Popular Post PeterRS Posted December 9, 2021 Popular Post Posted December 9, 2021 With the Winter Olympics getting closer and in the same time zone as Thailand (just one hour ahead) I am getting quite excited about several of the events. I love the ski jumping but it is the men's figure skating that completely grabs me. At the last winter games in Pyeongchang, it was not known if the Sochi 2014 Gold Medallist, the cute Japanese skater Yuzuru Hanyu, would be fit to take part. He had injured an ankle three months earlier and had pulled out of all competitions prior to the Olympics. He was not only fit enough to skate, he again won the Gold Medal. For the next Games, Hanyu may once again be unable to take part as he recently suffered another ankle injury. Hopefully he and his coach, the gay Brian Orser with whom Hanyu trains in Toronto, can get him fit enough. But the competition is getting tougher and Hanyu is not getting younger. By February he will be 28. Already a superstar in Japan with many sponsors, he will become Godlike if he could manage to win a third Gold Medal. He is the subject of many dozens of websites and innumerable social media, not a few of which speculate on his sexuality. It is assumed he is gay but those close to him never talk about it. Another Japanese Shoma Uno has been close on his heels for some years. Will this be his year? To me it's a pity that he is quite small whereas Hanyu is perfectly proportioned for a skater. Both, though, will have to beat the young American Nathan Chen, nicknamed the King of the Quads for the ease with which he executes these fiendishly difficult quadruple jumps. He is the present World Champion, a title he has won twice before, and he won Bronze in 2018. Although I really hope Hanyu competes and wins, my gut tells me Chen could well win the Gold this time around. A long shot could be the 20-year old Korean skater Cha Jun-Hwan. I reckon the area where Yuzuru Hanyu has had the edge on his competitors is his superb artistic interpretation. No one interprets the music as well as he does. There are times when it is almost balletic. His short programme in Pyeongchang was surely as close to skating perfection as one will ever see. tm_nyc, Pete1111, GWMinUS and 2 others 5 Quote
Members Pete1111 Posted January 8, 2022 Members Posted January 8, 2022 US Men Championship on NBC today. Stunning performances and lot of beautiful men. Short program in progress. From Camden Pulkinen's Website. vinapu and Lonnie 2 Quote
Members Lonnie Posted January 8, 2022 Members Posted January 8, 2022 Darn...they are on to the ladies. Click Quote
Members Pete1111 Posted January 8, 2022 Members Posted January 8, 2022 52 minutes ago, Lonnie said: Darn...they are on to the ladies. Click My feed just showed Nathan Chen. NBC did break for a replay of last nights women's winner. There are several asian stud muffins. So pretty. 💘 Quote
Members Pete1111 Posted January 8, 2022 Members Posted January 8, 2022 Men's free skate tomorrow 11am Pacific Time. Nathan Chen wowed the NBC crew. He's in 1st. Vincent Zhou skated to Vincent. So moving! He's in 2nd place. A 17 year old kid is in third. He was amazing. vinapu and PeterRS 1 1 Quote
Members Pete1111 Posted January 9, 2022 Members Posted January 9, 2022 I loved Chen's skating costume today. He's in a class by himself. GWMinUS and vinapu 1 1 Quote
Members Pete1111 Posted January 10, 2022 Members Posted January 10, 2022 Also loved Camden Pulkinen. A future champion? He's a looker. https://www.nbcsports.com/video/2022-us-figure-skating-championships-pulkinen-powers-fifth-free Quote
PeterRS Posted January 10, 2022 Author Posted January 10, 2022 Unfortunately Thailand did not show the US Skating. We have recently had some other skating competitive events but none has featured any of the top half dozen men's skaters. We still do not know if the double Olympic Champion and double World Champion Yuzuru Hanyu will have recovered from his ankle ligament injury in time to compete in Beijing. I hope he does. For me he is the complete men's skater. Like most skaters, I love his costumes with their tight-fitting pants - often quite revealing if you use your imagination as in this less elegant photo if his getting rid of some of the glitter on the ice. 😍 Quote
fedssocr Posted January 10, 2022 Posted January 10, 2022 Ilia was robbed. It seems like you should get him some Olympic experience without pressure. We all know Jason Brown has no chance of a medal. I love Vincent Zhou but he has a tendency to fall down at the worst possible times. Quote
Members Pete1111 Posted January 10, 2022 Members Posted January 10, 2022 3 hours ago, PeterRS said: Unfortunately Thailand did not show the US Skating. We have recently had some other skating competitive events but none has featured any of the top half dozen men's skaters. We still do not know if the double Olympic Champion and double World Champion Yuzuru Hanyu will have recovered from his ankle ligament injury in time to compete in Beijing. I hope he does. For me he is the complete men's skater. Like most skaters, I love his costumes with their tight-fitting pants - often quite revealing if you use your imagination as in this less elegant photo if his getting rid of some of the glitter on the ice. 😍 Pulkinen is 1/2 Thai, and 1/2 French/Finish mix. Quote
vinapu Posted January 11, 2022 Posted January 11, 2022 On 1/9/2022 at 9:18 PM, PeterRS said: ........, this less elegant photo if his getting rid of some of the glitter on the ice. 😍 nothing less elegant with such round butt, quite opposite reader 1 Quote
PeterRS Posted January 23, 2022 Author Posted January 23, 2022 TrueVisions has been showing a number of skating competitions on Channel 690. Today was the final of the annual Four Continents Competition held this year in Estonia. The winning three were all from Asia. First Prize went to 21 yo Cha Jun-hwa from South Korea. His quad jumps were incredible. He is coached by Brian Orser in Toronto who also coaches Yuzuru Hanyu. Cha was a child model when younger. He still models occasionally in addition to his skating. Second Prize went to the 23 yo Japanese Kazuki Tomono. Third Prize went to one of the youngest competitors, the 16 yo Japanese Kao Miura who is still technically a junior! He was top until Tomono and Cha skated. All will be names to watch at the Olympics. Sorry to say Camden Pulkinen took part in the competition but finished up near last place. vinapu and TotallyOz 1 1 Quote
PeterRS Posted January 24, 2022 Author Posted January 24, 2022 I erred with Cha's age - he is still just 20. What made his programme remarkable is that he left his training in Canada at the start of covid and has trained virtually on his own in Seoul for the last two years. If Brian Orser can put his polish on his programme, Cha should have a good chance of a medal in China. For those who had not heard of the Four Continents competition, it is an annual event held for all countries outside Europe. This year it is the last major competition prior to the Olympics. It's usually held in Asia, the USA or Canada. This year it was scheduled to be in China but the location had to be switched as a result of the pandemic. Being in Europe, this year many skaters decided not to take part. Previous winners have included Yuzuru Hanyu, Shoma Uno and Nathan Chan vinapu 1 Quote
PeterRS Posted February 8, 2022 Author Posted February 8, 2022 I am adding this here although it's partly a response to posts made yesterday in this forum - An error at the start of his short programme ensured that Yuzuru Hanyu did not come top of the short programme qualifiers. It seemed to me from the moment he stepped on to the ice, there was something wrong. His usual bubbly smile was gone and he appeared much more serious. Perhaps this is partly the result of his having to miss most of last year through a series of injuries including a major one to his ankle. Yet at the Pyeongchang Olympics he again returned just after an ankle injury had kept him out of competition for several months. There he went on to beat the world record for the short programme. It was also very odd to see him sitting on his own as his result was announced. Every other skater had at least his coach alongside him. The gay former skater Brian Orser has been Hanyu's coach virtually since Sochi. He was nowhere to be seen, although he did sit with another of his pupils. Sitting on his own, it was almost as though Hanyu knew the time had come to pass the baton to another to become best in the world. He came in 8th overall. Top of the qualifiers was not surprisingly Nathan Chen of the USA. Hanyu's fellow Japanese, the diminutive Shoma Uno, led the field for a while until he was overtaken by an unbelievable skate from an 18-year old compatriot, Yuma Kagiyama. But he was immediately followed by Nathan Chen whose programme beat Hanyu's World Record set two years ago. So Chen came top followed by Kagiyama in 2nd and Uno in 3rd. It will be hard for any to beat these three when it comes to the free programme, unless all make major errors. It's a little sad for those of us who have marvelled at Yuzuru Hanyu's astounding skating over the last 8 years. He remains a living legend in Japan and elsewhere. But the men's figure skating crown now belongs to others. I will still be looking out for the Korean sensation Cha Junwhan who came 4th. If he's on form I can see him getting a medal. vinapu 1 Quote
PeterRS Posted February 10, 2022 Author Posted February 10, 2022 So unsurprisingly Nathan Chen ran away with the Gold Medal - and deservedly so. Hanyu Yuzuru did well to rise from 9th after the short programme to 4th overall. The fall on his first quad jump probably killed his chances of the bronze. My dark horse, the Korean, also fell and came in 5th. But surely it was the silver medal winner 18-year old Japanese Yuma Kagiyama who surprised everyone with a free skating exhibition as good as his short programme two days ago. He will be one to beat in the coming years. I still cannot understand why Brian Orser was not with Hanyu. I can only assume that Hanyu had decided to dispense with his coaching and go it alone. Now 27, he will almost certainly be too old for the next Winter Olympics. But then he doesn't need them. He's already an icon and a legend of the sport. fedssocr and reader 2 Quote
fedssocr Posted February 13, 2022 Posted February 13, 2022 I was really impressed with Cha's short program. It's a shame he took that bad fall in the free skate. I was surprised Uno was so tight in the free skate. It's amazing how tiny these guys are. Nathan Chen is only 5'6" and he seems to tower over those little Japanese guys. vinapu 1 Quote
PeterRS Posted February 13, 2022 Author Posted February 13, 2022 Cha seems to be about the tallest at 5'10". Hanyu is 5'8". Being so slim (but with a beautiful ass!!) he seems to me have the perfect shape for a figure skater. Nathan Chen and Shoma Uno always seem a bit dumpy to me. Sorry, I know that's unfair as they are fantastic skaters. I'm looking at them from purely a gay perspective I suppose! Quote
Members Latbear4blk Posted February 13, 2022 Members Posted February 13, 2022 https://www.thesword.com/whos-the-hottest-ice-dancer-at-the-2022-olympics.html Quote
PeterRS Posted February 16, 2022 Author Posted February 16, 2022 On 2/13/2022 at 11:35 AM, Latbear4blk said: https://www.thesword.com/whos-the-hottest-ice-dancer-at-the-2022-olympics.html Obviously a silly western magazine with a writer/publisher who has absolutely zero interest in Asia. In another article it also lists its 10 best Male Figure Skaters. Clearly Asians and those of Asian descent mean little to this magazine since the only one it mentions is Nathan Chen. He may be American but both his parents were born in China. Also four of the top five winners in the Men's Competition were purely Asian. vinapu 1 Quote
