Cup of China 2017 review
We’re in the middle of Gran-prix series, oh time flies so fast. What to say, competitions become weirder and weirder…
Let’s start with the ladies event which was tough almost like Olympics.
Chinese girls were lovely but not really memorable. Especially in the short program, in similar dresses skating to a similar type of music. Turns out that’s the best they have, because another sad news have come, that Zijun Li isn’t training and won’t go to Olympics for sure.
Elizaveta..probably that’s shocking. She landed 3a, skated the rest of the program clean and remained 6th. What? Can you imagine that? I don’t understand why her GOE for jumps is so low, because she has a textbook jumps. But I do understand her low PCS score. Her programs are empty, with poor ice coverage and not much choreography. 10 seconds I was happy that finally Liza has a nice dress for the FP, but then I saw the skirt that probably got into a shredder and pink nude illusion mesh that reminded me of Anna Pogorilaya’s dress for Scheherazade.
Gabrielle Daleman surprised me. Pleasantly surprised. Are you surprised that pleasantly (to many “surprised” yeah)? Just look at her performances at b-event. It’s definitely a step forward. She will go to Olympics for sure, so she has no need to rush, she can prepare according to her own schedule.
Unfortunately the same can’t be said about Japanese girls. Marin Honda did much better than at Skate Canada but here it wasn’t enough for the podium. She’s lovely, but I think her Olympics are next ones.
It seems that Japanese Federation wouldn’t mind to send Mai Mihara….but she’s grew up, her jumps became smaller and not that consistent….As for the programs, her tango is well-choreographed, her free program – thank you for tribute to Alissa Czisny.
I really love Wakaba Higuchi’s short program! It’s so powerful and she sends a lot of energy to the audience. This program really shows her from the best side. When did that happened? When Wakaba turned into such a chic young lady? Beautiful and dangerous. The role of James Bond’s girlfriend really suits her. And this time I fully appreciate the program. That was a great performance!
For ElenaRadionova this bronze medal is for sure with a golden shade. I’m really happy for Elena and I’m happy to see that her fighting spirit is back. Because that’s what always was her strongest side, she always fought for every element and didn’t give up after first mistake. I think it’s really a remarkable quality.
As for Alina Zagitova I still think they should have gave her a real Tchaikovsky for the short program. They seem not care how far she’s from ballerina, so why not. But the program would have be much more powerful and memorable. The free program is great. Yes, I see that she has a lot of rush, unfinished and unpolished moves, but still the program makes an impression. I think this girl has everything to become a start of this Olympics.
Looking at Kevin Reynolds’ results I want to meet Patrick Chan, slap him couple of times and tell everything I think about him. Ouch…sounds like a threat) Fortunately for him I live too far, so he can sleep peacefully. But team Canada needs to do something if they still count on Olympic team gold.
Charming Javi, charming programs and…another nightmare. What was that?! Grand prix final without Patrick and without Javi….it’s a nightmare, please wake me up.
I liked Han Yan since his last season in juniors and since that he regularly upsets me. But this time he showed quite good skating. Thank you Han, I wouldn’t withstand another heartbreak. But what happened with your hair color?
Vincent Zhou and his quads….many quads. But where’s the program, Vincent? No, one spread eagle doesn’t count as program)
Max, why this grey sweater looks so familiar?) And what it has to do with Phantom of the Opera? Funny things, in US team that divided on jumpers and performers Max Aaron turned out to be a balanced skater))) Who would have thought?
I thought this time Boyang will finally get gold at home Grand-prix. But gold seems to be cursed) Well, the situation of past two years repeats itself….taking into account how those two years have finished for Boyang, it’s not a bad scenario. His short program is interesting and I like the idea to give him something with a national color. But the free….maybe I don’t understand it because I’m not a fan of Star Wars?
And out surprising winner. Again, who would have thought. So the judges showed Mikhail Kolyada that they’re ready to call him an elite skater and give him high PCS, the only thing he needs to do is to skate clean. Well, good news for team Russia, their chances for Olympic team gold increases. As for the programs, I still think that Misha deserves a better programs and that he should run away from his choreographer, this woman has no taste. But his quad lutz just to die for, the most beautiful quad lutz I’ve ever seen.
Valentina, why did you forget in the short program that you was a solid single skater once?! The free program was great, they did everything clean, but I still don’t like and don’t understand this program. Loved this moment:
In terms of polishing and lines the second Italian pair looks much better, but every time I see Matteo Guarise with this funny hairdo wearing this tight jumpsuits I can’t stop laughing, no matter how serious and good their programs are. Sorry guys.
Moore-Towers – Marinaro surprisingly took bronze. I really liked their short program, it’s very stylish and it suits Kirsten to be lady in red. The free program is a bit boring, but the dress is amazing (yeah I can forgive almost everything for a nice costume). Loved the dusty blue color.
Who would have thought that among all the swans this season, I’d be impressed the most by pair skater Xiaoyu Yu. I loved their short program, such a great choice for this pair! She is elegant and fragile swan, he is big and scary evil wizard. This libretto was written by fans as soon as news about the creation of new pairs appeared. So this is a 100% match. The free program wasn’t skated as it should be, maybe that’s why it didn’t impress me much at Cup of China. So I will give this program a time to grow on me.
And mind-blowing Sui – Han. Hallelujah….during off-season I listened this song hundreds of times. Listening to the melody, listening to the words. Therefore, in my head there was already some kind of image … some idea how the program to this music should look like. And they caught it, our emotional perception matched, so I’m not objective here and i loved loved loved this short program. It’s so sexy and so sensual!
The free program doesn’t have such power over me. Whether this is a tribute to the Chinese culture, or to their coaches… … but Turandot this season is a bit overused. They are beautiful in their dissimilarity to everyone else, so I’m a little bit disappointed that they did not choose something more original and individual. But they are mind-blowing … I have nothing more to add.
The Chinese love ice dance, you noticed, huh?)
I have three main conclusions about short dance.
First: Guys it’s not a folk dance. So why a lot of skaters show lezghinka or gopak at the parallel step sequences? Maybe skaters miss folk dances? ISU, think about it.
Second: Who is this person, that chose latina for Olympic season. Who can give me his contacts? I want to check how fast he can run.
Third: It’s only November and I already hate Despacito.
Chinese dancers. This time I was prepared for black leotard under tender skirt. Intriguing but not shocking anymore. And the other two team also didn’t show something interesting, neither bright colors, nor fabulous designs. Boring, guys, boring!
Costplay in the free dance. I want to be Tessa:
Sinitsina and Katsalapov also have fans! Yeah, thas’s success.
Tiffany Zahorski impresses me with her ability to look great in colors and designs that would look horrible on anyone eles in Russian team) I also liked their short dance. Cheerful, dancing where no one tried to show super hot diva) The free dance is lovely, but it’s hard to stand out with a dance to Muse that was used million times in figure skating. But this lift is amazing, best moment of the dance:
Honestly, I’m a bit surprised that Bobrova and Soloviev placed third. China always considered to be a friendly territory for Russian ice dancers. Taking into account that it was 4th or 5th competition for Bobrova (they had time to check the levels and make some corrections) and only first for Madison and Evan, I thought judges would help them to finish second. Not this time, I guess)
May we please steal Madison‘s dress and burn it? Oh another funny latina moment:
I also disappointed with their free dance. It lovely, but it doesn’t show who they are and why we actually love them. We love to see hot Madison who flies in amazing lifts! Maybe they decided to do a trendy style, but to me they lost their individuality. This dance would look much better on someone like Shibutani.
Gabriella and Guillaume. I like their latina, it’s fresh and dancing and really suits them both. But I don’t understand the scores…well I stopped to understand the scores at the end of last Olympic cycle, so….probably that’s only my problem)
Oh Gabriella, Maia has already shown us that move with a ponytail)
The free dance still amazes and hypnotises the audience and the judges. The scores are twice as high as the world-famous Eiffel Tower. Or three times higher than the famous Notre Dame de Paris) So I completely don’t understand all this crying and talks that Olympic gold has been already given to Canadians….Oh please, just look at the scores …not at home….
That’s all. Sorry, but Cup of China wasn’t the most exciting event)
Related topics: Alina Zagitova, Boyang Jin, Cup of China, Ekaterina Bobrova Dmitri Soloviev, Elena Radionova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Gabriella Papadakis Guillaume Cizeron, Gabrielle Daleman, grand prix, Han Yan, ice dance, Javier Fernandez, Kevin Reynolds, Kirsten Moore-Towers Michael Marinaro, ladies, Madison Chock Evan Bates, Mai Mihara, Marin Honda, Max Aaron, men, mikhail kolyada, Nicole Della Monica Matteo Guarise, pairs, Tiffany Zahorski Jonathan Guerreiro, Valentina Marchei Ondrej Hotarek, Vincent Zhou, Wakaba Higuchi, Wenjing Sui Cong Han, Xiaoyu Yu Hao Zhang, Zijun Li
Thank you! I literally died laughing about your comment about Vincent Zhou!
I really love your reviews and your kind of humour!
Thank you for your nice review! I just share some my impressions. After watching French team scores, I thought the only way to beat them is to ‘copy’ their style. By the way I liked Madison’s short dance dress- I find it original and it captured my attention in a good way. And I’m happy for Kolyada, he looks to be sincere young man, not spoiled with fame, and I wish him successful this season!
I think it impossible to win by “copying”, copy is always worse than original. So the only way to win is to show something new, to show your own individuality.