Sunday, March 29, 2009

Slightly Quicker Notes: Worlds, Day 5

Can I keep it short this time? Yeah, I kind of have to. So…

+ Glad to see a clear cut winner this year in Yu-Na Kim. She sparkled, didn't she?

- Not so glad to have to seek out US Champion Alissa Czisny on You Tube when NBC failed to make room for her performance on their broadcast. (
Here it is as the Clip of the Day… she finished 11th overall, in case you hadn’t heard.)

+ Glad to see Dick Button and Michelle Kwan partnered up as commentators.

- Not so glad that they only showed up a smattering of times, and most of that time seemed to be spent in Bob Costas pretending he could pull a press-stopping announcement of return from Kwan.

+ Glad to see the “complete package” (Joannie Rochette) edge out the “jumping clinic” (Miki Ando), with both women being rewarded for their considerable efforts.

- Not so glad to see my prediction for gold, Mao Asada, off the podium… but that’s only because my overall guesses proved so abysmal. I definitely think the right people won the right medals in this event.

+ Glad to see Rachael Flatt do so well in her senior Worlds debut.

- Not so glad to see Carolina Kostner’s meltdown. I’m not fond of her work, but no one wants to see someone so off her game, she executes more single jumps than triples.

+ And finally—glad to see so many exciting performances in L.A. with the Olympics less than a year away...

- Not so glad that those performances were all but hidden away online
Now that it has come to a close, we’ll dive deeper beneath the icy surface in the days to come. The suggestion box is open!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

kelli your thoughts on asada's performance? what do you think she needs to do now? change coaches again? i really thought she would have at least gotten the bronze. would love to read your take on her. even the nbc commentators didnt seem to talk about her much.. even during warmup and even her performance. everyone so focused on yuna that i wonder if mao has lost her luster to people, when she is indeed a factor in the upcoming olympics.

Kelli Lawrence said...

Really good question. I think I need to look at some of the Worlds performances again (and maybe last year's, too) to answer it, though... I'm away from home this week (and using a dial-up computer!) so I can't even watch You Tube until I get home-- but I'll be sure to hit on this topic in the next week or two.

Quickly though-- maybe Asada's in a better place than it seems... not as many expectations (at least from the international crowd, if not at home), and now she's in the "underdog" position that many skaters prefer anyway. As someone who picked her to win, though, I was very surprised to see her all the way off the podium. Doubling a triple in the SP never helps, though... would be curious to see if that could've made the difference points-wise between she and, say, Miki Ando.