Skate Canada 2019 Recap

What stood out at Skate Canada this year? Let's see...

MEN

+      There were at least three great surprises at SkCan last weekend, and two of them came with the men. One was Camden Pulkinen’s 2^nd-place SP (and subsequent shocked reaction in the Kiss’n’Cry), which also happened to be his senior GP debut. Another was Nam Nguyen winning 2^nd place overall, a feat I wasn’t sure we’d ever see him accomplish! (BTW I intimated last week that Nguyen had yet to make the podium at SkCan… while that was true, he did win bronze at Skate America back in 2014.) Can Nguyen keep this going? Stay tuned for his results at Rostelecom Cup.

+    Oh, and while Yuzuru Hanyu’s victory was most definitely NOT a surprise, this was his first-ever SkCan gold. He has three silvers from past SkCan attempts; one of them dates back to 2013.

LADIES

+      It was a high risk/reward event as advertised, with most of the high risks paying off… Sasha Trusova isn’t allowed to put quads in her SP (yet), so without a triple axel in her arsenal she had to save her heavy hitters for the free skate—and with the exception of the quad salchow, they all worked in her favor for a victory of nearly 11 points over silver medalist Rika Kihira. Kihira, in turn, nailed 2 triple axels (stepping out of the third one) in Kelowna, securing 2^nd place over Young You by nearly 13 points. And while You only went 1-for-2 in terms of triple axel success, it was enough to make the difference for bronze over Bradie Tennell.  (Who has 2 very strong programs this year, and skated them quite well at SkCAN… but alas, no medal this time.)

+      Trusova’s win set off a new version of what I always think is a highly valuable debate about component scores. (It also perpetuated the newer debate about the toll quad jumps might be taking on a teenage or prepubescent girl’s physical health and development, but that’s a whole blog post in itself.) Trusova’s average component score was an 8.43, while Kihira averaged an 8.94, Young You averaged 8.16, Tennell averaged 8.70, and Evgenia Medvedeva (who finished a disappointing 5th) averaged 9.22. The question hanging in this particular competition: should the components of a 15 year old senior “rookie” such as Trusova-- and Young You, for that matter—be within-a-point compatible with three more seasoned competitors, one of whom has logged time on both world and Olympic podiums? Does jump difficulty equate with better skating skills, music interpretation, and performance?     

PAIRS

+      Boikova/Kozlovskii won this event in a way that made me say sorry I doubted you; I won’t make that mistake again.(In other words, they were quite good.)

+      Meanwhile, Tarasova/Morozov almost lost the bronze to the Knierims… which can either be interpreted to mean the American team has really improved in the off-season, or the Russian team faltered in a big bad way. (My interpretation: a little bit of both, but with a decisive lean towards Russian faltering.)

+      And home country Canada had to be equal parts disappointed with Moore-Towers/Marinaro’s failure to top the podium, and delighted with Ilyushechkina/Bilodeau’s ability to make such a strong impression with their 5^th place GP debut. Ily/Bilo skate like a brand new team that was told: OK you two, every other pair trying to make the 2022 Beijing Olympics has a full year on you…so GET MOVING. Which is true. Which is also to say they already look like a team in the mix as much as any of them.

DANCE

+      Surprise #3 (remember I said there were at least 3 of them) was, of course, Gilles/Poirier’s upset win over Hubbell/Donohue… their first Grand Prix win in eight seasons, SIXTEEN events, and NINE trips to the podium. And while I still don’t think “Both Sides Now” necessarily tops last year’s “Vincent”, it appears to be excelling at a more accessible level, if that makes sense.

+      It was a noteworthy treat to get an apples-to-apples (or at least, Gala to Honeycrisp) study in free dance when both Popova/Mozgov and Lajoie/Lagha skated back to back with their “Bohemian Rhapsody” programs. Who wore it better? Advantage La/La, who scored 5 points above Pop/Moz and finished the day two placements higher.

+      One more note about music, which comes with one more slight change of heart: I was thrilled when I heard Fear/Gibson were taking on a Madonna medley this year, but was somewhat disappointed to find that the FD was bookended by the same song (“Vogue”). Since I’m reasonably knowledgeable of Madonna’s discography, my mind ran to all the other options: “Holiday”… “Deeper and Deeper”… “Ray of Light”… “Causing a Commotion”… (no, just kidding, the interim between True Blue and Like a Prayer was a lousy part of Madonna History). Using “Vogue” twice? Really? But now that I’ve watched it a couple times, I think it kinda has to be that way for the sake of the ending. “Vogue” has a great, splashy, definitive ending. Not many songs do. (Yeah, I could still make an argument for “Express Yourself”, but the groove on that one is very similar and probably not worth the exchange.) In any case, Fear/Gibson nabbed their first-ever GP medal at SkCan so I doubt they’re looking to re-work anything too drastically at the moment.