2009 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final

Daisuke's SP is up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXzRpy2Ixzc

I was hoping for a convincing performance yesterday. And it turned out not to be..... it was SMASHING!

WOW! I'm so happy for this performance!!!
Congratulations Dai-chan!

SP results:
1 Daisuke TAKAHASHI JPN 89.95 48.30 41.65 8.35 8.00 8.50 8.35 8.45 0.00 #3
2 Evan LYSACEK USA 89.85 48.20 41.65 8.25 8.05 8.45 8.40 8.50 0.00 #5
3 Nobunari ODA JPN 87.65 47.80 39.85 8.15 7.75 8.05 8.00 7.90 0.00 #6
4 Johnny WEIR USA 84.60 45.60 39.00 7.75 7.35 8.00 7.90 8.00 0.00 #2
5 Jeremy ABBOTT USA 76.65 39.30 38.35 7.70 7.40 7.65 7.80 7.80 1.00 #4
6 Tomas VERNER CZE 70.17 33.22 36.95 7.45 7.25 7.30 7.45 7.50 0.00 #1

OMG, wowowooowww!!

I had a bad feed this morning, so I waited until I could download the program to post my impressions...

Boy that was HOT!!

I still hate the costume but that performance surely deserves
+3 for the energy
+3 for the hairdo and
+3 for the eyeliner!!

Whoot whoot!

But what was wrong with the straight line steps being totally out of rhythm?! I mean, none of the "highlight" moves were on the beats...

Anyway... I'm hoping Dai won't get carried away and can keep his nerves under control in the LP.

Dai-chan, ganbate!!

Hi, DTFF members and thanks for information! These infor quite helped me a lot.
I was back from the competition. Daisuke did it!! His performance was awesome!! I can imagine he has a lot of pressure in his home country and the media is now chasing him all the time due to the Olympic season.

-Daisuke Takahashi Short program "eye"-

First time I saw Daisuke's costume, I was very surprised. Because he's got a already 3 costumes for "eye" and I wasn't expected him to change the costume this time. Wow, it's quite gorgeous!! I know this one seems to be both in favor and against, but I love this costume!! Every time he performs his short program, will he change his costume???
I was in behind the judge seat. It's a great view from the seat. At 6 min warm-up, he jumped clean 3A and 3F-3T. They were both beautiful. He was very nervous, but he looked enjoying the way of feeling to fight for a gold medal. And at his interview after the public practice, he seemed to be so completely cool and I thought he knew what he could do and he had to do in the competition. That's why I was sure that Daisuke showed us good performance at the GPF. One year ago, I remember that he was in hospital and watched TV of GPF. After he got through a hard rehab, I think this experience made him so strong. In the hospital, I remember, Daisuke said "I really really want to skate!!" Also I was very impressed that his improvement of his jumps, especially high 3A and footwork, it was more great and excellent than the "Skate Canada" as you see. He was saving his speed at straight line steps for controlling his stamina, but his performance made us pull into the music sufficiently this time and I found he also changed his choreography a little bit according to his character.

Once Daisuke was skating on the ice, the audience were so excited. They were jumping and screaming when he was coming near the link side. Yes, Calliope, they (including me) were so going crazy!! Their supporting made him strong enough. Daisuke was so glad when he bowed to the audience. I was really happy to see his big smile.

Thank you, Daisuke. And I hope you show us his great performance at LP and big smile today!!

Just finished watching the men's short! Daisuke was just...I'm not sure how to describe his performance. He skated that program with more freedom, passion, and intensity than before. Dai looked like he felt no pressure when he skated. I wish I would have been there to take it in live. It's the kind of performance that will stick with you. I had a hard time staying focused on watching the three guys after Dai because that performance was just so special. It's all I could think about when I was watching the rest of it.

I saw Nobunari as the favorite heading in but while he skated well, I think he was outperformed by Daisuke. Nobu was better than Evan in my opinion though. I think Daisuke was much more than 0.1 points better than Evan. When it's this close, one mistake can be costly. Dai planned to go for the quad in the free. I wonder the short distance between him and Evan will make him reconsider. Either way, I hope he can stay calm and skate well. Can't wait to see how this one turns out.

Oh and I hate the costume! Too much going on. And it has illusion mesh fabric that doesn't match his skin tone very well. Maybe it looks better live? It also looks like Dai changed the hairstyle for this program. It seems neater in the front than it was in the past.

Thanks for the report, Leode Wish you to have good fun today

swandie wrote:

I think Daisuke was much more than 0.1 points better than Evan.

I am really surprised about that scores, too. And Evan's scores for choreography and interpretation are even higher than Dausike's. I was really shocked when I saw that...
I wish Daisuke iron nerves and hope he'll stay calm and show us another wonderful and strong performance.

You're welcome, sanseki! I can't wait until Men's Free program, today.
Well, well, is there anyone who likes his new costume?

swandie wrote:

I think Daisuke was much more than 0.1 points better than Evan. When it's this close, one mistake can be costly. Dai planned to go for the quad in the free. I wonder the short distance between him and Evan will make him reconsider. Either way, I hope he can stay calm and skate well. Can't wait to see how this one turns out.

Evan also did nice performance. In the middle of program(after the circular steps), Daisuke seemed to control his speed to slow a little bit, especially lower body avoiding the fall or losing his stamina at live. I think he needed to dance to the rhythm more smoothly. So that's why he said that he didn't satisfied with his performance.

In free program, I'm sure that he will do a quad when I saw Takeshi Honda with his side at the rink yesterday. The points are so close for each competitors. But I want Daisuke win at GPF this time definitely!!
GANBARE, Daisuke!!

Leode wrote:

.
Well, well, is there anyone who likes his new costume?

Hi, Leode, I definitely love Dai-chan's new costume, especially the collar and sleeves. He looks like a hero at the ending pose with gold on the collar and sleeves
Without thinking two much about the details, the overall program is so magnificent and the atmosphere of the rink is amazing with so many excited audience The PCS score may be a little inflated on all the events( ladies and pairs too……), but I think Dai-chan deserves it much more than Evan . Maybe it's because there are many judges from North America?
Besides, I love his surprised smile when he saw the scores So cute!
Haven't posted for a long time because I'm very busy these days, but I kept going through your guys' posts Thank everyone for your information, especially those doing the translations, miyu, Calliope, Genki……. Thank you so much! And I'm going to translate them into Chinese for fans here
I can't wait to see the FS this afternoon, hope Dai-chan could take it easy and enjoy skating. And of course, wish him win this GPF

Hi Everyone:

First of all, I want to thank Leode for such a great report.

I just loved Dai's short so much that I could not stop repeating.

That's it, Dai-chan. You have surppased 'Syber Swan ' in my opinion.

I just wonder how he keeps himself so down to earth and normal.Frankly, if I can skate like that I will be somewhat stuck up.

Anyway, I plan to watch his FS tomorrow on Universal Sports.
I wonder why he changes costumes for short only??(Sorry, I did not like this costume at all. Too many things going on,)

Talk to you soon.
With love

Ok, what happened just now? I wish I had been dreaming.

What a total meltdown by Daisuke! I am feeling awful - I can't even begin to imagine how he must be feeling! I so wanted him to win the GPF and he was in such a good position to do so. Did the fall on the quad take all the air out of him? He still manages to smile in the K&C, what a trooper!

I'll come back later and write more and read reports.

Well, 5th place and an experience richer.

Next time better, I guess

hsuhs wrote:

Well, 5th place and an experience richer.

Hasn't he had enough of those experiences by now? I really wanted him to build his confidence before Vancouver. Now he didn't even secure his berth for the Olympics - Oda did.

Looking at the protocols - why did he do 3 Combination spins? The last two didn't count. What has happened to his spins?

He got really high PSCs though, a bit of overscoring?

Got to shake this one off - looking forward to Japanese nationals where I am sure he will be back strong fighting for another title!

Oh really sad! I really wanted him to at least get a medal! TT__TT
But Artemis, what is he need to go to the olympics?

What happened with Dai? Was it because of the unsuccessful quad?
I hoped so much he'll finally win the GPF. And Daisuke had a great chance. After Oda's and Lysacek's not so strong performance I thought and hoped he'll not try to do a quad. He didn't need it to win.

Artemis wrote:

I really wanted him to build his confidence before Vancouver.

He really need that. Because to win a medal at Olympics he has to have an iron nerves and a huge confidence in himself.

Artemis wrote:

Hasn't he had enough of those experiences by now? I really wanted him to build his confidence before Vancouver. Now he didn't even secure his berth for the Olympics - Oda did.

OK. Look. Daisuke could have won this. The panel was on his side (check those PCS for a sloppy LP), plus the home advantage, plus Evan and Nobunari's mistakes.

But it seems, Daisuke wants to win on his own terms, that is, with the strongest possible jump content. Which is great and shows a true champion's character.

In the meantime figure skating has been becoming more and more like chess: power isn't everything, strategy is important. While Daisuke's still recovering from the injury, and just physically isn't able to bring his top game, yet. He is only human, not a superman.

Daisuke skated last today, he knew how Nobu and Evan did. He was also aware of his quad's success rate. He made a decision.

I was so afraid he'd hurt himself badly, I couldn't relax and enjoy the rest of the program because of anxiously looking for the signs he's okay.

But his 5th place is not what worries me, because it's in the past now. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, it's sport. What worries me the most is that time is ticking away. The Olys are only 2 months away. Is it enough to get his 4T stable, to develop a perfect stamina, to have 2 solid triple axels and all other jumps? Honestly, I don't know.

I'm sure Daisuke will try to squeeze everything out of himself to be in top form for the Olympics. But I also think something extraordinary needs to be done to allow a miracle to happen. I truly believe Daisuke has all the talent and skills to be number 1, but for that all pieces of puzzle must be in place.

Sabse wrote:

Oh really sad! I really wanted him to at least get a medal! TT__TT
But Artemis, what is he need to go to the olympics?

The highest man on the podium got one of Japan's Olympic berths today.
Of course Daisuke will be on the team - he just could have secured his spot today.

I agree with you, hsuhs - I wonder if there is enough time for him until Vancouver. And I am worried he is practicing that quad so much. I know he wants it so badly in his program, but he has other stuff that he needs to work on as well - those spins for example!

Daisuke has all that it takes to be the most fantastic figure skater, but he does not have Plushenko's nerves - far from it. That's why I'm disappointed on his behalf that he had such a meltdown today.
And I really want to see a clean "La Strada" at least once - I love that program!

I don't even know what to say... I really thought he would be okay today. The fall on the quad didn't look too bad since he got up from it right away, but then the mistakes kept piling up and by the middle of the program he looked completely lost out there.

This is the most detailed article I can find right now: http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/091205/oth0912052017029-n1.htm

"Somewhere in my mind, I wanted to stay in first place. After the fall on the quad, I thought I couldn't afford to make anymore mistakes." After the pop on the triple axel, he lost his concentration. "My mind went completely blank." The jumps after that were unstable, and his spins were very slow and unbalanced. "I haven't practiced enough," he admitted. He must've been tired after three competitions in one month, but he says, "That's not an excuse. It's good that something bad happened here."

Anyway, I just hope he doesn't take this result too hard, and gets to rest up a bit before Nationals. I'm also worried that he's trying to do too much right now -- he wants so badly to be on the level he used to be and prove that he is in the mix for the podium at Vancouver, but there's so little time, and there is a limit to how far he can push himself.

I'm really conflicted about what kind of strategy he should take for the rest of the season... As we saw clearly here, trying the quad doesn't necessarily pay off; none of the medalists attempted one. I respect Daisuke so much for never playing it safe and wanting to do the absolute best that he can to win -- that takes a LOT of guts, and really shows how committed he is to fulfilling his ideal rather than simply wanting to do the minimum to get the results. But it seems like putting in the quad right now is just reckless with his success rate. (Apparently he only landed it cleanly once in all the practices this week.) He could not do it and just try to skate cleanly with the other elements, but that's not his style and never will be. In fact, he said that if he tries to play it safe and doesn't try it he feels like he'll lose motivation and mess everything else up anyway. At any rate, I feel like he'll keep going for it, but if he fails on it he really needs to not let it ruin his concentration and the rest of the performance.

Thank you for the quote, Calliope!

I don't really know what to say either. That fall on the quad looked painful, ouch!

I can understand the mistakes on the jumps, but the spins?! So wrong on so many levels... I hope it's the first thing he fixes when he gets back on the ice for practice. He can't afford to waste points on steps and spins.

Now let's see how he does at Japanese Nationals, but maybe he should start consider going to 4CC...

This article talks about this mistakes on the spins: http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2009120500429

After the popped axel, his mind went blank and he forgot what spin he was supposed to do. (Didn't this happen in a previous competition? He forgot what position he was supposed to do and lost levels?) So he accidentally did a combination spin, and since the two spins at the end were combination spins as well they didn't count.

This is really what worries me the most about his performance tonight. He just cannot have huge mental lapses like this. In this way, I think today's performance was much worse than at NHK. He just got completely overwhelmed by the mistakes and lost track of what he was doing.

Thank you for the heads up, Calliope

Quote :

Of course Daisuke will be on the team - he just could have secured his spot today.

Awww thank you very much for it, Artemis!

Thank you for the quote, Calliope!

Calliope wrote:

This is really what worries me the most about his performance tonight. He just cannot have huge mental lapses like this. In this way, I think today's performance was much worse than at NHK. He just got completely overwhelmed by the mistakes and lost track of what he was doing.

NHK was one month ago and that time his stamina obviously was in issue. But he did very good spins, two of them level 4 and his steps were level 3. But now because of two mistakes he was absolutely overwhelmed. So now the problem is not his stamina, but his strength of mind. . And this worries me too much.

Thank you for the information, Calliope.
Now, I was back from the rink. I don't know what I say, either, but it's not so bad for Daisuke.

Daisuke seemed to be so tired from the warm-up. I know his condition was not so well from yesterday even though he placed 1st place at short program. He's got three competitions for a month. It's so tight schedule and very hard for him to keep a good shape since he was back on the ice. After he fall on the quad, he didn't concentrate on his performance at all. And He looked so disappointed himself while he's doing performance. I think his current issue is a stamina for recovering the elements, not jumps and spins. In a practice, he jumps and spins completely. However, I'm not sure that he needs to jump a quad. Because he does not have so much time to practice this until Vancouver. The top priority is improvements for the things what he can do.

Anyway, this is one step that Daisuke has to get through. Fortunately, his PCS was very high points. I hope he does not take this result seriously and moves ahead positively for Olympic Games.

Daisuke, we are always supporting you in good time and bad time!! See you at Nationals in Osaka.

I don't know if I can watch it now. A win here would have been great for him but such is life. It seems he'll always go for the quad no matter what the success rate for the week has been. I'm not sure that's such a good idea since most of the competitions in the last two years have been won quadless. Jeremy Abbott would have defended his title had he not missed the quad.

To me, it seems like the quad is more trouble than it's worth for guys who don't have it consistent. Much like Mao Asada is very obsessed with the triple axel, I think Dai has a huge obsession with the quad. It seems like once the quad failed, he lost all confidence. Strategically, it would be so much better for Dai to forget the quad and focus on a clean program. The quadless winner has become a norm in men's skating and I hope Dai sees he can win without it.

At the end of the day, I still support him! Still, I can't help but think that Dai's missing the strategic part of skating. I hope he rests a little and has a strong showing at nationals!

The good thing is that Nobunari doesn't have to worry about an Olympic berth. Having had it ripped away from him the last time, he has to feel good about securing one here. Happy for him!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and observations, Leode.

I tend to think Daisue's recent struggling has something to do with stamina issues (as Leode said) and mental strength in competition (as mentioned by sanseki).

But Daisuke might have a completely different view on the matter. After all, he's the one who's skating, not us. We do the talking

swandie wrote:

To me, it seems like the quad is more trouble than it's worth for guys who don't have it consistent. Much like Mao Asada is very obsessed with the triple axel, I think Dai has a huge obsession with the quad. It seems like once the quad failed, he lost all confidence. Strategically, it would be so much better for Dai to forget the quad and focus on a clean program. The quadless winner has become a norm in men's skating and I hope Dai sees he can win without it.

I went one more time through this season's protocols, and it looks like Daisuke hasn't landed a clean/ ratified 3+3 combo in LP so far. And as much as I love quads, and Daisuke's quads in particular, I'd say 3+3, plus another 2 combos come first, and if that goes well, sure, why not go for a quad in another competition?

I think, Daisuke will be facing the 'quad-dilemma' again in a couple of weeks, at Japan Nationals. I imagine his biggest dream would be to give a lights-out performance with a quad and become national champion, in his home town.

Whatever choice he makes, I just hope he'll be happy with it afterwards, because in the end, IMO, it's all that matters.