2015 Grand Prix Final Recap - Men and Ladies!

Men

After an incredible pair of performances at NHK Trophy, Yuzuru Hanyu broke the world record in both programs again at the Grand Prix Final. I am just in complete awe and have to bow down to this god among men. How long can he keep this streak going? I don't care. I just feel privileged to be watching this level of absolutely incredible skating. How much higher can he go? Yuzu was less than 2 points away from the maximum program components score in the long program. He does have a quad loop in his back pocket, presumably ready to throw into competition at some point in time. But the International Skating Union faces the very real possibility of a skater maxing out under the current system, and discussions about adjusting the scoring criteria are currently underway. Technical accomplishments aside, Yuzu has incredible performance quality. The "Seimei" long program is powerful and exciting, and he gives it 110%. The choreographic step sequence at the end is just so thrilling to watch that it makes you forget it's part of a competitive program. Yuzu has deservedly entered the "greatest of all time" conversation after two incredible showings. I'm not prepared to bestow that title upon him just yet, but he certainly is a once-in-a-generation talent.

In the shadow of Hanyu's mind boggling achievement, it's easy to overlook just how remarkably well-skated this men's event was, especially the long programs. Reigning World Champion Javier Fernandez was a remarkably good sport about his training mate blowing him out of the water in front of a home crowd on a day when Javi skated the best long program of his career. It proves my earlier point that Javi, while very gifted, is still a cut below his rival and probably can't ever hope to defeat a clean Hanyu. I do find Javi to be a more engaging performer. Both of his programs this year are well suited to his strengths, and he sells them. He did get some home ice Christmas gifts. I love Javi, but he's not somebody who should be scoring 10's in program components. Still, it's clear that amazing things are happening in the Brian Orser camp. I would probably send my overachieving adopted child to him if I wanted to raise an Olympic Champion.

Shoma Uno continues to impress and overachieve in his first season on the senior Grand Prix. The quality of his skating is still out of this world for someone so young. Despite a fall on a quad toe in the short program, I even see improvement in Shoma's terrifying jump technique (though I still hold my breath on every jump takeoff). There are so many magical moments in that Turandot long program, particularly the cantilever on the crescendo of "Nessun Dorma." It's rare to see that kind of attention to detail from a first-year senior. I'm a bit perplexed over his program components compared to the other top men. He may not be as naturally charismatic as Javier Fernandez, but he has superior skating skills and detailed, intricate, and difficult program composition. I suppose the scores will rise as he gets older. Either way, I'm obsessed and am rooting for him.

The Grand Prix Final was a bit of a wake up call for Patrick Chan. He is now 0/3 on short programs this season. This was his worst bomb yet. The 3X World Champion found himself a whopping 40 points behind Yuzuru Hanyu, which is frankly embarrassing for someone with his resume. Like at Skate Canada, he came back with a brilliant long program performance, but the writing is on the wall. The technical content is not enough to battle with what his top rivals are presenting. Gone are the days when Patrick could get the quad toe and triple axel out of the way at the beginning of the free skate and call it a day. He needs to repeat one or both jumps in the second half of the program to have a chance. For the first time in his career, Patrick isn't even able to beat Yuzuru Hanyu on program components. Patrick didn't come back to not win Worlds and the Olympics. I'm sure he didn't fathom that he would finish off the podium here. Taking into account Denis Ten's superb performances a couple of weeks ago at a cupcake contest in Croatia (seriously, when will he get it together for a Grand Prix season???), Patrick's path to the Worlds podium is looking dicey.

Jumping wonder Jin Boyang came terrifyingly close to a medal at this event, and he didn't even have clean programs. The base value of his technical content is so high that he can get away with not executing it very well. His program components were crazy high here for what he presented. Judges need to feel comfortable awarding 5's and 6's to skaters who are in the Grand Prix Final and can do a quad lutz. If the skating skills and performance quality aren't there, then the scores should reflect it. The top men should be (and probably are) sweating about this kid heading into the World Championships. I respect the technical ability, but come on. We all have to learn how to actually skate sometime.

Poor Daisuke Murakami was woefully outclassed here. Frank Carroll was looking very over it. Dice has the quads, but there's nothing remarkable to his skating. His long program is like watching paint dry. The music sounds like it was selected from a royalty free catalog. I was perturbed by how ecstatic he was in a short program where he popped the back half of his combination. Gurl, if you aren't going to give me the performance, at least rotate everything. With only two spots to spare at Worlds for the Japanese men, I don't really see Dice faring well against Hanyu, Uno, or a number of other Japanese men.

Ladies

The tyranny of the Russian teenagers continues, though I do like Evgenia Medvedeva more than the rest of them. She deserved to win here, but as usual with these Russian girls, the judges are really embarrassing themselves. Evgenia has good skating skills for her age, but I cannot even begin to justify program component scores in the 9's for her. There is just a frenetic quality to her skating. She has a nice body line (at least compared to some of the other Russian horrors), but she doesn't hold out her movements. I'm missing the maturity and sophistication that I saw from the top American and Japanese ladies in this event, and that was not reflected in the scores. When these girls get such crazy program components so young, they don't improve as they get older. What incentive do they have? However, the girl can jump. No arguing against that one. I trust her jump technique, though Eteri Tutberidze also taught Yulia Lipnitskaya her non-technique, and we all know how that turned out. Evgenia is a competitor, and I think she's been set off on a winning streak that will last through Worlds.

Satoko Miyahara ended 2015 much like she began it: winning a medal no one really expected her to. Despite being the reigning World Silver Medalist, Satoko is never really considered a favorite and tends to fly under the radar. There are many qualities to admire about her skating, but there isn't a lot of "wow" factor. It's easy for her to get lost in the shuffle. However, the girl is consistent, and she was one of few skaters in this event to put together two good programs. Satoko is a perfect little robot who does her run-throughs in practice and knows how to compete. It doesn't matter that her jumps barely leave the ice when she lands everything. I do admire her gorgeous spins, her perfect posture, and her attention to detail - a stark contrast to the dominant young Russians. She'll continue to be a major contender through Worlds.

Elena Radionova.....bless her. Part of me admires the extent to which she fully embraces her own tackiness. That Titanic long program is a camp masterpiece like we haven't seen since the days of Maria Butyrskaya. I also admire the girl's competitive grit. After missing the back half of her opening lutz + toe combo in the short program, she tacked on a triple toe to her triple loop through sheer willpower. It wasn't pretty, but it was rotated. Our American ladies would not be capable of something like that on the fly (Ashley Wagner tried and failed miserably). The quality is just not where it should be for a lady competing on this level. All of her jumps are terrifying in the air, and the landings are not good. I get that she's struggling with a growth spurt, but there is no technique. Her shoulders are always hunched over, and she needs a million crossovers per minute to generate speed. Elena has spunk and a flair for performance, but the lack of refinement is unforgivable. Again, the judges should be ashamed of themselves for showering her with program components in the 9's. At the end of the day, I trust Elena to get the job done, and she will be in the medal hunt at Worlds.

Ashley Wagner has been trying to paint her performance in the Grand Prix Final as a huge personal victory, but she's having a crisis of confidence. Her comfort zone appears to be bombing the short program and fighting back in the long. She was so bad in the short here that she had virtually no chance at a medal, even after she posted a career-best long program score. Ashley is good enough to win medals in this field. She had the second highest program components of the event in the long program even skating first, which is very impressive. She is the most natural performer of the top ladies, and she's really improved her skating skills and transitions over the years. Jump rotations are still a problem. I don't know what it's going to take for her to fully rotate that triple loop + half loop + triple salchow combo. It's never been clean. The judges are ready to put her on the podium if she can ever put together two clean programs at a major international event. It's up to her.

Gracie Gold....ugh. I don't know what to say. By all accounts, she was having great practices heading into the Grand Prix Final. Even after doubling her triple flip (again) in the short, she was realistically still in it for the silver medal with a good long program. What is it going to take to teach this girl how to compete? Frank Carroll is an amazing coach who has done wonders for Gracie, but he doesn't do well with those who can't motivate themselves (see: Mirai Nagasu). Gracie is the only person keeping herself from becoming a World Champion. The talent is there, and she has the programs to do it. Can she get it together? Nationals in January will be telling.

Mao Asada's competitive comeback is quickly veering into nightmare territory. She looked so amazing late in the summer at the Japan Open, and she hasn't come close to replicating that performance. In terms on raw talent, she should be wiping the floor with the current international ladies' field. None of these girls are anywhere close to Yuna Kim or Carolina Kostner, who were really the only skaters capable of beating Mao at her best. Mao skated a killer short program until she singled the lutz at the end. She was still in bronze medal position with that mistake, but the long program was a bit of a disaster. Mao is in great physical shape, and she's proven that she has the jumps back. What's keeping her from putting it all together under pressure? Is she working too hard? I hope she can take a nice spa day after Japanese Nationals. 

2015 Grand Prix Final Recap - Pairs and Ice Dance!

Pairs

After a dismal start to the season at Skate America, Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov fully redeemed themselves in the Grand Prix Final with a decisive victory, including a near-world record score in the free skate. It was nice to see the Olympic Silver Medalists with their old swagger back, but the scores got a little out of control. They can barely complete a triple twist, and Fedor's triple toe + triple toe + double toe combo looked underrotated to me, yet they got positive grades of execution on both elements. Their skating skills are superb, but their icy performance quality and lack of chemistry would prevent me from giving them the astronomical program components they received here. Still, the quality of most of their elements is superb. Their throws were the best of the field, and I live for Ksenia's extension on her landing positions. I'm completely obsessed with her. She is not a girl I would want to meet in a dark alley. I love my intense Russian ladies who would probably kill you to get what they want. In a year where all of the top pairs seem to be in an arms race to fill their long programs with quads, Stolbova/Klimov proved that it's still possible to win on quality and refinement. Are they the favorites for Worlds? It's difficult to say. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong withdrew from the Final due to injury, and Olympic Champs Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov only competed in one Grand Prix event. Both of those teams could conceivably take the World Title. It will be exciting to see how things play out in the second half of the season.

This was a tough loss for World Champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford. It is well known that Ksenia Stolbova gets under Meagan Duhamel's skin more than just about any other skater. Meagan suffered a somewhat shocking fall on a throw triple lutz in the short program, but they were still close enough to the Russians' score to win the event with a strong free skate. And indeed the Canadians did have a good free skate, only to see their Russian rivals best them by 10 points with easier technical content. What happened? They really lost on quality. It's worth noting that Stolbova/Klimov's picture perfect throw triple flip got almost the same score as Meagan and Eric's scratchy-but-landed throw quad salchow. The Canadians are one of the few top pairs who can do side-by-side triple lutzes, but none of their jump elements come close to matching what the Russians can score for their triple toe + triple toe + double toe combo. Meagan and Eric have improved the layout of their "Hometown Glory" long program by spacing out their throws. Still, it feels like there are long stretches of this program where nothing is really happening. The Russians have some built-in smoke breaks, but at least there is interesting choreography going on. When both teams are skating well, the Russians will have an advantage on program components due to their more classic look and superior skating skills. What can Meagan and Eric do to avoid falling behind? Honestly, they just need to relax. They can get tense and overthink things sometimes. They were fighting for every element in the long program here, while the Russians made it look easy. That was ultimately the difference. I hope they can take a nice vacation before Four Continents.

Like Cher and cockroaches, Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov will still be here contending for medals when the rest of us are gone. Bizarrely, I left this event impressed with their improved consistency after a long program in which Yuko suffered two hard falls. They've at least given us good short programs at every outing, seemingly inspired by their impossibly schmaltzy Barbra Streisand/Bryan Adams musical selection. It's a step in the right direction for them. I still love that Tchaikovsky long program, even if it's never clean. I was amazed that they were able to recover from Yuko's back-to-back falls with their best throw quad salchow of the season thus far. Though we're always tempted to write them off, they find a way to force themselves back into the conversation. They will be in contention at Euros and Worlds.

I was incredibly impressed with the way Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau rose to the occasion after qualifying as the 7th team as a makeup for the canceled long program at Trophee Eric Bompard. This is a team that has continuously surpassed expectations and achieved great results. Julianne and Charlie are very engaging skaters, and I find myself rooting for them even though her lift positions are heinous. International judges give them higher and higher program components with each competition, and they are gradually creeping into legitimate World medal contention within the next few seasons.

Yu Xiaoyu and Jin Yang are now 0/3 in throw quad salchow attempts for the season, and it's been a hard fall for her every time. Does she land these throws in practice? It's casting a bit of a dark cloud on their long programs. They looked emotionally traumatized coming off the ice here. This is a team that possesses a great deal of technical ability, but they still need better packaging. The long program is a snooze on a good day, and it was tough to sit through when they were not skating well here. It's time for some louder costumes, off-ice acting lessons, booze-fueled sexual experimentation. SOMETHING.

This is just not the season for my favorite father/daughter team of Peng Cheng and Zhang Hao. It is well-known that Daughter Peng cannot jump to save her life. Some chalk it up to puberty, but she was eating ice regularly when she was 13. Yao Bin has many coaching gifts, but jump technique is not among them. This is another Chinese team that cannot land the throw quad salchow, and it's interfering with their other throws as well. It's like she's forgotten how to land everything, and this team usually has incredible throws. It might be best to axe it and focus on nailing two triples instead. I would personally quite like to be lifted and thrown around by Zhang Hao.

I was thrilled to see Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim qualify for the Grand Prix Final - the first American pair to achieve that feat in eight years. Sadly, they did not rise to the occasion. The short program was tight, and the free skate was a disaster. The quad twist is this team's money element, and Alexa landed it on her butt. From there, it was a free fall. I was almost impressed by the synchronicity of their side-by-side falls on their triple toes. Alexa and Chris have the ability to be competitive at this level, but they don't believe it. Alexa looked terrified in the short program warm-up while sharing the ice with the likes of Ksenia Stolbova and Meagan Duhamel. If the Americans don't skate like they belong here, the judges will score them accordingly. I'm hoping things go better at Worlds in Boston with a supportive home crowd.

Ice Dance

We all know that I love ice dance, but I'm over it this season. This crop of top dance teams fails to inspire enthusiasm. Nobody has risen to the occasion in the absence of Davis/White and Virtue/Moir to be convincing champions. As I've said before, Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje are a good team. They skate like they should be in about fifth place. Technically competent, but lacking in anything special. Their programs are difficult and I appreciate their skating skills the closeness of their dance holds, but they don't move me. This team is coached by Anjelika Krylova, one of the all-time great Russian dance divas. Why can't some of her crazy rub off on her star pupils? I just find nothing about this team to be memorable. Thank goodness World Champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillame Cizeron are back in good condition and looking ready to go for the European Championships in January. Someone needs to save dance from itself.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates reversed the damage done at Cup of China by defeating the Italians here, but I'm not sure I see them winning Worlds. Igor Shpiliband does a good job of hiding Madison's sub-par skating skills (note that Evan always sets her down on an edge because she can't get there by herself), but they just don't cover a ton of ice. One associates champion-level ice dance with speed, power, and command. Madison and Evan's programs are pretty and she is a fabulous performer, but the skating doesn't leave much of an impression. I look at their exhibition program to Beyonce's "Haunted" and wonder why their competitive programs don't go that path. Madison has star quality. Let her serve the sex. Rachmaninoff is nice and all, but it's tired. You need to mask the technical deficiencies with a WOW program. Madison and Evan were scored a bit generously here, and one must never underestimate Igor's political pull. They received positive grades of execution on a twizzle sequence in which Madison visibly stumbled. I expect them to score well at Worlds in the U.S.

Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte.........what is there to say. Pleasant but dull. Her hunchy posture on the dance holds bothers me. Very slow and labored through the step sequences. I think they were way too high here, but I wasn't terribly surprised. They're beautiful people and engaging performers, but I'm bored. It's the same programs every year. Next.

The real outrage of this event was Maia and Alex Shibutani finishing off the podium. "Fix You" is the free dance of the season IMHO (not that there is much competition), and they skated the hell out of it here. They got big scores when they won NHK Trophy a couple of weeks ago, so I deluded myself into thinking they'd repeat in Barcelona. What gives? I've never been a huge fan, but this year they finally have the right packaging to shake off their weird sibling awkwardness. They've always been near the top of the international dance field technically. It irritates me that they're still being held down in program components when they've so visibly improved. Has Marina Zoueva given up on politicking for them? Honestly, if they don't make it back to the Worlds podium this year, it's probably never happening. I'll be praying for an upset at Nationals, but I think they're doomed to win silver again and hope for a top 5 finish at Worlds.

After the dust settled on the Grand Prix, Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev seemed to assert themselves as the top Russian dance team in a contentious struggle for dominance. They proceeded to struggle to fifth place in the Grand Prix Final, barely defeating the third-best Americans. This is a team that was third at Worlds behind Davis/White and Virtue/Moir just three seasons ago. Why aren't they moving up in this depleted field? Out of sight, out of mind? International judges don't seem thrilled to welcome Katia and Dmitri back this season, and there seems to be little push behind them from the Russian skating federation. Everyone says their programs are light on content, but that was also true when they were winning medals. I actually find them to be much more enjoyable to watch now than when they were getting better results. It will be interesting to see how they fare at Russian Nationals. The powers that be may be putting their political powers behind Nikita Katsalapov and whatsherface that he's skating with now.

I was thrilled that Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue made the Grand Prix Final for the first time. How nuts is it that THREE U.S. dance teams qualified? When did this become our discipline? Madison and Zach have wonderful chemistry, and I appreciate the maturity and sophistication of their presentation. The "Hallelujah" short dance is one of my favorite things anyone is skating this season, and they skated it brilliantly here. I'm still waiting for them to attack that free dance. It's very pretty, and they have some very eye-catching lifts, but they always skate scared. Madison and Zach are not used to being competitive at this level. They need to own the fact that they're officially a top dance team. They're also a bit slow compared to the other top teams, which hurts their program components.