Crystal Skate

The calm of the ice dance wasn't disturbed in the free skate. Luckily for this discipline, it is one of the most artistic, so it's often a lot of fans' favourite. So there's always drama even if there is no drama (I might have 'over-metaphored' here, but you get what I mean). Here is what happened to the top couples in Osaka. Penny Coomes/Nicholas Buckland  blew my mind with their extremely creative lifts. I'm not sure if some of them were not too long, but boy, were they extraordinary! As always with them though, they experienced trouble with the synchronicity in the step sequence. The song is called Battle Remembered . Unfortunately, they didn't match the technical prowess of other skaters and ended on 7th place overall. Free score: 92.51 . Total score: 158.15 . Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov  got the audience laughing thanks to Nikita's surprising fall. Luckily, it happened after the music ended, so they didn't get a deduction for it...

When scores are very close to one another in figure skating, you know you're in for quite a ride. This is even truer in the men's event, where the technical score has a lot of weight, so in consequence, mistakes do too. The final in Osaka was a perfect example of this exact situation, so let's see how and why the top 5 changed in the free skate. Keegan Messing  was one of two skaters to maintain their short programme position. He skated to a medley of Charlie Chaplin soundtracks, which made me want to wish he had skated last week in Beijing, so we could have compared it to Javier's interpretation of the same theme. Keegan's got the silly act down, so this was a great choice of music for him. The quad was so low though, his free leg touched the ice. His free score: 155.67 ; his total score: 235.80 . Jason Brown   avoided the quad in the free skate, which was probably for the best given that there were so many errors in his performance. He fell on both 3Axels and ...

Sometimes you need to sacrifice something in order to get what you wished for. That's how I feel about the ladies' final rankings in Osaka. I got what I wanted, but it's bittersweet because one of my favourite skaters dropped a few places in the process. The results have nothing to do with my wishes of course, but with  a lot of hard work from some brilliant skaters, some of whom I'll talk about in this blog post. Rika Hongo  was the bitter part of my 'bittersweet' emotions. She didn't make any catastrophic errors though - there was a 3Flip that was all sorts of wrong, but otherwise, the elements were alright. What hurt her more was the presentation - there were some blank spaces in terms of interpretation. Absolutely loved the black and red costume though, very Frida Kahlo-like. Her free score was 122.00 , her total score was 187.83  and her final rank was 7th. Satoko Miyhara  was the sweet part, but barely. I wanted her to move up to the top 5, and she...

The pairs' final was as calm as I had predicted, although there was an unexpected shift in the top 5 that I did not see coming - the swap between the Americans and the Canadians. Here are some thoughts on why that happened, as well as on the performances of the rest of the leading pairs. There was quite the contrast between the technical and the presentation of Alexa Scimeca Knierim/Chris Knierim 's free skate. The music, taken from the Ghost  musical, was gorgeous, while the choreography was breathtakingly fluid. However, Chris stepped out of the side-by-side 3Salchows and doubled out of the side-by-side 3 Toeloops. The side-by-side spins were not in sync either. Their free score was 126.65 ; the total, 192.51 , made them drop one place and finish fifth. Julianne Seguin/Charlie Bilodeau  simply didn't have the mistakes of the Americans. The choreography amazed me once more - they filled silences with elements and matched other elements with the words of Where's My ...

Ice dance at the Grand Prix Series has always been less dramatic than the other disciplines. It's quite rare to see obvious rivals in the same event, and the NHK wasn't any different. That doesn't mean there are no comparisons though. The biggest question on everyone's minds was how Virtue/Moir would perform compared to Papadakis/Cizeron, who set a new world record last week in Beijing. Here are my thoughts not just on the Canadians' routine, but some of the best programmes of the day. Penny Coomes/Nicholas Buckland  marked their return on ice in Osaka. Their routine was enjoyable, although it didn't necessarily stand out to me in terms of musical choice or style. Really difficult change of position for her in the curved lift. They finished the short on 5th place with 65.64  points. Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov 's twizzles were faster than those of the British although Victoria's first position was a bit wobbly. I particularly liked how the R...

The men's competition in Osaka started with a fiasco for Japan and sad news for figure skating fans worldwide. The sport's most iconic male skater in recent years and Japan's (and my personal) absolute favourite, Yuzuru Hanyu, injured his ankle during practice and had to withdraw. This also means he can't make it to the Grand Prix Final, which will be particularly upsetting for him as it's being hosted in Nagoya, Japan. Still, let's not dwell on the negative, but wish him a speedy recovery, and move our attention to what went on in his absence. The gold was suddenly and unbelievably reachable, and here are the 5 men who are closest to it at the moment: Keegan Messing  did not expect to come to Osaka at the beginning of the season. Patrick Chan's withdrawal is the reason why he could participate. I think he rose very well to the occasion, despite the fall on the 3Axel. His transitions were surprisingly difficult, peppered with the steps we all know from Sin...

Did anyone expect the ladies' short programme in Osaka to end as it did? Okay, okay, I don't mean the top spot, but the order of say...the next five skaters? I was a bit surprised when I found out the results, so I'm having a look at the top five ladies to catch up on what went on. Mirai Nagasu  has grown so much technically since I last saw her. Congratulations on landing that amazing 3Axel. After I saw it, it suddenly made sense why she looked rather stressed at the very beginning. She's one of the skaters who keeps growing every season, so it's always a joy to see her skate. She finished on 5th, with 65.17  points. I don't have a favourite Japanese skater at the moment, but Rika Hongo  comes pretty close. I have to be honest, I was so mesmerised about her performance, I forgot to take notes. Carmina Burana  was an amazing choice for her, the costume was breathtaking and the elements were extraordinary. Loved every second of it. Unfortunately, it didn'...

The action in Osaka, Japan, took off earlier today (way earlier today - time differences are making me blog this closer to the free programmes than the short 😊 ) with the pairs' competition. Things kind of went according to predictions, at least as far as I'm concerned, but there were some routines I saw for the first time today and I'm excited to tell you all about them. I'll start with Julianne Seguin/Charlie Bilodeau , who skated to Lorde's version of  Everybody Wants to Rule the World . I love this song, which is why I'm very picky with the presentation for it. To me, it evokes a dark atmosphere that simply didn't come through in this interpretation. I did like their attempt at matching the landing of the throw twist to the sound of the shots in the song though. Unfortunately, Julianne singled out of the side-by-side 3Salchows. Their score: 63.98 . They finished on 5th place. Alexa Scimeca Knierim/Chris Knierim  skated to the romantic Come What May ...