Takahito Mura JPE age 15
Tchiakovski violin concerto
shit shirt with blue trim and side panels, blue pants
3A nice. 3F-2T nice. 3Z-2T. nice easy death drop squat outside twist. SL FW swirly there's some intensity there. 3S nice. outSEs now we see some presentation where before was only stalking jumps. 3Z 2footed?. steps PAUSE 3L. sit squat twist. 3T-2T. 3T. circle FW fast and nicely sold, swirly but not upy downy L3 at best. fly camel sit inside ch camel; squat outside.
The boy stalks his jumps and his presentation skills are fairly unformed. He gets tired and raggedy towards the end, but his jumps remain easy and unhesitating. I like his intensity in the FW, but obviously, he forgets any attempt at artistry to stalk the jumps. He's young, but there's excitement here
61.32 + 51.92 = 113.24 Personal best T =168.39
Ryo Shibata JPN age 19
Maleguena
purple shirt with military shoulder pads and crushed velvet half. black pants with sequined side stripe. A fashionable hair cut bleached brown.
3T-2T. 2A-2T-2T. 3Z-2T. his jumps are whippy. Serp FW difficult but not sold at all. 3L nice. NICE fly camel inside ugly donut. music: slow. nice side catch spiral. WOW nice forward Beioll spiral. to 3S. camel inside layover donut upright. steps 3Z fall. SL FW difficult sirly uppy downy but he's tired and it's raggedy. 3F fall. 2A nice camel inside layover sit inside ch squat beill NICE.
The boy spins well, quick and well centered. He's long and lean and has great flexibility... not quite Shawn Saywer, but definitely on par with Plushenko. His falls are fully rotated... but he obviously left out a lot of content... for sure a quad attempt. Two of his coaches are very solemn in the K&C and the other is smiling widely, rubbing Shibata's shoulder and handing him tissues. I think the poor kid is crying.
47.89 + 50.04 = 95.93 T = 151.01
American viewers will be intrigued to know that Russian Sports TV shows 2 programs and then breaks for several minutes of commercials... sometimes 5 or 10 short ones. Pepsi is a skating sponsor in Russia and they keep showing the SAME stupid soccer commercial with the dancing German team in Leiderhosen beating the sexy soccer guys.
Varner USA age 19
Conquest in Paradise (that Columbus film from a couple years ago)
black velvet unitard with half the shirt in gold and black sequins with flowers and black gloves
3Z-3T hop out. 2A squat inside pancake ch bad squat, foot behind foot spin. 3F-2T-2L last badly cheated eh. SL FW uppy downy swirly but not sold now he;s selling a little kind of gumby-like, but he's more Goebel than Savoie. steps 3L off center and landed but badly, also cheated, fell out. lots of arm waving passing for presentation. 3S. camel variant sit nice catch upright. ch sit pancake upright inside. SE to 2Z. 3F 2 footed 1T. circle FW very ragged but difficult. 2A wonky landing but landed. death drop squat pancake.
He's a kid. Not much to say. from the look of his SP score, this was not a good night for him.
51.74 + 47.44 = 99.18 T = 152.54
Kevin Reynolds CAN age 15
Vareki Ombra
black pants purple (blue?) shirt with white instead and black stripes. He's TEENY Tiny!
steps 2A. nice arms. 3Z-3T-2T nice. stalking steps 3S NICE (apparently, according to a reader, this was a 4S and was 2footed. It's easy to miss that extra rotation. But color me even MORE impressed with this little guy). eh death drop squat upright nice crossfoot. music slow and gentle steps 3L nice. 2A-3T nice. good air position. 3Z eh. getting tired. steps 2S-2T. nice twisted inside argh bad pancake. circle FW not really sold very tired. steps 3F he likes that! SL FW fast difficult and very well sold. the audience is clapping along. camel outside inside squat pancake ch squat upright crossfoot nice headless slow scratch.
Kid pumps his fist. He's happy. This was a very young program for a very young kid, but it's what I imagine Johnny Weir must have looked like at 15, seeds of that divine movement style... maybe with better jumps. The kid's air position is textbook beautiful, but his picking technique disturbs me and the 3A is definitely not there yet. He points his toes and has some clue how to use his hands and arms... he has nice soft elbows but his hands hang. His sit spin positions are AWFUL, barely squatted and the bent jackknife/pancake leaves a lot to be desired not really an upright, not really a sit. Still be fun to watch him grow. He seems like a very unpretentious kid and was just smiling to beat the band in the K&C.
On a personal note, he is adorable, with curly auburn hair and looks a great deal like my HS boyfriend. That, if nothing else, would make him a favorite of mine, but he's got a lot to offer for such a young kid. If he can get the jumps... he will be a VERY exciting contender for those who like their skaters to move like Curry and Weir.
66.12 + 45.98 = 112.10 T =165.14
Alexandr Uspenski RUS
The Bird
black velvet unitard with nice white sequined leaves, white gloves
NICE 3A-2T landed at a dead stop though. lovely 3A very easy. 3L hL 3S. wonky on the loop landing. 3Z badly under rotated and fell. 3T^-2T2L wonky. nice fly camel; inside layover. behind music. shades of Ilia. he presents well when trying. SL FW nice.y done and presented. steps 3F hand down turned out. 2A nice. camel squat cannon catch upright ch upright squat. circle FW good speed slowing lots of arm flinging but it works. 3S sit cannon ch squat
This kid is half Plushy, half Ilia and his costume is 500% Yags. A very nice Winter knock off... would that the program was. I can't help liking this boy. The jumps weren't there for him today, but he's a cutie, give him 4 years and he'll be a HOTTIE (give him 15 years and he'll be old enough to be more than aesthetically pleasing). He has lovely straight features... now he needs a quad to match. He needs a better hair cut and a bleach rinse to lighten his kind of blah sandy hair... a good colorist definitely. His camel positions leave something to be desired, his foot droops. He didn't melt down, just didn't land a lot. I can see why they would initially choose him over Alexei Notquiteivich Nextbigthingsky for Worlds... other fellow hasn't skated great this year either.
52.83 + 52.86 = 104.69 T=157.68
Yang CHN age 16
Tocata and Fugue
blue velvet unitard with gold inset sequins and stones
nice crisp movement style. 3F-3T almost a lip. steps 3Z-2T-2L camel nice outside nice sit jack ch sit inside twist upright. nice fast spin. music slows kid has nice edges. steps 3S hand down then steps out on a bed edge and fall long after the jump was landed. steps 3F NICE. 2A nice. steps 3Z. death drop squat inside twist pancake, slow. circle FW music change slow FW very flow but swirly and uppy downy and interesting. 2A step out. SL FW nice, well sold. well choreographed to the music. nice. very nice. camel half beill ends after music.
I like this boy... but no 3A. He has a BEAUTIFUL Lutz though. His spins could use some work when they are there, they are okay, not too fast, but when they are not there--like that last spin--they are REALLY not there.
Gosh, he's a BABY.
47.83 + 49.14 = 95.96 T = 152.48
I think this kid was undermarked as far as components went. They used it to place him in line with his tech, which wasn't there. He was convicted of skating while Chinese and that is never good for components and while he was not overly artistic, he moved well and easily and he did not present-forget-present-forget like a lot of the other kids did. The ROBBED him in components. I smell a PROTOCOL here!
Patrick Chan CAN (according to a reader, he is 15)
Guitar concerto
black with ice blue stripes all around and over ice blue velvet cummerbund and diagonal side
fast. 3S nice. NICE death drop inside pancake. 3A pitch forward hand down. nice transitions though lots of FW. arm waving but nice. serp FW nice. steps 3Z-2T-2L. ina bauer eh. 3L nice air position. camel nice speed inside donut ch camel layover eh droopy foot. steps 3F eh landing. SL FW tiring but so so presentation walley 3T-2T steps 3F fall out (fall?). 2A-2T. camel outside sit cannon upright ch camel sit twist.
The kid Lips pretty bad, but his Lutz is nice. His coach is ANCIENT.
58.31 + 52.34 = 108.65 T = 168.19
He's puzzled and a bit upset with his scores. I think he got jobbed by the protocol. His presentation was better than that and he had a tough program FILELD with transitions.
Yannick Ponsero FRA 19
Les Lacs du Conemare
black with blue stylized wave on shoulder and leg.
Gosh he's a cutie! 3A NICE. 4T? sit inside twist. steps 3Z fall just slipped out from under him. 3S. DD squat inside twist. SEs3A turn out hand down. 2F hl 3S. camel layover sit upright inside scratch ch camel half beill sit outside upright. 3S pitch forward hand down. nice circle? FW fast and WELL sold. 2A fall slipped out from under him. SL FW fast swirly uppy downy.
He's not happy with himself. I'm not so sure what was wrong with those jumps. they looked okay on take off and fine in the air but he just didn't get into them in the landing... perhaps a core strength problem. No... on replay, he was tilted in the air which means picking problems.
Anyway, Yannick is adorable and almost old enough to drool over without feeling like a pederast. He looks stockier on TV than in person (saw him at SA this year). In person, he's slim and almost graceful, so much so, I think Ben Currie had a crush on him.
Yannick was not ON tonight, and I've seen him skate better... but so far, he's the class of this field... he skates like a man, not a boy. He must have placed WAY down in the long program to drop to third overall... and can see why. The jumps just were not there. He has technique problems picking, methinks. He definitely needs more core strength if he is going to muscle out those wonky take offs.
54.32 + 55.36 = 107.68 T = 170.97
And as I thought of later while I was grocery shopping, " Alas, poor Yannick, he didn't skate well!"
Leibers GER age 17
Cool Runnings (if you forgot, this was the forgettable movie about the Jamaican bobsled team)
black pants orange poet shirt with multicolor ruffles at neck and funny tie thing on his tummy. This costume should be taken out and shot.
stalking. 1A pop. nice 3F. arabian to camel donut. steps nice 3Z low landing. 3L. serp FW fast but awkward. 2A skid on landing. arm waving. SL FW getting into the music. 3T-2T. camel crouch camel sit outside upright ch squat upright inside. 3S 2T turn out. hop squat ch squat inside.
Nice run out on his landings but landings are very low and deep and soft in the knee... almost uncontrolled. He's young and he TRIES to sell his program... pretty much all the way through, he's just awkward and he flails. he doesn't have anything approaching line and he's not dance-y much, but he does try.
44.44 + 48.22 = 92.66 T = 105.33 (10th)
His response, "SHIT!"
Gotta love him. Just for that.
Voronov RUS age 18
Coach is Urmanov
Music was alternately heroic and gentle.
black pants, black sequined maroon vesty thing with peach chiffon flowers and white sequined shirt, black gloves. Very deep cut V and illusion neck over very skinny hairless chest.
nice 3Z. 3A nice but no flow. 3L tight landing. 1F popped. nice circle FW fast good music building. music gentle piano. kid emotes well. stalking. SE nice outside one long. 3A 2T 2L nice. very nice. jack catch upright variant. death drop NICE inside 2A nice. music fast again clapping. 3T SL FW swirly but not uppy downy. 3S high wrap and whippy. camel nice. sit NICE inside jack ch sit inside.
The kid has a lot of intensity, but is a "manly" skater rather than an arty one. There's a LOT to like--maybe even ready for prime time. Nice haircut too. A very cute kid, still got a baby face... and there is Urmy in the K&C looking as hot and edible as ever.
60.82 + 54.44 = 115.26 personal best T = 172.92 (1st)
He'll get at least a bronze says the announcer.
Stephen Carriere 16 USA
once upon a time in Mexico
maroon shirt with rolled up sleeves black pants with white chevrons down the side.
steps 3S. 3A nice flow out. steps 3Z 2T decent. SL FW swirly uppy downy fast. but not sold well. traveling camel squat jack pancake hop upright. posing. "gee coach said to put my hand up here. how long should I keep it up? okay drop it now." nice 3F. nice 3L. nice 3F 2T. death drop pancake. serp FW fast and uppy downy swirly but not sold at all. fast but just done. steps 3Z fallish. 2A 2T. hop sit pancake.
"whew" hand motion at end which is the ONLY thing this kid seemed to give any emotion.
He has LOVELY jumps, nice take offs, LOVELY air position, very tight, freaking TEXTBOOK... things of beauty. a joy forever.
His coach is a hottie though... all in black with nicely done hair. Unfortunately, he has my gaydar screeching. This is not to imply that he IS gay. How the hell should I know. It only implies that guys that look this good with hair that good never play for my team. Oh well, once can still admire from afar.
60.09 + 52.16 = 112.25 T = 169.40 (3rd) That's about right...
Reader says if Carriere had hit that 3Z instead of making it a 2Z he would have gotten the bronze over Ponsero. In the long run, I am comfortable with this result. Ponsero is soup--though his jumps were AWOL. Carriere isn't soup, as lovely as him jumps are. He needs another year or two in Jrs.
Takahiko Kozuha JPN
piano concerto, Gershwin
black pants and black shirt with red vesty thing
3A muscled landing. 3Flz touch on landing. SL FW swirly but not uppy downy. steps 3L nice. 3S nice. sit NICE, outside twist pancake. SE death drop inside nice. 2A 2T. 3Z-2T-1T. 3F. 2A-2T. steps lot sof nice steps in this full program. circle FW fast and pretty well sold. uppy downy. camel sit nice outside jack ch sit inside pancake upright, NICE scratch (traveling)!!!
The kid can spin. He has nicely centered spins, his sit position is EXCELLENT. His flip is great but Lutz less great. he still has to really try for the 3A. His landings are not so well controlled as they could be.
63.96 + 56.02 = 119.98 personal best T = 180.05 (1st!)
This was well deserved.
Gosh, he is HUGE compared to his coaches... at least 6-8" taller... which means for a Japanese kid, he's pretty tall even without skates.
More comments later, MUST get the kids to school!
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