Team USA

[Heavenly Yuzu]

On 4/29/2023 at 8:50 AM, LAY said:

I heard about Ilia 4A and Yuzu's ideal 4A are different.Yuzu's 4A is more difficult to achieve. Anyone know what's the difference between the two? 

This video from the ISU explains the different axel takeoff techniques. Yuzu’s is the first type, the edge takeoff. I’ll leave you to decide which of the other two IM uses …..

 

[LAY]

8 hours ago, Heavenly Yuzu said:

This video from the ISU explains the different axel takeoff techniques. Yuzu’s is the first type, the edge takeoff. I’ll leave you to decide which of the other two IM uses …..

 

Many thanks for this useful informations regarding axel take off techniques. I have heard of skid take off in the past and saw some from YT videos clips. Bacxel is definitely a well known term applied to NC's 3A take off technique. 

 

Well, it's practically a cheated 4A with skid take off. I hope Yuzu will be blessed with a solid, stable torque axis for his 'ideal 4A'. I think continuing his 4A training after turning pro has improved all his jumps tremendously. His quads and 3As preparation time is getting shorter and you know from his take off position, he is gonna land them beautifully🥰

[Melodie]

48 minutes ago, LAY said:

Well, it's practically a cheated 4A with skid take off. I hope Yuzu will be blessed with a solid, stable torque axis for his 'ideal 4A'. I think continuing his 4A training after turning pro has improved all his jumps tremendously. His quads and 3As preparation time is getting shorter and you know from his take off position, he is gonna land them beautifully🥰

No, Ilia's 4A is not a cheated one. Yuzu's has less PR but Ilia's is acceptable and definitely not a bacaxel. Both of them have been attempting real entry into the 4A as well. As a skater, Ilia has many flaws that are easy to criticize, but his jumping techniques are not one of them. 

 

I prefer Yuzu's Axel so I'm still hoping he will be able to jump a fully rotated 4A because it will be a sight to behold when and if he does. In the meanwhile, Ilia's is the one to beat. 

[LAY]

17 minutes ago, Melodie said:

No, Ilia's 4A is not a cheated one. Yuzu's has less PR but Ilia's is acceptable and definitely not a bacaxel. Both of them have been attempting real entry into the 4A as well. As a skater, Ilia has many flaws that are easy to criticize, but his jumping techniques are not one of them. 

 

I prefer Yuzu's Axel so I'm still hoping he will be able to jump a fully rotated 4A because it will be a sight to behold when and if he does. In the meanwhile, Ilia's is the one to beat. 

Ohh! Thanks for clarifying for me. Ilia is using technique 1 take off but with slightly more pre- rotation than Yuzu.Minimal pre-rotation for axel jump is between 45-90 degrees right? 

[Yulu]

This week I've completely fallen in love with Jason Brown and his skating 

[Louitunes]

On 5/6/2023 at 7:32 AM, Yulu said:

This week I've completely fallen in love with Jason Brown and his skating 

Always loved him.  Pure class. 

[ralucutzagy]

 

 

[Melodie]

For some reasons YT recommended Nate's recent (?) exhibition programs to me and I can just say, as I watched him, that my first though was "wow, that is so NA". I dunno if that's a good or bad thing LOL. 

 

Here are the two recommended to me 

 

[Melodie]

Ilia's new short is ... not good at this point 😐 Also he might do a 4A in the short? What's all that talk about focusing more on skating qualities???

 

Shae does not do him any favor giving him that program.

[Kadova]

On 7/15/2023 at 5:40 AM, Melodie said:

Ilia's new short is ... not good at this point 😐 Also he might do a 4A in the short? What's all that talk about focusing more on skating qualities???

 

Shae does not do him any favor giving him that program.

Well, Shae Lynn should know what she's doing. We'll see that at the competitions.

[Melodie]

19 hours ago, Kadova said:

Well, Shae Lynn should know what she's doing. We'll see that at the competitions.

Shae Lynn is very much a hit-or-miss kind of choreographer. When she hits, her programs are your definition of masterpieces. When she doesn't, they are all either "meh" or "a big mess". 

 

I will give his new SP the benefit of doubt since it is a fairly new program, but for now? The judgement is "this is not it". 

 

A shame since Malaguena is such a warhorse, we've had so many (better) programs already to compare it to. Say, Sasha Cohen's, Javier Fernandez's or Yuhana Yokoi's. 

[micaelis]

Well, things are settled enough that I feel I can make my thoughts known about the new kid on the block, a fellow by the name of Ilia Malinin.  You're going to hear a lot about him in the coming years as he becomes the one to beat in men's singles.  I know, a fair number of you are rolling your eyes or screaming with rage.  His people skills are not very good but then how many people skills do average American teenagers have in this age of smart-phones and social media where you don't have to deal with things like face to face talking, at least face to face 'serious' talking. 

 

So let's leave behind all matters of Ilia Malinin the brash brat of figure skating and just look at Ilia Malinin the skater.  Here we're looking at something major. Major beginning with the 4A, which he's done in competition enough times for everybody to know it's the genuine article.  Then let's look at the rest of his jumping and we see a skater in full command of all six quads.  In fact he's definitely better than Nathan at his best and I'm sure that's part of the reason that Nathan decided to go back to school.  He knows that if Ilia is skating clean there's no way that he can beat him.  And what might the situation be when quints become an issue.  In one interview Ilia said that he would not try any quints in competition until the ISU gives point values for them.  In another interview where quints came up Ilia hinted that he's already doing some of them in practice.

 

But jumps are not all of figure-skating.  There's all the other stuff, such as PC elements which Ilia, early in the season said he's working on.   He has, in fact, if you compare his early season skates with his late season.  There is marked improvement.  If he is able to get on top of the Program Components he will become the sport's next legend.  But not a new Yuzuru Hanyu.  The difference will be that these next years might be deemed the Age of Malinin, but that label will be because he defined this particular era.  The thing is that while Yuzu defined the era from his first World medal (the bronze) to the last year of his competing he also defined figure-skating as a whole.  He became the example of the very very complete skater who showed just what figure skating is about.  Ilia is not capable of that.  Nobody is.  Yuzuru is the gift that keeps on giving, even after he retired from competition.  His first endevors after retiring - Prologue, Gift and Notte Stelatta redefined the ice show, Gift particularly, which was an event the likes of which figure-skating has never seen before and will never see again unless Yuzu comes up with yet something new.  Might we see that?  I think it possible, possible because Yuzuru Hanyu is the only skater around these days who's clearly able to think outside the box.  He's not hemmed in by such factors as 'it's never been done before'.  For Yuzu, if it's desirable to be done, he'll just go out and do it no matter if it's never been done before.

 

But let's get back to Ilia.  As we head into the new season we have to look back to the season just recently ended.  At the beginning of the season Ilia, entering into his first full season of senior competition was seen as an up-and-coming skater. At the end of the season, where Ilia had picked up four golds and two bronzes (has any first-season skater ever done the same?) and delivered for the world to see four clean 4As, well, it's obvious to see.  Ilia, as far as the men go, is the one to beat.  It's that simple.

 

But he will not be without competition, and it is fitting that the competition will be coming from Japan.  There's a new skater who will be entering his first full season skating senior level - Kao Miura - who is entering after a season surprisingly similar to Ilia's last season skating junior level, particularly as far as Junior Worlds is concerned.  Two seasons ago, Ilia's last as a junior, Ilia captured the Junior World title with a very credible skate that had him the victor by some 44 points.  Kao in the same competition had some issues and ended in 13th.  This last season, with Ilia taking the spotlight in the men's senior division Kao diligently applied himself and at the Junior Worlds took the gold with a margin (you guessed it) of some 44 points.  But Kao was not an imitation of Ilia.  Nor is he a Yuzu.  Basically I'd compare him to Shoma.  They exhibit the same sort of reticence, almost shyness, when dealing with things off the ice.  They seem to have the same feelings toward the music accompanying them.  And their skating style shows some similarities. 

 

I think we will not be disappointed to find a rivalry of sorts emerging between Kao and Ilia, probably not this year but I feel it will definitely be a factor in the following season.  Yuzu had his rivals - initially Patrick Chan, then Javi, in the end Nathan.  One of the things making Yuzu so remarkable is the fact that he was in competition long enough to have had three main competitors.  You don't see that very often.

 

But finally Ilia and Yuzu compared.  Begin with this last season.  Ilia begins the season fresh off a Junior World Championship with a very respectable margin of 44 points.  He ended the season with four golds and two bronzes with no competition where he didn't medal. In that sense we have a duplicate of Yuzu's fourth senior season (203/14) where he medaled everywhere and took the GPF, the Olympic and the World Championship golds.  In short, at the beginning of the season Yuzu was up and coming.  At the end he was the one to beat.  That is exactly the same situation with Ilia.  Next, comparing Yuzu's and Ilia's personalities.  Obviously there is no similarity but with Ilia you do have a personality.  With Nathan you have none.  Nathan did not register on the likability/unlikable factor.  Ilia does have presence.  It might be brash.  It might be arrogant.  But at least it's something.  Beyond that, however, you can see in his body language and particularly his facial expression that when out on the ice while intensely competing he is also having fun.  His smile after a successful skate is totally genuine and infectious.  With Nathan there was nothing.  He was an automaton.  Ilia is everything but.  In that sense, just like Yuzu, the Ilia you see out on the ice is the real thing.  Like Yuzu what you see is what you get.  Admittedly the Ilia one sees is not often admirable but there is something to admire or reject.  Yuzu, of course, sailed blithely above that situation.  The Yuzu out on the ice is the real thing also but there are no negatives.  That is a good part of the reason Yuzu's the GOAT.  Yuzu can be a permanent icon of figure skating at its finest.  He defines the sport.  That's not going to be the case with Ilia, but on the other hand it is good for figure skating to have a poster boy who does have charisma, unlike the situation with Nathan.  And there is also the other element to be dealt with in these upcoming seasons, and that is Kao Miuro.  Ilia and Kao, I think, are going to be a very intriguing rivalry in these next few seasons and meanwhile there will be the very different developments outside of competition where Yuzuru Hanyu is showing just what a professional skater can do. Yuzu set the standard for figure skaters in competition.  Now he's going to be doing the same for skaters after retirement.  It'll be interesting.

 

 

 

[Kadova]

That's a very long and very interesting post. I'm very eager to see how Kao develops over the next years.

[micaelis]

Well, the new season has started and Autumn Classic International is now history.  In the men's division one Ilia Malinin is the clear winner, taking the gold by 44 points.  How did this happen.  He didn't even have his trademark 4A in his performance.  What he did have was a lightyear's improvement in his PC scores.  Seeing him now he's hardly the same skater we were seeing last year.  He said he was going to work on his skating skills and performance components and he kept his word.  He's not in the Yuzuru Hanyu class (nobody is and it is likely nobody ever will be), but what he is marketing this season is a skater who now has a completeness almost totally lacking last season.  There is ruin for improvement, of course, but right now looking at who will take the GPF and World's this year, I would now say that Ilia Malinin is the one to beat, not Shomo Uno.  If Ilia continues through the season as he has begun he might very well end the season with gold from everything.  It's been a long time since we've seen that.  If you doubt me, go to YouTube and look up the videos from Autumn Classic.  You'll see what I mean.  It doesn't seem to be the same skater we saw last season.  I'll give five stars to Ilia for keeping the promise he more or less made last season in saying he was going to work on his skating skills and his program components.  The 44 point margin he had in taking gold at this year's Autumn Classic indicated he's kept his promise.

 

Another thing, I think Ilia has the makings of the men's next superstar because in addition to his talent he also has really marvelous charisma.  It's not Yuzuru Hanyu charisma.  It's totally different.  Ilia's an American teenager.  He radiates that quality.  His personality is boisterous, brash at at times, and sometimes arrogant, but he does have personality.  Right now there are no other male skaters who have a similar wealth of personality.  I think this Olympic quadrennial might well turn out to be the Ilia Malinin show.  He has the skills and magnetism to make it so.

[Kadova]

Well, he's going to the GP France I'm going to if I'm right. I will watch his performances.