Dance- Well, an interesting upset here. Over both programs, I prefer Chock and Bates to the winners, but the technical panel really thought otherwise, as the Americans suffered some low level calls. For me, the highlight from Cappelini/Lannotte came in their free dance: Anna’s stunning dress and their lifts. We will likely see a rematch between these two at the Final and I will be interested to see if the technical panel scores them similarly to here. Chock/Bates already have qualified and I think we’ll see improved programs from them. The Italians skate again at Rostelecom Cup, where they face Weaver/Poje and Ilinykh/Zhigashin. Shoutout to Kaitlyn Hawayek for fighting through that short dance and I hope she’s feeling better! Men- Congrats to Javi on his win here and a good start to his season. His SP has a little too arm-ography for me, but it’s a good theme and a nice departure for him. I actually really like his Guys and Dolls free skate and am excited to see it develop over the season. Um, the quad lutzes from Boyang Jin?!?!?! WOW. Here’s hoping that the kid can survive puberty and remain healthy long enough to develop the skating skills, maturity and components that will get him to the next level of performance quality. Despite a subpar performance, I have to say that I loved Han Yan’s free skate after seeing it a second time- I really like what it does for him. Shoutout to Grant Hochstein for his fourth place- good for him! Javi looks to qualify for the Final at Rostelecom, where Ngyuen and Vornov are the other big names. Boyang and Hochstein will go up against Yuzuru Hanyu, Menshov, Vornov and Jason Brown at NHK Trophy. Pairs- What a close race this ended up being! I’m really not a fan of Kavaguti/Smirnoff’s SP, but huge props to them for that great free skate. You have to hand it to them for pushing themselves technically and it was so nice to see Yuka smile after that program : ) For Sui/Han, it had to be tough losing the gold over a time violation at their home event. Sui noted in an interview that she hurt her ankle in practice and that’s why they didn’t compete with two quads here. At the end of the day, though, they did qualify for the GPF and I’m really hoping we get to see those quads there! Kavaguti and Smirnoff skate next at their home event, where they will see Stolbova/Klimov and Peng/Zheng. Ladies- Ah, it feels SO good to have Mao back in competitive action. I respect that she’s upping the technical ante with her very difficult short program and her triple axel in the free program was absolutely stunning. She had a rough free skate, but this was the start to the season that she needed- she’s already my (and I'm sure many others') favorite for another World title. She skates next at home at NHK, where she will see Wagner, Leonova, Pogorilaya, and Miyahara.
Congrats to Rika Hongo on winning that free skate! I give her credit for including harder elements in her programs and for paying more attention to her choreographic moments- especially in the free skate footwork. Her consistency is what keeps her in medal contention and it would be great for her to make the GPF again this year. It looks like Elena Radionova is having some growing issues, but I kinda have faith that they will just be a phase for her. She pulled it together enough to land on the podium and I give her team a huge shoutout for MUCH improved costumes this year. We could really lose the voiceover in the free skate, though. Both Rika and Elena skate next at Rostelecom, along with Nagai, Sotnikova and Medvedeva. When will Karen Chen get the PCS she deserves? I think the judges need to see more of her and more jumping consistency before they’ll give her the green light. I really feel like she has what it takes to be a star- the speed, the spiral, the spins and her great performance ability. They made some interesting changes to her FS costume, cutting off the sleeves, adding some gray and a random white floaty piece- I kinda liked it the way it was! Overall, two top five finishes during her first year on the GP circuit is incredibly respectable. You have to think that Courtney Hicks is kicking herself for letting so many points go in that free skate. I like both of her programs this year, but honey- that mustard yellow dress needs to GO! It would’ve been interesting to see her scores versus Radio’s if she had skated clean, but she needs to string two solid skates together before she’s podium ready. I think Hannah Miller has two great programs and two great dresses this year. You could tell she was upset with her free skate performance, where she struggled technically, but overall, I thought she had good speed and did a solid job interpreting her music. We’ll see Miller and again at Rostelecom and Hicks at NHK. I’m sad that three events are already over! I’m looking forward to the rest, but I know I’ll miss having all of this skating to talk about later in the year.
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November 2017
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