Who Put the "Bomp" in Trophee Eric Bompard, Anyway?

Bonjour mes amis! Avez-vous apprécié Trophée Eric Bompard le week-end dernier?

I better not go any further than that… it’s been about 22 years since my last French class. Cut to the random notes…

+ Sorry to say I took a step backwards with my guesses and finished 4-for-12 (got one right in each discipline). And the margins for victory all around were HUGE, so even the upsets were clear-cut. However…

+ In Dance, while I got silver and bronze flip-flopped, I’d like to point out that the 2 ½ point spread between silver medalists Faiella/Scali and Kerr/Kerr was anything but huge.

+ Ditto for silver and bronze in Pairs (Mukhortova/Trankov and Duhamel/Buntin), where they were separated by only about 4 points. And after what happened to D/M in the free skate, I found their Tosca routine all the more inspiring… but I’ll talk more about that tomorrow.

+ A special American shout-out is due for bronze medalist Caroline Zhang, who skated one of only two clean free skates among the singles on the podium (Alban Preaubert being the other).

+ Another American shout-out goes to 5th place finishers Vise/Trent, who turned in a great free skate even without the throw quad salchow. And with all due respect to Inoue/Baldwin, THIS is the kind of team that makes me wish certain veterans would retire and get out of the way. Quickly.

+ For the men, what an interesting (if only temporary) fall from grace for 4th place finisher Brian Joubert. From beginning to end, he looked like he had something to prove but left key pieces of evidence back at the hotel… or maybe on the practice ice. I am glad to hear he held himself accountable, though. And nice for the cameras to catch him being very sportsmanlike backstage with fellow Frenchman Preaubert (who edged him for bronze).

+ As for winner Patrick Chan, two things to note: a) Skate Canada? Not a fluke. And b) Flawed programs? Not a problem. Neither of his free skates in this season’s GP have been the show-stiopper du jour, yet his overall technique and style seem to hold him up quite nicely. All the elite male skaters in the world who hope to be in Vancouver 15 months from now should be taking note of such a competitor… one who is “on” even when he is “off”.

+ And one final thing…was it just me, or did the Kiss & Cry look like everyone was sitting in front of a giant wall of jeans on display at Old Navy?

More to come tomorrow, as we take a closer look at the ways this weekend’s events compared to another sport people get passionate about…

For now, I leave you Kozuka’s SP to Take Five (I have yet to find a program set to this music that I dislike)…a super-classy Clip of the Day.