Men
The big story of the weekend was Olympic Champion Yuzuru Hanyu breaking (no - shattering) the world record score in both of his programs. After a disappointing loss to Patrick Chan a few weeks ago at Skate Canada, Yuzu rebounded and beat his chief rival's winning Skate Canada total by a staggering 51 points. Now, this event was in Japan, and some home ice inflation is to be expected. But Yuzu was legitimately incredible here. He upped the ante by adding a second quad in his short program, which I believe to be a wise choice. Yuzu often nailed his quad toe and triple axel in the short only to screw up the lutz+toe combination at the end. By increasing the technical difficulty, Yuzu is forced to maintain complete focus to the end of the program. The Chopin short program is a breathtaking masterpiece when it's clean. The technical elements are seamlessly woven into the rest of the program, and it's a compelling vehicle for Yuzu's superior edge quality and interpretive ability. The "Seimei" long program is powerful and exciting. It's full of difficult content, but it's captivating in a way that few long programs manage to be in the post-6.0 era. I honestly think this is the first time I've ever watched Yuzu skate and thought, "WOW! That's the Olympic Champion." He is a once-in-a-lifetime talent, but he rarely puts it all together (though he has the ability to score well even when he struggles). Can he keep this performance level up through Worlds? It may not be possible, but I'm glad he gave us two performances for the ages.
Jin Boyang continues to impress with his prodigious jumping ability, but it's time to improve everything else. The deficiencies in skating skills and performance quality are glaring when one watches him back-to-back with Yuzuru Hanyu. The program stops when he is setting up for jumps. I'm not really asking for someone to give me intricate transitions into a quad lutz, but there has to be something going on besides the technical elements. Not much power or ice coverage in the step sequences. Not a lot of real choreography happening in either program. He has the jumping ability to compete with the likes of Hanyu and Chan, but he needs more polish to get the program components he needs to beat them. The Chinese can be very protective of their single's skaters, but this boy needs to get some new eyes on him to get the complete package. With a little refinement, he could be the next Olympic Champion.
Takahito Mura showed much improvement here after his dismal 10th place finish at Skate America, but zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Sorry, what? Truthfully, Taka has never been one of my favorites. Good skating skills, but it's like watching paint dry. The packaging is always basic and predictable. It's 2015, and we're all over Cirque du Soleil programs. He doesn't really perform. How long has he been around? When you're 24 and toiling in the second tier, it's time to leave your father and find a real coach. The good Japanese skaters swallow the bitter pill and find themselves a Russian (or Canadian!) coach to learn how to be artistic. In a crowded Japanese men's field, I don't think we'll be seeing much more of Taka this season.
NHK wrapped up a surprisingly good Grand Prix season for Grant Hochstein. Grant has long toiled in the 11-20 group at U.S. Nationals, but he has a fire under his butt and is ready to move to the A-group. Grant even landed a clean quad toe in his free skate here - the first time I can ever remember him accomplishing that. At his best, Grant is an engaging, artistic skater with an innate sense of musicality. That Grant showed up in the long program, and the judges rewarded him for it. Unfortunately, a rocky short program prevented him from winning a medal here, but 4th place was a triumph for a relatively unknown skater in a tough event. The only thing standing in Grant's way to a top 5 (or even top 3!) finish at Nationals is self-confidence. He's a wild card for the World team in a U.S. men's field that keeps getting more and more interesting.
Konstantin Menshov continues to be the most entertaining of the Russian men, but there are times when one must question why he continues. When you're 32, you've never won a medal at a Grand Prix event, and you still can't give us good spins or decent skating skills, it may be time to pack it up. Like clockwork, Konstantin always nails the opening quad toe + triple toe of his long program before everything else goes to crap. I still appreciate the drama he brings to this long program, and I approve of the Donnie Darko angst. Well done.
Sometimes, you can tell when a skater has mentally checked out. There's no other way to describe what's happening to Ricky Dornbush. Ricky has the talent to be a major contender, but he's getting increasingly terrible competitive results. He phoned in both his performances at NHK from outside the rink, and he looked upsettingly unfazed by how poorly he skated. It's frustrating to watch such a gifted skater struggle so much. It makes one wonder how much longer he has before he just quits for good.
The award for most confounding long program of the event goes to Maxim Kovtun. When you're tripping on purpose in a program, I can only assume that you're masking your weak skating skills with gimmicks, which.......was most certainly happening here. There is also a moment where he falls asleep in the middle of the ice. What? It's pure cheese, but Maxim doesn't have the charisma to sell comedy. Maxim has strange jump technique, and he's very prone to popping. He wildly flings himself into those quads and prays he'll land them. He singled out of two jumps here, and he wound up performing too many double axels by mistake, causing one to be invalidated. It was a bit of a disaster performance, but I wasn't terribly surprised. The Russian men always come in threatening to do three quads in a long program, but we know it's just not going to happen for them.
With this weekend's results, our Grand Prix Final qualifiers are:
1. Javier Fernandez
2. Yuzuru Hanyu
3. Shoma Uno
4. Jin Boyang
5. Patrick Chan
6. Daisuke Murakami
Alternates: Yan Han, Max Aaron, Adian Pitkeev
Ladies
In a fairly deep field, the surprise gold medal winner was Satoko Miyahara. Satoko is like a tiny lovable robot with that perfect posture and amazing spin positions. The Lizst long program is lovely, but she needs to project. Because she's so small and doesn't cover a ton of ice, she needs something extra to make more of an impression. I enjoy her skating, but she's an easy skater for judges to bury when other top skaters are doing well (like at Skate America earlier this season). It doesn't help that her jumps barely leave the ice. I had to rewind this program a few times to see if she was doing doubles or triples. As a judge, I would not feel compelled to award her high grades of execution on any jumps. Satoko's greatest weapon is her consistency, and I always have faith that she'll skate well. Her success will always depend on whether or not others make mistakes.
I was thrilled to see Courtney Hicks grab the silver medal here, even if there is still room for improvement. I love that short program, and it was great to see her go out and attack it (minus a turn-out on the flip+toe combo, which was 100% unnecessary). The long program.....why is Elizabeth: The Golden Age so popular this year? Does anyone even remember that camp fest (except for me because I enjoy reenacting Cate Blanchett's "I TOO CAN COMMAND THE WIND, SIR!" scene)?? The music is kind of one-note and doesn't really go anywhere. Courtney is not an artistic skater, and this nothing music does her no favors. Also doing her no favors: the yellow dress. Girl, when your hair is bright red, all I can see is ketchup and mustard. Everyone in the skating world agrees: CHANGE IT. Courtney's jump technique is still a bit wild, though she did a better job of keeping it under control here. The presentation has improved, but there is more work to be done. Courtney is such a naturally powerful and athletic skater, and stronger skating skills could help her be even more impressive. She is in the mix for a spot on the World team, and I hope she does well at Nationals.
This was a disappointing event for Mao Asada, who was the headliner of the whole event. I think skating fans (myself included) got a bit ahead of themselves when they expected Mao-chan to come out of the gate and dominate in a ladies' field that had us all feeling a bit depressed last season. Mao's skating quality is in a different universe from the other top ladies, but she historically struggles at early season events. I wonder if Mao is pushing herself too hard in this comeback. She has always presented very ambitious technical content, and she's taken it to yet another level this year. She got credit for the triple flip + triple loop combo in the short program (literally the hardest combo any lady has ever attempted), but she missed the triple axel and singled the lutz. The long program started with another failed triple axel attempt and never really got better. Even her program components were lower than I thought they'd be at an event in Japan, but that's what happens when you aren't consistently delivering. Mao-chan still made the Grand Prix Final, but this weekend proved that reclaiming her World Title will not be smooth sailing. I'm still rooting for her and know that she has the goods to destroy her competition. The Madama Butterfly long program is beautiful, and I can't wait to see her skate it to its full potential.
The fourth place finish here was a bit of a disaster for Ashley Wagner. With Mao Asada's mistakes, the door was wide open for Ashley to win her 2nd Grand Prix event in a row and enter the Final in 1st place. Ashley can often be her own worst enemy when the stakes are high. It happened last year at Worlds when she was a medal favorite and bombed the short program. Nobody expected her to win Skate Canada, so she skated like she had nothing to lose. The triple flip + triple toe combo is always the first element to go when Ashley is doubting herself, and she missed it in both programs here. She is also very prone to two-footing jumps when she's nervous, which happened too many times to count in the long program. She also starts to rush and loses levels on her step sequences and spins. We all know Ashley's going to underrotate a couple of triples even on a good day, and it all added up to the lowest international scores she's gotten in a long time. To her credit, Ashley never stopped performing. She is an actress on the ice, and she always puts on a show even when she's not skating well. She still barely qualified to the Final, where she has a chance to redeem herself. I'm lighting a candle and praying.
There has been much discussion in the skating fan community about Mirai Nagasu's scoring here. Should she have been ahead of Mao and Ashley? My verdict is no. I love Mirai, but I think some fans watch her skating through rose colored glasses and remember what she was like 2010. Her flip + toe combination in the short program could have gone either way for me, but the technical panel called it underrotated and I think I agree. Mirai is a chronic underrotator, and she does not ever get the benefit of the doubt. From a program components standpoint, I thought she looked very slow and low energy. The performance quality comes and goes. The spins are still beautiful, but that's it. As expected, she had underrotations galore in the long program, and I think all the calls were fair. Tom Zkrajsek is a great jump coach, but he can't undo years of bad habits. I know everyone is rooting for Mirai to make the World team, but I don't see it. I think she's the sixth best lady in the U.S. on a good day. I just think the ship sailed several years ago.
I don't have much else to say about the ladies other than draw attention to Anna Pogorilaya, who had one of those disaster short programs for the ages. This is a girl who can take some big, hard falls. By the third fall (on a step sequence, no less!), I thought she was going to walk right off the ice. I'm not a fan, but I still felt bad. Someone needs a vacation.
And with these results, the ladies' qualifiers to the Grand Prix Final are:
1. Gracie Gold
2. Evgenia Medvedeva
3. Satoko Miyahara
4. Mao Asada
5. Elena Radionova
6. Ashley Wagner
Alternates: Rika Hongo, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Courtney Hicks
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