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00:00:00I'll give you my heart, oh, I'll give you my heart
00:00:09Don't go break in my heart
00:00:12I won't go break in your heart
00:00:18Don't go break in my heart
00:00:43Ooh, ooh, nobody knows it
00:00:50But when I'm down, I want you to cry
00:00:56I'll give you my heart, oh, I'll give you my heart
00:01:06Don't go break in my heart
00:01:09I won't go break in your heart
00:01:11Don't go break in your heart
00:01:12Don't go break in your heart
00:02:12Don't go break in your heart
00:02:12Don't go break in your heart
00:02:13Don't go break in your heart
00:02:14Don't go break in your heart
00:02:16Don't go break in your heart
00:02:19Don't go break in your heart
00:02:35Don't go break in your heart
00:02:36Don't go break in your heart
00:02:37Don't go break in your heart
00:02:39Don't go break in your heart
00:02:40I believe, a ways back, worked with me in the BC section, Skate Canada office, started
00:02:46the club, Oakville Skating Club, one of the largest, if not the largest in Canada, started
00:02:52that from a small club to a huge club, huge experience, and a board member for Skate Canada,
00:02:57a huge wealth of experience.
00:02:59Joni McPhail, not Joni Rochette, is with us.
00:03:02Jackie Wong as well.
00:03:03I feel really under-accomplished after hearing that.
00:03:06Oh, absolutely not.
00:03:08Absolutely not.
00:03:09I've also been known to keep Ted on track on our broadcast.
00:03:12Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:03:13You've been known to try.
00:03:14That's important.
00:03:15That's true.
00:03:15That's important.
00:03:16Okay, well, let's get going on day number two.
00:03:18That was a lot of fun yesterday, covering all the practice sessions.
00:03:21We're going to start with the men's event coming up in just a few moments.
00:03:25I want to talk a little bit about, quickly, about the information that I got from Gerrit,
00:03:31Genrich Gertung from Germany.
00:03:33His journey to get here, he had to go from Oberstdorf overnight on the train.
00:03:38With his coach to Berlin.
00:03:41He gets to Berlin, and he says, no, no, no.
00:03:43Don't go to Berlin.
00:03:44You need to get your visa in Vienna.
00:03:46So they had to get back on the train, travel all the way to Vienna, get to the embassy there,
00:03:50and just get it in time to get to the airport to fly here.
00:03:53So it was a complicated trip to get here.
00:03:56Buddy's here.
00:03:56We just saw him on the concourse warming up.
00:04:00Some of these skaters' journeys are as strenuous as the competition itself.
00:04:06Yeah.
00:04:06Yeah.
00:04:06Well, just sitting waiting to see if you might get that opportunity, and what is the deadline
00:04:10to getting that opportunity, and then getting a visa, and getting a plane ticket, and getting
00:04:14here on time to hit the ice and compete?
00:04:15And I think the same thing, to some degree, for Victoria.
00:04:18Yeah, Victoria Safanova got her visa earlier this week, and she wasn't on practice this
00:04:24morning, or yesterday, but she will be on practice today.
00:04:28We've got lots to talk about throughout today, the practice sessions, and we're going to talk
00:04:32to Jack a little bit about the breakfast that he had this morning.
00:04:35It's a fan, what do you call it?
00:04:37A meet-up, I guess.
00:04:38A meet-up, yeah.
00:04:39It was a breakfast.
00:04:41And asking lots of questions, which we're going to do throughout the day, which was a lot
00:04:45of fun.
00:04:45It was, and it's competition day.
00:04:48I know.
00:04:48We'll get through all these practices, but competition starts today, and once competition
00:04:53starts at these events, we seem to be at Sunday before you know it.
00:04:56Yeah, and the great thing about this event here in Kelowna is that it's kind of like
00:05:00an Oberstdorf.
00:05:01It's relaxed, it's more like a vacation town, you know, a beautiful arena here.
00:05:05We're going to have a full arena, I believe, on the weekend.
00:05:07It's exciting, it's week two, so it's not a big city, but it brings a whole different
00:05:11type of vibe.
00:05:12I mean, we already have like a hundred people in the stands for practice, and it hasn't
00:05:17started yet, so I think we're going to have some good crowds this weekend.
00:05:20And you're really excited about the women's event, because that's your favorite event.
00:05:23It is my favorite, and it's also just the most stacked event of this competition.
00:05:30It is going to be so interesting, so we hope that you'll stay with us part of the day,
00:05:34most of the day, all of the day, because we've got lots coming your way for sure.
00:05:37And we'll step aside right now, as the men will take to the ice, the first group for
00:05:42their warm-up, or practice session.
00:05:45Lots to see, so stay with us, we'll be right back.
00:05:48They will be right back.
00:06:09They will be right back.
00:07:00Welcome to the 2026 Skate Canada International.
00:07:05This is the men's event practice group number one.
00:07:09This is a six-minute short program practice.
00:07:12Welcome to International Patinage Canada 2026.
00:07:16You assist the men's event practice group number one.
00:07:21This is a six-minute short program.
00:07:25The following skaters are invited to the ice for a warm-up period of six minutes
00:07:30before the music will be played in the following order.
00:07:40From Canada, Wesley Chu.
00:07:46From Canada, David Bondar.
00:07:51From the Republic of Korea, Hun Young Kim.
00:07:56From the United States of America, Liam Kopeikis.
00:08:04From Czechia, Georgi Reshtenko.
00:08:08From Ukraine, Karilo Marsak.
00:08:29Yeah, it's always really weird to see somebody of Wesley Chu's, at least previous international
00:08:38standard being first up in a warm-up group, in the first warm-up group as well.
00:08:43But he gets to set the standard.
00:08:45Yeah, and you know, the interesting thing is all these athletes go through these injuries.
00:08:49Some last a little bit longer and are, you know, poorly timed, if you will, for the development.
00:08:56And so Wesley's sort of gone through that a couple years of, you know, trying to get back
00:09:00and then, you know, having the injury again and coming back.
00:09:03So we'll see how he's doing.
00:09:05He's sort of restarting his journey in Seniors.
00:09:11We can see him there on screen right now.
00:09:14He has wonderful skating skills.
00:09:16He has good quad toe, triple axel, you know, shoves that takeoff a little bit or did in the past
00:09:21anyways.
00:09:22We'll see how that's come along here.
00:09:24And so he is known, but he's a little unknown at the stage of development or recovery that
00:09:29he's at right now.
00:09:30Yeah.
00:09:31And last year when he was coming back from injury, he really made a valiant effort to
00:09:37get onto that Olympic team.
00:09:39Yes.
00:09:40And he had a great short program at Canadian Nationals and just couldn't put it together
00:09:45in the free skate.
00:09:47But, you know, the potential is there.
00:09:51We're seeing kind of signs of what he used to be.
00:09:54He is a Canadian champion.
00:09:56Like he won that two years ago.
00:09:58And, you know, you watch him skate and you hope that he's going to be able to get back
00:10:03to what he used to.
00:10:05As we look at David Bondar now, David Bondar, I followed him on the Junior Grand Prix for
00:10:09a number of years and a really good technician.
00:10:12But he really struggled with the stress of competition and then be able to deliver what
00:10:16he was capable of.
00:10:17And then about two years into that, he started to, you know, understand his emotion in competition
00:10:24and start to deliver what he's capable in practice.
00:10:27It wasn't all there.
00:10:28And then in 2025, was he the Junior Champion, I think, or 2024?
00:10:32I'm not sure which one.
00:10:33He was absolutely brilliant at Nationals and gained a huge amount of confidence there.
00:10:37And here he is in his first Senior Grand Prix event.
00:10:41He's more of a technical skater.
00:10:42But I spoke with Lee Barkell, his coach, a little bit earlier today, and he was telling
00:10:45me about he's working really hard on the development of the program components, of course, and
00:10:50connection with the music.
00:10:52So we'll see how that development is coming along.
00:10:55And it was 2025.
00:10:57Thank you very much.
00:10:57Junior Champion.
00:10:58Joni Rochette.
00:11:03Where's the French accent?
00:11:04You need a new Twitter handle that says that's not Joni Rochette.
00:11:08Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:11:09I'm sure, I hope she's not watching at home and just cringing at all of those.
00:11:13I don't think she is.
00:11:13She's a doctor.
00:11:15She's probably pretty busy.
00:11:17We take a look at home jump.
00:11:18Kim from Korea.
00:11:21I liked him.
00:11:22I liked what I was seeing yesterday with him.
00:11:24He has a history of the quad toe and the triple axel being a little squeaked out.
00:11:31And he oftentimes gets a cue or an under rotation on it.
00:11:34It looked a lot better yesterday.
00:11:36Yeah.
00:11:36I didn't see the men's practice.
00:11:38Was it good?
00:11:38That's right.
00:11:39Because I think they were actually back to back in his program, weren't they?
00:11:42Yeah, they were.
00:11:42And the second one even looked better than the first.
00:11:44So, however, that's practice.
00:11:47It is practice.
00:11:48We hope you don't tighten up too much when it's competition.
00:11:51And entering the new sort of quad towards the next games, you know, you're getting these
00:11:54juniors gravitating into the seniors.
00:11:56And so you're going to see that slight difference of experience, connection with the music, maybe
00:12:02even skating skills there.
00:12:04But for me, it's always fascinating because they've sort of graduated out of high school into the university.
00:12:08And so they're struggling maybe in the first year, as most students do.
00:12:12As we take a look, they're at Kirillow Marsak.
00:12:18Yeah, Kirillow Marsak.
00:12:19We had an interview with him actually in Riga.
00:12:23And it was very interesting.
00:12:25Such a nice young man.
00:12:26And, again, another skater that, you know, has struggled with, you know, just finding,
00:12:31you know, enough time to continue the development with all that's going on in his country.
00:12:35He's from Ukraine.
00:12:36And, but they're finding their way, you know, and doing the best they can with what they have.
00:12:42Well, and he's, you know, he's training in Finland.
00:12:46And so, you know, he's had to sort of relocate his entire life around, you know, trying to get to
00:12:54the best facilities
00:12:55and doing all the things that he needs to do.
00:12:58And he's, it's been, it's been an interesting few seasons for him because last year he was quite a revelation
00:13:06at the Olympics.
00:13:07And when he is on, he's just, he's good.
00:13:11He's an emotional skater and just really good faces.
00:13:15Yeah, you know, and it's interesting with him that it's not just about the skating that they're having to adapt.
00:13:22It's adapting to a new culture, you know, and then you're living in a new culture, new situation.
00:13:26So it's remarkable what the athletes from Ukraine have had to do to continue and to represent the country with
00:13:32pride.
00:13:33Here's a look at Wesley Chu, the graphic, 21 years old.
00:13:45I don't expect to see too much of the jumping here with only a six-minute warm-up, but we'll
00:13:51find out.
00:13:52I saw him warm up a sow and that was it.
00:13:54Okay.
00:13:57We also said that about somebody yesterday.
00:13:58I know.
00:13:59They whipped off a quad for his jump.
00:14:01Kevin Amos yesterday.
00:14:02Oh, really?
00:14:03That's right, yes.
00:14:03Oh, I didn't see.
00:14:04He was like, oh, I just did a triple toe and then it was a quad toe.
00:14:07Yeah, he's walking through this.
00:14:09And of course, he's changed training locations now to Toronto, so that's a new adjustment as well, of course.
00:14:18I find it interesting that was a setup for the quad toe.
00:14:21He was landing them yesterday in practice, but given that he is taking the risk of doing the quad in
00:14:28the short program,
00:14:29I think, you know, he and Brian are probably saying we have enough faith in that jump to be able
00:14:37to put that in the short program.
00:14:38Well, he's always had a good quad toe.
00:14:40It's been pretty successful for him.
00:14:42So I think that he has confidence going into that element, particularly if it's the first one.
00:14:47It's the axle that gets dicey for him.
00:14:49Yeah, exactly.
00:14:50Yeah.
00:14:50Just a little bit too much blade turn on that forward outside edge and not carrying the flow through, but
00:14:56maybe it's improved.
00:14:56We'll see a little later in the practice session.
00:15:05We talked yesterday a little bit about Wesley and his edge quality and his skating skills.
00:15:10Yeah.
00:15:10And Patrick Chan's name came up and then we saw Patrick's name alongside with the coaches of Wesley.
00:15:17So all of a sudden that connection is made, that ease of skating.
00:15:24Wesley's always had really good skating skills and continue to get better.
00:15:27It's a matter of keeping and accelerating without effort or, you know, obviously he has effort, but it doesn't look
00:15:36like it.
00:15:38I'm guessing this is not, I'm guessing it's coincidental, but his costume for Adios Nonino is very similar in color
00:15:49palette to the costume that Yuna Kim wore for Adios Nonino.
00:15:52So could be maybe there's some inspiration there.
00:15:59Yeah.
00:16:06Or the discipline, you know, I would describe spins, the importance of spins in a program as it requires discipline
00:16:15to make sure you hold those positions and get them.
00:16:17Because if you're listening to the music and you want to get out and you're a little bit late, you're
00:16:21short, you're down to a level two or three, it's costly.
00:16:24I mean, especially with the men.
00:16:25The men are notorious for getting level ones and twos and their spins.
00:16:32For no good reason.
00:16:34Like, no excuse for that.
00:16:36Well, from our point of view.
00:16:37Yeah, I know, yeah.
00:16:38They might have been hurting, you know.
00:16:41But I think that's a message that coaches try to drill home right from the very beginning for athletes and
00:16:49the importance of their spins.
00:16:5219-year-old David Bondar, as we mentioned, just coming out a junior.
00:16:57So this is just all gravy for him to learn and experience and hopefully enjoy.
00:17:03This is already more movement, isolation in his choreography than we've seen certainly when he was a junior.
00:17:08He has worked a lot on the choreographic aspects of his skating.
00:17:21Fake out on the quad toe.
00:17:23Yeah.
00:17:32Oh, that was nice.
00:17:34Nice.
00:17:36Nice.
00:17:37Nice.
00:17:44He has a great triple axel.
00:17:47It's so clean edge.
00:17:48Nice spread eagle in and out.
00:17:50Made that look easy.
00:17:52It did, but the thing about the spread eagle coming out of a jump that...
00:17:58You think it's like...
00:17:59There's sometimes when, like, his hips were just a little open when he was on the landing and you could
00:18:05tell he was, like...
00:18:06Saving it.
00:18:07Just saving it.
00:18:08It's like, you know, like, glute strength to get that spread eagle out of it.
00:18:15Yeah.
00:18:15And it saves his GOEs.
00:18:18Yeah.
00:18:18It does.
00:18:23I can already see the improvement in his awareness to the choreography.
00:18:29It's still not all there.
00:18:31As we see the triple lats, triple toe loop, getting at it done well.
00:18:37But, you know, Lee had said a little earlier today that it's under construction.
00:18:41It's still under construction.
00:19:00It'd be interesting.
00:19:01You can't do it.
00:19:03But to have an anxiety, you know, meter on this screen.
00:19:08On the coaches or the skaters?
00:19:10On both.
00:19:10You can have on both, right?
00:19:12But to have it on the skaters, see the needle go...
00:19:14Not in practice necessarily, but in competition.
00:19:17Lee is a very calm coach at the boards.
00:19:19Oh, yeah.
00:19:19Like, he poker face.
00:19:20His needle would not move.
00:19:21He does not move.
00:19:22I only saw him look like he was going to jump over the boards once and it was one of
00:19:25his early pair teams.
00:19:27But...
00:19:27And then there's other coaches who are so animated.
00:19:30They're a performance in themselves.
00:19:32Yeah, absolutely.
00:19:33Oh, wow.
00:19:41I love a little split slide.
00:19:47Good for him.
00:19:48This is...
00:19:49It's improved.
00:19:50It really has improved, yeah.
00:19:52He's on his way.
00:19:54The third skater, Ponyon Kim from the Republic of Korea.
00:19:58Ponyon Kim from Korea.
00:20:04He's 20 years old.
00:20:05You can see all the information on him on the graphic.
00:20:09A nice addition to the practice sessions here.
00:20:17Yeah, he's a skater who is repeating both of his programs from last season.
00:20:22So he's very familiar with these two programs.
00:20:28What do you think about skaters repeating programs?
00:20:30I was just about to say that.
00:20:31Yeah.
00:20:32You did.
00:20:33Good girl.
00:20:33I'm going to ask you what you think about it after Jackie answers.
00:20:35Well, I'm going to just copy Jackie, so carry on.
00:20:37Let's see this quad toe first.
00:20:40That still looks better.
00:20:43I mean, he stepped out of it.
00:20:44That still looks better in rotation than it has in the past.
00:20:50I'll give you my answer after the triple axel.
00:20:59You can see the preparation.
00:21:00He's holding back a little bit there.
00:21:03This is...
00:21:07That was a planned waltz jump, it looks like.
00:21:10You think so?
00:21:11Yeah.
00:21:12You think he just caught the edge?
00:21:14Well, you can see him slow it right down.
00:21:16Why would he do that if it was planned?
00:21:17Right.
00:21:19Okay, Jackie, what's your...
00:21:20So, I think you have to do it for the right reasons, repeating programs.
00:21:25If...
00:21:25I think for him, like a skater like him, to better improve his components, his performance,
00:21:36and show off, you know, better skating skills, that sort of stuff, and then being able to
00:21:41do that in a program that you know, triple ax, triple toe, that's automatic for him always.
00:21:48And then he's going to be a completely different skater now, when you watch him do his step sequence.
00:21:58But I think the idea of repeating a program has to be done because you are continuing to work on
00:22:04that program, right?
00:22:05And not because you're scared to do something new.
00:22:08Yeah.
00:22:09And sometimes it works.
00:22:11And it depends on the development, you know, processes, that we need you to develop more connection with the music,
00:22:17so we're not going to change this up on you.
00:22:18Yeah.
00:22:18Okay, next year we want a new genre or something, that's okay.
00:22:22Yeah.
00:22:22Explore something new, but...
00:22:24And I think, for example, that, I always don't have it side by side, but I feel like even that
00:22:30step sequence has been improved from last season,
00:22:33even though it's the same program.
00:22:34You know, it's the idea of...
00:22:37Yeah, it's a good point.
00:22:38It's a good point to improve the quality.
00:22:41Keep it the same, but improve the quality.
00:22:42Sorry.
00:22:43Well, no, I was also going to say there's also skaters who are adding difficult technical elements to the program,
00:22:49where redoing the whole thing, if they're comfortable with the program,
00:22:52they can just focus on those additional technical requirements or skills that they've added is sometimes a benefit as well,
00:22:59which is much what you said.
00:23:00Building a junior into a senior takes a strategy of development,
00:23:03and sometimes you might stay with something that people wouldn't know why you're doing it.
00:23:08But you're doing it for a particular reason with that person.
00:23:11So you've got to build, transition that junior to a senior, and how long does it take to do that,
00:23:15and what are the priorities?
00:23:16So those decisions...
00:23:19And then we take a look at Liam Kapikas from the United States,
00:23:23and, you know, he's struggling with a little bit of a...
00:23:28A bit of an injury.
00:23:34And he talked about bringing something different to the ice in this program
00:23:40from what he's done in the past.
00:23:48A little nod to the head.
00:23:53Yeah, probably with trying to not get more injured, he's probably marking this whole thing.
00:23:59Yeah, exactly.
00:24:02And, you know, spoke with his coach, Keegan Murphy, just a few minutes ago.
00:24:06He said, we're just going to limit the amount of jump repetitions.
00:24:09He's able to do two or three, but they don't want to do too many,
00:24:12so they're just keeping it down.
00:24:14Yeah.
00:24:36It's interesting, you know, I don't know how you feel about this, Joni and Jackie,
00:24:40but when you bring sort of rock music to the ice, it's hard to do.
00:24:45This is a fun piece, and I think he's doing it well, you know,
00:24:48but I've seen a lot of rock pieces where you're just going,
00:24:51well, it's heavy, heavy music on the ears,
00:24:53and they're not really connecting it to it.
00:24:56Oh, good job, Triple H's okay.
00:24:59And so it's a risky choice at times.
00:25:03It is.
00:25:03We actually talked a bit about it yesterday because there was an Elvis program,
00:25:06which can be really risky because Elvis is so identifiable.
00:25:10It's not just rock, but it's Elvis.
00:25:12There's movements and things you expect from an Elvis program,
00:25:15and you have to really be able to deliver that without it not getting kitschy or showy.
00:25:22Yeah, and even if you do it well, it's still just Elvis.
00:25:25I mean, it's Elvis.
00:25:26So, yeah, rock is another one.
00:25:29Yeah.
00:25:29Yeah.
00:25:31I mean, the history of figure skating time has been, you know,
00:25:36whether a figure skater can skate to the level of the music that they are skating to.
00:25:43And oftentimes the, just the way that it, the way that the,
00:26:09the way that pieces of music that especially have lyrics in it can really overwhelm because
00:26:19people are starting to listen to the lyrics and you're like,
00:26:22are you actually skating to the lyrics or is it just background noise for you?
00:26:26Right.
00:26:27And I think those are things that are very important.
00:26:33Well, next up, Georgi Reshtenko.
00:26:37Okay.
00:26:38I'm, I'm, I don't want to jinx him here.
00:26:41Yeah.
00:26:41But he's had an incredibly good warmup.
00:26:45And you probably just.
00:26:47I probably just did.
00:26:48No, we'll see.
00:26:48We'll find out.
00:26:52Oh, this is what you were talking about.
00:26:54Elvis.
00:26:54Okay, this is the program.
00:26:55Good segue.
00:26:57Yeah, well done.
00:26:59Mistakenly.
00:27:02Actually good outfit.
00:27:03Yeah.
00:27:04Yeah.
00:27:04Because it has a hint of it, but not over, not too much.
00:27:07Let's see.
00:27:14Oh, he's just marking that.
00:27:15Triple south.
00:27:20Oh.
00:27:51I believe this is when we get into the real.
00:27:53We get into the Elvis Elvis.
00:28:03I don't know if I can ever watch an Elvis program and not think of Nick Nadeau, though.
00:28:08That's true.
00:28:09Like, I just.
00:28:10Did you ever know Nick Nadeau?
00:28:12Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:28:12I mean, he's the most, one of the most charismatic skaters from Canada that we've seen.
00:28:20All right.
00:28:20One more.
00:28:21Is he going to mark or is he going to, that was like a mark.
00:28:24Nope.
00:28:25Nope.
00:28:26Quateau.
00:28:27So, not, not bad, but he was, he was landing all of those jumps just in the warm-up just
00:28:33now.
00:28:36And, you know, it's such a difficult process moving him from the warm-up into the program
00:28:41and practice, from the program and practice into the program in competition.
00:28:45And I know it all sounds the same, but you're human.
00:28:48So, you have emotions, you have thoughts, you've got, you know, two voices in your brain
00:28:51and lots going on.
00:28:54He has good skating skills.
00:28:56Yeah, he does.
00:28:57He does.
00:28:59Like, this program, if it's clean, puts him in, like, 95 kind of a range.
00:29:06He's, he's, like, he's got the difficulty and he's a, he's a very good basic skater.
00:29:11He's set for the podium.
00:29:12Sure.
00:29:13Let's see.
00:29:23When you've got all the bait, he's, he's, oh, he's breathing heavy.
00:29:28It's a lot of energy.
00:29:29It's a, those step sequences.
00:29:32Yeah.
00:29:37Three-legged table.
00:29:39Yeah.
00:29:39Music turning time.
00:29:40It's 55 seconds.
00:29:44The sixth singer.
00:29:46Well represented in Ukraine.
00:29:48Kirillow, Marsak.
00:29:50We talked about the challenges that he's had in, in getting prepared and training and
00:29:55all the changes in life, but you like this young man skating.
00:30:00I do.
00:30:02I think this short program especially shows off a lot of his strengths.
00:30:07Joni and I were talking about this yesterday.
00:30:09He has upgraded his short program to have two quads and a Lutz and a Sal.
00:30:14Wow.
00:30:14And this season so far, he's either hit the Lutz or he's hit the Sal in both programs.
00:30:21So I think one of his big things this, this week is just rotate those quads.
00:30:34Whoops.
00:30:38Fully rotate.
00:30:39Fully.
00:30:40Just be specific.
00:30:41Rotate the, the four.
00:30:43He did rotate.
00:30:44Yeah, there you go.
00:30:45Clarification.
00:30:46He did rotate doubles.
00:30:53You know, on a quad, the pulling the trigger for all the energy to happen at the same time
00:30:59is, it's timing.
00:31:02It's so important.
00:31:02So watch here.
00:31:05He's just going on it.
00:31:06There it is.
00:31:08Yeah.
00:31:12Yeah, I mean, you could tell he was frustrated with that.
00:31:14Yeah.
00:31:14Because he, he went, he went out of run through to go and do, repeat that.
00:31:19He didn't care about the music.
00:31:20No.
00:31:20I need to do this right away.
00:31:22Correct this timing.
00:31:23Yeah.
00:31:24And, and I think it's a good choice.
00:31:25Yeah.
00:31:26For him.
00:31:26So he skipped, he skipped the Lutz.
00:31:28Yeah.
00:31:29I don't think he actually warmed up the Lutz.
00:31:31Maybe that's why too.
00:31:34He grew a lot as well.
00:31:36So, you know, it's, it's, it's interesting as you have a growth spurt, what, although you
00:31:42have the technique and you know, you can do it, there is the change of feel and timing
00:31:46that you have to adapt to it.
00:31:47It takes a while, but he looks well settled into that.
00:32:01And I think those sudden growth spurts where they spread out really fast are much harder
00:32:05to adapt to than a slow.
00:32:14It's just like watch the movement that he's got in the step sequence.
00:32:19It just, like he's covered so much ice and you often don't see step sequences, you know,
00:32:26actually have movement because you have to do every single turn and you have to do every
00:32:32single turn in both directions.
00:32:34And so they don't have a lot of ice coverage.
00:32:36They're really hard.
00:32:37The detail.
00:32:37And because it covers so much ice, it doesn't look like it's the step sequence.
00:32:41Yeah, exactly.
00:32:41And it's come to a screeching halt in the program and now my steps.
00:32:44It's just part of the program.
00:32:46It's beautiful skating and movement.
00:32:47It works with the music and it covers all the requirements of the steps.
00:32:59That's going to be a good men's event as well.
00:33:02It could be.
00:33:06Yeah, I shouldn't say will be, but it could be because they have all the abilities.
00:33:13Would you say that the depth of, let's talk about men's skating for a second, in the world,
00:33:19and I know that women's is your favorite category, you know?
00:33:22I watch everything.
00:33:23Okay, I know you do.
00:33:24But would you say that the depth is growing?
00:33:27I mean, they may not always deliver.
00:33:28That's a different issue.
00:33:29But when you watch them practice and you see what they're developing or delivering, if you will,
00:33:33that the depth is getting stronger.
00:33:34I do think that depth is getting stronger.
00:33:36I think the number of skaters who are able to provide quality and difficult programs in the world,
00:33:47that's increased over the past 10 years.
00:33:51I think we were very spoiled by what I have been referring to as the golden era of men's skating,
00:33:58which was, you know, the 2015, the 2022 era, where it was just like, you know,
00:34:05we were spoiled by just how great the top guys were and how consistent they were.
00:34:11And, you know, sometimes we're missing the consistency,
00:34:13but I do think that that generation of skaters has also influenced this generation of skaters,
00:34:21and there's a lot of good that's come out of it.
00:34:24You know, the interesting phrase that you said, the golden era,
00:34:29there's been many golden eras of each one of these categories.
00:34:33One of them would be Boitano and Orser, that's a golden era, and that, you know,
00:34:36and Petrenko in that era.
00:34:37So it's because we're just current now, of course, we're talking about that, of course.
00:34:42My most recent golden era.
00:34:43Yeah, okay.
00:34:45That's because, Ted, we've lived through more golden eras.
00:34:48We have.
00:34:49Mine's just a rock era.
00:34:50It's not even the case.
00:34:52There's no gold in there at all.
00:34:53It's just dirt in my era.
00:34:55But, no, it's interesting because I've seen a growth in the depth of the technical ability
00:35:01because people have learned, we talked about this yesterday,
00:35:03they're learning how to rotate earlier on in life.
00:35:05So all of a sudden, that process of learning a triple and a quad comes a lot quicker.
00:35:08I mean, back in the days when triple axles were the big thing, right?
00:35:14Like, people were just eating themselves up into the air to do these jumps.
00:35:18Like, there was no understanding of rotational speed.
00:35:22You were just doing it out of sheer muscle and talent.
00:35:28And, you know, the ones who understood their bodies the best were the ones who could actually do it.
00:35:34And there used to be a time where we'd think, well, only a few people would be able to do
00:35:37quad.
00:35:37It's only a few people would be able to triple axle.
00:35:39But once you learn that, not every person could do it, maybe,
00:35:44because some are a little slower twitch, some are quicker twitch.
00:35:46But the basic mechanics, if you follow the technique, more and more people can do it.
00:35:51We see that happening.
00:35:55I mean, to your point around the depth, look at what's going on with the Junior Grand Prix right now.
00:36:00I mean, we have, I'm pretty sure it's six different countries qualified for the Junior Grand Prix final.
00:36:05And we're talking about New Zealand.
00:36:07We're talking about Thailand.
00:36:10I love that about where the sport is going with the men,
00:36:14is that there is a greater sense of, like, yeah, it's not just the big countries.
00:36:20That's one of the great things.
00:36:22You know, I've done that for, I don't know, 13, 14 years or whatever.
00:36:25So I've seen the evolution, if you will, of Junior Skating around the world
00:36:30and the introduction of countries that never even had a rink before, right?
00:36:34So it is so cool to see that.
00:36:36That's a lot of fun.
00:36:37And still don't.
00:36:38Yeah.
00:36:38Some have very limited resources and facilities.
00:36:41But, you know, it's interesting.
00:36:42They do.
00:36:43They have limited facilities.
00:36:44But they are now getting the odd facility here or there.
00:36:47But it takes that big donor.
00:36:48You know, they come in with a, you know, pocket of cash to be able to get that facility
00:36:52and then run it into a business.
00:36:54So.
00:36:56Well, the ISU is also helping with that now.
00:36:58Yeah.
00:36:58The development of newer skating nations, like, that has been something that when I was at
00:37:06Congress, they talked a lot about.
00:37:08Yeah.
00:37:08Yeah.
00:37:08And it's interesting.
00:37:10We've announced, they have announced now the Junior Grand Prix for next year.
00:37:13So, you know, I'm looking.
00:37:15I don't think we have anything new there.
00:37:17I think we've got, we've got Sian.
00:37:22We've got Thailand.
00:37:24We've got Riga.
00:37:25We've got Batumi.
00:37:27What else?
00:37:28Oh, Ankara.
00:37:30You're just getting all these out of your head.
00:37:32I love it.
00:37:33Yeah.
00:37:34Yeah, I know.
00:37:34Because you know my head's pretty thin.
00:37:36So, you know, so we're not getting a new one yet, except for Batumi has to be considered
00:37:43new.
00:37:43It's the first time they've done it.
00:37:44So that region, of course, we went to Baku, Azerbaijan before.
00:37:48So that was sort of a new era as well.
00:37:50So there is growth around and they want to protect, make sure they've got facilities that
00:37:54can handle the event as well as beginning to grow.
00:37:57And I know that South America really desperately want one to expose the sport down there as well,
00:38:03but they just need the facilities to do it.
00:38:06So, Steven Gogolev, Gunrich Garton, we talked a little bit about his challenge to get here.
00:38:11We have Nakata, junior world champion, Mihail Selefko, Kazuki Tomono, and Kevin Amos.
00:38:18And what we're going to get from Kevin, he's so interesting.
00:38:20I have to tell you a story about Kevin Amos.
00:38:22When I was covering the Junior Grand Prix, his very first Junior Grand Prix, it was in
00:38:26Saint-Gervais, France, which is a rink that I competed in years ago, decades, you know,
00:38:32Stone Age ago.
00:38:34And so we did this competition and he was really, you know how he wears his heart on his shoulder.
00:38:39Oh, yes.
00:38:39So he went out there and he was close to the podium.
00:38:42I think he was in third, maybe after the short program.
00:38:45And he went out for the free program and he just sold everything in the first minute and
00:38:50half.
00:38:50It was unbelievable.
00:38:52But the gas tank immediately became empty.
00:38:55And then he started to fall and make some mistakes.
00:38:57And he's in the kiss and cry waiting for that result to come up.
00:39:02He could see his heart was out there.
00:39:03He was so emotional.
00:39:04And the scores came up and he just missed the podium.
00:39:08And the tears started to flow.
00:39:09And we've seen that in him.
00:39:10We saw him last year win Skate America.
00:39:13And he went absolutely, was berserk.
00:39:16So it's so much fun because Kevin brings, you know, all the highs and the lows and he doesn't
00:39:20hide anything.
00:39:21It's all for the people to see.
00:39:23And that's one of the aspects that I love most.
00:39:25He actually brings the true meaning to the kiss and cry.
00:39:28Yes, he does.
00:39:28You know he's going to cry.
00:39:29You just don't know for what reason.
00:39:31Yeah, exactly.
00:39:32You're right.
00:39:32But he is.
00:39:33He's a very openly emotional.
00:39:35Right there.
00:39:35There's Kevin.
00:39:36And he's such an innovative, creative and wonderful skating skills.
00:39:40But you're never quite sure what you're going to get because it can be.
00:39:44And he had a bit of a hiatus over the summer because of medical issues that he was dealing
00:39:49with.
00:39:49And so his season has been later than a lot of these other skaters.
00:39:55And also than what he would have hoped to have had so far.
00:40:00Yeah.
00:40:00So I think he's probably coming into this, hey, I need to get this year started.
00:40:04I'm not sure where I'm at with this.
00:40:05So we don't know what we're going to get.
00:40:07But he's here.
00:40:08But he's also so happy to be back on the ice.
00:40:11Yes.
00:40:11It's his happy place.
00:40:12So he will make up for last time because he's just.
00:40:16And, you know, I think every skater loves to skate.
00:40:18But sometimes you don't see that.
00:40:20But with him, you see his love of skating.
00:40:23And, you know, we're going to see today.
00:40:26Pirates of the Caribbean.
00:40:28Finally, we get it right.
00:40:30Actually.
00:40:31I get it right.
00:40:32I mean, this group is, can be really spectacular.
00:40:39We're looking at Rio Nakata here.
00:40:40Yeah.
00:40:41Rio had an incredibly good practice yesterday.
00:40:44Did a quad loop triple axel sequence in his practice.
00:40:50I mean, there's anybody who just, like, wants it.
00:40:54It's him.
00:40:56He's similar to, not skating-wise, so don't get me wrong on this,
00:40:58but he's similar to Ilya Menlin when he was in juniors, okay?
00:41:02Ilya came out there, and you could see the talent.
00:41:04But, you know, then he'd have so much energy, he would overdo it,
00:41:08and it would flop apart.
00:41:09Then he'd have a brilliant performance, up and down.
00:41:11Same thing with Rio.
00:41:12He started out a couple years ago.
00:41:13Oh, my God, this guy's going to win everything.
00:41:15But then he had too much energy, right?
00:41:17And he's learned how to sort of calibrate that energy, if you will,
00:41:20to be more consistent.
00:41:21So, but this is his first time in senior.
00:41:23Will that energy reappear through the excitement,
00:41:25or will he keep it under control?
00:41:27Well, we'll find out.
00:41:28He's a great skater.
00:41:29Yeah.
00:41:30As his dad, looks like his brother is coaching him,
00:41:33but it's his father.
00:41:34Yes.
00:41:35Yeah.
00:41:37Kazuki Tomono, he was not on practice yesterday
00:41:40because he was not feeling well.
00:41:41I saw him right before, and I was like, how are you feeling?
00:41:45He's like, good, thumbs up.
00:41:46Oh, okay.
00:41:49So, you know, when you're sick,
00:41:51I think the free skate is the one that's going to be the hardest
00:41:54because it's four minutes of just nonstop.
00:41:58But that's to say, he's got a very energetic short program
00:42:01that requires a lot of energy.
00:42:03Yeah.
00:42:04And you have to bring that energy convincingly.
00:42:07So, I mean, you do the choreography,
00:42:09you don't have the energy.
00:42:10You're going, it's kind of dull, right?
00:42:12So you're forced to bring it.
00:42:14Well, and you watch for it, too.
00:42:15There's nothing worse than watching when the wheels start falling off
00:42:19and you know they're hitting a wall,
00:42:21but come on, just keep pushing, keep pushing.
00:42:31Rhea just doing some edge drills to start.
00:42:35Seems to be a lot of edge drills with this group.
00:42:37Yeah.
00:42:39Well, if you don't have the skating basics,
00:42:41I don't care how many jumps you have,
00:42:43you're going to do well,
00:42:44but are you going to be at the top of the Olympic Games?
00:42:46You need it all,
00:42:47and so the skating skills have to be trained
00:42:49just as much as the spins,
00:42:52or probably more so.
00:42:53Well, we were,
00:42:53Johnny and I were talking about this yesterday, too.
00:42:55Sometimes you do edge drills on the ice
00:42:58so that the judges can see you do them.
00:43:02Right?
00:43:02So that you can show that you can skate?
00:43:04Exactly.
00:43:05Okay.
00:43:06Okay, I didn't know that.
00:43:07Warm up and practice strategies.
00:43:09Yeah.
00:43:09There's something to being like,
00:43:12hey, judges, don't forget,
00:43:14I can skate.
00:43:15Or even for the technical panel that might be watching,
00:43:17so I can do that rock
00:43:19or I can do that counter,
00:43:20I can do that loop.
00:43:21Yeah.
00:43:21Right.
00:43:21Or you might just start jumping.
00:43:23Yeah.
00:43:24Right.
00:43:25Yes.
00:43:27There's Kevin.
00:43:28First passerby,
00:43:29Stefan Kovlert,
00:43:30from Canada.
00:43:33Fonded by Conrad Kamp.
00:43:37Oh, this young man
00:43:38has not only just improved,
00:43:39obviously, technically,
00:43:41and from program components,
00:43:42but also in his personality
00:43:44outside the rink.
00:43:47Fascinating young man.
00:43:50Fourth at Olympic,
00:43:51fifth at the Olympics
00:43:52and fourth
00:43:53at the World Championships
00:43:54last year.
00:44:01I'm so excited
00:44:02that his costume
00:44:03fits him well this year.
00:44:05Yeah.
00:44:05But still wearing a jacket,
00:44:06just not a suit jacket.
00:44:08Yeah, yeah,
00:44:08just a little more casual.
00:44:09really large pinstripe suit.
00:44:18Yeah, he has not warmed up
00:44:19the jumps yet.
00:44:20It's interesting.
00:44:22None of them
00:44:23are really going for it,
00:44:25which is fine
00:44:28because they have
00:44:29to compete tonight.
00:44:30Yeah.
00:44:32Regulation of energy.
00:44:45And, you know,
00:44:46perhaps in Stephen's case here
00:44:47that he's wanting
00:44:48to show to the judges
00:44:49his new program,
00:44:50his connection with the music,
00:44:51his steps perhaps,
00:44:52because the jumps come
00:44:53in less than a second.
00:44:55And you go,
00:44:55so if you make a mistake
00:44:57in practice,
00:44:58you're not showing the program
00:44:59and maybe the strategy
00:45:01or let's show the program
00:45:02or parts of it.
00:45:03Yeah.
00:45:06But we're just making that up.
00:45:08But the outfit?
00:45:10No, no, no.
00:45:11I'm talking about
00:45:11the choreography.
00:45:13Oh.
00:45:13Just show the judges
00:45:14the outfit.
00:45:15Yeah, there you go.
00:45:16But we also talked about
00:45:18how more comfortable
00:45:20and confident
00:45:21Stephen's continuing
00:45:23to grow from last year.
00:45:25Like, it started
00:45:26and it started
00:45:27and the momentum
00:45:28just keeps going.
00:45:29Adding all the quads
00:45:31and the skating
00:45:32and the freeness
00:45:33and it's like old Stephen.
00:45:35Yeah.
00:45:36And I think,
00:45:38I think him,
00:45:39I think that the fact
00:45:40that he's comfortable
00:45:41technically
00:45:42and he's confident
00:45:44and he's,
00:45:45well, look at that.
00:45:47I mean,
00:45:48he's moving differently
00:45:49too in this program.
00:45:51You know,
00:45:51ooh,
00:45:52moving very differently.
00:45:53Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:45:54I mean,
00:45:55that is a,
00:45:56that is a very tough move.
00:45:58I mean,
00:45:58we were talking about this
00:45:59in the ice dance
00:46:00where there were,
00:46:01there was a team
00:46:02that was doing
00:46:03forward twizzles,
00:46:04forward outside twizzles
00:46:05that went,
00:46:05that dismounted
00:46:07or, you know,
00:46:08ended that twizzle
00:46:09in a forward outside edge.
00:46:11That's what he was
00:46:11just doing there.
00:46:12And that's really hard
00:46:14to do.
00:46:14And you don't want
00:46:15to be overly forward
00:46:17on your weight
00:46:18because otherwise
00:46:19you're going to,
00:46:20and you don't see it
00:46:20very often for a reason.
00:46:22Yeah.
00:46:22It's so hard.
00:46:24But I,
00:46:24you know,
00:46:25last year,
00:46:26Benoit's choreography
00:46:27for him,
00:46:28I think,
00:46:29unlocked something
00:46:30different.
00:46:31And I think
00:46:32this season,
00:46:33they're giving him
00:46:34something even more
00:46:35challenging to do,
00:46:36right?
00:46:37And it's just
00:46:37a continuation of growth.
00:46:39I,
00:46:40you know,
00:46:40we saw like
00:46:41half of that program
00:46:42because he was
00:46:43marking a lot of it,
00:46:44but I like that direction.
00:46:46Yeah, yeah.
00:46:46I do too.
00:46:47Yeah, me too.
00:46:47Second year.
00:46:49Stamp of approval.
00:46:51Jackie Wong.
00:46:52And Joannie Rochelle.
00:46:53No, Joannie.
00:46:54No, I don't want to.
00:46:55Joannie McPhail.
00:47:15Okay.
00:47:16I have a little
00:47:17pet peeve
00:47:18I'm going to bring up
00:47:21after this.
00:47:25And it's laces.
00:47:27Oh, no.
00:47:27Is he having laces?
00:47:28Well,
00:47:29they're not,
00:47:30they're just
00:47:30and they're flopping.
00:47:32And I have,
00:47:34I mean,
00:47:34we've seen it happen
00:47:35to skaters,
00:47:36Steve and Gogola,
00:47:37but I just don't,
00:47:38I don't know
00:47:39if it's a comfort thing
00:47:41that they like
00:47:41the laces flopping,
00:47:42but I just
00:47:43am so nervous
00:47:44about it.
00:47:46And perhaps
00:47:47his competition
00:47:47outfit will cover it,
00:47:48but yeah,
00:47:49loose laces to me
00:47:50is a...
00:47:51And the point is,
00:47:52is that,
00:47:52you know,
00:47:52whether it's laces
00:47:53or a part of your costume,
00:47:54you don't want
00:47:55to take the eyes away
00:47:56from what the skater
00:47:57is presenting
00:47:57to the judges.
00:47:58And so,
00:47:58I mean,
00:47:59we're just commentators,
00:48:00but for the judges,
00:48:01if their eyes
00:48:02are going somewhere else
00:48:02they shouldn't be,
00:48:03that's a problem.
00:48:04Well,
00:48:04and it's a risk.
00:48:05And a risk.
00:48:05An unnecessary risk.
00:48:07For me,
00:48:08it's a peep.
00:48:08Other people
00:48:09probably could care less.
00:48:10No,
00:48:10I think everybody
00:48:11thinks it feels
00:48:12the same way.
00:48:13Hey,
00:48:14people aren't going,
00:48:15hey,
00:48:15let's hang your laces out.
00:48:16That'd be cool.
00:48:17Yeah.
00:48:17I mean,
00:48:17I don't think...
00:48:18Well,
00:48:18and I worked
00:48:18with a coach
00:48:19very closely,
00:48:20Michelle Lee,
00:48:20who just walked
00:48:21around with tape
00:48:22at every competition.
00:48:25Nice.
00:48:28Now,
00:48:28Gendrick last year
00:48:30had an opportunity
00:48:30to try to qualify
00:48:31for the Olympic Games
00:48:32for Germany.
00:48:33He was a junior,
00:48:34so he was given
00:48:35that opportunity
00:48:36in Beijing
00:48:36and he fell a little
00:48:37bit short of that,
00:48:38but that was quite
00:48:39a busy year
00:48:40for this young man.
00:48:41Now he's graduated
00:48:42into senior,
00:48:43so a little less pressure,
00:48:45that's an opportunity
00:48:46to gain experience.
00:48:59And this is already
00:49:00more movement
00:49:01than we saw
00:49:01as a junior.
00:49:02You know,
00:49:02you can see this
00:49:03starting to work
00:49:06for a lot of
00:49:07his junior career,
00:49:11he was the guy
00:49:12who did the fun months.
00:49:13Yeah,
00:49:13yeah,
00:49:14that's right.
00:49:15And sort of
00:49:16not much else
00:49:17in terms of basics,
00:49:19and he's certainly
00:49:20improved on that
00:49:21over the last few years.
00:49:24And, you know,
00:49:24the juniors
00:49:25are watching the seniors
00:49:26and they're gauging,
00:49:27okay,
00:49:27I'm going to need
00:49:27to be able to do that
00:49:28when I get to that level,
00:49:29and that's a whole year
00:49:31or two or three
00:49:31of development
00:49:33still in front of them.
00:49:55I was going to ask you this about,
00:49:56we talked about juniors
00:49:57and moving up
00:49:58and experience
00:49:59around seniors.
00:50:00How important
00:50:02is it
00:50:03or is it
00:50:04at all
00:50:04for those junior skaters
00:50:06who are moving up
00:50:07to be skating
00:50:08with the seniors
00:50:09and the speed?
00:50:10Like,
00:50:11that difference?
00:50:12Absolutely.
00:50:12They know there's a difference.
00:50:14And so,
00:50:15you can train that
00:50:17to a certain degree,
00:50:17but when you step
00:50:18on the ice
00:50:18with these other seniors,
00:50:20all of a sudden,
00:50:21you're pushing.
00:50:21Yeah.
00:50:22You are pushing yourself
00:50:22because you know
00:50:23you have to.
00:50:24And this young man
00:50:24has a shorter transition
00:50:28to make
00:50:29from juniors
00:50:29to seniors
00:50:30because he already
00:50:30had that speed.
00:50:31He already had the quads.
00:50:33The consistency
00:50:34may be a bit short.
00:50:34There's the quad.
00:50:35Saoka,
00:50:35look at the distance
00:50:36up in the triple toe loop.
00:50:38Absolutely senior quality.
00:50:39Yeah.
00:50:43But he's very alert,
00:50:44this young man.
00:50:44And he knows
00:50:45that he was a junior
00:50:46and he knows
00:50:47what he has to do
00:50:48to become a senior
00:50:48and he has the
00:50:50physical ability
00:50:51to do it rather quickly.
00:50:53He just,
00:50:53can you be consistent?
00:51:00He's just automatic.
00:51:01Yeah, he's on.
00:51:02My gosh.
00:51:03Special.
00:51:07But the big thing,
00:51:08my question will be for him
00:51:09is that
00:51:11when the lights are on
00:51:12and the people
00:51:13are in the stands
00:51:13and you step on the ice
00:51:15for your very first time
00:51:16in a senior Grand Prix,
00:51:17will any of that
00:51:20experience
00:51:21when you were juniors
00:51:22and was the big world,
00:51:23will that come back
00:51:23a little bit?
00:51:24We'll find out
00:51:25because that's the only thing
00:51:25that will change
00:51:26his timing on those quads
00:51:27because they're so solid.
00:51:28So emotionally,
00:51:30it changes a little bit.
00:51:31We might see a mistake.
00:51:32If not,
00:51:33we'll see a fantastic debut
00:51:35in the senior Grand Prix.
00:51:37I mean,
00:51:38here's the thing
00:51:38that he has going for him
00:51:41is that
00:51:41as he goes
00:51:43and does a clean,
00:51:43short run-through
00:51:45is that
00:51:47he's had a couple of years
00:51:49of skating
00:51:50in Japan's seniors
00:51:52where he had to compete
00:51:54against the likes
00:51:55of Rima Kakyama
00:51:56and Shotsato
00:51:58and Kaomiura
00:52:00and having that pressure,
00:52:03right,
00:52:03being at home
00:52:04on a senior event,
00:52:05I think that helps him
00:52:07just acclimate
00:52:08to something like this
00:52:09because it's like,
00:52:10oh, yeah,
00:52:10well,
00:52:10these guys are...
00:52:12I think it does.
00:52:13I would agree with that
00:52:14to a certain extent,
00:52:15but when you go into a rink
00:52:17and these are different
00:52:18rink forwards,
00:52:19you know...
00:52:20You know it's international.
00:52:21You know this is international
00:52:22and you know
00:52:23the world is watching
00:52:24and Japan's watching,
00:52:25right?
00:52:26So I think...
00:52:27But you're right.
00:52:28They have more experience
00:52:29so certainly more confidence
00:52:30but there'll be
00:52:31a little bit of an edge
00:52:32in there.
00:52:33Yeah.
00:52:35There's always a question
00:52:36for him of
00:52:36does he want it too much?
00:52:38Well,
00:52:39that was my point.
00:52:40Yeah,
00:52:40well said,
00:52:41yeah.
00:52:54He skated to a tango
00:52:55and also the Pirates of the Caribbean
00:52:57during his junior career
00:52:58and a number of others as well.
00:53:01And the music,
00:53:02he did a good job to them
00:53:03but the music was less important.
00:53:05Now it's way more important
00:53:06that he connects to that
00:53:07as he becomes a senior.
00:53:09What an athlete.
00:53:13And I'm going to go
00:53:14out on a limb and say
00:53:15I don't think it's going
00:53:17to affect him at all.
00:53:17I think he's going
00:53:18to go out there
00:53:19and lay it down.
00:53:20No, no, no.
00:53:20He could absolutely be right.
00:53:24We hope.
00:53:25We hope.
00:53:34And here's another skater
00:53:36that has
00:53:37a huge amount of movement
00:53:39and isolated movements as well.
00:53:53He's at a pretty active
00:53:57practice session already.
00:53:59He's done all the jumps
00:54:00that he needed to do
00:54:01and I think
00:54:01this is one of those
00:54:02where he's like
00:54:04save it for the...
00:54:06Oh, he just caught
00:54:07the blade in his pants,
00:54:09I think.
00:54:10It's interesting,
00:54:11Jackie and Joni,
00:54:12it's an interesting
00:54:14conversation.
00:54:15Watch out.
00:54:15Is that...
00:54:15Yeah, nicely.
00:54:17That looks like a triple.
00:54:19Is that the skaters
00:54:20are now more confident
00:54:22that what they've practiced,
00:54:24you know how it used to be
00:54:25like I need to do it again
00:54:26so that I feel that I can.
00:54:27Oh, I need to do it again.
00:54:29They know how to do it
00:54:30and they know
00:54:31they know how to do it
00:54:32so they don't keep doing them.
00:54:34You know,
00:54:34they manage their practice sessions
00:54:37much better now
00:54:37than say 10, 20 years ago.
00:54:41Well, and the difficulty
00:54:42that they're doing out there
00:54:43too,
00:54:43you can only exert
00:54:44that much energy
00:54:45on those jumps
00:54:45so many times
00:54:46before you're exhausted
00:54:49and the body
00:54:50isn't working
00:54:51the way it should.
00:54:52And the risk of injury
00:54:52if you do those
00:54:54difficult jumps
00:54:54with fatigue.
00:55:00He's coming into his own
00:55:01this season.
00:55:03He's always had
00:55:05the basics.
00:55:06He's always had
00:55:07the jumps
00:55:08but they're inconsistent.
00:55:09But there's something
00:55:10about him this season
00:55:11so far.
00:55:12The way that he skates,
00:55:13the way that he's
00:55:14presenting these programs,
00:55:17it feels like
00:55:19a skater
00:55:20who is in control
00:55:23of what he's doing.
00:55:25I get the sense
00:55:26that these men,
00:55:28they know what
00:55:29they have to do technically.
00:55:30That's fine.
00:55:30That's no problem.
00:55:31But they are starting
00:55:32to know we need
00:55:33more than that
00:55:34so they're all on
00:55:35a bit of a different
00:55:35journey to discover
00:55:36who they are
00:55:37as a performer,
00:55:38how they connect
00:55:38to music,
00:55:39how they improve
00:55:39their skating skills.
00:55:40That now is the new quad.
00:55:42They need all that,
00:55:43right?
00:55:44Yeah.
00:55:46And you have to do
00:55:46what you're comfortable
00:55:47with.
00:55:47Like he looks really
00:55:48comfortable with this.
00:55:50And I think it was
00:55:51him saying,
00:55:52you know,
00:55:52this is how I'm
00:55:53comfortable moving
00:55:53on the ice.
00:55:54This is how I'm
00:55:55going to do it.
00:55:55Yeah.
00:55:56Because you can't,
00:55:57you can't fake it.
00:55:58No.
00:55:59And you can't be
00:55:59somebody you're not.
00:56:15Music time 249 seconds.
00:56:20The fifth speeder,
00:56:22Kazuki Tumoto from Japan.
00:56:27All right.
00:56:28Here we go.
00:56:28I'm interested to see
00:56:30how he's going to skate
00:56:31today.
00:56:31This is an old program
00:56:33and a new costume.
00:56:37One of my favorite
00:56:38programs from last season,
00:56:39I would say.
00:56:39Okay.
00:56:39Good.
00:57:01Marking.
00:57:18They're putting their
00:57:19programs on display,
00:57:20not the jumps within
00:57:22the program.
00:57:22Yeah.
00:57:23I mean,
00:57:23he's certainly,
00:57:24he's,
00:57:26Kazuki is known
00:57:28to be a performer.
00:57:29And that's the part
00:57:31of his skating
00:57:32that I think
00:57:33is so exciting
00:57:35to the fans,
00:57:37sometimes to the judges.
00:57:39I always think
00:57:40that his components
00:57:41are not quite
00:57:42where they should be
00:57:44given what he does
00:57:45out there.
00:57:48I love the connection
00:57:49to the judges.
00:57:50Yeah.
00:57:50Not just looking at them,
00:57:52but just watch me.
00:57:54Yeah.
00:57:55This program
00:57:56is all about watch me.
00:57:57Yeah.
00:57:58Yeah.
00:58:03And his triple axel.
00:58:04All right.
00:58:07He was,
00:58:08I was watching him
00:58:09warm up
00:58:09and the jumps
00:58:11when he rotating them
00:58:14were good,
00:58:15but he was popping a lot.
00:58:16Yeah.
00:58:17I think it's important
00:58:19to sort of,
00:58:19to qualify.
00:58:20What we mentioned
00:58:21early in the season,
00:58:22we're not making excuses.
00:58:24What we're analyzing
00:58:25is there's a process
00:58:26to develop,
00:58:27to be your best
00:58:28at the most important
00:58:29moment,
00:58:29and that is later
00:58:30in the season.
00:58:31So you have to start
00:58:31somewhere,
00:58:32and then we might
00:58:33see some absolutely
00:58:34clean performances.
00:58:35We hopefully will.
00:58:36go out.
00:58:50I'm thinking
00:58:51that was a split jump,
00:58:52but I'm not sure.
00:58:53That was a marked split jump.
00:58:54Yeah, marked split jump
00:58:54and going,
00:58:55wow, that's not very good.
00:58:56That could be something
00:58:56a bit more than that.
00:58:57Yeah.
00:58:58Right.
00:59:11The whole step sequence
00:59:12was not a,
00:59:13it was marked,
00:59:16skated.
00:59:20Yeah,
00:59:21you can see
00:59:22he's just a little bit
00:59:24catching his breath
00:59:25that being sick
00:59:28and trying to do
00:59:29a program like this
00:59:30is hard.
00:59:31And early in the season.
00:59:31Yeah,
00:59:32and early in the season.
00:59:36Our final speaker
00:59:38gave him
00:59:39a rose from France.
00:59:41Oh.
00:59:47Got some pirates in here.
00:59:49Arr.
01:00:00This music has been
01:00:01used so much.
01:00:02However,
01:00:03I've always liked it
01:00:04because of the detail,
01:00:05the phrasing of the music,
01:00:07the intensity.
01:00:14There he goes.
01:00:16He's quad toe,
01:00:18triple toe
01:00:18to open the program.
01:00:20Oh,
01:00:21that was cool.
01:00:23The thing
01:00:24that is different
01:00:25about Kevin's
01:00:26pirates
01:00:27versus everybody else's
01:00:29is that
01:00:29the character
01:00:30he's playing
01:00:31is just so different.
01:00:33He's not just being like,
01:00:34I'm skating
01:00:35to pirates
01:00:35of the Caribbean.
01:00:36He's like,
01:00:38I am
01:00:38I am pirate.
01:00:40I am the
01:00:41I cannot remember
01:00:42the name of
01:00:43who Johnny
01:00:44Johnny Depp
01:00:45played.
01:00:46I actually
01:00:47watched that movie
01:00:48not too long
01:00:49ago again
01:00:49and it's
01:00:50much like
01:00:51Kevin's skating.
01:00:52There's so much
01:00:53character
01:00:53in him.
01:00:55Look at that.
01:00:56That's awesome.
01:00:58Kevin can bring that
01:00:59out.
01:00:59This is a complete
01:01:00character piece.
01:01:02And it's a Johnny Depp
01:01:03character
01:01:03of the pirate.
01:01:04It's so different
01:01:05than what he's done
01:01:06before too.
01:01:08It's comedic,
01:01:10it's got timing,
01:01:12and then he's got
01:01:13to do a triple axel.
01:01:18And this is where
01:01:19a piece
01:01:20that has been
01:01:20used a lot
01:01:21can be reinvented
01:01:22by the skater.
01:01:23It doesn't happen often.
01:01:25It takes a special
01:01:25person to do it.
01:01:26He's just the guy.
01:01:37And then he runs.
01:01:41Which may look easy,
01:01:43but it's not.
01:01:44Those toe picks.
01:01:46I love this
01:01:47step sequence.
01:01:48I love it so much.
01:01:52Two footed axel
01:01:54in the middle of it.
01:01:56Wow.
01:01:58I've seen this
01:01:59twizzle opposite
01:02:01direction for him.
01:02:02Hey, look at how
01:02:02much ice he's
01:02:03covered here.
01:02:05Unstating character.
01:02:07Yeah.
01:02:21It's one of,
01:02:22it's one of the
01:02:23best pieces of
01:02:24choreography of the season.
01:02:25And he,
01:02:27there are few people
01:02:28who can do it
01:02:29like he can.
01:02:29Yeah, yeah, totally.
01:02:30Totally agree.
01:02:38He's going to,
01:02:39the building is going to,
01:02:40yeah, it's going to
01:02:41explode tonight.
01:02:44That's awesome.
01:02:49You know, there's a lot
01:02:50of performances,
01:02:51there's a lot of skaters,
01:02:52but when you get
01:02:53something special like
01:02:54that, that's what brings
01:02:55the sport of figure skating
01:02:56to the highest level
01:02:57of sport and art.
01:02:59It's so much fun.
01:03:00Yeah.
01:03:00I mean, we're so used
01:03:01to seeing Kevin
01:03:02do a pop piece,
01:03:05you know, he's done
01:03:05Prince, he's done
01:03:06Lady Gaga, he's done
01:03:07all those, or we're
01:03:09used to seeing him
01:03:09doing some kind of
01:03:10emo piece.
01:03:12And this season,
01:03:14both of the programs
01:03:15that he's doing
01:03:15is a step different
01:03:17than what he's used
01:03:19to, and I like that
01:03:20he's taking that risk.
01:03:22Yeah.
01:03:27Well, that, and he
01:03:29skates last night,
01:03:30so that step sequence
01:03:31ending the event
01:03:33is just going to be
01:03:34Yeah, it's going to be
01:03:35great.
01:03:39Explosive.
01:03:47Okay, how many minutes
01:03:48do we have left here?
01:03:49Just a couple.
01:03:50I'm just sort of winding
01:03:50up on some questions,
01:03:51some...
01:03:52Oh, wind up
01:03:53on those questions.
01:03:54Actually, you know,
01:03:54can we talk about
01:03:55the new high-performance
01:03:56director?
01:03:57Yes, let's do that.
01:03:58Okay, who, here's
01:03:59the question.
01:04:00Who is it?
01:04:00The new Skate Canada
01:04:01high-performance
01:04:02director.
01:04:02Wait, wait, I have
01:04:03to have a Canadian
01:04:04answer.
01:04:04Sorry, Mr. America.
01:04:06Okay, Joni.
01:04:07Pascal Denis.
01:04:08There you go.
01:04:09And this is one
01:04:10of the best decisions
01:04:11in my, it's a personal
01:04:13thing, one of the
01:04:14best decisions
01:04:14the organization has
01:04:15made, that this new
01:04:18high-performance
01:04:18director is a five-time
01:04:20coach of
01:04:21world champions
01:04:22in synchronized
01:04:23skating, ice dancer
01:04:24himself, international,
01:04:26even world championships.
01:04:27He's been within the
01:04:28system within Montreal.
01:04:30He has taught, he's
01:04:32respected around the
01:04:34world.
01:04:34He's the kindest,
01:04:35smartest, you know,
01:04:36he's everything, and
01:04:38he's calm.
01:04:38He's very calm.
01:04:39No drama.
01:04:40No drama.
01:04:40He's, I think he checks
01:04:42so many boxes, and the
01:04:44funny thing is, when we
01:04:45knew they were hiring a
01:04:47new high-performance
01:04:47director, there was
01:04:48names getting tossed
01:04:49around and different
01:04:50things.
01:04:50I'll be honest, that was
01:04:51never a name that was on
01:04:54my radar, and yet when
01:04:55it happened, it was
01:04:57perfect.
01:04:58Pure joy.
01:04:59Pure joy.
01:05:06So yeah, I'm very
01:05:07excited, and not to take
01:05:09anything away from Mike.
01:05:10Mike's done a lot.
01:05:11Mike's done a lot.
01:05:12Absolutely.
01:05:12In a long time.
01:05:13For a long time?
01:05:13No, no.
01:05:14And I'm looking forward
01:05:16to Pascal bringing some
01:05:17fresh eyes, and skating
01:05:19has changed, the world
01:05:20has changed, and he's,
01:05:22like you said, he's not
01:05:22only well-known and
01:05:24respected in Canada, he's
01:05:25been around the world
01:05:26doing seminars and
01:05:27working with skaters and
01:05:29organizations and teams,
01:05:31and he brings that
01:05:33synchro element.
01:05:34Yeah, and he's asked to
01:05:36come to these different
01:05:37countries, not only because
01:05:38of his technical
01:05:39understanding, technical
01:05:40expertise, because lots of
01:05:41people have that, but his
01:05:43ability to speak to an
01:05:44athlete, or in particular
01:05:46a synchro team of 16
01:05:47skaters, and get them all
01:05:48on the same page, that's
01:05:50worked out well five
01:05:51times, right?
01:05:52So he's bringing a lot to
01:05:54the table.
01:05:54Now, having said all that,
01:05:56you know, this is a new
01:05:57challenge, and it's going
01:05:57to be very interesting,
01:05:58but he's a great member of
01:06:00Skate Canada, so
01:06:01congratulations to
01:06:02Pascal, Skate Canada, for
01:06:04the choice, and so I'm
01:06:06not sure, Jackie, we've
01:06:07left you out of the
01:06:07conversation here.
01:06:08It's okay, because I don't
01:06:09know much about Pascal at
01:06:11all.
01:06:11Well, we just told you all
01:06:12we know.
01:06:13Yeah, exactly.
01:06:14So, yeah.
01:06:14I mean, everybody I've
01:06:16spoken to so far has been
01:06:18nothing but excited about
01:06:21the appointment, so
01:06:22interesting to see.
01:06:23So there you go, and
01:06:24thank you for bringing it
01:06:25up.
01:06:26It was on our list to
01:06:27talk about today.
01:06:28As we wind down the men's
01:06:30practice session, before we
01:06:31have an ice resurfacing, we
01:06:33are going to go to, stay
01:06:35online, to an interview
01:06:36with Wesley.
01:06:37Yes.
01:06:37Talking about his
01:06:38rebound from injuries and
01:06:40coming back, his changing
01:06:42locations, and training, so
01:06:45yeah.
01:06:46And you did the interview.
01:06:47I did the interview.
01:06:48You did all the interviews.
01:06:48So you know them well.
01:06:49I did all the interviews.
01:06:50Give it a throw.
01:06:51Joanie, take us away.
01:06:52And here we go to
01:06:52Wesley Chu.
01:07:01Wesley Chu, senior men's
01:07:04skater.
01:07:05Wesley, let's talk about
01:07:06angles.
01:07:06You
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