World Figure Skating Championships 2015- Men (Part 1- Freeskate Groups 1&2)

We like to talk about the depth of the field when it comes to men's figure skating in Japan, but in a lot of ways it's not what it used to be. I think Mura and Kozuka proved that at Worlds this year. Both have been inconsistent all season, and skated in the last group of the freeskate. In past years, there's no way these two both would have gotten spots the way they've been skating. But unfortunately, too many of the Japanese men have retired, and with less people skating comes less choices. However, after the 4CC, I did almost expect them to replace either Mura or Kozuka with Shoma Uno, who seems to be more consistent this season, and did extremely well at the 4CC. If the Japanese federation had only decided to put Uno in, Japan as a country would have done far better overall. It also might have been smart for the federation to beg Machida not to retire before Worlds, but he has also not been as consistent as in the past. There have been a lot of men retiring  simply because they felt they weren't getting anywhere in Japan because the field was too deep, if only they had stuck around a little longer, they might have had a chance this year.

I should be clear here, at this point Mura is not my favourite, not only because of his inconsistency and sub-par interpretation and skating skills, but also (and probably especially) because let's face it, if you're skating to two of either Carmen, Phantom, or Moulin Rouge, I probably hate you a little bit right now.

The entire first flight of the freeskate was a bit of a hot mess, and it's not like these men are incompetent skaters. For probably all of them, consistency is their biggest issue (it seems to be the biggest issue for everyone this season, even the ones who were ultra-consistent in the past). But when it mattered none of the first group really delivered. There were far too many popped jumps, and all of them looked just a little off balance for most of their programs. It seems like the pressure of competing at the World Championships got to them a little. We're going to have to wait and see what happens down the road, but I, for one, was not exactly impressed with the first flight.

The second flight was better than the first, there were still a whole lot of mistakes, too many in some of the programs to really enjoy them. It doesn't help that some of the skaters in this flight really aren't my favourites.

However, Joshua Farris is a skater I could watch forever. Though he had quite a few technical mistakes, I still thoroughly enjoyed watching him skate. His program is beautifully choreographed, and he has a beautiful ease over the ice. There is an attention to detail in creating the program and skating it that tends to be missing in most singles and pairs programs. The way his program is created feels almost like an ice dance performance with the jumps integrated well into the program. The mistakes were unfortunate, and I wish he could've held it together, but was happy to watch him anyway.

Maxim Kovtun is not one of my favourites, his technical elements, when done right, are impressive, but his transitions are lacking and he doesn't do much in terms of interpretation. His step sequence is slow, leaving me feeling a little like he doesn't have great skating skills. The program feels lack luster with even one mistake, because it really is the technical elements that get him ahead, when they don't work, unlike with someone like Josh Farris, there isn't a whole lot left. The freeskate was better than the short, but still not perfect. The choice of music in the free could have really been an advantage for him but he wasn't able to maintain the intensity the music demands, whether because of conditioning or less than stellar skating skills slowing him down, it just didn't have the power it could've.

Jeremy Ten is not a skater we really thought would make it to worlds this year. We all kind of assumed it would be Kevin Reynolds and Nam Nguyen, but with Kevin's rough showing at Nationals, the door opened for Jeremy. He has talked about retiring after this season, and though his freeskate was not a great final skate, with the possibility of Patrick Chan (probably) coming back next season, his chance of making it to another Worlds is not good. He has only been to one other World Championships back in 2009. As far as ending his career, this is not a terrible way to finish. He, like Joshua Farris pays attention to the details of the music and has wonderful choreography. When he skates well, his freeskate is fantastic, but this time it was disastrous. Unfortunately, he completely lost control and never really got the program back. His short program was better, he had a solid enough finish there, in 15th place, but he wasn't able to keep it together well enough to finish at his best. There really is no recovering from four falls.

Chafik Besseghier makes me nervous. He always seems a little out of control. If I'm always worried you're going to fall and hurt yourself, I can't enjoy your program. Not that his programs are anywhere near my favourites. I am really not a fan of his short and there isn't a whole lot to his transitions.

His freeskate is better than the short, but still not a great program. There's nothing to the transitions or interpretation, and so we don't really get a sense that he has great skating skills. Much like with Kovtun, if the jumps aren't perfect, the programs fall apart a little.

Part 2 will follow soon, covering groups 3&4