Four Continents 2014 (1/22-1/25)

I just finished watching men's short program live at TPE arena, and am adding a few thoughts on some of the performances tonight:

[quote="shar"]MEN'S SHORT PROGRAM
1.Takahito MURA (JPN) - 84.21
  -- happy for Mura, it was a clean performance and every element was performed with a balance, I think.
2.Richard DORNBUSH (USA) - 82.13 
 -- it's a nice program, but I don't know why...somehow in the middle of the program I just lost interests to keep on. And I started to wonder perhaps the program is a little...junior-ish, due to the music maybe? So I was a little surprised with the high score he got.  
3. Nan SONG (CHN) - 78.71
 -- had the best quad of the night. but I'm not sure the middle-east music theme is suitable for him
4. Takahiko KOZUKA (JPN) - 76.85
 -- perhaps Koz was working hard with his jumps (I was focusing on him all the way through during the 6-min warm up, he was missing some of those jumps obviously), in the end it felt like something missing from the program....  
5. Denis TEN (KAZ) - 76.34
 -- too bad with the fall on the quad! or else I did enjoy his performance with Dance Macabre. I think Denis performed very well throughout, and the quality of his spins is really good. I was quite surprised with the score he got in the end though. 
8. Adam RIPPON (USA) - 72.90
-- I'm a little disappointed with Adam's Carmen tonight. I was looking forward to the program. But he just doesn't seem to have the fire like he did at the beginning of the season.

That's all I can provide with the men's SP at the moment. Sorry I'm not really good at writing the live watching report. I don't usually watch a lot of men's competitions and this was the first time I watch it live. And when watching live competitions, I often find myself distracted by other things happening at the arena at the same moment (such as the reaction of the coach...etc.). It's just difficult when you want to try to pay attention to different things happening at the same time.

I'll try to write some report on the ladies' SP tomorrow, if there's time.

Ooh... thanks for the input regarding the men's SP COHK. You're so lucky to have seen them live.

 I'm hoping Mirai and Kanko brings it in tomorrow's SP.

I'm soo hoping that Mirai and Kanako will have a really good skate tomorrow, especially Mirai she has really been through alot.

There're too many girls I root for in this event: Zijun, So Youn, Mirai, Haruka, Kanako. Wish them well   

Nice! I hope Mirai's new coaching arrangement works out well. She might even benefit from having Takahito Mura as her training partner.

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By the way, here are the protocols for the Men's SP, Pairs SP, and Short dance.

http://www.isuresults.com/results/fc2014/fc2014_Pairs_SP_Scores.pdf
http://www.isuresults.com/results/fc2014/fc2014_IceDance_SD_Scores.pdf
http://www.isuresults.com/results/fc2014/fc2014_IceDance_SD_Scores.pdf

My thoughts on the protocol:

Men's SP: I found it weird that Takahito's 4T received both +2 and -2 from the judges. He lost a level on a spin, but he did really really well! I hope this sends good vibes to Mirai, who'll be competing in the SP later! (In about 6-7 hrs since the SP starts at 5pm local time) I'm happy for my country's representatives, Mr. Caluza and Mr. Eguia. They're not the most technically competitive skaters (no 3A) but I think Caluza performed cleanly based on the protocol, and that makes me really happy.

In SD, the top three teams are Gilles/Poirier, Hubbell/Donohue (I think they messed up the Twizzles; it received a level 2), and Aldridge/Eaton. Their scores are close, so I think the placing could be different after the FD.

Pairs SP: Sui/Han did well, with level 4 on all non-jump elements and good GOE on everything. 75.26. They have a comfortable ~9-point lead over the US team.

Abdiel wrote:

I'm happy for my country's representatives, Mr. Caluza and Mr. Eguia. They're not the most technically competitive skaters (no 3A) but I think Caluza performed cleanly based on the protocol, and that makes me really happy.

Oh, yes, in reply to Abdiel, Caluza's spiral at the very beginning of the SP was very very impressive!! and it was a clean program (but do you know if he changed his SP? he was not skating to the same music as shown on the screen...)

What was the title listed? Caluza's SP was listed on Wikipedia and ISU as 'Jumping Jack.' His twitter says that he changed his SP 3 weeks before 4CC though. Alas, no video has popped up yet. I want to see the spiral!

I also like that he goes for the 3Lo-3Lo, and got it ratified. He has a lovely spring on the loop, despite the lack of distance. :3

LADIES SHORT PROGRAM - RESULT
1. Kanako MURAKAMI (JPN) - 64.73 
2. Zijun LI (CHN) - 62.84
3. Haruka IMAI (JPN) - 62.72 
4. Satoko MIYAHARA (JPN) - 60.27 
5. Hae Jin KIM (KOR) - 57.48
6. Samantha CESARIO (USA) - 57.40
7. Courtney HICKS (USA) - 56.36
8. So Youn PARK (KOR) - 55.91
9. Mirai NAGASU (USA) - 55.39
10. Amelie LACOSTE (CAN) - 55.19

Oh Mirai  

Abdiel wrote:

What was the title listed? Caluza's SP was listed on Wikipedia and ISU as 'Jumping Jack.' His twitter says that he changed his SP 3 weeks before 4CC though. Alas, no video has popped up yet. I want to see the spiral!

I also like that he goes for the 3Lo-3Lo, and got it ratified. He has a lovely spring on the loop, despite the lack of distance. :3

I think on the screen it showed 'jumping jack'. But the music is definitely not jumping jack (or else we would have the final 3 programs all in 'jumping jack, back-to-back. Oh, and yes, I forgot about the 3L-3L!

I'm justing writing down very quickly about SP:

[quote="shar"]LADIES SHORT PROGRAM - RESULT
1. Kanako MURAKAMI (JPN) - 64.73 
-- glad that Kanako overcame her foot problem. And I like the details added to the choreography. It was a good choice to go back to the violin muse.
2. Zijun LI (CHN) - 62.84
-- So happy that Zijun is finally back, after all the struggle during the 1st half of the season. The program, however, indeed needs some more fire from her. It is especially obvious after the two spins (one after the other immediately) in the middle of the program, she seems to just skate through the rest and there's no sense of attack with the tango theme. But still good to see Zijun coming back gradually to her last season's level.
3. Haruka IMAI (JPN) - 62.72
-- very impressive last performance. Haruka is definitely lovely when she skates clean. Her skating is very graceful and elegant.
4. Satoko MIYAHARA (JPN) - 60.27
-- The most impressive part of Satoko's performance is that she makes the program flow very well, one element after the other. I remember during the warm-up, she seemed to miss a jump or two (just couldn't jump the 2nd jump of a 3-3). So I thought she might mess up with her jump. But in the end everything was very stable. I know she's been criticized for lacking of facial expression, but perhaps that only comes with more time. 
9. Mirai NAGASU (USA) - 55.39
-- Well...Mirai, I'm not sure if she's just trying to concentrate on everything. She looked so serious throughout her skating, and only cracking into smile in the finishing pose. I've been reading from the twitter report that she's been practicing quite well. So I just hope it's not because of what happened at US national that drained her emotion out.

Thanks COHK for the report.  

COHK wrote:

I'm justing writing down very quickly about SP:

shar wrote:

LADIES SHORT PROGRAM - RESULT
1. Kanako MURAKAMI (JPN) - 64.73 
-- glad that Kanako overcame her foot problem. And I like the details added to the choreography. It was a good choice to go back to the violin muse.
2. Zijun LI (CHN) - 62.84
-- So happy that Zijun is finally back, after all the struggle during the 1st half of the season. The program, however, indeed needs some more fire from her. It is especially obvious after the two spins (one after the other immediately) in the middle of the program, she seems to just skate through the rest and there's no sense of attack with the tango theme. But still good to see Zijun coming back gradually to her last season's level.
3. Haruka IMAI (JPN) - 62.72
-- very impressive last performance. Haruka is definitely lovely when she skates clean. Her skating is very graceful and elegant.
4. Satoko MIYAHARA (JPN) - 60.27
-- The most impressive part of Satoko's performance is that she makes the program flow very well, one element after the other. I remember during the warm-up, she seemed to miss a jump or two (just couldn't jump the 2nd jump of a 3-3). So I thought she might mess up with her jump. But in the end everything was very stable. I know she's been criticized for lacking of facial expression, but perhaps that only comes with more time. 
9. Mirai NAGASU (USA) - 55.39
-- Well...Mirai, I'm not sure if she's just trying to concentrate on everything. She looked so serious throughout her skating, and only cracking into smile in the finishing pose. I've been reading from the twitter report that she's been practicing quite well. So I just hope it's not because of what happened at US national that drained her emotion out.

   for the recap COHK!

MENS FREE SKATE RESULT

1. Takahito MURA JPN  242.56
2. Takahiko KOZUKA  JPN 236.38
3. Nan SONG CHN  236.09
4. Denis TEN  KAZ 226.37
5. Richard DORNBUSH USA 224.44
6. Joshua FARRIS  USA  221.00
7. Jinlin GUAN  CHN  214.26
8. Adam RIPPON USA  213.20
9. Jeremy TEN  CAN  208.51
10. Nam NGUYEN  CAN  204.69

   for Mura's win!
Congrats to Kozuka for being 1st in the FS, and 2nd overall. Great comback.
And congrats to Nan Song for winning the bronze.

LADIES FREE SKATE -  RESULT

1. Kanako MURAKAMI (JPN) - 196.91
2. Satoko MIYAHARA (JPN) - 186.53
3. Zijun LI (CHN) - 181.56
4. Haruka IMAI (JPN) - 175.40
5. Courtney HICKS (USA) - 169.99
6. Hae Jin KIM (KOR) - 166.84
7. Alaine CHARTRAND (CAN) - 165.19
8. Samantha CESARIO (USA) - 164.87
9. So Youn PARK (KOR) - 162.71
10. Mirai NAGASU (USA) - 159.78


GO KANAKO!! I'm so proud of you...132.18 for your FS. First time ever to break 130+      
And congrats to Satoko for winning silver. 1-2 for Japan in both Ladies and Men's singles.
What a great comeback for Zijun Li of China. I  see a promising future for her heading into 2018.

Mirai  

Ladies Medal Ceremony:

Ladies FS Protocol:

http://www.isuresults.com/results/fc2014/fc2014_Ladies_FS_Scores.pdf


Kanako Murakami's FS:



Satoko MIYAHARA's FS:



Zijun LI's FS:

Ugh, finally I can access the Internet. Everything is frozen here right now, about a week ago everything got suddenly covered with such a thick layer of ice (rain + sub-zero temperature = frozen hell) that a lot of tree branches has broken and fallen on the power lines (or the power lines broke under their own weight).   Finally things seem to get better, and at least we got the electricity back (knock on wood).

I only watched a few vids, but it sounds like it was an amazing event for Team Japan. Happy for Kanako, Satoko and both of the Takas!   I hope Takahito sends Nobu a flower basket or something , kudos to him for using the opportunity he was given to the fullest.

That said, I'm doubly sad that Nobunari wasn't at least named as an alternate to Olys/Worlds I read good news at FSU, though - apparently he's going to Sochi... as a commentator!   Best of luck to him in his new career

Mirai It's too bad she wasn't able to perform well here. I heard that she got sick shortly before 4CC, so perhaps she just didn't have enough power. Her programs weren't awful, but visibly lacked energy she had at Nats. I hope she rebounds from this and kicks ass next season.

I'm off to watch the rest of the videos   

shar, thanx so much for posting the protocols and videos!   

inskate wrote:

I only watched a few vids, but it sounds like it was an amazing event for Team Japan. :)Happy for Kanako, Satoko and both of the Takas!   I hope Takahito sends Nobu a flower basket or something , kudos to him for using the opportunity he was given to the fullest.

That said, I'm doubly sad that Nobunari wasn't at least named as an alternate to Olys/Worlds I read good news at FSU, though - apparently he's going to Sochi... as a commentator!   Best of luck to him in his new career

Mirai :(It's too bad she wasn't able to perform well here. I heard that she got sick shortly before 4CC, so perhaps she just didn't have enough power. Her programs weren't awful, but visibly lacked energy she had at Nats. I hope she rebounds from this and kicks ass next season.
 

This is great for Nobu, hopefully he'll make a great impression and will become a regural FS comentator.

I'm so happy for Taka for winning the silver, and I see he addded Jason Dunjen to his coaching team.

Very happy for Kanako. Nicky at Eurosport said she didn't want to be here,    but this surely is a huge confidence booster for Sochi. And I adore her LP dress.      That being said, why such a low PCS?    This is a gorgeous program and she performed beautifully to it, and she only got 62 points?! While Julia got 68 at Euros.  

Great for Satoko winning silver. If she'll improve the height on her jumps, I see a great future for her.

I'm over the moon for my lovely Zijun.    I hope she solved her motivation issues, and will only improve from now on. I do wish though that Lori wouldn't be so stupid and would allow Zijun to skate to Nutcracker, she would've killed it.

Sad for Mirai, but with her new coach and everything that's happened, I hope this has lit the fire underneath her, and we'll see a whole new Mirai next season, kicking butt left and right.    

zarinaballerina wrote:

Very happy for Kanako. Nicky at Eurosport said she didn't want to be here,    but this surely is a huge confidence booster for Sochi.

I think it has to do with Kanako's boots/foot problems. The Jpn media reports that she has to take pain killer to skate...

zarinaballerina wrote:

Great for Satoko winning silver. If she'll improve the height on her jumps, I see a great future for her.

Another stable performance from Satoko! What I like the most is that, though she's tiny, her performance is very mature and it feels like she's using her whole body to express the music. I'd think it's a gutsy performance.  

zarinaballerina wrote:

I'm over the moon for my lovely Zijun.    I hope she solved her motivation issues, and will only improve from now on. I do wish though that Lori wouldn't be so stupid and would allow Zijun to skate to Nutcracker, she would've killed it.

Zijun's performance was enjoyable and she's as lovely. There's probably not much time till the end of the season to add/change anything in her program, but I just hope she can add more dimensions to her performance. Perhaps I'm also looking forward to see Zijun trying out different types of music to help build up her personality.

zarinaballerina wrote:

Sad for Mirai, but with her new coach and everything that's happened, I hope this has lit the fire underneath her, and we'll see a whole new Mirai next season, kicking butt left and right.    

Mirai was doing much better with the FS today. Though it was probably not her best, you can tell she tries hard for everything. Re. Mirai's coach situation, I also read somewhere that Mura's father is only a temporary coach. Mirai said she hasn't made any decision yet. I just hope everything will go better for Mirai from now on.

Does anyone else think judges are far more generous with GOEs this season? Kanako received around 10pts here, and some of her jumps were marked a bit leniently. One judge even gave her +1 for her flutz. Back in the day, Mao did not receive this much GOEs even for visibly clean skates.

I just hate as Mao always got so much hate for her flutz but no Julia, Kanako and several ladies.
i am glad for Kanako winning and I have a good feeling that Mao will do great at Sochi because Kanako, Mirai, Zijun and Gracie are doing great lately and really bad at the start of the season, so I guess Mao will be peaking late too like in Vancouver.

I hope mao will stay focused on doing her best and not worrying about the other competition. If you think about it, Mao might have a bit of an advantage in Sochi because she will be very familiar with the rink. I remember Mao saying the ice is very similar to the ice at the Chukyo rink. She also won the GPF on that same ice so that should also be a good omen. I also think that training in Russia May also put her at an advantage. I'm also hopping that TaT can do a bit of politicking for Mao. It seams that a few Russian skaters idolize Mao.

Kind of a crazy coincidence that every time Mao has performed in Torino, she did extremely well. 2007 GPF she nailed the 3a and won the FS portion. In 2010 she won the World Championships in the same rink.

aoi88 wrote:

Does anyone else think judges are far more generous with GOEs this season? Kanako received around 10pts here, and some of her jumps were marked a bit leniently. One judge even gave her +1 for her flutz. Back in the day, Mao did not receive this much GOEs even for visibly clean skates.

back in the day Mao received -3 straight across the board for her "e", she received soo much hetz for it. time really changes, and that despite giving one spectacular free skate after another with 3A, 3f-3lo, 3f-3to ect. and close to a dosin visibly clean performance, she never really got that kind of pcs advantage/boost, the judges often seemed indifferent and didn't care or rather didn't care enough to reward the extraordinary technical and artistic brilliance they saw in front of them.
Time really has changed keep in mind for how long Mao's PCS remained in the low 60's. It really makes the scores today incomparable with then!

chapis wrote:

I just hate as Mao always got so much hate for her flutz but no Julia, Kanako and several ladies.
i am glad for Kanako winning and I have a good feeling that Mao will do great at Sochi because Kanako, Mirai, Zijun and Gracie are doing great lately and really bad at the start of the season, so I guess Mao will be peaking late too like in Vancouver.

I completely agree with you. For some people, Mao is the only skater who flutzes, underotates some jumps, makes mistakes and has falls from time to time. It seems that for them we live in a perfect world where Mao is the only person with some weaknesses.

Iceriver wrote:

chapis wrote:

I just hate as Mao always got so much hate for her flutz but no Julia, Kanako and several ladies.
i am glad for Kanako winning and I have a good feeling that Mao will do great at Sochi because Kanako, Mirai, Zijun and Gracie are doing great lately and really bad at the start of the season, so I guess Mao will be peaking late too like in Vancouver.

I completely agree with you. For some people, Mao is the only skater who flutzes, underotates some jumps, makes mistakes and has falls from time to time. It seems that for them we live in a perfect world where Mao is the only person with some weaknesses.

I think it's because Mao has always remained a threat, despite her inconsistency. Julia is getting more criticisms lately because she is becoming more of a threat. Kanako and even Akiko are never really seen as major contenders.