I’m going to try something a little different with this overview: very succinct phrasing!
(If you prefer the more fleshed-out contemplation that usually follows GP events, check out tomorrow’s post… it’ll be much more up your alley.) OK, here we go…
Miki Ando won gold for the ladies. Still looks uninspired for most part. But relatively clean.
Akiko Suzuki took silver. Goofed a couple jumps. A shame.
Alena Leonova won bronze. Mostly because Mirai Nagasu (leading after SP) self-destructed.
Amanda Dobbs attempted a triple flip (now her hardest jump) in the FS. Fell down. Got back up. She’ll get there. (Especially now that she’s focusing on singles full-time.)
Takahiko Kozuka got his second career GP win with victory in Beijing. Thwarted Brian Joubert’s chance to make history? No; Joubert thwarted himself (dropped to 4th after the FS)
USA’s Brandon Mroz skated near lights-out to win silver. Surprise!
Tomas Verner is back; he skated 2 solid skates to take bronze. Watch out Florent Amodio… there’s another MJ impersonator in the midst.
Pang/Tong keep winning gold. Even though they aren’t skating that well. Yet.
Cute Pang/Tong wannabes Sui/Han for silver… Yankowskas/Coughlin got the bronze that eluded them at NHK.
Pechalat/Bourzat are, according to press reports, ready to WIN at ice dance. So they did.
Faiella/Scali were ready to do the same, but a couple of sinister costume designers thought otherwise…
If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, check the Clip of the Day. Then multiply the mishap you see by two... yeowsers.
We’ll dig in a little more tomorrow!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
2010 Cup of China: Airdates and Predictions
If you know your time zones, you’re probably aware that Cup of China has the least compatible timetable of all the GP events when it comes to U.S. viewing. I’ll run the streaming times for IceNetwork, in hopes that it serves a better purpose for my non- American readers :-) (ALL TIMES EASTERN)
Friday, Nov. 5
2:45 a.m.: Short dance
4:30 a.m.: Ladies short program
6:25 a.m.: Men's short program
8:25 a.m.: Pairs short program
Saturday, Nov. 6
2:00 a.m.: Free dance
3:55 a.m.: Ladies free skate
6:05 a.m.: Men's free skate
8:25 a.m.: Pairs free skate
The Universal Sports schedule is as follows…
Friday, Nov. 5
5:30-7 p.m. : Ladies Short Program and Short Dance (repeats at 11a.m. Saturday)
10-11:30 p.m.: Men’s and Pairs Short Program
Saturday, Nov. 6
2:30-4 p.m.: Ladies Free Skate and Free Dance (repeats at 6 p.m.)
10-11:30 p.m.: Men’s and Pairs Free Skate
As for NBC, last week’s Skate Canada coverage will be this SATURDAY 4-6, as the Sunday 4-6 slot is occupied by the Disson show Shall We Dance on Ice. For whatever reason, NBC is NOT scheduled to run any of Cup of China on the main network; I presume they already had the time slot committed to something else.
Now let’s see if I can do better on predictions this time…
For the LADIES:
Gold: Akiko Suzuki (JPN)
Silver: Miki Ando (JPN)
Bronze: Mirai Nagasu (USA)
This was originally intended to be Kim Yu-Na’s season debut, which presumably would’ve made predictions a little easier. Fellow Korean Kwak Min-Jung (who, like Kim, is no longer training with Brian Orser as I understand it) skates in her place, but I don’t see her in the medal hunt quite yet. Soooo… the front runners appear to be Ando, Suzuki, Alena Leonova (RUS), and Nagasu. At this point, Ando feels like an also-ran to me. She’s usually got the jumps, but is sorely lacking any spark. She’s quite capable of winning this, but I’m going with Suzuki anyway—technically I think she still lags behind Ando, but she makes up for it with the passion with which she skates. Plus I saw both their new free skates via the Japan Open last month, and doing so only reinforced my feelings on both of them.
As for Ms. Nagasu, I’m just surprised to still see her on the roster after hearing about her off-season stress fracture. If she’s back to top form I daresay she’s as capable of a win here as the Japanese contingent… but for now, I’ll keep the expectations relatively low with a guess for third. (Leonova’s the only one that strikes me as having a chance at it besides her.) I’d love to see USA’s Amanda Dobbs make Top 5 here, but I don’t think it’ll happen unless several of the previously mentioned ladies crash and burn… last time I looked, Dobbs doesn’t have the jumping chops yet.
For PAIRS:
Gold: Pang/Tong (CHN)
Silver: Iliushechkina/Maisuradze (RUS)
Bronze: Yankowskas/Coughlin (USA)
Apparently P/T’s biggest competition (for the 100th time) in this event, Zhang/Zhang, are out of the GP series this season because he (Zhang Hao) broke his finger. So I don’t see much of a challenge for the reigning World Champs. Last week’s winners (Iliushechkina/Maisuradze—still in search of a nickname for them; any ideas?) are probably the next-best in a relatively weak field… and though I’m on the fence for which U.S. team to predict for bronze, I’m leaning Yankowghlin because they ended up so close to a medal at NHK… and I feel more secure about their individual jumping passes than Evora/Ladwig. (I’d be happy to see the latter in medal position too—just for the record.)
For MEN:
Gold: Takahiko Kozuka (JPN)
Silver: Tomas Verner (CZE)
Bronze: Brian Joubert (FRA)
Criminy—talk about your wild cards! In this corner we have Joubert, who, if he wins, will be the first singles skater in the history of the Grand Prix to win all six events at one time or another. (But can he come back strong after last season?) Over in this corner we have Kozuka, who is one of my favorite all-around skaters at the moment, and quite capable of pulling the “upset”—see 2008 Skate America for more details. (But does he have a consistent quad yet?) Then take a look in that corner, and you see Tomas Verner, who had a Joubert-like season of his own last year—complete with the coaching change. (But is he ready to prove what he’s made of?)
Who we don’t have is Verner’s teammate Michal Brezina; he apparently underwent some groin-related surgery (yeow!) and is out for at least this event if not TEB as well. Seeing only a couple other players in this game—Sergei Voronov (RUS) and Brandon Mroz (USA) among them, and both largely dependent on their quads to have a shot—I went with personal preference here. Not the best way perhaps, but maybe it’ll clear the way for Joubert to meet his GP goals. (He never seems to win when I pick him to win…)
For DANCE:
Gold: Pechalat/Bourzat (FRA)
Silver: Faiella/Scali (ITA)
Bronze: Bobrova/Soloviev (RUS)
Weren’t Faiella/Scali going to retire? I guess now that they’ve had a taste of the podium with their world bronze medal, they might be one of those “one-more-year” teams… wondering if they can do even better next time, now that some of the top teams have retired. Maybe, but I’m still picking frequent rivals Pech/Bour to defeat them here with their Chaplin-inspired free dance (which they discuss a bit in this article from IceNetwork).
Although the USA has produced back-to-back bronze medals thus far (thanks to the ShibSibs and Chock/Zuerlein), the team we’re sending this time with the most GP experience is the Hubbells (HubSibs? Nah, maybe not)… who should be very pleased if they crack the Top 5, as their best finish last year in the GP was 6th. But I think a medal is pretty unlikely. Our other entry is Isabella Cannuscio/Ian Lorello, fresh off the JGP circuit and making their senior debut in Beijing.
For the Clip of the Day I’m showing Sergei Voronov’s FS from 2009’s edition of this event… he won bronze last year and I want the SkateGods to know I’m not purposely underestimating him by predicting him out of the medals here :-)
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
2010 Skate Canada Recap: Pretzel Logic, Part 2
So did you catch the announcement of the Skating with the Stars cast on Tuesday night’s Dancing with the Stars? If not, click the link to read all the news, such as it is. As with DWTS, all the demographics are represented… the soap star (Rebecca Buddig), the reality show star (Bethenny Frenkel), the athlete (champion skier Jonny Mosely), the kids’ show star (Brandon Michael Smith), the actress-with-a-crazy-reputation (Sean Young), and the alpha male rocker (Vince Neil of Motley Crue). The only thing you won’t find is Cloris Leachman… or anyone “of a certain age”, I guess (watching a “star” fall on their tush gets a lot less fun as the risk of broken hips goes up).
The bigger question/bigger mystery, for now, is what poor saps did they line up to teach these people how to skate? The above article says not to expect “household names”, although Johnny Weir is expected to be one of the judges. The promo that ran last night (and on the ABC website) works pretty hard to avoid any direct shots of skater/trainers, but I’m pretty sure I caught a glimpse of Keauna McLaughlin (late of the pairs team McLaughlin/Brubaker). Did you see anyone else? Three more weeks until the fun begins…
And now, we continue with the Skate Canada recap I’m calling Pretzel Logic, part 2:
+ I'll be blunt-- Patrick Chan shouldn’t have won, for the simple reason that he should never have had so many points after that train wreck of an SP. (Sorry, but the program should’ve been named “Take Five Back”.) If you study the protocols , check out the distance between Chan’s technical score in the SP and that of Alban Preaubert (who finished just below him). I know Chan made up most of his points with the component mark (which ranged from 7.25 all the way to 9.25), but to me even his tech scores are suspect. Not saying it’s his fault; just saying... it’s the judges’ fault.
+ Pretzel logic actually worked in my favor when it came to guessing the fate of Canada’s Kevin Reynolds… for even when he was in the thick of the medal hunt, I was thinking about how many times I’ve seen him pop those damn triple axels right after nailing a killer quad. Whether it’s an adrenaline thing, lack of concentration, whatever—I hope he gets it straightened out soon because he’s certainly got a lot to offer the sport.
+ With all the fuss surrounding the changed SP rules, we got new choruses of how the men “must” have a quad to be competitive. But here’s where pretzel logic applies: Chan had the quad, yet (in my opinion) shouldn’t have won gold… while someone like Adam Rippon didn’t have the quad, and should’ve won silver! (Whoa. This is starting to make my head hurt.)
+ We had not one, but TWO cases of programmus interruptus in this competition. Spain’s Sonia Lafuente caught a toe pick and crashed down hard on one knee early in her SP--so hard that for a while it looked like she might withdraw altogether. And the next day, Canada’s Jeremy Ten suffered a snapped boot lace one-third of the way into his FS (yep, shades of Tonya Harding; even Ten himself drew the comparison on Twitter) and had to spend a couple of anxious minutes skating around with one pant leg up, trying to re-tie the lace and retain his composure all at the same time.
But guess what? Lafuente not only stayed in the event, but can now say she’s outskated a former World Silver Medalist (Fumie Suguri) at least once in her career! (OK, that’s not saying as much as it used to, but she still earned more points than Suguri in the FS and that’s still something.) And as for Ten… he seemed to skate even better after the equipment malfunction, pulling down an 8th place finish; it’s his best result in two years at a GP event.
+ And P-Logic even tried to send a message to Switzerland’s Sarah Meier (who suffered an ankle injury just prior to SkCan and had to withdraw)… the message being Girl, you need to get out of this sport before you’re another day older. See Suguri? She hasn’t medaled in the GP in 2 years and just turned in her lowest finish EVER in 15 years of GP events. Don’t be a Suguri, Sarah…the bum ankle was a gift. Take it and run… or at least hobble quickly!
Even though I didn’t mention her here, I’m including Alissa Czisny’s gorgeous Free Skate (to selections of George Winston’s “Winter into Spring”) as the Clip of the Day … just because I can.
Cup of China predictions and airtimes coming Thursday!
The bigger question/bigger mystery, for now, is what poor saps did they line up to teach these people how to skate? The above article says not to expect “household names”, although Johnny Weir is expected to be one of the judges. The promo that ran last night (and on the ABC website) works pretty hard to avoid any direct shots of skater/trainers, but I’m pretty sure I caught a glimpse of Keauna McLaughlin (late of the pairs team McLaughlin/Brubaker). Did you see anyone else? Three more weeks until the fun begins…
And now, we continue with the Skate Canada recap I’m calling Pretzel Logic, part 2:
+ I'll be blunt-- Patrick Chan shouldn’t have won, for the simple reason that he should never have had so many points after that train wreck of an SP. (Sorry, but the program should’ve been named “Take Five Back”.) If you study the protocols , check out the distance between Chan’s technical score in the SP and that of Alban Preaubert (who finished just below him). I know Chan made up most of his points with the component mark (which ranged from 7.25 all the way to 9.25), but to me even his tech scores are suspect. Not saying it’s his fault; just saying... it’s the judges’ fault.
+ Pretzel logic actually worked in my favor when it came to guessing the fate of Canada’s Kevin Reynolds… for even when he was in the thick of the medal hunt, I was thinking about how many times I’ve seen him pop those damn triple axels right after nailing a killer quad. Whether it’s an adrenaline thing, lack of concentration, whatever—I hope he gets it straightened out soon because he’s certainly got a lot to offer the sport.
+ With all the fuss surrounding the changed SP rules, we got new choruses of how the men “must” have a quad to be competitive. But here’s where pretzel logic applies: Chan had the quad, yet (in my opinion) shouldn’t have won gold… while someone like Adam Rippon didn’t have the quad, and should’ve won silver! (Whoa. This is starting to make my head hurt.)
+ We had not one, but TWO cases of programmus interruptus in this competition. Spain’s Sonia Lafuente caught a toe pick and crashed down hard on one knee early in her SP--so hard that for a while it looked like she might withdraw altogether. And the next day, Canada’s Jeremy Ten suffered a snapped boot lace one-third of the way into his FS (yep, shades of Tonya Harding; even Ten himself drew the comparison on Twitter) and had to spend a couple of anxious minutes skating around with one pant leg up, trying to re-tie the lace and retain his composure all at the same time.
But guess what? Lafuente not only stayed in the event, but can now say she’s outskated a former World Silver Medalist (Fumie Suguri) at least once in her career! (OK, that’s not saying as much as it used to, but she still earned more points than Suguri in the FS and that’s still something.) And as for Ten… he seemed to skate even better after the equipment malfunction, pulling down an 8th place finish; it’s his best result in two years at a GP event.
+ And P-Logic even tried to send a message to Switzerland’s Sarah Meier (who suffered an ankle injury just prior to SkCan and had to withdraw)… the message being Girl, you need to get out of this sport before you’re another day older. See Suguri? She hasn’t medaled in the GP in 2 years and just turned in her lowest finish EVER in 15 years of GP events. Don’t be a Suguri, Sarah…the bum ankle was a gift. Take it and run… or at least hobble quickly!
Even though I didn’t mention her here, I’m including Alissa Czisny’s gorgeous Free Skate (to selections of George Winston’s “Winter into Spring”) as the Clip of the Day … just because I can.
Cup of China predictions and airtimes coming Thursday!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Skate Canada 2010 Recap: Pretzel Logic, Part 1
After watching the weekend’s worth of Skate Canada, I waited for a sort of recurring theme to come to me as a way to describe it. It didn’t take long for a couple of words to spring to mind: pretzel logic. That is to say… a way of making sense that doesn’t make ANY sense.
Now don’t get me wrong; by and large I was alternately as pleased and displeased with SkCan as you probably were. But then again a few things saddened me, intrigued me, and frustrated me more than usual—and I’m not talking about my sad track record on the predictions.
Wait, maybe I am—I only got ONE right out of 12, and that ONE shouldn’t have won! Ugh! See?? But we’ll get back to you in the next post, Patrick Chan…
+ Pretzel Logic, case and point… the stars of the pairs event—an event that seemed sorely lacking of such—were Dube/Davison’s replacements Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch of Canada. They vaulted from 6th place in the SP all the way up to a silver medal with a free skate that, while not perfect, whipped the home crowd into a frenzy. (Iliushechkina/Maisuradze of Russia squeaked out the win by less than a point.) Funny thing is, M-T/Mosco did at least as well here, technically speaking, as the team they replaced. If Dube/Davison had been competing anywhere other than Canada, that is.
(At this event, frankly, I think D & D would’ve won easily. Even if they phoned in their performances. From a control tower on planet Neptune.)
+ P-Logic’s most interesting surprise: bronze medalist Amelie Lacoste, who’s only in year two on the GP circuit and finished no higher than 6th in her debut season.
+ P-Logic’s most encouraging move: keeping the SkCan magic alive for Alissa Czisny, who won gold here for the second time in her turbulent career. For the record, I was very glad to get that wrong… but I think I got it right when I said she had a great music choice (music from George Winston), and her ocean-wave of a dress was divine.
+ P-Logic’s cruelest twist comes in a quote I saw from Canada’s Cynthia Phaneuf (who led after the SP but crumpled to 4th after the FS): "I don't seem to be at by best at Skate Canada. I don't think I'll be coming here next year." Tough to hear, especially after reading how relaxed and confident she was prior to this event.
+ Remember when I said Javier Fernandez was likely to get a Top 5 finish? Turns out I got that right… but over on Universal Sports, Terry Gannon and Michael Weiss voiced surprise at Fernandez’s progress. So how’s this for P-Logical advice: Terry, Mike… you guys obviously need to start reading State of the Skate :-)
More examples of the Skate Canada Pretzel Logic to come tomorrow.
For those of you already reading it, here’s Fernandez’s new SP (complete with bright pink bowtie!) as the Clip of the Day. I do kinda wish he’d started a new FS rather than continue with last year’s Pirates of the Carribean, but it’s still cool enough I’ll let it slide.
Now don’t get me wrong; by and large I was alternately as pleased and displeased with SkCan as you probably were. But then again a few things saddened me, intrigued me, and frustrated me more than usual—and I’m not talking about my sad track record on the predictions.
Wait, maybe I am—I only got ONE right out of 12, and that ONE shouldn’t have won! Ugh! See?? But we’ll get back to you in the next post, Patrick Chan…
+ Pretzel Logic, case and point… the stars of the pairs event—an event that seemed sorely lacking of such—were Dube/Davison’s replacements Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch of Canada. They vaulted from 6th place in the SP all the way up to a silver medal with a free skate that, while not perfect, whipped the home crowd into a frenzy. (Iliushechkina/Maisuradze of Russia squeaked out the win by less than a point.) Funny thing is, M-T/Mosco did at least as well here, technically speaking, as the team they replaced. If Dube/Davison had been competing anywhere other than Canada, that is.
(At this event, frankly, I think D & D would’ve won easily. Even if they phoned in their performances. From a control tower on planet Neptune.)
+ P-Logic’s most interesting surprise: bronze medalist Amelie Lacoste, who’s only in year two on the GP circuit and finished no higher than 6th in her debut season.
+ P-Logic’s most encouraging move: keeping the SkCan magic alive for Alissa Czisny, who won gold here for the second time in her turbulent career. For the record, I was very glad to get that wrong… but I think I got it right when I said she had a great music choice (music from George Winston), and her ocean-wave of a dress was divine.
+ P-Logic’s cruelest twist comes in a quote I saw from Canada’s Cynthia Phaneuf (who led after the SP but crumpled to 4th after the FS): "I don't seem to be at by best at Skate Canada. I don't think I'll be coming here next year." Tough to hear, especially after reading how relaxed and confident she was prior to this event.
+ Remember when I said Javier Fernandez was likely to get a Top 5 finish? Turns out I got that right… but over on Universal Sports, Terry Gannon and Michael Weiss voiced surprise at Fernandez’s progress. So how’s this for P-Logical advice: Terry, Mike… you guys obviously need to start reading State of the Skate :-)
More examples of the Skate Canada Pretzel Logic to come tomorrow.
For those of you already reading it, here’s Fernandez’s new SP (complete with bright pink bowtie!) as the Clip of the Day. I do kinda wish he’d started a new FS rather than continue with last year’s Pirates of the Carribean, but it’s still cool enough I’ll let it slide.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Skate Canada International 2010: Airdates & Predictions
With the next GP event being Skate Canada, the schedule ends up being infinitely more compatible with U.S. TV needs… which is why most events will run live on Universal Sports. But first, here’s the Ice Network streaming schedule: (ALL TIMES EASTERN)
Friday, Oct. 29
11:30 a.m.: Ladies Short Program
1:45 p.m. : Pairs Short Program
6:15 p.m.: Men’s Short Program
8:10 p.m.: Short Dance
Saturday, Oct. 30
2:00 p.m..: Paris Free Skate
3:55 p.m.: Men’s Free Skate
7:00 p.m.: Ladies Free Skate
Sunday, Oct. 31
12:15 p.m. : Free Dance
And as for Universal Sports… (I’m not sure what happened to the Pairs Short; didn’t see it when I checked the schedule)
Friday, Oct 29
11:30-1 p.m..: Ladies Short Program (LIVE… repeats at 3:30 p.m.)
6:00-9:30 p.m.: Men’s Short Program & Short Dance (LIVE… repeats at 10:30 p.m.)
Saturday, Oct. 30
2:30-3:30 p.m. : Pairs Free Skate (LIVE… repeats at 9 p.m.)
4:30-6:00 p.m. : Men’s Free Skate (LIVE… repeats at 10:30 p.m.)
Sunday, Oct. 31
1:00-2:00 p.m.: Free Dance (LIVE… repeats at 11:30 p.m.)
And don’t forget that NBC will bring 2 hours of Ladies Free Skate coverage this Sunday from 4-6 (NHK) and next Saturday, 11/6, from 4-6 (Skate Canada).
Time to make another round of predictions, but before I do, please know that there are some relatively slim pickings in some of these disciplines. But not to worry… such are often the situations where we find some new favorites, or rediscover old ones! (In other words… the “breakout stars” are also likely to be the medalists.)
For the LADIES:
Gold: Ksenia Makarova (RUS)
Silver: Cynthia Phaneuf (CAN)
Bronze: Agnes Zawadzki (USA)
Laura Lepisto (FIN) and Sarah Hecken (GER) are both scratched from this event, which leaves an even smaller pool of winning possibilities, which includes Japan’s Fumie Suguri (yes, she’s still on the GP circuit) and the U.S.’s Alissa Czisny. But Alissa’s gotta earn her stripes with me before I predict another podium spot for her—and for the record, I hope she does because she’s using some George Winston music I’m rather fond of in her free skate this season. So I found myself boiling it down to jumping ability—specifically, who here has a triple lutz (or better yet, a lutz combo) that we can count on, as well as at least a couple other jumps? That’s what left me with Makarova for gold, and the U.S.’s Zawadzki for bronze (now that Universal Sports has touted her as a possible spoiler for the event via this article, I fear they’ve jinxed her!). As for Phaneuf—no, she isn’t a sure bet on her lutz by any means… but this is her first big event since that surprise 5th place finish at Worlds, so I’m hoping her confidence is boosted to the rafters. (I also suspect some “home court advantage” is always possible for Canadians at Skate Canada… just a feeling I have.)
For PAIRS:
Gold: Duhamel/Radford (CAN)
Silver: Iliushechkina/Maisuradze (RUS)
Bronze: Castelli/Shnapir (USA)
Where are the original headliners for this event, you might be wondering? Dube & Davison… out with recent injuries. Kavaguti & Smirnov… apparently still recuperating from past injuries (Kavaguti required shoulder surgery this past April—color me shocked!). And as for the original U.S. top pick, McLaughlin/Brubaker… HE is now skating with someone new, and SHE is posting her poetry on Twitter (among other things, I’m sure). So my replacements for the podium include Duhamel, who medaled occasionally in GP events with former partner Craig Buntin… a Russian pair who won Junior Worlds 2 years ago, and were the #4 team at Russian Nationals last year.… and Castelli/Shnapir, the more experienced of the two pair reps from the U.S.
For MEN:
Gold: Patrick Chan (CAN)
Silver: Adam Rippon (USA)
Bronze: Nobunari Oda (JPN)
Here’s where some bigger names reside. Chan had a miserable outing last year at this event; he was competing post-injury and didn’t appear ready. So there could a strong sense of redemption lurking in his boots at this Kingston event… oh, and he has a quad now too. Rippon does not, but if he can skate anywhere close to the way he did over at the Japan Open several weeks back, I think he can claim at least silver. Oda is something of a wild card—haven’t heard much about him lately, other than that his son was born fairly recently—but if he’s “on” at all in any given year, it tends to be the first half of the season. And as a side note, I’m looking to see Canada’s Quad King Kevin Reynolds in the Top Five (if he can stay relatively clean), and would enjoy seeing Spain’s Javier Fernandez up there as well.
For DANCE:
Gold: Kerr/Kerr (GBR)
Silver: Crone/Poirier (CAN)
Bronze: Gorshkova/Butikov (RUS)
Could the Kerrs finally pull out a GP win in what may be their final GP season? They will likely face stiff competition from Crone/Poirier, who are Canada’s go-to dance team (at least until Virtue/Moir return)… but since the Scots beat out the Canadians by about 9 points at their last event (Worlds), I’m confident enough to give the Kerrs the nod here. It was between the Russians and the French (Carron/Jones) in my book for bronze, so I relied on history with my vote there.
Since it appears that they are using last year’s exhibition music (Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3 by Muse) for their FD this season, here are The Kerrs, from the Torino Worlds Gala, as the Clip of the Day.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Ten Takeaways from the 2010 NHK Trophy
Before we zoom so far into the week that I can’t find my NHK notes for all the Skate Canada notes I’m about to make… here are the ten things that stick in my mind the most regarding last weekend’s opener (no particular order):
1) How do we love Tango? Maybe we should start counting the ways... Not to say that the Tango isn’t an amazing dance, or that the various incarnations of tango music aren’t welcome additions to the musical landscape of figure skating… but I haven’t seen such a strong representation of a specific genre since the Celtic/”Riverdance” trend about 10 years ago.
2) Welcome to 10th Avenue, Rachael Flatt. I think I’ve mentioned here in the past that I thought Flatt was suited for non-classical music, so I was elated to see that her FS this season is set to “Slaughter on 10th Avenue.” Though “Slaughter” was originally a ballet number for the musical On Your Toes, and thus obviously has classical elements... it’s chock full of other things that I think Flatt readily relates to, and puts forth with ease in her program. This is a great fit for her, and I hope it helps her boost that presentation score to new heights this season.
3) Kostner and the Faun Legacy. Upon discovering that Carolina Kostner was skating to Debussy’s “Afternoon of a Faun” this year, my skeptic’s eyebrow raised even more in her direction than usual. “Faun” was famously used by Janet Lynn back in the day; in fact I believe many would consider it her signature program. For Kostner to work with the same music some 40 years later might be seen by some as sacrilege… and by others, as a vessel for introducing the music to a whole new generation. Personally, I think any skater described as “coltish” (which the tall, lightning-fast Kostner often is) might benefit from music with another animal named in its title… seriously... and her interpretation is definitely quite lovely. But she needs some triple lutzes and flips in there to give it some real resonance...
4) The European Connection ...Or does she? Kostner managed to win, after all, with nary a flip or lutz in sight. And even the jumps she DID pull off were far from perfect. Ditto for Kiira Korpi of Finland, who finished 4th. There were only 8 triple jumps completed between the two of them, and only one of those was more difficult than a triple loop. So here rears that ugly-headed question again… is their artistry THAT much better than everyone else’s? Or is a Europe-heavy judging panel doing all it can to hold up its best in a sport that has become increasingly dominated by Asian competitors?
5) Jackets, everyone… jackets!!! Not sure if this is new or not, but it appeared that U.S. Figure Skating is pushing hard for all its skaters to wear their official jackets at Kiss-N-Cry time. And make sure that USFS logo is clearly seen. In Flatt’s case it was kind of funny; she had her jacket off to the side after her free skate and appeared to suddenly remember… and put it on… and give a little flourish with the logo, all before her scores came up. She must loathe the request more than most; I’ve heard her say how she insists on sleeveless skating dresses now because she gets too hot in long sleeves. (Maybe the U.S. should go to the vest style used for the Japanese team?)
6) Giving new meaning to the “Goose” Lift. “Well… it’s interesting, and let’s just leave it at that,” chuckled Andrea Joyce during the the Universal Sports' coverage of the Cappellini/Lanotte free dance. She was referring to a new lift they do where it appears Lanotte raises Cappellini vertically by way of his hand or fist being placed just under her torso (some might say “her crotch”). File this one under Things That Make You Go Hmmm…
7) Dice-K’s done it again. It would be very hard for Takahashi to top the masterpiece that I felt last year’s “La Strada” free skate was… but his current SP sure hits that same upper stratosphere. For me, it was kind of like taking Ryan Bradley’s mambo-inspired FS from 2007 and replacing the campiness with something even more electrifying. If I can just get past the Alfalfa Effect that occurs to his product-infused hair when he’s in a spin (and occurred to Evan Lysacek at the Olympics as well), He’ll have me on cloud nine all season long.
8) Where has Asada’s groove gone THIS time? Clearly her World Champion form is still out on vacation, and her Olympic Silver Medalist form is over in the corner mocking her to pieces. The president of the Japanese Skating Federation is already rising to her defense (see this article for more info ), and she has until the last event of the series (TEB in Paris) to re-group. Hopefully it won’t suck to be Mao Asada so much next time around.
9) Is Zhang back? Well… define your terms. She no longer looks like a pixie, and she certainly skates differently when it comes to those “kickback” issues of the past couple years (thank heavens). But she continues to have that skating-in-molasses look at nearly every turn, and with a botched lutz and two popped jumps in the free skate, confidence and/or timing issues remain at her forefront. I still have hope that she’ll reach her full potential, for I can only imagine how tough it must’ve been to relearn so many of her jumps… perhaps her other issues continue to be a work in progress.
10) Have Denney/Barrett checked out? It was admittedly kind of unsettling to see the top U.S. pair with such an error-ridden program— until I thought about the fact that this is D/B’s first season as the "top U.S. pair". Maybe it’s a pressure thing… maybe it’s a fluke… hopefully it’s not a coach thing (they haven’t been with John Zimmerman long enough for that, have they?). Their next appearance will be at Skate America… I’m going to reserve further judgment until then.
For the Clip of the Day, I’m going with Flatt’s free skate (so far, it’s still available online). The fact that she was judged to have the best skate of the day despite falling out of a triple lutz, and no triple/triple combos, is perhaps a testament to the underwhelming work of the ladies in general. Her spins still need more speed, and the positions leave room for improvement, but I still think she’s on to something with this one.
1) How do we love Tango? Maybe we should start counting the ways... Not to say that the Tango isn’t an amazing dance, or that the various incarnations of tango music aren’t welcome additions to the musical landscape of figure skating… but I haven’t seen such a strong representation of a specific genre since the Celtic/”Riverdance” trend about 10 years ago.
2) Welcome to 10th Avenue, Rachael Flatt. I think I’ve mentioned here in the past that I thought Flatt was suited for non-classical music, so I was elated to see that her FS this season is set to “Slaughter on 10th Avenue.” Though “Slaughter” was originally a ballet number for the musical On Your Toes, and thus obviously has classical elements... it’s chock full of other things that I think Flatt readily relates to, and puts forth with ease in her program. This is a great fit for her, and I hope it helps her boost that presentation score to new heights this season.
3) Kostner and the Faun Legacy. Upon discovering that Carolina Kostner was skating to Debussy’s “Afternoon of a Faun” this year, my skeptic’s eyebrow raised even more in her direction than usual. “Faun” was famously used by Janet Lynn back in the day; in fact I believe many would consider it her signature program. For Kostner to work with the same music some 40 years later might be seen by some as sacrilege… and by others, as a vessel for introducing the music to a whole new generation. Personally, I think any skater described as “coltish” (which the tall, lightning-fast Kostner often is) might benefit from music with another animal named in its title… seriously... and her interpretation is definitely quite lovely. But she needs some triple lutzes and flips in there to give it some real resonance...
4) The European Connection ...Or does she? Kostner managed to win, after all, with nary a flip or lutz in sight. And even the jumps she DID pull off were far from perfect. Ditto for Kiira Korpi of Finland, who finished 4th. There were only 8 triple jumps completed between the two of them, and only one of those was more difficult than a triple loop. So here rears that ugly-headed question again… is their artistry THAT much better than everyone else’s? Or is a Europe-heavy judging panel doing all it can to hold up its best in a sport that has become increasingly dominated by Asian competitors?
5) Jackets, everyone… jackets!!! Not sure if this is new or not, but it appeared that U.S. Figure Skating is pushing hard for all its skaters to wear their official jackets at Kiss-N-Cry time. And make sure that USFS logo is clearly seen. In Flatt’s case it was kind of funny; she had her jacket off to the side after her free skate and appeared to suddenly remember… and put it on… and give a little flourish with the logo, all before her scores came up. She must loathe the request more than most; I’ve heard her say how she insists on sleeveless skating dresses now because she gets too hot in long sleeves. (Maybe the U.S. should go to the vest style used for the Japanese team?)
6) Giving new meaning to the “Goose” Lift. “Well… it’s interesting, and let’s just leave it at that,” chuckled Andrea Joyce during the the Universal Sports' coverage of the Cappellini/Lanotte free dance. She was referring to a new lift they do where it appears Lanotte raises Cappellini vertically by way of his hand or fist being placed just under her torso (some might say “her crotch”). File this one under Things That Make You Go Hmmm…
7) Dice-K’s done it again. It would be very hard for Takahashi to top the masterpiece that I felt last year’s “La Strada” free skate was… but his current SP sure hits that same upper stratosphere. For me, it was kind of like taking Ryan Bradley’s mambo-inspired FS from 2007 and replacing the campiness with something even more electrifying. If I can just get past the Alfalfa Effect that occurs to his product-infused hair when he’s in a spin (and occurred to Evan Lysacek at the Olympics as well), He’ll have me on cloud nine all season long.
8) Where has Asada’s groove gone THIS time? Clearly her World Champion form is still out on vacation, and her Olympic Silver Medalist form is over in the corner mocking her to pieces. The president of the Japanese Skating Federation is already rising to her defense (see this article for more info ), and she has until the last event of the series (TEB in Paris) to re-group. Hopefully it won’t suck to be Mao Asada so much next time around.
9) Is Zhang back? Well… define your terms. She no longer looks like a pixie, and she certainly skates differently when it comes to those “kickback” issues of the past couple years (thank heavens). But she continues to have that skating-in-molasses look at nearly every turn, and with a botched lutz and two popped jumps in the free skate, confidence and/or timing issues remain at her forefront. I still have hope that she’ll reach her full potential, for I can only imagine how tough it must’ve been to relearn so many of her jumps… perhaps her other issues continue to be a work in progress.
10) Have Denney/Barrett checked out? It was admittedly kind of unsettling to see the top U.S. pair with such an error-ridden program— until I thought about the fact that this is D/B’s first season as the "top U.S. pair". Maybe it’s a pressure thing… maybe it’s a fluke… hopefully it’s not a coach thing (they haven’t been with John Zimmerman long enough for that, have they?). Their next appearance will be at Skate America… I’m going to reserve further judgment until then.
For the Clip of the Day, I’m going with Flatt’s free skate (so far, it’s still available online). The fact that she was judged to have the best skate of the day despite falling out of a triple lutz, and no triple/triple combos, is perhaps a testament to the underwhelming work of the ladies in general. Her spins still need more speed, and the positions leave room for improvement, but I still think she’s on to something with this one.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
2010 NHK Results Overview
OK, pretend it’s Saturday… I was out of town a few days and am still trying to catch up. Ugh, I’m behind and it’s only the first event of the season!!!
So here comes the at-a-glance overview of NHK 2010, with more detailed observations to follow in the next couple of days…
Dance—Davis/White’s gold was one of the few predictions I got right at this event, so much thanks for that, D/W. Weaver/Poje did one better than I expected when they claimed silver (my prediction, Italy’s Cappellini/Lanotte, were a surprisingly hot mess all around and couldn’t do any better than 5th). And then with the bronze—look at that, it’s the Shibutanis—or, as they seem to be getting better known by, the Shib Sibs! On their senior GP debut! With a wardrobe malfunction in the Short Dance and all! How very impressive and exciting.
Pairs—My other two correct predictions (yep, I’m a pathetic 3 for 12 with this event) were the obvious Pang/Tong for gold, and Bazarova/Larionov for silver. Takahashi/Tran were my breakout pick, and breakout they did—all the way to bronze, though I was a little surprised by this given how many small errors they had. Denney/Barrett had what are commonly known as “uncharacteristic errors” (she fell on the SBS 3T, and they messed up a lift late in the program) and ended up 5th, actually being bested by their U.S. teammates Yankowskas/Coughlin.
Men—Well, forget what I said about Dice-K not being at his best—while that was still evidently true in the Free Skate, he was certainly good enough to easily win gold. Jeremy (earning his way back to “JeremEEE” status, despite a popped axel here) Abbott nabbed the silver, and Florent-the-Funkmeister-Frenchman Amodio roared into the bronze slot. (What did I say about him being subpar at French Masters? Suffice to say he’s cleaned up his act!) Yuzuru Hanyu definitely made the splash I expected, though in the end he settled for 4th this time around. Ross Miner’s senior GP debut went well enough; he finished 9th in the field of 12.
**** SPOILER ALERT… if you are waiting to watch next weekend on NBC and don’t want to see the Ladies’ results in advance, STOP READING NOW.****
Ladies—Oh, Ms. Asada! Fool me once, shame on you… fool me twice, and I (mistakenly) pick you to win NHK this year. With a dreadful 8th place finish, I can’t help but wonder if right about now she’s wishing she’d gone Kim Yu-Na’s route, and ditched the GP series. On the other hand, Carolina Kostner not only got her mojo back—she won a GP event for the first time in 2 years. Rachael Flatt took silver (and won the free skate); Kanako “A-Star-Is-Born” Murakami lost some ground with her Free Skate but still managed bronze. Ashley Wagner turned up in 5th, behind Finland’s Kiira Korpi. And Caroline Zhang—who, you may have noticed, looks like her physical maturity was shoved into a microwave over the summer— unfortunately could do no better than 7th.
As I say… more details and observations coming soon!
So here comes the at-a-glance overview of NHK 2010, with more detailed observations to follow in the next couple of days…
Dance—Davis/White’s gold was one of the few predictions I got right at this event, so much thanks for that, D/W. Weaver/Poje did one better than I expected when they claimed silver (my prediction, Italy’s Cappellini/Lanotte, were a surprisingly hot mess all around and couldn’t do any better than 5th). And then with the bronze—look at that, it’s the Shibutanis—or, as they seem to be getting better known by, the Shib Sibs! On their senior GP debut! With a wardrobe malfunction in the Short Dance and all! How very impressive and exciting.
Pairs—My other two correct predictions (yep, I’m a pathetic 3 for 12 with this event) were the obvious Pang/Tong for gold, and Bazarova/Larionov for silver. Takahashi/Tran were my breakout pick, and breakout they did—all the way to bronze, though I was a little surprised by this given how many small errors they had. Denney/Barrett had what are commonly known as “uncharacteristic errors” (she fell on the SBS 3T, and they messed up a lift late in the program) and ended up 5th, actually being bested by their U.S. teammates Yankowskas/Coughlin.
Men—Well, forget what I said about Dice-K not being at his best—while that was still evidently true in the Free Skate, he was certainly good enough to easily win gold. Jeremy (earning his way back to “JeremEEE” status, despite a popped axel here) Abbott nabbed the silver, and Florent-the-Funkmeister-Frenchman Amodio roared into the bronze slot. (What did I say about him being subpar at French Masters? Suffice to say he’s cleaned up his act!) Yuzuru Hanyu definitely made the splash I expected, though in the end he settled for 4th this time around. Ross Miner’s senior GP debut went well enough; he finished 9th in the field of 12.
**** SPOILER ALERT… if you are waiting to watch next weekend on NBC and don’t want to see the Ladies’ results in advance, STOP READING NOW.****
Ladies—Oh, Ms. Asada! Fool me once, shame on you… fool me twice, and I (mistakenly) pick you to win NHK this year. With a dreadful 8th place finish, I can’t help but wonder if right about now she’s wishing she’d gone Kim Yu-Na’s route, and ditched the GP series. On the other hand, Carolina Kostner not only got her mojo back—she won a GP event for the first time in 2 years. Rachael Flatt took silver (and won the free skate); Kanako “A-Star-Is-Born” Murakami lost some ground with her Free Skate but still managed bronze. Ashley Wagner turned up in 5th, behind Finland’s Kiira Korpi. And Caroline Zhang—who, you may have noticed, looks like her physical maturity was shoved into a microwave over the summer— unfortunately could do no better than 7th.
As I say… more details and observations coming soon!
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