Grand Prix Final 2015- Dance

Weaver and Poje won the event, and their programs are good, but the reality is that the programs aren't something unique and special. It's no secret that I like Weaver and Poje, I like the quality of their skating, and they can do something extremely emotionally powerful, but I just don't connect to their programs. That said, there aren't really any programs in the dance event that I find especially impactful this season. Unfortunately, the dance, which is usually my favourite event, is just not having the same impact on me as it has in past seasons. I feel like people are trying too hard to follow in the path of Papadakis and Cizeron and with a waltz for the short dance, the whole event feels too one note for me.

Chock and Bates are really not my favourites, and I really think they were overscored here. They didn't have the quality in their elements that some of the other teams did. Madison also had a significant issue on the twizzles, which they still got positive GOEs on.That seems ridiculous to me. With a mistake that big on the twizzles, they should not have gotten positive GOEs. I have done nothing to hide that these two are not my favourites, I honestly just don't think they have the quality of skating that other teams do. Madison has great performance quality, but I feel like judges allow her to let that mask where she is weaker in the technical elements. Honestly, I think the Shibutanis were better than Chock and Bates here, but this doesn't bode well for Maia and Alex at US Nationals.

Cappellini and Lanotte were strong here, but like with Weaver and Poje, I like them well enough, but I just don't think the programs are anything all that special. I think overall they're good skaters, but I don't think the programs they have this year have any emotional impact, so I'm left just thinking it's fine, but what I really want is more programs that have emotional impact.

Maia and Alex Shibutani were underscored here in my opinion. I think they are better than Chock and Bates, and yet that wasn't reflected in the scores. I'm not really sure where the score difference is coming from, because I do really think they are better technical skaters than Chock and Bates. Their short dance is fine, but I'm really not a fan of the doll programs. Their freedance though, is definitely one of the best freedances. I didn't love it at first, but it is quickly growing on me.

Bobrova and Soloviev skated well, but they weren't the most memorable for me. Their music choices are not my favourite. They don't stick out in my memory because their music choices are a little unoriginal and they aren't exceptionally choreographed.

Hubbell and Donohue have something really special in their short dance, but unfortunately, I don't think their freedance matches that impact. I will admit that I like their freedance more than I expected when I saw their music choices. I definitely like them far more than I did last year, and it goes to show how important the music and choreography are for ice dance.

Grand Prix Final 2015- Ladies

Evgenia Medvedeva was far and away the best technical skater here. She is still lacking some of the refinement in the skating skills, but she has strong programs with good technical content, and her skating skills are fine, not as good as she was given (high 8s and 9s overall), but good. Her PCSs are definitely inflated, which is my problem with the current judging system. The IJS works in theory, but judges have a tendency to award PCSs for technical skating. When skaters have clean programs, there can be a tendency to award them high PCSs regardless of whether or not the skater has achieved them. I personally would have her pegged generally in the low to mid 7s, and with those, she still would have won, because this is an issue not only with her judging, but the way everyone is judged, especially here.

Satoko Miyahara is one of the most consistent skaters I've seen in a long time. You can count on Satoko to not fall apart in a program. She isn't one of those skaters who falls apart as soon as one thing goes wrong in the program, and that is a rarity in women's skating. It is so nice to see one of the ladies who is so far from being a headcase. You know she has firm technique and skating skills, and she knows she can rely on her training. Yes her jumps are still tiny, but she, unlike other ladies is actually getting her jumps around. She can have a tendency to lip on occasion, but it isn't a consistent problem for her.

Elena Radionova is still skating well, but all I can think about when I see her is how horrendous that freeskate is. The Titanic program is not only terrible for her, because she isn't emoting the right way for that music, but I don't think anyone could make that program good. Can the trend of Sexy Leo Voice go die in a hole somewhere? I don't know who thought that was a good idea, but clearly there were a bunch of coaches and choreographers not taking the hint from the ice dancers that that is not how you use vocals in a program.

Ashley Wagner had a good freeskate, but her short was a disaster. If she could only manage two clean programs and actually do her choreography there would be no stopping her, but she seems mentally incapable of doing two clean programs when the pressure's on. She also has a tendency to cut out her choreography as soon as anything goes slightly wrong in the technical department. She needs to learn to rely on her PCSs when the jumps aren't perfect. She is capable of selling a program even when the jumps aren't working if she just wouldn't give up on the program the second something goes wrong.

Mao Asada is having a rough season. Like Patrick Chan, she didn't come back with a bang. She's not really back to where she was before her year off, and unfortunately, things aren't looking too good for her. She seems far too focused on the triple axel so that when it works she loses focus, and when it doesn't she loses confidence. It seems to have far too much impact on her skating, and if that's the case, I think it needs to go. If she's not going to be able to skate a clean program regardless of what happens with the axel she needs to put it away until she can get her head back on her shoulders and skate like we all know she can.

Gracie Gold like Ashley and Mao needs to get her head on her shoulders. Honestly, the US ladies need a sports psychologist with them to help them understand why they're psyching themselves out. Almost all the US ladies are very talented and capable of being great but crack under pressure. These programs seem better for Gracie than last year, but I really do think to get her out of her head and into the performance, Frank needs to let her skate to whatever pop song is her favourite. If she's skating to music she absolutely loves, rather than music she likes (or doesn't like so much) she may be able to learn to perform and get out of her head a little more. If she's enjoying herself while she's skating I think that'll go a long way to making her a better performer.

Grand Prix Final 2015- Pairs Free

If you'd like to see my thoughts on what happened in the pairs short, you can watch it here along with the men's short.

The pairs free at the grand prix final did not come out the way anyone expected.

Duhamel and Raford could not manage to make up their point deficit in the free. They managed to move up one place, but still finished in second behind Stolbova and Klimov.

Stolbova and Klimov beat Duhamel and Radford by quite a lot. They won by about 13 points. Unlike Duhamel and Radford, they had a clean skate. They got positive GOEs on every single element in the free. They also got over 9 in each part of the PCS. They skated well, but their programs continue to not be my favourite. I'm not so sure we're going to continue to see this from these two, they haven't looked great up to this point, and they're missing some of the big elements other teams have. I'm not certain these programs are going to continue to be enough for them come worlds.

Duhamel and Radford had some issues in the free which kept them from recovering from the short. They had issues on both their throws, especially the lutz. I think their problem comes largely from the indecision about that throw. They need to decide definitively if they're going to go for the quad lutz, because they are clearly capable of the triple. However, even the triple has been looking off in competition. Perhaps it comes down to doubt, but they will need to rely on technical perfection if they want to win worlds again this year. Many of there elements were fine, but not particularly strong, which is extremely uncharacteristic of them. Here's hoping this was a one off, and is not going to become a consistent problem.

Kavaguti and Smirnov could not hold onto their lead over Duhamel and Radford, but did manage to extend their lead over Seguin and Bilodeau. They struggled on both of their side by side jumps, which hurt them significantly. Most of the rest of their elements were fine, but not spectacular. Most of them recieved between and 0 and a 1.5, which is not what these two are capable of. We saw some of their weakness in the jumps that had been absent for quite a while. They've come a long way in the last year, but they clearly still have some work to do on nailing the elements.

Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau surprised the world, finishing in fourth at the Grand Prix Final. They've only just moved up from Junior, but they are not letting that show. They're skating clean programs which is allowing them to move up quickly. They don't have some of the technical content the others have, they don't have a quad, but the elements they do have they do well. They suffer a little in the PCSs, which I think has a little to do with the fact that they are new seniors. They're generally good skaters, and they do have the choreography and transitions in their programs. With time, they're going to be a force to be reckoned with in pairs. All season, I've said they're going to be Canada's number two, and this is going to solidify that position. They'll be at worlds for sure, now we're just going to face the question of who will be our number two team.

Grand Prix Final 2015- Men's Free

To see what happened in the men's short and some of what I thought, you can watch the video here.

The men's free saw two more world records broken by Yuzuru Hanyu. He beat his total score record by nearly 10 points. He had two fantastic skates, and he's finally having a great season. Until this season, I can't remember ever seeing Yuzuzru Hanyu do a clean free in competition, and now he seems to be able to do that pretty consistently. I really enjoy watching his free, especially when he skates it well, not even necessarily world-record breaking, but as long as he skates it fairly well, it is dynamic and exciting. I have to say though, that the fact that skating skills was his lowest PCS was more than a little surprising, that's not to say it wasn't an amazing score, but compared to some of the other PCS elements, I would've put the skating skills on par at least.

Javier Fernandez held his position in second place in the free, but he was close to 40 points behind Hanyu. His free was better than the short, but still not nearly as amazing as Hanyu. He didn't have the same performance impact as Hanyu and as even Fernandez has had in the past. Most of his elements were very good, with the exception of the opening quad toe and the triple flip sequence. He got an edge call(!) on the flip and negative GOEs on the toe. Many of his elements had close to 0 GOEs. He also did very well in the PCSs, all of them were over 9.

Shoma Uno finished in third, but got fourth in both programs. He had strong elements overall, with the exception of a triple lutz, which he got an edge call on (e). He really needs to work on the details of his programs. He needs to work on the landing position, and the details within the skating skills. He did well on the PCSs, but still fell behind Hanyu, Fernandez, and Chan in that department. With a little more work on the transitions, choreography, and skating skills to ensure he can start to beat out the others, even when they're skating well. He beat Chan overall, but he lost the free to him because Chan did actually skate well. With a little more refinement, he's going to be consistently fighting for the top spot.

Patrick Chan recovered well from the disaster that was his short program. In the free, all of his GOEs were positive and all of his PCSs were over nine, averaging over 9.5. He is able to use his PCSs to keep up his total score despite the fact that he doesn't necessarily have the technical content others do. He's really not skating well this season, he's nowhere near back to himself, and others have improved while he has been slipping in terms of technical skills. He is learning to perform, but he is sacrificing the technical content. I don't have a problem with learning to perform, but with Chan, he has certain standards to meet based on what he's done in the past, and he is falling far short of the expectations we have of him.

Boyang Jin wasn't able to hold onto his lead from the short. He fell from third to fifth in the free. He did attempt four quads in the free, and got positive GOEs on three of them. He had the third highest technical mark in the free, but he fell far short of the others in PCSs. He's become so proficient in the technical elements that he's missing some of the basic skating and performance skills. He clearly can perform, we see it in the step sequences, and a little more often in the short, but it all falls away so that he can do the difficult technical elements. As those become even easier for him, hopefully he will start to build the transitions into and out of those elements. With time and energy spent on transitions, choreography, skating skills, and performance, he may just be the one to beat out Hanyu, but I have a feeling it's going to be a while before he's at that point, if he gets there at all.

Daisuke Murakami fell one place in the free, leaving him in last place. His program wasn't great, but he didn't have a disastrous program. He had some negative GOEs, and repeated the quad salchow out of combination, and it was also downgraded. That left him with a base value of just over 3. He got an edge call (!) on a flip as well. He had better PCSs than Boyang Jin, but couldn't make up the technical difference. I generally like Murakami, but he couldn't manage to hold it together here.

Grand Prix Final 2015- Men and Pairs Short Programs

So instead of my usual posts, I've actually made a YouTube video for a news channel I contribute to on this event, so in the interest of time and timeliness, I've decided to share it here.


Let me know what you think of the new format.