[2022] Grand Prix Espoo

[Melodie]

35 minutes ago, Kizuna said:

Mai  I thought she'd lost it but... Congrats on being the top qualifier to the GPF!!!

 

Edit: And Rika wins in TES!!! 

Well she got a good rest and ample of time for practice in between, and it showed. Mai and Mana? Much less so, especially Mai.

 

Coming to Nationals, it's going to be very brutal for those qualified for GPF and less so for those who don't. 

 

 

[Melodie]

37 minutes ago, ccy said:

damn! Rika off podium. 

Isn't that good for her? Now she can focus on Nats. Her goal was never the GP series this season to begin with.

[liv]

Mai!!!!!!! Not as good as Sheffield, but with that smiral, you'd never know it. Girl just loves to skate and her second career (post hospitalization), is so good so far. She and Kaori together at GPF!

 

So happy for her, and it's in Finland, where her Cinderella brought her up to 5th at worlds after her disastrous short. 

 

Nice that Rika is slowly climbing back with the newly returned 3F. I think of some coaching camps, and how she'd be pushed... not with tracy/Brian. It's a long race, not a sprint. 

[Kizuna]

25 minutes ago, Melodie said:

Well she got a good rest and ample of time for practice in between, and it showed. Mai and Mana? Much less so, especially Mai.

 

Coming to Nationals, it's going to be very brutal for those qualified for GPF and less so for those who don't. 

 

 

Yeah, I gotta agree with you on that one. She'd be travelling back and forth from Japan to Europe three times and competing four times in a span of about 6-7 weeks from GP MK John Wilson Trophy till JNats. Very brutal schedule.

[Melodie]

23 minutes ago, Kizuna said:

Yeah, I gotta agree with you on that one. She'd be travelling back and forth from Japan to Europe three times and competing four times in a span of about 6-7 weeks from GP MK John Wilson Trophy till JNats. Very brutal schedule.

Exactly. And this terrible schedule was why Yuzu was the mess he was at JNats 2019. 

 

Seeing that Mai is similarly never the best health-wise, I can only pray for her (and Kaori too, as she has not been well for quite some times).

[ralucutzagy]

 

So happy for Shun!!!! 

[ralucutzagy]

 

 

[Pammi]

So glad for Shun, Ilia's PCS a nonsense (ofc, and no surprise there) also Tatsuya skated beautifully (and should also have higher PCS than IM imo...)

[KendallKlaire]

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like literally no one (except the US "experts" of course) cares that Ilia is winning. Like the boy goes out there, does some crazy quads and that's it. 

 

Boy has no substance and his packaging/marketing makes him seem like spoiled mayo (which is mean to say but how it seems to me...)

[Pammi]

8 minutes ago, KendallKlaire said:

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like literally no one (except the US "experts" of course) cares that Ilia is winning. Like the boy goes out there, does some crazy quads and that's it. 

 

Boy has no substance and his packaging/marketing makes him seem like spoiled mayo (which is mean to say but how it seems to me...)

In the ISU chat, I would say that your view is confirmed - seemed to me that both experienced and inexperienced fans of FS could see just what you describe above, and that ppl enjoy better musicality, interpretation, performance and skating skills above boring jumps alone.  Mark (commentator) who is an ice dancer ffs was complimenting Ilia on his wonderful PCS skills too??!!

[Pammi]

9 minutes ago, Mary_kyo said:

The thing is Ilia isn't rotating his quads. He got three "q" calls here instead of UR, just because of his passport. So his take-off is correct, but his rotations are lacking. So technically we can't even say he is a great jumper, if we want to be honest and fair. 

I need to check the 4A - it looked at least a q if not UR on the slo mo...was it given a q Haven't checked protocols yet

Just checked - 4A and 4S given q

Oh and Shun and Ilia both got 8.5 for SS - much too high for Ilia - Tatsuya was 8.07

[Pammi]

2 minutes ago, Mary_kyo said:

protocols here: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2223/gpfin2022/

 

His 4A, 4S, 3T received "q". Honestly, q rule is BS, it's just a safe cheat pass for selected skaters.

You know Mark points out URs esp in the women's event - he saw Ilia's slomo 4A and I know that he saw the UR but stopped himself saying anything! It's that which is just so annoying, loads of ppl dont go and look at protocols so they never know if commentators dont point it out.

[KendallKlaire]

8 minutes ago, Pammi said:

In the ISU chat, I would say that your view is confirmed - seemed to me that both experienced and inexperienced fans of FS could see just what you describe above, and that ppl enjoy better musicality, interpretation, performance and skating skills above boring jumps alone.  Mark (commentator) who is an ice dancer ffs was complimenting Ilia on his wonderful PCS skills too??!!

I think the hype and attention for men's skating has completely died since last year.  The attention on Ilia is nothing compared to what was on Nathan, even with a 4A, and I think it's because no one feels invested in him.  He comes across as quite boring to me (outside his skating I mean) and very Gen Z so I certainly don't "get" him lol. It's his first year in seniors and he's winning everything with his tech scores and overscored PCs so there's been no great public struggle in reaching the top like we see with skaters like Mai, Shun, Kevin, etc.

 

I wonder what the difference would've been if Yuzu was still competing? 

 

[Pammi]

I really wish the protocols were shown at the point the scores are announced - lots of sports fans love numbers, if they were shown on screen I think it would fuel people's interest in the scoring and they would find out more/ask more about it - ofc ISU wont want this though as they would be challenged more about it...

 

[ralucutzagy]