Remember When: Skate America 2019 Mens Free Program

Benny the skating dog stole the show.

I'll be honest, this competition didn't end the way I wanted. I had really hoped Keegan could make it onto the podium. He deserves to. He is an incredibly talented skater and often comes close. Still, that afternoon event was a lot of fun to watch (I mean, Nathan Chen tried to do hip hop. That in and of itself was worth the price of admission.) We sat next to a lady (who was not our fan in any way, especially once she found my best friend was NOT a fan of the sport so how dare she even exist) who was a huge Jason Brown fan so it was nice to see her guy skate well. I mean, it's hard not to want Jason to do well, he's just one of those guys you want to cheer for.

Not surprisingly Nathan Chen was leaps above the rest of the competition and he wasn't even completely on his game (he stood up though). His tech is incredible and I like that he keeps trying things to keep the sport interesting. It was a well skated event for being the first big competition of the season, and once again we had a blast cheering them all on. I did not get photos of the medal ceremony for the men or the pairs because it went longer than expected and so I had to hoof it to make our reservation for dinner. 

As with my blog post earlier (Pairs Free Program) I'll keep it to two photos per skater and you can view all of the photos from Skate America in my gallery.

Koshiro SHIMADA - Japan

Remember When: Skate America 2019 Men's Short Program

Keegan Messing - Canada (by way of Alaska)

Men's Figure Skating has always been my favorite figure skating discipline to watch, mainly because the skater that first got me interested in the sport was 1984 Olympic Champion Scott Hamilton. I was 4 and totally in love with that dude. Still am, if I'm being honest. My first sports hero that I got to pick all on my own.

The 2019 Skate America competition had some of my favorite skaters of the current era. It was a great event, competitive, and many skaters debuted at least one of their programs (if they hadn't done so during the summer string of club competitions). I was most excited to see Canada's Keegan Messing. Keegan is from Alaska, but skates for our neighbors. Last time I'd seen him compete he was still part of Team USA and he was skating as a junior (so do the math, it was 2008 US Nationals lol). Keegan's brother had passed away in an accident not too long before Vegas and it was an emotional week for him, but he did far better than most expected. I was total fangirl and I think I got all of our crew super excited for the guy! 

As with my earlier blog post for the Pairs Short Program, I'm going to try and limit myself to two photos per skater, but we'll see. You can see all of my photos from Skate America in my gallery.

Koshiro SHIMADA - Japan