Yatagarasu

I know she said she wasn't interested but sometimes I wonder if she maybe should have given pairs a shot. It's different enough that it may have helped her get over the psychological block she quite obviously has. It really would be amazing if she could stay in skating, whatever the way, though I understand and I guess all the press nonsense from a while back didn't endear to her any change of discipline.

You can all rest easily, for now. Quints don't even have an assigned value, so until they do, that's pretty much it. And ISU will be extremely cautious with those, especially considering how much talk there is currently about quads and the possible health-consequences. Skaters will keep trying and it'll probably happen because the equipment is progressing, but in an official competition? Eeeeh.

Isn't that a bit odd though? Considering everything? Well I guess we'll wait for the test skates but tbh, I am not too optimistic. Hopefully am wrong though!

If I have this right, Gorshkov says RusFed still doesn't know Yulia and Urmanov's plans for 2017/18 season? I am not sure that sounds good.

Not yet but from all the hints from earlier, it has looked like the SP would be Hamilton for a good, long while now. No clue on the FS!

One of the problems is the mindset of the old 6.0 system. This is why you'd have Yuzuru's scores being depressed in Helsinki when he went on first in his group, because they were leaving 'room' for Shoma and Javier. The thing is under CoP there's no real need for that, if they're better, they're better but there's still this mindset from how it used to be under 6.0 so it's not even always purposeful/nefarious but just habit. Not denying there is fudging because politicking is alive and well but it's a bit of a mix of things.

Well, most of us. I guess that's why I am so baffled when anyone is hostile to him. He's just such a genuinely lovely, sweet person. It's like kicking a puppy! And btw, we're almost to the point where we're going to see at least his SP. Hamilton, more than likely, can't wait!

He is such a ray of sunshine!

@xeyra Ah all the awesome ladies!

Asahi will broadcast the uncut version later on anyway, in September, so we'll get it, sooner or later.

Ah, good, good, thank you! I was counting on that thing working, fingers crossed The site itself is up at least from what I see, no rush on the rest, I can check too when I get home.

@Fay Help! Are they blocking the sportbox we used to watch online?

Thank you @Fay, @Hannah! No wonder she's tired then. Well fingers crossed she completes them well and at least gets that burden off her shoulders. Oh and Pogo is back in Japan!

Is she done with graduation exams or are they yet to come? With that and training, plus all the traveling she did which was more than just a regular holiday, I am not surprised she is out of it a bit. Oh and Misha is there too? Huh. But I bet that'll please Zhenya and indeed, give them some fun times!

Now, you know you're right about that. One more nose bleed and half of this fandom would be ghosties. How considerate of her

She is married to herself so she's both Mr and Mrs?

Zhenya has arrived to Novogorsk She looks nice but super tired!

Well I can bring Kobe news if you truly want it! Of course, not really fluff but very interesting. I wonder if he's there for training (of both Yuzu and Javier of course) and I would not be surprised if this is so, and we can even connect it partially to what we've just been talking about (which is why I put it here too, apart from the Kobe thread).

Isn't that the truth. And while of course there is the whole - overcoming difficult things makes you stronger - wisdom, which is undoubtedly true, it also leaves consequences and everyone has a limit. For some, it may be quite high but sooner or later, people will hit that one thing that is too much. Reading all of this text really brings the point home over just how extraordinarily difficult it had been for him - dealing with the injury itself and it's potential consequences, then the whole issue of how it even happened (here especially I'd expect his nature of deep thinking would have hit home in a painful way), Boston and events there (and here, combined with the previous, and undoubtedly some feeling of letting people down), not being able to practice and then still stubbornly pushing on ... it could have easily, all too easily have gone the other way. For me, there is no doubt that it is not only his talent that earns him the title of genius, but his mind too and yet, that mind toes that line, as all genius does.

Yes, I think that's a pretty normal thing to do, when going for the Lutz for the first time. And of course, there's the natural impulse to try and pre-rotate and thus slip onto the inside edge, and flutz. I guess I am not too fussed over the tiny difference in terms of BV but perception, goodness yes. Though that's a whole different conversation and not for this place. But yes, very much so.

It's curious, that one. I mean all right, some of it is a bit of the sour grapes, then purposeful direction of talk, and all that but I do sometimes wonder how much there's a bit of an effect of the early r****ment syndrome, so anyone who sticks around longer, gets this 'old' appellation after a while, regardless of their actual age. Yuzuru has been around in the Seniors since he's been quite young too so though his actual status is the awkward middle child, and he's quite young, he gets grouped in with the veterans because he has been going against them for so long and as a person competitive in his own right, instead of just at the same time. If anything, he's now entered his 'mature' years of full strength and we could say, as seen by this text here, that he has had a massive trial by fire in terms of psychology too and how he handles such huge challenges which probably matured him a great deal and I'd say crystallized some things in his way of thinking and approach to skating.

When it comes to the lutz, the thing that makes the jump difficult is the counterrotation. If you take a look at the take off, the entry is counterrotated compared to the entry edge. The direction of the rotation itself is opposite from the direction the skater's body was moving on the ice. So basically it's not 'natural', but against it. Not to say there isn't a point in the quad loop being more difficult than what it is worth right now in BV.

Ha, yes! All the talk about his spins Looking back now, in this context, I'd say you're exactly right. Collateral indeed, and curious too. I wonder how much stamina issues were his usual plus in this case, focus on the 4Lo, plus the injury itself, or rather the consequences of it. So we could even say focus on the 4Lo may have counted twice! I am curious what we'll get from him now. And it does, doesn't it? It's also kind of curious how eventually the season, and this upcoming season, is sort of revolving around that in various ways. Perhaps holding on to what he knew was not going to betray him, like the 4T and surely the 3A, and in the larger context expanding from the new way of looking at things and the 'higher average' to what we have now, which is even a step further, while incorporating others' way of thinking, into what works for him. So we did get to Chopin after all It really does make a huge difference, in various ways, but I'd say one of the most important ones, is his peace of mind.

Ladies, I am very much down for that. Just photos plus hints if peeps get permanently stuck. We should do this as boy, is that off season long once the shows are done and knickknacks is perfect for this type of thing! Prize? If we can think of something!

That is a curious question, about the improvement of the 4T. In fact, if I remember right, @mcq and I were discussing his 4T and how it didn't have the quality that it used to have prior to this season - which of course now, in context of it all, it makes perfect sense. I mean we knew he had reduced the training of it, it was logical, but at the time we were missing all this info that kind of makes the situation even more difficult than I at least originally thought, from both aspects, physical and mental. And it wasn't as good as it used to be but it was still stable, which made it all the more remarkable. I think maybe it was a combination of several things, what you mentioned there helping out, then when he perhaps increased the frequency of practicing it as his foot fully healed, maybe he could use those small details even more efficiently, etc. You know, If I were to guess? I think what maybe helped overcome the fear is that it was stable. So even with the lack of practice, his 4T still worked because as a jump it was truly ingrained in his memory. Maybe not as good but it was there for him and it's possible that helped. But I'm only guessing as his mind is quite unique so it's difficult! (I still haven't digested all my thoughts on Chopin so I am bowing out of that one!)