do hope the designer will have a care in the future though. Her costumes are beginning to look alike way, way too much.

Holy cow

He's in Ljubljana and Yerevan, we'll see him soon! He was injured, nothing major but he is also growing (has grown quite a bit) so they decided to be extra careful. They've pushed the JGPs as far back as possible, and also why he wasn't at test skates. He probably has a quad by now actually. ____ And speaking of quads, JSF are ultimate ............. because all the feds are working on pushing out their skaters into the JGP while they're as young as possible. What does JSF do? They go lol no at Shun Sato - TWICE already, and he already has a 3A and is working on a quad which is beyond all these others. Oh right. But he's from Sendai. Sigh.

""Right now, all I can think of is that I want to win." Oh he wants to win all right. Sure, under circumstances that he prefers, which is skating the best he possibly can (and usually even then he's unhappy about something!) but make no mistake - he wants to win. He is the sort of person who is incredibly competitive and he would have been had he been a salesman. But as that goes in life, he found himself engaging in professional sports and that drive got honed into stratosphere. He is probably actually too competitive but within this world of sports, it is ideal to be on top and keep going and going even after all that he has achieved and that has happened. He can't help himself, it is who he is.

All I can hear in my head now is those lyrics from one of Eurovisions songs - thunder and lightning, it's getting exciting

I almost spit my coffee out now. He does look like a villain about to take your life. A +++ drama Japanese TV. Well done!

Mhm well, got to complain about something when everything else is so perfect and what's left in his wake is a trail of death defeated others. ETA @yuzupon I am finding all this terribly hilarious, negl.

*pats* We know Zu, we know.

He probably started asking for this, that, and they already had the folders and answers ready. A leopard does not change his spots and they've been with him for far too long Though someone should probably warn poor Jason that cave troll has gone on a war path.