meoima

I am sure Yuzuru knows repeating a program 3 times is no easy at all. So I still think we should not rule out the possibility of a new SP after FaOI when Jeff has time with him. However, even if he indeed will skate to a new version of Chopin again, I doubt that judges will give him lower PCS than 48 if he goes clean. And his elements for sure won't get below +2 if he does it perfectly. Because judges can not give less than that with the quality he has. Look at Hope and Legacy... Yuzuru might have been underscored around 5 points there, but LP has more elements than SP. So, if we take into account that judges act coldly towards Chopin 3.0, a great performance from him will not get underscored more than 2.5-3 points. I doubt that they will go further than that. A score around 105-110 is enough to keep him in the last group, thus will help with the PCS and GOE in the LP.

PW 1.0 he was clean at SA, NHK and National 2012. PW 2.0 he was clean at TEB, GPF, National 2013, Olympic team, Olympic individual. But those was the time of 4T 3A and 3lz3T. His current SP will have 2 quads... so we should not expect that kind of consistency.

Nathan Chen without proper transitions also only did maximum 4 clean performance back to back (National and 4CC) and he did that without huge pressure. So I guess the maximum of male skaters going clean with multi quads is not high. I am sure Yuzuru isn't unrealistically thinking that he can skate whole season clean.

Well Jeff has been on ice shows for 2 months straight. I am sure Yuzuru being the perfectionist he is, will drag Jeff to the Mariposa ice rink and adjust the program as much as he wants once FaOI is finished. I am sure Jeff wants that too, they're a winning duo.

Let's not talk about the 4lz for now, which I am certain we will see it from him. There is a reason he needs a consistent SP. Because as long as he does SP well, he will be among the lead after SP (if not the leader) and skating late means his PCS and GOE won't be affected badly. One big reason why Hope and Legacy didn't get much love was also because Yuzuru didn't skate Let's Go Crazy very well and had to skate quite earlier than usual in the FS. Had he skated last at Helsinki, Hope and Legacy could have gotten 230. So, by giving a consistent SP, he is guaranteed with better positions in the free. Now... he might have something even bigger in the free that we don't know of... what about 3A3Lo? Or even 4-3-3...

Why it's safe when he will upgrade his layout? This is purely math. There's an interview just today with Kiss and Cry magazine in which he mentioned about challenging new layout in the SP. He certainly has something in his mind about the layout he will practice from July to October. And I am not shocked if 4lz belongs to that plan. Judges can't give a certain program lower scores than before if the program is performed that well, or even better (with harder layout). And judges are not told to give some boring programs same lesser scores. People hating on Medvedeva's 911 LP didn't affect the judges to give her WR. You seem to overestimate the judges too much. Even if they dislike the program, if he is consistent, they can not stop him. They didn't like Hope and Legacy and still had to give him a WR (even though underscored) because everything he did was too good and must get above +2.

Most casual viewers don't care if the skaters have reused the program for their whole life. I have seen people who know Yuzuru but don't know that Yuzuru has reused Chopin again and again. In Olympic season, most people who sit before television watching Olympic will not have a clue which programs are old. As long as he doesn't skate to PW or Romeo again. The point of Olympic is to skate to the best programs with cleanest execution. Had it been Beethoven he would have chosen something he had performed many times before. Heck, even Bach and Mozart reuse their own melodies many times. They occasionally copied this and pasted to that. It's not something new in the art world.

And frankly, judges will inflate other skaters's scores no matter what, we have known from this season. Javi with old style for 5 years still get huge scores. Nathan without proper skating still get good PCS and GOE. Shoma with cheated jumps and virtually no difficult transitions still get huge scores. On the other hand, Yuzuru skated to something new, more difficult in both programs (Let's go crazy and Hope and Legacy) and got quite lower scores than he should. So by repeating programs that he had gotten much better scores, it's the same as saying: "I did harder stuff and you didn't appreciate, how about I skate to the stuff you guys gave huge scores in the past, dare you underscore me now?" At this point people have to understand, judges don't care if you have something new, whether difficult music, innovative set up, packed transitions... they all don't matter. Judges give you scores based on reputation and politics. If I were Yuzuru I would just skate to no transitions and say: "Screw you guys, now I do the same as other guys, give me same scores as them." Instead, Yuzuru even he comes back to old programs, he still makes them harder, with more transitions and harder layout. This strategy surely give the judges no room to underscore him when he does well. Because judges already threw candies to these programs before, they can not take it back, and with higher BV, jugdes also can not underscore him cause those base values are constant.

I assume Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and many other great composers in the past were lazy as well. Because they kept copying and pasting the musical theme and melodies from their previous works or even from other composers' works. And no one complains that these great name were lazy. I assume that skating to a music he has been familiar to, thus he can deliver higher tech with better quality and consistency every time to the audience is lazy. I assume all the great Olympic champions in the past who won with watered down programs and recycled themes were lazy too. It's not just you who is a classical musician who happens to like ice skating, and of course someone has to know the history of western music too. There has been copy and paste for like thousands of years, there has been recycling for thousands of years too. The point isn't not repeating, the point is actually repeating it and perfecting it.

So bringing this from the fantasy on ice thread: It is said that Yuzuru tried out 4lz at FaOI practice. He landed 2 out of 5 times. And one landing was perfect. it is good that now he still has the whole summer to practice 4lz. As he doesn't have to learn new programs anyway. So all of his training time can be focused on those new difficult jumps.

I still think his SP is still open up a bit for debate. Cause literally, he hasn't had a new SP choreography yet. I am just sure he already has the LP done somewhat during the time in Toronto. We shall see, from now until August if Yuzuru will decide to stay with Chopin and upgrade the layout or get a new SP entirely.

Yuzuru has always done combo in the second half... for some reason... Now people understand why he insisted on doing 4-3 in the second half of LP. Because now his 4-3 in the second half of SP is already stable.

Jeff hasn't finished the ice shows. I still think there is a chance that once Jeff and Yuzuru have time together, they might think of a new SP. Or they might adjust something very big in the SP.

Well, on a brighter note, the original Chopin 1.0 was magical and more of an art. I have seen some comments saying that the Chopin 2.0 is more of a CoP oriented program than an art. 2 quad in the front makes the Chopin less of a masterpiece (yes Blade of Passion where are you lol) I assume Chopin 3.0 will be very close to the original Chopin 1.0 with Spead Eagle Quad spread eagle // 3A + quad combo in the second half RIGHT on the 2 consecutive musical notes. Personally, I do want a new program from Yuzuru. But Chopin 1.0 has never been skated clean. If we talk about a true art in CoP, then Chopin 1.0 would make it.

For the records Olympic 1994, Urmanov also won Olympic with lesser tech. Olympic 1998, Kulik won with watered down programs, fewer transitions and easier set up DESPITE HORRIBLE PROGRAMS AND COSTUMES (that horror thing,..) Olympic 2002, Yags won with watered down programs too. Ironically Goebel had the hardest tech and got 3rd. Olympic 2006, Plushy won with watered down programs AND by repeating programs (that Godfather). Olympic 2010... Evan won without quad... So Yuzuru keeps upgrading his tech and yet people still complain lol

I am fed up with people who are entitled that Yuzuru should have programs that suit their taste so they can root for him. This is a sport, and I am telling you this, most Olympic Champion won because they did not risk. Yagudin watered down his layout to win. Kulik watered down his programs to win too. Frankly Yuna Kim won Vancouver because she didn't have to do 3Lo her weaknest jump anymore. If anything, exciting programs don't help you win. It's the ability to stand on your feet when it counts help you win. If you support him just because you want programs that excite you then feel free to go. As a sport fan, I support Yuzuru because he is a sport man first and foremost, not because he is an artist or so. If I need art, I have art at classical music world already. This is sport, whoever has the best strategy and mindset win.

Off to work on Saturday because some people need me... Still pretty chill about his choices of programs...

Yuzuru still hasn't appeared yet?

It's more likely we will see 4lz in both SP and LP.

And for sure Chopin will have some new choreography parts... and rhe casual viewers will love it anyway.

Where exactly did Shirota say Yuzuru will try various layout for Chopin?

I don't dream a lot about him but whenever I dream about Yuzuru, it's all becoming true...

Am I the only one who pretty much chill about all of this? Cause I saw that in my dream a long while before Yuzuru came back to Japan... I honestly didn't expect my dreams to become true but yeah... his programs will be amazing and will remain for the whole world, even non-FS fans to remember and praise as the best of the best. And he will be fine at Olympic.

That... we will. He will have a new ex.

On a brighter note, if the rumors turn out to be true... then no boobskirt during Olympic season. I am ok with that.