GPF and JGPF 2014 Barcelona, Spain

zarinaballerina wrote:

polosatik wrote:

@Zarina, have you seen Shoma Uno? Ahhh, I can't hide it anymore, my favourite men skater for now! Even he's still 16! What a talent! I was so sad then Daisuke retired, but then I saw Shoma. Now I can't wait to see him grow, his artistry has blown me away already!

I've not just seen him, my mouth was     through his entire performance! This kid is pfenomenal. And he reminds me of Daisuke so much.  The only problem I have with him, is his coaching team. Both Mao and now Kanako have jump issues and they've both been coached by Yamada. So this does worry me a bit, but as long as his technique doesn't suffer, it's cool.

polosatik, do you know what kind of coaches are Kustarova and Alexeeva? I'm a HUGE fan of Lena/Ruslan so I hope their team can bring them to the top in the next years.

They're the best technique coaches so far. Bobrova /Soloviev were their students before they came to Zhulin I think with Katya and Dima, Lena and Ruslan will be the second team to go to Worlds. But we'll see

That's great to hear. I knew Katya/Dima were with them but I didn't like them until they switched to Zhulin. So I was a bit worried. This is great to hear. I'm still hoping against the hope that they would consider going to Shpilband just over the summer not permanently, to work with the master on their levels.

Yuzuru must have been absolutely overjoyed at being able to skate freely just like before.
I remember him saying at NHK, he felt for a while that he would never be able to skate again after that accident.

I thought his decision was reckless, but now I am trying to think that All's Well That Ends Well.
I am just glad that he looked sooo happy at K&C and medal ceremony.

Shoma Uno, about five years ago.
Young Mao and Yuzu also appear in the clip  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pkOaD0ScME

At 1:15
Shoma:  "When I skated for the first time, Mao-chan played with me so I thought skating was fun."

Hi! If any of you is interested in my live thoughts from the GPF you can read them here (the free skates are still lacking, though):

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?53379-GPF-Barcelona-2014-live-thoughts-reports

Since I always love reading reports from other posters who get to see figure skating live, I thought this could be of interest to some of you!

Iceriver, thanx so much for this! I love reading live reports, it often happens that the skaters appear better live than on TV, or vice versa , so it's always great to hear from those who were lucky enough to see the competition live.

polosatik wrote:

Ladies FS was fabulous! I thought I'm dreaming cause I would never believe my dream podium can happen. Liza, Lena and Ashley! Just wow! Lena is a fighter, after a disappointing SP, she did wonderful job with her LP and I loved her new dress. She skated with so much power and hit every note of the music. Ashley, oh love her LP! She just a diva, in a good way of course. I love how confident she is. And she tried two triple-triple combos! Gutsy girl)))
Liza was just Into your face haters, for you who said she has to quit skating ,she's fat and she can't skate like she used to anymore. Her jumps are out of this world, I can't wait to see her 3lz-3t back!
Men FS was good too. But oh Machida I hope he's not injured, that looked really painful.
Yuzuru was almost perfect, I'm still not a fan of this program, but his skating was sublime. But then again, what's up with his behaviour? I think now he looked more like an American skater then a Japanese skater. Well, he's a star, no question. But it's too much, especially how he behaved at medal ceremony Don't get me wrong, I don't want to say he's mean or something. But I remember how people was strict to Yuna, but she has never behaved like that. It seems men stars can do anything and they're still the best. Ladies can not to a thing wrong It's kind of unfair I guess.

Hi everyone! Hope you had a great Christmas!

This is Abdiel popping in after so long. I'm so relieved that this forum stayed alive despite Mao's absence on the competitive scene. I have LOT of catching up to do. (sheepish) Anyway, I'll start with this post.

Oh, Liza!   While I'm happy for her earning a medal at all the competitions she's entered so far in this season, I worry about her burning out by the time Worlds rolls by because she had been competing since August (perhaps even earlier than that). I may not be a fan of her programs this time, but to see her OK after last season is a big relief.

As I watched Yuzuru's skating this season, I noted that his skating skills have improved. Sure, he may still get too close to the boards at times (who doesn't, every once in a while?), but it's like he has a better sense of blocking on the ice than before. He doesn't slouch as much, and the jumps are well calibrated. I'm not a fan of the PoTO LP, but I loved the 'Ballade' SP. Like morozombie, I clicked on a YouTube video expecting to gape in horror and to immediately watch Mao's Ballade Ex after, but I wasn't disappointed at all. It's... not as sublime as Mao's Ex (I prefer the 2010-2011 version than the one Mao performed in 2014, though), but it somehow /works/ as a program. Too bad the layout had to be changed; I loved the spreadeagle-3A-spreadeagle at the beginning. Polosatik, you do have point. Like Elena R, Yuzuru also has a star quality, and seeing him act as he did in the K&C booth made me wonder what has /happened/ to him. He's grown, he's changed, and I accept that, but I'm not sure I can love this new Yuzuru as much as I did the 'reserved' one.

I'll trot off and watch some more GPF videos now.

polosatik wrote:

Yuzuru was almost perfect, I'm still not a fan of this program, but his skating was sublime. But then again, what's up with his behaviour? I think now he looked more like an American skater then a Japanese skater. Well, he's a star, no question. But it's too much, especially how he behaved at medal ceremony Don't get me wrong, I don't want to say he's mean or something. But I remember how people was strict to Yuna, but she has never behaved like that. It seems men stars can do anything and they're still the best. Ladies can not to a thing wrong It's kind of unfair I guess.

I'll have to strongly disagree with you, Asya. We're talking about a guy who's been through a terrible accident, had to stop training and even consider dropping GP. It must have been like heaven for him to deliver that Free skate (with a first ever totally clean 4S IIRC) after all that happened to him. He wasn't arrogant, over confident or anything, he was purely happy. He deserves to.