The Great Catsby

 Small post but you can see how I feel about the men's grand prix final here, and the ladies grand prix final here. Tldr; really proud of everyone, ladies was incredible to watch, mens put the fear in my heart. (Ladies did too much there were less falls.) 

 One down, three to go! Mens is over and I'm happy because it's the podium I wanted! Nathan Chen has gold, Shoma Uno silver, and Junhwan Cha bronze.

It would have been nice for Shoma to get gold since he gets silver at every major competition no matter who's there, but I think he's adjusting to a new mindset. He did get over his anxiety from the short program to succeed in the free which is great! Junhwan made history as the first South Korean man to qualify for and medal at a Grand Prix Final! Considering he wasn't originally assigned to the Grand Prix in a way that would've allowed him to qualify, that's awesome! And Nathan is doing finals at Yale and still got gold. Need me some of that energy! 

The ladies are later so no rest yet. 

x-post from my skating tumblr, figured might as well since the GPF is SOON! 

The Grand Prix Final is in one week and a bit! This is the first year I’ve been able to follow the Grand Prix series as it happens as a whole despite having actively been following figure skating since 2014, so I’m pretty excited about it. 

For anyone who hasn’t been following the whole thing or who were a bit confused at the beginning like I was: the Grand Prix series, in a nutshell, is a series of six events taking place over the course of six weeks, after which the top 6 skaters in each discipline – mens, ladies, pairs, and ice dance – advance to the final. 

I’m just going to talk about men’s and ladies’ since that’s what I’ve been following most closely. These are the people who are going and some highlights from their Grand Prix competitions. Now let’s get into what I’m looking forward to: 

The Men

I’m gonna come right out and say it: my favorite skater out of everyone right now is Shoma Uno, and when I say everyone I mean every skater, not just the ones in this series. I really want him to win since he tends to come in second or third at most events, usually behind Yuzuru Hanyu. He hasn’t been the most consistent this season, but he’s had plenty of time since his last competition (NHK Trophy) to the final to improve on his two programs, and I’m hoping for the best. 

I’ll be very interested to see what happens with Nathan Chen! I like him, and I’m pretty shaken that he’s been attending Yale while competing this season. Yale! And he’s being tele-coached. So far it looks like it’s working since he won gold at both of his events. I really like his programs, too, and I think he’s Shoma’s biggest competition. 

Not to say that the others aren’t. They’re all really, really good. Junhwan Cha is the youngest here and I really love his style of skating and would love to see him on the podium. His Romeo & Juliet free program is very dramatic, which means it’s a lot of fun to watch. Sergei Voronov and Michal Brezina are both having a really successful comeback and that determination seems like it’ll take them a long way. 

Keegan Messing is someone who I find has a very unique style. He has a lot of character which counts for a lot. He’s also replacing Yuzuru Hanyu, who withdrew due to injury. I’m sad about that, but I’m happy that Yuzuru is making the healthy decision to recover properly. It’ll also be nice for Canada to have someone in the men’s competition since the Final is being held in Vancouver. 

No matter what it’ll be very well-rounded. Everyone skating here has a different style and is from a different country, and the age-spread is very wide. Those differences, I think, will be a lot of fun to watch. 

The Ladies

The past six competitions (especially the last one this past weekend) have been really nerve-wracking to watch because the ladies have been on fire, and it’ll just be more intense now that the top six are going to be competing directly against each other. All six competitors (and all of the alternates) are from either Russia or Japan, which speaks to how much talent those two countries have for ladies figure skating. 

I could not tell you who will win looking at the list of women who are competing. I am a huge fan of three of them and their programs: Rika Kihira, Kaori Sakamoto, and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. Rika and Elizaveta both have triple axels on their side. Rika and Kaori have beautiful programs, and Elizaveta has a ton of personality. 

I will say I very much want Rika to take gold, since she originally only had one Grand Prix assignment and ended up with two, both of which she won. That and, as I said, her programs are beautiful. I love watching her! 

The other three are extremely talented as well. Alina Zagitova is, very obviously, a favorite to win considering she’s the Olympic gold medalist, but she really does have some stiff competition. She also hasn’t had a perfect season even though she’s won gold at both of her events, but that is kind of true for all of the medalists. It seems like a transition season in some ways. 

Sophia Samodurova isn’t someone I’d seen before, but I really enjoy her style. Satoko Miyahara, if I had to describe my impression of her skating in one word, is a lovely skater. She’s put out stunning programs this season. 

The Take-Away

I really can’t wait, but also I can. It was stressful enough waiting to see who would qualify for the final in the first place, and the Final will be horrifically stressful because I want most of these people to win. Now that all of these people are in one place…it definitely will be hard to watch, but in the best way possible.