Joey

Yeah, that was absolutely what I was trying to say there, absolutely If he just doesn't want to do a new EX or go back to repeating old programs as EX (like 2013-14), then that is fine and reason enough. He can do whatever he wants, he's the one skating there. I was talking about the possibility. But sure, same thing Anyway, I won't say anything on that matter anymore. In positive news, that Misha interview cracks me up. The 3 of them are like Harry, Ron and Hermoine - gee, Misha, whose Ron & Hermoine there?

Ahahaha, of course Germany wins. Why am I not surprised?

Sigh, what has his EXes not being 'throaways' to do with it? Where did I say they were, or anyone elses? Of course he treats them like programs that mean something to him, but no, he doesn't treat them like competitive programs. Not at all. He shouldn't either, EXes are flat out there for a different 'purpose' in the first place. And why would he put more time in then necessary, just to proof something? If it doesn't take him more time, then it doesn't. It's also not comparable to get a new EX (or re-use some other old programs as EX) to getting a new jump. That's fundamentally different in how it affects what he does. New jump/new jump layout happens on the ice, learning new choreo, especially for an EX, potentially in it's majority does not. It's usual to practice choreo off ice as well. And the mainly limited time factor is the on ice training (especially in Yuzus case, due to his asthma). Plus it's about not tiring yourself out, and practicing jumps is also a lot more taxing then practicing choreo. You know what would majorily affect his training time for the new jump? 'Playing around with the 4A', like he himself said he did this off season. Even better, remember when we heard the frist rumors about the 4A? From Max Ambesi, smack in the middle of last season as well. He's not doing it now, according to him, becasue of the injury risk, not beacuse he doesn't have the time (and new choreo/a new EX/old programs re-sued as EX don't have the same problem). I honestly don't see why he would have the 'resources' (like time, stamina) to play around with the 4A in the off season but not the resources to get a new EX, or practice a few other old programs again (that he just wouldn't have used because Tat at CoR). I'm not saying he should have, if he didn't that's fine, I'm just majorily confused at the assumptions that new/different EX programs "would take to much time" Additionally, yes repeating Chopin & Seimei grants him more time to focus on the other stuff compared to learning new choreo - but has he said himself that this is at least partly the reason as to why he's repeating? I'd think it was in line of "programs he's comfortable with" more then anything else, and nothing like "I don't have the time to learn new choreo" (also, with the changes they made to both programs, I'm sure he's put more time into getting choreo then a lot of others with "new programs" anyway). Honestly, Seimei is his baby, I have rarely seen anyone so invested and connected to a program. He'd re-use it anyway no matter what the jumping content is, and said himself he decided on Seimei for Olys in 2015. Chopin OTOH doesn't really have a new jumping layout (maybe yet), so not really a good reason to repeat it, isn't it?

Because competitive programs take a lot more time and effort then an EX? Honestly, the difference there is huge, it's not comparable at all. Given how you have to think about how to incorporate so many jumps into competitive programs, the spins, most of all the step sequences... nobody cares if your steps in an EX would get level 4, if you only do 1 jump (or maybe 2), you don't have to even know the choreo as well because even if you make a mistake, who cares? Not to mention that the overall choreo is often way less complex as well. Also, really, skaters do not sit there 6 days a week for months doing nothing but running through the same 2 pieces of music over and over and over and over and over.... well, at least most of them. Many start working with choreographers on new programs during an active season too - between 4CC and WC, between nationals and worlds, whatever. Or they at least try out a few new ideas in between.

Thank you so much for doing these! And it does compliment the time-on-one-foot data quite nicely, doesn't it? Are you planing to add other men to the list too? Me, selfishly indirectly asking for Boyang

Haha, I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling like that - Swan is beautiful, but I don't see why it's so much more beautiful then a lot of others, like Believe, Hana ni Nare, Requiem, Story, FTT... and IMO variety or something new are always better, let alone because we have current Yuzu performing Swan, but we don't have the other ones. Additionally, it's very likely he did Swan in CoR for TAT. She was the one who wanted that music from him anyway, she never saw it live - so there was the chance. I can't believe he'll repeat that program for the whole season too, and I don't think so. He might either switch between old programs (and tbh I don't think going back to old programs would take Yuzu as much effort as a lot of people think, it's not as if a lot of skaters didn't completely learn new EX's within a few days, or as if Yuzu couldn't still pull out the exact right movements to his 2011-12 LP whenever the music happens to play in the background, or as if skaters wouldn't take a tiny bit of time off for fun stuff even in important high season times...) or still go for a new one. I'd actually love a new one, but I'd be fine with both. If he does repeat old stuff, I request Change

Yes, the Olympics are.... special. And with the competitions starting at 10 in the morning this time, it will be unusual for basically everyone involved. Tbh, I'm quite annoyed the Olympics are so much the be all and end all of Figure Skating. I think 2 consecutive WC titles like Javis or the 2 titles Yuzu has 3 years apart, Patricks 3 WC titles, let alone Yuzus 4 straight GPF wins - that's all more impressive then winning that one comp every 4 years. But well, none of my complains will change a thing ^^"

Wow, that is a very harsh view IMO. By that logic, since 2014, nobody except for Yuzu has actually won any competition, they all just stumbled into it because they were lucky Yuzu messed up. And while a clean Yuzu would have won every competition since then, the fact he wasn't and didn't deliver is part of the competition process. Javi won Worlds 2015 and 2016. Nathan won 2017 4CC. DTen won 2014 4CC too and wasn't just lucky Yuzu wasn't there. The best man that night wins, it's not always the best men overall at that time point, it's not always with a great performance. But if you did the best that night, you win. Also, I'm sorry but if everyone wants to get all worried every time Yuzu is called the favorite for Olys, you'll have a lot of worrying ahead of you Didn't Plush predict Yuzu for 2014 pretty closely after 2010, when he was only JWC? It's not a jinx, it might be a good luck charm If you want to be superstitious: Yuzu got 2 silvers per season since 2013-14, otherwise always gold (except for a 4th place at NHK 2014, but we don't talk about that). So maybe all gold from now on? He was the first man to land 4Lo and goes into Olys as reigning Oly champ. You know who landed the first 3Lo? Dick Button, that last guy who managed to repeat his OGM (and he landed that 3Lo in between his 2 OGMs too!). Lots of positive signs out there too, just focus on the right ones (OTOH, be happy he wasn't at SC this year - with the way Chiddy skated, he might have won that. And for the superstitious lot, that gold medal is cursed. Ask Javi, the only other man to take it away from Chiddy in recent years, who then ended off the Oly podium in 2014!)

I have a similar problem too, especially when I try accessing it from my phone

This is really interesting, thank you for sharing! For these guys you didn't include the jumping time, like you did for Zu, right? So if we'd want to compare with Zu as well, he'd have 1:53 minutes? That would still be double the amount Javi has, and nearly 4x the amount Shoma has. Talk about a big difference in SS/TR/CH.

Haha, tbh every time someone says the panel in SC was soooo harsh, I have to laugh, because geez would I have set there it would have been twice the carrot farm And I don't want to be bitter, but I think Zu rarely gets the benefit of the doubt from TPs while others do. Same with that combo/no combo thing in his Helsinki SP. Yes, you can judge that as invalid according to the rules, but TPs rarely, rarely do that. The only time I think he got the benefit of the doubt was the 4T in his 2015 GPF LP. But on the other hand, there is stuff like the 4T in the 2014 WC SP. How often would that happen in Figure Skating? A skater comes into a competition, in his home country, just being crowned the new Oly champ!... and gets a bogus UR call on a jump. Lol indeed.

I have no idea what's going on here in general right now, just jumping in because I was mentioned IMO, Yuzu's 4Lo was borderline and it depends on how strict the TP is when they decide to call it or not. It's fine to be strict and call it, but then be consistent - because by the same standard Nathans 3A was URed as well. Nathan didn't get a call though, which isn't really 'fair' by comparison. I wouldn't be worried about him repeating any URs though.

And quick, quick onto the next event - so that you may have a bit more time for your predictions then last week! Questions for Cup of China are up: https://www.flexiquiz.com/SC/N/cc9a82bb-0328-4da6-80d6-52f9e7954a15 As always good luck for everyone and have fun! PS: 2 more things, especially since you have more time this round: if you don't remember your picks anymore, you can also contact me and I'll look it up for you. And in case you want to change something, handing in a second round of guesses is fine. Edit: The google spreadsheet showing your detailed answers now also includes the ones for SC - check again if everything is fine and I got your points right. Bonus questions got you 2 points each if right. Also, you can take a look through the combined PH answers regarding SC here. We where quite split on the ladies silver medalist and Pairs 1st and 2nd!

Haha, yes most men prefer the lutz to the flip in general, in triple version already. Nathan seems to do quite equally well with both, which really is something unusal and amazing. Boyang or Zu have a good flip still, but I couldn't imagine either going for a 4F. Mika f.e. doesn't even do the 3F at all. In general, most skaters prefer one of the 2 and it's quite evident throughout their career, and I think possible explanations range from the shape of the legs & hips playing a part, to generally trying to push for the lutz more because higher BV, so if capable people will have a strong lutz and the flip suffers by comparison. But tbh, I have no idea about that myself at all. I just get why being good at both his hard, the end As for flip vs. loop - I have the same feeling that the 4Lo might actually be harder then the 4F. Because you have no additional toe pick to vault yourself up, and it is definitely harder to get good GOE on it, because the mechanics make it more of an up-and-down jump: it's harder to get good ice coverage and a good running edge coming out, at least for triples. Regarding Zu, I do think the 4Lo is his "weakest" quad GOE wise. It's more difficult to say with Shoma, I actually think his 4Lo is way better then his 4F, but the comparison is difficult because of his hybrid technique on the flip. And it will likely take years until any real studies are done to determine the BVs there. ISU just goes with triples and then upgrades all BV for quads, but honestly, it would make sense to me that a 3Lo could be easier then a 4F, but a 4Lo more difficult then a 4F. Guess work here though.

Regarding PR & UR, just IMO: pre-rotated ones are by Dima, Vincent and Alexander Samarin (Dimas and Alex' aren't that bad though, more borderline IMO). The others are fine on the take off (I'm actually surprised Adams looks this good, respect!). URed definitely Adam and Dima (they're basically pushing for a double carrot...), Vincent and Alexander too, but not as badly. Pretty clear to see IMO that a good quad does need a lot of height, as clearly Boyang, Mika & Yuzu have the best lutzes regarding rotation and technique, and also the most height (although obviously better technique allows you to get more height too). Only Nathans is smaller but still clean, he makes up with insane rotational speed though (and the jump isn't small itself, rather average). It's still hilarious we have so much more 4Lz's then 4Lo's & 4F's!

*hands a round of cookies to everyone* better? Well, let's get down to it and see how awful you all really were, right? Maybe surprisingly, we (as in PH as a whole) actually did better at SC then we did at CoR, all disciplines combined. Mainly we have to thank Ice Dance for that, and most certainly not the men. The detailed results are still here, but let's get to our top scorers: In Ice Dance, we have so many people with the full 14 points it would be overly extra to even list them all. We have an average of 12,6 out of 14 points! As for Pairs, there are only 3 perfect scores - belonging to kitsune, OhYuzu and YT. And those are the last perfect scores, as ladies and mens wasn't so much our tea leaf flavor I'm afraid. Yata won the ladies with 12 points, followed by kaeryth, Moni & YT with 9 and Saya, PapiandPooh, xeyra and Kelly with 8. Well, and theeeen.... there is the disaster in men. Out of 14 max points, we managed an average of 4 points together, which is basically Yuzu Skate Canada SP pops & zayaks level of bombing - which I guess actually means we should be super proud of ourselves for being very loyal fans for bombing SC for him when he isn't there to do it himself. Everyone knows this is a good omen for the rest of the season, so well done everyone! The highest score achieved was 6 points, by all of Fay, Hannah, Kaeryth, Kelly, LadyLou, LilSailor, Lily, Moni, xeyra, layli, Saya and YT. Overall, the SC prediction medalists are... *drumroll~* 1.) YT with 43 points 2.) Kelly with 40 points 3.) Moni with 36 points Congrats to the winners! As for an overall look, CoR & SC combined: Highest points in men are held by LilSailor, 18. Fay, Hannah, Kelly, Lily, Moni & xeyra are following with 13 points. In ladies, Kelly leads with 22 points, next is Yata with 18, then kitsune, singcarcom & xeyra with 17. Pairs are pretty close, with the top 3 being OhYuzu with 20, kitsune with 19 and Kizuna with 18 points. Ice Dance is the best scoring category overall, with golden, Yata and me having max points so far (28). Next are Kizuna and Neenah with 22. Top 3 after 2 GPs: 1. Kelly, 72 points 2. Yata, 70 points 3. kitsune, 67 points Again, congrats to our top Cassandras so far! And for the rest - no need to worry, it's still 5 events ahead, enough time to catch up

However you like, but the possibility is there, no reason to thank me ^^

@kaeryth, @Hannah, if you feel like that again next time, you can just submit a 2nd set of prediction too and give me a note. I'll just ignore the first predictions then, that's no problem!

Well that's company I like

Well... the majority had the bonus question for Men and ID wrong, so you are not alone?

More CoR clean up: Here is a google spreadsheet containing everyones answers in this quiz so far. After we have the results for the different GPs, I'll always add everyones answers (unless someone doesn't want their answers shown, then let me know!) You can check there what you predicted, and also check if you come to the same points for you as I did. If not, or something is unclear, don't hesitate to correct/ask me. Also, here are the overall summaries of responses given by the PH Cassandra team: 1, 2. There you can see how close your guesses were to the majority, or how well our group intelligence got us

I vote 4Lz out of spread eagle. Everything needs to be spread eagled!

I'd still bet actual money on seeing the 4Lz in the SP as well His 4Lo was a bit iffy at CoR overall, Yuzu is Yuzu and loves his risky things, and he even tends to be more successful with higher risk (look at Chopin with 1 quad vs 2 quads ). If so, RIP Brians hair! @kaeryth I'm late, but I can share some of my impressions from CoR (aka I will talk your virtual ear off I'm afraid!). Regarding Yuzu, I thought he looked in really good shape. He focused quite a bit on the lutz in practice, and his succession rate with it increased throughout the practice days (I saw all 3 from thursday to saturday). At first, he popped a lot, last day had more low landings/step outs. When he lands it, it is absolutely wow - the highest jump I've seen in FS I think! What really makes it special, like meoima said, is the short prep time Yuzu takes for it compared to every other 4Lz we've seen so far. It gives the take off even more oomph to me (the reason I love lutzes anyway - the outside edge and counter rotation make the take off so explosive, where flips for example look softer to me. Yuzu's shorter entry into the 4Lz makes it look like a gunshot/bullet, it's awesome!). In good old cranky jealous girlfriend style, his 4Lo was on and off too. IMO it might be related to after effects of less training time caused by the knee troubles, and maybe the 4Lz also interferes a bit with his loop timing. Everything else was spot on. And that would be 3As, 4Ts, 4Ss and one lonely 3F (because practicing non-axel triples is for whimps I guess! as is practicing spins, lol, who practices spins?! Jk, normal people do, normal people do). Yuzu was actually the first to jump, every time. He starts off with a bit of stroking, then bam!, 3A. Perfect every time. Then he went to 4T, 4S, then 4Lo, lastly the lutz. He didn't miss one 3A throughout CoR. The worst 4T he had in practice had a scratchy landing, and that was it (which is why his competition 4T mistakes really frustrated me "xD). And his 4S is still my favorite non-3A of Yuzu, the ice coverage and flow he has really are insane. Outside of jumps he was a bit low on energy (probably also related to early practice times), but every time he focused on a bit of choreo/steps, he locked really sharp. Honestly, he looked great. In competition, he was a bit more tight IMO. Especially in the SP, but also the 2nd half of the LP. Guess most of his energy really went into the 4Lz, which is fair, given that it is a big new element and when it comes to Yuzu, there is so much anticipation and hype around everything.... he must have had so much pressure to land it. Regarding Chopin I still have to say I'm too meh about it being back, so I don't really know what to say... the 4-3 placement really is divine, but only when he lands it as for Seimei, it is an improved version compared to 2015-16 in every way, IMO. The placement of the last 4T and 3As so close to each other, it's a real climax moment and showcases Yuzus skill perfectly by highlighting the non-existent set up. Given the great shape he's in right now, I think he'll get those perfect programs he wants, and they will be even better then 2015 NHK/GPF. Let's hope it will be at the Olympics!

Just jumping in to cross post again - results for the CoR prediction game are out and can be viewed here. Yata won it with 35 points, only 1 point ahead of kitsune. For everyone who wants to continue with round 2, or join for that, here is the link: https://www.flexiquiz.com/SC/N/a17e20bd-b58b-4194-98cb-537812018705 Again, thanks to everyone who participated and good luck everyone for Canada!

And tadaaaaa, on to the next round - predictions for Skate Canada are now open! Link is here~: https://www.flexiquiz.com/SC/N/a17e20bd-b58b-4194-98cb-537812018705 Same thing as last time, but this time it's in one part, not 2. Those who don't want to answer the questions in every discipline can just leave those questions open, but again, guessing can't hurt Good luck everyone!