This episode has been transcribed, edited and condensed for clarity by Evie, Maryam, Karly and Kat.
Evie: You're In The Loop - we're here to discuss the ups, downs, and sideways of the sport of figure skating, and maybe give you +5 GOE along the way. Let’s introduce this week’s hosts. Hi, I’m Evie, and I certainly am never taking the stamina I usually build up watching a normal season of skating ever again because I am absolutely exhausted after Worlds.
Yogeeta: Hi, I’m Yogeeta, and I’m greatly regretting my decision to be a figure skating fan.
Kite: Hi, I’m Kite, and I’m feeling like the Brooklyn 99 gif where Jake Peralta plays the guitar and screams.
Evie: Oh boy, Worlds happened this week. [Yogeeta: It did indeed] Shouldn't have happened but here we are. I can't believe that the ISU actually went through with this garbage event, but they did and now we're sitting here faced with the consequences of that event.
Kite: So yeah, just to be clear with what's happening with this episode, we are going to just talk about the competition results of Worlds 2021 and then the next episode will also be Worlds-centric but it's going to be focused on the logistics/the choice to hold this competition, which was certainly... a choice.
Evie: This episode is going to be more like our usual competition coverage that we've been doing for the last couple of seasons and the next one is going to be more like the competition coverage that we've been doing for this season. We're going to dust off our [microphones] and talk properly about some actual skating, which is very strange, to get back into that mindset. [Yogeeta: Very strange] Very weird. But this Worlds happened over this past week in Stockholm in Sweden and, as we all know, this is the pre-Olympic Worlds, so Olympic spots were given out and that's part of why this Worlds was so important and probably the main reason it even actually happened.
Yogeeta: You would think. Given that they almost held Worlds last year...
Kite: I mean, they were forced to cancel last year.
Yogeeta: Yeah, exactly, they were forced.
Evie: This is true.
Kite: That pretty clearly was not going to happen from the beginning because Sweden's whole approach to COVID has just been...
Yogeeta: Garbage?
Evie: Yikes?
Kite: I was going for a more diplomatic adjective but yeah... [laughs] we can go with garbage.
Evie: No diplomacy here - this is a no diplomacy episode.
Yogeeta: Okay, so let's briefly discuss how exactly Olympic spots are allocated at Worlds. I say briefly but this is not going to be very brief. Apologies in advance, I read this document like four times over the course of an hour to try and understand this.
Evie: Yeah, watching you and Niamh just die over this one ISU document was certainly a time.
Yogeeta: Anyway, Olympic spots - yay, exciting! So there are 30 spots available for both Ladies and Men’s, 23 available for Ice Dance, and 19 available for Pairs. Of those spots, 24 spots for both Ladies and Men’s are allocated at Worlds, 19 for Ice Dance, and 16 for Pairs. So, qualification rules, in order to qualify for 3 spots at the Olympics, the top 2 skaters [or teams] placements at Worlds must add up to 13 [or less], or the top 1 skater must finish no lower than silver. In order to qualify for 2 spots, either the top 2 skaters placements add up to between 14 and 28, or the top 1 skater finishes in the top 10. And then afterward, all of the other spots are allocated per the rank at Worlds until no spots are available. However - and this is the complicated part - if a country is allocated 2 spots, but only one skater qualifies for the Free, that country is only guaranteed one spot at the Olympics and they must win the additional spot at Nebelhorn Trophy in the fall. Similarly, if a country is allocated 3 spots but only two skaters qualify for the Free, they have to win that third spot at Nebelhorn Trophy.
Evie: On the 2nd of April, the ISU released a communication confirming the allocation of spots for the Olympics next year, as well as those conditional spots that will be up for grabs later this year at Nebelhorn - which we’ll include a link to in the description if you’re interested in checking those out. But there was a lot of confusion both on social media and also with us behind the scenes trying to work out exactly how these new qualification rules worked because the ISU document that laid out the rules were worded in that typical extremely dense ISU manner, which they are so well known for. But it was worded in such a way that there were multiple conflicting opinions circulating as to who had the spots and who didn’t - especially in relation to whether or not those conditional places that could be won at Nebelhorn counted towards the total spots available at Worlds or not. Even the athletes at the competition were being told conflicting information as to whether or not they qualified - we had Michal Brezina say he was told he qualified a spot for the Czech Republic with his 19th place finish, but then Donovan Carrillo of Mexico, who finished in 20th place, said that he hadn’t received a spot for next year. Luckily the ISU cleared this up eventually, and now we have confirmed that both Michal and Donovan have confirmed spots at Beijing, but those few days in between the event ending and the communication release were certainly filled with a lot of speculation that could have easily been avoided if someone had made the original document a little easier to understand.
Yogeeta: Let's move on to actual Worlds.
Evie: Actual Worlds - but before we move on to actual Worlds, we need to preface this entire discussion with a little bit about what's happening with the Russian teams because, as most of you might know, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled against Russia in the doping scandal and so all of the athletes weren't allowed to compete here [on behalf] of Russia. They were instead representing the Figure Skating Federation of Russia, or FSR - that's why, if you saw us tweeting results and saw FSR, you might have been a bit confused. It's Russia, it's just under a different name. We could literally do a whole episode about how this ban does basically nothing and is just like a slap on the wrist. But yeah, it's just like PyeongChang, where the Russian athletes competed not as Russia.
Yogeeta: Okay, let's move onto the World Figure Skating Championships 2021.
Evie: I feel like this competition was on par with the level of quality to the last Worlds we covered - 2019.
Kite: No! [laughter] I take umbrage with that only because at least Pairs was a valid event at 2019 Worlds.
Evie: That is true. It was the only positive thing about that event. But if we have to talk about Pairs, let's just talk about Pairs here.
Kite: So in Pairs, in gold, we had Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov of FSR, in silver, we had Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China, and in bronze, we had Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitri Kozlovskii of FSR.
Evie: So World Champions Mishina and Galliamov...
Kite: Did not have that on my bingo card going into this.
Yogeeta: You know, it was on mine and it was really sad.
Evie: I had them down to medal but I was not expecting them to run away with the title here. That was definitely surprising.
Yogeeta: Given how they were scoring in the local Russian competitions, it wasn't that surprising - it was just distressing.
Evie: It's weird because we've been watching them skate for so long now like we covered them when they were in Juniors and then when they moved up to Seniors last season, and now we're watching them here at their first Worlds take the title. It's very weird to watch this kind of rise in the way that it's happened so quickly, especially because their skating hasn't really changed that much over the last couple of years. Obviously, they've grown up a little bit and grown into their skating a bit more. I noticed that Anastasia, I think she's gone through a bit of a growth spurt lately? I don't know, she seemed a little taller here at Worlds since the last time I saw her. That might just be me forgetting what people look like though, so take that with a grain of salt. [laughter]
Kite: I've seen like five people in the past year.
Evie: Exactly! But it's interesting because they've always been the kind of team that's relied on the fact that they've got a higher base value than average because they do that 3S-Euler-3S combo in the Free and they have a throw Lutz. Even though their PCS, in an ideal world, wouldn't compare to someone like Sui and Han - we'll get to that - but their elements are solid enough that they can usually get on the podium just on the basis of that if they're close to clean. I think this is probably the cleanest Free we've seen them put out since they went Senior - internationally, at least.
Kite: Well I think, if you were keeping up with the Russian domestic events they were holding throughout the fall, there was definitely a trend of the Russian federation really trying to push up Mishina and Galliamov because, prior to this season, they had [Evgenia] Tarasova and [Vladimir] Morosov, and Boikova and Kozlovskii who were pretty consistently winning medals internationally. So it wasn't all that surprising to me that they were like, "Well we have three spots at Worlds, we're probably going to have three spots at the Olympics. We really need a third team that can realistically challenge for podium positions." So it's not that shocking to me to see their rise but I think seeing it happen internationally is still really jarring and I don't agree with it.
Evie: Yeah, especially because at the end of last season I thought that [the Russian Federation] would go more with [Daria] Pavliuchenko and [Denis] Khodykin, especially when they got selected for Euros [and Worlds] over Mishina and Galliamov last year. I thought that might have happened. It's that fight for that third spot and now Mishina and Galliamov have won the World title and they were definitely the Russians who skated the best here - considering Tarasova and Morosov have been all over the place for the last couple of seasons dealing with injury, dealing with a coaching change. And then Boikova and Kozlovskii have obviously had a rough season with their health this year, so they weren't in the best of form here either.
Yogeeta: My big issue with Mishina and Galliamov is that they're good - I'm not going to say that they're not good, because they are. They are a top-tier team. It's just that compared to everyone else who's here, yeah, they have the technical elements and they were clean, but even them clean... they should not have had the components score that they received [72.84 in the FS], and Sui and Han lost by 2pts. They lost the title that should have easily been theirs if they had gotten the components they deserved.
Evie: Yeah, there was only just over a point difference in both of their PCS in the Free, which is ridiculous to me, that Sui and Hand only got a 73 for that Free Skate considering it was mostly clean apart from the side-by-sides. Like I will give Mishina and Galliamov this, their skating has improved since I last saw them. They're definitely improving as a team. I think they're still kind of lacking in speed and ice coverage in comparison to a lot of the other teams - but that's also something that can come with experience and they haven't been around for as long compared to some of the other teams that are here. Their lifts, even though the speed still isn't great, they're looking a lot more stable in the air. I remember, especially during Juniors, they would have some really crazy positions but half the time I would be worried because it looked like he was about to drop her. They've definitely improved as a team but that still doesn't explain how Sui and Han and Mishina and Galliamov both scored so close together in PCS in the Free.
Kite: Especially when you consider the group that they were skating in, in the Free at least. I've never watched Sui and Han live but I have seen all three of the Russian teams live before, and it is really obvious that Mishina and Galliamov don't have the skating skills or the speed, and they cover much less ice than even the other two Russian teams. So it is very prominent when you put them next to teams that do have those fantastic skating skills and ice coverage. Part of it is them being inexperienced, but I think they're only a year behind Boikova and Kozlovskii, right? They've been out of Juniors a year apart from each other. I feel like [Mishina and Galliamov] have improved, but I think that ice coverage and speed that's really hard to significantly improve once you're at this level. Your skating skills are kind of your skating skills at this point like there are skaters who manage to improve on that but seeing improvement that the scores suggest, I think, is not there.
Yogeeta: I think if we also compare them to the last times we saw them internationally, they never hit [over] 70 in components before, their highest previously was 68 in the Free. Whereas here, they got 73 in components.
Kite: 5 points is a lot. It's been a year and a half, but that's still a lot for a year and a half because the first part of this season really just didn't exist at all. So it's not like they were building an international portfolio where they're consistently winning things and building their reputation. This is the first time they've competed internationally since last season - because I'm not counting [this seasons'] Grand Prix because those were basically domestic events. And, at the end of the day, Sui and Han did have minor errors on the jumps - but I don't think that those errors justified them being so close in components. Those errors should not have been penalized to the point that it was impacting their PCS so much.
Evie: Especially because that Free Skate for Sui and Han is a world record-holding program. It's just crazy that those errors, while they did happen, the rest of the program wasn't really affected by those errors that they made on the side-by-sides. I just don't understand how they couldn't at least get a 75 for that program that they skated.
Yogeeta: For context, when they skated this at Saitama, they got 77 in PCS.
Kite: Yeah, unless you're trying to say that this program got 4 points worse in PCS in the past two years... I don't think that this is an issue that's unique to Pairs but there is a lot of reputation scoring that you see when you're talking about component scores. Skaters that have been around longer and, generally, have been consistent in their competition results will see their PCS rise and I think that's unfortunate, even though it is the reality.
Kite: And, unfortunately, Sui and Han haven't competed since Four Continents 2020, which was 13 months ago, and even though there weren't really international events being held then you did still see more of the Russian teams competing domestically in the fall. That's obviously not the fault of any of the teams, that they weren't able to compete, but it probably was factored in when they were rewarding PCS here.
Evie: Yeah, especially because they ended up skipping Cup of China this year due to Cong recovering from surgery. We also had Wenjing sidelined afterward by a foot fracture that also kept them from training for a while, so I think their preparation time for Worlds was much shorter because of those setbacks they faced with their health. It's impressive, to say the least, that they were both able to push through that, including the mental pressure that must be on them as China's top pair going into the home Olympics next year. It must be really, really taxing for them. That and all the mental pressure that must've been piled on due to the COVID-19 pandemic and how that affected their training all this year.
Yogeeta: The pandemic caused a lot of issues. It caused a lot of differentials in the skating times that different skaters had. Some skaters, like the Russians, were competing consistently and had a normal training schedule and everything, whereas other skaters just did not have training time, access to the coaches because they were in other countries, couldn't compete because competitions weren't being held. The difference in training up until Worlds is really easy to see in the athletes and the performances they put out here. The skaters who didn't get a chance to train, I honestly applaud them for taking the effort to still show up here because Olympic spots are on the line despite the fact that this competition shouldn't have been held at all. For example, the British team, Zoe Jones and Christopher Boyadji, only trained for 23 days before attending this event.
Evie: That's crazy.
Yogeeta: They didn't make the Free Skate, and they finished last, but 23 days of training time.
Evie: If I only had 23 days of training leading up to a Worlds I just wouldn't show up. But Olympic spots are on the line, so I understand.
Kite: That's the thing, it also makes you really prone to injury because you're trying to squeeze what should've been a season of training into 3 and a half weeks. You're going to really be putting a lot of stress on your body because that needs to be stretched out over months.
Evie: I worry [about] the amount of injuries we're going to hear about in the next couple of weeks of skaters post this competition talking about their experiences preparing for this Worlds, honestly.
Kite: We touched on this briefly, we had Sui and Han who were both recovering from injuries. He had a hip/lower back injury that was plaguing him for a couple of seasons, and last spring, after Four Continents, he got surgery to fix it. It seemed like he needed the surgery through the season, but they waited until they were sure it was over before he went and got the surgery. She had a foot fracture. She's kind of been chronically injured for a couple of years, as some people may know. She had a foot fracture that happened around October of last year, which is probably why they pulled out of Cup of China, which was supposed to be their domestic Grand Prix event. They couldn't resume their on-ice training until the end of January of this year, and they couldn't start jumping until about 3 weeks ago, and then they came here. As I said, it's what that degree of intense training in such a condensed amount of time is going to do to injuries that are already chronic and need medical attention.
Evie: And not even to say about the mental stress of having to compete here and go through international travel at a time like this. The pressure that must've been on all the athletes here is ridiculous. You've got the two genders of training this season: one being you have limited or restricted ice access because of lockdowns, or the other being that you have the access to training, but your entire training center has been swamped with COVID. Those are the two options you have that we've seen. The Russians unfortunately had a lot of problems with a lot of their major training camps having major COVID outbreaks. Not just in Pairs, but in basically every other discipline as well. Every other discipline had a major outbreak at a training camp.
Kite: Someone made a flowchart of this, and I think we've talked about it in our previous episode. At this point, there are three members of the Russian National Team who have not had COVID. I'm sure we'll talk about this in our logistics episode, but it points to how ridiculous it was to even conceive of having this competition. You either had skaters who were training, but were affected by COVID (which could still be affecting their stamina and their physical ability), or you had skaters you couldn't train because their rinks were closed as a precaution, and then they basically had to get back into shape within a couple of weeks prior to the event, and they're risking injury anyway. Whichever group you're in, you're not really winning at the end. Very much a lose-lose situation that they created here, so great job, guys.
Yogeeta: There is a third group, that has access to training without a coach.
Evie: Let's talk about something positive. Let's go into some of the notable performances that were enjoyable at Worlds.
Yogeeta: Yes! Let's talk about Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kiharaf of Japan. They qualified Japan for two spots at the Olympics - not that they're going to use their second spot, but they did.
Evie: Yeah, they don't have a second team.
Kite: But the option is there.
Yogeeta: I'm so impressed with Riku and Ryuichi. They've shown so much growth in their performance in the last season. They've only been together for two seasons at this point.
Evie: This is their second season, yeah.
Yogeeta: I remember last season they were really off sync sometimes. Their side by sides were not that great in sync, but now they're so much better, and I'm glad in this case they had the time to train and to focus and work on these Pairs elements. They've become a really strong team, which I never thought I'd say about Japanese Pairs again.
Evie: It's very nice to say! I think that with the extra time they've had this year, you can just tell that their relationship as a team is a lot stronger. They've gotten to know each other better as skaters. You can see that their awareness on the ice of each other is a lot better than it was last season, where they were a bit more tentative because they hadn't been skating together long. You can also see, in the Short Program when they did the death spiral and all that ice got caught in Riku's hair, and she flipped it and had the dramatic flip of all the ice spray, and you could just see Ryuichi laugh at what was happened. He's always been a bit of a character, [was] pretty cheery with his previous partner, but you could just see that now, after both their programs how he was really excited and happy for them. I just really like to see that kind of stuff, the teams having good relationships with each other.
Yogeeta: I really am interested to see how they're going to brand themselves as a team going into the Olympics, what programs they're going to choose, I really want them to choose programs that will work really well for them, so they're able to really show their best sides at the Olympics. And hopefully, JSF will take note and realize they should start investing in Japanese Pairs again because Japanese Pairs can be great. They were great once. They have a solid team here, and hopefully, they continue investing in Riku and Ryuichi and they start investing more in Pairs because right now there is no other Pairs team in Japan. There is no up-and-coming Junior Pairs team, Riku and Ryuichi are the only Japanese Pairs team that exists.
Evie: Especially right now, looking at the Olympics next year, and especially with the Team Event, if you can get Riku and Ryuichi's scores up a little bit more than they already are, they can get some more international experience next year before the Olympics happen. Japan's problem with the team event is they have extremely strong singles skaters but their Pairs and dance teams aren't as strong internationally. And so, when it comes to medalling at the Team Event, their chances aren't as good as you would think. If they can just get Riku and Ryuichi up a little bit more, they actually stand a chance at possibly getting Bronze at the Team Event, I feel.
Yogeeta: Onto another one of our favorites who, unfortunately, did not get to do as well as they hoped - Cheng Peng and Yang Jin, also from China.
Evie: Yeah, I was really upset that they didn't have the skates they wanted here.
Kite: I feel like it was kind of a perfect storm of things going wrong for them, especially in the Short Program. She tripped, it was a freak fall, they weren't even doing an element. It happens, but that would obviously rattle you. The zipper on her costume came undone, so it was basically open from the side, and that would just really be jarring when you're trying to have a competitive program. It seemed to all affect them negatively, and they didn't quite get to where they wanted at this competition but it was really great to see them again.
Yogeeta: These two programs are wonderful on them, they skate them so well. I personally just want to speak over their growth over the past quad. They became a team back in 2016/17. They were kind of the weird, quirky team from China, didn't even make the Free Skate at Pyeongchang. But now, here they are, three years later and they're one of the top Pairs teams in the world. I'm just really, really proud of them for their evolution and finding programs that really suit them and their storytelling. As much as I love Sui and Han I feel a lot more connected with Peng and Jin with their skating. They're actually my favorite Pairs team, so I'm really happy to see how far they've come and I hope that they have a really good Olympics season.
Evie: Yeah, I'm just so happy that they've had such amazing growth over the past couple of years. It's really nice to see this kind of team come from a certain place and rise up over the course of a few years, it's so nice to see that kind of stuff. Especially because, at the last Worlds, they only just missed out on the podium.
Yogeeta: Should've been Bronze.
Evie: Should've been Bronze. Bronze was [Natalia] Zabiiako and [Alexander] Enbert. I was really looking forward to seeing them going into here, and unfortunately, they didn't have the skates they wanted. But, hopefully, their early season next year will set them up to have a really great Olympics, because the Olympics next year are in Beijing, it's going to be home ice. All the Chinese teams will really want to bring it. I really hope for the best for them. Go Peng and Jin!
Yogeeta: Okay, speaking of the Olympics, let's talk about Olympic spots. FSR comes out of the Pairs event as the only country with guaranteed three spots. Due to the unfortunate event that the third Chinese Pairs could not come to the event, China has only two guaranteed spots, though they did qualify for three. As we mentioned earlier, they can guarantee their third spot by sending another Chinese Pairs team to Nebelhorn.
Kite: I'm not sure if we clarified this at the beginning, but whoever they send to Nebelhorn can't be either of the teams who won the spots here. They were going to need to find another team.
Evie: There were a couple of other Pairs teams in China that we've seen compete. I don't think any of them are close to the scoring level of Sui and Han and Peng and Jin so I guess it will be interesting to see how they will fair at Nebelhorn. I think every event at Nebelhorn next year is going to be really, really interesting.
Yogeeta: Given the level of quality we normally see at Nebelhorn for Pairs, I think any of the Chinese Pairs teams can do it. The US, Italy, and Canada have retained their two spots, and Japan, as we mentioned, is guaranteed one spot, but they have qualified for a second spot that they're not going to use.
Evie: Looking at some of the other countries who qualify multiple spots for Pairs, we have the US, and also Canada. Canada qualified one spot with another spot up for grabs at Nebelhorn due to Kristen Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro who didn't have a great outing in the short, placing 10th there but managed to climb their way back up with a much more solid free, placing 6th overall, and then Evelyn Walsh and Trent Michaud placing 12th. Moore-Towers and Marinaro will definitely be sent next year, considering they're Canada's top team and they have been for this entire quad. For that second spot, providing they do get it at Nebelhorn, Walsh and Michaud have a pretty great chance of getting it considering they've consistently medalled at Nationals in both Juniors and Seniors in the last few years. [Liubov] Ilyushechkina and [Charlie] Bilodeau, who placed third at Nationals back in 2020, split over this past off-season. There are a handful of other Canadian teams, like [Lori-Anne] Matte and [Thierry] Ferland, and [Deanna] Stellato and [Maxime] Deschamps, all around that same mid-to-low tier scoring range right now but could potentially vie for that second spot. It really just depends on the first half of the season, depending on how many competitions we get next year and how they score, and how they fare. The US managed to qualify two spots here, after Alexa Knierim and Brandon Fraser came in 7th, and Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc came in 9th. I think it's going to be really interesting next year to see the fight over those two Olympic spots domestically because we know that the US Pairs field is pretty deep right now. Not only do we have the two teams that we saw here, but we also have teams like Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson, as well as Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov, both of which were on the US Nationals podium this year. They've both shown really great growth in their skating over the last couple of years. Considering how closely these teams score normally, it'll be really interesting to see how each of them try to brand themselves for the Olympic year, like what programs they'll choose, and how they cope with the early season and try to secure those spots on the team. It's good that the USA managed to qualify two Pairs spots this time for the Olympics because, if we remember at Pyeongchang, they only just missed out on qualifying two at Worlds 2017. I believe they were one place finish off from qualifying two Pairs spots for the US. Now they've got two here, so good for them, yay. We like growth.
Yogeeta: Yes, growth is good. So as we mentioned, sixteen spots for Pairs were allocated here at Worlds, and there will be three spots up for grabs at Nebelhorn, including the conditional spot for China.
-end segment-
Yogeeta: Alright, let's move on to the Men's event.
Kite: Do we have to?
Yogeeta: Listen, the Men's event was the only valid event at this competition.
Evie: And even then it was still not that valid.
Yogeeta: So our podium here is Nathan Chen from the US, surprise silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama from Japan, and Yuzuru Hanyu from Japan, in his first bronze medal in ten years.
Evie: This event was surprising in so many ways because - firstly, even though with all of the circumstances around Worlds, everything that's gone on the past year, the quality of skating overall was pretty good throughout this event, which is very strange considering I go into most men's events expecting everyone to kinda fall over the place, but here I was surprised, especially in the Short, we had a lot of people skate pretty decent shorts.
Yogeeta: Yeah, the Short was fairly clean.
Kite: Depends on when you started watching in the Free. If you started after the ice resurfacing, it was pretty good.
Yogeeta: You know, they started skating clean in the Free the second I started watching, so maybe I should have just watched all of the Men's Free.
Evie: They were just like, "Oh crap, Yogs is here, we need to all skate good now!"
Yogeeta: I should have shown up for Boyang.
Kite: Yeah. [sarcastically] This is squarely on your shoulders.
Yogeeta: The men's event was probably the highlight of the entire Worlds. Everyone was skating really great, put out really strong programs, and honestly I really enjoyed watching it, even though some things were at odds. I will preface this entire conversation about the Men by saying that the rankings for the men were correct.
Evie: Yeah, there was definitely a lot of discussion on the podium after the fact, but I think all of us here are pretty much in consensus that the podium here was correct.
Kite: That said, obviously if you get into the details of it, there are things that I think we all disagree with in terms of how this event was scored. For example, in the Short Program, if you wanna talk about components - who doesn't wanna talk about components? Yuzuru won the short program with a score of 106, and he had a 47 in PCS, and then you had Nathan and Jason Brown of the United States with the exact same score in PCS, 46, and then like six men squished in the 43-44 range. And I think there's a pretty valid argument for Nathan needing to be scored lower in PCS in the short program given he had a major error, he did fall on his opening jump, and if you actually go by what the rulebook says, there should be a PCS cap on that from the outset.
Evie: But when have they ever followed that rule?
Kite: Yeah, that said, it wouldn't have made a difference to the overall standings, all else being equal. Nathan being ahead of Shoma and Mikhail in PCS, I very much don't agree with that, because like we said earlier PCS kind of gets a reputation boost as you go, and it's not like Jason and Shoma are unknown, they've been competing internationally for years, so they really shouldn't be losing PCS to Nathan if it was scored according to the criteria that's actually in the rulebook. And then obviously for Jason, it's kind of the same thing - Jason Brown should be top two or three in the world in terms of PCS. Maybe it seems a little bit nitpicky, like I said it wouldn't really have made a difference to the overall standings, maybe in the bottom of the top ten you can make an argument.
Yogeeta: Yeah, there definitely would have been a shuffling-around of some of the top ten, but the podium would have been the same. In general, the podium is fine, components - judges can't recognize skating skills.
Evie: I feel like especially with this Short Program, considering how everyone skated pretty well, and how the scores were all much closer together than I expected. Like you kind of expect in most men's competitions for everyone to be a bit more spread out after the Short and so the Free and the results overall, are not a given, but are a bit more predictable. But here, going into the free, there were so many opportunities for movement that I was just - I was like "Man, I'm actually really excited to watch this Free!"
Yogeeta: When was the last competition where we had eight men over 90 points after the Short Program?
Kite: That gave me heartburn. Basically, everyone from [position] four to eight, nine after the short program were within a few points of each other, and I was like "Oh, this is not good."
Evie: This is not good for my heart, this is not good for my health, quoting Roman Sadovsky there. But yeah the Free - the first two groups, like we said earlier, were a mess and pretty hard to sit through. There were definitely some performances there that were not up to the level that everyone was expecting. Obviously going into this event, I don't think anyone watching was expecting to see skates on par with the usual level of consistency or quality that we would come to expect from Worlds in a normal season, and that's completely not the fault of the athletes themselves. Most are coming into the event with little or inconsistent training from the past year due to either lockdowns restricting ice time or from illness and injury, so it's honestly a wonder that everyone skated as well as they did this week, considering the average level of training everyone was able to do beforehand. I think, also, that might have been partly due to the ice quality in the Free Skate - for some reason, on the last day of competition, it seemed like the ice quality was poorer on average than it had been for the rest of the event, like you know when the temperature in the rink drops and the ice gets a bit softer you can see the buildup of that slush sitting next to the boards around the edges of the rink, and you could see that there on that day, and any time anyone would land a jump you could see the spray of ice. And I was just looking at everyone falling mostly on edge jumps and being like "OOF, this looks like bad quality ice. This looks like it's gonna turn into a swimming pool in half an hour, guys. Come on Sweden, surely you guys know how to do ice, you're a Nordic country,"
Yogeeta: After the first two groups, everybody in the third and fourth groups was like "We're here, we're bringing it" and it was honestly a really fantastic final two groups. Nate skated basically a clean program, honestly one of his best Free Skates he's skated in a while, in my opinion. That was your textbook definition of technical excellence on ice, so I really applaud what Nate put out there.
Evie: I was gonna say, I didn't watch US Nats or Skate America because I did not want to wake up early for those events this year, because there's too much going on, I'm not gonna wake up early to watch. So this was the first time that I actually saw Nate's Free, and you know, the last couple of seasons I haven't really enjoyed his programs as much as some of the other men. But this Free... I think this is the most I've enjoyed a Nate Free Skate since like, his Senior debut, honestly.
Yogeeta: Yeah, I think it's a good program for him. It's the cleanest he's skated it. It's been a rough outing for him earlier this season with this program, so I'm happy that he was able to figure it out, especially after the Short, he managed to put out a great program. And I think his TES was pretty much well-deserved here.
Kite: You know, I just want to say I am genuinely so impressed by his ability to go out time after time and deliver basically clean Free Skates, especially given how crazy his technical content is. And yeah, we did see him struggling earlier in the season, he wasn't able to go back to school this year because of COVID and it really seemed like he had a pretty rough start. I mean, you guys probably remember this, there was a couple of minutes during US Nationals where he had a rough go in the Free Skate and it seemed like there was a chance he wasn't going to win. So if you want to talk about heartburn-inducing moments, that was pretty rough. But he really pulled it together after a really surprising fall in the Short Program.
Evie: Yeah, on the [quad] Lutz. You don't expect that - that and the toe always seem really safe for Nate and here on the opening jump, I was just like "Oh damn, haven't seen that in quite a while."
Yogeeta: Yeah. Shall we move on to the man, the myth, the legend - Yuzuru.
Kite: He had to skate last [in the Free], which has the pressure in of itself. Prior to this event, he did make it very clear that he was really just interested in coming here, getting Japan spots, staying far away from everybody else, and just making it back to Japan in one piece healthily. [Yogeeta: As the man deserves] So I am glad that he was able to prioritize that over his actual results here.
Evie: Considering the kind of season that he's had and basically being forced to compete, first at Nationals to get assigned to the Worlds team and then here at Worlds to get Japan their Olympic spots, I don't blame him for feeling that way about this competition. I mean, if I was in his position, I certainly wouldn't want to be there.
Kite: Yeah, like if there was literally an earthquake as I was heading to Worlds, I'd be like "We're just not going."
Yogeeta: But what really surprised me is that his practices were basically clean. He didn't seem like he was having any major issues.
Kite: He was doing very well in practice, and I do want to say that, if he had been clean in the Free Skate, I think he would have won and I don't think it would have been that close.
Yogeeta: Yeah, a clean Yuzuru at Japanese Nationals scored 215 with this Free Skate.
Kite: And I think they probably would have given him a boost just being the last skater because, usually, when you skate last they're like "Well no one's going after you, so we can kind of wild out."
Evie: Honestly, I can't remember the last time Yuzu skated last in the Free. It's been a minute. I think the last couple of times he's always been second to last or even earlier in the Free groups. It was weird to see him skate last here.
Yogeeta: The main reason for that is that they didn't have a draw here, so they just skated in rank order.
Evie: Yeah, and after the Free Skate there were reports, first circulated by Russian media and then confirmed directly by Yuzu himself, saying that after the Free Skate he actually had an asthma attack.
Yogeeta: As someone who has asthma, I will say that I do feel it coming, and he actually has a worse case of asthma than I do so, probably he could feel it [during warm-up and the Free]. And you could also see it on his face in the warm-up, as cringy as it is to say, he didn't have that fire in his eyes that you're used to seeing from Yuzuru.
Kite: Also, sometimes you just have a bad day and it's not the end of the world. He's been doing this for a very, very long time.
Yogeeta: Yuzuru Hanyu has nothing to prove to the sport of figure skating anymore. The fact that he's here and still on podiums 10 years into his career.
Evie: Yeah, at the end of the day, we should just all be really grateful and thankful to him that he's still around and delivering these performances to us. Okay, let's change topics a little bit and go into the PCS for the Free Skate.
Kite: Welcome to the “Jason and Mikhail should have won PCS hands-down” show. [laughter]
Yogeeta: Yes! I will say this quote. Jason and Mikhail deserved to win components here. They had the standout Free Skates of the event, in my opinion. I loved it, I will go rewatch both of them, they were wonderful. I just don't know how anyone can watch them and say "You know what, you don't deserve a 9.75 in Skating Skills."
Evie: Yeah, "You both deserve 90 in PCS here. That makes sense." No, judges, it does not make any sense! I mean Jason simply has some of the best pure skating out of anyone in this men's field. His speed and ice coverage is just always excellent and he has some of the most complicated transitions both in and out of his elements, like far more than the majority of the men here displayed. And that's not even mentioning his performance and interpretation ability which we've season after season consistently impress. And then Mikhail, his skating skills are also extremely good. The depth and quality of his edges in his steps and turns and his transitions, it really takes his skating up to that next level where you can just sit back and appreciate the overall quality of how good his basics are. Mikhail skated almost clean, he had some issues in the second half of the program. And then Jason is Jason, I would probably put him in the top of PCS even on a bad day, considering his pure quality of skating. Seeing them both in the early 90s [for PCS], I'm just like hmm... choices.
Kite: Well, you know, at least they got the same PCS! [laughter]
Yogeeta: Okay, let's move on to talk about some of our favorites, and let's begin with World Silver Medallist Yuma Kagiyama!
Evie: I found it really funny that during the event, all throughout the commentary that was provided by Mark Hanretty, he constantly talked when Yuma was on about how much of a surprise it was that he was doing well and, meanwhile, all of us were just like "Mark, have you not watched skating for the past season or something? Did you watch Four Continents last year?" I feel like to anyone who's watched Yuma's career over the past couple of years, it's not a surprise that he managed to get on this podium.
Yogeeta: I was waiving my "Yuma Kagiyama for Worlds podium" flag the entire event. I am so happy. I feel like we've all been watching Yuma since the start of his Junior career so we've basically seen him grow into the skater that he currently is and we all know how much more he can become. I'm just so impressed. He's there in the wings. He's going to be a World Champion one day - knock on wood.
Kite: If you just think about the nerves of steel you have to have - especially not having that much competitive experience yet - to skate between Nathan and Yuzuru at your debut Worlds?
Yogeeta: I don't think anyone else could have done that.
Kite: Honestly, he's rocketed up this season. He reminds me a lot of Yuzuru, honestly, from like 2011-12 because he was also kind of this fresh Senior breakout star who medalled at his first Worlds. I'm just super impressed, honestly, with how Yuma has really cemented himself as Japan's number two man in a season that was this strange.
Evie: It's insane that Yuma came up into juniors when we started this podcast back in 2018, and now we're talking about him as a World Silver medalist. It's kind of insane that we've seen that amount of growth. I think the only thing at the moment he really has to focus on probably is performance and interpretation because that in his programs isn't completely there yet. But his technical foundation is so solid, his skating skills are incredible.
Yogeeta: He's hands down the fastest man in this competition. I've seen him skate live as a Junior and he is FAST.
Evie: He's so fast. And he's just- and especially his reactions in the kiss & cry to his scores in the short and the Free-
Yogeeta: Oh my god, the best kiss & cry reactions of the day. Like when he found out he was on the podium, he was so joyful.
Evie: And especially because his main coach is his dad, so you got some of those really cute reactions in the kiss & cry. I mean, how proud must you be of your son getting a World Silver medal at his first outing at Worlds. That's just insane!
Yogeeta: Yuma, your Axel. Your Axel, please! Please!
Kite: Axels were not a part of this event.
Evie: Speaking of another Japanese man, let's talk about Shoma for a bit because I think he, considering the circumstances, did really well here.
Yogeeta: Honestly, I didn't know what to expect from Shoma. I mean, he did reasonably well at Japanese Nationals, but he also said that he didn't really have a lot of practice time coming into Worlds, so I was a little iffy, but hey - he did it.
Kite: Yeah, I think ever since he moved to Switzerland and started training with Stephane [Lambiel] it seemed to have really helped his energy and his focus. Like if you just contrast what happened two years ago at Worlds when he finished fourth and really devastated by it. And this time he also finished fourth but he just seemed so much more in control and satisfied at the end, and more fulfilled as a skater and it's really wonderful to see the growth that he's undergone in the past season and a half.
Evie: We spoke about it a little bit before, but let's talk about Mikhail Kolyada because he has certainly had quite the quad and been a little bit all over the place, but now he's kind of brought it all back together.
Yogeeta: He's back, he had his surgery, he got married, he can quad again, he's great. Honestly, I'm so happy that everything worked out. He's with [Alexei] Mishin now, and Mishin somehow fixed his jumps. Thank you, Mishin.
Kite: His jumps were never the issue, I think it was his confidence that was the issue.
Yogeeta: I think his wife fixed that. [laughs]
Kite: Honestly, my guy disappeared for half a season, got a wife, came back, and is just a different person.
Yogeeta: Him and Keegan [Messing]--
Kite: Just in the wife corner literally, like 0.01 apart after the short program.
Evie: The two wife guys, side by side.
Yogeeta: They finished back to back too, in the Free.
Evie: We love that. Especially because the last time I remember Mikhail skating really solidly was like, the 2019 Euros Short Program when he skated clean and got a 100+ score. But ever since then- and also in that season he was a little bit all over the place, and obviously he had his health issues, and then went through his coaching change over this past off-season. And now we saw him in some of the Russian domestic events earlier in the year and I remember watching him at test skates going, "Wow, this is insane that he is back to the level of quality that we've seen in the past from him, if not better." Watching him skate is so nice. He's got such ease and grace. His carriage on the ice, his posture in his arms and upper body - especially in his Free Skate. honestly, whoever decided to give him that Nureyev balletic free skate deserves a raise!
Yogeeta: He said he might keep it for the Olympics so, please!
Evie: Please, Misha! Please!
Yogeeta: From the very start of that Free Skate, he was just in his lines and you could take photos of his Free Skate and he would be in perfect positions in every photo and it is utter brilliance.
Evie: I think out of all the Free Skates we saw here today, his is definitely my favorite Free of the day.
Yogeeta: Oh, I agree. It was hands down, no competition.
Evie: Because we've seen Misha have such a...time over the last couple of years, especially in the free. Like the coaching change and difference in approach that Mishin's camp has brought him has had a real positive effect on the way he's been skating.
Yogeeta: Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. I am very curious, he currently only skating with his 4T, which is gorgeous when he lands it correctly. But in order to really be a medal contender, he'd need a second quad, so I'm curious if he will bring back his 4Lz, which, while a thing of beauty when he can land it, is a jump he never really could control and land correctly when he did try using it.
Kite: He landed it once--
Evie: At Cup of China.
Yogeeta: He landed it once at Cup of China.
Kite: And he never landed it again.
Yogeeta: I love that both Evie and I knew specifically--
Evie: I know, I know! We had to say Cup of China because it's ingrained in my mind, that one 4Lz.
Kite: His 4Lz is literally so big he can't control it, so his air position is really terrifying.
Yogeeta: There are videos of him this summer of him landing it in practice again so he might actually bring it back and I think Mishin can definitely help with the control aspect of that jump. So if he does bring it back, he would be a serious contender for a medal at Beijing. Okay, so let's talk about the other wife guy, Keegan Messing, who I was also unprepared for to do this well.
Evie: Especially the Free. The Free was so surprising.
Yogeeta: Keegan, for me, has always been that skater that you knew could be a podium contender if he was consistent and skated two programs. And we haven't actually seen him skate all season, so Canada choosing him over Roman [Sadovsky] to try and get the two spots for Canada for the Olympics was definitely an interesting choice because we already knew Keegan has the higher scoring potential over Roman but the question was - could he show us that potential in real life and bring it at Worlds? And he did! Canada has two spots, guys!
Evie: Woohoo! Thanks, Keegs!
Yogeeta: Well, conditional spots. But yeah he was sixth at Worlds.
Evie: I don't know what his knees are made of, but whatever it is, I would like some of that for my joints because of the way that he saved some of his jumps. I don't know if you guys saw the footage from him in practice-- [Yogeeta: Yes!] that one jump that he did and fell on and then just bounced right back up again, I'm just like, my dude! How do you do this?
Kite: He's like breakdancing on ice. He's kind of talked about what his training process was like this season because he wasn't able to have access to his rink and he was up in Alaska where he lives. And he ended up doing a lot of training I think on frozen ponds and frozen lakes, and he couldn't go to the gym obviously so he was using chainsaws as weights-
Evie: and car batteries. Chainsaws and car batteries.
Kite: Never change, Keegan. Also, Keegan in a cowboy hat with that giant Canadian flag during the dance event was probably like the best thing that happened this weekend.
Evie: I think that's probably the most I've enjoyed that Free Skate of his because we obviously saw it last season- and maybe it was the fact that he's gonna be a dad soon that the dad-rock program finally, I was just like “Yes, Keegan I'm here for this.” Or just seeing him live more than usual, I was just like, I'm on the Keegan messing train. I'm not getting off it. I'm so happy he was able to skate really well here.
Yogeeta: I've always complained about Keegan's choices to be the most Canadian in his programs. But you know what, Keegan, keep it up.
Evie: Let's go on and talk about Jason Brown now, who luckily managed to save some of the US's spots after Vincent Zhou had, not the greatest day out in the Short Program here.
Kite: Yeah, Vincent, unfortunately, had a very rough Short Program. Didn't make the Free, and Jason really had to step up and kind of get to that max of 13.
Yogeeta: And he did, with ease.
Kite: I hope that this is the trigger that the US fed needs to actually appreciate what a gem they have in Jason Brown, and make him the US number two because I think he has done more than enough.
Yogeeta: Oh yes, Jason Brown is hands down, in my eyes, number two. He's proven himself. I think in the prior quad he was inconsistent, at some points he didn't have the perspective he needed to push himself but after not getting chosen for the team in Pyeongchang, I think that's really pushed him to give him that perspective that really needs. And then the switch to training at the [Toronto] Cricket Club, he's really taken this quad to evolve and become the best of Jason Brown. And in my eyes, he is US number two, and honestly, there is no doubt. I think if the US were to choose someone over him for the Olympic Team, they'd become laughing stocks. Given his body of work, which the USFS has taken into the account as one of the criteria for choosing Olympic spots, it should be no question.
Evie: That Short Program, the “Sinnerman” Short Program - it's perfect for him. Like that choreography that Rohene [Ward] did for him... I mean, Rohene's short programs for Jason are always really excellent, like they have clearly a really great working relationship together with his choreography. But I think “Sinnerman” might be my favorite Short Program of his now. It's just so strong and impactful. Plus, he's keeping it for the Olympic year, yay!
Yogeeta: And honestly, dare I say, it might be one of my favorite Short Programs of all time?
Evie: It's just so stunningly beautiful.
Yogeeta: Also, some small wins for Jason: he landed an, albeit underrotated, a quad Sal in the free! He didn't fall or pop it, which he usually does, so I will take the wins where I get it.
Evie: His axels were also a little bit tight here, but his axels have never been his strong suit, so...
Yogeeta: It's the way of Jason. They have gotten better.
Evie: They've definitely gotten a lot more consistent than they were in the past but they're still a little bit tight on the landing. But again, considering all the circumstances of this event, I will happily take Jason finishing really well here and his skates here as a good sign.
Yogeeta: Let's talk about Han Yan, who I'm just happy to see Han Yan skate. I don't care how well he does. He's just a pleasure to watch.
Evie: His skating is so special. His opening 3A-3T in the free- the height and distance he got on both of those jumps is just honestly, my favorite jumping pass of the entire free skate event.
Yogeeta: But I also feel so bad for him going into his free skate because he knew he had to be extremely clean because of Boyang who unfortunately put out two very unfortunate programs here. He fell on his 3Lz, costing China their two spots. Although I will argue he should've gotten 90 in components anyway and they wouldn't have lost them to begin with because he would've been in the position he needed. But it's unfortunate, especially... now we can move on to talk about Boyang who I don't really want to talk about but at the same time, it is kind of important to talk about Boyang, given that we're going into the Beijing Olympics. Especially with the amount of pressure on his shoulders, he knew the Olympic spots were on the line and they were not just any Olympic spots, they were Olympics spots for Beijing, home Olympics, and he needed to do well to at the very least keep their two spots if not attempt to get three spots for Chinese men. I don't think I've seen Boyang fall apart this badly since 2018 Worlds.
Evie: Yeah, post-Olympic Worlds. It was hard to sit through and I am interested to see what's going to happen to Boyang now because we got the news, recently, that Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson got added to his coaching team on his ISU Bio and they were in the kiss and cry with him here at the event, and he talked about the possibility of going to Canada if the situation improved. I honestly don't know how that's going to fare for him just considering it's so close to the Olympic season at this point how much work they can get done in the lead up to Beijing because obviously coaching changes - especially moving countries for coaching- is such a big shift. I'm interested to see what his decision-making process will be in the choice to go to Canada or not, and how that's going to affect his skating moving forward.
Yogeeta: Honestly I don't think he'll have much of a choice. I think the Chinese Federation has seen that him staying with his current coaching team has not made the improvements that they needed. And they need him to do well in Beijing. He has even more pressure on his shoulders now and they're going to do whatever they need to do to get him up to par. I'm really worried about all that pressure on his shoulders to be honest, whether or not he'll be able to handle it because as we know with Boyang, his issue is not his technical skills, because we know he has the tech. His issue has always been with his mental fortitude.
Evie: Hopefully the off-season will be kind to him and he'll come into the Olympic year really ready and raring to go. I just really hope for the best for Boyang is basically it.
Yogeeta: Moving onto the Olympics - Japan has three spots. All things considered, unless something drastic happens, the Olympic Team is Yuzuru, Yuma, Shoma.
Kite: I don't see that changing at all - unless Yuzuru manifests the quad Axel at some point on the Grand Prix and decides that he's good.
Yogeeta: Yuma's proven himself to be able to handle the nerves and that's honestly super important because Yuma's a podium contender now. So they're not gonna not send Yuma. Shoma's already won an Olympic medal, he's going. There's no world where Japan does not send Yuzuru unless he specifically says he's not going. The US has two guaranteed spots and a third conditional spot that they need to collect at Nebelhorn. Nathan is obviously going to the Olympics. The US would be dumb if they didn't send Jason. Vincent did not qualify for the Free, which is why the US has a conditional three spots here. So the US will need to send a man who is not Nate or Jason to Nebelhorn to get their third Olympic spot. Yaroslav [Paniot] is up for his [US] citizenship for this year, so if he does get his citizenship he can go to Beijing, but whether or not he will is still up in the air.
Evie: And another one of our favorites, Junhwan Cha, managed to secure one spot and another conditional spot for Korean men at the Olympics next year as well. And he put out some really great skates here despite his training situation in Korea regarding the lack of access to ice time, being away from his coaches at TCC throughout the last year, dealing with injury issues, including back pain and a ruptured leg muscle which he's been on pain killers for the last month. All of that while still having to compete at both Korean Nationals AND the ranking competition, just in this last month before Worlds, which, we'll talk a bit more in-depth about when we go into the Ladies, but he's definitely had a bit of a rough go of it lately but still managed to do so excellently here, despite all that. Really, really impressed with Jun. Korea will probably end up sending Sihyeong Lee to collect that second men's spot, who actually placed ahead of Junhwan in the ranking competition just a couple of weeks ago. So we'll see how that goes, and if Korea manages to secure two spots for the Olympics next year. And hey-- Donovan managed to qualify a spot for Mexico, which is amazing! Even when he made the free I was just like, this is everything I've ever wanted, thank you, world! We've watched Donovan for so many years and just, whenever he's out on the ice, his smile is so cheery and just makes you feel happy, and his skating is so lovely even if his technical content isn't up to par with some of the other skaters around him. He's just such a gem and I really want him to have that Olympic experience because imagine how much it would mean to him as a skater from Mexico. Like, that kind of experience is truly once in a lifetime and I'm just so proud and happy for him.
Yogeeta: Agreed. This is kind of why I'm happy with the new rules under our interpretation of the rules. Because it means that more small feds got allocated spots at Worlds.
Evie: Yay, we love that! Small fed supremacy!
-end segment-
Evie: So that's it for part one of our Worlds coverage. We'll be back in just a few days with our episode all about the Ice Dance and Ladies events.
Yogeeta: Thanks to our transcribing and quality control team, Evie as always for editing, and Gabb for graphic design.
Kite: If you want to get in touch with us, then please feel free to contact us via our website inthelopodcast.com or on our Twitter. You can find our episodes on Youtube, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify.
Evie: If you enjoy the show, and want to help support the team, then please consider making a donation to us on our ko-fi page, and we’d like to give a huge thank you to all the listeners who have contributed to our team thus far.
Yogeeta: You can find the links to all our social media pages and our ko-fi on the website.
Kite: If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, please consider leaving a rating and a review if you enjoyed the show. Thanks for listening, this has been Kite, Yogeeta and Evie.