The Great Catsby

In keeping with the apparent need to make this competition as dramatic as possible, ice dance (the last discipline) ended with a huge upset that confused literally everyone watching including the skaters. I almost never watch ice dance live because I don't know a thing, but this was at a reasonable time and it is interesting, so I watched.

Long story short, going into the free program two American teams, Hubbell/Donohue and Chock/Bates, were really really close for first and second. In the free skate everyone in their group performed amazingly. Chock/Bates were in first, with Hubbell/Donohue as the last skaters. At the end of H/D's skate the tech box in the upper left hand corner shows that their technical score is about even with C/B, so it could literally go either way and is pretty much down to performance component scores (the more subjective shit.)

But the scores took forever to come out. A really awkwardly long amount of time, and when they did they were low enough to put H/D in fourth. The arena was shocked (you could hear it), the other skaters were shocked, and everyone watching not in the arena was shocked. Their technical score had dropped a full 7 points, which isn't really common in ice dance. It's common in the other three disciplines because jumps, in review, can have a lot of errors, but jumps don't exist in ice dance. Points are usually lost based on level of difficulty. However, H/D lost points for a whole element. A stationary spin done at the beginning of the program was downgraded because they traveled while doing it. RIP.

The gala is later and I hope I can watch it. Everyone needs to have fun after that what-the-fuck of a competition. The weirdest part is, despite all that stress and up-and-down the podiums are pretty much a step above what you'd expect.

(I’m typing this on mobile so there might be typos.) Okay before the salt and sadness let’s talk about the good: the ladies did really really well. I’m impressed by everyone and overall it was a really good competition. Rika won! She came back from fifth to first with her free, which is incredible. It’s easy for her to gain points with the triple axel, but it’s hard to do one, and she usually always manages to nail at least one in the free. I admire her because there were several competitions this season where she had to come from behind to win or get on the podium and she’s really good at it. I also love her free program! The music is good the choreography is great the content is great Rika is pretty much always on her game with it. One day I hope she manages to skate both her short and free clean because she would probably break a world record with it. So far she hasn’t but there’s still worlds.

Mariah also has a free program I love. It’s so pretty! Mai Mihara did amazing in her free program as well and performed her heart out after a bad short. The last group in general was really good. And then...

There is Kaori. My biggest issue with the competition so far (and I hope the only one but I have a bad feeling about men’s.) I love Kaori. I love her free program. It’s beautiful and she skates it so well. It’s an emotional performance and the quality of her elements is amazing. She does not, however, get the performance scores she deserves. They are too low.

This happened in the short program where she was second to Bradie by not a lot, and in the free she was less than a point off silver and bronze. The silver medalist fell and was ahead of her. But that isn’t the problem. Kaori made one mistake (popping an axel) but the rest of her program was amazing. And she still got scored one point off the podium, despite the performance, with too low PCs and everyone agree she was lowballed.

When I say everyone I mean it. The expert twitter account that follows competition scoring in real time agreed. Most of twitter agreed. The CROWD agreed. You know a bad decision was made when the crowd has a bad reaction when the scores are read out, and the crowd’s reaction to Kaori’s score was really bad. It felt like all the cheer was sucked out of the arena even just watching from the live stream. And Kaori’s reaction was devastating — SHES really expressive and honest off ice and she started sobbing when she realized she wasn’t going to medal. BY LESS THAN ONE POINT! ITS FRUSTRATING! I feel horrible for her especially because the program was so beautiful.

There was also some shit in ice dance which is...unfortunate.

This makes me worry for the men, who already had their own shenanigans going on. Even without that I’m worried because I want Shoma to medal and it would be so sad if he didn’t. But even if he doesn’t, if someone is shafted because of bad scoring and it costs them a medal I will be very angry. I won’t be awake (just like I wasn’t awake for ladies and had to wake up to that news and then watch the replays) so I hope I wake up to good news. Prayer circle for Shoma and for anyone who isn’t in first right now. I FEAR

Four Continents started today with the Ladies Short and the Men's Short is...in a few minutes but going past midnight so I'm not staying up for that. I might stay up for the free on Saturday even though it's also really late but...we'll see.

The ladies did really well! Kaori Sakamoto -- AAA I LOVE HER SO MUCH SHE WAS SO GOOD! I think she should've been in first but...what can you did. Mariah Bell also did amazingly, and was scored too low, but both of them are still in the top three and not behind by much, especially Kaori. I have every bit of faith Kaori can do well in the free -- her free program is beautiful. And Rika -- I think every competition Rika has a mistake either in the short or the free on her triple axel. I've never seen her hit it in both programs which is a shame, because I want to see what happens when she does. But when she doesn't hit it in the short, she usually comes back in the free, so she's not out of it yet.

Very nervous for the men. Shoma sprained his ankle -- TWO MORE TIMES since Nationals!! I don't even know how this is possible, but somehow he seems 100% happier before this competition than he was before the Grand Prix Final or any of his Grand Prix competitions, despite not being injured. I think whatever realization he had at JP Nationals is carrying over here and I hope that he can be happy even if he doesn't get the gold he's been wanting all season. And, not gonna lie, I think he won't unless he skates perfectly and the others don't. He watered down his program content because of the injury, and while it's still difficult, I know that some of the other skaters have more difficult planned program content -- Boyang Jin and Vincent Zhou specifically. And...well...I'm fine with Boyang winning, he's great and he's the defending champion and he had his own confidence issues early this season. But Vincent above Shoma is something I cannot live with ever at all. I am still mad about Vincent over Jason Brown at Nationals.

Jason is gonna be there! Junhwan Cha is also there and I hope he does really well!

Team Japan in general has been pretty chaotic. Kaori started things off by saying she'd give her life for success at this competition. Rika is wearing mismatched skates (one gold blade and one silver) because one of her boots was worn down, *and* she dislocated a finger on Tuesday. Shoma has his sprained ankle. I hope the others aren't hiding some strange issue that will throw a wrench in things.

Here's hoping I wake up to good news with the men. As far as I know, most of them have been doing relatively well in practice.