meoima

I think if by now, as of early Feb, Yuzuru has regained most of his jumps aside from 4lz, then he will mostly not bring 4lz to the Olympics. It’s just a week anyway. They get to decide by now. I think it’s fine. His top priority is to skate clean.

The Poohvalache might become the headlines of many top news agencies...

You might have noticed that aside from Yuzuru who has been MIA for most of the season, the top men actually have simplified their programs up to this point, judging from their outing. Some programs look even emptier than how they looked at the beginning of the season. About your comment... per my understanding, these guys have not improved their complexity despite having the potential to do it, is that a good and complex program takes time to gel with all the elements. They do not have enough time and not enough attention for that right now. Also, it takes time for the skater to improve their SS and speed. There is a reason why older skaters tend to improve their skating skills because they simply spend more time in... just skating around. Every skill needs time. Yes some skaters almost never improve their skills despite old age because of 1) wrong method of practice or 2) not enough motivation and not enough effort in changing the technique. The issue is, most skaters get too hyped up with the race for Olympics, they know as long as they skate virtually clean, they're fine, and their coaches know that too. I mean everyone knows that but they go along with the way anyway. Recently I rewatched Javi's performance at European and I was like: WHAT WHY HOW he got level 3-4 for most of his spin and step elements, because if you look at his performance in a deeper way, if he were not a top skater, he might just get level 1, 2 or even just a V sign for them. There is one thing I admire from Eteri group, is that even though Medvedeva and Zagitova do not fly on the ice, they do execute packed transitions and do not simplify them. Their programs are very rich in term of skating movements, unlike most of the top men. I have to say, it is not biased to call Yuzuru as the only top guy who integrates top quality skating transitions with many quads in his program and they even match the music. And even though I am not a big fan of Yuzuru's NDP and Juliet 2.0 that he got from Davi Wilson, and I do think yes to some extent he did benefit from higher PCS than expect due to his huge jumps and being the only contender against Patrick, these 2 less favoured free skates are still very much PACKED with transitions and there was CLEAR effort in trying to improve the complexity of his skating by that time. I am glad Yuzuru NEVER simplified his complexity for the sake of instant PCS.

I remember that topic and the poster is very fair. Too bad he doesn’t count the current skaters anymore. Back to the “article”, not to be mean but Chykyo is not much of a famous research institution anyway. Chukyo university place 137th in Japan university ranking when it comes to research. Iron Klaus has showed that ranking on her twitter. if it’s Waseda or Keio research we would say something. But it’s from a university which you have to scroll a lot (and this case it’s almost near the bottom) to see their name then... I remember Khoai’s university even has several researchers won Nobel prize and it’s definitely higher than Chukyo university. If this data were from somewhere like that I would have taken it more seriously. But nope, it’s from a place with not much prestige in researching with conflict of interest and the numbers don’t make sense so... I am no researcher but in my line of work I have to read and quote a lot of researchs. And no where I’ve seen such kind of research with dubious data.

There is a physics teacher on Twitter says the data that the professor at Chykyou university was wrong. If you want to ask her what's wrong about it then here: I talked to Perform - live and he showed me his data of the quads he collected. He also stated that the Japanese professor's data is unreliable. But since he used those numbers for his living I am not allowed to share what he told me here. There is this one tiny data though I think I can share: in general, Yuzuru's quad (and 3A) can be longer than Shoma's quad (and 3A) around (almost) 77-80cm when it comes to ice coverage. In my opinion, that Japanese professor might indeed use some real data but the way he used the examples was selective for the following reason: - The camera angles? Why no video/photo to show the camera angles and how they got the data? Look at what Perform-live do. he based his analysis on photos + video angle with certain error margin. - The starts of the jumps were not counted the same time (certainly they count pre-rotation time for Shoma as airtime already) - The jumps which were used were not the same type of jump with same quality (it's easy to pick out a bad jump from skater A to compare with a great jump from skater B) - There is no indication of how many jumps they collect, no real standard of jump mechanism... DO YOU KNOW THAT AMONG ALL THE JUMPS, the LOOP HAS SLOWEST ROTATIONAL SPEED and LEAST ICE COVERAGE? That's why, with the same skater, the same number of rotation, the Loop will always be the smallest jump in general. And this is why -3lo combo is always fricking difficult. Now if you use one's Loop jump to compare to a Toe Loop jump to talk about which is bigger... you get the idea? and YES to all of this below: Anyway, since it's near Olympics I don't think there is anything new here. I think people should stop playing the political correct. What the professor at Chukyo University is doing is obvious for a reason: to boost his favorite and to talk down Yuzuru. If that professor is fair, why he only chose Yuzuru and Shoma (and yet the article used Nathan's photo instead), there is NO indication of all the questions that @Neenah has mentioned above. If you're a serious and fair researcher you should show all of that to prove your point but NOPE there is NONE. Everything in that Asahi article was vague and questionable. If you're fair and only want to count the numbers for the sake of it, look at the Russian blogger, he did his research on a huge scale. Whether his numbers were correct it is a different issue. It simply shows that he did not pick out any skater and he simply did the calculation for all the ladies as well. The way that Asahi news article was doing, sorry, is trying to make Yuzuru look worse and make their favorite look better with dubious data. There is no other explanation. I would rather trust people who have no bias /no relationships with the said skaters (Perform live guy has no relationship with the Japanese skaters, his clients are mostly European skaters), and the Russian blogger, his numbers might be questionable but he used the same scale on everyone. He is technically a nerd who used Mishin's method.

This blog post said similar thing http://the-real-xmonster.tumblr.com/post/169861159069/have-you-seen-asahi-news-published-data-of-a

It is relevant to compare if the skaters have similar BODY SIZES. For example, Polina's jumps are surely among the biggest in ladies but she is also among the tallest ladies. So it makes sense to compare her jumps to tallest ladies like Carolina Kostner and Maria Sotskova (same body type). Liza's jumps are surely among the biggest but we should take into account she is quite a small lady, much smaller than Polina. Her huge jumps + pure technique make it actually more impressive in this view. Jumps, height, speed... have a lot to do with the body type. So for someone like Polina to have huge jumps, it's inevitable she rotates slower than Satoko (who jumps smaller) as Polina has more power in her legs, but also it is inevitable for Satoko to rotate faster than Polina as Satoko’s body is tiny. Yagudin's jumps might be the biggest ever in male skating. But his rotational speed was not as fast as Plushenko because their body types were very different. At their prime, Yagudin was a powerhouse type of jumper while Plushenko was more of a faster rotator. If they compare Yuzuru + Nathan or Boyang who have similar body type and height, it would have made more sense. But they have to compare Yuzuru to someone who is quite smaller with dubious numbers, that's why their numbers speak BIAS and WRONG. Think of Polina vs Satoko. It is impossible for Satoko to jump bigger than Polina, also impossible for Polina to rotate faster or as fast as Satoko. Because it's their body type. That's why it is pretty much illogical, if in a quad (4 rotation) for a skater who is QUITE SMALLER than Yuzuru to jump higher, bigger and rotate faster than Yuzuru especially in the same jump. If you find anyone who is SMALLER than Yuzuru, jump BIGGER than Yuzuru, stay on air LONGER than Yuzuru with more ice coverage, that person might be landing a QUINT. This is not about Yuzuru vs anyone, I will just react the same if someone says Marin Honda jump bigger than Polina. It is just pure common sense for a normal skating fan to point out how wrong this kind of "data" is.

I mean even if you don't watch live, the jumps in video are good indication of how big someone's jumps are. Unless they're desperately trying to spread the wrong data...

Technically, Polina's jumps are among the biggest in size, even bigger than Liza but Liza's technique is much purer and more effortless. The difference is really small though. Yes I am chatting with Perform Live and he agrees that data by the Japanese "professor" is absurd.

Pre-rotation, remember? Anyway I do not trust that the Russian blogger did well with his calculation. Now look at this guy who calculated TecShoma's "4F". Shoma's 4F and 3F technically have same airtime http://perform-live.com/blog/video-analysis-of-figure-skating/164-how-to-do-a-quad-flip-by-shoma-uno-japan.html

Yuzuru's weak 4lz (with a weak landing) at CoR was 69 cm in height: I assure you, this guy (who made this video) does sport video analysis as a living. Carolina Kostner and Mishin pay him to help with her training. So he is very serious about all of his data. He records, collects and saves data of all skaters from novice to senior. I would rather trust this guy than that "professor".

Yeap by this logic Polina already lands fully rotated quads, and Uno has fully rotated QUINT. I mean it's MATH!!! It's PURE MATH people! It's like saying Yagudin's huge jumps with Boyang's rotational speed. It's a QUINT already lol.

New interview I think http://www.fujingaho.jp/lifestyle/hanyuyuzuru_171228

(1) Most quads that Nathan and Shoma did at GPF were not just borderline, they were outright UR (2) SS: Shoma >>>> Nathan, TR: both of them weak (3) Nathan + "gorgeous SS" = incomprehensible (4) Saying Shoma's SS = Patrick's is an insult. Patrick uses like half of the crossovers Shoma does.

Yeah I think 4CC and no team event might be most suitable. But again TCC might have come up with some better options. I have faith Yuzuru will be fine by Olympics.

Do we have other competitions before Olympic aside from 4CC? I have heard many people complain 4CC is too close to the Olympics.

No, not him. In short, if they called UR rightfully... Kolyada might have won. Lol

And tech panel at GPF this time was super easy... MANY UR were ignored...

We only have 6 types of jumps. I wonder what she meant “8 types of skating”?

Kaori’s SP is a huge relevation to me. Watching her live with such speed, such jumps. Wow But the LP is a bit... I don’t know how to say this. But I am glad she sold it much better at SA.

There are some skaters who are better at projecting in reality than on television. Some skaters make me feel flat watching live (for example Dimitri Aliev is a bit not remarkable to me). Carolina is someone you have to watch in real time to understand why she gets such PCS despite low TES. She does have some special movement and maturity. I really like watching her even though her programs this season are boring to me.

Yuzuru suits rock music with strong rhythm (because he is a young man at heart), ballad music (because his body is slender and airy), Classic music (because of beautiful body lines and the flow in his skating), and warrior/dramatic music (because he is dramatic). Maybe in the future he will do even some jazz program. I think he is pretty much versatile. Just don’t do latin/comedy programs. But pretty much I think Yuzuru can do a lot, he just doesn’t want to take too much all at once as he is a perfectionist and he wants to refine everything in his performance so it takes a lot of time. I think Chopin and Seimei make up of a great due, both show the lightness and smoothness of his skating but also his power and speed and his command on the ice with a flare of drama. I would say no one can express some certain music or theme if they never experience it themselves, for example I understand why people say his NDP and Romeo&Juliet 2.0 were not that good at interpretation. The thing is, I couldn’t even connect with those music as well. These choices were just not connecting to me at all (and I have quite a lot of experience with musical themes and literature world). So it’s hard for older generations, how come people expect it’s comprehensive for Yuzuru who is much of a young person. I am sure many young performers (skaters, dancers, musicians) have this same feelings of performing to theme/choreography they don’t really connect with but their coaches/instructors/teachers tell them to do so. But it doesn’t matter. Many famous classical musicians have stated that somehow they don’t understand why people prefer their certain performances when they’re young, even though at the time they actually didn’t like what they were playing. Ironically, people’s perception has always been diverse and divided. I am not fond of Yuzuru’s Romeo 2.0 and NDP. But I am glad Yuzuru skated to Romeo 2.0 and NDP, he had chances to learn and adapt to new things, to walk out of his comfort zone. Those programs clearly contributed to his personal growth as a skater. Anyway, people’s perception of good interpretation depends a lot on how clean most elements are executed. Even if the skaters don’t understand anything about what they’re skating to, as long as they land the jumps well, do the spin fast and well-centered, their presentation and interpretation automatically are judged better by the norm. My conclusion, if you complain about Yuzuru’s Romeo 2.0 and NDP, I recommend you watch other programs with same music and same theme by other skaters in the past. I mean... they’re not that much better than Yuzuru anyway. They might hwve the more suitable costumes and certain looks that suited the stories. But did their presentation showed of any deep understanding? I doubt that. Maybe in ice dance or pair, NDP and Romeo by Nino Rota looked more convincing, but not so much in singles anyway.

If Nathan doesn’t bring 4lo to Olympic then the chance is that he might skate quite well at the Olympics. Generally skaters don’t try new elements in the Olympic season because the pressure goes with it is huge.

Thank you so much for translating this. I really love this part: The writer is an ex-ice dancer my friend said. She really knows FS very well.