This week, the top male figure skaters on the planet put on a spectacular show at the 2023 World Championships in Saitama. Shoma Uno battled an ankle injury to defend his world title. Ilia Malinin landed the first quad axel at the World Figure Skating Championship. Junhwan Cha, Kevin Aymoz, Jason Brown and Kazuki Tomono displayed a combination of artistry and athleticism that delighted audiences. Daniel Grassl and Eteri Tutberidze continued a partnership that made skating audiences uncomfortable. We break it all down on the latest ‘This and That’.
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Really loved this competition and loved Belinda. I had only ever heard her commentating the Olympics and I was always wondering why she wasn't hired more often. This is what I want from commentators.
I love watching you two go crazy over this event. You're both so sweet, thoughtful, and funny! Always a great program! <3
There was no ranking event between 4CC and Worlds. There is only one ranking comp, which is a 4CC qualifying event, and it was before the GPF this season. The competition you referred to here is the Winter Sports Festival held by the KSOC (not KSU), which is for all the winter sports, not just figure skating. It's important domestically (for school and such) but less so for skaters who are internationally competitive, so top skaters tend to skip if they've already won.
Junhwan didn't compete last season so kind of expected him to compete this season. Also he said he wanted to compete there because he didn't do well at 4CC, so he wanted to kind of overwrite that experience and get energy from the Korean fans.
It was surprising to see Yelim compete as she'd already won at the University level last season. When asked after 4CC whether she would compete at the Winter Sports Festival, she said she would see how she felt and consult her team and since she did compete, I guess she felt well enough at the time.
Belinda always started with the technical commentary and handed it over to Mark for the components. They seemed to have a system. They did a great job indeed. It’s still not as great as the CBC commentary with Kurt, Carol Lane, Meagan Duhamel. It was a huge improvement over the rest of the season. Even Ted had improved in response to feedback I imagine.
Belinda is an outstanding commentator but her companion sadly annunciates words quite poorly and is difficult to understand for non native speakers like me
My favorite moment of the week was Shoma's SP to John Mayer's "Gravity." That step sequence was P H E N O M E N A L. I didn't care about the 4T+2T combination.
The men's podium went as expected. I thought that Ilia could have beaten Shoma for the gold, but I guess the judges chose Shoma, since he's more experienced and has the PCS to back himself up. Very proud of Junhwan for getting himself a World silver medal! He and Haein Lee have gotten South Korea three spots at next year's Worlds. Jason did an excellent job, as usual, but I was sad not to see Adam Siao Him Fa not in the top six with his fellow countryman, Kevin Aymoz, who did great. Boyang Jin is having trouble at the moment, but I believe he'll make his way back to the top. He's only been with Brian for how many months? Hope to see him in Milan. Again, thanks for the recap, guys! NBC commentary is such garbage, I can't watch it without cringing at hearing Johnny and Tara. Had no idea Weir is making his own skating school. He might do better here than commentating for NBC. Maybe.
Junhwan Cha skates so gracefully and is so beautiful he had me screaming and in tears. I can’t wait to see him do more ❤ everything about him is gorgeous
0:00 competition overall
3:00 balanced technique and artistry, commentary
5:07 Adam Siao Him Fa, boot problems
9:55 Boyang Jin
10:15 commentators
12:05 Morisi Kvitelashvili, effects of doping
16:36 Thomas Bach
19:03 Daniel Grassl
20:30 how to promote skating for next season, Kévin Aymoz
26:34 Jason Brown, japanese audience
34:20 us men, college gymnastics strategies
37:48 Junhwan Cha
44:19 Shoma Uno
50:08 Ilia Malinin
56:00 Keegan Messing
57:51 Kazuki Tomono
1:01:03 Lukas Britschgi
1:02:00 Moment of the event
@30:09 – Jason's one or two competitions away from being that show performer who can go sightseeing during the day, rush in to the rink to do his short or long without much thought other than where he's going to have dinner later that night. 🙂
My favorite Belinda-ism was “a lot of end to end jumping”. She’s saying there’s no choreography; that’s shade. 😂😂😂😂
What is the theme of Uno's Free program?
My highlight was the short programme of Jari Kessler. Incredible musicality, an unexpected crowd clap-along, and a spin so exquisite that even Belinda Noonan told us "and just look at that".
The last flight and Kazuki were magical, especially Shoma. I wish I could watch Worlds on repeat.
Big fan of Belinda’s commentary…really wish she were the only one I had to listen to. And I can tolerate Mark .. cute Scottish accent. Normally most interested in pairs but Junhwan Cha WC performance just blew me away.. 😮
My favorite skating was Junhwan and Jason Brown ones. both of them finished unforgettable performance !
I saved the men’s recap for last, and it did not disappoint
While I love Ilia and his athleticism, clearly he needs to expand his " balancing" with his skating skills and overall performance.
I am hopeful for the PCS scoring overall, as the messaging was clear.
Thank God you're not a judge Dave, because Junhwan has every right to choose Michael Jackson and James Bond for his music as much as every other caucasian is using middle eastern style music. Last year you said his beige gloves don't match his skin color and now this??? I can see that you're not a fan, but it sounds like you're bashing Junhwan to the lowest detail. As a Korean I feel so attacked!!!😡
Comparing Nathan and Ilia together is so ridiculous. Nathan has not lacked artistry since he was a child, but when he just added a large number of quads to the program, he put his priority on stabilizing his jumps. When he gradually stabilized his jumps after 2018, he found balance of technique and artistry , and constantly trying different styles, each style was performed quite well (because he has always been a good dancer). Nathan has always been an all-around skater, Ilia is not, at least not yet.
Junhwan is a Real Gold Medalist!
He was robbed his Gold!
Stiff Fluz Jummper Shoma was stiffer than usualy!
I cannot understand that he have Always been a Judge Favourite!?
Ilya is absollutey not woorth this silver!
A bad and boring skating with ONE Jump is not worth this Silver!
BUT of course He Is from US!
I'm tailking about WC 2023!
What are you guys talking about??