EisElle

Awesome! Looking forward to more walks down memory lane, then! After all, we gotta water ourselves somehow, hydratation is important nope, it's just speculations and what ifs (we're also doing image training for an even longer drought As they say, hope for the best but prepare for the worst LOLsob) But thus far Yuzu himself hasn't said nor hinted anything about Nats... or tbh any other domestic comp, or any other international comp aside GPs. Not that I expect him to suddenly pop up at sectionals or such, but he's only ever talked about GP series. While we can expect that some of the reasons why he's skipping GP can apply to Nationals, too, there are also some different factors at play, so his Pros vs Cons list will probably look different than for GPs I hope that JSF will plan Nats in such a way to make Yuzu's Cons list as shorter as possible and, of course, that he stays healthy

Thank you so much @SuzyQ for linking the fanvid and translating the song Lovely and meaningful and thank you @sweetwater for all those translations and links the quotes are already beautiful as they are, in the context and with Zuzu saying them even more touching poor Yuzu after NHK14 it must have been so very tough, one thing happened after the other...I'm glad he had the joy of GPF after all those trials... (thought it wasn't the end of it. Season 2014-15 kind of makes me super glad that, when I started following him, I already knew how that part of his ordeals had ended for him) ....(but did Yuzuru jinx the whole men free event in Sochi, saying that he expected all skaters to perform well?) are there plans for other streaming parties after the one this week? Because I propose to watch some Zuzu docs for a change, starting from all the Spirit of the Athletes (inlcuding the Boston one that always wreaks me), and all Kenji's room episodes Also, the interviews with Matsuoka or the funny pieces at NHK16 with Keiji and Ryuji and the FaOI15 with Nobu and Shoma (or actually every FAOI Kobe interview with Nobu, they are all so funny!). And if we want to truly hurt ourselves, we can watch the docs related to the Earthquake, and all the different H24TV I doubt IFS has any first-hand knowledge of Yuzu's plans or even of the JSF plans, so IMO they added that "he may also miss" just to paint an hypothetic situation when different selection criteria might apply. the criteria for WC spots selection are about the same as always - 1st spot to Nats winner, 2nd to be chosen between silver/bronze medallist or based on other criteria like GP results, WS, PB... and then the 3rd spot is again for same criteria as 2nd spot and additionally kind of JSF safety net if some skater with notable results in past comps is forced to skip Nats (or they have a very bad day at Nats) It's way too early to say what Yuzu might do. Personally, I think he actually values Nats a great deal (or at least, more than the weird maybe-domestic-kinda-GP series we're going to have) and he would loath to be nominated for WC without "earning it" at Nats. IMO he'll wait to see how things unfold (covid trends within Japan, how NHK will be handled..) and how Nats will be organized (eg. safety measures, with/without audience). Also, I'm NOT sure that skipping Nats while in Japan, healthy and perfectly able to travel to location without much issues, "only" over covid concerns (but without e.g. government limiting travel between prefectures), would be considered force majeure (and thus allow a skater to be in the pool for the 3rd spot) Though it is reassuring that potentially he might still go to WC even if got injured or sick by Nats again (yeah, I'm pessimistic like that) I do hope he'll get some live training at TCC though

so, it wasn't P/C & co who decided not to go, they just weren't "summoned" at all? I'm confused... but then, why did they put their names in their first announcement? It was only one week ago, what has changed since then? Anyway, glad that everone agreed that travelling back and forth from NA wasn't a good idea.

Yeah, why were they even announced? Travel restrictions aren't exactly a novelty of this week I can't see P/C not attending IDF honestly. If they managed to get into Canada, they should be able to go back to France, their homecountry, so travel in itself wouldn' be an issue. They would have plenty of time to quarantine and re-train before IDF, too. They would be the major name at IDF ( Shoma might go to IDF, since it would makes sense geographically... but if NHK happens, like it looks it will from how they're testing things out with JO, I expect JSF to want him to NHK. We'll know more when ISU finally releases "assignments"). Having big names does matter to ISU and organizers, since they'll want some kind of revenue out of the event. The other years, IDF was already a kind of "subdued" compared to the buzz of RC, NHK and whatever event Yuzu was in. This, despite having big names from Russia and Japan + Nathan. Without those names and without P/C, there would be little buzz, hovewer bad it sounds for all the (well-deserving)skaters who'll compete there. I've heard that France wants to introduce a 7days quarantine, though

One would think that, being judges, they shouldn't need it...and yet... I think judges get different courses, though sometimes ISU uploads their training for judges and referees on their public YT channel (sometimes they are unlisted, so it's hard to find them) and it's stuff that us "mere" fans can easily understand (so it's not like judges are so super-advanced in their knowledge) A pity that no training can possibly fix things, if there is no true will to truly "punish" those who keep scoring however the heck they want...

It's an antidoping campaign by ISU, there's a e-course you can subscribe on their website(you have to register) + test(s) and then they give you a certificate I actually signed for other courses too (there's one on pcs, not expecting it to be different from other stuff I've seen like that webinar for referees about common mistakes and the old ISU vids about components, but I want to have more material from the "official source"). I'm not planning on doing them soon though

of course, it would be a very dramatic plot twist (even by 2020 standards) if the two best ID teams couldn't qualify for Nats tangentially related but congrats to Alina and Alyona for their sponsors!

*dramatic drumrolls* ....better late than never? (though maybe never would have been a good option this time) Looking at the questionable handling of tennis tournments this month, with last minute decisions and U-turns, I'm not even surprised that at ISU they were taking their sweet time with announcements

gosh everyone has back problem (not surprising, but when there's so many top skaters at once it kind of stands out more. Also, apparently everyone goes to Germany for treatment of their back problems) I hope they'll all be good by Russian cup, but...was Zhulin talking about the Russian cup? What would happen if S/K had to skip? Will they truly not make exceptions for Nats despite S/K being with Euro champs? ID is much less volatile than Men or even Pairs and, despite ID field being deep, internationally S/K and S/B are those really fighting head to head with P/C and USAteams for WC podium... (and cinically speaking, rusfed has invested so much in S/K in particular...I just don't see them leaving S/K at home just for being unable to compete at one russian cup stage) Also: noooo Arthur..... after his "revenge" at EC, it would suck so much if he couldn't even get to Nats this time. Both he and S/K are scheduled for 2nd stage, I think in one month, so they have a couple weeks less than Dima and S/B...

Yeah, when I read it it felt kind of final for 4CC: if they can't ensure safety for a domestic event, how can they ensure safety for the second biggest international FS event that will have, just counting the skaters, a good hundred people coming from abroad? Is ISU waiting an official notification by Aussie fed? Because if 4CC goes on it will be a big joke, especially with Aussie skaters not even getting Nats sorry for @SparkleSalad and all the satellites from that part of the wolrd. Finally a comp reasonably "close" and then 2020 happened I do think it would be useful, since I've heard SkatingScores get mad with people using their scraped data for other analyses... personally I don't do analyses that require that kind of data (I just read them, 'cause Excel and I aren't exactly on good terms and statistics...well, I can read a bit but not my field), but I know I guess it would be very useful for projects like Shanshani's or other people who don't want to deal with SkatingScores and their "my preciousss" attitude How much time and source-consuming would it be though? I feel bad saying "yes do it!" knowing that I'll be of little help in other news, I've finally being contacted for the Pure as Ice bonus merch, since that yep, I was among first 50 (tbh I wouldb't be surprised if I was the first and only one to do that LMAO) I'll let you know when I'll get..whatever I get. No idea what's gonna be but I'll show it off as ProOf that I'm a TrUe FaN kidding the course itself was pretty basic (probably I've said this already) but good for someone who had no idea about doping, and with lots of sources to help skaters, coaches etc. The most interesting thing was that athletes are *theorically* always available for surprise testing. That means that... in every moment they do know where ninjaZu is LOL I also liked the reference to good healthy diet and sleep and such. Though it's pretty clear that coaches don't really read this stuff (or if they do they just laugh at it) All in all, I can only wish that ISU put as much care in fair scoring as in their antidoping campaign

yep FS fandom is a small world after all one more thing to be happy about after watching Yuzu live: now I can read all those replies in that thread and go "YES EXACTLY! and also FLEX a bit that YES I got the honor of watching him live instead of getting all envious (though I still envy those of you who've watched him more than once argh)

me agree

I absolutely LOVE it when skaters confirm my (HUGE)bias (when they don't..well...then they are wrong, obviously) awwww yeas he's just... cuteness is off charts I like that they added emojis to the subs LOL Does he has a bit of an accent when he says "I don't know" when searching for camera? Or am I making things up? ETA: how can it be? The more I rewatch the more I melt

LOL the action shot of his hair in the first pic, mushroom was intense even back then I cannot believe he debuted in Italy of all places and I wasted years without knowing what I was missing And then, of the times he was scheduled to compete in Italy, once he was injured and skipped entirely and the other... well.... though, if I pretend that scoring never happenend it wasn't bad at all And we got an iconic Pooh rain to be remebered for years, especially now that throwing gift isn't going to be allowed for a while... aaaand it's just occurred to me that GPF19 and 4CC20 might be the only skating by 25yoZu that we'll ever have Yuzu, somewhere, to both us and whoever manages the Waseda page: I wanted to wait till Sept20th for my official congrats anyway, when it will be....officially official it's in only two weeks!

I have searched for it but still no idea, so

I'm glad they're streaming regionals. They hould have done that ages ago, just look at all the (free) russian streams! does isakura have fuji tv on demand? re: JO tbh I didn't care about the comp that much the previous years, except for Nobu's performances (even repeatedly forgot JO was Javi's last comp appearance LOL), but this time I would like to support the skaters and watch if I can (and ngl, there are several skaters I like). Number of partecipants is small, so that's good, BUT: I'm very disappointed that they didn't follow the no-audience + virtual tickets only policy that Mao and DOI had chosen an aside, I'm surprised that Shoma won't be at JO (but good for him for being with his coach). And with Satton and Rika abroad, I'm not surprised they aren't going to JO either. Is regionals schedule the reason why other skaters like Kaori, Keiji, Yuma weren't inivited (or declined to go)?

I've read it too and it isn't the first time that damages (temporary, maybe, but still relevant) even in asymptomatic cases are found, which is very troubling. You really can't say young fit people are 100%safe. And exactly because athletes are young and fit, they push their body to the max and beyond. Myocarditis clearly isn't compatible with that. Even if, best case scenario, the condition is detected and it's reversible with rest, the recovery time might still hamper athletes' career. Even if studies are still very limited (for example I'd like for all the football teams who had players positive to covid &asymphtomatic to disclose if they had similar findings, plus there might be correlation with some other yet unknown third factor playing a role) it should make everyone more cautious (especially people dismissing risks for young fit people). I really hope that Yuzuru isn't the only one keeping himself updated on these matters. Skaters must know all the possible risks before committing to a comp, and so should ISU and feds. ETA: adding this ESPN article for broader perspective https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29633697/heart-condition-linked-covid-19-fuels-power-5-concern-season-viability ETA2: it looks like the 30-35% figures were wrong, they were 15% instead here clarification (afaik this preliminary study has yet to be published. In the ESPN article I saw a <5% thrown around at a point, but I don't recall if those were the findings in another pool of athletes or a different estimate) https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/09/03/big-ten-coronavirus-myocarditis/ how many skaters would be checked with a cardiac MRI after very mild symptoms? (and if they never know they were at risk, they wouldn't even think that they need this kind of extra check up)

darn, I got White Wall too kinda wanna see what combo of answers gets Italian Yuzu or Eggzuru and maybe I could I add eggzuru to Glossary too? but is eggzuru a reference to baldzuru (that obe should definitely go in the Glossary) or did it start because Javi(?) said Zu's skin(?) was like boiled egg? Or did I miss something else? ETA: I submitted totally random picks..and got Eggzuru. I deeply regret it, gimme beautiful WhiteWallzuru back ngl, this give me a liiiitle bit of anxiety for the poor flower girls LOL poor bbs, they worked so hard (*says one of those who contributed to the sea of plushies). For the first time I might actually understand why Raf said it was psychologic warfare LMAO (though he's never been the one who had to pick up the poohs so he has no right to speak )

this is such a Kaori thing to say how can anyone not love her? Also whoa kudos to her Rika too was in a variety of sports, but in the end chose to pursue fs, tho I believe her reasoning was a bit different I think jumps are so fast (time of flight under 1sec, e.g. Yuzu's 4Lz in some measurements was 0.7-0.8secs, so a typical triple probably not more than 0.5seconds) that they have no need to breath during the actual jump. My guess (as someone who has never jumped on ice) is that they inhale during preparation and exhale on landing, kind of mirroring the furling/unfurling movement of their arms&legs (satellites who skate might confirm this, but it feels the most logical thing to me). What I do wonder is if they can breath during spins. Spins last so much longer, sometimes over 10sec, so...do they breath? Can they breath, with spinning so fast and in contorted position on top of that? 🤔 I wanna know! ETA: I wonder, hasn't Yuzu talked briefly about something like this once?

I'm glad that iirc from the announcement of his program, Brendan Kerry is at Amodio academy, so I already figured he was in France. It makes all the more sense to him to be training abroad since getting in and out of Australia is...hard Kevin was coached by Zimmerman and Fontana in the USA. I guess his stay in France is temporary and merely due to covid, but ngl, I'd LOVE it if he permanently changed coaches. Iirc Romain Ponsart was traning under Raf, so another one stranded far from coach (is he? or has he gone to USA?) And I'm confused about P/C. I thought they were in Montreal (and I was wondering already how they had gotten there), so do they plan to travel back to France for Masters? Now? And what about GP? If french fed wants to go on with their IdF, they need them or they will hardly have any "big" name. Will P/C stay more than one month in France away from their coaches? or do they plan more travelling back and forth? (though if I were France I would rethink holding Masters right now)

here's a translation LMAO "defrosting" looks like a good reason to enjoy summer, if you spend so much time in a cold, cold ice rink and she can swim! But she has never gone to the beach (to me swimming = sea and summer = beach so I definitely can't relate)

awww smol Zu wiki (so he grew "only" 4cm since when he was a noodly 15yo)

Does Australia know?🤔

Maybe it means that, if fans choose to get 20% discount instead of 50, the difference goes to skaters?🤔 or maybe not Though I I couldn't find this option on the website and main instagram post, so it feels weird, and some skaters aren'teven advertising this on their social. Most people will find the 50% discount and take that. Wondering if the 20%vaucher is also valid only till Sept 3rd. Tim and Gaby didn't said that, so I would think it can be used later too That's good to know, but skaters travelling would also need test in their home country, though upon rechecking it's only a recommendation From document 24904 GUIDELINES FOR ISU EVENTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC (I get confused because the doc 24905 is very similar in name and content but the first one has more detail, like mention of tests, and it's better formatted😅 gosh ISU should archive their docs better): "it is strongly recommended that every Event participant shall be tested regularly in his/her home country, and latest 3 days (72h) before travelling to/serving at an Event." Actually, no mention of getting tested in the place of the event(unless I have missed it). I am not sure if at the moment this kind of testing(before travelling abroad) is doable in Italy without fed having agreements with local health authorities. Everyone can pay for antibody test in private labs, but to ask for diagnostic pcr test (paid by the health system) you have to contact local authorities with a reason (symptoms or suspect contact with a case, having travelled abroad, positive serology test and so on) (An aside, 700000 tests per week means France has a test capacity roughly similar to Italy, since we hit 99000 in a day though testing sinks during weekends LOLsob)

Thank you! So, it's 3rd and 5th stage for both