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lil-shiro · 3 months ago

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A (hopefully) half decent guide to get into watching figure skating

With the Junior Grand Prix circuit starting this week, I wrote up a little guide for my online pals and anyone else interested in getting into the sport. I'm going to be focusing on Elite Level Skating.

Disclaimer in case I put this into the main tags: I may make a metaphors or two to F1 for comparison since I primary post F1 related things but I do have a #figure skating tag

Honestly if you want a really good write up/guide I highly recommend the website So You Want to Watch Figure Skating and they even have a Tumblr where they post updates.

If you want to read my more condensed, lower quality version, then stick around.

General Info

The International Skating Union (ISU) is the governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines (not just figure skating but speed skating as well). They're like the FIA in this case and decide/vote on regulations and changes.

Each country has their own individual national associations that administers the sport at the national level.

For example, USFS (U.S. Figure Skating), Skate Canada, etc. These associations do things like assign their skaters to competitions, decide funding, hold national level competitions etc.

Figure skating has 4* disciplines - Men's single - Women's single - Pairs - Ice Dance

*(There's also synchronized skating but I don't really keep up with it)

The two categories I'll be focusing on are: Junior and Senior. You can read about the specific age requirements here

Scoring

A final competition score is comprised of the total score of two programs (segments) added together.

A Short program (SP) score + a Free program (FP) score*

The main difference is that the SP is shorter and the FP is longer. But you can read into the different technical element requirements that I linked since they vary from disciple.

*In ice dance the SP and FP are called Rhythm dance (RD) and Free dance (FD)

To break it down even further, each total segment score is calculated based on the following:

Technical Element Score (TES) + Program Component Score (PCS) = Total segment score (TSS)

TES:

Each technical element preformed has a base value of points (following the code of points) depending on difficulty (it's comparable to gymnastics code of points scoring)

The judges then assign GOE (grade of execution) that increases or decreases the base value depending on how well it was executed

For more detailed info and to read about what makes up the PCS, the USFS has an overview here and guide here.

Competitions

I'm only going to focus on major and easily accessible competitions for this guide. The goal of competitions is to place high and get world standing points.

National Championships Typically held mid-season ish (Dec-Jan). Pretty straight forward, each country hosts their own national champion competition (most people just call them Nationals) for each discipline and age category. Depending on the country, these results may have a little or big impact on which skaters they pick to go to international championships for the rest of the season.

Grand Prix Grand Prix are a series of qualifying events (each held in a different country) that lead to the Grand Prix final. Skaters earn qualifying points at each Grand Prix event and the six highest-ranking qualifiers meet at the ISU Grand Prix Final.

A skater/pair can only participate in a maximum of 2 events. And each individual Grand Prix event can only have up to 3 skaters from the same country in each discipline.

Senior Grand Prix: 6 qualifying events

- for break down of how to qualify for the final refer to this page - skaters are eligible to be assigned to events based on results at the previous World Championships, season’s best scores from the previous and current season, and overall world standing

Junior Grand Prix: 7 qualifying events

- the same requirements apply for qualifying for the finals - eligibility wise, juniors have no minimum score required, as long as they're old enough their country can enter them - there is also no cap on the total # of participants unlike in seniors - # of spots for each nation are designated by previous world junior championship results

Europeans (European Figure Skating Championships) As the name states, Europeans is an ISU Championship in which only European skaters ("members of a European ISU Member") compete for the title. It is regarded as quite prestigious since it's the sport's oldest competition (first held in 1891).

# of competitors per country at Euros is determined based on results from the previous year

Four Continents Championships (4CC) 4CC is like Europeans but with all the other continents [Americas (North America and South America), Africa, Asia and Oceania]. Skaters must belong to a non-European member nation of the ISU.

Each nation can have up to 3 skaters from the same country in each discipline

Each skater must have obtained the minimum TES score requirement in the current or previous season

*Europeans/4CC are senior level only events

Junior/Senior World Championships Aka: the most important competition of the season! (Other than when the olympics happen)

Just like Europeans, # of spots each nation is allocated depends on results from the previous year. This is how they're determined (wording from this reddit post):

A country can have between one and three skaters/teams per discipline.

Each country automatically gets one spot in each discipline.

To get a second spot next year, that skater/team has to place in the top ten.

To get a third spot, that skater/team has to place in the top two.

For countries who already have multiple placements, both skaters or the top 2/3 entries:

must add up to ≤13 with their placements to secure/maintain a third spot (ie. 8th and 5th, 3rd and 9th, etc.)

or ≤28 to secure/maintain a second spot. (ie. 10th and 8th, 5th and 20th, etc.)

How to Watch

All the competitions I mentioned are live-streamed on the ISU YouTube channel. They also stay up so you can watch replays if a competition is held at an inconvenient time!

The Junior Grand Prix events were streamed on the ISU Junior YouTube channel but this year they will also be streamed on the main channel. You can still watching replays all the way from 2011 on it tho!

Occasionally you may find yourself Geo-blocked from a stream. I find this only happens when a competition is being hosted in your country because they want you to use the local streaming/TV service. For example, I'm based in Canada so I'm blocked from the Skate Canada GP event on YouTube because they're streaming it on CBC. I was also blocked from the World's 2024 Youtube stream because it was hosted in Canada. This includes full replays as well. But this is really easy to bypass with a VPN.

Refer to this page for more info

Resources

Here are a few resources to keep up with schedules, timing, standings etc.

Skating Scores: Overview of events, scores, and world standings

@/fskatecomptimes: Time-zone adjusted schedules for ISU-recognized figure skating events

So You Want to Watch Figure Skating: Recommending them again because they're awesome

Jackie Wong: Figure skating analyst, provides updates/live tweets from events

Notes :)

I hope this helps and is somewhat understandable. If you have any questions feel free to send me an ask or DM!

My advice is to just start watching and things will come naturally. I never thought I would be able to identify any jumps aside from an axel...but here I am watching competitions, finding myself calling under rotations on a 3T...

This season is the pre-olympic season and there's lots of skaters returning from injury/break so it should be exciting!

My figure skating tag

My favourite discipline is women's but I try to watch everything

I'm desperate for a Canadian skating revival (2018 you were everything)

Favourite ice dance team: Evgenia Lopareva / Geoffrey Brissaud

Current fave skaters (senior): Chaeyeon Kim, literally all of team Japan, Adam Siao Him Fa, Andreas Nordebäck, Alysa Liu + many more

*I would like to mention that just like any other sport there are a lot of issues within figure skating. It's an environment with a lot of young people whom are susceptible to mistreatment/harassment/abuse, so I just wanted to bring that to light since new viewers will probably discover shocking things that have happened/are happening. And overall raise awareness about being mindful viewers like not commenting on a skater's body for example and just advocating for the increased safety of the sport

There is also most definitely politicking involved when it comes judging, but we as viewers will never know how rampant and the details surrounding it. Some posts explaining it more here and here.

#this is for my mutuals...#but seriously though skating is so fun! join me 🥹#if there are any men and women skaters willing to switch to canada we need you #figure skating

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stupid-starkid-headcannons · 7 months ago

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trans starship anon here im going into specifics

bug: nonbinary but masc presenting. they/he technically but he truly doesn't care, gender doesn't exist on bug world in the same it does to humans. also aroace(spectrum) (buguary qpr realness) and bi

february: straight trans girl!! buguary is also t4t suprise! i think her parents were really supportive growing up, and shes just unapologetically feminine i love her for it

taz: kind of nonbinary kind of gender fluid she doesnt care whats in her pants? a knife. also butch lesbian because i love her. i dont think they've ever been in a relationship really (shes a 16 year old leutenant i dont think shes had that much free time) but if they were to be it would NAWT be a man

up: genders a bit wobbly but mostly masculine. he/him but doesnt really care about pronouns, i think pre-injury he was pretty hegenomic - and also very unconfident in his masculinity. but after his recovery, and after his talk with bug, hes kinda found himself out! Technically cis but literally who cares. also i think hes gay

specs: transfem nonbinary i have never seen a cisgender computer programmer/j. any pronouns but primarily they/she. i think growing up they always had really long hair so people kept mistaking them for a girl and eventually she just stopped correcting people lmaoo. also silly hc: specs was a nickname given as a kid because of their glasses that just kinda stuck. also aroace. maybe lesbian.

krayonder: trans man for sure, he/him. kind of an unrelated headcanon but i think he wears alot of stupid fucking graphic tees (alpha wolf howling at the moon, galaxy space pizza cat etc) and cargo shorts and its horrifying for everyone involved. also bisexual (damn son you get no bitches for real)

tootsie: trans man, he/him but honestly he doesnt give a shit hes just here for a good time. to me, farm planet is actually really accepting gender wise it was pretty chill ! doesnt really label his sexuality at all but i do think hes been attracted to men in the past

mega-girl: technically sexless but uses she/her, im not sure if that counts as being trans but shes gender enough so it counts. surprise tootsie&megagirl are ALSO t4t(ish) get hit with my beam. i think genders a little weird for her because while she "is not a woman" (her words) she is a megaGIRL unit so. im not sure if that means shes programmed with gender or not, either way she is comfortable with she/her pronouns so Shrugs. also sexuality wise she doesnt really label but Technically pan

junior: honestly, token cis man. im sorry hes awful /LH I LOVE HIM. tbh i think he would have to take ALOT of introspection and alot of therapy to even BEGIN to be thinking about his gender. embodiment of that "i might be nonbinary but i have a job so idc about that rn" tweet. he/him but with a bit of self care he/xe 😈 hes also gay but he has a job so he dc about that rn

im normal about starship. theyre also all autistic

yes yes to all of it

#bug starship #february starship #taz starship #up starship #specs starship #krayonder starship #tootsie starship #mega-girl starship #junior starship #starship #team starkid

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raininyourblackeyes · 8 months ago

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What happened at world's??? I'm not up to date 😭

LMAOOO WHAT DIDN'T????

Ok brief summary of every disciplinne which will end up long so

MEN:

Boyang messed up so much in the SP he didn't even get to the free. To quote his coach Brian "I don't even know what that was." My boy obviously thinks that the men need to flop in every city starting with M... Milano 2018, Montreal 2024.... let's hope he keeps that mindset for worlds and olympics because they are also in Milano

Junhwan also flopped in the SP, but not as much thank skating gods! He did better in the fs but I really didn't get anything from his programs this season anyways so I wasn't as devastated as I would be let's say with any prev season's fuck up

Kao also flopped SP missing the combo because of the 4T attempt. Absolutely magnificent opening 4S, best of the SP event! He attacked some titans in the FS but got eaten immediately by 4Lo and 4S

Shoma finally listened to me telepathically and flopped the free

Jason was overscored as fuck, he should not have been above Deniss in any segment but he has the american money. However, he did serve.

Have to mention Nikolaj Memola having a very solid senior worlds debut!!!

Ilia uuuh got the world record in the FS, 227 something and now he's going viral and how I feel about it is 😐 The 4A was magnificent, and yeah yeah he can jump and yeah it's a Succession program but PLEASE WATCH SOMEONE WHO'S ACTUALLY DOING FIGURE SKATING! One can only wonder what's next? A quint? A quad-quad combo? Because he did everything else and I doubt he'll decide to get some skating skills

Donovan was absolutely stellar! And the audience loved him!

The epic highs (Romsky SP) and epic lows (Romsky FS) - as usual

Deniss went clean (if we don't count popping the opening quad in the FS) in both SP and FS. His SP is a religious experience, and he's skating to Hallelujah exactly how Leonard Cohen would have wanted. 100% worth watching (costume deduction for showing tits is soooo funny). He also did a mad thing and debuted a new free st worlds. I was sad to see Blues Deluxe go and very sceptic about Lion King, that's junior music to me but IT WAS STUNNING and I hope he keeps it for the next season so I can see it live in Zagreb

Yuma... GOD!!!!!! He is right now THE best skater we have in this disciplinne. Carolina Costner is doing wonders for his skating skills. And somehow this was meant to be a recovery season. Meanwhile he blew everyone else out of the water. Yuma is definitely worth getting into figure skating. Two stunning programs, some textbook jumps, mind-blowing performance ability and just lovely skating skills

Adam was probably the definition of men singles skating event. 19th in the sp, everyone despaired about him... because you know, there's no hope for Boyang but there is some for Adam? And boy was there hope!!! He goes clean in the FS, does a fucking banned backflip which I am not a fan of, probably thinking "fuck it I did an amazing program but from 19th I have no chance to medal anyways so I'll just do this instead" so he takes 2 deductions. And medals. Biggest jump placement wise in history of the sport. Sooo then fucking Benoit who is already delusional about his choreo skills goes and says how he wants to create choreo so revolutionary that could potentially get him banned. My dude, you should have been banned a long time ago for Kaori's I love being a woman free at least...

WOMEN:

Tbh they were in the middle of the night for me and since men singles is my fave disciplinne it's also the only one I'd stay awake for so... not much to say here. Sorry. But there wasn't any insane drama I think, the results did take me out in the SP, but it ended up pretty nice in the end

I did see Kaori and while her programs are far from my favourites this season I am 100% convinced that girl could sell me anything. The highlight of both her performances, apart from how insanely well she did to come back from 4th to win overall in the FS, was her reaction to a botched Lutz landing in the SP. Her SP is also dedicated to her niece and nephew and it's so soft. Also imagine in a few years a teacher asks kids to say a fun fact about themselves in the first class and this kid gets up and says uuuh my aunt won her 3rd consecutive world title with one of the programs being about me being born. THE FLEX!

I only got to see Hana's FS in real time and I have made an entire post about Shakuhachi so please go watch that if you haven't, it's a masterpiece. Koo Koo Fun is also a masterpiece in some other aspects! Also go watch that! I think she did an amazing job for a kid at her first worlds in her first senior season.

Mone WHAT A COME BACK IN THE FREE!!! Which rip... I like her SP more, but definitely also chek out the Sendai baby Mone if you haven't

I've seen Amber's FS, the only clean 3A of the evening. I really hope she can one day pull off a completely clean free one day

Young had an epic performance in the SP, that StSq is just cheff's kiss. I didn't catch her FS but uhhh I also don't really want to hurt myself so I won't even try to look for it

Chaeyeon sadly has a Benoit abomination for her FS, her SP is also by Benoit but she sells it so well. I say this about her FS because quite frankly it's the FS that got her the medal.

PAIRS:

Deanna and Maxime. That's it that's what you need to know about pairs. She is a superstar, they did an Interview With the Vampire free with stunning costumes. Their SP was a firecracker! Deanna is the oldest woman ever to win the gold in figure skating, and she should be THE inspiration to all little girls trying out the sport thinking that it's just a few years of fame. You can be 40 and winning gold in your home city!

Riku and Ryuichi did so well considering they are coming back from an injury and they brought back Woman (2020-21 and 2021-22 FS). Silver was very much very well deserved

I think the only other team I remember leaving an insane impression on me were Hocke/Kunkel in the SP, absolutely fucking robbed.

Pairs was overall the best disciplinne and you should watch it, I didn't have time to see any free skates except for SD/D and M/K so that's about what I can say about the event

ICE DANCE:

Head in hands, this used to be a disciplinne where you go to therapy (skating skills) after the horrors (jump fests)

Chock/Bates won which is a fucking joke because the only thing they have going for them is the fact that Madison is hot and that can be a distraction once or twice, but not at every fucking competition and not at worlds. When will they retire?

Piper and Paul were stunning, their programs are always either a hit or a miss no inbetween and this season they are a HIT! Especially the Wuthering Heights FD you should see it! They won the free, but Skate Canada forgot to homecook in the RD so they got silver overall

Charlene and Marco have the campiest RD this season but it works!!! The only superheros I am willing to watch on my screen, marvel wishes it's characters had what these two do. Their FD is also really nice. LOVED Barb's interview where she said Madison and Evan are slow af lol, but rip she was so confident about G/F placing above G/P and then bam bronze

LALA THE TRUE WORLD CHAMPIONS! Absolutely stunning and fun RD to Thriller with Zachary actually being the main character. It's also my mom's favourite ice dance program of the season overall! And then you have a complete change of emotion and tone in their Roses FD which is just soft and elegant and she is literally dressed in flower petals. They showed so much variety and growth this season. It's a program made to be adored, and their skating offers so much quality. RD is passionate and mindblowing, FD is enchanting seamless. If ice dance was a real sport they would be the world champions!

Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko in strong contention for my fave RD this season. I am probably a bit biased becasue it's Stevie Nicks. They had an amazing glo up this season imo. Their FD offers a lot of intense character projections: obsession, possessiveness. Choreo is intricate, it's a very tasteful program. Someone on here said we should have more programs about murder after their performance and I couldn't agree more. ALSO Scott and Madison in the K&C!!!!!!

You can barely guess that Lim/Quan are a first season senior couple. They managed to make me watch Let's Go Crazy without sighing about how much I miss Yuzuru. Insanely hot in that program. Their Umbrellas are also in my top 3 free dances this season. Amazing performances at their first senior worlds

Ok I'm only gonna mention absolute delight and theatrics that Pirihara bring on the ice. Such a unique Chicago presentation! I can't wait to see what they plan to do next season.

#lmao i have more ice dancers to comment on but this is too long #also i started answering this and then forgot about it rip #figure skating #worlds 2024

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crazykuroneko · 6 months ago

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IWTV Figure Skating AU headcanons

Because I miss figure skating and IWTV is my current hyperfixation. Probably only fellow fs stans understand this, but whatever.

Louis de Pointe du Lac:

His most known program is definitely his The Swan. Choreo: Gubanova's The Swan. Costume: Hanyu's Notte Stellata. Strong skating skills as good as ice dancer, deep knee bent, flexible, so he can do layback ina bauer and difficult spins.

Tend to go to brighter music for short program (jazz, hip hop etc) while doing something heartfelt for free skating.

Pretty consistent as a skater. Keep getting high scores on Skating Skills and Presentation. Unfortunately he doesn't have big quads (only 4T to 4F, when he wants to risk it) and he's Black. so USFSA doesn't really support him and doesn't get that American over scoring. Even though he has saved USA's spots at Worlds etc many times with his consistency (just like Jason Brown)

Lestat de Lioncourt:

Typical European showman. Known for his character free skating programs. Reference: Javier Fernandez (second example). Pretty good skating skills, jump technique is decent. Actually pretty stable jumper, has all big quad jumps except 4A, but he can't focus sometimes so his axis is messed up.

Definitely always brings out the most chaotic programs for Exhibition and they always go viral and give you secondhand embarrassement.

Representing France ofc. Complete with French overscoring. at least 3 times European champion in a row. For drama, the president of French federation is still Didier and they have love/hate relationship. Running his mouth like Scott Moir at press conferences. Sometimes do backflips just to send fuck you to judges if he feels they're underscoring him (usually happen at Worlds, thanks to Russia and USA). He gotta continue that French tradition.

Armand:

For drama he is representing Russia. His coach is Marius. And Marius is basically Eteri, and he's his (current) number one girl.

Has all the quads and he'll backload the heck of them for score (that rule still exists here idc). Skating Skills aren't as good as Loustat but he has a huge TES and Russia fed backing. And almost always land his jumps.

Tend to use warhorses in his programs. Known for his long limbs and fast paced transition. Has been skating since novice and gets called the prodigy since the beginning. References: Yulia, Evgenia.

European champions are always between him and Lestat. They've been rivals since junior. But unfortunately since Marius is Eteri, sometimes he has to skip competitions for injury. He's way more relaxed during exhibition programs

Okay, now if they're a team:

De Pointe du Lac/de Lioncourt:

(Not to be biased but) chemistry on Virtue/Moir level. Definitely representing France, because USFSA is stupid and Lestat points a gun on Didier's head to take Louis. Coached by Zueva.

Combining Louis' elegance and Lestat's character by performing classic Hollywood pieces with storytelling. Debuting with this FD by Virtue/Moir. Ofc they go to the Olympics with this Moulin Rogue program as well, complete with the crotch kissing lift 😏

Definitely has a rumor they're secretly married going for them.

De Pointe du Lac/(insert Armand's last name here):

Unfortunately, no choice other than representing Russia. Coached by Tatiana Tarasova (but she likes Louis don't worry!).

Tend to use haunting classical music. Very synchronized, very classy. Reference: (a must watch!) Gordeeva/Grinkov's iconic Moonlight Sonata. Or Torville/Dean's Bolero.

Bonus: Claudia

Definitely best known for her teenage spirit and her Romeo & Juliet program.

Known for her big jumps, 3A, and musicality. That one girl who goes "I'll beat the men as well. Just watch" Reference: Kostornaia

#iwtv #interview with the vampire #loumand #loustat #figure skating #lestat de lioncourt #louis de pointe du lac #armand #feel free to use this in fanfic #just inform me #sorry to not use men's single as examples that much #women's singles are more interesting 🤭

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alexseanchai · 1 year ago

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options for explaining Yuuko's glee over Victor Nikiforov winning the Junior Worlds with the highest score in history:

the 6.0 system was retired earlier in YOIverse than RL, such that there was more than the then-current season's scores for Victor in spring 2005 to beat

the 6.0 system was retired later in YOIverse than RL, such that Victor's 2005 Junior Worlds victory was the last time he skated under the 6.0 system, and he smashed the records on that scoring system's way out

Victor in his last juniors season curbstomped not just all the other juniors but also many if not all of the seniors

now, Yuuri saying Victor at that Junior Worlds had already established himself as the greatest skater in the world might be partly projecting Victor's career as of 2016 onto Victor of 2005, and it probably is partly Yuuri declaring Victor of 2005 the greatest because he's the one Yuuri likes best and never mind if the numbers back this up

and enough history is different that scooting the scoring system change either forward a year or back a year-or-four is the simplest way to resolve this

but!

the required elements for juniors differ from those for seniors!

specifically, in the RL 2004-05 season:

junior men's short programs were required to have a double axel, where seniors needed a double or triple axel

junior SPs needed a double or triple loop, where seniors needed a triple or quad not otherwise specified

junior SPs needed to combine either a double and triple or two triples, where seniors also had the options of combining a quad with a triple or double

junior free skates had thirty fewer seconds and a smaller maximum number of spins than seniors had

so while it took till 2015 (for the short) and 2017 (for the free and combined) for the junior men's records to be higher numbers than the senior records were as of spring 2005? that's because the juniors weren't and aren't allowed to compete with programs that have as high base technical scores as seniors in the same season

and we know Victor in Juniors got in trouble for jumping quads

so it seems entirely plausible that Victor, as of no later than his 2005 Junior Worlds victory, did not actually outscore most of the senior division, but he did prove he could, just by publicly skating a version of his short program that season that had upgraded jumps such that it fit senior but not junior requirements, and a version of his free skate that included that fourth spin

...

hey so how did it affect Yurio's score in the competition we see in the ep 2 flashback to jump that 4S instead of the 3S he was supposed to jump? did they score it like it was a 3S (overrotated or otherwise) or mark him down as missing an element or what?

#yuri on ice #victor nikiforov #figure skating

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harocat · 9 months ago

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For the ask game... 37, canglan

So I was going to write canonverse, but then @crisdrawsandcries posted figure skating AU art, so I wrote the beginning of figure skating AU. There is no actual dancing in this, but there will be eventually of course. Also I'm used to writing for THE figure skating anime fandom where I did assume a level of knowledge, so if any of this is confusing, I apologize. I'll probably add some footnotes.

----

It’s not that Lanhua was a bad skater. Objectively, you could not be someone competing at the elite level without being a good skater. There were thousands of athletes that did not manage to reach the heights that she had.

But, he remembered the one year, when they were both younger, that she had managed to reach the Junior Grand Prix Final, and he did catch her free program. She was older for a skater competing in the junior division; eighteen and soon to turn nineteen, and she had finished in last place with a disastrous short program. Her free skate was gutsy and mostly clean, and she climbed up to fifth, but whoever coached her jump technique should have been banned from the sport forever. She had one of the worst hammer toes he had ever seen. She slowed down and came to almost a complete stop before she jumped. Her flip edge was abysmal.

Dongfang Qingcang did not usually pay attention to other skaters. They were irrelevant to his goals. The athletes in his own discipline could not beat him, let alone those in others. But he did remember that Lanhua had been loved. Her skating skills were immaculate, her spins breathtaking, and her musicality was second to none. And she was cute, apparently. She had a bright, slightly silly personality that appealed to fans. Not that he was paying attention, but he did recall her almost falling on her face on the way to the Kiss and Cry after that free skate. People found that charming, supposedly.

Musicality, grace, emotional expression, were all things that fans loved. “Bare your soul on the ice” or some such. Changheng skated like that, and for that he was maybe, more popular a skater than Dongfang Qingcang was. But the results did not favor him. Perhaps if he spent more time cleaning up his quad lutz than he did working with modern dance troupes, he could actually win a few gold medals to go along with his endless collection of silver.

Because none of that alone brought results. Changheng’s fangirls did not decide whose name would be etched in the history of the sport. The victories were not his, the world records were not his.

Lanhua vanished from international competitions only a year or so after that Junior Grand Prix Final. She’d been forced by age to move up to the senior level, and she couldn’t hold her own there, quickly overshadowed and outscored by several other skaters from her federation. It was the fate of so many young skaters. Dongfang Qingcang’s younger brother had been one of them. Though perhaps Xunfeng could have gone further in the sport if— never mind.

His father had always told him to focus on only himself. The enemy was nothing more than a distraction, and who they were was irrelevant. On the ice there was only him, and in competition, the only skater that mattered was him. He stood atop a podium so high above the other men he skated against, that they were not worth breaking his concentration for. He was the prodigy. He was the son of his father’s dreams. There was nothing that could break him if he merely did what his father told him. Skated like his father told him. Ate like his father told him. Lived like his father told him. Dressed like his father told him. Practiced until his father told him to stop.

His father was wrong. He had always been wrong.

#haro fic #sassybluee #love between fairy and devil #uh he does call her xiao lanhua when they actually meet #she's not just 'lanhua' throughout the fic i promise #warning for some hints of abuse from DFQC’s dad

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gogogogolev · 17 days ago

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Robert Brodie has done a write up from 2024 Skate Canada International. He leads off with news about Stephen.

#SCI24: Sharp dressed for some success Stephen Gogolev reminded everyone in Halifax of his bountiful talent in the men's short program. And he seems to have found a situation that suits him well. Stephen Gogolev is the mystery man of Canadian skating. Since winning the Junior Grand Prix Final in Vancouver in 2018, he’s long been seen as one of the future hopes of men’s skating in this country. But it’s been a roller-coaster ride in recent years for the Toronto native, with growth spurts, training base changes and, most notably, health issues standing in the way of unleashing his full potential. There have been flashes of his bounty of talents, to be sure — remember, for example, the outstanding long program he put together at 2023 nationals in Oshawa, Ontario? — but the words erratic and inconsistent might better describe the past few years or so of his still young career. But a lot has changed in the past several months, and maybe the 19-year-old (yes, he’s still that young) has finally found his comfort zone to thrive. Gogolev has been settled with Lee Barkell at the Granite Club since June (he previously divided his training between Toronto and California, where he worked with Rafael Arutyunyan) and added French choreographer Benoit Richaud to his coaching team. Add it all up, and we saw the very good side of Gogolev on Saturday in Halifax. With a clean skate that included a quad Salchow and triple Axel, he posted an 82.70 score that landed him in fifth place after the short program. Best of all, he exited the ice with a smile on his face — not the forlorn look of the 2024 Canadian Championships in Calgary, when a flareup of a previous back injury scuttled his short program and forced him to withdraw. While Barkell said there had been “some issues” in dealing with his back during the off-season, all is well for the moment and the decision was made to scale down his programs this week to protect his health (the short program will eventually have two quads. Gogolev has been landing quad loops in practice, and Barkell said either that or the quad toe will be added down the road in the combination. The long will be similarly watered down, with the plan to have three or four quads in it by season’s end). “It’s been kind of on and off,” Gogolev said of his back health. “We took it very carefully leading up to this competition.” Gogolev was all business, you could say, as he glided onto the ice in suit and tie (“It’s actually quite light. It’s really stretchy,” he said when asked what it’s like to skate in such attire). The music for the program — “Mugsy’s Move Medley,” by Eddie Nichols — had a lighter feel to it, especially compared to the dark tones of last season’s “The Sound of Silence,” by Disturbed. “This program is really fun. It’s the short program I’ve enjoyed the most doing in the past couple of years,” he said, adding he’s already halfway to his goal at Skate Canada. “Short and free, clean skates. So I got the first part of that done. Overall, I’m pretty happy and I just wanted to enjoy this experience.” The enthusiastic audience at Scotiabank Centre did its part to make that happen. “There was a lot more people than I expected and it was louder, which was nice to see,” he said. Both his programs this season are Richaud creations, and Gogolev decided he wanted to expand the Frenchman’s role this season. “I work with him as a choreographer and I really like his work ethic and his strategies, and I thought it would be a good idea to add him as a coach.” His score held up at the top of the leaderboard until well into the final group, and he’ll skate in the final flight in Saturday’s free skate. It’s no surprise that World champion Ilia (the Quad God) Malinin of the United States has a commanding lead (106.22), followed by a pair of Japanese, Shun Sato (96.52) and Sota Yamamoto (92.16).

It is concerning to hear that Stephen's back injury issues have not been resolved fully. It appears to be some kind of chronic issue now. If he is able to manage it without increasing his technical difficulty then that is best. He does not need to sacrifice his life long health for a few quads. We will have to put our trust in Lee Barkell regarding this matter.

#stephen gogolev #SCI24 #2024 2025 season #interview

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jae-bummer · 1 year ago

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My Idol 3: Part Nineteen

My Idol from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My Idol is a South Korean competitive reality dating game show. It currently airs on Saturday nights on Jae-bummer’s blog. First broadcast in 2016, the show offers the opportunity for a lucky fan to go on seven blind dates with seven idols. The idol plans the date with the show throwing in a specific mission to complete during the day. At the end of the initial dates, the show opens up an audience vote to decide what four idols will move on to the second date.

My Idol 3: The Series

You ran your hands lightly over Chan's scalp as he napped on your thighs. His hair wasn't styled, hidden underneath a beanie most of the day, so his natural curls were sticking out in all manner of odd directions. He snored lightly, his plush lips open just enough to let the sound escape.

You had kissed those lips.

Smiling to yourself, you looked out of the car window. When you had started out your day with Hyunjin (of all people), you hadn't expected that you would cross this line with Chan.

You tried not to think too hard about the implications of what this meant. While this was likely a step in the right direction for your relationship with him, what did it mean for the other relationships? If the other contestants tuned in, how would they feel to see you kissing another man? Would they feel pressured to kiss you? Or would you feel the pressure to kiss them?

More than that though, you were starting to worry over the fan reaction. If they were already volatile, would they step it up to new and creative levels? Would you have to worry even more about your safety and the safety of the people around you?

You glanced back down to the arm that Chan had nestled safely against his chest. It was wrapped in a soft cast, partially hidden by his sweater. Hyunjin had clued you in to Chan's hospital visit the night before, so you weren't surprised when he took you up on your offer to be a pillow while he napped. He had just as long of a night as you.

After pressing him a bit more, you discovered that he was originally meant to join you at the date's beginning, but instead, he was shuttled back to JYP. He wouldn't go into the details, but his managers wanted to pull him from the program.

You don't know what you would have done if he hadn't talked them into backing down. The show without Chan would have severely dampened your experience. You had to remind yourself, as much as you enjoyed his presence, you still had three other, just as wonderful men waiting for you. You had firework types of feelings for him, but he couldn't be the end all, be all. Not yet.

As the My Idol SUV pulled up to your hotel, you began to run your fingers lightly over Chan's arm. "Hey, sleepyhead."

Blinking up at you, it took him a moment to realize where he was. A slow smile spread across his face. "We're still on our date."

"I mean, technically," you laughed.

Slowly easing himself up, he assessed his surroundings before shoving his beanie back over his head. "Do you think...um...maybe could I come by and see Junior before I head back to my room?"

Your lips immediately began to say yes, but you paused as you remembered the answer wasn't entirely your own. You waited patiently for Hyuk to realize his answer weighed more than yours. Just because Insu allowed Chan to visit before, didn't mean Hyuk would do the same.

"If you're waiting for my response," Hyuk grumbled. "I don’t consider it an issue."

"Really?" you chuckled.

"Unless the young man smuggled a shiv onto the date, there is no concern for your safety," he continued. "And yes, Mr. Bang, I am familiar with your music, and am aware that you have shivs."

"I - um - that was a metaphor, sir," Chan stuttered. "I don't have any weapons on my person."

"Then perhaps you shouldn't reflect that in your lyrics," Hyuk sighed, glancing over his shoulder at the two of you. You had to bite the inside of your cheek to keep from laughing. Weapons, even wielded by your dates, were no laughing matter. "It gives you a reputation."

Hyuk was a bit of a weird guy, but you didn't mind him. He was like that one slightly off uncle who knew a little too much, but you'd trust with your life. Just like Insu, he was one of the few people on the My Idol team that you could rely on.

"I'll definitely consider that moving forward, sir," Chan nodded, his spine straight as he addressed Hyuk. As he glanced over to you, you tried to hide your amusement with the whole situation.

"Let's get going then," Hyuk hummed, opening the car door and hopping out. You and Chan exited as well, following Hyuk like baby ducks.

As soon as Chan had been sighted heading toward the lobby, you heard the fans across the street begin to scream. Immediately whipping your head around, your eyes darted in every direction. At this point, it was almost an instinctual reaction to feel anxious whenever fans were in a mile radius. You hated to admit it, but you were scared.

"Hey, we're okay," you heard Chan's voice in your ear. You hadn't realized that in the time it took to survey your surroundings, you had come to a complete stop. Navigating you by your shoulders, Chan gently led you to the hotel's revolving doors.

"Sorry," you croaked, shaking your head as soon as you entered the building. "I just got...kind of lost for a second there."

"Understandable," Chan acknowledged. "I won't stay long. You need your rest too."

A part of you wilted at that comment. It wouldn't be fair to either of you to hold him up, but you were going to miss his calming presence. After the mess that was the voting special, these guys had become one of your main sources of comfort (and you hoped that they felt the same about you.) It would be another few days before you would go on your next date, which meant you could recharge, but you hated being alone with your own thoughts.

Headed up to your floor, the elevator was quiet. You weren't sure if it was because Chan was trying to avoid any more of Hyuk's judgement or if you had made things awkward back down in the lobby. You really hoped it was the first option.

Stepping out and into your hallway, it remained quiet until Hyuk had finally unlocked your door. Much like Insu, he took up post with the door open, keeping an eye on any funny business that may be going on (inside of the room, and out).

"Junior!" Chan whisper shouted as he waddled across the room and dropped to his knees. "He's gotten so big!"

"Has he?" you hummed, leaning against the edge of the bed. Tilting your head, you squinted at the aquarium. "I guess he has gotten a little bigger?"

"You know," Chan said excitedly, his eyes never leaving Jinki for a second. "Goldfish will grow as big as the enclosure you keep them in. We could get him a whole pond and he would be a monster!"

You chuckled, shaking your head at how cute he was. "I think it'll be a while before we invest in a pond exclusively for Jinki."

"You're right," Chan nodded thoughtfully. "He'll need brothers and sisters by then too."

"Are we already discussing extending the family?" you gasped. "On the second date?"

Chan turned to face you, his grin wide on his face. "Too soon?"

"Okay," Hyuk sighed from the door, checking his watch. "We'll be switching guards soon, so it's a good time to get moving."

"Yes sir," Chan agreed, standing and straightening out his posture again. You supposed since he wasn't able to meet your real father yet, Hyuk would be the person he was trying to impress. "Thank you for letting me come by."

"Thanks, Hyuk," you echoed.

Hyuk nodded before waving the two of you off. Shifting toward the hallway, he began to exchange words with someone just out of sight.

Without any warning, Chan pulled you up toward him and wrapped his arms around you for a tight hug. "I'll see you soon."

Your response died in your throat as his lips were on yours again, this time the kiss soft and chaste. Pulling away with an instant smirk, Chan looked into your eyes. "Rest well, okay?"

You nodded dumbly, completely taken aback by all that was Chan. He gave your shoulder one last squeeze before heading toward the door.

"You too," you said weakly, not even sure if he could hear you.

Making his way around Hyuk, you were surprised when the older man grabbed him by the elbow, slowly walking him back into the room.

"And who hired you?" you heard Hyuk ask, his voice deadly serious.

"Choi Insu," the disembodied voice answered back. You shuffled your way over to get a better vantage of what was happening. It was pivotal to remain out of view so you could watch more openly.

The man standing before your door was at least a head, maybe two taller than Hyuk and Chan. His build was disturbingly wide, everything about him intimidating. He gazed into your room casually, as if he had been there before.

Well, that was unsettling.

You felt your heartbeat begin to ramp up as the anxiety took hold. Reaching forward, your fingertips grabbed at the back of Chan's shirt, urging him to take another step back.

"Choi Insu?" Hyuk said. "We don't work with a Choi Insu."

The stranger looked as if he was going to vomit.

"We work with a Kang Insu-" Hyuk corrected, but the stranger instantly cut him off.

"That's who I meant," he chuckled. "Sorry, I don't really have things quite locked in yet."

Insu had instructed you to stay vigilant. This whole encounter was raising red flag after red flag. You wanted to figure out the best way to slam the door in this dude's face and hide away forever.

"When did you start?" Hyuk continued.

Something about this question finally made your warning click in Chan's head as he finally took the few backward strides to stand at your side.

"What's going on?" you whispered, trying to keep the strange man in your line of sight.

"He says he's my new bodyguard," Chan said quietly. "I've never seen him before...and something just...doesn't feel right."

Phasing back into the conversation happening in front of you, you noticed the stranger had become increasingly twitchy.

"Surely you don't mind if I give him a quick call," Hyuk sighed, acting as if this was a normal Saturday evening for him. Pulling his cell phone from his pocket, he tapped at it before placing it to his ear.

"Insu, hi," Hyuk chimed. "Yeah, I have this young man here-"

Before he could even get the rest of the sentence out of his mouth, the man made a break for it. Moving with surprising speed for his size, he was out of sight before you could even blink.

"Stay here," Hyuk barked, yanking the door behind him.

You looked to Chan with wide eyes, your heart dropping to your toes. What had just happened?

After waiting about an hour, both of you too shocked to do anything except sit side by side on the edge of the bed, Chan's actual bodyguard appeared at the door.

"You're okay," he groaned, visibly relaxing as he put eyes on Chan. "Thank God."

"I could say the same," Chan said, voice gravelly.

"I think I speak for the both of us when I say, what the fuck?" you gasped, surging from the bed.

"We're going to have a debrief later-"

"You're going to have a debrief now!" you said, almost in hysterics. You felt Chan's arm wrap around your waist as he pulled you into his side.

"We've been in here with no updates after a strange man went bolting from the room," you continued. "After he initially tried to take Chan with him I might add."

"We caught the guy," Chan's bodyguard explained. "He's being questioned by our team, as well as the police. I legitimately thought he was a new bodyguard to relieve me from my shift. I take ownership of that being my mistake."

"Your mistake!" you shouted. "Do you realize what your mistake could have caused."

"Hey, hey," Chan cooed, stroking your shoulder. "I'm sure he's already been beaten up about-"

"I don't care!" you continued. "You just let anyone stroll in off the street and walk away with your idols? What if Hyuk hadn't stopped him? Where would Chan be right now?"

"That's why we have checks in place," the bodyguard croaked, his frame shrinking as you berated him. "He has to go through multiple people to get to this point."

"Urgh," you cried, clenching your fists. This was way too much.

"We'll have more answers for you soon, I promise," the bodyguard said, his eyes glassy. It looked as if he was nearly driven to tears.

Good, you hoped he felt the guilt down to his bones.

"Fine," you snapped, the fight slowly giving way to exhaustion. "I guess we don't have a choice."

'I'll send Insu your way," the bodyguard offered. "He'll know more, I promise."

Too bad that even Insu didn't have proper answers for you.

"Tell me again," you implored, refusing to even look at him. He was technically part of the bigger problem.

"He works for someone, but refused to tell us who," he said for what had to have been the fifth time. "He's being held until he decides he wants to thaw a bit to answer our questions."

"How did he get in?"

Insu was silent for a moment. "He walked in."

"He walked in," you repeated. "HE WALKED IN?!"

"He tossed his paper work as he ran, but it was all recovered," Insu said. "Everything looked correct unless you really dug into it."

"So why didn't you? Why didn't anyone?" you whined, keeping your focus on the city streets flying past your window.

"I wasn't here, Y/N," Insu said slowly. "If I was, I promise it wouldn't have gotten as far as it did."

"You need people you can trust," you implored. "You can't be everywhere, all the time."

"Until I found out exactly who is letting these things happen," Insu growled. "I'm going to have to be."

Just as you were about to pepper him with the next round of questions, the My Idol SUV slowed to a stop. Hopping out before he would have to say anything else, Insu held the door open wider for you.

"I'm sorry, but where are we?" you croaked, not getting out. "And who approved this?"

Insu outright laughed before motioning for you to step out of the vehicle.

"I really don't mean to seem high maintenance," you continued, not budging. "But there is literally a dead rat next to your Oxford."

This caused your bodyguard to look down with disinterest. Shaking his head, he glanced up at you again. "Y/N, get out of the car."

"I will when I don't hear police sirens," you hissed. "Which might be awhile."

"Look," he chuckled. "The security team sussed out this location before-"

"Oh, did they?" you cut in. "The same security team someone tried to infiltrate a few days ago?"

This caused Insu to fall quiet. The incident that had happened with Chan was another example of how things were going terribly wrong from a safety standpoint. The attacks also seemed to be getting closer and closer.

"Okay," Insu hummed, reigning in his irritation. "I deserved that."

You felt bad for a moment. He wasn't even on duty when everything had happened. As the scenario played back in your head, you knew that even if he wasn't actively working at the time, he was somewhat responsible for vetting and planning all things surrounding security. You were allowed to give him a little bit of grief.

"You did," you chirped, finally stepping out of the SUV and immediately clinging to his side. It was bad enough that you were now fearing for your life in even the best situations, but now? You were in an awful part of town, standing in front of a building that looked like it had seen much better days.

"What is this place?" you whispered. "A haunted house?"

You had consumed the slightest bit of Korean media in your day and thinking that San, Jackson, or Jungkook would be taking you to a haunted house was a stretch. Well, maybe not Jungkook, but surely, he wouldn't be doing that with you on a second date, right?

"It's a hotel," Insu clarified. "A very nice one in fact."

You blinked up at him, mouth slightly ajar. "I just watched a shutter actively fall off one of the windows."

"Just watch," Insu said, leading you toward the paint peeled front doors. "And trust."

"You're so lucky that I have so few people to trust around here," you muttered. "And if this leads to my death, I'm going to haunt the shit out of you."

This was absolutely one of the shadiest set ups for a date you had ever been on.

Leave it to My Idol.

Standing in front of the door marked with a large 7, the light above you flickered, maybe because this place was a shit hole or maybe for dramatic effect.

Inserting the key into the lock (no form of electronic access had you a bit concerned) you turned it until you heard an audible click. Taking a deep breath, you pushed gently against the handle.

Squinting as you walked in, you were taken aback by the interior of the room. If the outside of the hotel was a post-apocalyptic hellscape, the inside was easily four stars.

"What the fuck," you muttered, following a trail of flower petals into the larger part of the suite. A table with plush chairs greeted you first, snacks and drinks of every type lined across the surface. Looking further into the room, past the dining area, was a sitting area. Couches that looked entirely too comfortable faced each other, a small coffee table in between. That was stacked with board games, movies, and even more snacks. Just past the couches, you could see out and onto the balcony. This was not any normal balcony though, no, it came fully equipped with your own personal pool and hot tub.

Spinning on your heel, you stepped gingerly toward the bedroom. This wasn't a weekend date, so you were surprised by how luxurious it all was.

As soon as you crossed the threshold, you let out an embarrassingly loud scream.

A man you recognized as Jinyoung from Got7 lounged seductively across the impeccably white bed, surrounded by candles and fairy lights. You lifted your brows, unsure of what to do with him as he watched you.

This would be so much easier if you weren't jump scared by an aggressively handsome man.

The continued silence seemed to amuse him though, his smirk growing wider by the second. "Y/N?"

Sounded like your name, but in this fever dream, you weren't quite sure anymore.

With a lack of response, Jinyoung could only chuckle. "Ready for a sleepover?"

#got7 #bts #my idol #got7 fluff #stray kids #ateez #bang chan #jackson #jinyoung #san #jungkook

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figurelifeflirt · 2 months ago

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2022 JGP Poland stage 1 entry #51

Junior short dance

Stanley/Sosnenko(MEX)

Thoughts: I think I liked Harlow’s dress better the first time I saw it. Now with a few competitions under their belt, the affect wears off for me.

Junior free dance

Stanley/Sosnenko(MEX)

Thoughts: why does it seem like they were underscored a little?

2022 Nepela Memorial entry #1

Senior men short program

Gabriele Frangipani(ITA)

Thoughts: I have grown to love him, a lot.

Larry Louplover(BUL)

Thoughts: I know it’s not practical for this sport, but I’ve always wondered what he would look like with his hair down.

Jun Hwan Cha(KOR)

Thoughts: even when he falls, I still enjoy watching him. His energy, his swoopy hair.

Senior men free Program

Gabriele Frangipani(ITA)

Thoughts: his short program outfit was better

Larry Louplover(BUL)

Thoughts: I get tired of watching him sometimes.

Jun Hwan Cha(KOR)

Thoughts: his short program outfit was better. But this doesn’t change the fact that he is still a joy to watch.

#figure skating #ice dance #jun hwan cha

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gyunglitter · 11 months ago

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more profiles

- just you dicking around with txt college!au besties

warnings: i think one curse word lol

tags: txtxreader (platonic), non-idol!au, college!au, txt, lag, tomorrowxtogether, lesserafim, hansohee, drabble fics!, bulletpoint fics!

notes: just some additional profiles for the rest of the cast that i made, these are the people who will make appearances throughout the series

+more profiles might be added as this progresses :)

PLEASE feel free to send in asks/requests about this series to give me more ideas/feedback/reactions to it! i very much appreciate them!

⚤masterlist

girlies🥴

sohee:

HFJSLAHM

your older sister

literally the prettiest person to walk the planet

besides you🤭

but fr she is

she’s a model and artist

her career is kinda what inspired you to be a photographer actually!

you’d go to her photoshoots as a kid with your parents and instead of being focused on your sister

you were intrigued by the cameras and work system!

that’s how your parents knew you were a little weird, but everything works for a reason yknow

despite being so different, yall are so close

she adores you but won’t act like it

but you know she does since she offered a room in her apartment when you moved out for college

your friends CONSTANTLY try to find ways to come over

but you know your friends best and only let them come over when sohee okays it lol

yeonjun and beomgyu are her #1 fans, but RESPECTFULLY

girlie has no ops, BUT THEY WOULD FIGHT THEM FOR HER🗣️

she acts like she doesn’t, but she adores your friends too

esp kai—they’re like polar opposites in aesthetic, but she just finds him so adorable

kim chaewon:

junior

majors in music, studying performance

it's how she met her besties yunjin and sakura

the other local lesbians lmao

yunjin's bi <3 !!

chaewon's a very sweet girl

the epitome of kuromi in human form

she's so cute, but you literally can't stand her :/

after soobin blamed her for you flunking out, you can't trust her lmao

you never confront her tho since you know it was technically your fault

but the side eyes are CONSTANT

and you never fail to curse her name whenever things don't go your way

poor girl is the sweetest thing on earth and has no clue as to why you hate her so much

really wishes you didn't though :(

huh yunjin:

sophomore

majors in music, studies music theory

main slayer on campus everyone

people on campus are lowkey intimidated by her, until she cracks the unfunniest joke and everyone realizes she's attainable as well

she's literally so cool tho

most likable person on the planet

she's practically sisters with chaewon, but everyone thinks they're together

she's just a girl's girl you guys!!

and maybe likes to kiss a few of em

knows you and beomgyu since yall are the same year and share a few classes

but is mega confused as to the random hate against chaewon

that's her homegirl? she thought you were all homegirls??

guess not

but she likes your guys' friend group, thinks yall are super funny and is on good terms with all of em

miyawaki sakura:

senior, her second time around!!

had already graduated as a business major when she was younger, but came back to school to be a music major and study music therapy!

she really is THAT girl!

she practically adopted chaewon after she met her in the music program

and yunjin was an obvious addition the following year

mother fr

all three live together and are a force to be reckoned with on campus

wisest among them

also their comfort person

chaewon and yunjin can be unloading the wildest debrief with her and she'll just be giving the best advice with a side of fresh cinnamon rolls

also

the most fearless among them?

she's afraid of loud sounds, heights, ghosts, and goblins

but she will take no shit from the world, let alone men

she's the shortest in the bunch, but everyone WILL get behind her when shit goes down

yall honestly don't overlap at all

tho you do think she has an eery resemblance to taehyun

theories in the gc about them being third cousins twice removed or something

add. notes: whether the girls follow you/you follow them is ON PURPOSE—yall i put in so much detail into everyone’s profiles so if you see something, it’s very intentional lol

this was supposed to be a fun, silly lil fic i update whenever i have the time in between fics, but it’s slowly consuming me and becoming my hyperfixation atm😭

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burnwater13 · 7 months ago

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The Mandalorian holding Grogu in his arms. Grogu is facing towards the viewer. The mountains of Tatooine are in the background. Image from The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 10, The Passenger. Calendar from DataWorks.

Grogu thought about the moment that Din Djarin had held him as they both watched the bandit who took the Mandalorian’s flight pack arc up into the air. Of course, a moment later, that same bandit was retrieved by Tatooine’s gravity well as soon as the Mandalorian instructed the flight pack to shut down.

Grogu always remembered that event. He was glad that it hadn’t happened to him. He didn’t weigh much, but hitting the ground still hurt, especially if you hit it after taking on some altitude. He was always grateful that his coverall tended to act a bit like a parachute and slow him down. It really helped when he forgot that he could use the Force that way.

Grogu hadn’t always known all the things he was able to do with the Force. He’d had to learn some of them through a rigorous training program. Others he just knew, but he had to practice them routinely to even remember that they were possible. The whole slowing down a fall thing was something he did instinctively until he went through a training class on that very subject. After he went through the training he’d learned a complicated, multifaceted method for having the Force act as kind of an anti-gravity force as well as a glide plane and a bunch of other things.

He found it very irritating when they would practice as a group and each of them would jump from a specified height, related to their own height, weight, and skill level to a nice pile of pillows on the training grounds. First, the height he was given to jump was way too short. It was only three or four times his height. Then, it was just a short ladder placed within the pillow pile, while the other trainees were up on the top of the physical fitness training apparatus. So they had to climb up to the height they wanted to jump from and they had to push out from it and spot their landing zone and all that. All Grogu had to do was hop up the steps of the ladder, one at a time, and then step off in any direction and not cry when he landed. It wasn’t challenging at all.

Then Master Drallig said that Grogu could join the other students if he could demonstrate the proper techniques from the ladder. Uff. That went about as poorly as anything ever had. Sometimes he’d land on his head. One time he’d hit the ground thirty meters away because he over estimated the arc he needed to use to land free and clear of the ladder. The final time he’d fallen up instead of down. In his defense the bird that flew at him while he was standing on the ladder had distracted him and instead of pushing against the fall he pushed against the ladder and found himself hovering about ten meters above the ground. Master Drallig was not amused. He said that Grogu would need private lessons and until such time as Master Drallig had that time available in his schedule, Grogu would use that period to time dedicated to the resistance training to help out the librarians instead.

Grogu had groaned at that assignment, but not louder than the librarians had when they were informed of his change of schedule. Grogu supposed he could understand their lack of enthusiasm for having him help them out. Typically when he went to the library Ian was with him. They were always being scolded about whispering, getting lost and leaving crumbs in the data packs. What else were two young men supposed to do? Sit quietly and read the histories of long dead civilizations? Uff.

So twice a week for the next six weeks Grogu was assigned to help the most junior librarian, Jedi Sasuu Ning. Grogu had never met the purple skinned Jedi from Mirial before that assignment. Given all the trouble about learning to fall properly, Grogu decided to just listen to his temporary master and do as she instructed. Fat lot of good that did him.

Grogu would trot after Sasuu Ning as they collected the various materials that needed to be returned to their proper places and just tried to keep up. It was like she had been told to give him a good work out. When they had collected the materials she would to the destination that was farthest away from the circulation desk and then they would begin ‘re-shelving’ items.

For her that meant running all over the library at a very fast speed, while Grogu put the one or two items for that particular location away. He could do it any way he wanted because she wasn’t there to instruct him, scold him, or even observe him. Normally he would have been pretty happy about that. But every time he returned to his regularly scheduled events, the other younglings would ask him all about his special assignment. Then he was forced to tell them that he had managed to re-shelve two data packs. Never more. Never less.

Finally, Master Drallig told him that he had time to do private lessons and that this would be Grogu’s last day of assisting the librarians. Grogu was pretty happy about that. Running marathons twice a week and re-shelving two data packs had not been as much fun as he had hoped it would be.

He reported to the library for his last scheduled session and found that Sasuu Ning was not there waiting for him. Grogu was puzzled by that, but the lead librarian informed him of her location and told Grogu to catch up with her. He had arrived at least one minute late and couldn’t expect the Jedi to wait for him. Grogu had nodded and set off. He found her sometime later and realized that he’d been tricked! Sasuu Ning had been having fun the entire time he was simply re-shelving two data packs. At least to Grogu it looked like fun.

She had placed a tall ladder in the center of the vaulted archive and carried all the data packs up with her. Then she took a data pack and leapt to the correct shelf, put it in it’s place and then leapt back to the ladder. She did that over and over again without ever falling. And while she certainly looked like she was concentrating while she worked with the Force, she was also grinning from ear to ear as she made each jump a little more complex and thrilling than the last.

Grogu didn’t want to call to her and distract her, so he decided to climb the ladder. It wasn’t just four or five times his height. No. It was fifteen meters tall. Climbing that was like running his normal marathon around the library so he managed to get to the top pretty quickly, all things considered.

Of course he hadn’t considered what would happen when she touched back down on the top step of the ladder with him standing there already. To say it had been surprising was an understatement. The force of her landing created enough of a deflection in the top step to cause it to act like a spring board and Grogu found himself arcing up, up, up and out, out, out from the ladder. Sasuu Ning did the same thing, but in the opposite direction because she had planned on going to another shelving unit.

Grogu was too surprised by it all to remember all the steps and techniques and methods that Master Drallig had been trying to teach him and instead simple let the Force guide him, as he had many times before when he and Ian were climbing the Life tree. To his great relief he managed to stick his landing and had just enough time to realize that Sasuu Ning was not going to be able to do the same thing!

So that is how Master Drallig had entered the main archive room in time to see Grogu land on the floor, throw the ladder in the other direction and steady it so Sasuu Ning could slide down the rails and land next to Grogu, as if that’s what they had been practicing the whole time Grogu was assigned to the library.

“Sasuu Ning it is clear that Grogu has learned much from you. My thanks. I was concerned that he would find arresting a fall too difficult. You must tell me your secret… another day.”

With that, Master Drallig turned and left the room.

“Any idea what he was talking about?” Sasuu Ning asked Grogu as the doors to the space slid shut.

Grogu considered her question for a mili-second and then shrugged. The only answer was that the Force was strange and mysterious and sometimes had a sense of humor.

#calendar prompt a day #the mandalorian #din djarin #grogu

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ashpkat · 1 year ago

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choir magisterium AU (this is a joke don’t kill me)

jasper totally does show choir, he gets DOWN on stage. has had multiple solos. he definitely choreographs the christmas show. he keeps his senior poster hanging on his ceiling, above his bed, so he can gaze longingly into his own eyes before he falls asleep. dance partner is almost always gwenda because she Tall. dueted on stage with celia. cried during the senior show.

aaron cannot sing. my boy is constantly off key. he does, however, play piano. accompanies the traditional choirs sometimes. the rajavis gave him free lessons after realizing he’s a prodigy basically. sometimes does gigs for churches. has done crew all 4 years for both the show choir and the theatre program.

call has the voice of an angel. he did non audition men’s choir for the first two years of high school before tamara and aaron convinced FORCED him to audition for top mixed group. 2nd tenor. in his senior year, he took two choirs (men’s chorus and top mixed audition) and was also crew for the show choir. purposely fucked with jaspers mic. he got kicked out of crew because of it. stands right to to tamara her junior year(she was a tenor, more on that later) on the bottom risers of the stage(shenanigans ensue). got a full ride scholarship into baldwin wallace. alastair fucking fainted.

tamara has a massive range, and because of that, was a first soprano her freshmen year, a contra-alto her sophomore year, a tenor her junior year, and a second soprano her senior year. is into the theater program. was one of the only freshmen to get into the mixed group. the director has tried to convince her to go into show choir, which she has politely declined. she was the one that first invited aaron to accompany the choirs. won the national choir honors award and directors choice.

celia has a very versatile voice. yet the only auditioned choir she is in is show choir. has done treble all 4 years, she’s loved it. though, she’s a second soprano that’s gaslit herself into believing she’s a first soprano (sorry queen). sung a killer ballad with jasper for the senior show. also a theatre kid.

gwenda only does show choir and orchestra. an incredible dancer, but a mostly mediocre singer. always on the floor, NEVER on the risers. has purposely kicked jasper in the stomach during a show before. does competitive dance out of show choir. plays violin for the orchestra.

alex is the show choir/ traditional choir alumni that WONT GO AWAY. he sits in during rehearsals and practices. points at the show choir and OMEA trophies in the hallways and whispers, “i did that.” annoying prick no one wants u here.

(+bonus calron— aaron’s flubs up the piano accompaniment during calls solo because he got so distracted by calls voice. call was momentarily pissed when he realized he had to go accapella.)

(+bonus Platonic!Callmara, the only reason tamara doesn’t join show choir is because she knows how bad call wants to do it and can’t because his leg. she doesn’t want to make call feel inferior to her, so she sticks with traditional choirs)

#i hope this makes sense #i’m coming out as a choir kid #also btw. show choir is dying! support your local high schools programs if they have any!!#magisterium #the magisterium #callum hunt #aaron stewart #jasper dewinter #tamara rajavi #calron #the iron trial #btw.. idk if OMEA is just an ohio thing but it’s just a traditional choir competition

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kalliopeia · 2 years ago

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Daisuke Takahashi - Cutting Edge 2005

Congratulations to Kana and Daisuke for an amazing performance at Worlds! I'm so glad they finally managed to skate a program that they're happy with, in front of the home crowd.

When I first heard that Phantom of the Opera would be Kanadai's FD this season, I was skeptical. But it made for an amazing story. I still remember 2007 Worlds so vividly -- I tuned in to the live audio stream of British Eurosport at 4am (there was no video stream back then!) and cried with happiness when Daisuke won the silver medal. I never imagined that another lifetime later, he'd be skating to Phantom at Worlds again, this time as an ice dancer.

The legacy that Daisuke has left on the sport is undeniable. Mark Hanretty said during the ISU broadcast that so many of the 180 competitors at Worlds cited Daisuke as an inspiration. It's pretty incredible that even after becoming a two-time World Champion, Shoma stated that he still wants to be able to give a performance like Daisuke.

The first interview I ever read from Daisuke was from Cutting Edge 2005, where he said that he hopes that his skating will remain in people's hearts in the future. It's so heartwarming to know that has come true.

I translated this interview and posted it on FSUniverse in 2006. The site I used to host the original translation is gone now, but sometimes I still see parts of the interview quoted in various places. Here's the full interview and scans of from the original book.

Daisuke Takahashi Surging Brilliance and Passion (Translated from Cutting Edge 2005)

At the age of 16, he obtained the honor of becoming Japan's first men's Junior World Champion. The boy who was expected to become the ace of the next generation turns 20 this season. He has fluid skating, splendid footwork, and a natural spark that captures the hearts of spectators. If he conquers his competitive weakness, he has the ability to become the World Champion. Not a former Junior World Champion, but a true World Champion someday. A firm goal can be seen before his passionate gaze.

Those effortless jumps in exhibitions, those intense steps. If only he showed that energy in shows in competition... Daisuke Takahashi, who always makes people nervous, was even more lackluster than usual in the first half of the 2004-2005 season. In the Grand Prix Series' Trophee Eric Bompard, he was in third place after the short program, but fell four times in the free and ended up eleventh. At the important Japanese Nationals, he finished a nightmarish sixth. What happened to him in the critical pre-Olympics season?

Where did the passion for skating go?

"Last year... I hated skating. I didn't want to do it. I had an injury, but it wasn't very serious, so that wasn't the reason. Why... I don't know, but I hated being on the ice. In practice, I'd think, 'I've already skated for 30 minutes,' but not even 10 minutes had passed... When I skated, time somehow felt longer. My feelings weren't into it at all.

When I got injured in September and took a break for a while, I thought, I've done nothing but skating up until now. All through high school, I had gone from school to the rink. I'd go to school and practice in Okayama, and then go to Osaka on the weekends to practice. ...With that kind of lifestyle, I never had any fun. I didn't know how to have fun.

Then in April I started college and moved to Osaka. My environment changed, and I became more independent. When you can take care of your everyday life and school matters on your own, your perspective changes, right? So then I thought... 'Is it okay for me to only focus on skating?' But even though I thought I'd do other things, in the end I didn't do anything. I still felt that I had to skate. But when I went to the rink, I didn't want to skate at all. I neither skated well, nor had any fun doing other things. If I couldn't participate in the special training camp... I definitely would've quit skating. The reason I didn't quit was because I was at the level where I couldn't quit by my own will. That's all. But anyway, my feelings of hatred towards skating were really strong last year..."

Due to his major environment change, he began to question his life of solely skating. In the 2004-2005 season, Daisuke Takahashi wholly felt the difficulty of the sport of figure skating, where mental doubts show up in one's skating itself. But he did not end his career like this, for he is the man who went as far as becoming the Junior World Champion.

"But those feelings finally subsided when I finished sixth at Nationals in December. I thought, ah, the season is over now. Strangely, when I thought that, the turmoil disappeared. Then after Nationals was the Medalists on Ice show. I was called to participate even though I was sixth, and at first I didn't want to go. 'I'm not a medalist, so I won't go!' I said. But my coach Nagamitsu-sensei told me, 'Go anyway,' so I went reluctantly. But it turned out to be really fun! I skated to Secret Garden's 'Nocturne,' a song I chose myself. The program was a very simple one that I also choreographed myself. Since the shows were right after Nationals, I was tired after the first of the three. But as I skated, they became more and more fun. I skated happily for an audience with a program I chose and created myself! From then on, I was gradually able to think once again that skating really is fun."

Along with his recovered feelings, his skating visibly regained its spark. In Medalists on Ice, he showed unbelievable jumps and skating that made spectators think, "This is the sixth place finisher?" At the beginning of the new year, he placed first at the Universiade, and finished on an international podium again with a third place at the Four Continents Championships. Unable to maintain his good results, he finished fifteenth at the World Championships, but even so, his revitalized expression after the season's end was like a different person's.

"So last season was the season where I grew to hate skating once, but then became able to love it again. Because that happened last year, my feelings this year are different. Of course, practices are still tiresome, but I'll never slog through them reluctantly like last year. I practice decisively now with refreshed feelings. So every day, when I'm done practicing, I feel good. I don't know how that'll turn out in competition, though. (laughs)

But the biggest difference from last year is that I don't just 'wish' in competitions now. My thoughts last year like, 'I wonder if I can land this jump, it'll be nice if I can,' were merely 'wishes.' But this year, I don't wish; I have strong feelings of, 'I'll land it' or 'I won't fail.' I've practiced to have that kind of confidence this year!"

Those new feelings have already appeared on the ice. At the Japan International Challenge in October, he defeated foreign skaters and placed second! The voices of, "I want to see Daisuke in Torino!" continue to build.

Daisuke Takahashi's Craftsmanship

He captivates spectators with his beautiful skating, and excites them with his triple axels and quadruple jumps. When he sends his strong gaze to the audience, his steps have even more force. When he's on, Daisuke Takahashi is almost unrivaled. Many fans had been waiting anxiously for him, thinking, "I wanted to see this kind of male skater!" Just how was this kind of skater born?

"When I was little... I was weak, and I hated going to school. (laughs) My parents were worried about me, so they made me try many different sports. I have three older brothers, and all of them did Shaolin Kung Fu. But Shaolin is painful, isn't it? I hate pain. It's scary! At first I thought about doing hockey, which is also skating, but I couldn't do it because I was scared of getting hit in the chin. I really am a coward. (laughs)

Other than martial arts and hockey though, I originally thought gymnastics might be good. But the gymnastics place was far away in inner Okayama, so it would've been difficult for my mother to drop me off and pick me up there. So I tried skating thanks to a friend's suggestion, and it was really fun!

What about skating was fun... I can't remember anymore. I don't remember what about it was fun at all, but anyway, it was fun. I didn't take skating lessons with the intention of becoming a serious athlete, or because I admired anyone. I just started it normally, without thinking about anything. When I was little, I used to joke around saying, 'I'm going to skate in the Olympics!' but it really was just a joke. I skated really contentedly just thinking of it as a hobby.

But... when I won Junior Worlds in my first year of high school, I thought, 'I have to do this as a serious athlete' for the first time. That I can't just do this as a hobby. I felt that I had to become a responsible athlete. To think that... shouldn't have been so difficult. But after Junior Worlds, I was completely awful in seniors, right? I might've tried too hard to become serious after skating as a hobby for so long... No, I didn't try hard enough to be able say that (laughs), but these past few years, I tried too hard with only my feelings. With those feelings accumulating for so long... last year, I just thought, 'I don't want to skate anymore.'

But even though I say that, it's not that grandiose of a story! When I talk about it like this, it sounds exaggerated. (laughs)"

Skating fixations, style fixations

The boy who attracted great expectations due to his talent and potential forgot his feelings of "Skating is fun" and "I love skating" somewhere down the line. But now that he has remembered that important something, he is able to laugh away all the hardships he has had. One can also see his relaxed attitude towards skating.

"Truthfully, there aren't really any skaters that I aim to be like. Of course, I like certain parts about skaters; for example, I want Nobunari-kun's flexibility. But this year I've been working on my flexibility, so I've become a little more flexible! Also, I want Jeffrey Buttle's transitions. His transitions between elements and connection to the music are really amazing. There are various skaters whom I want to steal things from like that, but none of whom I think, 'Everything about him is great!' Because Takahashi's ideals are high. (laughs)

But there's the actor Joe Odagiri, right? I love him! I love his atmosphere. He has this mysterious air about him that other people don't have, right?

I admire that mysterious charm, so although I'm not trying to imitate Odagiri-san, I'd like to show that kind of charm that attracts both men and women in my skating. Do I think I'm handsome? I've never been conscious about that kind of thing! No, I don't, I don't. (laughs) I'm trying to become handsome, though! Because out of the four brothers in my family, I'm the plainest. I don't look like my three older brothers at all. Ah, I think the second eldest has gotten a little chubby lately, and has become a little dirty looking?

My brothers never talk about skating. Their attitude is, 'Why don't you just do what you want?' Though they do cooperate with me... Generally, my brothers don't watch my skating. (laughs) But it's easier that way. Isn't it easier to go home and not talk about skating? We talk about completely unrelated things, like they ask me, 'Have you gotten any presents from girls?'

Since I have those brothers, I'm not popular at all. (laughs) I'm bad with girls. Actually, I think girls are scary. (laughs) My skating friends are fine, but... I'm bad with girls I like. I can't talk to them at all. But I look okay with long hair, right? Didn't I look better when I had long hair? My choreographer in America, Nikolai, cut my current hair! Though, I had planned for a better hairstyle...

There's that much of a difference between my normal self and my skating self?

No, there's no difference. I'm always like this. But when I'm on the ice... I like people watching me. I want everyone to watch me. Starting from practice, I want people to watch me, not other skaters. I might really want to stand out! So when I come to Nobeyama, I skate while conscious of people around me. Anyway, I want to become really famous!

I want to become a skater that everyone in Japan knows. So I think of Miki Ando as my rival. (laughs) Though we haven't really become rivals at all. Huh, this interview is going to become a book? The picture you just took will be the cover? Seriously? I'll buy it when it comes out! You'll send me one? Yay!"

To Torino, with Nikolai Morozov's programs!

He says there's no difference between his off-ice and on-ice persona. But when this friendly young man stands on the ice, he turns into the ultimate entertainer who draws all eyes to him. Mysteriously, he shows us a completely different Daisuke Takahashi. But that's probably the Daisuke Takahashi who mischievously thinks, "I want to stand out, I want to attract people's attention." This year, a new choreographer who helps to bring out his entertainer quality even more joined Takahashi's team.

"My choreographer this year is Nikolai Morozov. At first, I thought about asking Lori Nichol. But when Nagamitsu-sensei suggested, 'How about Morozov?' I thought, 'Ah, that might be good...' Right when I heard Morozov's name, I thought, 'That might be good.' Just based on my feelings, I thought Nikolai might be better than Lori. I'd never had choreography done by either of them before. When I was with Tatiana [Tarasova] last year and the year before, Nikolai had already split from her. So that's how I went to Morovoz's place in America for the first time this year... There was no need to give him my opinions at all. I'm plenty satisfied with what he created! Since Nikolai's ideas just came flowing out one after the other, rather than telling him, 'I want to do this,' at first I had trouble trying to see how well I could do what he asked of me.

After Nikolai made my programs in America, he also looked after my practices... Nikolai used to be an ice dancer, so there are a lot of dancers around him like Ukraine's Grushina/Goncharov and Russia's Kulikova/Markov... Besides getting choreography, I learned a lot of things by watching Nikolai's practices with them. In Japan, the rink I used to skate at closed down, and the rink I skate at now is hard to commute to. But I was able to practice in a good environment this year thanks to my connection to Nikolai. Since I was able to practice well in the off-season, I don't want to lose to Nikolai's choreography! My free program this year is Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto, so I don't want to lose to Rachmaninov's music either! I want to show my own interpretation of it."

The Morozov programs he chose by intuition fit him perfectly. They are dramatic and sensational. In 2005-2006, the Olympic season arrives, as if it had been waiting for his mental growth and new choreographer. If he makes it, it will be his first Olympics. What kind of skating does he intend to show us?

"I haven't had many performances that I've truly been satisfied with. The only ones I can say were really good are this year's free program from the Universiade and the short program from the World Championships in Germany. And, well, the performances that I won Junior Worlds with. That's about it. Those are the only ones I think were 'complete' performance-wise, regardless of the jumps.

In competitions, I'm always overwhelmed. When I skate, I don't think about anything. When I receive applause during the steps I'm happy that the audience is cheering me on, but I can only feel like that for a split second during the performance. This is different in shows and exhibitions. Because I can be at ease with feelings like, 'It'd be nice if both the audience and I have fun.' That's why Dreams on Ice wasn't bad.

But this year, I want to have more satisfying performances in competition! My goal is to go to the Olympics, and I'm aiming for... the podium! I want to have a goal that's at least that high. (laughs) Everyone is serious this year aiming for the Olympics, which only one person can go to. Of course, I'm aware of the others. Even if we practice together, I don't dislike anyone. So if someone else goes instead of me, I want to cheer him on. I want to fight everyone without any bad feelings. But of course, other people have nothing to do with my own skating. So even above that, I want to have my own goals. I'll continue working on my flexibility, becoming more flexible little by little over the next four years, towards my final goal of Vancouver. I'm thinking of Torino as a stepping stone... but without abandoning my feelings of wanting to medal. If I'm lucky, that is. (laughs)

In Vancouver... it'd be nice if I could become the Olympic Champion. I want not only the people who watch at that time, but also young skaters way in the future, when I become an old man, to see my skating. My goal is to become good enough so that people will watch videos of me and say, 'Daisuke Takahashi was really good.' So that my skating will remain in the hearts of people who watched the Olympics. So that it will resonate in their hearts, no matter how many years pass. In order to make my skating have that kind of worth... Takahashi skates today!"

This was the interview he gave during the training camp. After we finished talking, he headed straight to the rink. His extremely serious appearance while skating, and his bright appearance while joking with friends... Hiding his tough heart with a smile, to Torino, to Vancouver. His journey continues. And someday, everyone in the world, not just Japan, will surely know of Daisuke Takahashi.

#daisuke takahashi #kana muramoto #kanadai #worlds 2023 #figure skating

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