Skate Canada last week was really a mix of ups and downs. The short programs were a bit of a mess- the men were falling all over the place, the women's rankings were completely out of wack, and Peacock streaming was having problems all throughout. However, the free programs brought out some spectacular moments- seems like maybe everyone went to bed Friday night and woke up ready for redemption.
Women's Highlights
To me (and to many others) the women's short program results were very peculiar. Not only were all the scores quite low, many skaters were underscored in comparison to others. Specifically, I felt that non-North American skaters seemed to be penalized for non existent things, and North American skaters were rewarded more than expected. However, the results seemed to straighten out in the free, unfortunately at the loss of the two Canadian women who had poor skates.
Rinka Wantanabe
Rinka wasn't originally supposed to be competing on the Grand Prix circuit, but after her win over Kaori in the Challenger series, she was invited to replace Wakaba. And was she a fantastic replacement! This free was performed so well, and her triple axel looks scary easy.
Starr Andrews
I'll be honest, I did not have Starr Andrews on my GP medalist bingo card. After last year's health struggle (and her heart surgery earlier this year) I had really counted her out. But she seems to have come into this season with a lot more energy and power, even though the technical base values are not all too high. Interesting to consider though- since there are so few ultra-C elements among the international ladies, and particularly among the Americans, her consistency with this easier content could bring her to much higher standings...
Men's Highlights
The men were...menning...this week. Falls everywhere, really a mess.
Shoma Uno
Ahh Shoma, such a vision. Might be an unpopular opinion, but I actually really love his Gravity short program. I can choose to forgive John Mayer for those 3 minutes. I think that slow vocals actually work well for him. (or maybe I just miss the Dancing on my Own program, and this is the closest he's come since)
Keegan Messing
Even though I cringe whenever Keegan's music starts, he is such an exciting performer, and he especially brought the energy for this Canadian crowd. And he gets bonus points for revealing baby #2 in the kiss and cry.
Matteo Rizzo
Matteo has been posting a lot on instagram this season about improving his skating skills and really honing his jumps, and it's clearly paid off. He just seems so much more precise in all his skills and stroking, and even though the programs are a little basic, his overall skating comes across at a much higher level.
Pair's Highlights
Miura/Kihara
Really the only highlights for me this weekend in Pairs were the Japanese. I knew she had injured her shoulder recently so I wasn't sure what the performance would look like, but they were powerful and lovely as always. Such a joy to watch.
Dance Highlights
The three medal winners in dance this week all have some very different programmatic content this year, and I'm not quite sure yet how I feel about it.
Fear/Gibson do Lady Gaga
I don't really think there's a lot of technical merit in this free dance, but boy does it really get my energy and excitement up. 10/10
Cha Cha Slide?
Marjorie and Zachary's rhythm dance has been a topic of conversation this season, but I actually think it's such a breathe of fresh air compared to some of these other boring latin dances. At least it's memorable, and I think this is a team that can take on this kind of extroverted content. (footage from Nepela, since peacock sucks)
Piper and Paul
I'm always a Piper and Paul fan, but I honestly don't know what to think of this new free dance. It's different, and it's definitely a performance, but I think it just confuses me for some reason...
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