#2018 rostelecom

[yuzu-all-the-way]

Yuzuru Hanyu's Senior FS Costumes

I. Origin 1.0 (Prince of Darkness)

Note: All the references (interviews, translations, etc.) used for this post are listed below the cut

In the 2018-2019 season, Yuzuru Hanyu came to compete as the newly crowned double Olympic champion. He dedicated his short program (Otonal) to Johnny Weir and his free program (Origin) to Evgeni Plushenko, two skaters Yuzuru admired since childhood.

Origin 1.0 - the costume which has the aura of the Prince of Darkness, as described by Satomi Ito herself, the costume designer¹. I consider this one of the top iconic Yuzuru Hanyu costumes because it deviates from the usual brightly colored ones (think about the blue-based costumes, for example) and he embraces the dark. I do not mean dark as in only color, but also judging by the vibes. The only other costume I can think of as channeling dark(ness) is Masquerade.

There is a striking contrast between the relaxed, skating around Yuzuru Hanyu and the competition mode ON Yuzuru Hanyu. The difference is made specifically by his expression. However, in both instances, the costume seems to create a barrier between him and the rest of the world. Origin 1.0, a black and gold lace-top paired with black velour pants, is the first competition costume worn by Yuzu after winning his second Olympic gold medal and I like to think this costume is made to emphasize that Yuzuru Hanyu is untouchable.

The base of the top is a skin-coloured fabric with overlaid black lace. On the front, the chest's jagged opening creates the illusion of feathers spreading protectively, a subtle dynamism enhanced by the diagonal, slightly winding fabric and golden details orientation. In contrast, on the upper back, the gold fabric follows the curve of the shoulder blades and ribcage, like an exoskeleton, while the lower back's lines are naturally flowing downwards, highlighting the waist. Here and there few dark-red beads can be noticed which confer depth and nuance to the costume.

Origin 1.0 is based on Yuzuru's surname: 『The non-human born of feathers』². As such, the most important detail is represented by the feathers - around 100 handmade black and white feathers by Satomi Ito, applied manually, and the white ones airbrushed black in the middle to maintain the costume's cohesion. Another subtle detail lies in the purple rhinestones. They are seamlessly integrated within the costume so much so that these become noticeable only in close-up photos (see below).

Contributing to the depth of the costume are the purposefully ripped holes within the lace. Satomi Ito took to making those herself in the process of bringing Origin to life². The holes convey a subtle ragged look, of someone who has seen darkness and embraced it. They complement the entire look beautifully, adding to the Prince of Darkness theme.

Origin 1.0 is one of those costumes made of multiple layers with various details applied without looking heavy or overly ornated. It maintains an apparently basic pattern while being full of hidden gems.

At the end of another 'incomplete' season (Yuzu injured his ankle during 2018 NHK's FS practice, winning the event despite it, but having to withdraw from GPF and Japan Nationals), Yuzuru commented in a post-Worlds 2019 interview that the black and gold costume was meant to be "accessorized" only with gold medals (paraphrased)³.

--------------------------------

Personally, I have been quite vocal on this blog about my undying love for the Origin sisters. They are in a constant battle to be my favourite.

Today, Origin 1.0 won for four reasons:

1) the theme is right up my alley

2) there is an easily found translation of an interview with Satomi Ito about the making of the costume (and I'm proud to say I understood the costume and the vision before reading the interview)

3) Yuzu won for the first time both of his GP assignments - he really was determined to have only gold associated with Origin 1.0.

4) 2019 Worlds Origin deserved the gold

1. Translation by @/marika_yuzu

2. "Figure Skating Fan" Magazine 2018-2019 『Born from feathers』 Translation

3. 53:57 YT video

[figureskatingcostumes]

Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons performing their short dance at the 2017 Rostelecom Cup, 2017 Skate America and 2018 Four Continents.

(Sources: Marisha-amber, Elena Vasileva and David W. Carmichael)

[triptychgrip]

Impact of figure skating politics on post-canon Yuri!!! on Ice

So, even aside from the rampant doping, I think many people are familiar with how the politics within the sport of figure skating really suck -- whether that's in terms of how skating federations meddle with their athletes' careers in ways these athletes clearly don't want or don't even know about, the way regulatory bodies -- the International Skating Union (ISU), and its various Commissions -- can and do remain silent when it comes to speaking out on abuse or corruption, or the complete shit-show of bias within judging, sometimes on a ludicrously visible level.

After all, this is a sport where a judge that showed clear bias at the PyeongChang Olympics was not only invited back to judge at the Beijing Games, but was given the position of being the technical controller!

Sheer madness...

It makes sense why Yuri!!! on Ice didn't delve into this stuff in a 12 episode season b/c the reality is: it's a major bummer.

But I work in public policy and am a social justice researcher whose career focuses on institutional change. So I often find myself asking the question "what would cause institutions/people/movements -- especially with a lot of history and influence behind them -- to change for the better, whether by 'force' (public outcry, insider advocacy, etc.) or their own volition?" It's a question I started thinking about a lot almost as soon as I got into Yuri!!! on Ice a few years back, and specifically, thought about in a post-canon context.

Some of the politics-related questions that surfaced for me, included:

-When Viktor returns to skating, how would his federation (the FFKKR) choose to treat his absence? Would they, perhaps, "make an example" of him at the Rostelecom Cup, purposely underscoring his performances? Or, would they have "given up" on him, trying to focus all of their attention/resources on Yurio's obvious rising star potential?

-Further, would they (with tacit or explicit media support) take a negative stance regarding his and Yuuri's highly public relationship -- perceiving Viktor's romance as a "threat" to his ability to return to the field as strong and focused as before -- or would they choose to ignore it, altogether?

-How would Yurio's growth spurt (which is hinted at in canon) impact the FFKKR's treatment of Viktor if the former is no longer able to put out the kind of performance that he did at the Barcelona Grand Prix Final? Or if Georgi retires from the field?

-How would skaters that wish to skate independently of corrupt federations -- something that is currently not possible under the way the ISU is structured with 'member nations' -- navigate their careers, and what avenues would they have at their disposal to avoid burn-out from the shitstorm of pervasive corruption?

-How would politics affect our favorite characters at an event as globally visible as the PyeongChang Olympic Games, and in its aftermath? (I say this with the caveat that I generally write yoi fic w/ the premise that it took place during the first half of the 2016 skating season, though there is no way to pinpoint the actual season).

All of these questions kept circling about in my head, and I felt highly motivated to begin writing a multichapter, post-canon "future fic". Specifically, a fic that would tell the story of married Yuuri/Viktor at the 2022 Olympic Games, but jumping back in time at various points over the previous five years to showcase how a particular scandal -- other than doping -- at the 2018 PyeongChang Games has "followed them" throughout the years (and has deeply impacted the sport/our other favorite characters).

This fic turned into a series called "Gold's On The Inside, Elevated My Feet", which currently is at 293K total words, and is being updated 1-2 times per month.

I know a lot of people aren't into long, novel-length works, especially if they're WIPs, but if you, like me, are fascinated by some of the real-world issues that might impact Yuuri/Viktor/Yurio and others post-canon, I hope you'll consider checking my work out.

I've included a spoiler-free excerpt from Chapter 11 of part 1 of the series, below, that I feel hints at the politics while encapsulating the Viktuuri fluff, friendship antics, and overall supportive themes that I've tried to weave into my stories.

I hope it piques your interest and encourages you to check the series out, or my other Yuri!!! on Ice fics!

---------

“First of all, how the hell would you have even managed to contact me from all the way over in the Kiss and Cry?” Phichit went on. “Did they imagine you had waved a wand to send a carrier pigeon flying through Gangneung Ice Arena to land directly on my head ? After which, it would peck an intimidating message in Morse code straight onto my scalp?”

Yuuri was now hiccuping giggles, and he was pleased to see that he’d begun to wipe a profuse quantity of tears from his cheeks.

When his best friend had told him that he wanted to hear all the nitty-gritty details of his International Court of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) hearing, Phichit had definitely had some misgivings; Yuuri and Viktor had flown to Lausanne for their own proceedings directly after the latter’s retirement party in Milan, and given what they’d told him about each brutally long-winded 4 hour session, he’d known fun things were not in store for him.

“But Yuuri without his glasses on can be very intimidating…very sexily intimdating,” Viktor said with a grin, prompting a playful slap on the arm from his fiance; thanks to Yuuri’s thirsty fans, the hashtag #Yuuri’sNearsightedSexySquintTally had become a staple on the competition circuit, and both he and Viktor had taken to alluding to the phrase as much as possible.

“Yes, I’m sure that’s exactly what permanent-frown-dude-arbitrator was referring to,” Yuuri responded, sarcastically, “my nefariously sexy squinting that so very clearly spelled out that Phichit better file a claim, or else.”

He and Viktor both laughed, and he shared a few more snippets from his hearing before conversation moved along to discussion around the other Olympics claimants’ hearings.

“Oh my god, just imagine Christophe during his,” Yuuri said, before giving Makkachin a kiss, right to the top of her fuzzy head.

The poodle was splayed out across both of her dog-dad’s laps, taking up much of the bench directly in front of the rink boards at Hasetsu’s Ice Castle. After their hearing, the couple had flown to St. Petersburg, spending just a few days there to get Makka and Meni and do a round of cursory packing. They’d then taken off for Japan where they planned to stay until mid-June, which was the beginning of the rainy season.

Even from afar, Phichit had been able to keep tabs on Yuuri thanks to Nishigori Yuuko. After thoroughly bonding with her at Viktor’s retirement party – after all, a willingness to drunkenly act out the unhinged plot of The King and the Skater 3: Because Time Loops Are A Thing tended to solidify people in Phichit’s mind as lifelong friends – she had been messaging him through Instagram as well as contributing heavily in the “Yuuri Support Squad” chat.

Soon enough, he’d be able to keep tabs on him in-person, as his own trip to Hasetsu was just three weeks away.

“He’d be all: ‘And then, my esteemed arbitrators, I got distracted from calculating Yuuri’s grade-of-execution, because my eyes were too busy lingering on his delectably muscled thighs as he came out of his triple-lutz, triple-toe combo’,” Viktor said, in a deliberately put-upon Swiss accent, while lasciviously licking his lips.

Phichit barked out a laugh while Yuuri grinned at him.

“Are you sure you aren’t just verbalizing the thoughts you wish you could have expressed during your hearing?” he asked his fiance.

Viktor gasped, theatrically, and clutched Meni even more closely to his chest before responding.

“I would never think such a thing! I’ve become an expert at admiring your beautiful thighs while simultaneously calculating your GOE,” he said, sounding proud. “As any good coach should be.”

[rabidline]

2023 ONE PIECE ON ICE: THE CAST (SO FAR) - ALABASTA KINGDOM ARC

SHOMA UNO as MONKEY D. LUFFY 2018 Olympic Silver Medalist, 2022 Olympic Bronze Medalist 2022, 2023 World Champion 2019 Four Continents Champion, 2022 Grand Prix Final Champion Japanese National Champion (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022) NOBUNARI ODA as USOPP 2006 Four Continents Champion, 2008 Japanese National Champion Grand Prix Final Silver Medalist (2009, 2010), Grand Prix Final Bronze Medalist (2006, 2013) RINKA WATANABE as TONY TONY CHOPPER 2022 Skate Canada Gold Medalist, 2022 CS Lombardia Trophy Gold Medalist 2022 Grand Prix Final 4th Place, 2023 Worlds 10th Place MARIN HONDA as PRINCESS NEFELTARI VIVI 2016 World Junior Champion, 2017 World Junior Silver Medalist KAZUKI TOMONO as KOZA 2022 Four Continents Silver Medalist, 2018 Worlds 5th Place 2022, 2023 Worlds 6th Place 2022 Japanese National Bronze Medalist TAKAHITO MURA as SIR CROCODILE 2014 Four Continents Champion, 2011 Asian Winter Games Silver Medalist Japanese National Bronze Medalist (2008, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017) RIKA HONGO as MR. 2 BON CLAY 2015, 2016 Four Continents Bronze Medalist, 2014 Rostelecom Cup Gold Medalist 2014 Japanese National Silver Medalist PRINCE ICE WORLD TEAM

[allekha]

Figure skating in colors: soothing blue

Featuring:

Zahra Lari (2017 FMBA Trophy SP)

Tai Babilonia & Randy Gardner ('Over the Rainbow' EX)

Nikita Starostin (2021 Finlandia Trophy SP)

Yuzuru Hanyu ('The Final Time Traveler' EX)

Janet Lynn (1970 Worlds FS)

Midori Ito (2018 'Scheherazade' EX)

Satoko Miyahara (2017 JPNats FS)

Ekaterina Kurakova (2022 Euros FS)

Kazuki Tomono (2021 Rostelecom SP)

[veritphoto]

Mikhail Kolyada — Nothing Else Matters EX at Rostelecom Cup 2018

[merionettes]

rubicon program references

due to the slow death of twitter i'm collecting my program links here. (almost) none of the rubicon skates are meant to be identical to real life programs, but some of the inspiration is pretty one-to-one… and some is a little less direct.

if you find yourself region blocked, try a free vpn - i recommend the veepn browser extension (firefox | chrome) or proton. 

if you only have so much time, i've starred the most important ones. if you want more… i have so many more.

chapter one

**tessa virtue/scott moir - mahler no. 5 (olympics 2010)

chapter two

tessa virtue/scott moir - carmen (worlds 2013)

kaitlyn weaver/andrew poje - the way you make me feel (canadian nationals 2017) | bonus worlds finish

chapter three

nadia bashynska/peter beaumont - romeo & juliet (gp espoo 2023)

maia shibutani/alex shibutani - smile (4cc 2011)

**michelle kwan - tosca (us nationals 2004) | music

chapter four

**meryl davis/charlie white - scheherazade (olympics 2014)

shizuka arakawa - turandot (olympics 2006)

**alexei yagudin - winter (olympics 2002)

chapter five

daisuke takahashi - blues for klook (worlds 2013)

mirai nagasu - pirates of the caribbean (olympics 2010)

chapter six

miki ando - the mission (4cc 2011)

meryl davis/charlie white - my fair lady (olympics 2014)

chapter seven

katarina witt - where have all the flowers gone (olympics 1994)

chapter eight

mao asada - bells of moscow (olympics 2010)

shoma uno - dancing on my own (internationaux de france 2019)

chapter nine & ten

mao asada - rachmaninov no. 2 (olympics 2014)

kazuki tomono - one more time (rostelecom cup 2018 gala)

tessa virtue/scott moir - what's love got to do with it (niagara ice show 2016)

yuna kim - les misérables (all that skate 2013)

ensemble - uptown funk (ice fantasia 2019)

chapter eleven

madison chock/evan bates - touch/contact (olympics 2022 team event)

chapter twelve

yuzuru hanyu - romeo and juliet (worlds 2012)

chapter thirteen

tatsuki machida - east of eden (worlds 2014)

johnny weir - the swan (olympics 2006)

kaitlin hawayek/jean-luc baker - feeling good (us nationals 2017)

tessa virtue/scott moir - prince medley (worlds 2017)

chapter fourteen

**jeremy abbott - lilies of the valley (olympics 2014)

nathan chen - le corsaire (us nationals 2017)

chapter fifteen

yuzuru hanyu - heaven and earth (olympics 2022)

denis ten - the artist (worlds 2013)

chapter sixteen & seventeen

ashley wagner - moulin rouge (us nationals 2015)

chapter eighteen

kaori sakamoto - elastic heart (worlds 2023)

shoma uno - dancing on my own (japan nationals 2019)

**adam rippon - arrival of the birds (olympics 2018)

chapter nineteen

michelle kwan - fields of gold (olympics 2002)

**tessa virtue/scott moir - moulin rouge (olympics 2018)

epilogue

tessa virtue/scott moir - long time running (olympics 2018 gala)

bonus 

the rippon lutz (quad edition)

stationary lift BASE?

f/f ice dance feat. madison hubbell and gabrielle papadakis

best of kpop in figure skating

fs dynamics 101

[zanydragondaze]

Apple’s Network Traffic Bypasses Russia

In an article written for the Internet routing public welfare organization MANRS (Common Protocol Specification for Routing Security), Aftab Siddiqui, senior Internet technology manager of Internet society, mentioned that on July 26, Rostelecom released a notice that some network routes of Apple were hijacked. This operation is usually called BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) hijacking.

Generally speaking, BGP is the adhesive that bonds multiple networks together to form the Internet. However, such an important agreement can easily be deceived. For example, in 2018, Internet thieves interfered with Amazon's route 53 DNS service through BGP hijacking, and redirected Internet traffic from cryptocurrency websites to phishing sites hosted in Russia.

It is reported that GRIP Internet Intel (GA Tech) and BGPstream.com（Cisco Works） detected this route change. The latter also identified this address block as AS714 APPLE-ENGINEERING. The whole process lasted more than 12 hours.

Apple has not responded to the media’s request for comment, and The Register, the British technology media, has not found any public statement about the hijacking of its network traffic. “It is not clear which services are affected by this incident.”

However, many experts worry that the personal information of hundreds of millions of iphone and Macbook users may be leaked. Once the personal information is leaked, the consequences will be unimaginable. After all, the long-term “peeping” and collection of a large number of personal information and industry key data stored in the communications industry by the US National Security Agency has led to the serious threat of malicious collection, illegal abuse and cross-border outflow of a large number of netizens’ private data such as their citizenship, property, home address and even call recording.

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

What are your comfort programs for Yuzu and Shoma?

Yuzu:

Hope & Legacy from Worlds 2017

Haru Yo Koi from Beijing 2022

Actually any Notte Stellata performance

Chopin from Pyeongchang 2018 and 4CC 2020

Seimei from Pyeongchang 2018 or GPF 2015

Masquerade from Faoi 2019

Romeo and Juliet 1.0 from Worlds 2012

And for having a good mood: Let's go crazy from Stars on Ice 2021 or GPF 2016

Parisienne Walkways from Sochi 2014

Let me entertain you from Worlds 2021

Shoma:

Dancing on my own from JNats 2019, Challenge Cup 2020 or Worlds 2021, I also love the practice runthrough from Rostelecom Cup 2019

This town from Worlds 2017

Ladies in Lavender from Worlds 2017

Loco from Worlds 2017

Winter from Pyeongchang 2018

Turandot 2.0 from Pyeongchang 2018

Oboe Concerto from Worlds 2022 (my new go to for any mood)

See you again from Worlds 2018

Moonlight Sonata from 4CC 2019

For good mood: Great Spirit from JNats 2020 or the gala version from NHK 2018

Stairway to Heaven from Carnival on ice 2018

It depends on my mood which programs I watch and it changes daily. Sometimes I also like to watch only Yuzu vids or only Shoma vids. 😄

Also these comfort programs are also always related to great feelings about a competition or because I personally witnessed the program live in the arena.

[williammorrisnewsblog]

After Meduza’s reporting on his family's ties to Moscow's corrupt funeral industry, teenage owner of nightclub empire suddenly sells off all his assets

Egor Mazaraki leads a #blessed life. By the age of 19, he owned a whole slew of ritzy nightclubs and bars in downtown Moscow, and his parents just happen to be Lev and Anastasia Mazaraki, and his uncle is Valerian Mazaraki — all central figures in Meduza’s June 1, 2019, investigative report by Ivan Golunov about the capital’s corrupt funeral industry. Meduza has now learned that Egor completely divested from his Moscow properties, shortly after the publication of Golunov’s article.

According to the Spark-Interfax database, Egor Mazaraki partly or fully owned eight companies, before Meduza published Ivan Golunov’s investigative report. In five of these businesses, he was the sole proprietor.

On July 10, Egor Mazaraki sold off his 51-percent share of “TradeCom Ltd.” — a construction company registered in 2010 in the Mazaraki brothers’ hometown of Stavropol, and relocated to Moscow in 2017, soon after Valerian Mazaraki was appointed as Ritual’s deputy director. TradeCom’s business boomed after it moved to the capital, with revenue exploding from 49 million rubles ($777,570) to 304 million rubles ($4.8 million) in a single year. The company has state contracts with Rostelecom, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Federal Penitentiary Service. Egor Mazaraki wasn’t a co-owner of the business for very long — he joined the founders’ board only on April 24, 2019.

From April 11, 2019, to July 11, 2019, Egor Mazaraki was the sole owner of the “Three Mountain Baths” sauna complex, previously known as “Shaika-Leika” (Bad Company).

On July 15, Egor Mazaraki divested from the companies “Dzhubi” and “Dzhiefsi,” which lease 3,229 square meters (34,757 square feet) at the “Three Mountain Manufactory” for nightclubs that belong to the “Soho Family” holding group, as well as the “Friendship” cafe, the “Varka” restaurant, and the “Jagger Hall” banquet hall, according to a report by Daily Storm in December 2018. Egor Mazaraki became a restaurateur in September 2017. Before he bought the Soho Family holding company, it was owned by the designer Denis Simachev and the son of crooner Iosif Kobzon.

Meduza’s Ivan Golunov learned that these establishments are frequented by members of the Mazaraki family and their business partners and friends, including Moscow FSB deputy head Marat Medoev and members of his family, Ritual director Artyom Ekimov, and the son of Ritual’s transportation service director, Alexander Bolshakov.

On July 10, Egor Mazaraki also divested from another company associated with the Three Mountain Manufactory: the firm “Jagger,” which owns the web domains jagger-hall.ru and jaggercity.ru, and the application to register the trademark “Zavarka-Gastrokvartal.” He’d owned this company since April 2018.

On July 19, Egor Mazaraki sold off two more assets tied to the nightclub and restaurant business: “Mercury” and “RestoGroup,” which he co-owned with the restaurateur Dmitry Braude and Vyacheslav Martynenko. Mercury is the property management company for several businesses inside the Soho Rooms complex, such as the “Na Volne” (On the Wave) restaurant at the Savvinskaya Embankment.

Golunov’s report established that Martynenko is acquainted with the Mazarakis. Having moved from Stavropol to Moscow at the same time as the Mazarakis, Martynenko was involved in the nightclub business, and later became an owner and co-owner of several enterprises in the construction (“Bridge” Ltd.) and restaurant and entertainment spheres. Today, Martynenko is the sole owner of the Friendship Ltd. company, which owns the “Secret Room” trademark — one of the Mazarakis’ nightclubs at the Three Mountain Manufactory. Moreover, until November 2016, Martynenko was a co-owner of the “First Ritual Company” Ltd., which provided transport services to the Ritual funeral service. Half of the shares in this business later went to Emilia Leshkevich, a relative of Anastasia Mazaraki (the wife of Lev Mazaraki, the brother of Ritual’s first deputy general director).

Martynenko got part of Egor Mazaraki’s businesses at Three Mountain Manufactory: the barbershop “20/15” (the trademark for which is owned by “Blacksmith” Ltd., which Egor Mazaraki owned from April 11, 2018, until July 10, 2019), 75 percent of Mercury and RestoGroup (25 percent of each of these businesses remains with restaurateur Dmitry Braude), and all of Three Mountain Baths.

Egor Mazaraki transferred his other nightclub-restaurant assets (Dzhubi, Jagger, and Dzhiefsi) to Igor Nelyubov, who manages the Mazarakis’ entertainment business, and previously headed the “Krasnaya Shapochka” (Little Red Riding Hood) strip club, before working as CEO of the mortuary “First Ritual Company.” Nelyubov also manages several companies owned by Vyacheslav Martynenko.

Nelyubov is also listed as the CEO for “KP 36” Ltd., which owns the trademark and Web domain for the concert hall “Arena by Soho Family,” which is itself owned solely by Rustam Mamedov, who bought TradeCom Ltd. from Egor Mazaraki, when the latter first started divesting from his Moscow assets. On July 20, 2019, incidentally, security guards at the “Arena” nightclub beat up three journalists at a concert, apparently because they came from a protest, carrying in a backpack a banner in support of the rejected independent candidates running for seats in the Moscow City Duma.

[yuzu-all-the-way]

The Origin 1.0 Ina Bauer has me in a constant state of internal screaming

[figureskatingcostumes]

Alexander Majorov skating to Bang Bang by Asaf Avidan for his short program at the 2018 Rostelecom Cup, 2019 European Championships and 2018 Finlandia Trophy.

(Sources: 1, 2 and 3)

[beautifulstorms]

Best programs of 2018-2022, #5

Mikhail Kolyada, The White Crow (Nureyev)

[intyalote]

an overly emotional reflection on yuzuru hanyu that I did not intend to write but is here nonetheless

all of yuzuru’s post-FS interviews are so depressing but I really think the one with shuzo is the worst because of how badly his voice is shaking and how defeated he sounds while the camera zooms in on his eyes even though he didn’t want anyone to see him crying. it must be awful to know that he did everything possible but things kept going wrong. and I genuinely think that if he hadn’t re-injured his ankle he would have been able to get a 4Aq landed. The rotation was already just barely short and there was nothing wrong with his air position so I think if his ankle had been stronger he could have hung onto the landing. now, with the way he talks we don’t know how severe his injury is and if he’ll even be able to attempt it again.

honestly, ever since GPF 2019 the only competition he’s really seemed to enjoy has been 4cc 2020. even before that, you can see hints of it when he skates masquerade, of the constant pressure and unrewarded efforts and needing to put on the mask of greatness. I still think back to how he said he hated when people talked about him like a ‘legacy’ and that he didn’t want to become a thing of the past just yet, and how the media was already branding him as ‘too old’ when he was 22 at worlds 2017. that he was in his best physical shape ever before beijing only to be injured the day before the free. the way he doesn’t even want to talk about being injured in case people think he’s making excuses for not winning. that people are saying he’s past his prime now when he just managed to do more rotations on a jump than anyone ever has before and then did a nearly clean program afterwards on an ankle he couldn’t feel at all.

I hope more than anything that he can achieve his dream of the 4A, but even if his injury allows him to try again he’s racing against time and fighting physics. life isn’t fair, and it hurts to see him destroy himself out of love for something that doesn’t love him back. it just shows the cruel reality behind the fairytale, that hard work doesn’t always pay off and dreams don’t always come true.

[veritphoto]

Yura Matsuda — Autumn: Petit Adagio (from The Seasons by Alexander Glazunov) FS at Rostelecom Cup 2018

[somuchloveforalina]

Rostelecom Cup 2018 ; Kiss and Cry  💐