General Skating Chat

[Yatagarasu]

10 minutes ago, Danibellerika said:

Is there a transcript of Yulia's commentary? I really want to hear what she has to say.

 

"I also wanted to point out that at the end of the program there are very few steps between the two axels. The entries are so short and quick, and he nearly jumped them without any speed – that was the thing I was shocked by." - I loved, loved that!

 

You can find the whole thing here, @Fay was super kind to translate the whole video

 

[Danibellerika]

18 minutes ago, Yatagarasu said:

 

"I also wanted to point out that at the end of the program there are very few steps between the two axels. The entries are so short and quick, and he nearly jumped them without any speed – that was the thing I was shocked by." - I loved, loved that!

 

You can find the whole thing here, @Fay was super kind to translate the whole video

 

Perfect! Thank you!

[singcarcom]

4 hours ago, xeyra said:

 

Well, he can jump it out of a standstill. A couple of steps of prep is already more speed than necessary. 

He can even jump it off ice. When he's doing image training, it's crazy how he manages to do his jump despite being on land. 

 

He makes it look so easy sometimes I forget even the quadsters like Nathan struggle with it a little. 

[Forcefield]

I took a look at the GP assignments of the top 6 and there's a big possibility that Chen goes to the final as the only skater with 2 golds (he basically has SA 85% in the bag) while one of the top 6 may get into the final (unless there's a setback like last year like for Jin) with no gold at all.

 

So here's the unnecessary and wishful scenario for this speculation - I was thinking, if I'd like the 6 to make it with at least one gold each, it's already impossible because Yuzu did not get it at COR. For it to work, though some results may seem impossible:

 

COR - Chen v Yuzu (Yuzu gold)

SC - Chan v Uno (Uno gold)

COC - Javi v Jin (Jin gold)

NHK - Yuzu v Chan (Chan gold)

T. de France - Uno v Javi (Javi gold)

SA - Jin v Chen (Chen gold)

 

So with that fail, there's one other possibility if there's a miracle and Chen doesn't gold at SA but with the other results being more plausible:

 

COR - Chen v Yuzu (Chen gold)

SC - Chan v Uno (Chan gold)

COC - Javi v Jin (Javi gold)

NHK - Yuzu v Chan (Yuzu gold)

T. de France - Uno v Javi (Uno gold)

SA - Jin v Chen (Jin gold)

 

I also think Yuzu also has NHK 85% in the bag. So the matchups that will be a beast at this point is between Chan v Uno in SC & Javi v Jin in COC, which will affect the importance of Uno v Javi in Trophee de France & an unfortunate Jin in SA.

 

Jin, Chan and Javi unfortunately will lose a gold as I think Uno has got it in him to take one gold, if not two alongside Chen (well, there's a reason I think both are Yuzu's biggest threats for OGM).

 

I know gold medals in the GPS aren't as important as points, but if I'm overlooking it for a moment to get into the hype.

 

Eta: Correct me if I'm wrong about anything.

[Xen]

To everyone who is wondering about the Boyang/Yuzu fan overlap. I can kind of only explain it from my own perspective. 

Boyang I did not like, period, in 15/16, and it was only really last season that he managed to grab my attention with La Strada, and what an improvement!

 

Personally, my preference is for light, agile artistic style-more Gabriel's Oboe or even Vocalise versus Carmen or Swan Lake. So skaters that tend to embody that style would appeal to me more naturally. In 15/16, Boyang didn't find his style, and there wasn't a lot of joy, or anything, showing from his skating. But 16/17-he was fun to watch, and so different from 15/16 that I felt compelled to cheer him on. But I think he's going more towards the lightness of H&L than the heaviness of Turandot. Technique wise, while not the cleanest, he's definitely good. He does remind me a bit of Yuzu back during 2011-2013. 

 

And it seems that he does have some idea of wanting to find his own style, and trying different things out. In an interview for CoC, he said that he wanted his current SP music last season, but Lori told him to try Spiderman instead. This season, he suddenly wanted to try a slower music, chinese style, so he brought up this request again. While  not as stubborn as Yuzu, he's finding his own artistic voice, even if not final. And that does seem different from some of the other quadsters. As for star wars, the oddball said it symbolizes the final flight in the men's competition.  So yes, his dorkiness space cadet mentality is also a bit infectious. 

 

I'm leaving the other post from team China here, there's already a translation which I forgot about, and my own rough translations above. 

https://planethanyu.com/topic/62-team-china/?do=findComment&comment=107155

 

[kiches]

55 minutes ago, Xen said:

To everyone who is wondering about the Boyang/Yuzu fan overlap. I can kind of only explain it from my own perspective. 

Boyang I did not like, period, in 15/16, and it was only really last season that he managed to grab my attention with La Strada, and what an improvement!

 

[snip]

 

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. 

[Danibellerika]

14 minutes ago, kiches said:

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 agree, though Boyang is not a favorite of mine and I am not particularly invested in his results. Short programs definitely seem like his stronger suite. 

[Anony]

29 minutes ago, kiches said:

and maybe ditches Lori as a choreographer

Cheezuz please do, him and Sui/Han needs to go far away from Lori

[Sombreuil]

1 hour ago, Xen said:

And it seems that he does have some idea of wanting to find his own style, and trying different things out. In an interview for CoC, he said that he wanted his current SP music last season, but Lori told him to try Spiderman instead. This season, he suddenly wanted to try a slower music, chinese style, so he brought up this request again. While  not as stubborn as Yuzu, he's finding his own artistic voice, even if not final. And that does seem different from some of the other quadsters. As for star wars, the oddball said it symbolizes the final flight in the men's competition.  So yes, his dorkiness space cadet mentality is also a bit infectious. 

35 minutes ago, kiches said:

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 agree with this.  Boyang seems to be trying (without getting a lot of assistance ) to be trying to find his own style rather than waiting for his advisers to tell him what to do which seems to be the case with the majority of skaters.  He can be expressive and he often looks as though he's really enjoying himself while he's skating(jump face aside!). In addition he's not focussed on the short term- he seems to want to do it properly, whereas Nathan and Shoma seem to want to do it fast never mind the quality or the content.  I know Nathan has backtracked a bit on the get out and go to university line, but it did leave a strong impression that he's in it to make a splash and get out fast.

[kiches]

@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. 

[Anony]

13 minutes ago, kiches said:

 I can’t help but feel the Chinese Team gets a group discount from Lori on horeograohy 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. 

I thought Star Wars and Boyang would have been a perfect fit, but Boyang's FS this year is so unimpressive I'm almost impressed, for all the wrong reasons.

[Joey]

Just jumping in to cross post again - results for the CoR prediction game are out and can be viewed here. Yata won it with 35 points, only 1 point ahead of kitsune. For everyone who wants to continue with round 2, or join for that, here is the link:

https://www.flexiquiz.com/SC/N/a17e20bd-b58b-4194-98cb-537812018705

 

Again, thanks to everyone who participated and good luck everyone for Canada!

 

[CupidsBow]

5 hours ago, Xen said:

To everyone who is wondering about the Boyang/Yuzu fan overlap. I can kind of only explain it from my own perspective. 

Boyang I did not like, period, in 15/16, and it was only really last season that he managed to grab my attention with La Strada, and what an improvement!

 

Personally, my preference is for light, agile artistic style-more Gabriel's Oboe or even Vocalise versus Carmen or Swan Lake. So skaters that tend to embody that style would appeal to me more naturally. In 15/16, Boyang didn't find his style, and there wasn't a lot of joy, or anything, showing from his skating. But 16/17-he was fun to watch, and so different from 15/16 that I felt compelled to cheer him on. But I think he's going more towards the lightness of H&L than the heaviness of Turandot. Technique wise, while not the cleanest, he's definitely good. He does remind me a bit of Yuzu back during 2011-2013. 

 

And it seems that he does have some idea of wanting to find his own style, and trying different things out. In an interview for CoC, he said that he wanted his current SP music last season, but Lori told him to try Spiderman instead. This season, he suddenly wanted to try a slower music, chinese style, so he brought up this request again. While  not as stubborn as Yuzu, he's finding his own artistic voice, even if not final. And that does seem different from some of the other quadsters. As for star wars, the oddball said it symbolizes the final flight in the men's competition.  So yes, his dorkiness space cadet mentality is also a bit infectious. 

 

I'm leaving the other post from team China here, there's already a translation which I forgot about, and my own rough translations above. 

https://planethanyu.com/topic/62-team-china/?do=findComment&comment=107155

 

 

I think Boyang won over a lot of people last year with Spiderman and La Strada. For me it was that he was skating with so much joy and this bright, bubbly personality that just makes him shine. I thought it was really smart of him to kind of make up for what he lacks in skating skills and transitions with personality and charm. And I'm genuinely very happy that he cares about raising his performance components through hard work on his skills and developing artistry. Last year I thought Nathan really lacked any kind of personality or style, and this year Shoma...his free program...is so boring and sort of makes his short seem dull in conjunction (bring back loco).  I'm not as invested in Boyang as I am with Shoma but I'm very fond of him. 

[kaeryth]

/crossposting/

 

By the way, for people who attended COR (congratulations! hope everyone had fun and got home safe), any thoughts on seeing Ballade 3.0 and Seimei 2.0 live? Of course both are still far from the perfect performance Yuzu envisions, but what do you think about the prototypes and what about the costumes? Any thoughts on things (other than the obvious stamina and jumps) on what he needs to improve?

 

How were all the other skaters? Any highlights? (How were Piper & Paul???)

[Xen]

6 hours ago, Anony said:

Cheezuz please do, him and Sui/Han needs to go far away from Lori

Beg to differ  but switching choerographers too frequently does not work either. They could look into using different ones for different teams rather than shoving them all on one. And it is still possible that communication gaps exist between Lori and the skaters, it will take time to adapt on both sides. 

 

I still like the short programs Lori has given to boyang, and that she is trying to bring him out so to speak, as she got him to agree to do the spiderman last season.  I am not against a different choerographer for the long, but Shae or  Jeff might not work either, so the question is who does he go to? Tom Dickson, TAT?