Kaori Sakamoto: Wild is the Wind / Feeling Good » 2023 Grand Prix Final

Ilia Malinin's 4A (BV: 12.50 + GOE: 3.04 = 15.54) | GPF 2023, SP

ilia's performance tonight resulted in the first ever quad axel executed in a short program. including his 4Lz+3T and 3A, ilia's technical content is the most difficult ever attempted in short program history!

please let them have fairy wings at every exhibition gala!!

Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier, FD Wuthering Heights • GPF 2023

And here is THE program I want to rant about:

Hana's Shakuhachi is absolutely my favourite program in this disciplinne this season.

In terms of her technical elements she has good technique, lots of speed into and out of her jumps. I love her landings especially, great flow, smooth running edges. Commentators keep mentioning those and for a good reason, it's a guaranteed GOE bullet point hit for her with how amazing they are. She is quite quick, with solid ankle action allowing for flow and glide. Now switching onto what makes this THE program for me:

All program components are connected obviously, but to me composition is supposed to give an entire picture of a program really. It is the ice coverage, the way elements are woven into choreography and music, what the skater is trying to convene in those few minutes. Shakuhachi is more convenient than her SP, it follows a mostly standard music arrangement with the final spin being the peak, but what sets it apart to me is that the sense stays constant throughout. I feel like she is one singular lonely crane from the first moment to the end, but also, especially during the StSq and to the end I also feel like I'm watching a flock in flight and trying to single out one bird? But it is still somehow a graceful solitary flight. If that makes sense? This program's quniqueness in composition comes from choreography I think. Just take a look at the opening! So serene when majority of skaters open their programs with a bang. I just love it when programs build in intensity. The concept is what makes it stand out and it's beautiful!

Her ice coverage is just huge. She takes up the entire ice as if a bird could take up entire sky.

Her presentation is just stellar. Every movement connects to the theme of the program, she is always conscious of her hands - so so important as her entire body represents a crane. The red glove doesn't stand out of the costume because you can exactly point out the exact movement of the bird she embodies. Her endless, long running edges, and ability to control body movement smoothly and effortlessly serve purpose in painting a crane. It's so important to note how she utilizes spins in her expression. The movements are so precise, so bird-like!

My favourite part of the program has to be the StSq. This entire program has so much class and elegance. It doesn't feel like a 1st senior season program to me at all. Hana is simply stunning.

Grand Prix Final 2023 | Shoma Uno with coach Stéphane Lambiel after the free skate

one of the prettiest 15 second slow-mos i have ever seen

Shoma Uno — Timelapse / Spiegel im Spiegel FS at GPF 2023

Shoma in this gigantic coat 🤣 @ gala practice GPF 2023

He skated his runthrough in this coat 💀 how is this even possible?

The first pic with Yuma and Shoma 🥹😘

Kaori Sakamoto: Baby, God Bless You » 2023 Grand Prix Final

Shoma Uno (JPN): Timelapse / Spiegel im Spiegel | 2023 Grand Prix Final

(i literally would not care if he skated a minute more overtime. that was gorgeous.)

shoma deciding to do a tribute program to his career and finishing 2nd at every event as part of his commitment to the performance

Qualifiers and substitutes for the 2023 Grand Prix Final (source)

One man does 4A successfully and commentators are already talking about who else could potentially do it. Leave those men alone 😡 they're struggling enough as it is

Grand Prix Final 2023 | Shoma Uno and coach Stéphane Lambiel at the end of Shoma's short program performance

From Shoma's post SP interview [x]: --You also did a fist pump, which is rare. Uno: Stephane gave me a fist pump, so I responded. Stephane was also very depressed after the NHK Trophy. I think he was sad because he saw my daily practice and I performed in the best way possible, but it ended up looking as if it wasn't that way. However, I was really happy that Stephane felt like that, and I am approaching this competition with the hope that I can respond to him with the same kind of performance again from now on. [...] -- Regarding the fist pump, you said it was because coach Lambiel did it, but wasn't it because of your own joy? Uno: It was more like a "whew" feeling than a fist pump. Like, "Well, you did a good job." But I thought it would be nicer for viewers to see a fistpump as an expression of joy. Maybe it will make it easier to write a headline (smiles). I didn't mean to do that, but when it comes to the results, skaters should just be happy. There's no benefit in being too hard on yourself. It would make viewers happier if I smiled even if my performance was bad, or if I was honestly happy if my performance was good, but I don't do that (smiles). [I did it] because I was thinking about how Stephane would feel.

come together in A GIANT MIZUNO COAT /holding back cuteness aggression