2022 Olympics Figure Skating: Team Event thoughts and wrap up

Ladies' singles

Sigh. There is so much to say about the ladies event. Something I didn't think I'd say given that I haven't followed this discipline beyond glancing at finishing places in the last 4 years. As to Valieva-amazing as everyone expected I think. Her Bolero choice for the FS really did not work for me this time out and not just because of the mistake. I think its more clear in the FS that as good as she is technically, she has SO much untapped potential in her expression, in her PCS (even though she's wildly overrated by the judges in PCS). Because her music and choreography are just...ok at the moment. And I just feel in my bones that with a different coaching staff she could be even better (and yes I think the fact that she made history in the FS and finished looking sad and upset afterward tells us everything we need to know about skating with Eteri and her current situation). 

The Japanese women were great (Sakamoto's FS music is THE WORST but even still she managed to really impress in her performance). 

And we have to talk about Madeline Schizas. Listen. If you'd told anyone before the games started that she'd fall apart under the Olympic magnifying glass no one would've blinked. She's a pretty inexperienced skater for all that she's only 18. And yet! She managed to be Canada's top finisher in both segments of the ladies' competition! That's some kind of moxie. And from what I heard Canadian press was really piling on the pressure after 2018's team gold and the fact that Keegan Messing couldn't make it to China in time. It makes me excited not only to watch her in the ladies individual event but in the years to come. Athletes who can do their best under big pressure-they're not common. It'll be really exciting to watch her career (I also really appreciated that after the FS she shouted the F word on the ice and it was caught on camera-you gotta love it). 

Karen Chen, oh you. You tease us with your beautiful skating and your spins and your positions in the jumps only to underrotate that shit and wind up middle of the pack. You saucy minx! It's so frustrating to see a competitor like Karen who is almost the opposite of someone like Valieva. If Chen could just get the jumps down she would be a force to be reckoned with-because her performances really are so wonderful. She's a skater's skater. 

I won't go on too much about the rest of the field except to say that the field really impressed me in the short program-and kudos to these ladies for bringing their best on the biggest stage of figure skating!

Mens' singles

Oh my god you guys have you heard of Nathan Chen? Did you hear that he totally choked in 2018???? (Eye roll). I love the La Boheme program and he was amazing in it-but I'm just SO over the 2018 callbacks, and that's saying something because I watch the world feed that doesn't even have Tara and Johnny shrieking into the mics that he ruined everything in his life forever when in 2018 as an 18 year old he couldn't perform under the pressure of an Olympic competition. *Grinds teeth*

Shoma Uno-and Yuma Kagiyama in particular-really impressed as well. Kagiyama's free skate was BEAUTIFUL. I shouldn't have been surprised given that he's proven he is capable of performing under pressure but the beauty of the skating won me over. 

I have to admit beyond these competitors I wasn't super impressed with the men's field. I was really rooting for Vincent Zhou to have a strong free skate after Nationals-that free skate is so good when he's on. It's so well choreographed. It's possible nerves got in the way, but it's also possible he was beginning to feel side effects of COVID and it's a real shame that he wasn't able to get redemption from Nationals, and beyond that he couldn't even accept his silver medal and he's done for the men's event. I really do hope he recovers quickly and kills it at worlds. 

Pairs skating

Another absolutely wild ride. I truly hope Sui/Han take gold in the pairs event. Their skate was amazing in the short program and they deserved the win there. Mishina/Galliamov were also great in the short, they just looked very business like in all their elements. Kneirim/Frazier as well! Skating about as well as I've seen them skate! Their finish ahead of the Japanese team Miura/Kihara was really crucial in setting up the rest of the US team to finish in 2nd. 

In the free skate Mishina/Galliamov's fall made me shout "OH MY GOD" so loudly. I really hadn't noticed his issues so much but have to go back and look. His head looked like it BOUNCED off the ice though and it was terrifying. In the K&C he looked so terrible, just kind of bobbing and weaving. I really hope they made sure he was ok and he recovers well in time for the pairs event. That being said, I didn't think they should finish SO far ahead of the Japanese given the fall. Miura/Kihara were not without mistakes but nothing so serious as the fall from the Russians. Cheng/Yang and James/Radford had... I don't know-fine skates. That death spiral from Cheng/Yang though-YUCK forever. If you read the pairs blog post I wrote you know how I feel about catch foot death spirals. And from the guidance the ISU issued earlier this year, they really should've received lower GOE given that her body is in a, what would you call it, a rainbow position? And their guidance stated that the woman's body essentially had to be a straight line from her skating leg up to his shoulder OR A SLIGHT ARCH. SLIGHT MADAM. Anyway-rant over.

I was really surprised also to see in Kneirim and Frazier's free skate that she was the one who looked tense and nervous throughout. Normally she's ready for battle at all times, but she just looked really nervous here. Maybe the short program performance made her nervous that she had to match it in the free? I'm not sure exactly, but again I do hope they can regroup for the individual event.

Ice dance

I'd have to say at this point coming in almost no one could have expected what happened in the Ice Dance event. It's a great day for Chock/Bates and Hubbell/Donohue who both came into this event probably hoping for 2nd realistically. I think it was basically well accepted that Sinitsina/Katsalapov would be in the hunt for gold in the individual event. You have to question RusFed's choice to use Sinitsina/Katsalapov for both segments of this event and not even have Stepanova/Bukin present as an option! I also somewhat questioned the choice to use Chock/Bates for the free and Hubbell/Donohue for the Rhythm Dance based on their performances at Nationals, but I'm not sure how these things are decided. From what I hear the skaters do have some say in the choice and it's possible both teams wanted to get in a good performance to clear out the errors they had in these respective performances at Nationals. If that's the case it was a great choice! I don't know when I've enjoyed either program more. Chock and Bates especially had such a great time with the Alien/Astronaut program. It really grew on me in a way I didn't expect. 

As for Sinitsina/Katsalapov...Yike. Yike to the mistakes and also to his back. I truly don't understand why they are using up his bad back for a gold medal at Euros (which they've already won) and in the team event (a foregone conclusion even if Russia had finished much lower in this segment). It just doesn't seem to be boding very well for them here especially if they really were going for that individual gold. In the RD they (really just Nikita) made some kinda silly mistakes, in the midline step and in the twizzles. But in the free dance. They both looked manic? Like instead of smiling they were grimacing? He might've actually been grimacing I can't say but it just wasn't there performance wise. 

And to the Canadians-Gilles/Poirier. This was a little tough to be honest-I think both programs were maybe the best I've seen them all season. I found it especially hard to get into that free skate before but this performance was really good. Piper really did the most to sell this program. I do think they were scored a little lower than they should've been (and according to the Flutzes and Waxels podcast their twizzles in particular were likely unfairly judged in the RD). On the flip side Guignard/Fabbri had a great skate and came in 3rd-another big upset for a team that was 6th in the world last year. F&W also thought that Guignard/Fabbri should've possibly placed higher than Sinitsina/Katsalapov in the RD. I can't comment as much on this except to say while they are a good team-I just don't connect with their programs or their skating in general so it's tough for me to judge fairly. 

That's just the top 4 from the RD/FD and already it seems like it'll be absolute chaos in the individual event. It makes me even more excited than before to see how things go especially with the full field finally competing after 2 years of a weakened field.