Euros 2022 Liveblog: Men's free skate

 

Here we go. I missed the first half hour of competition because life and I'm still technically working today so my bad guys. Live scores as always can be found here

Joining in the middle of Monaco's skater. He is quite attractive. Wikipedia informs me his name is Davide Lewton Brain. He missed the end of the music slightly so that sucks. 123 for that FS.

Virtanen- FIN

Interesting song choice. Fall on that first quad attempt. Nice combo to recover. Very cool knee spin thingy. Nice jumps as we reach the halfway point. Doesn't get a ton of height but pretty good technique. And as I say that the double axel was crazy looking as hell. Spin is a little slow as is the footwork, but he picks up some speed as he goes-nice! Flying sit spins-I'm so glad those are coming back. This combo spin is much better than the last one. Higher level too. Good program overall-fall on that quad but clean after. 123 for his FS. Just ahead of Brain into 2nd.

Hayrapetyan- ARM

Really pretty opening. Huge triple axel but cant control the landing. Again triple axel attempt for the combo, and another fall. Doubles the next planned triple. This is a shame. Stays on his feet for the 3 flip but hand down. Performance is suffering tbh-I'm sure he's focusing on the mistakes. Bummer. Lands the next few jumps and combos but shakey and doubles a couple. Let's hope he shakes off this performance quickly and moves on-seems like it could be a nice program. 100 points oof.

**Warmup

Michal Brezina's in this group. Good for him, he's been around for quite a while. Got bronze medal at Euros back in 2013. Wikipedia informs me he is 31, wonder if he's got his eyes on retirement after this season. Zandron's outfit is giving me Les Mis and I HOPE that's true. 

Milyukov- BLR

I hate his outfit, it's a bad watercolor. Oof hard fall on that quad salchow. Triple axel is shakey but landed on his feet. Quad salchow another fall so that's a jump repeated. Music is really pretty gotta say. I think he wobbled on the footwork? His skating skills look a little questionable tbh. Pops the next jump-ugh this is sad. Recovers with the next couple jumps. Really unfortunate overall. He needs a lot of work on the basics. 113-shake it off!

Levandi- EST

Ok, let's clear the bad juju in this building. He's serving blue spider in the beginning of this program. Opening triple is solid, 2nd triple attempt in combo not successful. Double axel nice and triple flip too. Giving more of a performance than what I've seen from other competitors so far-loving it. More spider vibes in the spin as we hit the midway point. Rough in the next jump combo but makes it work. Really efficient rotations in the air. Selling the footwork YAS. Step sequence is a level 4. This was GREAT-he should be really proud. This kid is going places. 138 for him and into 1st. Well deserved. Biggest PCS by far of the day-correct.

Zandron- AUT

Alice in Wonderland not Les Mis. I'll take it I guess-he's clearly the Mad Hatter from Once Upon a Time. Triple axel is WAYYYY outside the circle and a fall. Triple loop much better. Next few jumps and combos are good. Lots of voiceover in the audio and I can't understand any of it RIP. For someone dressed as flamboyantly as this I expected more expression. He's giving nothing which is a disappointment tbh. Yea this is putting me to sleep. 123 total-they seem to be giving out that score a lot today.

Brezina-CZE

Did not know he was coached by Rafael Artunyan. Opening 3-3 is nice. NICE big triple axel. Big sit spin-I love this. Nicely choreographed too, interesting choice to do footwork during the slower section of music but smart. He's giving us a good performance and hit every single jump. I do not want to jinx but he is KILLING right now. Missed the end of that program but a great program. Should jump a few spots with that. I don't love these songs but he served (as the kids say) and I'm sure the lyrics had special meaning if this does turn out to be his last season. I say ~150ish for this. WOW 166 YES babyyy! 

Starostin- GER

Bold choice of outfit. Nice opening jump combo. He's really into the arms overhead for the jumps. I recognize he is trying to be expressive-it's not really doing anything for me but kudos for the attempt. He's young. I think in comparison to Brezina's maturity it's not quite giving as much emotional weight. Technically he's doing well. Don't expect this to challenge for 1st spot though. Into 2nd.

I missed Britschgi because I was eating lunch. Seemed like an ok program. Into 2nd. Beat Levandi's PCS and I don't agree tbh. 

**Zamboni intermission

One of the competitor's names is Frangipani which reminds me of 1. Claudia Fragipani (whom if I'm being honest is not a gymnast whose athletics I really vibe with) and 2. the almond based dessert food (and I hate almond sweets) so. I'm sorry in advance to this competitor. 

Memola- ITA

GREAT opening jump. What a pretty jumper. Oh wow a single axel ouch. Really slow spins though and not much performance to speak of. 132-sure. 

Fentz-GER

Dead eyed blank stare. Decent jumper though. Don't know if Brezina's score will have the oomph to last through this group and the next but I can see him jumping from 15th to top 5 with that free skate. 129 for Fentz. 

Aymoz- FRA

Stumble on first jump and jump combo. Really nice triple axel, he has really nice jump technique. Good performance quality too UGH and a stumble just as I say that. Aint that the way. He's gonna kick himself for that one. Oh an AERIAL? ON ICE? DAMN KEVIN OK! The slide during the footwork-great job to the chroeographer that was nice. It was all workin for me. Looks like he's taken over Brezina on technical score, not sure if any of the jumps were under review. His landings weren't as clean as they could be. He'll be working on that before Beijing. I think that's Silvia Fontana with him? (It is! Per Wiki. Let's applaud that I can recognize this woman with a mask on after not seeing her skate in like 10-15 years). 171.82 into first nicely, about 14 points up on Brezina. Good for him.

Frangipani- ITA

Gangster in the '20s vibes. Leaning too far forward on the second jump. Nice combo to recover, 3A-3TL. Jumps are ok, couple toe picky landings. Choreo is ok but performance isn't really there for me. He's just looking at the ice and thinking about what's next ya know (I get it, but that's not how you get the good PCS). Shouldn't challenge Aymoz. Apparently the music started with a voice over saying "Today, I'm gonna kill a man" but I did NOT get that vibe even remotely. 157 and into 2nd over Brezina. Welp.

Shmuratko- UKR

Jumps are ok, only glimmer of personality is in the footwork. Costume is ridiculous and overall an ok skate. I'm not hating and don't mean to single him out-but I do feel that middle of the pack skaters tend to be a bit the same in that they rely so heavily on technical elements that they act like a dead fish on the ice. 132 in 5th now.

Litvinsev- AZE

Skating to the Joker. Yike. Aaaand I basically missed it playing with my dog but he looks like a good jumper so. 161 for the FS and into 3rd. So Aymoz still in the lead. 

** Oh and they're split screen-ing with Aymoz now. We've reached that point. Notably Aymoz was 19 points out of the top 3 in the short program so the final group will need to really choke for him to walk away with the title-sorry there's just no other way to say it. His score is achievable for some of these guys. If nothing else, both Aymoz and Brezina redeemed themselves from the short program. This edit of Eye of the Tiger is AWFUL. 

Vasiljevs-LAT

Ohh Romeo and Juliet skate! Not vibing with the ponytail but anyway here we go. Oh he stabbed himself already! I'm into it. Nice big quad salchow. Triple axel is nice, combo is clean. UGH I love it already. He has great flexibility too throughout this footwork, which is really nice and fast. This man is my fave and WHAT is this spin. I saw a gif of that and it didn't look like the laws of physics would allow that but I was wrong. Dunno how he landed that combo in the corner but I think I'm a Vasiljevs stan now. AMAZING. His hair was like 1/3 of the performance. Deniss was about 10 points out of the medal placements in the short program-could get up there with this performance. Coached by Stephane Lambiel? It's all making sense now. 181 and into 1st easily. BIG scores for both TES and PCS biggest of the day for both so far. 10 points past Aymoz-even Aymoz is like yeah that was good. 

Grassl- ITA

He looks like Tomas Verner. A nice jumper. Is he an astronaut? ARMAGEDDON? Bold choice. Vocals are beautiful, skating is uninspired sadly. Techincally fine. Shame because if any piece of music could win me over it'd be this one. Crazy positions in the spins though, clearly a lot of flexibility. Nowhere near Vasiljevs. And yet...182 and into 1st. I hate it. TES is what did it. 

Kvitelashvili- GEO

Tough fall on that quad salchow. Missed hitting the "you" on the music. It's such a bummer. That should be a deduction, not just at the end of the program but throughout. If you miss musical cues, you lose (see it even rhymes, it wants to be a rule). Ironic popped jump on "I did it my way" I couldn't make that up. This is a bummer. And I just don't think this music suits him. He's faking the personality of this for the benefit of...I'm not sure who. Judges are rewarding interpretation, you don't have to swim if you're a bird you know? Anyway, he missed the end of the music too it all stinks I'm sorry Morisi, I'm sure you're capable of more, shake it off. If HE beats Deniss I shall riot. 161 for FS into 3rd. Did not beat Deniss.

Semenenko- RUS

Third place coming into the free skate. Coached by same guy who coached Yagudin? Isn't he like 1000 years old? Ok anyway. Giving me Rothbart from Swan Lake vibes. Rough landings on the first 2 jumps. Pops the next jump. Another stumble, things not looking great for him. Really leaning forward on all the landings. 3A-2T got a slightly positive GOE and like, not sure how I feel about it. He's definitely fighting for his life right now. The music is great, he's not quite giving it his best though. 160 for the FS and into 3rd, also behind Vasiljevs!

Kondtratiuk- RUS

Skating to Jesus Christ Superstar...oof. He is the current Russian champion so maybe has a little something to prove in this FS given that he is in second. His jumps are jumps. Good job. He's hitting the musical cues.. during the footwork. Can someone explain to me why skaters ever only give us a performance during the footwork? Vasiljevs and Aymoz performed the whole time. Idk, it was fine. I'm sure he will be in the lead after this. 187 into 1st and highest PCS so far. No thanks.

Mozalev- RUS

Leader after the SP and the final skater today. The bitch who's shouting should be kicked out ok here we go. I'm already feeling it. Great jump combo to start. Really weird pop of triple salchow. And glory be he is skating to the music and giving us something to look at besides jumps! Running sit spins! I love those but this kinda looked like a spin that was traveling a lot. Losing steam in the footwork a tiny bit. Should win with this but not his best I think. Wow only 165 for that free skate and 4th!! VASILJEVS GETS THE BRONZE FUCK YES I'M SO SORRY MOZALEV!