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

Chan-troversy surrounds Men's Event

Patrick Chan has received a large amount of criticism today as he found himself on top of the Skate Canada International Men's event. Chan came from fourth place in the short to first over all with a commanding lead from the rest of the field, which left many wondering why?

Chan's short could only be described as a disaster. Falling on three different required elements (the quad, triple axel, and in his footwork sequence), many - including Chan - were shocked to find him so close to podium placement. Chan beat out several men who were much cleaner and delivered the technical, and Chan was even awarded the highest tech score of the night... with THREE falls.

Home country advantage always seems to play a part of the judging, and is normally reflected in the program components score (the IJS's version of the artistic mark), however Chan received the highest hometown hero advantage to date, and for a program that didn't just have a slight flaw.

Fast forward to tonight's event, and, once again, Chan was hardly perfect. A fall on the triple axel (which is his trademark fall) and scratchy landings and spins throughout left, what many thought, room for others to seize the moment. The judges, however scored Chan to where he was ten points above the event's silver medalist, Nobunari Oda, who was clean in the short program, and had one fall in the long. Chan's long program score was not the issue, it was the blatant overscore in teh short that held him up and gave him the gold medal.

Chan's reaction was his typical one, pretend to be shocked and then go on to tell the media that he knew the judges wanted to give him those scores. Really, Chan? Maybe try skating well once and actually deserving them.

Men's event delivers in a big way

Emotions were high at the end of the Men's Short Program Tuesday night. Most of the top men delivered outstanding performances, making the event the most nailbiting since the "Battle of the Brians" in 1988.

Evgeni Plushenko is, not surprisingly, the leader after the short program. As the tenth skater, to have the score stand up through an evening where each skate seemed to build off the last, is a feat in and of itself. The reigning Olympic champion seems well poised to take a second gold - an accomplishment that only one other man has ever done, American Dick Button - but he can't leave anything out Thursday...

...Because American Evan Lysacek is only .55 points behind him, and Japanese Daisuke Takahashi is only .05 points behind that. It will come down to strategy, cleanliness, and heart tomorrow night and every single man has what it takes. History will be made one way or the other, and it seems this event is one people will talk about and remember for some time.

The night was not all possitive, however. Favorites to do well, France's Brian Joubert and America's Jeremy Abbott both had disasterous shorts. Falls, popped jumps, disappointment. Their body language suggested utter devastation before the end of their programs, and most everyone in the arena and watching at home felt their grief.

What's on the skaters' agenda for tomorrow? One can only speculate, Plushenko has made it clear he feels a skater without a quad does not deserve gold - and it seems to be suggested a place on the podium - so expect to see him keep true to his word and attempt at least one quad - and one could be certain he'll go for more than that.

Evan Lysacek stated days before the event that he would not be attempting a quadruple jump in Vancouver - citing injury and his crash landing at nationals for reasons - but did Plushenko's comments rile him enough to change his mind?

Johnny Weir is going to have to pull out all the stops and go for broke to make the podium - but it is doable. So long, of course, as those ahead of him make mistakes or play it safe.

It's competitions like these that make you wish a podium could hold more than three.

Photo (c) Reuters c/o DayLife.com