Figure Skating

This is so sad for everyone involved. I actually said “oh no!” when I read about his death. Yes, he was going through a very tough time that was going to get tougher. But, I’m sure this is not what the potential victims wanted when they reported him to SafeSport. 

The men’s competition was so exciting! Nathan is incredibly talented and can go up against Yuzuru Hanyu legitimately. Nathan’s expertise is forcing the other guys in the USA to up their game. The top three were just fabulous, and the newer guys see what they have to do get on a World or Olympic team. The next three years are going to be soooo good in this discipline.

I missed some of the competition this weekend because I was traveling. I'm just now watching the men's short program OnDemand (from a Chicago affiliate, inexplicably). SO glad to see Jason Brown getting rid of the schtick with the pony tail and the gimmicky routines. I do think he needs to revise that haircut though. Every time he skates backwards, the back of his hair flips up and it looks like that Kate Gosselin "Let Me Speak to the Manager" 'do. Probably not the look he was going for

With the World Championships coming up, I hope they've revised the rules about elements in the long program. IMO, the bonus points in the back half of the program really ruins the flow of the routines and it was what gave those Russian girls the win at the Olympics. Yes, they were very good, but the worked that rule to get the maximum amount of points with programs that were dull. It was like "glide around, spin, do footwork sequence" for the first half and then "jump, jump, jump, jump" in the second half. Meh. I hope they've revised the rules and required skaters to have more balanced programs. They should have to do a certain number of jumps in the first half of the program.

Nathan Chen just won his fourth National Championship this weekend. He's incredible.

In other news, this is horrid.
www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2020/01/22/sex-abuse-coach-accused-coverup-working-figure-skating-nationals/4542374002/

I was a fan of John Zimmerman, but if this is true, he needs to be banned from figure skating. I like Morgan Cipres and Vanessa James and enjoy watching them skate, but if Cipres sent d!ck pics to a 13 year old girl, he needs to go too.

Figure skating is turning out to have as many sleazy predators as gymnastics

All of this is figure skating...fortunately and unfortunately. 

Finally finished all the NBC and NBC sport center figuring skating. OK I don't watch all of it but well over 10 hours. I can't believe how good the American female single skaters were. Both the short and long program were fantastic and Mariah Bell skating to Hallelujah was throat choking awesome. I must admit who ever the director was for all the US National skates did a fantastic job of being up close but not too close and just far enough away that you could really see what the skaters were doing and also how well they were covering the ice. I cannot say the same for the European championships. The camera was simply too far away to the point it was hard to see the skater. What was the point. I was shocked how good the depth of field was of the American females vs the European. I loved the US Nationals woman's long program as each skater was better then the previous one and almost everyone stayed on their feet. I was not even that impressed with the top three Russian girls. Yes, they are all technically proficient however only Alena Kostornaia, has a bit of heart and soul in her program. The other girls,Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, you take away their jumps what is left? Them skating from one end of the rink to the other getting set up to jump. I liked some of the other European girls performances especially Emmi Peltonen and it was too bad she fell as her long program looked well put together, a good combination of choreography and jumps.