EisElle

Well, it's not as fanyus went on barricades about COR because Yuzu didn't got the gold (even tho it could be argued that some scoring was a bit ). We accepted that, we moved on, because if Yuzu makes mistakes and others perform better on the day (and they are all judged fairly) you can feel sad and kuyashii but that's it, those are the rules of the sport and only what happens on the day matters. this made me laugh OT at the moment, reposting this from Euro thread because I'm curious whether I'm just (not) seeing things or the rai commentator has memory issues

Congrats to the medalists!!!! but why am I just off podium? argh, you bad bad Canadian Nats, you made me lose! But Gabby was a nice gold medalist so I'll take that. I only need to practice. More and more. Mm, making the predictions for Euros was surprisingly difficult, I had lots of doubts on bronze for men and ice dance and I don't even rember who I picked And I placed Maria off podium again now I'm worried for my top three

wow, @KatjaThera's magic made my Pros became more than the cons in the list (tho I'm the one who added more cons, still feeling bad about that) I've said this already, for a "half-empty glass" kind of person, right now I feel oddly calm and positive about Yuzu (tho biting my nails everytime I read something like "pneumonia" and "name of a TCC skater" in the same sentence...)

silver lining btw iirc this season there were a couple StSq lv3 even for Shoma, one Patrick too

Apparently he has this bad habit of letting himself be carried away by the music a bit too much to bother about doing those darn steps right sorry zuzu I know you have gorgeous steps, it's what makes the whole thing more kuyashii...well, for you too, I'm sure Likely it's only a matter of timing/music, really, because we know he's (almost) never had issues executing lv4 in LGC and that was one breakneck speed StSq (and Chopin's too... tho he did have his troubles with Chopin 2.0 too)

(Some have been already listed) CON: No competitions prior to Oly to test his mentality in competition environment Possibly psychological issues on jumps (popping in fear of injury) Possibly new layout and being forced to water-down, which he hates Also, imo deep down we're all expecting a miracle and those expectations might be bad pressure for Yuzuru. He doesn't owe us a miracle... ....But PRO: Yuzuru likes challenges, he always pressures himself and he might get strenght from fans believing in miracles. Also, this time he might be more focused on fighting his way out from all his recent setbacks rather than on being perfect, so more a la gpf 2014 and Aci 2017 sp and less a la WTT SP or Boston FS ... where he was haunted by his WRs maybe even more than by his injury He has two programs he's comfortable with and he knows very well. He knows he can do well with those programs even when his body isn't in top condition/he missed training Judges might be flabbergasted if he does his come back in style and they might give him all the goe and pcs with a big "thank you for being back". (We can dream, right?) His competitors looked much better earlier in the season and then they all kinda deflated. Tho CON: Nathan is "undefeated" and has his BV and fed behind him. Shoma is going back to a layout he can hit more consistently and he might win 4CC with a bang. Javi might do the same at Euros (or Mika, and if that happens, Russia could legit have a contender, too, despite the lower bv than Shoma and Nathan) Uhm, I feel bad for listing more CONs than PROs (but many Pros were already listed ) I agree with @KatjaThera re: Yuzu's attitude after COR. And Brian and Kikuchi looked really happy after his fs, which makes me think till then it was still according to the plan (the following events...not so much) All in all (and assuming Yuzu isn't hit by other ailments and injuries) imo Yuzu's chances aren't tragically worse than how they would have been if he had competed all season and, for example, he had been beaten "decisively" in the gpf or Nats. Now the real question mark is his physical condition, how much stamina he has, which layout it will allow him to execute, and imo even more important if he's got more prone to popping jumps, which is tbh what I fear the most. His experience and that of his team is his biggest asset rn. His mind can be both a PRO and CON, but in this instance I'd lean more on the good side. go Yuzu!

cynic comment under spoiler, you're warned we rely so much on other people's SNS to get half a pic of Yuzuru or a teeny tiny snippet of info about him, I hope they aren't scared by the floods of evil thirsty fanyus and keep doing that

zuzu talking about "my biggest connection with Canada... it's through skating" why I'm not surprised But he's so sweet, and he really likes that thing of "so much nature" in Toronto (which I guess is the only part of Canada he has seen since he probably has only seen hotel rooms and ice rinks when he was in Regina, Montreal and so on... but don't worry, zuzu, you're adorkable all right) To all the awesome people who've been translating Yuzu's words in the NNN documentary: THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! You've made me an endlessly squished thingy that keeps being squished more and more but it's ok, I'm a happy, watered and blooming cactus now @kaerb you keep squishing me so hard, you are merciless

I'm already mulling over the Oly team event predictions: which team should I jinx place higher, Canada or Russia? I've got a few weeks to make up my mind and let's see how Patrick will fare in the free

My, my, Canada really has a troubled relationship with Yuzuru For a video meant for general audience, it isn't that bad imo and that part where Yuzuru is mentioned as "one likely having multiple quads in his oly program" could be totally harmless and maybe it only rings... suspicious (I'm channeling my inner Ted Burton's graciousness here) in my ears because I'm quite distrustful these days... My distrustful self doesn't quite like the way Yuzu is dragged into the video, tho. I get it, the quadsters vs artists is a narrative that is easy to understand for who doesn't follow the sport that much...but why, oh why do you drag Yuzuru there, when he is exactly the magical unicorn that can blend both? I get that, Shoma is less renowned in Canada (tho he won Skate Canada only a few month ago landing his multiple quads) and poor Boyang is always forgotten by everyone, and it's true that Yuzu has more quads than, say, Patrick... but Yuzu is clumped with Nathan vs Jason and Patrick, who focus "more" on artistry...implied: hence these guys are more"artistic", while the other two...not so much. They focus on quads, and the quads can carry them to gold and they don't need to bring the artistry (this is the subtext from my distrustful self, it could be wrong, tho). You couple that with some shade they throw in passing at judges' scoring, and the video becomes like a diss to Yuzu's status of all-round skater and pisses me off suggests that Yuzu is a pure quadster like Nathan (with all due respect to what Nathan does) and his strategy is "kill 'em all with your quads". Which is so.atrociously.WRONG! I wonder why they made that piece in that way, and WHO did it.(this is me chasing the culprit) Couldn't they ask for an opinion from their own skating commentators? Now that darn NYT article really looks like gold... it's so funny how two different countries tell the same story: USA basically says "Nathan has it all, Yuzuru wants to have all the quads but he'd better stick to what he can do, some quads ain't for him" while for Canada now "Nathan has only quads and, hey, Yuzuru has the quads too, so he must be a quadster, so no artistry, can't be any other way, uh, 'cause we don't know what this Semei is. Hope&Legacy? Never heard of that" ) Also, to go for "artistry and style" (translated: components, I guess, but it's too much to ask for a bit of proper terminology, when even so called experts still confuse the two) can bring you only so far (even in an ideal world where judges give no quad bonus on PCS and GOE), if you have a BV gap that is too large. It's called maths. And the sad truth is, if you are left too much behind, you can't aim for podium (or you have to rely on others bombing, which of course can happen, and that's why quadless Misha got his GP medal in an event with lots of skaters with way higer BV and multiple quads). btw, this is why the "total package" skater has more chances to be on top (in an ideal world) I guess they are trying to prepare their audience to the chance of Patrick being left out of podium, which for people who know nothing of the evolution of the sport since Sochi might be a surprise (I remember I was kind of when I found out Plushenko wasn't the favourite for Sochi) Of course, no one cares about the non-NA guy who landed the first 4Lz3T and actually did the first 4 quads program back in 2015-2016. At the beginning of last season there were already many guys going for 4 quads, before Nathan decided to #Yolo his Nats to 5 quads and the US hype started (tho of course it's true that now he's the one pushing more with his BV... and goe and pcs higher than they should) On a lighter note, sorry, but those pictures of Nathan in his skeleton costume are so amusing and he looks really bulkier with that thing on...I wonder if it's the fabric, the design (additional tee and all) or he's really got so much more muscles in a month. Black and vertical stripes are supposed to make you look slimmer Re: Shoma and Nathan vs Oly pressure I'd say Nathan might better nerves in general, but in PyeongChang Shoma will have his senpai-shield back, so I think he will be pretty chill too Re: requirement of landed quad for French skaters I don't like it. It looks like something people complaining about too many entries in Euros would like (PHersh I'm looking at you) imo it's unfair. If quadless skaters have the minimum TES and they placed higher than people who landed one quad, imo they should be allowed to go. Heck, it's not a requirement in international competitions, not even 3A is! And landing one quad doesn't make the chance to get a good placement at Euros any higher, if the skater fails at everything else. It doesn't make the scoring potential any higher, if you don't consider what else happens in the program. The total score should be enough for qualification, it doesn't matter if they get it with e.g. 2 3As or with one quad and one 2A. Then what's next? To send a skater who landed a 4Lz over the one who landed 4T because 4T is so pre-Sochi? And I quite like Kevin Aymoz, he is the guy who did the hydroblade-Inabauer hybrid Now I'm sad

Canadian predictions done! dat feeling when ISU season best and ISU personal best tell you different stories ahah, it's not like I haven't ever got safer bets screwed anyway I went for Messing silver over Kevin! (sorry, Kevin, you might have the craziest hair but I like Keegan's programs more) For pairs silver I thought "screw ISU PB", 'cause gotta cheer on team TCC Let's see if I get back on podium or I'll slip even further below ETA: about men prediction for Olys If other satellites prefer not to predict them, I'm fine with that. IIRC I still haven't had the chance to jinx Yuzu because I left men COR blank such a coward and he got silver, so I'm pretty confident my prediction for gold wouldn't jinx anyone (but hey, I've jinxed Javi COC and maybe Shoma a couple of times) I'd love to predict the teams for the team event, tho. And yay for bonus questions (but please, Joey, don't stress for our sake)

(Add Ambesi & Dolfini, they were holding their breaths for that combo just like us)

Tbh I'd like to hear more often praises for "3F out of nowhere", most of the times commentators barely bother to even say "3F", as if there wasn't anything special about the jump Also, I love that Yuzu jumps it right in front of judges, he doesn't try to hide it in a corner. That's how much confidence he has in his 3F (and its stubborn edge )

ohhhh thank you @Joey for doing all this hard work! OMG I couldn't believe I was on podium after Rus + Jpn Nats, iirc it was my first overall podium but then US Nats happened and I slipped out of overall podium again the Universe fixed its mistake (Adam and Jason, Ashley, et tu, Shibs!) Still, looks like ransacking ISU datas works quite well for me and I still bring luck to the lady I place in 4th...I wonder, if I place Gabby 2nd, will she bomb? Should I place her in 4th so she gets silver? Of course I'm (half)kidding I will do my canadian predictions tomorrow, when I'll awake enough to go through the ISU rankings without them blurring before my sleepy eyes

RE: Ted Barton I really like this bit Ted's commentary of gpf ladies was so good, you could hear the awe in his voice. And he knows how to point out flaws without being mean and without disregarding skaters' efforts (sometimes I feel I should take a leaf out from his book too) and how to praise what needs to be praised without ending into generic or undeserved gushing. I like what he says on Russia and Japan. Also, good to see that Ted Barton has nice words for Tutberidze, who is sometimes portrayed as some evil witch who enjoys breaking young girls and commits the deadly sin of exploiting the rules (as if trying to meet the requirements in the rules were worse than completely disregarding them and still get undue credit) yes please (starting from TCC and Eteri, Hamada and Mai&Kaori's team...maybe not Wakaba's, I'm still mulling some questionable layout choices...tho they trained Wakaba to who she is now, and that's great. I'd like to know more about Marie France who trains half of the top 6 ID teams, and about Marina Zueva...) Sometimes I find Japanese documentaries a bit over-dramatized, but they are really good in showing how difficult is the sport and how much committment it requires, how hard it is for the athletes to go out there and show all the hard work of years and years in those few minutes. I would also love to watch documentaries explaining e.g. the physics of Figure Skating, too, like they can explain how some animals can survive in the desert or how Egyptians built the Pyramids. Wouldn't it be amazing? I'd like the same for other sports, too. I'd gladly take that instead of those redundant and pointless soccer debates I get almost daily on all my TV channels I could even watch a documentary talking about how soccer players have to train and which skills they need to hone. Maybe I could finally appreciate that sport. On a side note, I've been forced to watch watched a soccer match for the first itme in ages during Christmas holidays and I've noticed that following FS trained me to pay more attention to the feet of the players I could appreciate footwork better. I felt very smug) Some people would say they liked this sport better under the 6.0 tbh most of the issues we have today are more related to how the rules are applied. When rules don't work they can be fixed (even if slowly). They made some allowances for when jumps combo go wrong and get an invalid element. They have increased the deduction for multiple falls to answer the complaints about programs with lots of falls scoring high, and if the upcoming new range of GOE means that a fall will deducts e.g. 5 points from a quad BV, it will be harder to complain that bad quads still get too many points. But then you see falls on jumps that don't even get -3 from judges and other scores that disregard what's written (and even bolded) in the rulebook and no amount of rewriting rules or even erasing IJS can fix that. (tbh that's true outside of skating too) I wonder if it contributes to Ted's perspective that he's been following the upcoming ranks of young skaters for years. He literally watches them grow and develop, he can glimpse the potential and in events like jr ladies gpf he can also see part of that potential already fullfilled, already shining. For my part, I find that watching jr or senior non-top skaters is somewhat humbling, it makes easier for me to appreciate the difficulty and skaters' efforts (because, let's say it, someone like Yuzu makes it look all too easy. Only knowing how hard the things he does are one can realize how damn good he is) I find the part on Dick Button very sensible, too: As in any sport (and in science and other fields) you build on the past, take inspiration from what's around you and move forward. Back in those days, triples and 2A where the athletic boundary they were pushing and Dick Button was a leader of technical progress. Today the boundary has become quads and more quads and (hopefully) better quads. The equipment has changed too. It could change more. We know more about how our body works and about injuries and conditioning, about which training can have better results. Everything led to this era and the skaters themselves are brilliant and talented but they don't just happen in a void. Yuzuru was pushed by Plushenko, then by Patrick, then Boyang and the other youngsters came and now they are all pushing him and he himself is pushing, too, and hopefully inspiring a new generation with his ideal of pursuing the tech and blending it with the art (tho some people seem hellbent on wanting to destroy that ideal, which makes me really sad, because it would mean to disregard what Yuzuru has been doing all these years and also destroying what makes FS such a unique sport)

Wait, wasn't the new title of the NYT article about stumbling on the road to perfection? This is much kinder ( tho the first one was the absolute best) and I'm still bitter about that "good luck totems can carry a skater only so far" and "his fixation with difficult jumps", as if he was doing something that he shouldn't or can't do, just 'cause he's a stubborn boy but gotta be glad they cared to publish the article and some parts are enjoyable, so ok RE: Yuzu's chance of podium to me, much depends on how fast he's recovering his quads (and how many) and how many runthroughs he can have with whichever layout he chooses. But tbh, with how volatile men's skating can be I wouldn't rule out of podium any of those who can potentially score over 300, just like I wouldn't bet any money on who has more chances of getting gold, tho maybe I'de place Nathan higher right now because his BV will likely cushion him even with mistakes and he won't lack goe and pcs, if the recent comps are an indication. So, imo he has more chances not because he is more consistent or is the best quality-wise or because he has better nerves, but only because he can afford to do more mistakes (due to inconsistency, nerves or whatever) and still get huge scores, while others have less room for mistakes. Btw, it isn't even sure that we will see people score 300 at Olys Yes, it would mean everyone is bombing quite hard but the Sochi fs must have felt like that...and in gpf they all splatted and got scores way lower than 300 with all those fancy Lz and F... so we can play statistics how much we want but until we don't see how at least the pratices go for everyone I wouldn't despair, and certainly I wouldn't say Yuzu isn't even a podium contender unless we see that he's still physically unwell. And even after practices you can only guess about what will happen on the day. Gosh, even the 6 minutes warm-up can be totally misleading. What we do know is that Nathan might hold pressure a bit better than others and judges might gift him even more pcs and goe than we have already seen. We know Shoma can score well and is loved by judges too, and if he wins 4cc with good scores he can have back full-force the hype he got at the beginning of the season. We know Boyang can go clean when it matters the most and Kolyada has the potential to break the 300 if cleanish and is currently a wild card. His rep could also get a boost if he defeats Javi at Euros. Then we have Javi, who has been struggling with his fs till now but still can easily break the 300 even with mistakes (and if he defends his title with good scores will re-establish himself internationally as serious contender for gold too). Patrick is probably going to have the lower bv but still can podium (and if others splat...) And we have Yuzuru who has potential for both magnificent skates and....not so magnificent ones even when his body is ok and he is well trained. Right now with his injury and all he is the wildest of the wild cards. He's never got Evgenia-type consistency, but it's the same for all the other men and for many ladies too, and for pairs, and lately even in ID seasoned teams made stupid mistakes under pressure and lost titles that were theirs to lose. We don't even know Yuzu's layout, which could give us some indication of how much clean he has to skate against the others. So currently you can't rule out anyone from the podium and certainly not Yuzu, despite the injury, until we'll see his actual shape and his layout. Even then, what will happen might be what people deemed impossible (because thinking that someone has no chances doesn't mean that, in reality, that someone really has no chances) wow usually I am the pessimist and gloomy type, I suspect I would be more pessimist and gloomy had Yuzuru gone into the Olys as the heavy favourite, like I felt gloomy and pessimist about the SP in Cor and before NHK too

Actually, he did 2 4T at 4CC, too, but yes, he was changing layout on the fly. At Worlds as 3rd jumping pass he did a second 4F, while in 4cc and Nats he did the SE-4T. From the programs I've seen he has only done the spread eagle on his first 4T, which usually was the third jump, and never tried on the second 4T, which iirc both in Nats and 4cc was his 4th jump...but in Wtt his 3rd jump was a 3A and his first 4T was the SE-combo in the second half so maybe he can do that on the spot too (or maybe he had the time to plan his entry as he did the spins and steps)... and now I'm getting confused with all those quads and different layouts RE: the crossovers/one foot skating video I like those graphics at the end of the video! (also love that they pop up after Seimei ) to who did the video and thank you for your work in counting everything @fireovertheice Omg, Yuzuru and Patrick should really increase the number of quality crossovers! (jk ) More seriously, amazing that Yuzuru is among the best in each cathegory while doing one of the hardest layouts, too And Boyang deserves more appreciation from fs commentators.

Thank you. You're right, in his Nats FS he had that SE-combo and he also had a (kind of) SE sandwich 3A. In gpf 2016 there was no SE entry inyo 4T tho. He still did SE-4T in 4cc fs (tho he couldn't attach anything) but it was gone by Worlds and back again for WTT (on a side note, imo his spread eagles are better now)

For someone who apparently sometimes has confidence issues, it looks like Vincent lacks some good self-criticism, tho. idk, Vincent puzzles me. He is clever and in some interviews he sounds self-aware and humble, and he looked so dejected after IdF, but then he goes out at Nats still with that crazy layout that exacerbate all the issues he has, and a lot of his jumps are rightly called UR (and some have forward take off too) and he doesn't seem to realize he has a real issue... Maybe I'm just reacting too strongly to his words after Ashley complained so vocally about Nats scoring and being left out of Oly team (and after reading that ugly article complaing about russianization and mistaking PCS for "artistry" only. It's not like SS and TR are exactly Ashley's forte... ) I'd like to know if Vincent's team is really aware that he is prone to UR and working on it or just dismissing it as a one-time-mistake (which is not). Or if they think the odds of him getting a call are low enough it's not worth trying to fix that issue and lose consistency on the jumps Little question out of curiosity about Nathan: has he ever jumped a quad out of steps (or with some entry worth a GOE bullet)? I think he still had no step before his solo 4T in the SP at Nats so I'm wondering if he can do them but usually needs to save energy/wants more stability/just has no time while improvising layouts, or he has just never tried that in competition (and correct me if he did have a step that I've missed)

Me, me, me! Gimme, gimme, gimme! Also, congrats @hamaguri for having been accepted as a volunteer

It's kind of funny how Boyang got to be "balanced" when people like using him (rather than some others) to talk about guys who are all jumps jumps jumps (tho for him it's because he doesn't get the full quad bonus on PCS ). I belive he can have a balanced growth on both PCS and TES (GOE), in time. ngl, one of the reasons I miss Yuzuru is because I want to drown in quality jumps coming out of nowhere, with gorgeous and effortless landings and beautifully matched to the music give him all the GOE little rant under spoiler, sorrynotsorry RE: judges only ticking bullets for GOE and let the computer sum them It would be good and it would make scores more understandable (and likely a little bit less wild) but idk how easily it can be implemented in those overcrowded screens they use, and whether it would make the scoring slower. But one thing that imo would be doable could be for judges to imput separately their total negative and total positive GOE and make the system sum (plus a 0 if judges think the element has no positive nor negative features) instead of letting them give the final GOE themselves. Maybe this would be enough to make them pause a moment more and consider which are the features of the element that deserve detraction and which deserve a reward. E.g. I would like to know whether judges ever remember that there are all those -1 and -2 to be given for things like bad air position, tiny jumps, poor take off and long preparation etc etc or they only give negative GOE for more obvious mistakes like touch down, step out or ur. I'd like to know how much they deduct from spin GOE for "traveling" or "/Poor/awkward, unaesthetic position(s)" and "Slow or reduction of speed". And if they apply the reductions for stsq when "Poor quality of steps, turns, positions", "Does not correspond to the music" "Less than half of the pattern doing steps/turns" and choreo sq when "Does not enhance the music". Also RE: @fireovertheice's table about crossovers and turns in Seimei 1.0 vs H&L vs Seimei 2.0 I really want to see a (lot of) Seimei 2.0 skated to its whole potential, without Yuzu having to play catch up because of saved jumps and missed combos. Likely, the stats would be even more mind-blowing. Still, it's amazing how Yuzuru increased so much his tech but without throwing out of the window his own vision of the ideal skate. Tho now I worry that he might be forced to reduce the difficulty of his program. I honestly don't know which he would hate more, letting go of his harder quad(s) or reduce the complexity of his skating between his elements. Both options are against his core beliefs, and he might even need to do at least a little of both darn injuries Imho Seimei's choreo sq is where Seimei was and is superior to H&L in complexity (and I feel more thrilled waiting for that sequence, tbh, both because of the captivating music and because it means the jumps have ended so one can half-breath in relief ), but the program themselves have a different mood and a different concept, so one ChSq screams epicness and drama while the other is soft and flows beautifully towards the last jump and spin (and of course I take the opportunity to rewatch both sequences). Seimei's ChSq is a powerful climax and this is why imo some of his competitors' ChSq with just one big highligh and nothing more feel really, really bland (and kinda underwhelming) in comparison, while Seimei has the kind of emotional and grand ending to burn itself in the audience's memory for years and years.

I've just tried my luck with US Nats predictions (more shameless exploitation of ISU season best scores), let's see how it will go

My opinion on J. Wong's five points (wall-text, for the short version you can skip to the end of the post) 1. Re: more cameras. YES. Please YES. It's dumb refusing to use technology when you have it, more so if said technology can make the panel's work easier and maybe reduce a bit the saltiness from fans and improve the reputation of the sport among casual audience. If ISU wants to popularize skating more this would be a nice and sensible start. Can ISU be nice and sensible? Idk Btw in soccer slow motion replays are being used in sport programs on tv since forever but their use is still only being tested during the actual matches. So ISU is in good company in being technology-phobic. 2. Re: recalibrating components I don't get why one would go through the pain of changing all the BVs of all the elements when there is a solution as easy as just changing one darn multiplier for PCS (ok, two, but still less than all those BVs). If you don't want to change the PCS multipliers for whatever reason, fine, just add a multiplier 0.8 or so for the TES. There. Problem solved. We can move to more serious problems. Like how you train judges. How you review their work. How you punish those who need to be punished, so judging gets fairer. Or implementing better technology for review of jumps etc. Thank you. 3. Re: 10% bonus If I got this right, JW's idea is to make the +10%BV bonus not count for jumps with mistakes in the 2nd half. But the jump has been jumped when the skaters are more tired, would it be fair to give them the same BV received for a jump with the same mistake but executed in the first half? If the point is to reward a difficult element executed when the skater is more tired, well, the mere going for the jump is harder in the 2nd half, even without taking the landing into account. Then I could also argue that a mistake in the first half should get an harshest punishment because there there isn't the excuse of being tired, so we should demand skaters to go cleaner there. Iirc once Dolfini from ita Esp was saying that according to studies, skaters have the highest heart rate during the stsq (likely because of the prolonged effort) so jumps wouldn't be the most "demanding" elements when talking about physical exertion, therefore the bonus could take this into account. Now, those are interesting datas. But then, if we want to redefine the 2nd half bonus for the elements that require more effort, it would be necessary to ascertain if, when executing the same set of elements (jumps, spins and steps), a certain order is globally more physically demanding than another (e.g. steps first, then spins nd jumps, or jumps followed by steps and spins). The mere heart rate during a single element isn't enough, imo. Is the heart rate for steps higher in 2nd half after jumps than in first half before them? And how much? Are jumps more physically demanding after steps? If we consider the mere psychology, I don't think there are many doubts that doing jumps later in the program is harder, too. In addition, if we talk about quality of jumps, I believe the data we currently have say quality is usually lower in 2nd half. And when most of the skaters still do the harder elements earlier in their programs despite the bonus, I'd say the bonus is fair from a purely athletic point of view. For those who think a fully backloaded (or frontloaded) program is inherently "unbalanced", imo it depends on music, choreography and execution. Kostornaia's FS, fully backloaded, is better than many "balanced" programs. But if ISU wants to add "not totally unbalanced temporal distribution of jumps", then nothing easier than just saying: "the bonus can be given to xxxx number of jumping passes at most, and if you backload more you do it without BV reward". There, easy. Let's move on. 4. Review of how (and how often?!?) bullets are counted Imo JW is wrong when he mixes GOE bullets with features for spins that decide the spin level, so its BV (and have nothing to do with GOE on the spin). We can put togheter the intervention to limit the overuse of the Biellman with the Zayak rule, as both have the aim to force skaters to execute different elements. But GOE aren't about innovation and not even about the elements, they are about the grade of execution of elements, and why should any bullet be given only a limited number of times? Matched to music, height and distance bullets have nothing to do with doing something for the first time, or only one time in all the program. Heck, I'd like to see every jump to check those bullets in every program! Even for entries and exits of jumps, innovations come into play only for those (very subjective!) bits about creative/original, but you can still get the bullets for "difficult"entry and good extension on exit and you don't need to be creative or innovative at all. In particular Re: tano and rippon I am against forcing a limit on their number, unless it is proved that they don't make the jump harder at all. That I can find them boring should have 0 impact on the "quality of execution" of a jump (tho, of course, it could weight on PCS score). Otherwise one could say the usual air position without any tano or rippon is boring and ask for mandatory arms variations on at least two jumps. I can see that e.g. Evgenia sometimes seems to use the additional wrench from her tano arm to do her jumps, but when she has skated injured she has dropped most of her arm variations, which makes me think her usual tano jumps are still harder for her than the non-tano. We can complain all we want about the overuse of tano but then why would we not reward skaters just because they can consistently hit one particular bullet? Let's say one day a skater does programs with all the jumps entered from counter, wouldn't he/she still meet the bullets for difficult entry, even tho there is no creativity/originality? Imo it could be taken into consideration the quality of the arm position itself, but it becomes too subjective then. And btw, right now (I don't know how the bullets/goe will work next season) that bullet accounts only for half goe. When we consider how creatively goe are sometimes given, it looks like excessive tano is an overrated question, tbh. Also, if the tano results in ugly/bad air position, poor flow in the jump or other flaws, the scoring system already allows for the proper goe deductions (e.g. -1 to -2 for poor speed, height, distance, air position vs a +0.5 for the arm variation). As always, it's up to judges. 5. Re: better training for judges Absolutely yes. I might add, more serious measures for people not applying the rules properly (which could be sometimes tricky to see, but other times it's quite easy e.g. judges giving 10 for programs with falls and -1 goe for falls on jumps or anything more than -3 on SP solo jump without steps). To sum the wall-text: I don't think arm variations and "unbalance" due to backloading are a real issue, not yet. There are more urgent and serious problems: implementing current technology to help panels (and I might add allow slow-mo for prerotation of jumps, too), more consistent tech calls, GOE and components reflecting what really happens on the ice, STICKING TO WHAT'S WRITTEN IN THE RULEBOOK. Imo ISU should think about the beams first and leave the motes for later.

Happy new year!!!!! May 2018 be full of joy and lots of smiling and healthy Yuzu, and may we all cry happy tears only

Noooo I will be at the cinema watching some non-Yuzu thing at exactly the same hours but I wouldn't have been able to join the streaming party anyway this time, so I'm only mildly kuyashii Have fun and lots of squishiness you lucky satellites! And thank you in advance @robin for the playlist me wants me needs gimme gimme gimme( take your time, of course)