Yuzuru Hanyu and other skating talk part 6

The link to the previous thread

4everchan is a wonderful GS poster and i've never seen him write anything even remotely hypocritical.

"i've never seen him write anything even remotely hypocritical." Wrong. Last time i saw him posting , that K. Osmond(of course, who else?) has beautiful loop(or flip?? doesnt matter) Someone didnt agree and our canadian started to whining like cunt that ISU agrees with him by givin her big goe. thats why. Yeah, of course, Medviedeva also gets big goe with her perfect lutz. So it is textbook according to isu . What a loginc. Not to mention how many times 4everchan nagged about Isu scoring and medvideva's

Misha needs to stop being a little bitch. He had the overwhelming support of Yuzu fans until he started being a tedious hypocritical cunt telling fans not to bother Yuzu while forcing him to take pictures or actively shipping him with a girl he wants nothing to do with. Even now, he gets mostly supportive comments on his posts from fanyus. But I think it's his relationship with Yuzu which turned sour after the whole faoi debacle for him to have turned so bitter and petty. His fault really. He should take a lesson on how to deal with overbearing Yuzu fans from Javi's book.

R4. I totally agree with you. I found his other skater comment as a screw you Hanyu. He should have not said anything at all if he didn't want to say Hanyu's name. I believe He and Hanyu are not on good terms with each other as before. Yeah they probably will talk to each other if they have to but the friendship days are over.

Oooo I posted on this subject as #600 on the last thread. Anyway, I'm glad to see Hanyu wearing his bracelets again, at least sometime, and I don't see any signs of Evgenia making a pest of herself. She must have at least some dignity - and there's a whole new world of boys in Canada she can flirt with, since she doesn't seem to care if they show any genuine interest in her or not lol.

If I were her, I'd set my eyes on that same-age hunk Conrad Orzel! He probably needs some cheering up after collapsing at Linz. Poor guy - he looked so skeerd in his free skate. He needs that sports psychology course that Brian used to be hawking.

R6 Conrad Orzel is too hot to be straight. Why are you shipping her with another gay? I'm team MOrser.

Conrad was proclaiming his straightness on IG Stories just before leaving for Linz.

He was punished with falls and pops.

R8 LOL

Now for something important - this is the first time I've seen Hanyu's dance belt.

R9. Hanyu's beautiful ass distracted me from the belt.

R6. Maybe Evgenia has learned. Maybe when Hanyu said there was no relationship and then removing his bracelets, she finally got the message.

Hanyu must have guts to copy others and give credit to them. He copied Plushenko's hairstyle and biellmann spin, Weir's arm variations spin, Arakawa's Ina bauer,etc...without being shy to admit:"OK I think it's cool so I copied it". Unlike some skaters who like to copy him but never dare to admit. Lol.

Why is David White wearing a teenager's t-shirt in the Moscow airport? Anyway, they're there to confront the wicked witch of the east, Eteri. And look quite happy about it.

Forgot the link

Sorry.... David Wilson!!!

Will just the Russian senior girls be there? Or the juniors as well?? I don't understand what a test skate is.

R14 Med looked like a neanderthal woman with her new hair. R15 Junior Test already happened before JGP had started.

R13 midlife crisis hitting him

R12 I think Hanyu's had the same bowl haircut since he was like 2.

R15 The Russian test skates are just when we get a first look at some of the Russian skaters' new programs for the season. They're usually pretty rough, but they are an interesting sneak preview. This year, the free skate is open to the public, but even though the SP is a closed session, sometimes we get snippets.

R16 Med should lose the bangs. she looks better without them.

R9 It's pretty visible in his LGC costume at times. I'm surprised he never got any costume deductions for his pants going up his ass, but it's probably less noticeable in motion.

Another. The costume designer worked hard but Hanyu works harder.

R19 R20 Sorry, I don't see the dance belt, only ass. Do better #dancebeltchallenge

To the person who mentioned they don't know how PH is financed: I believe it's fan donations only. When they first started up, some people involved made a commitment of a monthly payment. There are also a few people that give one-off donation occasionally, €20/30 seems common. There is a thread about it. The server costs them €1100 for 2 years, but I imagine they also need to pay for forum software and probably some other stuff. It puts GS going paid in perspective, their costs must be much higher.

To the question about how popular Misha Ge is/was: quite popular for a skater who only once broke into top 10. He used to have some crazy programs until Sochi. He always got big ovation when he came onto the ice before a program, and he was always invited to perform at the gala, the reason being that he was actually a way better show skater than competetive skater. I remember how Patrick Chan's fans were angry that Patrick (5th) wasn't cast in a Gala and Misha Ge (12th) was. He's also popular amongst Chinese, Korean and Russian fans thanks to having ties to those countries.

It sounds to me like there was no major kerfuffle at GS involving Med fans, they're just unhappy with the general atmosphere? Med is often criticized there for bad jumps and overscoring,

r2 What has 4everchan said now?

r6 Doesn't she have a singer bf? If she indeed had a crush on Hanyu, then she seems to have a type.

I'm actually excited for the Russian test skates, I love getting the first glimpse of those Russian prodgies' programs. I'm curious what David Wilson produced for Med and hoping for some Eteri-related drama.

R21 The belt is in this photograph. However, you cannot see it.

I bet 4everchan is here. He is gay, isnt he?

R19 Vanessa has retired as judge. So no-one is checking thongs anymore

The top male wardrobe malfunction is probably the Finnish ice dancer with ripped pants at 1992 Worlds (from around 1.50 onwards)

David Wilson....... WHY?! You some freedom and you get that hack to do your choreography!

r2 er... are you actually being serious or sarcastic? 4everChan's hypocrisy seems at least somewhat well known. I forget which, I think the Grand Prix assignment thread, she made a comment about how Canadians never say anything negative. 4 or 5 posters called her out on it with no one defending her. The mod stepped in, gave a blanket warning, and deleted all the posts. The mod also said something about how reporting a fight when you've already engaged in it means that it's too late to do something so I'm pretty sure it was 4everChan herself that reported the incident.

In the TCC thread, she spent several pages talking about bagged milk and Canadian snacks. Then when other posters started commenting about something TSL said about TCC skaters, she chastised them for talking off topic. She pulls annoying shit like that all the time.

I would have no problem with Goldenskate if they enforced their rules evenly. Either follow the rules tightly with everyone or just let the conversations run their natural course. I'm curious how much revenue they get from protecting their favorites vs. the money lost from less traffic and donations due to people being annoyed by that practice

r596 (from previous thread). It looks like the Med forum just started running today. Trying to decide if I'm curious enough to register just to ask what's going on. I'm sure a lot of them are annoyed by Osmond4Gold and CanadianSkateGuy being allowed to run wild on GS.

r25 I still can't get over how different Dance is from what it used to be. CoP changed all disciplines to a degree, but nowhere do the differences seem to be as glaring as in Dance.

r28 I don't even watch dance anymore. It's the only discipline where I feel like skaters are worse than they used to be. You might not like the IJS style programs in the other disciplines, but it did create more well rounded skaters whereas the dancers seem about as technically as they always were but the programs are more disjointed.

r9 I'm surprised by how much panty line still shows with the dance belt. I suppose that it would start getting painful if it was a full on thong but if it shows anyway, why not just wear his normal boxer briefs?

4everchan is a man or woman? Osmond4gold is annoying as well. There is another one, canadian woman who has a child and she posts about her all the time , all in all , irritating brat as her mother. But no one bann her , coz she is canadian

I almost miss Compulsary Dance. Even after having to sit through 20 teams at Euros doing Austrian Waltz

R27 Don't forget Med stans who know nothing about FS but like to criticize Zagitova all over the place. They're annoying af. Who run the Med forum is one of them. If there's any skater who needs a forum, it's Zagitova. The girl is constantly criticized in Russian Ladies thread but almost no one stands up for her. Too bad her fandom isn't big enough.

The only time I watched compulsories was at the 1998 Olympics. I think I enjoyed it more than the tiny bit of dance that I endured this year -I guess I lied, I watch a little just to make sure that I'm not missing out on anything good. The free dance is practically compulsories anyway - just a vehicle so judges can compare elements. I also hate the change from combo dance from the original dance. Dance programs were so much better when they were cohesive instead of just a mashing together of elements.

R22 Well, a dozen guys were rumored to date her by her fans. A Russian hockey athlete, 1D wannabe guy, and poor Hanyu was also one of them.

r32 As I always say, every fandom has those nutjobs. Can't judge the entire fandom by a small percentage of loud idiots.

It's funny you say that though because I remember someone on GS talking about how the board is so pro-Zagitova. I personally prefer Med's skating style so far but thought Zagitova deserved to win. Looks like Med fell victim to Chan syndrome. Confidence in her ability to win caused her to not improve and not be prepared for the upcoming talent, which is especially weird when the competition was in her own rink.

I really should watch more skating - but why don't I remember any of the guys wearing pants as tight as Yuzu's? Either I only have eyes for his ass - or the others wear loose trousers? Yuzu must know what he's doing with those pants - especially LGC!

R23 Thanks, but I couldn't take your word for it and conducted my own thorough investigation. Yup, can confirm. Still just ass, no dance belt.

R35 I never understood why Med didn't backload her short. Surely that's not as hard to do? Because that's where she lost, since they got identical scores in the free. What was she banking on, it seemed by Olys, Zags was starting to catch up to her in that PCS.

R22

idk 4everchan took a pretty long break from GS, then returned but didn't post very often. my comment was prompted by someone calling him a hypocrite of a poster in part 5. that's unwarranted libel afaik.

She did

R36: Check out Javi in his Slutty Chaplin™ costume last season (during the Olympics, it inspired much DL gawking, as well as a silly article and tweet roundup on PopSugar). And Max Aaron was notorious for nearly getting deductions for his pants.

R27

r2 here. i was being dead serious. 4everchan is a he, for starters. their posts weren't deleted. you don't seem to know a lot - aren't you mistaking them for somebody else? i know a number of canadians who have claimed that they "never say anything bad" on GS and 4everchan is not one of them. 4everchan is canadian, but not a crazy wanker nut who thinks other skaters are just suckers - even though he admires p. chan more than anyone.

i stand by my point.

I loved Javi's slutty Chaplin costume. Didn't care for his Chaplin routine but did love his cute little ass.

R41 Good god, I gave you the benefit of the doubt and thought you were being sarcastic.

[quote]that's unwarranted libel afaik.

You clearly have no idea what "libel" means then.

r29 I think they might be actually better skaters these days. Much has been made of how nowadays they skate more in closed hold which is much harder than open hold. But the routines are so samey. It's the CoP's fault and the introduction of required elements, I get that, but I miss the variety of the 6.0 system when Dance teams could basically do whatever they wanted, what fit the music. It was what made Dance so much different from other disciplines.

On to the scheduled oggling of asses.

r43 lol, glad I wasn't the only one that was confused. I kept thinking, "the tone seems like she's being serious, but the statement is so ridiculous".

r41 No, I don't follow 4everChan closely enough to learn such monumentally important details of he or she because he's an annoying, hypocritical gatekeeper. But I've seen plenty of his posts while following the threads I'm interested in and I've seen that type of behavior from him many times. And everyone's post got deleted in that incident - it wouldn't make sense to delete everything in the argument but not the post of the person that instigated it.

r37 Med did back load her short. For the free, I imagine she couldn't perform the program with it fully back loaded. As much as people liked to criticize, I think everyone in the hunt for medals would do what Zag did if they were able. But worlds showed how dangerous that strategy is.

Posters like 4everChan are why Planet Hanyu was created. An obvious Yuzu hater while pretending not to be. If the owner of GS had any brains, she would ban 4everChan and the handful of other Canadian crackpots who have driven so many away from her site.

R46 The owner of GS obviously doesn't have any brains. Apparently, this is what she wrote to let's talk, that Takahashi nutjob who was banned and then invited to rejoin GS recently. Said nutjob flaunted the emailed invitation everywhere, exposing GS's desperation. Instead of just letting it go, Paula follows up with this email, which nutjob promptly posted on her blog:

[quote] "I haven’t heard back from but see that you have shared my private email on public social media/forums, so I’m assuming you are not interested. One of the other reasons I was reaching out is because I’m looking for bilingual folks who are knowledgeable and who would be interested in getting credentials to events to interview skaters, provide coverage, etc. Sorry to have bothered you"

They want to hire a nutjob internet stalker to interview skaters? Great judgment call, as always. LOL they were made for each other.

r46 Of all the cunty posters both on Goldenskate and here, I find 4everChan to be the most annoying. At least the rest are straightforward about what they are. 4everChan just likes to throw shade while being supercilious (DL word of the day) and telling everyone else what they should be talking about.

were you one of the unhinged nutcases he's um...'driven' away? i shall send him flowers, then.

you guys seem to obsess over someone you don't know at all, mistaking their lukewarm neutrality for hatred. but whatever sparks your flower.

r47 That's hilarious. I doubt that she was actually intending on sending Let's Talk to events. If that were true, why wouldn't she say so in the first place? This was probably Paula's petty attempt to try to dig at Let's Talk by making her think that she missed out on something. Makes no sense to reach out to someone they banned when there already have bilingual posters.

I move in and out of GS for info and don't really keep track of the characters, but man, you guys don't kid when you say it's inhabited by a bunch of loons and obsessives, like r49 who comes here for the specific purpose of defending the honor of one poster (most likely defending him/herself) and then calls everyone else "unhinged nutcases." Same with the Dai nut who came here to argue one specific point over several threads. Go back to the GS psych ward, weirdo.

r47 lets talk posted the other mail too? You know you're doing it wrong when you alienate all sides of the conflict. let's talk might be a cray Dai fan, but she also looks like a fan of Russian girls, and as evidenced by the emergence of the Medvedeva fansite, fans of Russian skaters don't bear any great love for GS.

That's prime entertainment, the private messages between admins must be gold.

r49 lol, wtf are you even doing here? You go to a gossip site and lecture people for talking about someone they don't know? I'm sure you know all the skaters personally when you talk about them. maybe you're 4everChan. You're just as hypocritical as he is.

R47 Yes, let's talk posted the follow-up email from Paula as well. Let's talk also revealed that CanadianSkaterGuy is Ted. Hahah. These internet kerfuffles are so entertaining when both sides are vile.

R51 That "Dai nut" (Synesthesia) was also very defensive about Golden Skate's supposed neutrality from Thread 3. Used similar language, such as "defamatory fabrications." Also claimed CSG isn't Ted. What is with the sudden GS defenders and why do they care about DL?

You mean me? hahahahaha

R55 They are drawn to DL by all the talk/pics of ass. Did we do this to ourselves?

Don't kill me all you Hanyu ubers. But I don't find Hanyu's ass impressive. It's ok.

R58 That's okay, despite your unfortunate taste in ass, I think you introduced me to Vanessa "inappropriate undergarments" Riley, so we're good.

R58 them fighting words. You need to put your money where your mouth is and provide hard evidence of what you would consider an impressive ass. Pics and diagrams required.

R57 The timing is suspicious. Maybe they were hoping to see pics of Chan's ass or jealous he won't wear such tight pants?I

Whoever called GS GoldenSkat knew what they were talking about.

r58 r60 I also require hard evidence as well as detailed analysis of superior ass. Make sure to include many pics from all angles in order to best educate the rest of us on a first rate ass. And of course, we will also need more Hanyu ass so that we can compare side by side.

What sudden GS defenders, r55? Other than the one from Thread 3 that you mentioned, I'm not seeing any?

R63

they might be talking about me? though i'm just one person... but it's true i am fond of GS and i don't really see why it should be hated so. i also defended a fellow GS poster here - this resulted in a kind stranger here calling me an obsessive loon, even though i didn't rant, spam the thread or spew vitriol of any sort but ok.

the reason i came here is that i thought my favourite skaters - wakaba higuchi, the chinese pairs, gilles and poirier - would be discussed here, among all the other skaters, but i was clarly misguided. i didn'toriginally come here just to defend other GS posters - the reason why i haven't posted before is that i don't care about hanyu, javier and throwing bucketloads of shit at the shibutanis/shoma's looks. i promise i will not post here anymore - but i'm afraid i can't vouch for the other GS regulars. a bit of vitriol should scare them away, if you really can't stand them, i guess.

now that I see him mentioned, Paul Poirier has a good ass

Um. I owe r55 an apology. Yeah, the sudden GS defender would be r64. I used to attend GS a lot in the past, still sometimes do, and anyone who can defend 4everchan as non-hypocrytical must be blind as well as dumb.

R66 It's OK. Anyone who can still defend GS knowing that they're trying to bring back an insane troll must also be blind and dumb.

I can tolerate dumb r41 , blind R2 and even inartful attempts at cuntiness r49 , but the passive aggressive, me-whinging superiority that is the hallmark of Canadian figure skating and fandom r64 , the key factor in their inevitable collapse and humiliation when it really counts, is where I draw the line.

Does Eteri do selfies with her skaters?

I just saw one with Danlil with two of the junior girls and he had one of them sitting on his lap.

R70: Ew, that’s just wrong,

Oooh I was looking for the Danlil photo and I'll keep trying - but I DID find the one where Evgenia walks by and it looks like Javi and Eric are making out in the background. The Skating Lesson reposted it!

Scroll down to next to last photo - Danlil with his arms around Evgenia's waist. Now maybe he was keeping her from falling but.... well, it looks a bit questionable. But maybe as a coach you have to be "hands on" (as he is in some of the other pix)

I actually think those girls are quite safe with him ahem.... but he does put his arms around them, hands on them, etc., a lot.

Still can't find the lap picture but I'll keep looking.

I felt like posting an ass photo. The best ass hands down! Anyone dare to prove me wrong? lol

Another Misha instagram post. I truly hope he isn't trying to laugh at the paparazzi photos done to Hanyu. That would be so not cool. He writes: paparazzi got me* I hope he is just being funny. Very hard for me to know this guys intentions.

Nope,self arrogance got ya

R75 I don't think Ge is that subtle. The paparazzi post is probably just a coincidence unlike "the other skater*" one. I wonder how Hong Yi Chen feels about being dragged into that mess.

Trusova skates first at JGP Kaunas.

Plushenko shared his new program on instagram. He's skating to the opening theme of the TV mini-series "Shtrafbat (The Penal Battalion)." The first part is on his IG and the second part's on @angelsofplushenko (www. instagram .com/p/BnIh_4LF-70/). He will be performing it first at Stars On Ice Shanghai.

Does anyone still care about a new program from Plushenko? They all look exactly the same since 2005 or so.

Ge has a compulsive need to express and explain himself in every situation so people understand his Artpop. He's the exhausting theater/model U.N./prom committee kid of the skating world, and he likes to be popular, but I don't attribute anything malicious or petty to him when it comes to Hanyu. He honestly seems like a genuine friend who just doesn't get it sometimes, because *he* would be fine with it. He needs is someone to occasionally send him the image below.

r78 The snippet posted looks fine, the choreo corresponds with music nicely. I guess it's good on its own but with Plushenko's body of work it suddenly becomes meh. He should try doing a pop song.

The Men's SP in Kaunas was won by a 15 yo Russian kid nobody has heard of before who only did a 2A. I think I like the new scoring. You fuck up? Skaters on lower level will pass you. I hope this will work on the senior level too. The Russian kid was good though, though he looked younger than Gogo. Hopefully he will transition successfuly to seniors.

Kaunas Men SP

1) Iakovlev (Russia) 70.35 (37 TES)

2) Torgashev (USA) 69.39 (highest PCS, as always problems with jumps...step out on the 3A and a pop)

3) Kishina (Japan) 68.98

4) Frangipane (Italy) 63.52

5) Phan (Canada) 63.35

6) An (South Korea) 61.61

7) Belohradisky (Czech) 60.23

8) Majorov's brother (Sweden) 59.14

+1 for the 3A by Frangipane who put his hand down IIRC. The Swedish judge was probably drunk

Phan got 2 URs and an edge call

R41, you haven't been on GS long enough. 4everchan is a sniveling cunt. I was delighted when a friend of his posted that he had stopped going on GS but of course a few months later that washed up gay decides to come back, as insufferable as ever.

In the previous thread someone mentioned a Canadian lady who was annoying by bringing up her child all the time. That would be SarahSyncro, who hasn't been seen in a while. On her own she's okay, although she is vocal about being annoyed that he daughter loves Hanyu (she jokes about it but you know it's real). However as a Canadian the nationalistic pack mentality kicks in as soon as team Canada or another Canadian poster is involved. That person can be in the wrong for everyone to see, Sarah will defend them (see Osmond4gold).

I thank the gods that crazy Australian chick karne is not Canadian or American. That way she doesn't get support for her craziness, and instead gets mocked regularly by the users of GS.

Yeah, I meant SarahSyncro , She is active during the season, not now, but she makes me sick with that child.And yes, she is irritated that her child loves hanyu.hahha,, Stupid cunt cannot stand it. But overall she cannot stop talking how smart her child is ,amazing , funny and inteligent. geez And she is divorced

I saw trusova now, what a beautiful lutz from two feet. I dont even know how judges could take it as lutz, TOE jump

R86 if someone like Shoma Uno, Vincent Zhou can get +3s on their "quads", Trusova quads deserves nothing less than +4s

I didtn say nothing about quads, only her triples...And her quads are prerotated as well , like shomas + no take off from toe , just whole blade.Shoma quads are from good edges , at least

SarahSynchro never stuck out as an annoying poster to me, certainly not in the same league as karne or CSG or 4everchan. Talking about people who always make it about themselves though - mrrice should get the gold medal for that one. Probably a nice guy in real life, but jesus...if I had a dime for every time he mentioned his dance career...

Orser interview that will likely set off the Eteri fans. Google translate worked well for me. Excerpt:

"Is Zhenya an easy student?"

- Yes very. She is always open to everything new, she knows how to work with very high intensity. This was noted by David Wilson, and Sandra Bezick. The difficulty is that they have never worked with her as an adult, and this is exactly what we are doing now. Junior work is completely different, so adaptation also takes time," Orser said.

R88 Uno's jumps looked ugly all the time. His jumping air position makes me cringe. None of his jumps should get positive GOEs with the possible exception of 3A ( which is the most decent jump of him). Can't believe his GOEs given to jump elements are occasionally on par with Hanyu's. One of the most overscored skaters on tech, along with Satoko Miyahara.

R90 Brian PR machine Orser. Lol

I dont say about just jumps looking ugly. I think air position is not so important then good toe pick or an edge. It is but they re more important things. Of course i agree shoma is overscored with goe

Kolyada's SP is Muse. Now I understand Lambiel's comment about rock and romantic.

FS is Toreador from Carmen.

I thought David Wilson would be more likely to bring the fighting words first and by accident.

Brian's going into the lion's den and shading the decor.

[quote]David Wilson would be more likely to bring the fighting words first and by accident.

LOL. Does David have a history of doing this?

today they have test skate?

Here is the full Orser interview. I accidentally attached just the excerpt the last time. He's prepared for what's coming:

Did you train in the general group?

- There were no girls from the former Medvedeva group on the ice, if that's what you are talking about. As far as I know, they will start training in Novogorsk only on Friday, but that's good: we have time to unroll in a calm atmosphere, get used to the atmosphere, feel in it. When all come together, the situation will certainly become more nervous, but it's good. We are ready for this.

R96 The free portion of the test skates is on 9/8.

The last time was so excited about Russian test skates was when Lipnitskaya was taking part after the break.

Brian PR Orser sounds like a good nickname.

R93 Shoma's flawed jump technique is so notorious that even his ubers don't dare to debate with others about that. Trusova's jumps might be technically worse than someone with good jump technique on all of jumps like Yuna Kim, Polina Tsurskaya,... but never worse than Shoma's.

[R99} Ok, lets agree to disagree :)

R100 Also, you should shut up about Trusova and her lutz because your beloved Shoma even doesn't have a lutz.

{R100] beloved shoma now? ? lol Another troll , this time shomas's... Are people here normal? You re all came here from GS being banned from ? he has a lutz , after 3a. Sorry, but jumping from 2 feet should be PUNISHED ! It is not even a jump. It is poor cheating. And they know it.

R102 OK, he has a (f)lutz which is as beautiful as Medvedeva's one. Lol

You guys talking to the dai troll again? Tsk tsk.

maybe shomas jumps are uglier in the air , tarasovas are better , but i her take off is fake as fuck. So if she uses an easier way to execute a jump and because of it she executes it better so you call that fair??? Shomas prerotates as good as tarasova, medviedeva etc... so 2-1 for russians

shoma has flip for sure ,so is it ugly as his lutz and russian flip (with no toe pick) :P??

R104 Don't expose her like that.

R104 Eh, if people want to change, let them.

Poor Gabby Daleman. I can't imagine how she could go through next season with her garbage programs.

I cannot have my own opinion? So far i have understand that i have to lick hanyus ass and his fans .Now i have to hate on shoma jumps and ignore russians

R109. Not true. You don't have to lick my ass ( I'm a Hanyu fan ) I feel Shoma does get full credit for jumps when he shouldn't. I am not even a judge and I can tell when he under rotates. I talk sometimes about med and zagitova if she is brought up. I do admit I love talking about Hanyu. He is just so darn cute! And you can have your opinion.

Daitroll, for a troll you have really thin skin. People are entitled to disagree with you and vice versa. I'm glad you're attempting to engage in normal-ish conversation and not just spouting the usual gibberish so that's why I'm talking to you, but stop whining like a little bitch when people have different opinions. The Hanyu ubers get abused all the time here, including the poor thread creator, but they fight back or move on (mostly) and don't dissolve into a puddle of tears and self-pity every time someone jumps on them.

but stop whining like a little bitch when people have different opinions??? ITS IS ME who have a different opinion and you all of a sudden DONT LIKE IT and ,change the theme . I talk about russians girls and you start naggng about shoma/ I havent say a freaking word about shoma.But you love to argue.... The same was with Dai. I didnt even mention his name. Are you japanese version of 4everchan or Osmondforgold?It seems so.You cannot accept the fact that some people doesnt think like you.

Is Med going to wish she spent more time on skating than on Instagram?

It sounds like early damage control. Again, why have Wilson if you are looking to be an adult skater?! While I don’t care for the Russian skaters, I give her credit for leaving.

R113 Do you see it as early damage control? I guess I can see it now that you mention it, but I mostly noticed the shit talking, which I was a little surprised by. There seem to be enough Russians who have turned on Med b/c of her move, I don't see why Orser needs to emphasize how he's treating her like an adult; surely he knows that would be taken as an implicit criticism of their system.

Has she just made her insta private?

R114: it’s not shit talking; it’s excuses. I’m excited to see if she skates without backloading.

Are they angry about her leaving Eteri or leaving Russia?

1) Trusova 74.74

2) Sinitsyna 67.12

3) Arkhipova (Ukraine) 62.64

4) Kim (South Korea) 61.63

5) Beccari (Italy) 54,59

6) Iwano (Japan) 54.59

R116 There was a thread on GS re how some Russian fans have turned on her. It was quickly shut down. LOL. From what I remember, it was because she was leaving Russia. But I'm not a big Med fan, so I don't know for sure. I've seen people complaining about all sorts of things when it comes to her though - the way she handled the move, ignoring Eteri's emails, the comments she/Brian have made afterwards that were taken to be criticisms of Eteri etc. Even though I don't like her skating, I feel bad for her.

I wonder why she made her insta private. Last time she made changes to her insta she moved to Orser, so maybe this means she's moving back!

R117 I hear Trusova's PCS was the highest ever for a junior short (30.68).. I won't be able to watch this until later. Was it deserved?

R118 I think she deserves lower PCS than what Kostornaia got last week

Sinitsyna looked more overscored in PCS (27 points) to me though

R118: probably getting hate on her Instagram. She’s gonna have a hot mess of a season. It’s a shame she couldn’t sit out a season and get her skating together. Gabby may have a better season.

R115. Yes. Her instagram is private now. I really think Brian needs to stop stirring the shit pot and be quiet. He is looking like he loves drama. Jesus Christ just stop Brian.

Trusova's 3"Lz"+3Lo

Judge 1, Ms Halla Bjorg SIGURTHORSDOTTIR from Iceland: +4

Judge 2, Ms. Anna CHATZIATHANASSIOU from Greece: +4

Judge 3: Ms Oksana VUORELA from Estonia: +5

Judge 4, Ms Hanna Then from Poland: +4

Judge 5, Mrs Agita Abele from Latvia: +4

Judge 6,Mr Etienne Dreyer from South Africa: +5

Judge 7, Ms. Tuire KURONEN from Finland: +4

Judge 8, Mr Yury BALKOV from Ukraine: +5

Judge 9, Ms Zivile ATKOCIUNIENE from Lithuania: +5

____

The Greece, Iceland and South Africa judges are in their "once in a season" outings

[122] This is ridiculous. Just because after 3 so called lutz is 3 loop , they wet their panties

Yuri Balkov, judge 8, is in an old acquaintance.

At Nagano Olympics, the Canadian ice dance judge taped a conversation between them taking place before the event when he tells her how to rank ice dancers.

He was suspended for a year. The most ironic part is that the Canadian woman was also suspended because of her marks for Canadians (Shae-Lynn Bourne / Victor Kraatz). Actually IIRC she put forward the tape with Balkov only after ISU started the case against her.

He was in the Ladies panel at Sochi.

Then at the end of the 2013/14 season ISU decided to demote him (and a judge from Uzbekisthan) from ISU to International status (meaning he can't judge at Worlds, Euros or Olympics) because his English skills are too poor.

ISU was supposed to revise the decision in 2016 if they would show that they acquired working knowledge of English

Well, he is still International. So we can guess he still doesn't speak English well....

R116 One of the reasons is that they lost respect for her. I saw somewhere on YT ( or GS) some Russians say she said sarcastically to Eteri in backtage area: "Well, you has an Olympic Champion now" after losing to Zag. Also, it should be admitted that Eteri is one of the most successful Russian coaches who single handedly saved Russian ladies's skating by consistently producing Worlds and Olympic Champions for Russia. Many believed Eteri's words saying Med told her to keep Zag in junior so that she could win Olympics. Also, after her move was announced, she wished Eteri's girls to have a long career, which was seen as throwing shade.

Some feels uncomfortable with her over-excitement in her " new life" in Toronto. She has writen her IG posts English more often since then, and once said most of her friends spoke English.

Evgenia was too full of herself.

For her , It was only one way to win: zagitova had to fall. She didnt . I bet Evgenia wanted her to do so..

I hope there is someone here lurking GS like me so we can lmao at some posters on Russian ladies thread. Someone said his wife had suffered from depression after Med losing OGM. Many expressed their concerns about his wife's metal health asking if she was ok then and he rep: "It just lasted for a day". Should I create an GS account so that I can join those forks. Lol

I just cannot see evgenias tango. Those sharp, fast moves with her skiiny legs and pantomime

*cannot wait to see

r124 It makes me like quitting watching this sport whenever I read about corrupt judges being tolerated.

R131 The corrupt judging, the mental antis + ubers, the injuries, the financial strain, the stunted childhood, etc. etc. and most of these guys come away with absolutely nothing except for debt and busted bodies. They have to restart their lives, go back to school, find jobs, suck an aged wedding dress designer's cock. I honestly don't understand why most skaters choose to skate.

r132 Who's sucking on an aged wedding dress designer's cock?

Does Vera Wong have a cock?

oh you bad and will Vera make costume for Nathan again？look forward

R133 R134 Vera has a whole collection of cocks that vary in size, shape and smell depending on how urgently Evan needs to pay his dealer that day.

Medvedeva’s Instagram haters probably assumed Orser’s comments came from whatever she told him about her past training. They would be correct, but Orser didn’t have to word it that way.

HongYi’s music was already announced a month ago. Ge’s choreography was announced even earlier. There was no commotion. She performed it at Linz. No bashing or much attention at all. He could have left it as “Music decision by the client” if he still felt it necessary. What’s really surprising is that he didn’t gush about the “art” or how he taught the skater everything she knows (especially if he believes his originality was being questioned).

R95 He hasn’t been offensive I think, but he has a history of drawing too many conclusions about skaters (Yuna mainly) and their cultures. I thought he might unintentionally say something about Russian choreography or culture that wouldn’t be appreciated.

R122 R124 Your posts are always very helpful and your knowledge of the judges is impressive.

R135 Chen said she would.

I thought R133 was trying to say that Vera does have a cock and it's bigger than Evans.

R132 The skaters are too young to know any better. It's their parents I don't understand.

I can already tell this is going to be an interesting skating season and by the looks of it DL will be interesting as well.

Finlandia Trophy (Challenger Series) entries

I am sure the formatting will be atrocious after the cut and paste

1tNADEAUtNicolastCAN

2tKOTLARIKtPetrtCZE

3tNAURITStDaniel AlberttEST

4tGALAYtRomantFIN

5tVIRTANENtValttertFIN

6tECONOMIDEStLuctFRA

7tKVITELASHVILItMorisitGEO

8tHARRIStPhilliptGBR

9tNEWBERRYtGrahamtGBR

10tBYCHENKOtAlexeitISR

11tSAMOHINtDanieltISR

12tRIZZOtMatteotITA

13tHINOtRyujutJPN

14tYAMAMOTOtSotatJPN

15tODDVOLL BOEtSondretNOR

16tCHAtJunhwantKOR

17tALIEVtDmitritRUS

18tEROKHOVtAlexeytRUS

19tKOLYADAtMikhailtRUS

20tRAYAtJaviertESP

21tMAJOROVtAlexandertSWE

22tMAJOROVtNikolajtSWE

23tBRITSCHGItLukastSUI

24tPANIOTtYaroslavtUKR

25tJOHNSONtAlexandertUSA

as expected...try again

Nadeau

KOTLARIK

Naurits

Galay

Virtanen

Economides

Moris Kvitalashvili

Harris

Newberry

Bychenko

Samohin

Rizzo

Hino

Yamamoto

Boe

Cha

Aliev

Erokhov

Kolyada

Majorov x 2

Britschgi

Paniot

Johnson

Add Javier Raya to R141

Did anyone see the Japanese girl who scored 126.98 skating to some kind of burlesque music? That was dreadful. How the hell did she get a JGP assignment?

I haven't seen her yet. But I saw this one earlier this evening

R137 I’m not sure why it’s being (mis)represented as a “Medvedeva haters” issue when it’s clearly a Med vs. Zag fans issue (just like Yags/Plush, or VM/DW, or VM/PC, or Mao/Yuna, or Weir/Lysacek, etc fan wars). Just the other day Zagitova ubers harrassed Elizaveta Tuktamysheva on IG for daring to say that she rooted for Medvedeva and that doing 3Lz-3L during the last minute of an LP is not the only way to win in FS.

And while B. Orser does sound extremely full of himself in that latest interview, you have to take into account that the journalist who interviewed him is BFFs with Buyanova, and there is plenty of bad blood between Eteri and Buyanova, not only professionally, but personally, since Eteri had an affair with Buyanova’s husband.

Whut r145, really? Affair with Buyanova's husband? It's not just a stupid rummor?

I've never heard that affair rumor. Where did you get that from? When would Eteri even have time to have an affair with anyone?

R146 Stupid rumor is that Buyanova’s husband is the father of Eteri’s daughter, but the affair was very real, and is a very common knowledge in FS circles.

BS. Diana Davis's father is American, and Diana was born in Las Vegas.

Eteri was working in the US when she had Diana, but it’s well known she had an affair with Sergei Buyanov when she was in Moscow visiting her parents. Maybe she’d had relationships with another at the same time, but it’s a little suspicious that no one has ever seen anyone named Davis who could be Diana’s father.

Trusova fell on 4Lz but then did 4T

221 points overall

well, actually the opposite

they may have called one UR to one of the Trusova's quads. TES is great but not so spectacural with 3 quads

the second Russian girl (187.something) drops behind Kim (191)

The 4Lz was called UR.

Her quads are cheated as hell.

I love watching Trusova. And her costumes are wonderful.

Trusova's stamina is unbelievable. There's enormous energy required to pull off an insane layout with 3 quads and difficult 3-3s. Almost 147pts even with one fall, and an UR call on quad. If she skates cleanly at Nationals, no one can close the gap on her.

Trusova is the most exciting skater I've come across since discovering Hanyu. Like him she is insanely talented both technically and artistically. And like him she is also adorable.

lol, russian trolls here

R145 Sorry, I don’t understand what you’re trying to say. What issue is being misrepresented and how are Medvedeva’s haters and extreme fans in the Medvedeva vs. Zagitova war mutually exclusive? When Orser said Med had little input in her past programs, there was an angry reaction and her haters seem ready to jump on any remark about her Russian training that isn’t completely positive or pro-Russian enough. I also don’t think they would be concerned about the accuracy of the interview as long as they believe it fits their narrative.

If my figuring is right, both Trusova and Kostornaia qualify for seniors next year?! I can't imagine Med and Zags are looking forward to that.

I watched Trusova. I am impressed. I am a Zagitova fan (Hanyu is of course first lol) and I'm concerned for Zagitova. It makes me happy that she won gold this past Olympics. I am not sure she or Evgenia for that matter will win gold in 2022.

i havent seen his match iwth Tiem. Why did he lose 0-6 in first set?

Sorry, wrong thread

R161 yep

R158 I prefer Alena but Trusova is much more exciting this season and moving up on my list. She's such a fierce and stubborn girl. Her SP is amazing, I don't like her FS though, when she's focus on quads, other elements immediately go downhill. I also love her style, such a different style from other Eteri's girls.

Even Nathan Chen is quaking now, Medvedeva and Zagitova got nothing on Trusova. I'm not talking about the quality of her quads and the possibility of her jumping quads when puberty hits her, at the moment she jumps quads here and there and gets huge scores.

Not naming/guessing names, but I bet some of the male skaters are pissed off that a little girl is doing the same #/types of quads the best of the men are doing.

When women started cliff diving in Mexico, the men quit in protest. Don't know if they ever re-started lol. It ain't worth shit if a girl can do it. Oy.

I just feel like posting Yuzuru and his tissue dropping.

I wonder if Daniil likes her the best, because her programs are actually well done, not the cookie cutter shit that most of Eteri's team gets. Alina & Alena's programs this season are unwatchable to me.

R168 And of course our old friend Massimo Scali is there to fuck him with his eyes.

R160 I’m not sure how I could be any clearer. I’m saying that people criticizing Medvedeva are Zagitova’s fans, so whatever Med does or says, they will find fault with that. Now her fault is moving to Canada/criticizing her former coaching team, before that (immediately after the Olympics) it was hogging all the attention (TV shows, endorsements, etc) and not deferring to Alina in public. There was a lot of crazy swirling around (like people suggesting that Zag at the rink should stay away from Med’s grandma lest she does her some harm). The same fans are also jumping on anyone who says anything less than complimentary about Alina (e.g. Tuktamysheva).

And since I’ve been following the online FS fandom for over 20 years, I’ve seen enough to know that this excessive love/hatred has little to do with the skaters in question. People just need someone to obsess over. Another interesting observation is that a lot of Med haters are actually Lipnitskaia’s fans. For them, Med is bad, because she replaced Lip as number one in Tutberidze’s group, and they were predicting she would lose her jumps once puberty hits (after her first year in seniors). Now they love Zag because she upset Med, and jump on anyone who suggests that Zag can have puberty problems. It’s really fascinating in a way.

That Asian queen from Rupaul Season 10 is now an ice skater?

From what I've observed, OGM skaters in particular tend to attract a whole other level of psychotic fans who often aren't even that into figure skating in general. There is no point in spending any time or energy on such deranged and toxic people.

R171 Apparently you know nothing about Russian FS fandom when saying people attacking Med are Zagitova's fans. Your conclusions must be made through the eyes of an international fan by reading tweets, GS posts, youtube comments *in English* which have nothing to do with what's really happening in Russian fandom.

R174 Well, I suppose if you count people from the former USSR republics and expats as international fans, then you can say that Russian-speaking online fandom is international, but my sources aren’t “tweets, youtube comments” and I have never been on GS.

Doesn’t change the fact that people who attack Med are mostly Alina’s fans.

A joyful selfie of Orser and Tarasova. Hmmm. Is this trolling Eteri? Are those two women not besties? I confess I know nothing about Russian skating/fandom, but Orser sure isn't sheepily creeping in - he's blasting in with Sambo jackets and insults to Trusova, etc... I'm confused.

Whoa, I come back to this thread after a few days and it looks like high noon tea at Mar-a-Lago, teeming with Russians. Truly curious, are you guys refugees from GS? And now that you're here, can you settle a long-standing DL debate? Is Yagudin gay?

R171 No, I understood that part. I guess I’m confused because our posts didn’t contradict each other and both agreed that Medvedeva’s haters (the people who harass her) will try to find fault wherever they can, so I’m not sure what you think is being misrepresented. Or was your original response intended for r125 (r174) who suggested there are also some non Zagitova-related reasons for the harassment?

R177 Speaking of GS, what's happened since the Medvedeva fan exodus and the owner was caught trying to recruit the crazy fan? Are most of the users even aware of what's going on? I'm just assuming the mods won't allow anyone to discuss it.

Hawayek/Baker withdrew from Autumn classic but going to Finlandia instead?

And Itsuki and his brother were on television together! Don't.know if I can sit through it.

R180. I didn't finish it. Howeve, it has confirmed for me that Uno is indeed straight! I thought there was some debate on that at one time.

Anyone have any thoughts on Hanyu's costumes? Whatever he decides, do you think this will be him saying this is me? This is who I am? I am really looking forward to seeing his costumes. What can he design for a Johnny Weir and plushenko tribute?

Does Shoma have a girlfriend?!? What made you convinced he's straight?

R180 I feel bad for Itsuki's brother. It must be hard being the less handsome, less talented and less loved sibling.

R178 I doubt the mods are allowing discussion of the recent controversies with med and the crazy fan. If any of them follow GS on twitter though they would see what's up (see attached). Why does GS even bother explaining? Their responses seem both disingenuous and ineffective.People have alluded to the Med issues in the fan fest, but it's very subtle. I'm not sure what happened to prompt the Med exodus. Maybe the Med fans here can spill the tea.

R181 How did that video confirm to you that Uno's straight? I don't understand Japanese but I was going to say he seemed gayer than the pink, V-shaped dildo up Evan's ass.

R182 R183. I don't speak or understand Japanese either. I looked at his mannerism and how he conducted himself. Seemed straight to me. What part in the video makes you think he isn't?

I don’t know if there are translations out yet. Some parts before Itsuki shows up:

-When Uno was 9, he said he wanted to be a doctor when he grew up in a TV interview. He said his parents told him to say that if he couldn’t come up with anything. He said he’s never really had any big goals and only said he wanted the OGM when he was little because that’s what everyone else said.

-He used to be shy but feels he’s coming out of his shell and changing. Like, he’d never dressed up as a woman before! He’s tried many new things, changed his way of thinking and grown as a person, etc. (This part actually sounds rehearsed. Not the content but the wording, and he couldn’t answer the follow-up question.)

-He said he’s been saying that he greatly admires Takahashi, but he’s never actually seen his performance of Moonlight Sonata. He said he wanted to be an expressive skater like Takahashi after he saw his performance of POTO at Nationals (2006).

R184 LOL I thought he was gay because of his mannerisms, the way he conducted himself and his voice.

R185 Does Shoma have the gay affectation you(?) were telling us about a few threads ago. Thanks for the translation.

To R184, I just thought that when R181 said that watching the video "confirmed" that he was straight, that he said something that was convincing -- like talking about a possible girlfriend or that he wished he had a girlfriend and was looking -- something like that.

I can't understand Japanese and only watched a few seconds. I love his laugh :) I thought the scuttlebutt here was that he was autistic and/or asexual -- and not that he seemed gay. I have no opinion. I'm a fan though, whatever his inclinations are. I think he's a nice guy, naturally good-hearted -- like that Chicago coach said, he's like sunshine. I don't know enough about him to go that far but I get a really positive feeling whenever I watch him interact or really do anything - doesn't seem to have a jealous or spiteful bone in his body. I get that feeling from Nathan Chen too and I kinda wanted to hate him after the US hype before the Olympics. That'll turn you off anybody.

Oh now I remember - he was sleeping with his head on some guy's crotch area, and the guy had his hand on Shoma's chest. Even so, I didn't consider that definitive proof of his orientation. I don't think I've seen him flirt with anyone, male or female (other than the sleep pose - though I admit it does seem a bit suspect.) And they hang around with each other playing mini-golf of whatever - now I can't remember his name, Kotaro or something like that. Could be a boyfriend, I guess.

But he sure looked startled when Yuzuru caressed his cheek and he didn't seem to "lean in" after - just looked slightly traumatized imo. What DO you do when senpai makes a move on you ?? You can't really act offended - right? If he wanted a boyfriend, he could do worse, if you ask me :) True for both of them, imo.

After Itsuki shows up:

-Itsuki said Shoma accidentally styled his hair with shaving mousse for an ice show once.

-He fell and cut his hand at camp in Chicago and his wound wouldn’t heal. After six days, he squeezed his palm very hard and a rock fell out.

-He loves the game Vainglory. He hates losing, goes all the way and tries to completely destroy his opponents.

-His diet has slightly changed. Instead of eating steak for breakfast, he has shabu shabu instead. He thought yakiniku was too rich for a meaning meal, so he should start eating something light.

-He has a huge sweet tooth and his love of chocolate is only second to his love for meat. Itsuki complained that his brother eats his chocolate and he has to hide it. He also drank Ituski’s cola last night.

-Shoma said that Itsuki doesn’t watch most of his competitions (even if he’s there) and only catches them on TV. Both said he’s a completely different person on the ice. He immediately becomes very focused and doesn’t really think about anything else while he’s skating.

-His goal in Chicago was to increase his physical strength. Although the rules have changed, he’s going to do as he’s always done and that is try to jump with quality and give a complete performance. (That answer also sounded very rehearsed. The interviewer seemed to notice and also noticed earlier in the interview.)

-He doesn’t know what he’s going to do in 10 years when he’s not skating. He’s never been one to dream. He’s someone who lives in the now.

Awww - though Itsuki sorta picks on him a lot, about the chocolate and cola - somehow I doubt Shoma really steals his food.

After the Olympics in that interview where Shoma had trouble getting up into the high chair, Yuzu said Shoma was a gamer who skates - whereas he was more a skater who sometimes games. Oh, and Yuzu said he wasn't invited to some tournament thing Shoma and Keiji were playing.

Thanks so much for the translation!!

R185 There’s nothing in that interview, speech or mannerisms, that reveals Uno’s sexuality in my opinion. His voice is very high but he doesn’t have that affectation. He seems a little gay to me in general, but I doubt he has any interest in men or women, unless it’s in a 2D character from one of his mobile games. I’d be shocked if Itsuki’s straight. Dad and grandpa the artist also seem kind of suspicious. But I think people here ascribe sexuality (gay or straight) too much to whatever the Japanese men do or say. Except for the nap on the crotch, that’s very gay.

I also don’t understand why GS continued to respond when the screenshots show they tried to lure the crazy fan for a second time after their first response to the criticism on twitter. Also strange that people are coming here to defend the forum and known GS troublemakers.

R190 Itsuki wasn't joking. Shoma really does steal his sweets. But vegetables are.probably safe.

Torgashev wins the Lithuanian JGP. First half of FS messy with all jumps, second half better. At the end he fist pumped like there was no tomorrow because he skated half of the program clean. 201 points

Second place to the Russian kid without a 3A. He was clean. 199 points

Third place to the Japanese boy with a choreo from the Japanese Reed sister. 191 points

4th to the other Russian who was 9th in the SP (second score in FS). The one who doesn't untuck his shirt and yesterday he showed his belly during spins.190 points

R188. Aha! More proof Uno is straight lol. I forgot the cheek caress. He should have not been startled when Yuzuru caressed his cheek. Instead he should have giggled .(sort of like how Yuzuru giggles when he is around plushenko and weir) I mean we are talking about Yuzuru here, who is a cutie.

r192 I wonder when the junior field will recover. I feel like none of the guys has a great chance to become of any threat to the current seniors except Gogo.

That was a dreadful men's competition. Trusova could've taken gold if she skated again with the boys today.

Is it too late for Andrew to go to ice dance? I think the fist pumping after that lousy skate is exactly why he will never go very far in spite of his incredible skating skills. You aren't supposed to be pleased with yourself after you fuck up that much and win by default. If he does continue, he should definitely go to Raf. I can't see any hope for him otherwise.

Torgashev's mother is a former Junior World Champ in Ice Dance (back in the 80s for Soviet Union).

I wonder if she suggested him to go for ice dance when he was younger. Father was a pair skater

r188 How on earth can anyone interpret that cheek caress as "making a move"? It was so obviously a comedy stunt on Hanyu's part, just like that pic with Hanyu pushing Oda up against the wall.

Joseph Phan flopped as if he was fighting for the biggest flop of the season. And his 62 PCS was like a joke. He shouldn't have earned anything more than 95 pts with that FS. Except Gogolev, no one can save Canada's FS. Patrick Chan and V/M had retired, Osmond skipped entire season, I can see Canada is crying out now.

Ah, I see. Torgashew is 1.71cm

Ice dancers tend to be around 1.80cm

Moir 1.80

Cizeron 1.86

Shibutani 1.82

Donohue 1.88

Soloviev 1.83

Lanotte 1.77

Poje 1.91

Poirier 1.74

Bates 1.87

Fabbri 1.65

Buckland 1.82

Khalivan 1.77

Guerreiro 1.87

Spodyriev 1.78

Reed 1.85

Polizoakis 1.70

Legac 1.77

Gamelin 1.80

Ucar 1.83

Csolley 1.86

Moir 1.80 ????????????hahhahahahhaha

For anyone who wants to watch the Russian test skates

Holy crap you weren't kidding about Phan bombing. Like Luftwaffe. How long has he been with TCC and are they his full time coaches?

And Torgashev, yeah, fist pumping when his general goe was negative? Nope, not a great future.

The Russian kid's spin got invaldated, that was really bad.

Thought I'd share this. I believe it's new?

R204 I'm falling in love with this program already. Watching him I can understand why he doesn't want to stop competing.

R204 it looks jam packed and difficult, like LGC, but I guess with the shortened time that was inevitable. I wonder why we aren't seeing any Otonal footage?

R204 Sounds strange but I sometimes forget just how damn good Hanyu is until I see him do something new.

R206 Agreed. I has felt the choreo is kinda busy since I saw the very first footage revealed.

Media tends to pay more attention to FS and barely shows SP footage. They didn't show much of Chopin and LGC either. And we always get to hear him talk about FS more than SP.

R205. I'm loving this program and he looks like he is having fun R206. Maybe he wants Otonal to be a surprise? I wish there would be something online on that performance. R207 I agree with you. When I see something new from him I am in awe. He is so good. This program is going to he beautiful.

Med’s new SP looks very Javi-esque

Found this for Med.

I'd agree with you R198 except for the expression on Uno's face. I think HE was startled/shocked and for a split second, didn't know how to respond, so I don't think he 'got' that it was just a joke. Since they had the on-going wedding joke, and at the end, Yuzuru sticks out his elbow, as if to ask Uno to put his hand in the crook of his arm, like they do as their continuing joke on podiums, after Uno awkwardly did that one time and Yuzu found it so hilarious....

So 'maybe' Yuzu was just continuing the joke (though Shoma didn't realize it at first) - OR - he was testing the waters, so to speak -- which might explain why he doesn't want to let the wedding pose joke go. I'm sure Nathan or Boyang wouldn't keep re-enacting it over and over, so maybe part of why it tickled Yuzu's fancy so much was his, well, fondness of flirting with boys, I guess I'll put it.

But you're right, maybe Yuzu meant nothing more than continuing a step farther than the wedding joke and he thought Shoma would immediately realize it and not be panicked a bit. But I still say that's shock/panic/fear on Shoma's face, when he did it. A guy stroking your cheek doesn't happen often - probably never has happened to Shoma from a friend, out of the blue.

The first I've seen of Evgenia's test skate in Moscow (or this might just be a practice for it.) Tarasova is there behind the boards with Orser and I guess David Wilson (his hood is up on his hoodie so I can't be sure.) Wonder why Tarasova is hanging around Orser so much? Anyway, this account has 2 videos and one photo of the four of them together at the rink. There's one jump at the beginning of one of the videos but I can't tell much from it -- I such at identifying jumps and knowing if they're good or crap...

* I SUCK at identifying jumps.... not "such"

R213: My god, I cannot believe she lost more weight!

She is thin as hell and too much two footed skating

I don't think Shoma is Yuzuru's style. I simply can't see it. But as a narcissist and a sadist he maybe likes shy and obedient guys like Shoma so that he can control him and tease him whenever he wants. Who knows.

R216 Did she do so much two footed skating before?

Are you sure it's not the black clothes? She's always had verrrrry thin legs.

And the first jump is an axel! Proud of myself for IDing it lol. A double I guess.

There's another jump with a stupid one arm tano. I think hers are so damned ugly, when I don't mind them on most other people. Yuck. I don't like the music either - it reminds me of Javi's 1970's "entertaining" programs (that should have stayed in the 70s). Orser/Wilson's clumsy dated program picking?? Yuck. Should have done Carmen...

Full SP at test skates

R212 EWWW. You Hanyu/Uno shippers gross me out! Shoma's dietary habits are simply not made for gay sex, unless you want a mud bomb exploding in your face every time you go near his ass.

R217 I thought that at the Olympics, from a Western perspective, Yuzu treated Shoma as someone might treat their pet dog. Kind of like "good boy but know your place,, which is behind me." I really enjoyed watching that.

I agree, the program is a 70s regurgitated crap.

R213 Tarasova is shown standing next to Mishin.

R221 just because Shoma's little doesn't mean he has to bottom - he seems more butch than Yuzu imo. Well, in certain ways - he's not femme acting, though you're right, R217, he seems to definitely be an M rather than an S. All of them do, compared to Yuzu - except maybe Patrick Chan and Dai, who don't step aside and give the king his due (though it was the one word Dai used to describe Yuzu so despite his kvetching, maybe he does realize he's one of the vassals as well, despite being pissed off about it)

R213 She looked like she was skating to another background music, a lyrical one. Her posture was too soft and she lacked of charisma and energy to do this dynamic kind of music.

Bradie Tennell has a better SP this season than Med does.

MEDs program is awful, did she cut her hair?

I thought the party line was this is a very early practice session, and she will improve. But damn that was lackluster.

What comes out of the test skate?

Yuzu was asked if he saw Shoma as a little brother, a student, or whatever -- and he answered that he saw him as a puppy -- "He's so cuuuuute!!!!!" Shoma laughed when he said that. I do think they make a cute, sort of dorky/funny couple. I could dig it.

I do love this gif of Dai making Yuzu act like a groom carrying his bride (Dai) over the threshold. and the way Dai puts his hand to his mouth to go "shhhh" and points to himself and Yuzu as if they're a couple. IF ONLY Yuzu had followed up on this, think of all the heartache that might have been avoided? (joking, but.... maybe?)

I knew Orser would do Med no good. Two-footed skating, no transitions, telegraphed jumps, no bielmann? And those tragic bangs?? Say what you will about Eteri, her skaters may have awful music or programs, but she would never let anyone of her students show up prepared *that* badly or unkempt.

Watch Zagitova back to back with Med’s skate, and you will see the difference.

It's early days but Medvedeva and Zagitova appear to have the opposite problem. Med shows personality and the music is enjoyable (I like it, anyway) but her program is fairly empty and she needs to sharpen things up. Zags' program is so stuffed and her music cuts so whiplash-inducing that she has no space to breathe or emote, though her technical is better.

Of the two, I'd rather rewatch Med's.

Not me. I could barely stand watching Med's program once. Zag is much, much better.

This is the first time she’s been on a competitive type of ice since the Olympics. I know she said her foot hurt, but she should have listened to Eteri and skated at Worlds.

I agree - Zags was much more elegant - though what could Med do with that vintage variety-show shit? I've always thought Zags performed more "prettily" for want of a better word, but both those girls should thank their lucky stars that Trusova and Kostornaia aren't competing this year. How tall is Zags now - she looks about 5'5" at least? I think it becomes her and makes her lines stand out. The music is dull but it's not offputting like Med's -- never thought I'd be wished Danlil was choosing Med's program instead of Wilson/Orser - well, actually, I did fear they'd try to do to Med what they did to Javi much of the time - make him an anachronism.

The Japanese girls may have a better chance that I would have thought...

I remember when I first saw Med - it was in Barcelona when she won Junior Grand-Prix Final. I knew nothing about her, and I was surprised when she won. I remember her brown dress, how she was laughing in the K’n’C after her LP, saying something like “And then I thought ‘Shit, what if I’m going to lose it now?’” and Eteri said something like “Language!” I remember after the competition, I met her in Mar Diagonal when she was with Sotskova, apparently shopping for socks. For years that I’ve been watching her, she kept surprising me. I thought for sure she was done after the Olympics, and she surprised me once again when she changed everything in her life so dramatically and switched to Orser.

Sadly, it seems her move isn’t working for her. Now it makes sense Orser came with her to test skates but is not coming to the Nationals. She needed the big guns to convince the Fed that this is work in progress and it will get better and they should keep paying for her. But with this program and these jumps, nothing is going to help her at Nationals, Orser or no Orser.

OMG, Maria's program is lit. Best SP of her and she skated to it so well.

I think Yuzuru's nationals are at the exact same time as Med's - and he's missed the last two years - and, uh, I think Orser owes him to be there more than newbie girl. And would he really make a difference with that dreck? This makes me miss the Anna Karenina miming so bad, maudlin though it was. This easy-listening-pop from 1964 is just embarrassing.

Ugh. Why David Wilson? He done her wrong. I've always disliked Med's technique so nothing new there and she showed some personality despite the music and choreo, but that was not a good program. I thought her bangs looked good here even though I dislike them generally. Gave her an Audrey Hepburn-esque look. I don't know why I'm rooting so much for a skater I don't really like, but poor girl is all alone in a pool of sharks. And it's going to be worse at Nats.

R230 Zags was good but god, I cannot get over that schitzo music cut. The way Eteri and Daniil reacted to her program towards the end was kind of cute. Never thought I'd use "cute" and "Eteri" in the same sentence but there you go.

Radionova's step sequence in the second half of her short is the WEIRDEST skating I have ever seen! Just WILD - and not in a good way like Yuzu but in an out-of-control way.

But the song is fabulous (Amy Winehouse's "I'm No Good") and her jumps are big. If she could smooth out that insane step sequence, this thing could make an impact I think, with all the godawful music choices of the top girls (though maybe the Japanese girls have good music - I've forgotten....)

Did Eteri watch Med's program? C'mon, someone must have filmed it if she did.

I finally watched Evgenia's program. On Twitter I am reading how great it is and was wondering wth? Am I the only one that doesn't think it's that great? I come here and see I'm not the one. Whew!

Kolyada's program

Voronov

I LIKE MED'S PROGRAM. So okay, I don't like the song but the program is quite charming, and once she gets a costume, she'll be fine.

of course she will be fine. she will be overscored , maybe more...

I watched Med again and I thought her makeup and hair looked great - better than the other girls. And I like the bangs, at least when she's wearing a lot of makeup. Pretty girl.

OK... the music. Oyyyy. IF you're old like me and you remember the 1960's (I was a child, mind you) -- it is JUST like the songs they'd do on Judy Garland's or Dinah Shore's variety show. Just way way wayyyyy dated. Maybe younger people won't have the negative memories of that "snazzy jazzy" short of shit that Patti Page, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme (and Sinatra) served up but it makes me want to puke. Though somebody started their short with "Fever" which is almost as bad, but then they switched to a better song.

IF she would drop the tano's -- and I think the ISU warned they'd deduct for unattractive ones and I thought that rule was suggested JUST for Med -- then it's not so bad, but I don't think jazzy is her trump suit. Hopefully the long will be, well, at least either classical or current. It could have been worse - but I do think she's very beatable.

OH.... and did she always have a stuffed animal holding her Kleenex, and did she always do JUST like Yuzu, and stand there blowing her nose, then look coach in the eyes like Yuzu does -- I felt like I was watching a mini-me Yuzu, at the beginning. She really wanted his life, didn't she (assuming she couldn't have him, I guess)

Actually, Alina looked great. It's just that this program isn't much different from her other programs, it suited her though. Eteri's skaters usually do well with lyrical and classical music. Their style is almost the same. I'm looking forward to Alina's Carmen to see if they did something more fresher more watchable for her. They did quite good with Trusova's programs this season. I can get why they still hesitate to try something new? Tomorow we will see if puberty would bother Alina as much as it did to Lipnitskaya 4 years ago. Lipnitskaya always skated a perfect SP then had a meltdown with her FS ( which is somehow similar to Alina's case at last Worlds)

I find Med's program unimpressive. Except a better 2A, her other jumps were still laboured, DW's choreo still sucked, her pantomine and her open mouth were still there( which is very disturbing to me).

Many people can't accept the truth that DW's work is bad although he has produced dozen of trash programs every season. Mai Mihara' SP and Rika Kihira's LP this season done by him are boring and forgettable programs.

R244 I think Med is charming and has a lot of spunk. That's why she can do so much better than this boring program.

R246 yes, this program does have a very retro feel. But retro done right can be very good. On the other hand, I didn't really like Javi's programs so maybe I just don't like David Wilson that much. Can we lay off Med and her supposed Hanyu admiration? Maybe she's copying him, maybe not (but really, I think other people besides Hanyu have blown their nose and looked their coaches in the eyes, geez). But is it such a big deal if she were? We've all copied people we've admired, consciously or not.

Javi's David Wilson programs were like bad dinner theatre on ice.

R246. Omg I was thinking the same thing when she blew her nose. This whole thing is just crazy with her. I want to tell her enough!

R248. I think she is going overboard. Not sure why some give her a pass on this copying stuff. It's not like she is ten years old. She is an adult. She should go copy her EXO kpop group. Now that I would understand.

R249 LOL I love this description.

Agreed, R250. She has gone so far to copy every Yuzu thing that it's very very ODD. The plushy propped on the boards, looking out at her, JUST LIKE POOH. Come on...

I guess we should be grateful she wasn't wearing jewelry copies. What's next? A feathery top with black pants, doing Notte Stellata as her EX?

r249 Javi's David Wilson programs won him Worlds twice and an Oly bronze. Just saying.

I wish Med would copy Yuzuru's jumps and TECHNIQUE in general, and forget the accoutrements - they're not helping her skating one bit.

Kolyada R242: OMG I LOVE HIS SKATING!!! What a shame he popped his first jump - I wonder if it was meant to be a quad Lutz? The other jumps were beautiful.

I can't decide if I like his skating better than Yuzuru's -- maybe? It's more substantial and heavier, kinda like Patrick Chan, but to me, he's so much more beautiful that it's better. Totally different style than Yuzu's so it's hard to compare but he could be top of the heap if he could just be consistent on his gorgeous jumps. I so hope this is his year. Watching him and then Nathan Chen - good lord - wizard vs pedestrian.

NOW I get all that Med dislike here. It's all about Hanyu. Of course, lol. We can't we just admire Hanyu's ass and twizzles and leaps and stop looking at Med through the prism of Hanyu. And don't you whackos say Hanyu has nothing to do with it, your friggin obsession says otherwise.

R253 doesn't mean it's a good program. You forgot Daniil's programs won his students Olympic Gold, Worlds Golds, World Junior Golds .... ?

R252. Seriously? She has a plushy? I'm gonna have to go watch again I missed that one! Omg. I think Yuzuru probably avoids her at this point. Probably only talks to her when he must.

Don't give her any ideas on an EX costume. Shit! I can picture her doing that.

Why can't people make observations R256? It's great gossip! It's also bizarre.

I love Med, as a person. I love Yuzu. I'm not blind -- I see what I see with the bracelets, Weibo posts, Pooh stand-in, nose-blowing --- when people gossip about this sort of thing, that's simply what it is. I'm not obsessesd -- it's funny, it's interesting, it's weird as hell. Shit, I might have done the same thing at 18 - I had crushes on boybanders and bought their tshirts and went to their concerts and screamed - it's not a big deal but it's FUNNY !!!!

If you don't like juicy gossip and conjecture, go back to Golden Skate for fuck sake.

R256 So what ? Anything new ? Wasn't the hate / bashing towards Daisuke, Uno, Chen, Chan,... sometimes happening here also from Hanyu-related reasons. After all, this is Hanyu thread.

Watched the beginning of the video again. Omfg. Evgenia needs to really stop this craziness. She looks obsessed with Hanyu. They can make a movie out of this. Figure skater obsession.

* also Plushenko, Misha Ge, Brian Orser, did I miss any names ?

R260 Or maybe it has nothing to do with Hanyu. I love Dai's skating, but sometimes dislike his personality. I love Uno's personality, but hate his skating; same for Chen. Chan, despite his beautiful skating, can go choke on on a cock because he's Canadian. I agree that some Hanyu fans do go overboard with overanalyzing Med's every move, but you can't say that's the motivation behind every opinion here. Her technique is shitty, that program was bad. Those things have nothing to do with Hanyu.

R256. It looks crazy. Really freaking crazy.

R259. Imo that's ok in regards to boy bands. I used to do that too. So if she did this with EXO I wouldn't think anything of it.

R260 Also, there are mostly two posters who dislike Med and her Hanyu admiration. They're entitled to their opinions, but you can't use that to characterize a whole thread.

Someone send this to Med. I think it might help her a lot.

R266: Med is too busy burning her Canadian visa, so she has no time to watch that.

I know who is truly obsessed with Hanyu, and it’s not Med. Has any if you ever watched a figure skating competition? EVERY fucking skater blows their nise before they skate, because they don’t want pictures of the projectile snot from their nose plastered all over internet, like Miki Ando.

LOL R266. If she did all that I would think someone needs to send her somewhere for her obsession. That's funny!

You can literally clear the thread of all speculation regarding Med and her nose blowing with two clicks of the ignore button. No offense to those two posters. I like your position on other stuff just fine, but the Med/Hanyu stuff is a bit much for me.

LOL For comparison's sake, here's Brian Orser skating to Orange Colored Sky

I'm genuinely confused about what's wrong about gossiping about Med's obvious crush on Yuzuru and anything related to it. When I read other threads on this board, it's open season on anybody we want to drag about their personal silliness. But on skating threads, there's this weird prudishness and gatekeeping attitude that is so prevalent on other skating boards.

I love Evgenia! I love Yuzuru! I love Shoma! I love Nathan Chen! If I don't like Chan or Dai, it's because of what I see as mean-spiritedness or whining when they don't get what they want, but even if I didn't have a reason, this is a great hater-board. You can hate who you like for whatever reason -- in fact, I LIKE that Med has a crush on Yuzu, I think it's adorable, and I wish it didn't bother him - I'm not sure why it does really - I'd be flattered if I were him. Though I understand there are people who say cruel things about him and he's maybe sensitized to that -- but she hasn't done that. She's just a fan! Like Raf, when he asked for Yuzu's autograph at the Olys :)

There are a lot of posters here on DL that dislike Hanyu and have said some things about him. Even laughed at him. I usually just scroll through it. To me Evgenia looks a bit ridiculous. That's how I see it. I wish she would cool it down. Hopefully soon she will.

I have a bigger problem with Misha Ge Doing this ridiculous stuff.

R272. I guess I can understand why it bothers him. Maybe inside it did bother him to an extent the weibo posts and the bracelets. We're not in his head so I can't say for sure. Maybe he thought a friend wouldn't do this? I mean Misha did it too and I don't think their friendship is how it once was. I could be totally wrong though.

The Luna (cat) tissue box has been around for at least two years. It’s one of the first quirks she “copied,” but I think she would’ve copied it even if she didn’t have a crush on Hanyu because it’s cute and fits her Sailor Moon trademark. It’s not the same as when she copied and kept uploading close-ups of the bracelet and Hanyu’s Sendai ice rink gloves this summer, because she did that less than a week after Hanyu voluntarily issued that angry denial. Then she interfered with the ice show and forced him to take a selfie with her when he was trying to avoid photos with her. But since moving to Canada, she hasn’t done anything else as far as we know. She isn’t wearing the bracelet nor the gloves anymore and I think she’s moved on. Luna is already part of her ritual and probably a comfort with all of the changes that’s happened this summer. A lot of people get a runny nose while they’re skating.

R249 That’s the most accurate description. I get that Orser went with a more traditional Canadian program so they could focus on the basics and the jazz allows her to play a character, by why couldn’t they choose another jazzy piece that’s more modern? It may have been nerves and her injury, but even she didn’t seem totally committed to it, either. If the FS is more of the same, I think David Wilson won't be as popular next year.

I can understand his disappointment at Ge. But I did see, in one of the last couple ice shows they did together, at one point, Yuzuru put his arm around Misha's shoulders in a friendly way, when it was time to make a line and bow to the audience and then skate forward to the end of the rink. If he now hated him, I don't think he would have done that. So if there are issues - I think Yuzuru is trying to keep a lid on his feelings and behave as normally as possible. He did a little fist-pump to Evgenia at her last show with him (the Nagano heroes one I think) AND when they were doing little solos at the end, he went behind her and gently pushed her forward for her turn (as he did others.)

So, other than removing his bracelets a few times (not always), as far as I know, there's not any real evidence that Yuzuru is angry. It's just Ge going nuts on Instagram, Weibo, etc., that makes you think there might be. Even the Weibo stuff was marginally over-the-top teasing - not really the kind of hatred Yuzuru has run into that he spoke about at his own ice shows - he specifically mentioned some "weekly" magazine in Japan - the 7 Women or something? that went after him FULL BORE, accusing him of paying for a girlfriend's abortion and all that stuff. I understand there's some really nasty personal attacking that's been going on a long time -- I don't really see that from Misha, but he's being a bit weird. I just thought he was miffed that he wasn't invited to Yuzuru's personal ice show, but so few were and almost all old folks (relative to skating) -- nobody still in the biz except Mura who's dad helped Yuzu with his axel so even that made thematic sense....

Oh well, here we are, on a thread created WITH YUZURU'S name on it, and some people don't think we should talk about interesting interpersonal situations involving Yuzuru - on a GAY GOSSIP (AND BITCHERY) board. I'm just totally flummoxed as to why we shouldn't? These things are facts, not wildly made-up nonsense, and it's almost irresistible not to wonder why the hell these people are behaving this way.

And thanks R275 - I didn't know that she'd already had the plushy tissue ritual -- in fact, when I first pointed it out, I asked if she "usually" did that.

R275 But will media accept to move on ? Dating her, living with her in Toronro... all of these rumors maken up by tabloids is too much for him, I think, considering that he's very sensitive to toxic rumors.

Med should have a talk with Hanyu and ask him to give some advice on how to act classy when having a crush on someone so as not to get in trouble. He has 10 years of experience having crush on Plushenko. I believe he has some useful advice for her case.

Good points R274. It's just such a shame. I'll blame Misha for everything just because he's such a famewhore, with Tomono or the Chinese skaters or just anybody he can find to use to big himself up. Ugh.

LOL R278. Has Yuzu copied Plush since the mushroom hair? Oh wait - Nijinski!! He should empathize with Med - though I guess he did ask permission in the latter case.

Thank God Yuzu didn't dye his hair blond to try to copy Evgeni.

R276 What you described took place before most of the drama.

r276 Jesus fuck but you're cray.

Is there any chance we will see Yuzuru's lutz and flip again as season goes ? A program without lutz and flip is uncomplete and weird.

Holy shit this thread moves quickly! Remember the days when the DL Skating thread lasted months? Now I miss 2 days and I’m so far behind. Sorry for dredging old topics and the upcoming essay but I’ll try to be organized.

About Goldenskate defenders:

R68 Thank you for so perfectly describing how I feel about those types of posters. Much more eloquent than my “supercilious” description.

R66, r89 (and many more) It’s really quite amazing that 4everChan’s cuntiness is so powerful that it managed to be the one topic in which the obsessive Hanyu loons, Hanyu haters, and purely ass enthusiasts can all be united. Apparently, the force is so strong that it’s even managed to untrigger DaiTroll to the point that he’s worth unblocking. It’s good to see you getting involved in somewhat coherent conversation again DaiTroll.

R178 Took a cursory look at Goldenskate. As far as I can tell, any reference to the tweet or the Med exodus was deleted. My guess is that most of the posters don’t know or care what’s going on.

About judging:

R124 I think the Canadian judge was Jean Senft and, you’re right, she didn’t reveal that tape until after she was being investigated. I’m not sure if it was because it was a “taking them down with me” type of situation or if she was somehow using it in her defense. What was funny about that period was how self righteous the Canadians in both the skating community and the fandom were. Always talking about how corrupt the “eville Eastern bloc” was and how pure and good the N. American judges were. I remember thinking that, in the late 90’s at least, it was actually the Canadian judges that seemed most consistently out of line with the panel. And I remember Jean Senft even said something in an interview (before the investigation) about lobbying with the judges on behalf of the Canadian skaters - the hypocrasy of the situation seemingly completely lost on her - which we all know the skating community does but most don’t publicly deride other feds for their bias while doing it.

Wasn’t that the 2nd or 3rd incident with Balkov. Balkov also got caught on tape signaling to another judge where he placed a pairs team (S&P?) at one of the worlds. Thought there was something else but can’t remember it. Maybe I just think there was because Dick Button would make a big deal about Balkov on the judging panel after the toe tapping incident. I imagine that the lack of English is just an excuse used to lower his status because of the bad publicity whenever he was involved in competition. Doesn’t make sense that his English would be good enough for years and suddenly it’s not - or was there a change in rules after the 2014 quad that made English proficiency mandatory?

R91 r93 r99 r110 I guess I’m one of the few crazy “not Uno ubers” that is fine with most of his GOE’s. It is ridiculous to put his jumps on par with Hanyu, Ferndandez, or Kolyada’s, but most of the time he gets lower GOE’s than them and there’s a lot more to jumps than the take off. I think 90% of the GOE’s I’ve seen were justifiable, though I’ve only looked closely at a few of his competitions. Maybe it was worse in years previous to 2018.

About Med and test skates:

R98 I assume test skates are required for the Russian skaters. Interesting and odd. They don’t seem to be used to select skaters for competitions so why is it so important? Makes sense though to have an official forum to give feedback about programs before competitions though.

R113 r247 Wilson seems to be just a build the blocks choreographer but he’s constructed a few good programs and at least it’s not Lori Nichol. But yeah, there has to be better options out there. I imagine that she used Wilson because he seems like the primary TCC choreographer and she’s just trusting in Brian. Whatever her faults, Med seems to be an exceptionally cooperative student.

R125 r145 r173 I don’t think it’s really a Med vs. Zag issue so much as it’s a “Med is arguably currently the most famous and successful lady so of course she’s going to have haters” issue. Same reason Hanyu gets the most hate out of anybody. It’s normal that people like that have haters of all kinds. They are most likely to have every little thing they do over analyzed and are exposed to the widest range of people so they are most likely to acquire the biggest kooks as both antis and fans.

R219 r246 has Med done the tano her whole career? It might be so ingrained to her technique at this point that she’s unable to undo it without messing up her consistency. I doubt that she’ll get dinged for it anyway. I think I read that both credit for difficult variations and for unattractive body positions are rolled into that one bullet. You would think at most, they would cancel each other out. But I doubt the judges are thinking that thorougly in the split second they have to give a score. Though most likely, the judge has already decided before the competition what a skater would normally get for an element and then add or subtract based on how they actually performed compared to what they picture for the skater.

R238 r246 can’t decide how I feel about the hair. Sometimes I think Med is so beautiful and other times I find her face trollish (nose and bags under eyes). I hope she does well this year in spite of not really caring about her as well. Even though Zag deserved to win, I do feel bad for her that she couldn’t pull off the win at the Olys. In her case, the stagnation seems to be poor coaching more than anything. I think she just trusted Eteri and Eteri became overconfident that her level was good enough to get through 2018 - and that if it’s not, Eteri wins either way. Med seems to have the ability and desire to improve technically and she has some nice basic artistic qualities that I think can develop nicely with good guidance.

About Uno and Hanyu:

R187 r185 I’m the one that thought he was more likely gay than Hanyu. I base that on the fact that he said he doesn’t want to get married, his very soft manner of speaking, and the fact that he used a guy’s penis as a pillow. He seems charming in an oddball, constantly dazed sort of way.

Not that it matters. Raise your hand if you think they’re both virgins. I read that the average age for Japanese men to lose their virginity is 20, with many being virgins in their 30’s so it wouldn’t even be that odd over there.

R188 r193 r212 I don’t think Hanyu would seriously hit on a guy on video. I’m sure it was meant as a joke, and Uno being a little bit slow, didn’t get it. To be fair, I think most people would be startled by the most famous person in your field publicly caressing you. Uno being so extremely shy and Hanyu being so extremly not, I don’t think their reactions can be compared.

R189 As always, thanks for your translations and perspective on Japanese culture

R221 lol, eeeew! He could just be a really lazy top. I was never one to ship those 2, but now that I think about it, they would be a logical pair. I imagine Hanyu’s clean diet, flexibility, enthusiasm, energy, and vocalness would be good for someone as shy as Uno. Uno could just lay there while Hanyu power bottoms. But if Uno bottoms, I would definitely go for the thighs instead.

R217 R224 Hanyu seems to generally take the lead in most of his interactions and Uno seems to need the direction. Between the bad haircut, the poor sense of style, and general aggressiveness and authoritative manner in which he controls his life, I’ve always thought Hanyu seemed pretty butch outside the rink. Though it is difficult to look past the constantly limp wrists.

JPN dirt czar, is limp wristedness considered a sign of gayness in Japan?

I wonder how much of Hanyu’s image is crafted or exaggerated for his fans and how much is genuine.

Random 1 off thoughts:

R255 The thing I like about Kolyada over Chan is that his movement is more fluid. They both have great skating skills but Chan always looked like someone shoved a broom up his ass while his arms helicoptered independently to whatever generic choreography he was doing at the time. Neither are particularly innovative artistically but I feel like Kolyada has potential to grow while Chan seemed to be limited to the same 2 or 3 types of expression, all of which looked unnatural to me.

R283 it occurred to me that if Hanyu masters the 4axel, he could potentially win with 6 axel type jumps and no lutz or flip or any kind.

R177 pretty sure the Yag gay rumors are just fan fantasy. At most, I think he might have experimented. Him being hyper defensive about the rumors didn’t help his cause.

R137 I will never understand why skaters use Vera for their costumes. There’s nothing really wrong with them, per se, but they’re always boring. I can’t think of a single one that I would say enhances the program in any way. There has to be 100’s of designers that can make unremarkable costumes for much, much cheaper.

R170 Scali seems to get caught leering more often than most. Is he just unlucky or is he ogling Hanyu constantly?

R58 r65 It seems that you ascribe to the “bigger is better” method of ass appreciation. I attempted to do my due diligence but it is surprisingly difficult to find a good Paul Poirier ass pic, though I did enjoy the one below for the ledgelike quality it gave his ass. I personally prefer a “round but still looks like it belongs on that body” type of ass and find the Rippon and Kardashian type asses kind of grotesque. But as I was dutifully searching for good Poirier ass pics, I realized that perhaps our Hanyu ass appreciation has more to do with the fact that he shows it off better than others. It’s not as big as others, but the pants he wears allows you to see the definition so much better. Or is it because he has low body fat even for a skater and he doesn’t have that layer of fat to obscure the muscles. I will have to research more when I am done cleaning up this drool.

R202 r213 r220 , etc. Thanks to those who are posting the links to JGP and Russian test skates. I hope they stay up a while. I’m so far behind on watching the videos but that would seriously cut into my time for speculation about Japanese sex lives and ass ogling… hmmmm, decisions, decisions.

r260 r265 r273 ...and everyone else. Any chance we can drop the “Yuzuru Hanyu and” portion of the thread title? A lot of us aren’t even Hanyu fans and apparently some not even of his ass (some of us are fans of one but not the other). This is a general skating chat thread where Hanyu is allowed to be discussed not a Hanyu thread. I feel like the people who really had a problem with the Hanyu talk know the other thread exists, the title automatically associates every reply with Hanyu when often times the poster wasn’t thinking of him, and it’s confusing to new posters. Plus, I think it would be good for any future visitors from Goldenskate to know that FS fans of all types think they’re cunts, not just the Hanyu ubers.

oops. forgot the Poirier butt ledge

R284

Yes, Jean Senft.

She was also "lost" when Skate Canada tried to bury the whole affair not supporting her appeal against the suspension.

The toe tapping one was Svyatoslav Babenko (Russia) to Alfred Korytek (Ukraine)

Babenko is really epic....

he is still around....and he is not getting better

he was recently suspended again after Nepela Trophy 2016 when he spent half of the pair competition chatting with the Lithuanian judge sitting next to him. Both (and the referee) tried to deny the whole thing even after 4 other judges present accused them.

In the suspension verdict, ISU even wrote someting on the line of "given we have suspended you before for this, you should know you can't talk during competition".

Before the toe tapping, Babenkov received various warnings for similar behaviours...and he claimed he thought they were just friendly advices! At Lausanne Worlds he apparently spent the whole Men SP talking to the Georgian judge next to him and when the referee told him off, he allegedly said "he was his first time, I was just helping him!"

R287. Hi. I started the thread with Hanyu's name because Some people were screaming at others if they talked about Hanyu. I put it there so it was clear we can talk about Hanyu as well as other things related to skating. I have no problem dropping his name off the thread. What does everyone else think? Should we name future threads without his name?

R290 I wholeheartedly agree with R287. Not everyone is a Hanyu fan here and that's okay. In addition to what R287 already said, it makes this thread a target for Hanyu's antis. My suggestions:

Don't Axel Cunty, I'll Say Whatever I Want About Figure Skating

Figure Skating: Pull Whatever Out of Your Ass And Write it In this Thread

The Refrigerator Break

Evan Lysacek is a big fat ho, also skating, part XX

There's already a general figure skating thread. Why create another one? I think these Hanyu threads are fine and have mostly shut up the posters who were constantly complaining about Hanyu posts.

r292 This is already a general figure skating thread and has always been that way- changing the title only makes that clearer. The other one is realistically a "figure skating except for Hanyu" thread and even people who were complaining about discussion about him are mainly posting here instead.

r290 I guess I'm boring. I was just thinking "other skating talk part 7" for the next thread to stay in theme. However, I do like "Don't axel all cunty, I'll say what I want about Figure skating".

Inappropriate Undergarments and Other Skating Talk, Part 7

The Itsuki Uno Appreciation Thread

The Backcounter 3A and Other Skating Talk

If we really want to have split threads, I think it makes more sense to split it between pairs/dance vs singles. Good conversation is organic. Hanyu talk naturally leads to Med/Dai/Uno/Chen etc. talk so there'd be a lot of redundancy if you tried to make the split just about Hanyu. The dance/pairs talk only intersects with talk about singles when we're talking about gays in skating or who we think Hanyu wants to fuck.

R298 If I understand correctly, I think people are just talking about renaming this thread, not splitting it further. Basically, the thread stays the same, with whatever discussions we've been having, just with a different name so new posters aren't confused and think this thread is about Hanyu only, because it really isn't.

r299 sorry, I'm just rambling out loud to those like r292 and anyone else who wants to have threads more organized by subject. I think the pairs/dance fans have to scroll through a lot to get to a few snippets about their favorites and the other thread seems more about pairs and dance already. I personally prefer one mass thread but I also prefer singles while not minding the pairs/dance talk so it doesn't affect me at all.

r296 I never heard of Itsuki Uno before this thread but am finding myself looking forward to content about the very handsome Itsuki Uno as well as the occasional mention of his less talented and interesting brother

I do agree that keeping Hanyu's name in the thread can bring antis. I think that's how we might have gotten our Daitroll. I love the name don't Axel cunty, I'll say whatever I want about figure skating. It tells everyone we can talk about anything related to figure skating and no screaming if someone brings up a certain skater or skaters. Is everyone ok with that name for next thread?

R300, No, as soon as I posted, I realized you what you were talking about. I do think the two threads (the "general" figure skating thread and this one) tend to split naturally between pairs/dance talk and singles. I actually understand now why the other folks were unhappy, given how quickly the Hanyu threads have moved.

R301 To make it shorter, it could be: "Don't Axel Cunty, I Say What I Want About Skating." Because, you know, if there are roller skating fans out there, maybe they can talk about their stuff too.

Dai Troll and the GS defenders have been following since before the Hanyu threads. It takes several days or weeks to get permission to post and all of the trolls we've had are still figure skating fans, not your usual DL trolls. They're still going to show up without Hanyu in the thread name but I like all the suggestions... except for the Itsuki one.

[quote]except for the Itsuki one.

It's because I'm too gorgeous for your shitty thread. The jealousy around here is insane.

Finally watched Torgashev’s FS. What was the black thing on the ice he kicked away at 3:20?

Kanako Murakami interviewed Uno and Arakawa at Friends On Ice. The link probably won’t be available for long. Arakawa looked even skinner than usual but she recently gave birth to her second child. First part:

-Uno acted cold to Murakami when she greeted them. He joked that they decided they should treat her cooly when they saw her, but Arakawa actually told him to be very polite.

-Arakawa and Uno revealed what they carry in their gym bags. Uno brought out his wallet, which he says he never uses. (I know someone who had the same wallet and I think it’s from Samantha Kingz.) His mom takes care of everything.

-Uno has two mobile phones. One for playing games and one to call his parents, but he never calls his parents.

-He had an opened bottle of tea that he couldn’t remember when he put it into his bag. He often has old food or drink in his bag and sometimes it’s gone bad, but he still eats or drinks it anyway.

-He used to feel like he was being forced to skate, but feels the opposite today.

-He used to think ice shows were just for having fun and trying new things, but after listening to Murakami talk about how she feels a greater sense of responsibility after going professional, he now feels he needs to develop a stronger sense of responsibility himself when he’s performing for these ice shows.

-Arakawa handled the catering for Friends on Ice and selected mostly healthy foods. Uno went for the meat first, but he does like tofu.

-Arakawa said she’s seen a lunchbox Uno’s mom made for him once and it was just meat and rice.

-Murakami asked why his portions were so small. He said he’s always snacking.

-Arakawa said Plushenko once scolded Uno for eating during an inappropriate time (probably practice). Uno just hid his snacks and still carried them around.

-Uno said he hasn’t eaten vegetables for a whole year. The last time he ate some, he only did it as a joke. He was at a buffet with his manager and the manager left the table to answer a phone call. Uno thought it’d be funny if he ate all of the manager’s food before he got back and there were some vegetables in it.

-He doesn’t actually have a particular dish that he loves or makes him happy. He just eats because he gets hungry. Gaming is more important to him than eating.

Arakawa kept talking about taking care of her kids.

As for actual gossip, the main MC of the show (Merenge no Kimochi), who wasn’t in the interview, is a member of Soka Gakkai. It’s rumored that her co-hosts have to be members of Soka as well, so Murakami might be a convert or grew up Soka. It’s is a very controversial religion/cult like scientology, and has hands in politics and the entertainment industry.

I'm the one calling people whackos but notice I never told people to stop talking about Hanyu. I'm against dropping Hanyu's name from the thread title. This is not a general thread, as some people claim, when over half of the comments are about Hanyu. If I think crazies are crazy, I will call them so, but dropping the name will land these thread in thecsame place it started.

R308 Agreed. Overall these Hanyu named threads have worked out well.

[R304} You got it all wrong, honey. i feel sorry for you :) It is impossible to know all this stuff about me. I didnt get any particular permission to post. Eeryone can post now. DL is open for everyone. Yuu dont know that coz you were able to post earlier. I ve read Dl for a very long time ..I havent come here for any particular reason. You make up shit stuff about me . Do you think anyone here believes you?You bore people here by posting about me. You have obssesion

{R304} You re one of those sick fans of hanyu who wanted death for Ten. So you re still stalking me and have obssesion. Get a life.. I feel sorry for hanyu that he has loser like you as a fan of him..

My google alert guided me here cause I have a tag of Yuzuru. So I definitely want his name on the title and it’s fun lurking here. The so called Dai troll and other arguments.....well they’re almost everywhere already got used to it

{R312} you behave like a child with that Daitroll. Zieeeeew Typical hanyu fan. Loking for "antis" everywhere hahahaha

But I do have some opinions different from comments here,like Yuzuru and Med. He denied the rumor of their being dating so that’s it. I don’t even talk about it except this time here

"well they’re almost everywhere " who? people who DONT LIKE when bunch of haters make threats to other skaters? do you tolerate that? I said nothing about hanyu or dai here...And you re Shomatroll , and thats ok???what hypocrities

You people told me daitroll wants to be normal and join the convos so I unblocked it. YOU LIED TO ME.

Normal? Datalounge hates women, thats all. Gays m oh gays, grow up

Are 310 311 313 315 all daitroll and deleted? I cannot see them from my page

[R318] Try better , troll.

R318 Yup daitroll was triggered again.

{318] nothing is deleted ,Shomatroll. We wait for your endless posts about him. They re fascinating

Someone needs to post another photo of Yuzu's ass to get us back on track here.

Ok. So now I'm seeing posts saying we should keep Hanyu's name in the thread title because it's mostly about him. This I will say is true. I am reading this really isn't a general skating thread. Again I will say true. I want to make everyone happy since we are all here posting. We have time still.

This contains a lot of Med pics, including a very weird one of Brian putting his hand on top of her head.

So I created a poll. Maybe it will help to see where we are all at. It's about the thread title.

Please Daitroll stop bringing Denis ten into this. Let him RIP.

I'd like to remove Hanyu's name because we do end up discussing all sorts of things here (though I agree there is a Hanyu focus) and there are people here of varying degrees of interest in Hanyu or no interest. However, because Hanyu's name is on the thread, people are going to ascribe those opinions to his fans. I like it here because I can say all sorts of fun and outrageous shit without it affecting no one in particular or without feeling like I'm speaking for anyone except myself.

I also see why people want to keep Hanyu's name on here because for the most part, this thread has been entertaining and the posters have a lot of personality without being assholes. I've been on these skating threads on DL for a few years now, and I honestly think the reason why this thread seems different from the other one is not the name on the thread. It's because we're not in competition season yet, when the really nasty assholes come and invade or return to DL. Do you guys remember the tone of the general thread during Oly season? It was pretty ugly and xenophobic (I think it could be attributed to 2-4 posters, but they posted a lot so it affected the mood of the thread). I'm not even a big Hanyu fan and I found it mean and stifling. I don't think those posters are simply behaving here or stayed in the other thread. They will come back later and I think having Hanyu's name on the door will be an invitation rather than a hindrance.

I'm fine with whatever keeps this thread the way it is.

I’m just rewatching the ice show. He’s nice in purple

R325 thanks for doing all of this.

Alina Zagitova was a hot mess. We can't tell anything from a SP. LP is always much more challenging. During 2013-2014 season, Lipnitskaya always started with flawless Short and ended up with a diaster LP. Last season, she nailed both SP and LP in skate test. Puberty+ Pressure of OGM her hard. Poor girl.

* hit her hard

So we're going to see another falling star and it's Zag ? TAT must be relieved and satisfied. I feel it in my bones.

R329. You're welcome! It looks like keeping Hanyu in the thread title is winning right now. How long should we keep a poll going? A few days? The first time I've done a poll.

R328. Yes! Purple is very nice on him. I also like him in white. Now I'm thinking about costumes again for the upcoming season. What color or colors? Will he have glitter? Feathers? Oh my!

Kolyada's Carmen

Aliev

I would hate to bear the brunt of Eteri's wrath after skating like that & then seeing how Evgenia skated (obviously not perfect either, but certainly better overall). Alina never seemed to have that strong mental game that Evgenia does. Very few skaters ever do. I do think Trusova has it.

Med's FS

You can watch all of the Russian test skates here

Russian test skates FS are here

The Durex logo on the rink. That's an interesting sponsorship.

Holy shit, Zag's program was a fucking mess. Not just the falls; she just seemed to be out of steam even at the beginning of the program. She's grown so much as well. I hope this was just a bad day.

Apparently Med is doing two (f)lutzes it the LP - because Orser knows the technical panel tends to look another way when his students are skating?

I had to spend my entire summer to pray to God to keep David Wilson out of Hanyu's competitive programs. Such an relieve.

Can't imagine how Origin and Otonal would have been if they had falled into his hands. I have never seen him do any programs theme and music of which are similar to Origin but I totally can expect Otonal done by DW would have been the most boring program of century.

r343 Judges look the other way when Russian girls are skating. And American and Canadian men. And Uno.

Lol Eteri and Daria. I remember someone here saying she wasn't allowed to keep her programs when she left Eteri so there must be a lot of bad blood. Did Daria forget to bring flowers? I

Thread translating Med's remarks after the FS. Neither she nor Brian were very happy about it. The program wasn't great, but she seems a little hard on herself.

A translation of Brian's remarks

All the feathers on his costume will have gradually gone as it approaches Worlds lol

Yet she didn’t do three lutzes in two programs when she was with Eteri, R345. I guess Brian has more connections in all the right places.

This person filmed closer to the rink

R350 You know he even already prepared political straregy for the next Olympics. His collaboration with Chinese Fedaration told it all. They must be so confident technical panel won't get Med's flutz called "e" that they let her jump 3flutzes in 2 programs.

I quite liked Med's SP but her FS is a dirge. I hope they'll figure it out by GP because I'll be getting on the sude of Carmen. And I pretty much hate Carmen. Zag's FS seemed pretty empty, tbh, at least for Eteri's standards.

r347 Better reaction than Torgashev fist pumping after a messy skate.

R352 I believe they all know who are the technicial specialists for this season's events

R347 Lol. After being bashed by Russian fans for having too much "passion" for living in Canada, she has to comfort them after all.

I saw this on insta and couldn't resist. I guess baby Hanyu was already an aggressive little cunt. He spared the girls though.

Did we ever find out which coach Daria moved to?

r358 I think I heard Tsareva.

R307 No vegetables in a year? That kid must take a shitload of supplements. But then I can’t picture him being mindful of such things.

R316 Oops. Sorry, DaiTroll was going through a patch where most of his posts were somewhat coherent and actually discussing skaters. They’re always somewhat unhinged but they reverted to the level of a sullen 12 year old rather than the full blown psycho he becomes when he gets triggered. You’re right - back to the ignore list he should go. You would think he would get bored talking to himself.

R308 If we’re that concerned about more gatekeepers, we could just write a short description in the thread title post about what it’s about and a link directing people who don’t like it to the other thread.

R327 I agree with this completely.

R322 why would Tat be happy? Do she and Eteri not get along?

R335 R336 Not sure which Russian I like more. I like the way Aliev moves better but I like Kolyada’s fundamentals better. But why Carmen?

R343 I always thought it was strange that she never did 3 flutzes. At this point, she should know she never gets deducted for it anyway

R354 yes, the attitude shown in r347 is the difference between champions and also rans … well, and Chan. Chan was lucky that he skated in a weaker era. I like that she doesn’t have that “a win is a win” attitude and acknowledges when she needs to improve.

R357 lol. No wonder he never socializes. He’d be so overbearing in anything that was even slightly competitive.

R322 sorry, this one isn’t great. Grabbed the first usable photo as it seems we’re in need of emergency ass

I saw this on twitter. If this translation is right, then wow, she's not subtle.

r360 Not bad, for emergency ass.

Since it looks like the majority of people want to keep the name in the title maybe just write a short description in the initial thread post explaining the situatio, which I know was on the first one but it would be good to have it there consistently for new people.

But I don't mean to put this all on the initial thread starter - obviously I can start the next thread.

And in attempt to make this a more general thread, I will add not-Hanyu ass. it would be good to have other examples to settle the argument of whether there is superior ass. I'll start with arguably his closest skating competition - is Nathan also ass competition?

Omg. Baby Hanyu was a cutie!

R363 why are you so cruel. That is a good ass, but I honestly don't want to look at Nathan that way. What else do you have up your sleeve? Ass shots of Raf? Tat?

R361: Damn, it’s everything I mentioned. I hope she works hard and does well as she becomes a real figure skater.

[R360]You troll by putting me "into your skaters discussions ,thats why I REACT . And then you re surprised that i answer back....STop trolling and lying and dont mention any time you want Daitroll when i dont talk here..Who is 12 years old here?

r361 It really makes me wonder what could have gone down between Med and Eteri. I do believe Eteri truly cared for Med, and that they had a good relationship up to Olys, and that Med wouldn't have left if something hasn't gone down, and especially she wouldn't be so shady if something hasn't gone down. There was also that quote about wiishing the other Eter girls long careers. It's as if Med holds a grudge, and if she's a remotely reasonable person (which I believe sshe is, shutup about the bracelets) it must be based on more than Eteri coaching Alina. Did Eteri push her to skate at Worlds injured, did she really tell Med to better quit, what.

Or maybe it's a throwaway self-depreciating comment, because it's possible that after training alongside Hanyu and some other TCC longtimers she might havecrealized her skating skill could be better, rather than deliberate shade.

r3655 Maybe it's time we started looking at Chen differently.

Has the handsome Itsuki ever provided us with any ass shots? It must be spectacular, like the rest of his outstanding self, right?

R369 The fact that this ass shot was taken from Mama Uno's Twitter makes it twice as sexy.

Twice zero is still zero, r370 ...

Zags looks exhausted.

R361 I recall Hanyu said the same thing about going to TCC -- when he started training there he was struggling and realized his skating skills weren't good enough. Tracy Wilson has high standards.

Nathan's ass is clearly the most attractive part of him.

R368 Perhaps Med really did want Eteri to hold back Zag in juniors. If Eteri had done that, it would be Med with the OGM now. I wouldn't blame Med for feeling that way; she's young and believed her relationship with Eteri was very special.

R371 thanks for the good laugh.

R372 I forget where I read it, I think it was a translation of Norika Shiroto's book, but Hanyu had a tough time when he first came to TCC. he missed his coach, couldn't understand the language, was really lonely. I got the impression it took a concerted effort from family, JSF and others to help him adjust. Hope Med has that kind of support.

I know it's early season, they will refine these programs, add transitions, smooth choreographic elements, blah, blah, but I find Med's FS meh and Zag's bad

Aliev's looks quite forgettable at the moment.

Schedule for the coming week

LOMBARDIA TROPHY

Italian time

Thursday:

Ladies SP 13:50-17:20

Pairs SP 17:40-18:40

Men SP 19-21

Friday

Rhythm Dance 13:50-15:30

Pairs FS: 15:50-17:10

Ladies FS 17:30-22:10

Saturday

Men FS 13-15:40

Free Dance 16-18:10

Urgg stop dragging Med and boring Russian FS drama into this thread. Who get interested in those things go create a new thread. I almost forget this is Hanyu thread. I would rather enjoy ass pics here.

R376 Dmitri Aliev looked attractive. It's enough for me.

Love him or hate him, with Patrick Chan's retirement, the sport of figure skating is undoubtedly losing something monumental. (It's his ass. I'm talking about his ass.)

r363 That's a great ass but for it to be a real competition for Hanyu's, Nathan has to start wearing a dance belt.

R378 What? I'm not a med fan or a fan of any ladies skater right now but people can talk about whatever they want to. The Med mentions aren't even that big of a deal, and given that it's Russian test skates right now it's just topical.

R379 you found a good picture, perhaps everyone's ass looks good from that angle. However, Patrick's ass was blocky and weird and attached to the rest of him, which includes his eyes and personality so any potential hotness died in the womb.

r381 I think r378 was being ironic.

R377 I can't believe the new season is already here! Too bad Lombardia is so weak for singles. Anyone interesting in dance and pairs?

My only wish for Hanyu's new costumes is no costumes with the golden waist belt. He has at least 5 costumes with that belt and it looked stupid to me. Even if it looks good on him, isn't having 5 costumes too much ?

R384 What about a golden dance belt worn on the outside of the costume?

R383

I think Men field is good at Lombardia. They have Uno, Tomono and Aliev.

Ladies is indeed meah IIRC.

R385 A golden dance belt would be approaching Hanyu's actual favorite Plushenko program, Sex Bomb, so we probably shouldn't rule it out for his free program.

R386 I really like Aliev's supple, elegant style. I wish he'd get his shit together tech wise.

Salt Lake City Challenger next week will see Zhou's seasonal debut

I hope for a special social media posting after it

r384

[quote]My only wish for Hanyu's new costumes is no costumes with the golden waist belt.

I read it as, "My only wish for Hanyu's new costumes is no costumes, with the golden waist belt" and I found myself nodding along. No costume, just a golden waist belt, would be perfect. And 5 costumes is dedfinitely too much, no costumes would look much better.

R387 Oh dear lord have mercy, why would you remind us of this.

What would be the maximum deduction Hanyu would get if he just came out in a golden dance belt? I feel like quite a few costume violations would apply.

R392

-1

R393 If you don't wear pants, and your costume is not modest, dignified or appropriate you just get a 1 point deduction? And if something falls you do you get a separate 1 point deduction?

Poor Alexander Fadeev is probably thinking, why did I even bother with pants?

R393

yes

the costume is not modest, dignified, excessive nudity, blah blah deduction is applied if called by the majority of the panel (judges + referee)

the -1 for something falling from the costume is applied directly by the referee

If Hanyu skated with no costume I think a lot of us would not be here anymore. We would thud and that would be it. I am liking Hanyu's hair. I don't care for it too short. It seems as if he is going for a longer look? lol

I want this one for Hanyu's Nijinski. Tights are ok for men now!

it looks like the majority wants the name of the thread to stay the same. And I or anyone else making a new thread can say "anything related to figure skating can be discussed here."

Not so sure if the designer considers some elements from Nijinsky for Origin

So Hanyu is playing the role of Nijinsky? Oh my. I can only imagine what his costume is going to be. I hope he tells all the homophobic judges to screw off.

R401 I think Hanyu has been using his costumes for years to tell all the homophobic judges to screw off.

R401 Hanyu's program doesn't have anything to do with Nijinsky. Though ironically it looks much more like ballet than Plushenko's actual Nijinsky tribute.

I'm sure he'll have a costume with lots of sparkles and strategic mesh. His Notte Stellata costume felt like he was testing the waters and checking his comfort level in terms of how far he could go, and it got a good response, so maybe he'll keep pushing it.

Yuzuru’s Origin has rare relation with Nijinsky. He’s also not playing the role of him and in his interview at media day he hasn’t talked of him neither. He’s just loving skating and looking back to those origins like Plushenko and Weir and the happiness of skating and then creating a crazy program,well,two actually. We may have to wait until SCAC for Otonal as a whole

True R402. I want to see something so extrodinary and something that makes others take a second look. And yeah I want the judges to feel uncomfortable and say what is he wearing, lol

Oops almost the same lol

By the way, Alina also has a plushie for a tissue holder, and she also blows her nose before her skate. Is she trying to emulate Hanyu or Med or both?

That depends R407. Am I liking shipping posts of me and Hanyu and looking at pooh bear dressed in a Hanyu costume with hearts over me?

You know you do, R408.

[404] but it's not like he's playing the role of plushenko either, right? he's paying homage to plushenko BY playing the role of nijinski, at least partially, as his idol did. neither of them play "roles" exactly--both adopt a more dramatic, broad-strokes persona than a specific person. but in that way I wouldn't be surprised if hanyu uses a costume at least partially inspired by nijinski, or experimental early Russian ballet in general. at least, I hope so; I'm always hoping for inventive costumes with him!

R307

[quote]t’s rumored that her co-hosts have to be members of Soka as well, so Murakami might be a convert or grew up Soka. It’s is a very controversial religion/cult like scientology, and has hands in politics and the entertainment industry.

What's going on with Kanako? She seemed really burned out by the time she retired and it looked like she was on a path to a normal university life/dating etc. I saw clips of a weird burlesque show she did with Mura. It was overtly sexual in a way I haven't seen in these ice shows before (but I haven't seen that many so who knows). I guess she's opening herself up to new things.

I really loved Kolyada's Carmen and his jumps looked beautiful, as usual (though he popped one.) I read he had 3 quads in it (but I don't recognize jumps when I see them.) I'm linking it though I'm probably repeating a link upthread (hope that's ok). Considering how ragged some of the other test skates have looked, I feel really optimistic -- maybe working with Raf and Nathan Chen has helped?

And Raf said there was a "set up" for Misha to return and work with Nathan and/or Raf some more?? Hope so. I saw Nathan helping some guy out with his quads but I don't think it was Misha - anyway it was cute to see him giving coaching help after the guys jump attempts.

R327 if you want a general skating talk, there is the other thread. I'm a hanyu fan but I have been talking about other topics than him here, and I'm a little peeved that you, a non fan who doesn't know why this thread was created, shows up and want to change it according to your own preferences

The Hanyu focus is one of the reason why this thread is so nice and chatty. We should keep the name. It's been said over and over again that all skating talk is welcome. This thread being alive, while staying open minded is a consequence of Hanyu in the title, not the opposite.

I agree R413. Why have TWO general skating threads? There was an obvious problem with people not liking Hanyu fans praising him or posting a lot about him. So voila, problem solved - I think mentions of Hanyu in the other thread are way down, if practially nonexitent, and there were a few posters who seemed to require that in order not to be pissed off all the time. They can congregate there and talk about whoever else they want. I do think it's a good place to sort of de facto separate out the pairs/dance stuff because it's just sort of headed that way.

Yuzuru's name on this thread is an indirect way of suggesting it's mainly about singles skaters, with a lot about him -- but of course, there's a lot about him, he's the biggest name in skating right now, by FAR (which is probably why people get pissed off about it, if they're fans of someone else, but come on... it's just gonna be that way for this year and maybe longer. He's the double gold Oly winner, which just happened in 2018.

r413 Poster r327 has been here since Thread 1 so I'd wager he knows how these threads were created.

I'm in favor of the thread title remaining because if, as r327 remarked, lots of posters return during the competition season and end up here, there will be no excuse to complain about all the Hanyu talk even if they are uninterested.

Now, according to the guy with TCC connections who was on TSL, Med apparently forgot part of her choreo. Lol. That actually bodes well for the future, she's still got time to learn it.

This fan art about costume is cute! I almost like all of nurakuro’s work

[398] OMG I love his eyes full of evilness

R384 That waist belt.... 2 for Seimei, 3 for Chopin, one for a sparkling white shirt, one for a Japanese song I don't rememer the name and one for Wings of Words. It's 8 in total. Please Hanyu ! That's too much. It looked tacky af, please ditch it forever because I don't ever want to see it again.

I want black waistcoat

I'll never understand the fuss about Kolyada. There was nothing new or special about that Carmen, at all. And the day he lands 3 quads in his FS pigs will fly.

r419 No no no. He'll turn into Han Yan.

Everybody expects a Hanyufied costume, with ruffles and bling, but what if he decides to surprise everbody and get a boring one. Like pants, shirt and a waistcoat.

R421 Exactly what I thought. He's too random for us to guess what he will do. Didn't almost everyone expect him to skate to Japanese/ Asian music this season ?

R416. That artwork a beautiful. R421. He could very well do that. I will be surprised if he does. Especially for the free skate.

Skate America host picks

Jimmy Ma

Megan Wessenberg

Nica Digerness/Danny Neudecker

Karina Manta/Joe Johnson

(don't feel bad if you don't know the pair and ice dancers...oh well, don't feel bad if you don't know any of them...

Will Jimmy Ma still skate to Turn down for what? He’s crazy on ice which is very cup of my tea. Hope he at least clean his short really

R327 LOL Don't get your hand-embroidered Pooh spanx all in a twist just because I said I wasn't a Hanyu uber. If it helps, I'll admit that I'm a Hanyu ass uber. I very specifically said I don't want the thread to change (that is, keeping it fun and keeping the assholes/weird antis out). If people think having Hanyu's name on the thread will do the trick, then I'm fine with that, even though I don't personally agree.

R415 Was Doug Haw on TSL? I guess I'll watch it then. Poor David Wilson. And here we were shitting on his "empty" choreo.

R424 Jimmy Ma should be fun to watch.

Sorry, meant to reference r413.

R425 His new SP is Mi Gente mixed with Sahara Tango. Choreo by Morozov. The FS is Juke Jam” by Chance the Rapper /Call Out My Name by The Weeknd.

Ksenia Stolbova’s new partner is Andrei Novoselov.

I think this is the one Dave Lease gossiped about - her partner Klimov breaking up with her without advance notice; Meghan saying she was having a hard time because of it but that they'd had a bad relationship; plus Dave suggesting she was having an affair with Morozov?

Klimov is retiring

Novoselov needs a release from France (Didier...), doesn't it? Should we prepare for popcorns?

I know, R417 !! I know Hanyu could do those eyes! And Nijinsky has the sort of curvy body (small waist, hips that taper out) that Hanyu has -- in that women's swimsuit shaped thing with the leaves all over it (reminiscent of his Notte Stellata blouse). I understand Origin isn't necessarily Hanyu playing Nijinsky - but I'd been hearing it was based on a skate in which Plush paid tribute to Nijinsky -- so seems like there's a connection (and that the outfit might suit Hanyu - and set the skating world on fire!!)

I prefer he skip the lace bonnet though.

r421 David Lease must be getting his gossip from FSU. I read about Stolbova having some sort of try outs with Novoselov months ago, so I don't know if Klimov dumped her out of of the blue. If he did, he did it months ago, and they only announced the split now. Same about affair with Morozov, the rummor is basically based on a) Stolbova being seen talking with Morozov and b) Morozov and his child bride getting divorced.

R432 yes, she skated at the rink where he coaches

IIRC Stolbova suggested last week that she hasn't heard from Klimov since Worlds when they withdrew and that he didn't ask her how she was recovering, etc

In the summer she had the tryout with Novosolev.

Also the rumours include that France release Novosolev and Russia give them Drodz (to be paired with Abachkina)

[431] recent one with similar eyes from kozukakazuko. Don’t worry he won’t wear bonnet at all lol

Nice R435. Why do I find Nathan boring in his plain black - but Hanyu looks sexy in his, like your photo?

Maybe Nathan needs a tighter fit? Not sure he has the body for it, though.

[436] haha I donno, people like variously

Skinny as a reed but still got those hips and thighs.

r426 Yeah, it was Doug Haw. For the most part he sounded like a TCC praise machine. Oh Brian is supportive, oh he and Evgenia have such a great relationship, oh Evgenia was so happy after her first session she cried, oh her pisture improved so much, oh her programs are so diffetent. Idk. They also think that given Tuk's great jumps, if she only dropped 10 pounds, her PCS would immediately go up. Sad thing is, they might be right, judges like them thin.

Haw said Javi does intend to go to Europeans, David and Jonathan expressed disbelief at how he's gonna get competition-ready while busy with shows and how he's gonna peak at Europeans and they're giving Kolyada the gold because "his 3Lz at test skates was so big it could be a quad". Lol, it's like they never watched Kolyada attempting that quad lutz.

R439: Did Haw read Med or Orser’s comments before giving that interview?

R439: I’d would like a response from Tuk on the weight comment.

This newest TSL is really interesting. I’m surprised at how forthright Doug Haw is about the activities at TCC considering their privacy rules. It seems bold/foolish of him to say outright that Med doesn’t have a true lutz and he thinks that part of the reasoning behind adding the 3rd flutz to Med’s programs is that they knew she wouldn’t get dinged for it anyway. If I were a judge, I would remember that next time. Considering that he is associated with TCC, his comments are going to look more official even if he never talks to Orser.

Dave also claimed that Eteri told Med she was done after the Olympics and should have babies. Yikes, no wonder she left (but Dave's not exactly a reliable source of info)

The Tuk comment wasn’t as bad as it sounded. Doug has an insensitive, old school way of saying things (you know it’s bad when Dave and Johnathon feel a need to stop and explain) but he just meant that the judges would give her better scores if she better fit the image of a perfect lady skater.

Another interesting comment was at 38:49 when he says he thinks that a clean Kolyada should be world champion. You’d think that as a representative of TCC, he would keep comments like that to himself.

r393 isn't there also a rule about no chest hair showing? Of course, Hanyu is physically incapable of violating that rule. I don't always like them, but my only real complaint about Hanyu's costumes is that I wish he'd use less illusion fabric. His is actually done really well but it's so often unnecessary. Does he really need to cover up the little bit of collarbone that might peek through on his Phantom costume? I would love to see Haru yo Koi and Notte Stellata without the illusion fabric.

R413 I’m an obsessive Hanyu loon and I’m the one that first suggested dropping his name from the thread title. The fact that it has to be “said over and over that all skating talk is welcome”, as you say, is one of the reasons that we should drop the name. As a Hanyu fan, I also get annoyed that so often criticism is automatically attributed to Hanyu obsession rather than just an opinion on that subject. And people tend to lump everyone in a group together and I don’t like that all the nutjob posts on here are going to get associated with Hanyu fans as a whole.

There’s several other reasons to drop the name but we’ve already settled on keeping the name in r399 but with an explanation of the thread in the title post.

R435 I think it’s a combination of Hanyu’s sleek silhouette, expression, and charisma. Nathan looks nice enough in the more fitted black costumes but his practice outfits are kind of dumpy.

R436. Hanyu is just beautiful. Nathan imo is just ok. Nothing special.

did a terrible job of referencing posts.

I was responding to r396 about the costume rules and r436 about why Hanyu looks better than Nathan in black

R442 [quote] isn't there also a rule about no chest hair showing?

there are some visible chest hair, usually in Ice Dance when they wore more often low cut costumes. For ex Cizeron here has some chest hair on show

r443 photos of Hanyu standing side by side with other skaters is fascinating to me. Media have mentioned Shoma's giant thighs and Hanyu's thinness so often, but I'm always amazed at how big Hanyu's lower body is. Javi's lower body looks scrawny in comparison.

R428 Other than Ma, are there other high-level U.S. skaters working with Morozov? Is Morozov allowed at USFSA events, or to be a USFSA-sanctioned coach? Was he ever even a member? (I’d imagine, and hope, that if he was, he’d have been banned for life for repeatedly violating SafeSport policies.)

If I were a girl, I would unhesitatingly choose Chen over Yuzuru. He's the dream crush every girl wants. He likes sneakers and girls. He can play guitar. He can do housework. He's good at studies and sports. He looks attractive. Perfect boyfriend. No one would choose Hanyu over him unless they're either weeaboo or stupid girls, really. As much as I gush over Yuzuru's beauty, I would rather watch him than want him to be my boyfriend ( even just a friend). I kind of see I can't stand some of his personality traits if I know him personally. Lol.

Is Javier training at TCC ? He's competing at Japan Open in 1 month so he is supposed to be training.

Am I the only one getting annoyed at Brian's PR machine when it comes to Medvedeva. It makes him look like a drama queen as well as a child excited with a new toy until he gets the next one. Also can't he see that she is trying so hard to copy Hanyu in everything he does/wears and that it must be tough for him having to deal with an obsessed fangirl on a daily basis. She may have toned down the social media thing but between her wearing the gloves from his skating club and always putting them in evidence when in public and trying to appear in as many shots as possible during his media day, she showed that she is still the same deep down which was obvious really. Like Orser her little PR only works on dimwits.

r449 As her coach, it's Orser's job to spin the PR in his student's favor. He does that for Javi, Hanyu, and Cha as well. He was a fan of hers even before she came to him and from everything we hear about her, except during the break with Eteri, Med seems like an ideal student so he probably is genuinely enthusiastic about working with her.

R447 according to this list, he is a member but he doesn't meet the required criteria to be a USFSA-sanctioned coach

R450 Who said he was her fan ??!!!

R449. You're not the only one. We might be the only two here annoyed with both of them. Well I'm annoyed with them both. I used to like med and now She is just being ridiculous.

R450 He just wants another star student to PR for his club considering that Hanyu and Fernandez's retirement isn't too far away.

r449 Gogolev must be really really stalker obsessed with Yuzu then, because he was like, right there, up in our faces, no missing him, during the media day.

The PR for Med is his job. He was doing even more for Yuzu, including straight up bluffing. "Recovery is going well, he's ready, etc etc" when the guy was popping painkillers. He'll be out with how amazing, refreshed and different Yuzu is at ACI and how he'll be pushing the sport forward. Because that's his job.

R453: I’m feeling sorry for her. She’s a young girl being used by adults. I’m not a fan of hers, but it feels wrong. Haw repeating those comments concerning Eteri is wrong. Med is a naive 17 year old. R455: This is different. It’s a grudge against Eteri.

PR for his students = PR for his club. Although I'm tired of him ridiculously praising his students and rambling on how amazing, how wonderful they're, it's his job.

r456 Orser has a grudge against Eteri? Huh? What did she do to him?

Med is young but what part of "it looks like I have no future with the best figure skating coach in Russia, whatever shall I do? I think I'll try my luck with the Canadian coach who produced a couple of champions" sounds naive to you?

R442 It was actually Doug Haw who said that Brian told him that Med said that Eteri told Med she was done (Jonathan added the "she should have go babies" part but Doug just said, "she was done" so I don't know if he meant to confirm that babies part of it). (LOL).

R450 I agree that it's Orser's job to spin the PR for Med, but I'm not sure I agree with the way he goes about it. I don't know if Doug is part of the PR or not, but the things he said in the TSL interview (and I haven't listened to all of it), must be pissing off the Eteri fans/Russian patriots - they talked about how Med was crying because people were treating her kindly, crying because she could pick out her own program music, that things would take time because she was "healing." Good lord, Eteri sounds and looks like an abusive bitch, but is it good to turn this into a showdown between Eteri's system and the Canadian system? The narrative should just be, Med was told she was done, and the only way she could extend her career was to leave. Why turn this into a pissing match with the Russians? It puts more pressure on his student. Look how tense the environment was for her already. I can't imagine how bad it will be for her at Nats.

I don't recall Brian ever saying prior to the Olympics that he was a fan of Med or her skating, though I can see where he might have been a fan of her consistency.

And I agree with those of you who say he's overhyping her. A little of that goes a long way. Right now I'm not seeing anything special about her skating or her programs.

R459 So Med is a tattletale ?? lol

R459: It should piss Med off. I wonder if she knows her new team is running their mouths about what Eteri supposedly said and with no context.

r452 Orser did. I can't remember the full quote, but he said something like "I'm a big fan of both the Russian girls"in one of the articles. I don't generally save Orser articles but I'll see if I have it somewhere.

r454 Of course. He'd be a pretty shitty businessman if he didn't.

r458 Absolutely. Eteri and Orser are the 2 most dominant singles coaches. Of course you'd go to one if the other wasn't working out. Realistically, considering her strengths and weaknesses, what better options are there?

r459 I think Doug goes too far in his public statements. If I were the TCC staff or clientele, I'd be pissed.

Eteri is an abusive bitch. Everyone knows that but Medvedeva is the last of her students who can complain as she really was treated differently by Eteri compared to the other girls. Always with a bit more warmth. The one I want to see saved from the witch is Alina who has been abused awfully for years. Medvedeva is an entitled princess who was also unfriendly with poor Lipnitskaya when she was being mistreated by Eteri and then threw a tantrum when she lost the OGM she believed to be hers to a more talented junior. She is basically no better than Patrick Chan.

I bursted into laughter when I read Orser interview 4 months ago. He said Med didn't say anything about her old coaching team, right after that he said she didn't have the right to choose what she wants to skate, that all of moves, jumps layout , costumes, musics are decided only by her coaching team. He must have some spies lurking at Sambo to know all of that. Lol

R459 Her fans and TCC stans also said something like she looks healthy and happy, she was reborn and she's living a new life, she was saved from evils. Ridiculous.

I did a quick search. I guess the actual quote from the original article was "I’m a big fan of the Russian girls. In my opinion, they are all absolutely exceptional.” But then he goes on to talk about how Tursynbaeva has the best skating glide of them all so I guess it was just a precursor to propping up his own skater (which is his job) but another article took the comment out of context to make it seem like he was talking about Med and Zag.

The article was in March. Obviously I meant Tursynbaeva was his own skater at the time he said it. It's funny that she left him so soon after and now he has to spin the PR the other way

R455 [quote]The PR for Med is his job. He was doing even more for Yuzu, including straight up bluffing. "Recovery is going well, he's ready, etc etc" when the guy was popping painkillers. He'll be out with how amazing, refreshed and different Yuzu is at ACI and how he'll be pushing the sport forward. Because that's his job.

It's interesting you said this because with all the PR talk I was trying to think about what kind of PR Orser has done for Hanyu. The PR for Javi and Med is actually very similar - that he's providing them with a nurturing environment so that they can heal after suffering at the hands of abusive Russian coaches. With Hanyu, the PR revolves around skating, rarely his personality or anything personal. The lack of warmth in Orser's attitude towards Hanyu compared to Javi and now Med is interesting. I don't mean it to criticize Orser either. I like the idea that Hanyu presents as this cute sweet thing with a Pooh bear, especially given Western people's tendency to infantilize Asians who don't speak English well, but by all accounts, including his own, he's not warm and fuzzy, knows what he wants, and can be an icy bitch when he's focused on getting it. Imagine all the stone cold glares Brian got when he was trying to get little 17 year old Yuzuru to loosen up a little and just be happy.

According to a comment at GS, this is what Gracie Gold is using for her FS:

R470 yes, his ISU bio has been updated with the music choices

SP Music: "I Put a Spell On You” by Annie Lennox FS Music: “She Used to be Mine” by Sarah Bareilles

Vincent Zhou is doing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as FS

USFSA bios, sorry

Zhou one is already on his ISU bio

I'm not trying to cast shade on anyone - but Orser has called Hanyu headstrong, independent, disciplined, "knows what he wants", makes his own decisions., etc. == while with Orser says Javi looks to his coaches to tell him what to do, what he needs to do, to discipline him, etc. I think an early sign was him ditching David Wilson fairly early (at least for the short and free) and using Buttle/Shae Lynn Bourne.

I remember a David Wilson interview when a very young Hanyu kept arguing with him and insisting he wanted Romeo and Juliet and David thought that was stupid - as all the pairs used it, etc. - and they "compromised" on Notre Dame or some such. That probably was the end of their relationship as primary choreographer/skater. Hanyu has praised Shae Lynn a LOT - more than Buttle really - he wasn't that pleased with Parisian Walkways and said he couldn't do 'sexy' but they kept insisting - but anyway, he stayed with him and the situation improved.

Though didn't Wilson do Notte Stellata? If he did, I bet Hanyu had a LOT of input, especially seeing his EXes this summer plus his new Origin. A whole lot of similarities. Maybe Hanyu is mostly doing his own choreo now. I really think that was what let Javi down - often anyway (Chaplin, Elvis). But he always had a nervousness about his skating - even the fitting Man of La Mancha and I think I remember he went to Spain to work with someone on that one.

Who the hell did the Med short? I can't get over how much I hate it. It's probably not as bad to others but it's just so dated - worse than Javi's schlock.

R473 David Wilson did Med's short. Sandra Bezic consulted as well.

R446 - I've noticed that photo before. Hanyu's hips are bigger than every one of the men's (maybe the red headed lady matches his curvyness lol.) That silky-clingy material on Plush's pants though - oh dear.... someone needs to get him a better dance belt.

Thanks R474. Hopefully it's just me and the mostly older if not elderly judges will just love a trip down memory lane with Doris Day and Rosemany Clooney.

r469 Huh? What lack of warmth? He's shown plenty of warmth towards Yuzu throught the years. I was giving that specific example because I think that bluffing is a higher order of spinning than your regular prattling about nurturing environment. Orser has mentioned more than enough of Hanyu personality-specific needs TCC is providing: place to focus, peace, letting him take the reigns of his programs, trying to loosen him up (he's commented on differences between Javi and Yuzu, how Javi needed more discipline and how Yuzu needed loosening up). From Orser comments it seems he finds people like Javi (and maybe Med too) easier to understand than people with such supreme single-mindedness as Yuzu, and sometimes he sounded downright in awe of Yuzu.

R473 A lot of Notte Stellata looks like Hanyu pulling from his old Nanami Abe choreo, some of which was Johnny Weir-inspired (probably at Hanyu's request). Hanyu also tinkered with Haru Yo Koi (his ice show ex) quite a bit once Wilson left. Jeff Buttle said that his relationship with Hanyu has evolved to the point where they're basically collaborating like colleagues. I'd guess it would be the same with Bourne too.

Doug needs to be more discrete if he's holding himself out as some kind of TCC insider. I thought it was untoward the way he criticized Zag and her programs and I hated them. He said that Eteri et al were "sabotaging" her by making her do POTO. That's going after Eteri and her team. I'm not Russian, not a fan of Eteri or her methods, but she produced 2 medalists and has more in the pipeline. If Orser's methods are superior and result in longevity, then we will see it in Med and Gogo. No need for him to offend everyone in the process.

I believe Hanyu had Wilson choreograph Notte Stellata after Wilson whined to Dave Lease about how Japanese skaters aren't loyal to their choreographers. And I've wondered if this was Hanyu simply throwing a bone to his coach's good friend.

R476 Maybe it's just me then, but I always found Orser's relationship with Hanyu to be considerably less warm than his relationship with Javi. Again, I don't think it's a big deal because I don't think Hanyu is looking for warmth and got what he needed out of Orser. But even all the things you listed - getting Hanyu to loosen up, his supreme single-mindedness, Hanyu taking control of every aspect of his skating, being in awe of Hanyu. I certainly get respect, admiration, and exasperation from those descriptions, but not warmth.

Jason Brown FS: “Old Friends/Bookends/Hazy Shade of Winter” by Simon and Garfunkel

Choreo by Wilson

R446 R475 His actual hips aren't big. But he has shapely, very muscular thighs and a tiny waist which makes everything below it look bigger.

I'm probably the biggest Kolyada fangirl around here but what Haw said is ridiculous. Kolyada fucks up his jumps, over and over and over.... Has he ever had a program where he even landed two positive-GOE quads? And like Javi, his choreography has been dire - that Elvis thing last year - god, I wish they'd make him (and the Beatles) illegal for choreography from now on. He can be very elegant - and balletic in a formal kind of way - but he's almost always fumbling all over the place and he's definitely no Hanyu.

What Haw really means is Hanyu's skating is too gay. Fuck you, Doug, and it's about time for you to be checking into assisted living - the memory-loss wing.

r477 I never really saw much of Nanami Abe influence in Notre Stellata. It's a program really different from anything any choreographer has done, with all that gliding. Maybe for once Wilson was inspired, particularly that he had no competition constraints. I'm sure Hanyu had major input though. That new pink Ex of Hanyu's seems more "normal", with steps and elements. To be honest, lots of it looks empty to me, so I hope Hanyu will keep tinkering with it.

I've wondered before why Hanyu believes he can't do sexy because I thought "what about Parisian Walkways? It's a flirty type of program and it turned out great." So it's interesting how it wasn't to Hanyu's taste at first. Which is further wondering, because he had done some sexy type of exhibitions before he went to Orser. He seems to either lost confidence in being able to pull off that sort of program or become more self-conscious. In this situation going all-out with LGC looks even more strange, although I'll repeat that LGC is more campy than sexy.

R483 LOL Wasn't Doug Shoma's biggest fan during Olys (I think he said he was rooting for Shoma and thought he was "the most handsome Asian").

Oh no, on Jason's FS. Simon and Garfuckingfunkle? 1967 Mrs Robinson music?? That is melancholy and slow?? God, I'd rather him have Med's McGuire sisters mess. At least it's upbeat.

R483 I would also like to add anything by Frank Sinatra to your list of banned songs. (Great comment!)

Lol, r479 I seriously doubt Hanyu's ever listened to a second of David Lease's show.

Actually I seem to remember reading somewhere that on a personal level, Yuzuru and David Wilson got along really well, and I think it was David Wilson who once was seen drying Hanyu's tears after a bad comp. Like, literally reaching up and wiping the tears from his eyes. Yuzu seems to care a lot about his exhibitions, I don't think he'd just pick Wilson to throw him a bone. Maybe it was actual trust that made Hanyu go to him?

R453 Medvedeva stopped wearing the Irene gloves recently, so you can stop worrying about that now. Ge has been blamed for some of her behavior, but her agency also promoted her crush on Hanyu to an embarrassing point when marketing her in Japan, and that started before tabloids and rumors. It might have something to do with the strong reaction by Hanyu and his team. But I think her agency’s realized their strategy backfired and Med has bigger concerns right now.

R286 Sorry I missed this part of your comment. [quote]JPN dirt czar, is limp wristedness considered a sign of gayness in Japan?

Not exactly the same as limp wristedness, but feminine hand gestures, like holding your fingers straight when gesturing to look more elegant? The kind of hand movements cabin attendants make during the safety demonstration before takeoff? It’s a conscious movement unlike limp wristedness, but Hanyu sometimes does that. He also does the cutesy high-school girl wave. That’s why some people think he’s fake.

R411 She’s been extremely busy with her TV career. I think I saw more of her than Oda this summer, and most of her appearances weren’t figure skating-related.

Is Doug gay? He seemed obsessed with Torgashev’s “good looks” (and masculine body and masculine skating). He said the same thing about one of the other North American skaters before, can’t remember who. He also called Uno the “best-looking Asian” during the Olympics episode. I also assumed he was talking about judging bias when he first made that Tuktamysheva weight comment, but then he went on about the best looking bodies when he was asked to clarify. It was surprisingly Lease and Johnathan who tried to direct the conversation to bias and perception, and make it less body-shaming.

It was also interesting that he said Medvedeva cried her first days at TCC because she was so happy, when hours earlier in a Russian interview, she said she cried due to the stress and unfamiliarity of her new training. R442 I also think if Med starts getting called on her lutz, it’s because of Doug Haw.

Jason’s haircut was Orser’s idea. I’m kind of disappointed Jason didn’t consider it first himself. He was also described as “delicate” by Orser or someone at TCC, which TSL thought was referring to his injuries.

Kurt Browning choreographed the EX for Hanyu of "Hello I Love You" where he has him strip off his shirt - and then his undershirt - skating around in shorts and bare chested. At 17!!! And Kurt is the one who says over and over that Hanyu is just like a "rock star". That's painful to watch. It takes away what makes Hanyu so charismatic -- and even if it might kinda-sorta work now, certainly NOT when he was 17. I cringe through that one.

He doesn't know what to do with his face, so he just sort of sticks his lips out in an enormous pout, like Mick Jagger (probably at Kurt's suggestion.) No wonder they never worked together again, though Kurt brags on how amazing Hanyu is to work with - that it's like playing a video game because he can do ANY-thing you ask him to. (you just need a little perception and taste, Kurt, egads....)

Was there an earlier "sexy" EX that I'm not aware of? I think Hanyu can actually do sexy - just more the languid, maybe "Nijinsky" type -- not Robert Plant.

R484 LGC wasn't Yuzu's choice and he wasn't convinced at first and to be honest I think even during the cleanest versions of it he never really pulled it off and it mostly was cringey. I think Parisian walkways worked only because it was fresh and his youth sold it. I agree with his and Plush's assessments that he can't do masculine sexy and it doesn't suit me and glad to see him go with programs like Origin and Otonal. No one does lyrical and/or ethereal better than him in singles.

R491 I saw a clip recently where Hanyu said that when Jeff first presented LGC to him and performed it, Jeff did it in a very cool way (probably like PW), but when Hanyu did it, it came out kind of fierce.

I think Hanyu did pull LGC 100% that one time when tech aligned at 2016 GPF. As it was said, in a campy, not sexy way, but I believe that was exactly what he was going for. It wasn't at all cringey, it was pure unadultered fun, my favorite SP of his. So far,

R489 Unless I'm going blind, I saw Medvedeva with those very gloves at the recent test skate event. Also, Hanyu's limp wrist is something he does all the time and very much unconsciously and no, in Japan straight men don't have limp wrists. Most of gay typical behavioural patterns are the same across cultures despite what fraus in love with Asian twinks try to convince themselves of.

R488 Not Hanyu, dear. Hanyu's people. His non-Canadian team. Figure Skating is a tiny world and I could see doing something positive for Wilson as a gesture of goodwill, of solidarity. And because Javi's was getting his choreography done by Brian's buddy.

Shortly after that interview with Dave Lease in which Wilson also whined about not being appreciated enough, he started appearing in the K&C with Brian (though that didn't last too long). Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.

There's also Vertigo. He skated it in 2015 and it was okay but definitely cringy when he did it in 2011

previous reply was to r490

r493 I also liked it at 4 Continents. He made the mistake but the performance was great. I thought the moment he took to make a face and tap his head after the mistake just added to the fun of the program

r496 Funny, I actually think he pulled it off better when he was 15. The later version of Vertigo had better skating but it also had a really cringe worthy moment when he was touching his belly doing hip thrusts and his face was all "I hope nobody sees me doing it, god this is mortifyin" and I could almost hear Madonna chanting "Like a virgiiiin!" When he was 15 he actually seemed less self-conscious and just going for it.

r498 I guess I can't get past a 15 yr old caressing himself and doing hip thrusts while attempting to eye fuck the audience in that horrid costume.

Alina got shit for wearing that jump suit and that program wasn't sexually suggestive at all.

But neither is as creepy as 5 year old Sasha Plushenko hip thrusting and crotch grabbing.

r497 Brb rewatching 4CC.

R494 She was wearing solid black gloves and give some Japanese examples (not of Hanyu) of the limp wrists please. Just having limp wrists is not perceived as gay, just weird or creepy (maybe even otaku-ish). Specific feminine gestures that he does are seen as gay (and fake), which was what I was describing.

r499 Lol, the costume WAS horrid. I saw a vid from Nebelhorn where he was wearing non-trashbag pants and a black tank top that showed off his arms which made him look more acceptable, like a teen having fun.

I've never seen Vertigo before! I'm so new to skating - just since Pyeyongchang really - I got fed up after the Weir/Lysacek era. Can I say again how much I hate Evan?

Anyway, if it weren't for that little silly bit with the hip grinding - I wouldn't even call that sexy. Just wild and sooooo fast. His spins in the younger version are unbelievable! I'm glad he quit spinning that fast - he could give himself a concussion just spinning like that. I think it suits him because of the wildness, but like with LGC, I don't think anybody could stay completely in control of that kind of speed and abandon. And I love LGC - the slicked back hair is cool. A shame it was too frenetic to be able to control very well. Does anybody race around like that and land all their elements? I'd be shocked. Like Daytona 500.

LGC was more like "My body is ready, go fuck me now" to me.

R501 If I were his anti, what would lead me think he's fake is that how he constantly giggles when talking( sometimes for no reason). It's not often in interviews but when he talks to audience or children,he giggles all the time.

R504 They also find that fake.

[R496] I found myself love 2010 version a lot more. There’s a scene when he looked at the camera. Very impressive

I thought I read recently somewhere that Nanami Abe's husband suggested the hip grinding. Did anyone else see this or am I just making shit up?

His antis can go shove it. Maybe the giggles are a nervous reaction. Maybe he gets nervous talking to his fans and kids that look up to him.

R504 I really wanna fix those giggles. No I don’t

R508 The giggles on CwW are just out of happiness I assume

Thanks for all the skating videos of Hanyu. The first time watching these.

R510. Probably. He was also giggling a lot with weir and plushenko. I know they make him happy. lol.

R507 yeah it’s true

I don't even notice Hanyu's giggles. I'm just always so pleased to see him happy, with all the sturm und drang of his career. It's hard to imagine his life ever settling down to any kind of normality but I hope he manages it...

Now Shoma! His giggling is hilarious!!

Look at Johny’s gloves,so beautiful. Hanyu’s gloves in RJ2.0 is almost the same with them. And even their hands are so alike. He really stans Johnny

Speaking of giggles,his わああああああ at 6:50 in this video makes me wanna rub his chubby cheeks. Pity it’s just a iPad in front of me

Apparently this is Jason's SP: Two Feet: Love Is a Bitch

VERRRY slow and atmospheric - reminds me of the background music to a somber British detective series or something. What it doesn't remind me of is Jason. Oh well, what do I know. Maybe he can do sultry - I guess that's what you need.

You know it's funny - upthread I was trying to think of the kind of sexy song I thought Hanyu could pull off, and something on this order might be it -- keeping a serious face and doing lots of his balletic stretches, Inna Bayer's, hydroplanes with head down as if grieving a love affair... I don't know if that makes sense, but I do think Hanyu could do sexy if it was scripted right - but never the macho, in your face, Hello I Love You type. Something yearny, sad, quiet....

Now can Jason Brown do that ? And then follow it up with a song about elderly people sitting on a park bench wishing their old friends were still alive and regretting how they've been cast aside?? I hope I'm being more literal about his song choices than the choreographers intend, but... well, the choices are so weird to me, and un-Jasonlike. He should do a prissy Carmen lol.

Well, Hazy Shade of Winter (second part of free skate for Jason) isn't too bad - more upbeat to relieve the dirge that starts the thing. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic.

r517 that music + David Wilson = snooooooooooooooze

Rohene Ward is doing the SP. Is he good R519?

Wilson has the old-timey Simon & Garfunkel stuff.

R515. Bwahaha. Hilarious! Hanyu has good taste stanning Johnny.

r520 Better than Wilson, he did Jason's The Room Where It Happens, which was pretty brilliant but also The Piano which, well, given that snooze music, could have been worse I guess. The song is actually good, so it's got potential.

Glad to hear it, R522. Maybe there's hope for Jason. His jumps are probably more the issue than the rest, anyway.

R514. I too am happy to see Hanyu happy. Laughing and giggling. He went through so much. And he still does. Any time he can get a chance to be himself and enjoy things makes me happy for him.

Watched the rest of TSL and jesus fucking christ, I cannot believe these people have managed to make me feel sore on Eteri's/the Russians' behalf.

Trusova - Lots of concern trolling about whether she will hold up. Jonathan went off on a weird tangent, comparing her to abused N. Korean children, said there was something inherently sad about her skating that left his soul wanting. I kid you not. Dave trashed her musicality, more trashing of Daniil from everyone. And then of course elsewhere in the program Doug talked about how awesome Gogo was. No sense of self-awareness.

Doug couldn't help himself and had to put in a plug for Gabby's FS program and how amazing it is. Yup, the Samson & Delilah one. Even Dave looked incredulous.

They all liked Kostornaia, but the praise was couched in terms of, there was this Russian girl, who came from Eteri who skated with so much emotion, acting all fucking surprised to see a Russian who skates with passion. Have they decided to erase figure skating history and pretend that Russians only produce dopers and robots? There was an interesting comment in the comment section to the effect that after Olys Doug said Med was doping? Is this true? LOL. Apparently Doug also used to call Eteri's students the Zagmeds. Wow, only a few months in Canada and Med's managed to stop doping and crying and eat things other than stale bread and water. It's a miracle!!

Doug loves Avonley Nguyen/Vadym Kolesnik. Thinks they're the Torville/Dean of their era.

R525 Yup, Doug accused the Russians of doping in the TSL recap after Olys. It wasn't off hand either. He specifically questioned why all the Russians go to this shady doctor in Germany who's connected to Usain Bolt, and pointed out that Med went to that doctor for her foot. Doug basically said, Russia's producing all of these freaky little robots, the reason must be pharmaceutical. He said, if all these other Russians are drugged, it wouldn't be a stretch to think the skaters are too. Whoa Doug. I guess he's trying to make it up to Med now.

Thank you for watching so I don't have to. I hated watching him the last time he was on and was dreading it but wanted the info - now I don't have to. The cruelty about Trusova coupled with constant effusive praise for Gogo and spreading his videos far and wide have made me sick. Like with Nathan before the Olys, the hype makes me want to hate him (and want Trusova to prove them all wrong.)

And it was a low blow about Kolyada winning if he skated clean (to Hanyu I guess, pointedly - maybe to Javi too). Fuck him. He's past it. At least Tarasova is a Hanyu fan and I think she knows a little bit about skating - maybe more than old has-been Haw?

r527 I thought they were just talking about Euros, re Kolyada.

Oh please. Tarasova is a bitch. She's always bad-mouthing whomever she doesn't like. She constantly criticized Zagitova saying her skating wasn't good, her programs weren't good, she lacked of determination and fierce of an OGM bla bla bla. She was pissed at Zagitova for beating Med-her forever bias to win Olympics. If the girl mess up next time, she could very well tell her to retire.

She criticized Kolyada for no reason many times and didn't shut up after he had brought home some international medals. She body-shamed Elena Radionova who used to be one of her favorites. She didn't like Hanyu in the past, she once said she didn't feel anything from his skating and now she acts as if she were his biggest fan who supported him through thick and thin. I wish someone would remove that venomous tongue from her.

R529 how could she criticize Radionova’s body,doesn’t she look at herself in the mirror......

R526: The doping comments were aimed at the Russian coaches sending them to the doctors.

r538 Doug thought a clean Kolyada should be would champ. I think R442 had the time stamp for those comments

Can someone kindly put the link again for the skating livestream? I think it was posted in the other thread but can't find it. The isu site says aci will only be livestreamed in Canada? Hopefully that's wrong.

Ben Agosto...still single?

R534 I thought Ben had a longtime gf/fiance.

Thanks for the clarification on Tarasova R529 - I'm new - although I should have remembered her calling Aliev fat and saying Kolyada skated like a girl. Anyway, still not fond of Haw - he was a chore to listen to last time so I think I'll skip him this go round. Great to have the details though! Thanks for sitting through it and reporting back R525.

They should have been married by now, r535.

r536 They're all a chore to listen to, lol. I think we get through people like Haw because he might have some insider knowledge.

R538 That's the only reason I listened to this one. I actually found Dave bearable. They should have locked Jonathan in the Grenoble bathroom and never let him out.

About Haw thinking a clean Kolyada should be a World champion: Haw was also the one who was sure Hanyu would quit after Olympics, so maybe he forgets Hanyu's still going. Perhaps it's the kind of thinking, if all guys skated clean with similar tech, who should win? Then I can see someone's preference for Kolyada over Chen/Zhou/Uno/Jin/Aliev. I have no idea how Haw could put him above Hanyu, unless he does forget about Hanyu or thinks Hanyu's skating is gay but then Kolyada's hardly a macho either. Whatever. We'll start talking when Kolyada skates 3-4 quads clean, otherwise it's moot.

r539 What's the world coming to when David Lease is the most palatable.

Lombardia will be streamed here

Amen about that bathroom R539! I've always like listening to Dave, though aware of his love of being catty and sometimes I think he just invents stuff for the controversy - but the Jonathan one - oy - he's a nice guy and all but such a pain to listen to. Long pointless self-indulgent tangents, always so loud compared to Dave, ugh.

I wonder what really happened with Jenny and Dave, not that I was all that big a fan of hers -- she was earnest and dull. Better than Jonathan though and mostly knew what she was talking about, though w/dance bias. She was gonna be a lawyer, even admitted to law school I think, but seems to have dropped out to be a fitness or nutrition guru online ?? like we don't have enough of those crackpots and she had bona fides in skating not that other b.s.

I know we're not much into Pairs here, but there's a rummor that Xiaoyu Yu and Hang Zhao have split. Which, if true, would be the most headdesking of all splits. First the Chinese had her split from her promising first partnership in order to have her skate with Zhao and now she's left partner-less.

Boyang Jin will be at the Chinese Grand Prix event (don't ask me what that is) this weekend, and he's landed a 4Lo in practice. More quads from the one who opened the quad floodgates, which propably means there will be no steps.

It's possible that in Helsinki and Moscow we'll have a quad-packed empty program from Jin, quad-and-steps packed program from Hanyu and... something from Kolyada. I wonder who will fall more, Jin with all the quads, Hanyu with all the steps or Kolyada with all the Kolyadaness.

R543 What the hell is going on with the Chinese Fed?

Is she partner-less because Zhang is retiring or because the Chinese Federation is still convinced that Grandpa Zhang is God on Earth and everything must be done to increase his prospects and all girls are not good enough for him?

I only read about it at GS, they're not clear on details either.

And of course the name is Hao Zhang, not whatever my brain changed it to.

It's possible that he's retiring and that's why Yu seems to be looking for a partner.

It seems that Yu Xiao Yu has been transferred to Ladies and now she’s training in a camp held by Pang Qing and Tong Jian. Li zi jun has also taken part in. And the training session will last for two months from 9.10 to 10.24

R541. Thank you so much for the link. I just saved it

Anyone familiar with this link? Someone on facebook said aci can be streamed here? I have no idea. I am new to all of this.

This was the primer posted in the last thread on how to watch competitions.

Bittersweet interview with Kolyada - he took his unfortunate team event skate at the Olympics very badly ("The whole day after that I didn’t want to eat, sleep or see anyone. I went to my room in the Olympic village, lay down on the bed and didn’t think about anything at all. Only that everything is bad... I will not wish anyone to experience the same.")

He loved working with Nathan Chen: “Even if something does not work out for him, he, roughly speaking, steps over all of this and goes on. In my case, it has always been different. If something does not work out, I start to get upset, I dig myself into this psychological (emotional) hole.” "He is a very good person. Very sociable, kind." "we performed quite often at the same competitions. I noticed some things from the side, and then, each person has his own biofield. From Chen always comes positive energy, it’s comfortable to be near him."

And he thinks it is funny that he, Kovtum and Zags are all doing Carmen: "Maxim Kovtun and I have already laughed about it in Novogorsk. Alina Zagitova also has “Carmen”. We can have a special club."

Very touching - hope he gets his jumps working - he said Raf helped: "We worked very carefully on steps. Outwardly these changes were very small, but they made it possible to achieve different flight trajectory, different acceleration, different landing. We worked very detailed on quad lutz..."

Well, I'm glad Tuktamysheva appears to have brushed off those weight comments from TSL.

Here is the twitter account for the blog mentioned in R550. They usually have streaming info for upcoming competitions.

R553. Thank you! I followed them just now.

r552 Skaters should never watch TSL, that way lies madness.

R555 What a funny thread this is. References to Camus, Ginsberg, and now King Lear.

And so to balance out all the highbrow English majors, I present more ass.

Jesus Christ R557. I wasn't expecting that much beautiful ass! lol

Wouldn't this be a fun thread to start at Golden Skate? Yuzuru Hanyu and his Fabulous Ass: A Retrospective.

R557 Whoa, that picture is ALL up in there. Was that photographer just lying on the ice like "taint or GTFO"?

I know he's 17, but can Vincent get any more obnoxious? He says in this article that if not for some back pain, he would have gotten silver at Worlds.

Apparently, ACI "will be live streamed but due to ISU restrictions will only be available in Canada." Damnit!

r561

"During the day I ask, 'why do I skate,' during the night I ask, 'why do I exist."

R563 Even with the quotation marks, I thought surely you jest. But no, you were really just quoting.

R562 I'm hoping that setting my VPN to Canada will allow me to stream the Autumn Classic.

I hope Nathan Chen kicks Vincent's existential ass this season.

r562 Hopefully PH will figure something out by then. Back up plan - watch You Tube like a hawk. Normally you have a few hour window to watch the videos before it gets taken down.

r566 I have faith in Nathan that he can get that done. Hopefully Jason Brown can get a quads so he can as well. Although, really liking that Vincent is adding some flavor to the American skating scene.

Vince is one old-looking teenager, and not in a One Tree Hill kind of way.

r561 There's no article. Do you know where I can read it?

r557 Wow, what an angle. That is one bold photographer. That person must have been crouching down in one of the cutouts of the boards.

Finally getting around to watching these test skates. Kolyada needs a new choreographer stat. I'm sick of hating the programs of a skater I like. I hope it's just early season rust but the movement had little to no relation to the music. Just an occasional step or arm movement sort of around the note of the music. Nothing distinctive about it.

I can see Aliev's program being unpopular since it's quiet and without big highlights, but I like the introspective feel and his supple movements suit the music beautifully.

R569 Sorry about that. I thought I attached the article, but it was just a gif of Vincent looking obnoxious. Here is the article.

I saw this on twitter, have not personally used it myself. For those who are looking for free VPN

Since I never know when I'm going to wake up to 50 replies, I went ahead and made the next thread before bed

LOL Hanyu is an efficient, equal opportunity flirt.

r569 They should be fairly popular amongst the purists, they're not empty. Not exactly my cup of tea but kudos where it's due. If judges suddenly rise Aliev's PCS, at least I'll know why.

Lol, Vincent. Did he miss the memo that Uno fucked up his foot and still got silver? Aching back is no excuse, man up, Vincent! It's the new era of which cripple will hold it together the best!

Joking aside though, sounds like it's Vincent's turn to pay the price for those quads. Nathan, Hanyu, Kolyada have been paying it for quite some time, Jin hasn't remained unscathed, Uno's had a few mishaps too. Maybe the quadsters' main legacy will be figuring out how to train wisely and optimizing the quad content to health risk ratio.

[quote]It's the new era of which cripple will hold it together the best!

I can't stop laughing at this. Thanks.

R574 Uno is a bad example. With fair scoring, neither Kolyada nor Uno deserved podium.

Wakaba Higuchi changed her free program from “Hymne a l'amour” to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons (Winter & Summer).” She said she’d like to skate to “Hymne” when she’s older and more mature, and made the change at the beginning of August. Shae-Lynn Bourne quickly choreographed the new program. I think Autumn Classic will be the first time the public gets to see it.

Tomono is skating first at Lombardia.

R567 Yes, Vincent does give us something to chuckle at. I actually rather liked him until his appearance with Trump. Idiot child.

Wasn't crazy about Humne l'amour so glad Wakaba changed it, although she or her team could have thought of something more. inspiring than Four Seasons. Still, Shae Lyn Bourne, it won't be bad.

I can't see stream right now...I am just seeing scores from Lombardia...Sakamoto bombed hard. What did she do to get such low TES?

How many programs did Jeff choreographed this season ? I can't believe skaters go to DW when we have Jeff.

R580 She usually bombs hard at beginning of season and picks around mid-season ( Nationals and 4CCs). Last season, she didn't medal at her first comp. Her practice yesterday was very good, just bad luck today.

Also I spat on DW's face who choreographed her trash SP.

The Italian judge was drunk..she gave +3 to Sakamoto's combo aborted by the fall

Vpn proxy master is an app in the Google app store. You can set your location to Canada. Might help to stream ACI. I never used it.

Or is the fall on the first jump?

Anyway Italian judge gave her +3 in a jump pass with all others scoring her -5

I cannot get excited about skating this year...the new guard is so unimpressive. The rules, the charisma free athletes...1986-2006, we had a good two decades of drama, beautiful skating and interesting skaters.

I mostly agree with you, R585, but I think some of the younger men are interesting & have potential. Not the ones that get hyped to death on here, though...yuck.

stream is blocked

R587 stream is back. Try it now if you haven't already.

ye s, i did, thanks

Tomono 75.47

Got the quad. Fall on 3lz and therefore no combo

Matteo Rizzo 85

Higher PCS than Tomono

Aliev 86.57

Detailed results can be found here. Uno up next.

Uno's costumes and choreography are the same no matter what music he's skating to. I guess he's consistent in that respect. 46.5 PCS for that program? Seems a little high to me.

Someone here said Tomono reminded her of Hanyu. Lol I simply can't see any similarities between two of them. The way Tomono skates and jumps always bothers me a lot, neither that his jump technique is as bad as Uno nor his SS is weak but that he can't straighten his knees when skating and jumps, which made body extention ridiculous and his skating and jumps uncomfortable to watch. He looked much like a mantis to me.

Lol thread creator. Just saw your intro for the next thread.

I think Mitsuki Sumoto has some movements especially arm movements similar to Yuzuru but his landings posture is like Honda Marin

Good news. Looks like ACI won't be Geo blocked

R598. Thanks. If someone can post a link to Hanyu's. Performance next Friday I would appreciate it. I have to work unfortunately.

Can someone explain what this latest Misha's post is all about? The link in the previous thread doesn't show anything. What did he say about "someone else" or some other skater or whatever it was that he said?

I kinda expected to see the handsome Uno brother for some reason but I guess he is busy with better things lol.