PAIRS:Honestly, I found the whole event anticlimactic. The highly favored Knierims are in 1st. Cain & Leduc, who I expected to challenge for the title tanked to 8th place. Every pair except the ones coached by Jim Peterson and Amanda Evora (all the SW FL teams nailed theirs) struggled w/their sbs triples -- which is totally expected as well sadly. I don't expect any kind of shockers in the FS, though it should be noted that Jim Peterson's teams have tendencies of crashing Olympic parties!
MEN:Heartbroken for Max Aaron.
Another case of wanting it too badly gone amuck
Grant Hochstein banged out a blinder outta left field!! Easily and undeniably his career best SP!! EVERYTHING!! Great 4toe-3toe, expression, performance, and complete audience connection.
Vincent Zhou reeled off an awesome 4Lutz-Rippon 3toe, but underrotated 4flip and fall on 3Axel had him behind Hochstein. Internationally, this woudn't be the case, but I'm totally ok w/it here. I gotta say that Zhou's quads are tidier than Nathan Chen's, but the rest of Zhou's skating just comes across smaller, so I don't find it as impactful as Chen's. With Max Aaron down and out, I do expect Zhou to quad his way to Pyeongchang.
Adam was oozing confidence in his performance, but I think it's worthing pointing out that there leaves a lot to be desired w/his stroking. I don't know how to explain it, but Adam pumps his back when he strokes. H'e's always had this issue, but I've found it a lot more noticeable this season and last. I also notice that Adam's strokes are shorter and choppier than a lot of the top men in the World and even Max Aaron. Tara and Johnny actually pointed out that Max is a great skater in the sense that, not only is he fast, but he's also an effortless stroker and covers more ice in a lot fewer strokes than Adam does. Nonetheless, Adam is headed for his first Olympics!
Jason Brown got gifted here. His 3Axel was clearly two-footed and underrotated in real time and was clearly downgrade worthy upon slo-mo replay. Had that 3Axel been called correctly, Grant Hochstein would be in 3rd where he belonged tonight! Kudos to Johnny & Tara for putting that technical specialist on shout!!
Finally another honorable mention to Alex Johnson, who I find always seems to have the most thoughtful, tasteful, and original choreography. Just lovely to watch.
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