EisElle

I hope not She's one of the (few?) ladies who have pretty big chances to go over +3 (if judges are willing to give those GOE, of course), as she can hit all basic bullets and often she has steps before jumps too... I hope this only means she's working on her 3Lz, because there's where she's gonna lose a lot of points if they call an e, and it would be a pity, as in pretty much every other aspect she is a wonderful jumper...

It looks like JGP will start with a bang! Wishing all the skaters a good start of the season! (in the meanwhile I'll wait with bathed breath to know what will happen to Nastya T.)

so Mako is keeping her FS too... I'm not overly excited about the program choices for her, but keeping the FS for her senior debut has its obvious advantages. I hoped for more contrast between SP and FS tho... and I spoke too soon about Jpn ladies avoiding Italian warhorses (has Mihoko exhausted her 'original music choice' quota with Shoma's SP?)

I'm very curious about Marin's SP, it's very different from the image I have of her...good time for a challenge girl! Less excited about Kaori's SP (DW) I like that all Jpn ladies are going for unusual music... Jpn guys and their warhorses on the other side Zuzu please save them! Now watch him join the italian warhorse club media day will be scary I love Mai's FS so I'm happy I can watch it more. I hope she can make her SP work

Poor Mai she's always so sweet and smiling, one forgets her everyday battle I hope things will get better, so she can keep doing what makes her happy

lol protocols for korean jgp selection are a mess already... The same element shouldn't receive -2 and +3, or 0 and +4... Of course it's only a domestic comp but isn't this a great start? ISU needs to have a decent webinar for singles&pairs to begin with, and do much more judge training and establish some serious standard for each and every goe of each and every element, if they want the scoring not to become utterly ridiculous.... ETA: and make judges follow the standard of course. The same element can't be barely average and excellent and awful. There must be an objective range that can be rationally justified hen people score the same element and that range can't be -5 +5, not even -2 +2 because that would mean a HUGE difference in quality of execution and subjectivity can't justify that. There's a point when a score is just wrong.

Double warhorse! I like Nathan's SP for now! I like The music for SP less than that for FS but right now SP looks much better, and probably it will be the same during season, with how packed the FS will be... (and yes, I could totally see Boyang killing it...speaking of which, I wanna know Boyang's programs )

to be fair, I don't think having the highest BV has ever been his goal anyway. Yuzuru knows all too well BV is only part of the score. In his aim for top, in his desire to win even when everyone skates clean, he's always taken into account what kind of GOE and PCS he (and others) can realistically get, they are part of the equation. That's why, if in PC everyone had been perfect with their layouts (no pops and falls), as *some people* like to say when trying to undermine Yuzu's win, he still should have come out on top, despite not having higher BV. It's just that the level of skaters are not the same, so the absolute perfection of 'all elements+3goe' isn't realistically achievable for every skater (if judges were to judge properly, of course). But they were indeed achievable for him (and in several occasions he's got pretty close to maxed out score, so it's not like he was overconfident, it's just how things are). Of course every season, with skaters developing and getting better, the status quo of 'who can achive this and that in GOE and PCS' can shift. When he thought to increase his BV (other than his own hunger for new jumps and challenges) it was because he knew his superior GOE alone could not be enough to win, in hypotetic case 'everyone skates clean', if he fell back too much in BV (or more accurately, maybe, he was being realistic in how hard is to have a perfect skate with all +3GOE and wanted to have a little of BV cushion himself) Of one thing I'm sure, and it's that Yuzuru would always try to give himself the chance to win when everyone skates clean. He just isn't the type of guy who would be satisfied to rely on other people making mistakes (of course, if he'll actually win or not will depend on a lot more, but when he skates to win, he does so believing that in that in theory he can beat everyone's best) (before Sochi, when he was going against Patrick, he used BV and GOE so that, even if Patrick was clean, he could still have a chance, if a slim one, to win. We've never got both of them skating perfectly clean in the same competition, but at GPF13 Yuzuru got pretty close to Patrick's best score of a few weeks before, so, while we can't be sure, maybe it would have been possible for him to beat even a perfect Patrick...maybe everything would have come down to skating order and judge's whim... and I think that kind of situation is what Yuzuru wanted to avoid upping his BV everytime new challengers have raised) Also, in his mind having a perfect skate and having a skate leaving a lasting impression are pretty much tied. Jumps are, after all, part of performance and if jumps fail he would feel he wasn't able to convey enough to the audience (even if the audience might think otherwise) I just think that maybe from now on he could be a little less harsh with himself if he fails to deliver his ideal skate... (what has he said once, that he felt so regretful he could swallow a galaxy or something? Or that his kuyashii would create a galaxy? I can't remember, it was a very vivid image tho... Yuzu-archives satellites, I summon you!) Adding this because kinda on topic. Reading through Aoi Honoo 1: Yuzuru Hanyu, being kuyashii about step sequence levels since 2011 He really hasn't changed

Another growth spurt? Wasn't he quite tall already? Korean boys seem to grow a lot and another POTO RE: Nathan FS I might like the music It looks like we start seeing a pattern in Nathan's music choices, and I quite like that they are somehow different from usual FS music (and that he stopped going for ballet, tho maybe that was how his team wanted to package him and now he has a little more freedom to choose what he likes..this is my speculation, I don't follow Nathan enough to know), tho I'd also be curious to see him with...idk, a Turandot maybe has he ever skated to that kind of music? choreo: I've watched it without audio and it didn't hold my attention a lot, tho quality of the video was very low and often he was out of frame. For now I like the second half more. From the insta snippet it looked like that part had very strong Nemesis vibes in both type and quality of movements. Anyway, imo it's too early in the season to say if it's going to be much different or not (not to talk about what will happen with all the quads in place) eta: but if he uses the slower part of the song for setting up for the quads and uses upper body choreo it will be just like last year and it didn't matter fo his scores... Chances are high this FS is going to have a very lit stsq and ChSq that will make people forget/forgive that he wasn't doing that much between jumps... IMO Nathan's strenght is that he can sell quite well the non-jump part (and of course that he can land a variety of quads)

let's not take for granted that Shoma actually remembers that Pooh-san is Disney too well, to be fair it wasn't created by Walt Disney, so hey, he could have a point!

happy for Young You, tho her SP doesn't particularly thrill me I hope for a FS as exciting as her POTC routine from last year...

YES YES YES!!! With decent choreo she can really stand out with this choice! (Plz good choreo plz ). Stay healthy and be happy Nastya! Eta: what is it with korean ladies and the boards? both Young and Yelim were so close

LOLOL well, there's still the FS

I think I've read her rotational speed has decreased from her junior years tho, so it would be hard imo, without having bigger jumps...her body isn't getting any thinner (I hope) and she's taller now and her air position looks already quite tight, isn't it? I don't see how she could add one more rotation, unless she gets more airtime...it could happen, if her muscles get stronger (but with her Osgood-Schlatter I really shudder thinking about the additional strain required to jump and land a quad...and with Eteri's training method for consistency, it would likely be several times everyday, several times in every training session)

Shoma's old EX It might be true, if you think about the lyrics and even the circumstances of this particular song (and what happened to the actor, too...too many young lives broken). It's a beautiful tribute

*refilling her stash of rose-coloured glasses* I'm fine with that ETA: adding this to help spread unicorns and rainbows all over the planet

yes, I meant 'it cuts Yuzu' as in 'it cuts him out' I want to stay in that camp too, can I? anyway, I've found this beautiful video of Yuzuru's hydroblades (@Hydroblade ). Too bad it's from June 2017, there would be many more beautiful additions now... You can see how he evolved from being very tentative to graceful&effortless and how he started playing with different arms movements too... side note: FTT opening pose is sooooo lovely

A video I haven't seen posted here https://www.bilibili.com/video/av21668598?from=search&seid=6834130554043125778 And another one. I like the song a lot Quite a bit of Dory footage! https://www.bilibili.com/video/av25181238?from=search&seid=17903241253642527165 under spoiler because not really Yuzu-centric, but I figured they could go here because Yuzu is there too (warning: lots of effects in both videos) credits for both: Mist Ghost

I can answer because I was so looking forward to that footage but nope the only bit of footage we have cuts Yuzu most of the time cameraman HOW COULD YOU? another thing we've never got is the post SP and FS press-con footage...all we had are tantalizing bits and reports WHY? what can IOC possibly want to achieve by keeping that footage secret? We know it exists, Jpn TV gave us some snippets, why don't they release the whole darn thing???????????

some good news! I envy all the satellites who're going to enjoy Yuzu's skating live, first pancake or not we're lucky to have him Also, adding to this this tweet with further details

Everytime I read that 1993-2018 it's like being punched in the stomach It will never make sense. Here a older video from Olympic channel with subs in many languages - Denis talking about his skating life, his preparation for Sochi and then PyeongChang, and his hopes for FS and his country (sorry if already posted)

I've said once the only thing that would have shocked me more than Evgenia's move would be Yuzu switching to Eteri but this offseason is so wild and heartbreaking really it isn't funny anymore

My heart goes out to his family, friends, all those who loved him... It feels so unreal... to watch his past skates and think he won't skate anymore. Gosh, so young! To think he was in PyeongChang, he was skating in ice shows just a little ago and posting on social media and living his life, to see his name in the GP rooster and to know he won't be there... and it was so sudden, so...incomprehensible. So wrong. The way it's happended, I can't really wrap my head around that

OMG ETA: it's been all so sudden, his family... oh my god

I've just read the news about Denis... I hope everything will go well, OMG, I don't even know what to say Here an article in english