2024 NHK Trophy Mens FS PBP - How Now Brown Kay-O?

[YukiNieve]

My friend told me that Daniel's FS is about Little Dancer. I did not watch the movie.

 

[tony]

For those not watching, Satoko Miyahara is awarding the medals and she just got a massive applause.

 

[YukiNieve]

Satoko！
So her job title is director.

 

[YukiNieve]

Someone please tell Chris that it was not pressure, but the injury, that Kao was not able to handle today.

 

[Sylvia]

My friend told me that Daniel's FS is about Little Dancer. I did not watch the movie.

Billy Elliot:

Daniel Grassl on Instagram: "Free Skating: I will interpret “Billy Elliot”. A film and musical that I loved a lot. From his audition to the ballet school till the final Swan lake scene at the theater. We used musics form the film and the musical and

1,974 likes, 57 comments - daniel.grassl_official on September 13, 2024: "Free Skating: I will interpret “Billy Elliot”. A film and musical that I loved a lot. From his audition to the ballet school till the final Swan lake scene at the theater. We used musics form the film and the musical and...

www.instagram.com

 

[MacMadame]

For those not watching, Satoko Miyahara is awarding the medals and she just got a massive applause.

I like that they have bows on them

 

[Andrey aka Pushkin]

Brown probably tops the list of skaters I'd love to hung out with, but this result is just an utter bs, sorry.

I'm a big fan of the Italian boys, despite Grassl not making this job easy. Gabriele is easily my fave, but I'm a bit scared for him. He seems to reach that point when he's just a pleasure to watch but never quite gets it together. Much prefer this more sophisticated style to Bocelli. Matteo is a delight in general, not so much in this LP; but glad to see him back so soon and so well. I appreciate Daniel's willingness to make unexpected music choices, but this one was too unexpected even for me, and with him having a laundry day, this entire performance was somewhat nearing the uncanny valley and uncomfortable to watch. Still, good luck to him too. Italians need 4 spots everywhere this season.

Torgashov looks like a refugee from the late 90ies, and I got bored in about 10 seconds. That said, Chen also looked like it a year before he became amazing, so who knows.

I'm pretty positive about Tsuboi. He's quite generic, but I see some personality lurking from behind this unimaginative program, and he seems to be very young and not fully reaching his technical and artistic potentials yet, so there's hope.

Which can't be said about Miura. He is proficient technically, but boring as hell, and there's nothing in this LP that has any potential to become exciting. A good solid generic Japanese skater. With the meltdown of epic proportions, this was one of the least watchable performances.

And finally Yuma did well, and he's probably the guy to beat this season with Malinin and all, but I'm not very excited. This program is too sophisticated for him yet, and he's obviously still not at his peak shape despite a very good performance. I hope once he becomes more sure, he will be able to project more. I definitely see the investment in him, but not the spark that the best Japanese boys tend to have.

 

[Frau Muller]

Grassl good!

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

I`m biased; (seems like Daniel gort wrist slap for skipping drug test). It was an old school skate - back and forth doing jumps - doing them well - but didn`t really see choreo or presentation.

Happy for Andrew conquering his inconsistent demons this GP cycle. What ever he`s doing, keep it up.

If Daniel got 80 pcs shouldn`t Andrew be getting a bit more?

 

[cholla]

I`m biased; (seems like Daniel gort wrist slap for skipping drug test).

I must have missed something important here. I was very surprised to see Grassl competing. I heard he failed to show up at 3 different drug tests. Isn't it true? If it is, he only got a slap on the wrist?! How is this possible?

 

[tony]

I must have missed something important here. I was very surprised to see Grassl competing. I heard he failed to show up at 3 different drug tests. Isn't it true? If it is, he only got a slap on the wrist?! How is this possible?

He didn't compete at all last year. They requested two years suspension I guess, and he ended up with one.

 

[cholla]

He didn't compete at all last year. They requested two years suspension I guess, and he ended up with one.

Lucky him Thank you for the answer.

 

[jenny12]

Kagiyama should be able to skate a close to clean program and still outdo Malinin in a fair world, lack of TES or not. The GOE should be so much higher on the landed jumps, and the PCS is leagues apart.

Indeed. I continue to be blown away by the quality of so much of Yuma’s skating. Some all-timer stuff from him.

 

[Rukia]

Obviously I'm very pleased with Yuma's win. He's absolutely glorious. The scoring of Grassl is hilarious. Very proud of pewter medalist Andrew Torgashev for only having 16 hours at home between comps and still being consistent and clean. That's what the US men need. I'd say he's put himself in strong contention for a spot at worlds.

 

[Private Citizen]

I like Torgashev and applaud his newfound consistency. But I feel like he's another "Liashenko" type: around forever, loved by FSU, and people get way too excited when he starts doing content that may have been competitive five or more years ago.

 

[jlai]

I like Torgashev and applaud his newfound consistency. But I feel like he's another "Liashenko" type: around forever, loved by FSU, and people get way too excited when he starts doing content that may have been competitive five or more years ago.

Torgashev is not past retirement age and not around forever.
And he has better skating skills too.

Talking about content that may have been competitive, it is competitive among US men not Ilia and more competitive than Brown.

 

[skateboy]

I love Jason but too many people are doing Spiegel im Spiegel and sure Jason can do it justice artistically but the music is not interesting enough for me to have to hear it as often as I have been this season.

It's not interesting enough for... a skating program.

I'm performing Spiegel im Spiegel tomorrow night for a concert (that includes many other selections). The music is not supposed to be "interesting." It is supposed to create stillness and peace and, to that end, it is extremely effective.

NOT for competitive skating.

 

[Lana K]

It's not interesting enough for... a skating program.

I'm performing Spiegel im Spiegel tomorrow night for a concert (that includes many other selections). The music is not supposed to be "interesting." It is supposed to create stillness and peace and, to that end, it is extremely effective.

NOT for competitive skating.

I mean, Shoma made it work beautifully last season for his farewell program, IMO…

 

[Jay42]

It's not interesting enough for... a skating program.

I'm performing Spiegel im Spiegel tomorrow night for a concert (that includes many other selections). The music is not supposed to be "interesting." It is supposed to create stillness and peace and, to that end, it is extremely effective.

NOT for competitive skating.

I mean, Shoma made it work beautifully last season for his farewell program, IMO…

Shoma was specifically why I said it wasn't interesting enough for me to have to hear that often and not that it isn't interesting enough for a competitive figure skating program. Because ultimately I do actually agree with @skateboy , but also Shoma's program to it was gorgeous and I liked it a lot.

 

[zigzig]

Kagiyama - sublime. brilliance. class of his own (as his score suggests).

Grassl - W T F was this program? one of the worst programs I've ever seen in MY LIFE and i have been watching skating for decades. and he has awful, awkward lines so the ballet movements are especially CRINGE. so amazed he got credit on all of his sketchy quads given how strict the panel was.

Tsuboi - solid skater. still developing. glad he got third.

Torgashev - love him. love the program and COSTUME. wish he had more competitive tech content.

Rizzo - another love. wish he was the top italian over grassl, bleh.

Miura - sad. hope he's ok.

Brown - disgusting obscene overscore. the hyper inflated GOE on mediocre jumps is criminal. should not have beaten Tomoki. really shameful scoring here.

Tomoki - should have been way higher than Brown. Extremely lowballed on PCS.

Litvintsev - tough skate.

Frangipani - love his verve and passione. jumps a mess but he is so watchable and exciting.

Gorodnitsky - he has really good technique and rotation on his triples. wonder why the quads aren't there. needs better material.

Lim - not a memorable skater.

 

[Lana K]

Shoma was specifically why I said it wasn't interesting enough for me to have to hear that often and not that it isn't interesting enough for a competitive figure skating program. Because ultimately I do actually agree with @skateboy , but also Shoma's program to it was gorgeous and I liked it a lot.

Yeah, I totally get that perspective! Shoma had so much presence in his free skates that I’m not sure it would’ve mattered to me what he skated to. (Yuma has that effect too.)

 

[kwanfan1818]

My friend told me that Daniel's FS is about Little Dancer. I did not watch the movie.

Little Dancer is both a sculpture by Degas and a musical based on the life of the model for the sculpture, Marie Genevieve von Goethem, “a street urchin, one of the “opera rats” who joined the Paris Opera Ballet as a way out of poverty.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/true-story-little-ballerina-who-influenced-degas-little-dancer-180953201/

Billy Elliott is a musical then non-musical movie about a boy from a mining town in the UK during the miners’ strike in the mid-80’s. He wants to dance ballet, his widowed father and brother are against this, because people will think Billy is gay, he gets lessons from a teacher in secret — she thinks he’s talented enough to go to the Royal Ballet School — dad sees him dance and is overcome with all.the.emotions and does a 180, even thinking of crossing the picket line to raise the funds for the school audition — preferable to taking “charity” from a female teacher, because, testosterone — he gets to the audition, thinks he’s blown it, but then gets accepted and, fast forward a decade, dances Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, and dad is all .

ETA: Grassl’s costume is the ISU legal version of the standard “uniform” for boys and men in ballet class: short-sleeved white top and black tights.

I think B E N O I T was trying to punk us with this program, but not more than the judges and the technical panel with his FS score.

 

[peibeck]

Just finished watching so my thoughts on the men:

Kagiyama: How could anyone not appreciate his skating? Those edges.... I only feel that this program is almost, perhaps, a little too relentlessly paced. Even Ilia takes a moment to breathe doing his quadfest; Yuma could benefit from the same. Also I'm recommending to by BFF that she get her Texan hubby a BEDAZZLED BOVINE shirt for Christmas!

Grassl: Oh dear.... How this reached 80 points in PCS is beyond embarrassing. His posture screams he's never been in a ballet class in his life (and if he has, you'd never know it). Also, how he got the benefit of the doubt when the tech caller was so SEVERE this whole comp is rather amazing to me. Meh.

Tsuboi: "I Pagliacci" is a LOT to skate up to, and I don't believe he, or the way the program just peters out at the end with a mediocre spin, live up to music. However, he did extremely well throughout most of it and I see room for the program to grow and develop as the season progresses.

Torgashev: Ahhhh. @Rukia 's voodoo magic was working OT again this weekend. Safe to say, he's put himself in prime position to make it to Boston if he can hold it together at Nationals. But it seems like he's finally healthy and developed more consistency since moving to CA. Hopefully they can work on getting the 4T to be routinely rotated and add another in combo.

Rizzo: Somehow, like the Shibs, he makes Coldplay work. That's the power of a great skater.

(((Miura))) A 17 point cushion between him and Tsuboi going into the free and ending up next to last in that segment has got to be emotionally crushing.

Brown: How this actually managed to end up 6th in the free is head scratching. Yes, what he does well, he does beautifully. But the PCS gift today was truly unwarranted.

Hiwatshi: Yes, his basics aren't great, but I've always had a soft spot for Tomoki and his amazing energy out on the ice, and I really, really like this program for him. Glad to also see his spin levels, while not great and getting high GOE, were better here than in his SP.

Litvintsev: The judges rightfully took a hammer to his PCS. The program itself makes zero sense, and he does nothing but crossovers for 85 percent of it between jumps and ragged spins. Butsaeva should know what worked back in the day for Plushy ain't gonna cut it now.

Frangipani: Obviously being in @AngieNikodinovLove (ANL) 's harem has taken a terrible toll. FREE FRANGI!!!

And in closing, the little Japanese lady working the ice gate and quite obviously checking out the male skaters
derrières is my HERO OF THE DAY!!!

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

FREE FRANGI!!!

Denied

 

[skateboy]

I mean, Shoma made it work beautifully last season for his farewell program, IMO…

Shoma used Spiegel im Spiegel for just the last third of his program. Of course, Shoma skates beautifully but, even then, I felt it was an odd choice. Just my opinion.

 

[her grace]

Grassl got the landed 3+ quads effect on TES where the technical panel decides to ignore underrotations. Many skaters have benefited from this effect with Zhou as one notable exception.

 

[mtnskater]

Grassl on the podium kind of ruined the event for me. That program was borderline unwatchable. Who keeps giving Grassl these ballet dancer programs when he looks like he has never studied or understood the subject? The last long program I remember from him before he disappeared for a couple of years was “White Crow”. Crazy that the judges don’t hammer him on PCS like they do Shaidorov. And they didn’t call underrotations. That quad salchow sure looked turned on the ice. At least Boyang Jin’s people know to give him music like Spider-Man or Journey and don’t try to pretend he is a ballet dancer.

I’m surprised at all the heat heaped on Jason here. I loved loved loved that program for him. Favorite of the night. Sublime pure skating, edges, line, positions, transitions, etc. Just mesmerizing and gorgeous. I teared up almost the whole way through it was so beautiful. No one else can skate like that right now. So I’m fine with his score.

So happy for Tomoki. Really enjoyed his high energy snappy cool program. Best he’s done for awhile.

I criticized Rizzo’s score for the short program. But I really liked his free and he performed it so well.

Tsuboi is all kind of awkward to me but not as awkward as Grassl. But nice to see his happiness. His jump rotations are blindingly fast.

Torgy had me jumping up and down and clapping. So happy for another clean skate. The contrast skating right after Grassl was night and day but judges didn’t notice for whatever reason. He performed more and emoted more too. So happy for him! Just love his all around quality. Didn’t get the under on the quad in the slo mo.

Kagiyama is so accomplished technically but his artistic impression doesn’t reach me. I’m not arguing with his scores or placement at all. He deserves to be right at the top. He just doesn’t move me with his presentation or artistry yet. But he’s improving that all the time. Wish he could let loose and perform more, that’s what seems to be missing for me. I don’t feel moved or connect with the performance. But I’m in awe of his knee bends and agility on the ice.

 

[tony]

Grassl on the podium kind of ruined the event for me. That program was borderline unwatchable. Who keeps giving Grassl these ballet dancer programs when he looks like he has never studied or understood the subject? The last long program I remember from him before he disappeared for a couple of years was “White Crow”. Crazy that the judges don’t hammer him on PCS like they do Shaidorov. And they didn’t call underrotations. That quad salchow sure looked turned on the ice. At least Boyang Jin’s people know to give him music like Spider-Man or Journey and don’t try to pretend he is a ballet dancer.

White Crow was a short program, and I think the reason it was so good was because he in fact did have a lot of surprisingly nice, held lines when he wasn't plowing into the jumps. He really does hold himself and move well, but his jump technique isn't going to change itself.

I don't think his PCS is that bad, but I do think his jumps should be under scrutiny. Which is the exact opposite of what the judges usually decide to do seeing how he's been labeled a jumper since his junior days.

 

[PRlady]

So I caught up with the second group. Agree Grassl is not balletic and he looks so thin in that tight white shirt I worry about him. But his jumps don’t particularly bother me, I’m not such a purist. It’s just that something about him appears….off.

Yuma was his wonderful self, Tsuboi has a lot of potential but a long line ahead of him and good for Torgy but so much more could be done with that program. He needs another two quads and a lot more expression to be really competitive.

 

[Sally1214]

Finally got a chance to watch the Men's FS. Wow, the negativity for Daniel Grassl on here is something to behold. He's never been a fave skater of mine but I don't have anywhere near the harsh opinions of him that a lot of you seem to have but to each, his/her own.

My thoughts ...

Lim: Not terrible for his 1st year in Seniors. Footwork sequence was impressive and decent PCS. Kudos to Jeff Buttle on the choreo.

Hiwatashi: YES!!!! That was FUN. I couldn't stop clapping and cheering at the end. Hubby came running to see what he missed! LOL That program was just SO wonderfully entertaining.

Brown: He's not technically competitive anymore; but, oh my, that program was gorgeous.

Gorodnitsky: Remember him skating but don't remember much about it all. Probably not a good sign.

Frangipani: Shame that he just couldn't get the jumps working at all. I really felt sorry for him at the end of the program.

Rizzo: Standing O from me (right along with the live audience). Just a beautiful program from him. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand as the emotion kept building at the end of the performance. Bravo!

Litvintzev: Okay, it was a so-so performance. But, I was surprised at just how much Chris went on and on about the lack of choreo. Not that there WAS much choreo but Chris was a bit over the top, imo.

Grassl: Well, I agreed with the judges a heck of a lot more than some of you. I thought he had a fantastic skate; and, obviously, the live crowd in attendance did too. Another standing O from them. Me too.

Torgashev: Shame about a couple of the ur calls but, wow, he was fun to watch. Good for him! At this point in the competition, it was starting to dawn on me that this Japanese audience was challenging Canadians in the standing ovation category!

Tsuboi: He was robbed on the ur call on his first 3axel! Another fabulous skate. Loved it.

Miura: Just really sad for him. Hope he's okay.

Kagiyama: Do NOT scare me like that again ... okay!! Oh, what can anyone say about him other than that he's just an absolutely phenomenal talent. Love him so much. Wish him continued good health and the very best of luck throughout this season and beyond.

Overall, the men's competation at NHK was REALLY well-skated. Congrats to all and thanks for helping to make my weekend so very enjoyable.