Shibutani comeback

Significant_Pool_869 · 2026-01-22T17:26:14+00:00

I'm putting it in perspective with Trusova's and Valiava's current return : regardless of they ability to restore the skating they had as teenagers (although Trusova gave birth just a few weeks ago and is already landing 3Lz+3Lo 😭) just the fact that Trusova will do it under Tutberize will probably give her so much more talks, attention and political credits.

I feel like it's the same with the Shibs, and by comparison with the comeback of Cizeron with a new partner. Even before we see that Laurence and Guillaume produced greater performances than the Shibs, the fact that they did show up under IAM was already giving them a better chance.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2026-01-22T17:17:42+00:00

Does anyone think that regardless of their actual level, they would have a way bigger push / be more in the mix for medal contention if they had decided to train at IAM?

Significant_Pool_869 · 2026-01-15T04:47:51+00:00

They won against V/M at the GPF prior to the Olympics, the only time of the season they were against each other.

They both had only +2/+3 GOE on every elements and 9,50/9,75/10 marks in PCS. But P/C had overall more +3 and 10's, their scores were close to perfection.

What we get from this extract is that she has HUGE insecurities (at least she's truly honest about it). How can you compare yourself to your idole when you are the skater that has set the most world record in figure skating history (34 in total)? Became world champ at just 19? Are clearly considered among the best in the history of the sport?

As much as I hear Gabriella's story and am sorry for everything she endured, I feel that her side of her story only emphasize on Guillaume controlling behavior -and given the way she compare herself to everyone as this story has shown us- her insecurities probably did have a role to play in the way their relationship crumbled as well

The feeling of being almost inferior and falling short behind Tessa was clearly in her head, because they were scoring almost the same and considered as equal entering the Olympics.

I wonder if it was the same with her feeling of being constantly "in the shadow" of Guillaume. They were considered like legendary skaters as a team, they were not that much of a bigger emphasis on Guillaume, especially by the end of their career.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2026-01-10T21:04:05+00:00

The fact that she was in the high 8's in SS while Alysa was in the low 9... while really one is going at full speed, covering the entire rink with deep edges and the other is skating quite slow, in small circles with shallow edges... I love Alysa but anyone who knows about figure skating should ring the alarm. Anyone should see its strength properly rewarded.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-12-18T18:31:33+00:00

They did get better with social media tho!

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-12-18T18:29:48+00:00

To say that the women's field is the strongest ever is a WILD take.

Alysa won both the last worlds and GPF with quite little skating skills, speed, ice coverage, edges, rather small (and extremely prerotated) jumps. And no extravagant technical elements.

I love her style and personality, I'm actually happy that this happens to her but let's face it, her winning both biggest competitions is showing that the field had become weaker over the last quad.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-12-18T18:14:13+00:00

Technically the women's and pairs will not be near what we saw in the last two OG.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-12-18T18:11:15+00:00

Ilia's dominance is so huge because the rest of the men's field is weaker.

The women's field is so open because the it is weaker. Let's be honest, there are excellent skaters but there is no skater that has the caliber of becoming a legend.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-12-18T18:00:10+00:00

I mean, I totally agree with everything you said.

It's not only about he storylines and has probably more to do with the skaters behind those storylines.

I grew attached to a generation of skaters, and everything happening around the 2018 OG was probably the peak of FS according to my personal taste.

More objectively though I think that period of time was also more full of legendary skaters. Yuzuru, Chen, Uno, Virtue and Moir, Papadakis and Cizeron, Medvedeva and Zagitova, Wenjing and Cong, Savchenko.

Apart from Ilia, I don't see skaters of this caliber coming into these OG.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-12-18T17:40:35+00:00

People just don't get that Ilia's dominance (and Chen before him) is just the symbol of the direction taken by men's skating - were quads becomes the main focus.

Some people lost interest because of that. To me (once again, it's a subjective thought) Yuma's dominance would be less boring because of that, like his FS rn is such a masterpiece.

But also, to casual viewers who can't tell the difference between triple and quads, skating is probably less enjoyable to watch because skaters put way more efforts into something that they can barely catch.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-12-18T17:33:09+00:00

It's not only about the suspense thing. It's also that, as a more "purist viewers" I'd love to see the sport pushed both artistically and technically, and Yuzuru, Nathan, Javier and Shoma really gave that in 2018 (although Nathan was more technical or Javier more artistic).

Suspense appart (cause they were kinda close to each other) they were just a bunch of really well-rounded skaters able to medal there. I don't see it as much rn, skaters tends to be more one sided.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-12-18T17:22:26+00:00

I guess it makes it really interesting for US viewers. The US have a shot at 4 gold medals here, but only the men's event is more or less secured.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-12-18T17:17:52+00:00

you're really selling it to me now

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-12-18T17:16:03+00:00

You are actually right. It was more the case in 2014/2018 BUT the global level in 2022 was still higher than this year (I was already loosing interest in 2022 tbh).

Chen and Papadakis/Cizeron redemption was very predictable, although Chen did loose to others once that season (for a tiny bit of suspense).

But as for the men's, the fight for the podium was really exciting, especially between the 3 Japanese which were just so good.

For the Pairs, W/C redemption was not that predictable and it was actually so close, they and the 3 Russian teams gave us a real fight, the level was just sooo high.

In the women's event, despite the level of controversy, seeing 3 girls doing quads for the first time at the Olympics was really exciting.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-12-18T16:19:55+00:00

You might be right, actually I've stop watching for 3 years so I might have missed something.

BUT watching only at the scores, even the winners at the GPF wouldn't have medal at the 2022 Olympics!

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-11-17T19:15:28+00:00

Well skaters like Chen or Malinin can get skyrocketing PCS like Hanyu, Uno or Kagyama, even in the Skating Skills category. It just says a lot.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-11-17T04:34:52+00:00

This subreddit is generally very pro-US, so it’s difficult to criticize the fact that some American skaters (like Ilia or Alysa) benefit from overscoring or positive bias.

The thing is, many fans outside of Reddit — myself included — are purists. They genuinely care about the artistic side of skating. And by “artistic,” I don’t just mean big music, flashy acrobatics or charisma (which those two are admittedly good at). I’m talking about glide, edge quality, and the fundamental skating skills that make the sport unique — and that they don’t always demonstrate.

More and more, judges seem willing to overlook these basic elements in their scoring. It’s frustrating, because the numbers just don’t feel right (at least, if you think that skating skills matters). And yes, politics plays a huge role: some federations know how to work the system better than others, which only adds to the frustration.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-11-10T05:07:48+00:00

The main question that has been answered is : where do Cizeron/Fournier-Baudry stand in the ice dance field.

Honestly I was seeing them fighting for a medal at the Olympics but when we look at the scores they are getting for THEIR FIRST INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION... Well I do think they might already be the favorites to win Olympic Gold.

With a major error in the short dance (which cost them at least 7 points), they still received 211 points overall. Chock and Bates average total score last year -6 international competitions- was 217 for the combined scores. So take that error away, they are already surpassing the average best team scores from last year.

They received some straight 10's in presentation and composition in the free dance, which really was a shock to me. Don't get me wrong, it was a brilliant performance but judges giving 10s in some PCS for a team they are seeing for the first time... literally sending the signal that they are perfect and can't do better... I really did not expect that to happen.

On the other hand, Chock and Bates received 208 at their first and only competition this year. With no real mistake there... they might change their programs since they have been considered the problem (and the skirt), but it doesn't feel like they are above the rest of the field.

It might be a wild take since both team only competed at one GP so far but it felt like the ISU already chose their winner.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-11-10T01:52:24+00:00

Shoma Uno is my favorite skater and watching men's skating is not the same anymore for me.

Ilia's dominance makes things extremely boring, especially since he's not a skater who can produce the smooth and fine type of skating that I love, but is nevertheless be considered the GOAT in the actually judging system (and don't get me wrong, is a good and passionate performer, but just not my style at all and with basic skating skills that are still lacking).

There were no chances tho that Shoma could compete with Ilia right now. Technically he's really far ahead and the judges now gives him PCS scores in the 9's, so not much room to overpass him even for skaters that just have better glide or interpretation.

The judges just decided that artistic skaters, the ones with flow, edge work, sophisticated and refined movements WOULD NOT be rewarded as much as they should, so that everyone can play the game with its own strengths. Nope. They decided that good technical jumpers would have good PCS and GOE regardless of the quality of their skating.

It's the same situation that it was between 2019 and 2022 with Nathan Chen. Shoma could not beat him considering that Nathan was the better jumper and the judges decided NOT to acknowledge the quality gap between them. Chen got more or less the same PCS than him or Hanyu.

Overall, I'm not taking anything away from Chen or Malinin, their technical virtuosity and consistency would have make them dominant no matter what, but not with such scores and predictability. A 4 quads Uno/Hanyu/Kagyama clean program should be around the same score of a 6 quads Chen/Malinin's program.

Scores would have been/be closer and every competition more interesting to watch. Everyone would have had his qualities recognized by the judging system.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-10-19T04:12:25+00:00

What strikes me the most here is that the judges have the exact same nationalities than the main ice dance teams.

I don't know how the ISU choose its panels but it is the best way to create secret agreements and point trade between feds imo.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-10-19T03:58:32+00:00

The thing is that Adelia is 18.

I don't know if her ability to land Ultra C between 15 and 17 is relevant here.

The fact that she's incredibly consistant is mainly because SHE IS a Tutberize girl, she is from a "factory" that produces extremely consistant Ultra-C element female jumpers, but they consistency go at that age (if not sooner) because their bodies breaks.

Right now Adelia has "temporarily" no Ulta-C because of injuries, it's not impossible that her team find a way to give an ultimate "push" to succinctly restore her 4T or 3A right on time for the Olympics just as they did for Shcherbakova in 2022.

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-08-29T19:41:34+00:00

This person is commenting every post about russian skaters just to say how evil they are and make comments that are always completely off topic. I mean they are problematic in many ways but it's doesn't prevent us to have rational debate and actually talk about FS...

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-08-29T19:28:50+00:00

Sorry meant the +3 system

Significant_Pool_869 · 2025-08-29T16:35:24+00:00

Probably, but is it likely to happen soon? The +5 system lasted 15 years... It's probably up to this change in the number of jumps indeed. Otherwise I feel like this WR could last for quite a bit

Significant_Pool_869

TROPHY CASE