2023 NHK Trophy Mens FS - The Last Stumbler Guys

[Bunny Hop]

Uno - That was beautiful. Even the popped jump wasn't too disrutive.

 

[airgelaal]

Shoma not only wants to go to China, he wants to win

 

[leilaofpaper]

Yuma has his work cut out for him

 

[Karen-W]

Shoma - looking very beatable so far this season.

 

[leilaofpaper]

Shoma got a q for every quad.

 

[Andrey aka Pushkin]

Well... Yuma is wonderful and all, but most of all this LP makes me want to rewatch Papadakis/Cizeron.

Everything is wonderful, but just a bit of sophistication is missing for me to see him being as good as Shoma.

 

[airgelaal]

Yuma doesn't really want to go to China

 

[Bunny Hop]

Kagiyama - That was beautiful. Amazing step sequence. I'd still give the gold to him, in spite of the fall.

Was definitely worth staying up or the final two skaters.

 

[topaz]

Awwww. Yuma is almost back. That damn 3axel.

 

[Andrey aka Pushkin]

Yuma doesn't really want to go to China

a) can one blame him, really? China sounds not a lot of fun.
b) I think it's pretty impossible for him not to win on the tie vs. Shun Sato.

 

[leilaofpaper]

He might have enough to win overall, but I don't see him winning the free

 

[Karen-W]

Yuma - I am 100% positive I made older niece a cape out of the exact same fabric as his shirt about 15 years ago and then repurposed it into a formal dress for her a couple years later.

Anyway, even with the fall on the 3A, I think he's done enough to win given the lead he had from the SP.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I am always amazed at how quietly Yuma lands his jumps. And he's young, coming back from injury and can only get better.

 

[Holy Headband]

Holy crap, JSF is on my side lol

This was a nervy performance, but I’ll take it!

 

[Bunny Hop]

Nice to see a happy skater!

 

[MsZem]

Carolina looks fabulous, Yuma looks darling

 

[leilaofpaper]

Well done Yuma!

Took him a moment to realise, lol

 

[victorskid]

Free Skate results:

​

1	Shoma UNO	JPN	186.35	94.94	92.41	9.21	9.18	9.36	1.00	#11
2	Yuma KAGIYAMA	JPN	182.88	93.27	90.61	9.18	8.89	9.14	1.00	#12
3	Lukas BRITSCHGI	SUI	168.18	85.66	82.52	8.32	8.39	8.07	0.00	#10
4	Nika EGADZE	GEO	156.04	83.41	73.63	7.32	7.36	7.43	1.00	#6
5	Tatsuya TSUBOI	JPN	151.99	82.10	70.89	7.07	6.86	7.36	1.00	#1
6	Gabriele FRANGIPANI	ITA	148.95	74.39	74.56	7.43	7.50	7.46	0.00	#5
7	Aleksandr SELEVKO	EST	145.58	70.75	74.83	7.43	7.54	7.50	0.00	#4
8	Camden PULKINEN	USA	142.92	67.43	75.49	7.46	7.50	7.71	0.00	#9
9	Deniss VASILJEVS	LAT	139.81	58.62	82.19	8.29	8.18	8.21	1.00	#8
10	Wesley CHIU	CAN	137.14	68.08	70.06	7.04	6.86	7.14	1.00	#2
11	Luc ECONOMIDES	FRA	136.88	62.19	74.69	7.46	7.68	7.29	0.00	#3
12	Mihhail SELEVKO	EST	126.27	55.70	72.57	7.39	7.11	7.29	2.00	#7

Overall results:

1.	Yuma KAGIYAMA	JPN	1	2	288.39
2.	Shoma UNO	JPN	2	1	286.55
3.	Lukas BRITSCHGI	SUI	3	3	254.60
4.	Nika EGADZE	GEO	7	4	237.34
5.	Camden PULKINEN	USA	4	8	229.32
6.	Gabriele FRANGIPANI	ITA	8	6	227.15
7.	Deniss VASILJEVS	LAT	5	9	221.95
8.	Aleksandr SELEVKO	EST	9	7	221.43
9.	Tatsuya TSUBOI	JPN	12	5	216.62
10.	Luc ECONOMIDES	FRA	10	11	211.12
11.	Wesley CHIU	CAN	11	10	209.16
12.	Mihhail SELEVKO	EST	6	12	207.58

Protocols link: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2324/gpjpn2023/data0105.pdf

 

[Holy Headband]

This wouldn’t have been possible without the scales magically falling from the tech panel’s eyes just in time for Shoma’s performance, which makes me wonder if JSF is politicking for Yuma now…? But why would they when Shoma is their reigning WC, unless he’s told them he’s retiring after this season and also they hate him?

I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve to get calls, but if I were him I’d actually be insulted lol.

Whatever, back to Yuma NHK Trophy winner!!! I need a clean program from him next, and then to see a 3rd quad in the free.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

Missed competition but guessed close to right. I had Uno fighting back and beating Yuma. Well, in the long yes. Had Britschgiin thrid, even Camden somewhere down around 5th or 6th.

 

[MR-FAN]

I find it hilarious Shoma gets called on some of the best looking quads he’s done

 

[Wyliefan]

The way the guys were lining up to hand Nika a medal. ... Thank heaven Lukas put a stop to that nonsense. And really happy for Yuma pulling out the win!

 

[tony]

I find it hilarious Shoma gets called on some of the best looking quads he’s done

Happened in the SP too. I’m notorious by now for ranting about his rotations but in the short, I thought it was maybe harsh.

But of course thrilled for a Kagiyama win!

 

[her grace]

Watching the replay and mini-grace wanted to fast forward Kagiyama because he fell. I started explaining about his beautiful bladework and she said, “If I wanted to watch his blades and not his emotion, then what would I be doing here?” Maybe she’ll become an ice dance fan yet.

 

[jenny12]

Yuma’s choreographic sequence is such a thing of beauty. I’m so glad to see him win here! I like Shoma but Yuma to me is an all-around better skater.

 

[Spikefan]

The way the guys were lining up to hand Nika a medal.

Same thing at Skate America, we need this to stop here. I am worried for Euros though, stress.

 

[Holy Headband]

Same thing at Skate America, we need this to stop here. I am worried for Euros though, stress.

We need Lukas and the Italians to show up at Euros.

 

[Bunny Hop]

Watching the replay and mini-grace wanted to fast forward Kagiyama because he fell. I started explaining about his beautiful bladework and she said, “If I wanted to watch his blades and not his emotion, then what would I be doing here?” Maybe she’ll become an ice dance fan yet.

Some of us watch the blades in ice dance...

 

[YukiNieve]

Shoma's comment after the free skate for NHK Trophy becomes the talk of the town among Japanese media/fans. This is a bit difficult topic to translate but I think it is an important topic, so I hope I did an acceptable translation here.

Please note: Shoma is NOT criticizing the rules or the way his skating was judged. He is quite a different kind of skater who really keeps saying he does not care much about win/lose/placement; what he truly cares about is whether or not he can skate that satisfies himself.

---
After the awards ceremony, Uno showed up in the mix zone and stated how he was feeling, while carefully choosing his words and repeatedly emphasizing that he is not criticizing anything.

"I don't think I can do any better than today's jumps even in practice, so if this is the standard for the future, I think it's totally OK. But if this becomes the standard, this is my limit and this is the competition that makes me think that I cannot go any further than this."

What he referred to was his 4 quadruple jumps. Especially, on his 4Lo and 4F in the beginning of the program, he felt that "I thought they were clean," "I don't think I can do any better than today's jumps even in practice." But both of them were marked with "q", which indicates insufficient rotations, and the points were deducted. The same went true for his two 4Ts, resulting in 4 out of 4 quads receiving "q" marks. He could not fully digest the discrepancy between how he felt about the jumps himself and how they were judged.

This season Uno has been aiming for "the performance I want to see again myself" as his top priority rather than placements and scores. With that goal in mind, he is in the midst of searching for the meaning of keep competing. Because of that (he says) "Honestly, this is the competition that made me wonder a little why I need to keep competing. It is just my opinion. It really is just my opinion, and I am not criticizing the scores or the rules."

One of his goals was to please his coach Lambiel, which has been achieved. Regardless of the judgement, his mentor praised his skating more than anyone else. "Stéphane was also very happy and I think it was a good performance." He nodded as if confirming the standard of value for himself.

https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/202311250001947.html?s=09 (in Japanese)

 

[kwanfan1818]

I've just caught up with the Men, at least the ones I had the patience to watch all of the way through.

I love Kagiyama, who is, by far, my favorite of the current men, and I'm not an Uno fan. But the way Uno skated to the pulse of the music was exquisite, and the way he moved his full body as if he didn't have to compensate for being on skates, for me, was more-than. He painted the music with his body.