kiches

Does Phiten not count? During Nationals he almost always wears a white jacket with Nike’s logo on it. As far as I can tell at Nationals tell he’s the only one that does so I didn’t consider it a Team Japan thing.

I think there WAS a bloodbath for Sochi for the Japanese men, even with 3 spots. They had so many contenders then.

I always thought the person wiping the tear from Yuzu’s eye in 2013 was David too since he was with him in the Kiss and Cry after the free.

Didn’t he only pop one jump in the second half in Russia? Other mistake was on the landing of the 4S so he couldn’t do the combo on it but he added the 3T onto the axel but wasn’t able to put the 1Lo3S anywhere else (maybe at the end but his landing was so-so in that axel). So technically... he didn’t pop that many jumps in the second half, the errors in Russia were more due to lack of secure landing than anything. I expect that to be improved by NHK this week.

I find Zagitova extremely impressive, although she reminds me a lot of Medvedeva, but in a better way. For me one of the most distracting thing about Medvedeva’s skating is how she uses her arms to muscle the rotation of her jumps, I think Zagitova relies less on the momentum created by torquing her arms as she launches into her jumps and it makes it much more pleasing to watch. However, she tends to skate bent at the waist so I hope she improves upon that. The I actually enjoy the last half of her FS with the rapid succession of jumps but find the first half extremely boring. Also major props to her for doing the 3Lz3Lo. I do find both Medvedeva and Zagitova to be slow during their step sequences. I’m not sure if it’s all the transitions and content they pack into their step sequence, or if it’s just where their current ability is at. I know that many will laud the difficulty of their programs, and its true, they are difficult and packed. However I think there’s a difference between completing a packed program in an above average way and completing it with mastery. I’ve seen Medvedeva skate 3 times (Boston, Mississauga, and Helsinki) and she hasn’t really gotten any faster and the above issues still stand IMO. I would say that both Medvedeva and Zagitova fall under the “above average” category when it comes to skating skills. If their step sequences were performed by someone with proficient or exemplary skating skill their programs would give off a much more polished and seamless impression than it does now. As it stands they don’t have the skill level to make it not look fragmented and choppy, I find that their limbs tend to trail the rest of their body (Medvedeva’s illusion that she does during her step sequence comes to mind as an example of this). To give a different example I would compare Nathan’s attempts at a spread eagle-3A-spread eagle in his SP last season to Yuzuru’s spread eagle - 3A- spread eagle from his early renditions of Chopin. Nathan’s funky axel aside, they do are doing similar difficult content and transitions with drastic difference in level of skill to execute it beautifully resulting in two very different looking outcomes and impression. My point is that perhaps Zagitova’s programs would seem more balanced if she was as proficient in PCS categories like skating skills, interpretation, and performance/execution as she is in completing her jumps with difficult transitions and rippons. I think that’s where the imbalance comes for me, clearly one half of the program is done with much more proficiency than the other so it looks very awkward. I think you can select music and adapt choreography to have the jumps in the second half, I really don’t mind so long as your first half is just as spectacular. As it stands, it isn’t in my book. They can sacrifice the quality as a trade off for the quantity of transitions, but if they do, they should be marked accordingly on the execution.

Oh the Telesport videos made it's way here. I was leaving them up to test because for some reason Dailymotion kept giving me a copyright notice for Chopin of all things! I was trying to have both SP and FS on one stream site but DM keeps taking down the SP and youtube geoblocks the FS. Still testing some workarounds, I swear I'll get it one day! In the meantime, here are the files in my google drive for now if you want to download them. Thanks to @Fay for the translation! 2017 CoR Yuzuru Hanyu SP (Telesport) [Eng Hard Sub] 2017 CoR Yuzuru Hanyu SP (Telesport) [Eng Soft Sub] 2017 CoR Yuzuru Hanyu FS (Telesport) [Eng Soft Sub] 2017 CoR Yuzuru Hanyu FS (Telesport) [Eng Hard Sub]

Bringing the lutz talk back to Yuzu though, I think one of the most aesthetically pleasing thing about his jumps is that they look like they have the perfect height and distance when he lands. His triple axel for instance is high and travels far, but I’m sure if he wanted to he could jump it higher but it may not make the trajectory look as beautiful. Yuzu’s lutz in Russia looked like it had close to an ideal ratio of height and distance to make it look effortless, he just needs to control the tilt of the axis more and I think the landing will be smooth and it’ll look seamless.

Kolyada looked like he had airtime to spare but I think in general his rotational speed is slower so I doubt he could really fit in another rotation. Height was awesome though.

I think Yuzu will have plenty of motivation, it's the Olympic season after all and he has yet to satiate his need for gold medals. Those two silvers must be bitter for him.

I find it amusing that a commercial for a commercial is ranked #1 .

Not sure what we'll see at NHK or GPF, but I expect them to be Japanese exhibitions or Notte Stellata. I would expect his Olympic exhibition to be Notte Stellata as well, it has a nice symmetry to White Legend which he did in Sochi. If not Notte Stellata, then maybe Requiem.

Going back to Boyang and Nathan’s lutzes really quick. I saw them do their lutzes one right after the other nearly side by side in the same spot during practice (I may have even captured it in my fancam, would need to check) but it’s no contest. Boyang’s is a monster. I wish I could’ve seen Yuzu’s 4Lz, I had been hoping he’d bring it at ACI but it wasn’t mean to to be. I’m just glad he landed it in Russia and hope to see many more beautiful quad lutzes from him.

He definitely has an aura that's bigger than his body, it's at once intense and exhilarating to experience. Of course, I'm his fan so it probably affects me more than those who aren't his fan or are fellow skaters, but I think it's undeniable. The only other time I felt a similar feeling was when I saw Mao standing in the middle of the rink right before her free skate in Boston. I think that's why I find his practices so captivating, the way he moves is amazing. Out of curiosity, anyone have any links to Yuzu warming up prior to 2013? I've only been following his since Sochi but I was wondering if he's always had that commanding presence.

He really was cute, and I didn't even realize my eyes bulged out .

But he will have to change time zones won’t he? Toronto is about 3 hours ahead of Anaheim. Flight is 5-6 hrs probably and a lot of airports in this area so lots of flight opportunities especially out of LAX (which is an awful busy airport). I expect a lot of Team USA to compete as well since it’s in the states and many skaters seem to train in Southern California.

We have the clam chowder at Boudin in San Francisco, so I can usually pass on that. I have yet to actually have the corn dogs as my friend actually hates corn dogs so we never get it . All this Disney talk is really making me want to go back.

Haha food is the one thing I try NOT to buy in Disneyland if possible (that had to be some of the most disappointing pizza I ever had) but I do love to hit up Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney. If I could ride rides in Fantasy Land while everyone watched the parade I totally would, and try to ride the popular ones more than once (like Indiana Jones and Space Mountain). The line for Peter Pan and the other storybook rides have gotten increasingly longer over the years.

Hmm, I guess if you have small kids that does slow things down considerably as well. These days I skip things I'm not interested in (like fireworks and parades, I'm all about the rides).

Wait, people take more than one day for Disneyland? It’s one of the most compact parks! On a slow day you can be done by 3 PM and have a nap and come back!

@Sombreuil I got that impression from Nathan as well, which I can understand if he has other goals and priorities outside of figure skating that he’s anxious to get to. @Anony I can’t help but feel the Chinese Team gets a group discount from Lori on choreography and in return they sometimes get a cheaper product . She’s had some great programs for them but it seems like a mixed bag, and this season in particular seems very uninspired for the team.

As a fan of both Yuzu and Boyang (Boyang is my second favorite male skater but <<<<<<<<<< Yuzu). Generally I tend to be really underwhelmed by Boyang’s free skates but I liked Tango Amore and Spider-Man - I need to watch a better quality version of his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but I wasn’t a huge fan of it or his Star Wars when I saw the fancam of his Chinese test skate. I think he may have an uphill battle this season and these aren’t the best vehicles for him. I think what draws me to Boyang has less to do with his skating skills (although I think he’s improving) but more with expression. I tend to like subtle and natural forms of expression and I think this is one area that Yuzu is above and beyond the rest. When Boyang skates I think he has a bit of that natural expression that doesn’t feel forced, I think this is why I enjoyed Spider-Man so much, because it suited his natural personality and brought it to the forefront. What drives me crazy about Boyang are the quality of his jumps. I feel like his quad lutz is exceptional, but for some reason his other jumps lack the same quality even if they’re easier, and his landings and flow outside of the lutz tend to be mediocre. I think in a couple of years if Boyang works on these areas (and maybe ditches Lori as a choreographer) he has a lot of potential in his skating career.

I saw Nam compete at ACI live, and the last time I saw him skate live was in Boston. He's definitely gained back a bit of his consistency but his overall skating quality is far apart from the top 6. He was extremely slow in Boston, and I would say he's still slow but no longer as slow as before. His programs are... an odd choice in my opinion. I really enjoyed Misha at ACI and Helsinki, he always skates with so much heart that you can easily feel a connection with him even if his technical ability isn't as impressive as other skaters. All in all, the only thing I care about is Yuzu making the GPF. He doesn't necessarily need to win both events to qualify, so as long as he qualifies, I'm okay with his individual GP results, whatever they turn out to be (although I hope he can finally pull off a double win).

I love your sentiments and approve wholeheartedly for him to achieve all your listed ambitions. As for the Seimei costume, I was sitting near the skater entrance at ACI so I could tell immediately that there differences to his costume. I like it a lot. I know some people felt it seemed more baggy but I actually find it more form fitting because it seems less loose around his belt than before. The detailing is exquisite and the white looks beautiful. I admit I had a “what?” moment when he stepped out in the Chopin costume as I wondered if it was exactly the same (turns out it was). There was an audible sound again in the audience when he took off that jacket, more of surprise and wonder.

you learn something new every day! Now I have about 2-3 of these from the last two jars of gum...

Really?! I was thinking they were too small to be of any use but this actually makes sense!