mens' shorts

There I was, all settled in and enjoying some figure skating...

then BAMMM!!!

I popped on to fb to lodge a complaint!

"I can't believe the local news just interrupted the Milan Olympics!!! Don't they realize this is just a once every four years event??? And the Men's Short Program of ice skating is on???
But wait...
I recorded it LIVE from earlier!
I can even skip the commercials and enjoy all those lovely young men without interruption!!!
Well... alrighty then!
I'm off to get my Yuma Kagiyama fix!!!
He has SUCH great taste in music!
The photos are from his GOLD medal performance on Saturday, skating to Stevie Wonder's "I Wish"!!!"

Here he is again, reprising his performance into a condensed version.

The Short Program has to be less than 3 minutes in length, but still include several technical aspects, like triple axels and quadruple toe loops.

(smile!) 

Trust me, I can only talk the talk.

I cannot distinguish one type of jump from another, but I do enjoy them.

He had one little flaw this time and that cost him first place, but his score was still more than 100; it was 103.07 points!

The one who claimed first, with a score of 108.16, was the 'quad god'.

That would be his compatriot in age, Ilia Malinin.

Both are around 22 years old, in the prime of physical strength and beauty.

Both are an absolute delight to watch as they whiz around the ice!

But I have a new man to enjoy: Adam Siao Him Fa.

Skating for France, to a routine inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, I was absolutely captivated!

Were those his muscles beneath a sheer top, or was that an illusion?

Either way, it was mesmerizing to watch... so I rewound the tape and enjoyed his glide around the rink a couple of times, just because I could.

The photo shows his endpoint of his choreography - just phenomenal!!! 

His was the only other score in the 100's (it was 102.55).

All in all, for this portion of the Milan Cortina Olympics, I had a lucky thirteen skaters to watch, of the total twenty in the competition.

Very nice way to spend the last three hours!

Here's another skater for France, the young man described by the commentators as "an artist who skates."
He's Kevin Aymoz, extraordinarily graceful as he danced to Lady Gaga's music.

His artistic score was so good that he placed 7th in this Short Program!

Then there's Lucas Britschigi of Switzerland!

He chose "No Good", by an artist I didn't know, and had so much fun emoting to the lyrics that I had to watch him twice!

I'm so glad I had that option, too! 

Tall and lithe, with a mussed mop of dark hair, he was a thrill for a single woman like myself, especially with that song in the background.

RAWRRR!!!

He may have only placed 19th there, but he was in my top five!

Denis Vasiljevs, of Latvia, was another favorite of mine, whose placement of 17th didn't reflect his skills.

Another tall brunette, his moves were so smooth and romantic, with lots of extra physical and facial expressions as he acted out the lyrics.

I don't recall the name of the song... but I recall his interpretation of it.

Aleksandr Selevko of Estonia entertained me as much as the Swiss man would.

In retrospect, he's probably responsible for revving me up for Britschigi!

That's because his choice of song was "Kiss" by Prince - oh, yeah!!!

He, like the Swiss and Latvian, ended up in the lower five, but perhaps they were simply too sexy for the judges.

Yeah, I bet that was it!

(smile!)

So, what about some skaters from the top five?

Well, I liked the backstory for Mikhail Shaidorov.

He first started skating in a shopping mall back home - very nice. 

He's from Kazahkstan, a country I only know via a microloan I made on KIVA last year, so that link probably also drew my attention to him.

I also like that his first name reminds me of Mikhail Baryshnikov, a famous dancer from my youth.

This Mikhail ended up 5th in the standings.

The only one who also placed in the top 5 was Daniel Grassl, who was very much a crowd favorite.

That's because he's a native son of Italy!

He's also one of the few blond men in this competition.

He performed to a tango medley and was very lively and smooth in his glides!

The other Italian, Matteo Rizzo, was a crowd pleaser, but not nearly as artistic and accomplished on the rink.

His score of 84.30, landed him squarely in the lower five.

Grassl, on the other hand, scored 93.46, almost ten points higher.

It'll be interesting to see how things shake out on Thursday! 

Right now, though, it looks like Malinin for Gold, Kagiyama for Silver, and Saio Him Fa for the Bronze at this year's Olympics.

I wonder what music they'll be using for the Free Skate portion? 

In other words, I wonder what songs I'll be hearing next?

(smile!)