Here’s what I found of gala performances for pairs and ice dance… this time I didn’t include the members of the Italian team that got to skate as well.
PAIRS
Zhang/Zhang (finished 5th) skated to something that might have been called “On the Wings of Song”… I heard those words among the endless Italian commentary.
Mukhortova/Trankov (finished 4th) used an operatic duet: he skates during the man’s vocal, she skates during the woman’s… they skate together on choruses… and had trouble with the same elements as in their regular programs.
Kavaguti/Smirnov (finished 3rd) used a variation on Blue Danube from their free skate; like many of the singles skaters, they hit the prop cabinet before taking the ice (tossing around a bouquet of flowers during the routine).
Savchenko/Szolkowy (finished 2nd) used an instrumental version of Somewhere…
Pang/Tong (finished 1st) also use an operatic duet; watch for the “oops” moment they have about 1:25 into the clip.
For ICE DANCE…
Kerr/Kerr (finished 5th) skated to Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 3 by Muse (same artist as was behind their free dance from 2008-9)… compelling as always.
Pechalat/Bourzat (finished 4th) did a bouncy number to Andy by Les Rita Mitsouko.
Faiella/Scali (finished 3rd) skated to a very pretty Italian ballad whose name I could not decipher by way of the graphics.
Davis/White (finished 2nd) with David Cook’s version of Billie Jean (though I don’t think they plan to use this number much on the upcoming SOI tour)
And Virtue/Moir fans, I tried to find their Gala skate but was strangely unsuccessful… very sorry. Again, if you have a link that would make this collection of clips complete, please share!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Worlds 2010 Gala Guide: The Singles
So they didn’t make it the Universal TV coverage, and only still photos from it are on the Universal website. But in case you were wondering, here are a whole bunch of links you might like…
NOTE: some of these performances are tainted by excessive commentary, chatter, or whatever was said. For those who think Hamilton or Button talk too much during a performance… you’d be pleading to hear them after tolerating a little of this. If anyone finds “quieter” links, please share!
Carolina Kostner finished 6th but got to perform, apparently, because she’s Italian… skated to a female cover of Ain’t No Sunshine about as well as she’s skated to anything lately, which is to say… well, you know.
Cynthia Phaneuf (finishing 5th) did great with a twisted, jazzy cover of Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams. I wonder if she ever imagined she’d make the cut to skate the Worlds Gala this time? She was 15th last year.
Miki Ando (finishing 4th) ah, a routine to Mozart’s Requiem that sort of seems to tell her own life story of chasing a dream, not getting it, trying again, etc… complete with a 15 second break with her just laying on the ice motionless (that’s the home-from-2006 Olympics part, in my interpretation).
Laura Lepisto (finishing 3rd) is in white but has a black hood/scarves of some kind she’s using as props…apparently it’s a Zorro-inspired number… they flutter like flags as she goes around a round of jumps, then she sets them down and does the rest of her skate. Oh, then she goes & gets them again after about a minute. Welcome to rhythmic gymnastic figure skating, y’all. Music is Tina Arena.
Kim Yu-Na (finishing 2nd) is doing the same Meditation piece NBC showed us in Vancouver. Looks very similar, including the popped lutz.
Mao Asada (finishing 1st) is in black and fuschia and brandishing a fierce fan as she skates to Paganini’s Capriccio #24. It’s definitely props day at the Gala. Someone should have told Kim; she could have done Meditation with a cage of live birds. Speaking of Asada though… did you hear that according to a recent Phil Hersh article, she is "looking for a new coach after two seasons with Russia's Tatiana Tarasova"...?
And the guys were there too…
Samuel Contesti (finished 7th) is here for the same reasons Kostner is… and skates to a cowboy-themed piece that includes the ever-charming Cotton-eyed Joe. But he does an even poorer job of checking his landings than he did in competition and steps out of most everything. Still cute if you’re a fan.
Jeremy Abbott (finished 5th) skated to Michael Buble’s cover of At This Moment. Unfortunately, if you click his name you’ll see that the audio’s been disabled on the clip I’ve got here (and I couldn’t find another one). You could always check and see if his Nationals version of the same routine is still available… (UPDATE: for reasons I don't get, clicking on the Jeremy link take you to Joubert's program instead. I tried fixing it, but it's not working. Sorry about that! You can put "Jeremy Abbott 2010 Worlds Gala" into your You Tube browser if you really want to see it... he did great except for a fall on his last jump (triple toe); not bad for someone who'd mentioned on Twitter that he'd "jacked his hip in practice" and might be doing "the first ice DANCE solo in history"!)
Michal Brezina (finished 4th) – this is one of the clips that really suffers from the overchatter, but somewhere in the background you can hear that he skated to Michael Buble’s Feeling Good (This is where I’m compelled to remark that to me, Buble is a poor man’s Harry Connick Jr., and I say that well aware of the irony as most consider Connick Jr. a poor man’s Frank Sinatra. Hmm. Maybe we just need more skaters using Sinatra…)
Brian Joubert (finished 3rd) does an uptempo routine very similar to his Rise SP (it’s Sandstorm by Darude). There appear to be some classic sick footwork sequences in it; sadly, the camera shots used for these parts were too wide to tell for sure (ugh, the directing on these feeds… another post for another time).
Patrick Chan (finished 2nd) takes on Coldplay’s Vive la Vida (and had some jump trouble, though he was far from the only one). Interesting choice for him; I wouldn’t have guessed he’d go so contemporary. The choreography was interesting at times but he seemed rushed at other times.
Daisuke Takahashi (finishing 1st) skated to Luv Letter by DJ Okawari, which a nice lyrical mid-tempo piano number that suits him well. He landed 3 lovely triples and didn’t look anything close to tired like most of the pack.
Next post will cover the pairs and dance teams that skated the Gala…
NOTE: some of these performances are tainted by excessive commentary, chatter, or whatever was said. For those who think Hamilton or Button talk too much during a performance… you’d be pleading to hear them after tolerating a little of this. If anyone finds “quieter” links, please share!
Carolina Kostner finished 6th but got to perform, apparently, because she’s Italian… skated to a female cover of Ain’t No Sunshine about as well as she’s skated to anything lately, which is to say… well, you know.
Cynthia Phaneuf (finishing 5th) did great with a twisted, jazzy cover of Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams. I wonder if she ever imagined she’d make the cut to skate the Worlds Gala this time? She was 15th last year.
Miki Ando (finishing 4th) ah, a routine to Mozart’s Requiem that sort of seems to tell her own life story of chasing a dream, not getting it, trying again, etc… complete with a 15 second break with her just laying on the ice motionless (that’s the home-from-2006 Olympics part, in my interpretation).
Laura Lepisto (finishing 3rd) is in white but has a black hood/scarves of some kind she’s using as props…apparently it’s a Zorro-inspired number… they flutter like flags as she goes around a round of jumps, then she sets them down and does the rest of her skate. Oh, then she goes & gets them again after about a minute. Welcome to rhythmic gymnastic figure skating, y’all. Music is Tina Arena.
Kim Yu-Na (finishing 2nd) is doing the same Meditation piece NBC showed us in Vancouver. Looks very similar, including the popped lutz.
Mao Asada (finishing 1st) is in black and fuschia and brandishing a fierce fan as she skates to Paganini’s Capriccio #24. It’s definitely props day at the Gala. Someone should have told Kim; she could have done Meditation with a cage of live birds. Speaking of Asada though… did you hear that according to a recent Phil Hersh article, she is "looking for a new coach after two seasons with Russia's Tatiana Tarasova"...?
And the guys were there too…
Samuel Contesti (finished 7th) is here for the same reasons Kostner is… and skates to a cowboy-themed piece that includes the ever-charming Cotton-eyed Joe. But he does an even poorer job of checking his landings than he did in competition and steps out of most everything. Still cute if you’re a fan.
Jeremy Abbott (finished 5th) skated to Michael Buble’s cover of At This Moment. Unfortunately, if you click his name you’ll see that the audio’s been disabled on the clip I’ve got here (and I couldn’t find another one). You could always check and see if his Nationals version of the same routine is still available… (UPDATE: for reasons I don't get, clicking on the Jeremy link take you to Joubert's program instead. I tried fixing it, but it's not working. Sorry about that! You can put "Jeremy Abbott 2010 Worlds Gala" into your You Tube browser if you really want to see it... he did great except for a fall on his last jump (triple toe); not bad for someone who'd mentioned on Twitter that he'd "jacked his hip in practice" and might be doing "the first ice DANCE solo in history"!)
Michal Brezina (finished 4th) – this is one of the clips that really suffers from the overchatter, but somewhere in the background you can hear that he skated to Michael Buble’s Feeling Good (This is where I’m compelled to remark that to me, Buble is a poor man’s Harry Connick Jr., and I say that well aware of the irony as most consider Connick Jr. a poor man’s Frank Sinatra. Hmm. Maybe we just need more skaters using Sinatra…)
Brian Joubert (finished 3rd) does an uptempo routine very similar to his Rise SP (it’s Sandstorm by Darude). There appear to be some classic sick footwork sequences in it; sadly, the camera shots used for these parts were too wide to tell for sure (ugh, the directing on these feeds… another post for another time).
Patrick Chan (finished 2nd) takes on Coldplay’s Vive la Vida (and had some jump trouble, though he was far from the only one). Interesting choice for him; I wouldn’t have guessed he’d go so contemporary. The choreography was interesting at times but he seemed rushed at other times.
Daisuke Takahashi (finishing 1st) skated to Luv Letter by DJ Okawari, which a nice lyrical mid-tempo piano number that suits him well. He landed 3 lovely triples and didn’t look anything close to tired like most of the pack.
Next post will cover the pairs and dance teams that skated the Gala…
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Worlds Free Dance: Belgosto Take a Shot at Calling It
Covering the dances shown on Universal Sports with Belgosto (Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto) alongside Andrea Joyce…
Cappellini/Lanotte (ITA)— had the big twizzle crash of the day as you may have seen by now, but they also had a mere level 2 on both their circular steps and their diagonal steps… and 2 points’ worth of deductions (1 for the fall; 1 for an extended lift). FINISHED 11th.
Crone/Poirier (CAN)—Belgosto praised their music choice (Nocturne/Bohemian Rhapsody) for its lyrical quality—something they think was needed—levels 3 & 4 (mostly 4s) on everything; no negative GOEs. FINISHED 7th.
Zaretsky/Zaretsky (ISR)—I’m still trying to figure out why their Schindler’s List program sounds so much, in parts, like Via Dolorosa. Someone enlighten me!! All levels 3 & 4; Belgosto indicates they exits from their moves are still a little rough and that’s the difference between this team and the crème de la crème. Got a season’s best score; FINISHED 6th.
I skipped over the Loft Chatter for now, but if there was anything of note I’ll jot it down when I listen to it.
Pechalat/Bourzat: They ditched the Bourzat-as-Clock/Requiem piece in favor of the Circus Medley they used in 2008-9… oh yeah, I remember this! It’s much more fun and charming. Wish they’d used this in Vancouver too. All levels 3 & 4, and I must say in looking at it again those last 30 seconds of the program remind me a LOT of Torvill and Dean’s “Barnum” program from 1983. Maybe just me though? Belgosto mentions it’s a lot easier to do a dramatic program for the FD because it’s easier to look pained at that point. Heh. FINISHED 4th.
Davis/White: Belgosto says the part of the program they wanted to work on the most was the slow part (circular step sequence), and it must’ve worked because they got the highest GOEs of the program on that part. It’s funny to hear Belgosto both exhale with such excitement when it’s done. Ben notes that he’s never seen Charlie look tired after a performance… until now. 3 points higher than Vancouver, though still… WINS SILVER.
Virtue/Moir: Only real bobble was from Moir in their twizzle sequence; it’s also the only part of their program that got a level 3… (by the way, D/W’s only level 3 was on the diagonal step sequence) Belgosto credits Moir with not putting his foot down and being able to tough out the balance when his twizzle was faltering… but Tanith won’t pick a side as to who is her favorite. (at least, not on camera) WON GOLD.
Faiella/Scali: Apparently Belgosto trained with them for a short while at the start of the season, and can’t say enough great things about them. Ben calls them “great storytellers” that can really create wonderful characters. Two things put their medal chances in danger: a) their dance spin, and b) their twizzles, both of which only received level 2. Fortunately they did everything else quite well. WON BRONZE. (“It was a miracle,” we heard Scali say in English before leaving K & C.)
Kerr/Kerr: They of the constantly struggling twizzles… sigh… this time they went for the blade-grabbing variety, and she missed hers, which contributed in bringing them all the way down to a level 1. Booo. Doubt if they’d really have a shot at bronze even if they’d nailed that, though. FINISHED 5th.
More Worlds recap to follow!
Cappellini/Lanotte (ITA)— had the big twizzle crash of the day as you may have seen by now, but they also had a mere level 2 on both their circular steps and their diagonal steps… and 2 points’ worth of deductions (1 for the fall; 1 for an extended lift). FINISHED 11th.
Crone/Poirier (CAN)—Belgosto praised their music choice (Nocturne/Bohemian Rhapsody) for its lyrical quality—something they think was needed—levels 3 & 4 (mostly 4s) on everything; no negative GOEs. FINISHED 7th.
Zaretsky/Zaretsky (ISR)—I’m still trying to figure out why their Schindler’s List program sounds so much, in parts, like Via Dolorosa. Someone enlighten me!! All levels 3 & 4; Belgosto indicates they exits from their moves are still a little rough and that’s the difference between this team and the crème de la crème. Got a season’s best score; FINISHED 6th.
I skipped over the Loft Chatter for now, but if there was anything of note I’ll jot it down when I listen to it.
Pechalat/Bourzat: They ditched the Bourzat-as-Clock/Requiem piece in favor of the Circus Medley they used in 2008-9… oh yeah, I remember this! It’s much more fun and charming. Wish they’d used this in Vancouver too. All levels 3 & 4, and I must say in looking at it again those last 30 seconds of the program remind me a LOT of Torvill and Dean’s “Barnum” program from 1983. Maybe just me though? Belgosto mentions it’s a lot easier to do a dramatic program for the FD because it’s easier to look pained at that point. Heh. FINISHED 4th.
Davis/White: Belgosto says the part of the program they wanted to work on the most was the slow part (circular step sequence), and it must’ve worked because they got the highest GOEs of the program on that part. It’s funny to hear Belgosto both exhale with such excitement when it’s done. Ben notes that he’s never seen Charlie look tired after a performance… until now. 3 points higher than Vancouver, though still… WINS SILVER.
Virtue/Moir: Only real bobble was from Moir in their twizzle sequence; it’s also the only part of their program that got a level 3… (by the way, D/W’s only level 3 was on the diagonal step sequence) Belgosto credits Moir with not putting his foot down and being able to tough out the balance when his twizzle was faltering… but Tanith won’t pick a side as to who is her favorite. (at least, not on camera) WON GOLD.
Faiella/Scali: Apparently Belgosto trained with them for a short while at the start of the season, and can’t say enough great things about them. Ben calls them “great storytellers” that can really create wonderful characters. Two things put their medal chances in danger: a) their dance spin, and b) their twizzles, both of which only received level 2. Fortunately they did everything else quite well. WON BRONZE. (“It was a miracle,” we heard Scali say in English before leaving K & C.)
Kerr/Kerr: They of the constantly struggling twizzles… sigh… this time they went for the blade-grabbing variety, and she missed hers, which contributed in bringing them all the way down to a level 1. Booo. Doubt if they’d really have a shot at bronze even if they’d nailed that, though. FINISHED 5th.
More Worlds recap to follow!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Final Day, Final Flight, Final "Free Skate". And it Showed.
All that's left are the ladies, so let's get to it (in order of appearance today)
Suzuki (in 20th): 3Flip/2toe/2loop good… 3 toe to 2ax good…3lutz good…3 flip in slow part popped…3lutz double 3’s out… 3loop to 2ax good… then 3salchow good too…looks pretty happy during her awesome straightline sequence; is she in character or happy for real because she’ll pull way up after this?? Great comeback; too bad it was so early it missed the Universal telecast. 111.68/160.04… FINISHED 11th
Hecken (in 13th): 3Toe/3toe good (seems to be the hot triple combo now; remember when it was rare?)… 3lutz big fall… 3salchow good… 2axel good… 3 salchow/2 toe good…2ax/2toe/2toe good… then another 2axel… when will the ISU decide to start limiting those, I wonder? Footwork, combo spin, done. She’s not as delighted as I’ve seen her in the past, but I think this was just fine for her. 98.74, a new SB/151.94 Total. FINISHED 12th.
Leonova (in 14th): 3flip/3toe fell on 2nd one…3 lutz double 3’s out/hands down… 3 loop ok…3 loop looked maybe 2-footed… 3 flip OK to 2axel…footwork feels pretty deliberate today… 3 sal/2toe/2loop w/hand up ok; slow going out…3 flip might have been 2 footed as well…another exhausted one, but at least she held that closing pose this time.
98.50/152.86 Total. FINISHED 13th.
Mrs. VanDerPerren (aka Jenna McCorkell, in 15th): 2axel good…3lutz good… 3flip/2toe good…long break before 2ax/2toe/2toe…3flip nice…3toe was 2’d…2ax OK but not as good as earlier… fatigue? But she finishes out the rest of the program well.
98.78, SB/150.90 Total. FINISHED 14th.
Ando (in 11th): 3 lutz/2loop (was she at least considering the triple loop this time?)… 3salchow to 2axel good… 3loop OK… 3lutz… then 3salchow, but where are combos?…3toe … 2ax/2loop/2loop (last one was downgraded)…it was clean but I think she dumbed it down a lot by taking out all but one combo (and one w/a 2ax sequence; I never feel right calling that a combo…) 122.04/177.82… she was only 2 points off her season’s best, so maybe the combo-lite skate was a good strategy. 122.04/177.82 Total. FINISHED 4th.
(Note on Ando: only a level 2 on her straight line steps, and her flying spin was also a level 2. That couldn’t have helped either.)
Kim (in 7th): 3lutz/3toe great…3flip great…2axel/2toe/2loop good… spirals OK today… spreadeagle to 2ax/3toe…3sal FALL…3lutz fine…Tara thinks the sparkle is missing… and then a 2axel at the end became a waltz jump? Not even a pop? Ai-yi-yi. (no credit for that, by the way)130.49/190.79 Total. WON SILVER.
Helgesson (in 9th) : 3flip/2toe/2loop good…2toe??... 3loop/2toe… she skates counterclockwise…3toe?... 3loop… Tara thinks she’s kinda slow…spirals…2 2axels in sequence…3salchow saved… flying sit… footwork… combo spin… wow, pretty good all things considered! No lutz and only one flip, but it was clean. I won’t even fault her for skating to a Whitney Houston song… but if she moves on to “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” next year, I’m abandoning her :-) 105.47/161.79 Total. FINISHED 10th.
Phaneuf (in 8th): 3 toe to 2ax good…3 lutz nice!...3loop/2toe… 3loop good…3salchow good… 2axel good… 3toe/2toe/2loop… wow! I don’t think I’ve ever seen her skate that cleanly. She’s ditched the 3flip and only had the one lutz; those are the only things that’ll hold back her tech score… 118.04/177.54 and the big news is that she’ll be no lower than 10th, which qualifies 2 ladies for Canada at Worlds 2011. Nice. FINISHED 5th!
(Note: Phaneuf also had spins and footwork at a level 2).
Sebestyen (in 10th): 2ax good…3lutz doubled…3flip popped—weird, she doesn’t do this often. 3salchow OK…3lutz good…2 2axels in sequence good… 2toe/2toe I think to close it out. Gee, did she only do 2 triples? 91.56/147.66 Total. FINISHED 15th.
Chatter during the resurfacing. Johnny’s got a swiss cheese thing going with the sleeves on his sweater. Peter drops a Brian Orser impression (telling Yu-Na “Well… you got it done” as she got off the ice) that I find hilarious because I’ve thought Brian sounded just like Pokey the Horse (from the Gumby shows of the ‘50s/’60s) for YEARS, and Peter pretty much nailed it. Apparently no one else in “the loft” thought so.
Peter tosses to break… he needs to lay off the “we’re just chillaxing” vibe… we get it. If you have to keep telling us how relaxed everyone is, I don’t believe it anymore.
Peter asks about the sleeves when they come back from break. Apparently they are in honor of the ladies… Johnny addresses the “have to be pro-American” flack that apparently dusted up yesterday… I missed most of it (had the sound turned down on their chatter parts yesterday because I’m on deadline with other non-skating work), so whatever.
Warm-up group is up…they talk about the pressure on Nagasu, and I’m reminded of when she was in 1st after the short at a GP event, and then dropped out of the medals…
Kostner’s up first (in 4th). Is this a new dress since Vancouver? Not sure. 3flip/3toe nicely done…3loop fell out…2axel ok…3flip 2-footed we think… 3toe/2toe squirrely (and downgraded)… 2axel/2toe/2toe… 3salchow low landing…Tara hints some of these might be underrated… scores should be interesting; only the first combo contained stellar triples, and I just noticed she’s ditched the lutz. Amazing to me how skaters can just toss out the jumps they don’t do well anymore, rather than fight to improve them because they HAVE to.
115.11 is her new SB/177.31 total; she’s already in 4th and the crowd goes nuts in the wrong way cuz of course she’s already off the podium. They should be pleased though… infinitely better than last year. Maybe she can start a new chapter now. FINISHED 6th.
They spoke briefly to Kim coming back… in short, she sounds like she just wants to get out of here and go home. Yeah, no doubt kiddo.
Asada (in 2nd): 3axel good…3axel/2toe… 3flip/2loop… 3loop good… (my daughter was just in here; says her music is “scary”… I’m with her!)… 3flip/2loop/2loop… 3toe (missed in Vancouver) good…2axel OK… death drop… if her triple axels are good; even if one of them is, then she’s got it I think. 129.50/197.58 Total; she’s above Kim… we’ll see about the rest. (2nd triple axel was downgraded) WON GOLD.
Flatt (in 6th): 2axel good… 3flip/2toe, no triple (leg looked wide again like in SP)… 3lutz good… Tara doesn’t think SHE looks like herself either. Lots of strangers wandering around the ice it seems. 3loop good…2nd 3lutz popped... 3toe?/2toe/2loop… 3sal/2toe good… 106.56/167.44 Total. No soup for her. FINISHED 9th.
Lepisto (in 3rd): 3toe/3toe good…3lutz good (looked underrated but no one called it as such in protocols)…3loop is 2loop/2toe…2axel good… another 3loop becomes a double…2axel good…3sal is 2sal/2toe/2toe…any more triples please? Only 3 sofar…Oookay, guess not. Decent start, ran out of steam; we’ll see if her PCS marks keep her in the medal hunt or not. 114.32/178.62 Total.
WON BRONZE. Yeah, I know.
Nagasu looked kind of worried at the boards w/Frank Carroll… hmmm. (in 1st)
3lutz steps out, no combo. Uh-oh. 2ax/3toe nice…3flip nice…killer layback spin after a while…3lutz and her feet are all twisted up coming down, hops around… 2toe anyway… 3 loop to 2ax good… spreadeagle to 2ax and she was way off axis, FALL… 3toe OK. Aww… not sure if she can stay on the podium with this. Love Carroll: she apologizes and he says “It’s fine; you’re not dead…”105.08/175.48 Total; drops to 7th. Wow. We won’t get that 3rd spot after all. Sigh. That’s rough.... especially since they HAD it, right there...
Makarova (in 5th): 3toe/3toe good…3flip good; a little wide…2axel OK… 3loop good…2axel good… nice layback position…little rough on spirals…3salchow/2loop/2toe…3salchow fall… but pretty decent debut. Could she hop up to medal with that? 107.58/169.64 Total. FINISHED 8th.
OK, well, sub-par tired skating is over.
1) Asada. Good girl. You earned it.
2) Kim. Nice comeback and the rivalry is (sort of) back on. Now go take a nap.
3) Lepisto. There, is everybody happy now?
4) Ando. Ok except for you Miki. She’s not happy. 4th and 5th placements at these events kind of blows.You’ve a right to be bummed, even if you brought it on yourself.
5) Phaneuf!!! Best surprise of the night. I wish you could have medaled with that.
6) Kostner. All things considered, this is a miracle but hard-fought & won.
7) Nagasu. Sigh. Back to school you go.
8) Makarova. Really decent debut; I’ll look for you on the circuit next year.
9) Flatt. Yep. You too, kiddo. Hit the books. And by that I don’t mean THE BOOKS.
10) Helgesson. Who?? I’m just kidding. Imagine being the first one from your country to crack the Worlds Top 10 in over 50 FREAKING YEARS. That’s amazing.
Still promise to get back to the free dance from Friday… that’ll be tomorrow, probably.
The off season for Olympic-eligible figure skaters has officially begun for ALL of them. The off season for skating bloggers is non-existent! Thanks for reading, and keep coming back… we always find something to talk about here.
P.S. I’ll probably have plenty to say about the Loft Chatter (from Carruthers and friends)… trouble is I haven’t watched much of it yet. If you have favorite exchanges for which I should keep my ears perked, let’s hear ‘em!
Suzuki (in 20th): 3Flip/2toe/2loop good… 3 toe to 2ax good…3lutz good…3 flip in slow part popped…3lutz double 3’s out… 3loop to 2ax good… then 3salchow good too…looks pretty happy during her awesome straightline sequence; is she in character or happy for real because she’ll pull way up after this?? Great comeback; too bad it was so early it missed the Universal telecast. 111.68/160.04… FINISHED 11th
Hecken (in 13th): 3Toe/3toe good (seems to be the hot triple combo now; remember when it was rare?)… 3lutz big fall… 3salchow good… 2axel good… 3 salchow/2 toe good…2ax/2toe/2toe good… then another 2axel… when will the ISU decide to start limiting those, I wonder? Footwork, combo spin, done. She’s not as delighted as I’ve seen her in the past, but I think this was just fine for her. 98.74, a new SB/151.94 Total. FINISHED 12th.
Leonova (in 14th): 3flip/3toe fell on 2nd one…3 lutz double 3’s out/hands down… 3 loop ok…3 loop looked maybe 2-footed… 3 flip OK to 2axel…footwork feels pretty deliberate today… 3 sal/2toe/2loop w/hand up ok; slow going out…3 flip might have been 2 footed as well…another exhausted one, but at least she held that closing pose this time.
98.50/152.86 Total. FINISHED 13th.
Mrs. VanDerPerren (aka Jenna McCorkell, in 15th): 2axel good…3lutz good… 3flip/2toe good…long break before 2ax/2toe/2toe…3flip nice…3toe was 2’d…2ax OK but not as good as earlier… fatigue? But she finishes out the rest of the program well.
98.78, SB/150.90 Total. FINISHED 14th.
Ando (in 11th): 3 lutz/2loop (was she at least considering the triple loop this time?)… 3salchow to 2axel good… 3loop OK… 3lutz… then 3salchow, but where are combos?…3toe … 2ax/2loop/2loop (last one was downgraded)…it was clean but I think she dumbed it down a lot by taking out all but one combo (and one w/a 2ax sequence; I never feel right calling that a combo…) 122.04/177.82… she was only 2 points off her season’s best, so maybe the combo-lite skate was a good strategy. 122.04/177.82 Total. FINISHED 4th.
(Note on Ando: only a level 2 on her straight line steps, and her flying spin was also a level 2. That couldn’t have helped either.)
Kim (in 7th): 3lutz/3toe great…3flip great…2axel/2toe/2loop good… spirals OK today… spreadeagle to 2ax/3toe…3sal FALL…3lutz fine…Tara thinks the sparkle is missing… and then a 2axel at the end became a waltz jump? Not even a pop? Ai-yi-yi. (no credit for that, by the way)130.49/190.79 Total. WON SILVER.
Helgesson (in 9th) : 3flip/2toe/2loop good…2toe??... 3loop/2toe… she skates counterclockwise…3toe?... 3loop… Tara thinks she’s kinda slow…spirals…2 2axels in sequence…3salchow saved… flying sit… footwork… combo spin… wow, pretty good all things considered! No lutz and only one flip, but it was clean. I won’t even fault her for skating to a Whitney Houston song… but if she moves on to “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” next year, I’m abandoning her :-) 105.47/161.79 Total. FINISHED 10th.
Phaneuf (in 8th): 3 toe to 2ax good…3 lutz nice!...3loop/2toe… 3loop good…3salchow good… 2axel good… 3toe/2toe/2loop… wow! I don’t think I’ve ever seen her skate that cleanly. She’s ditched the 3flip and only had the one lutz; those are the only things that’ll hold back her tech score… 118.04/177.54 and the big news is that she’ll be no lower than 10th, which qualifies 2 ladies for Canada at Worlds 2011. Nice. FINISHED 5th!
(Note: Phaneuf also had spins and footwork at a level 2).
Sebestyen (in 10th): 2ax good…3lutz doubled…3flip popped—weird, she doesn’t do this often. 3salchow OK…3lutz good…2 2axels in sequence good… 2toe/2toe I think to close it out. Gee, did she only do 2 triples? 91.56/147.66 Total. FINISHED 15th.
Chatter during the resurfacing. Johnny’s got a swiss cheese thing going with the sleeves on his sweater. Peter drops a Brian Orser impression (telling Yu-Na “Well… you got it done” as she got off the ice) that I find hilarious because I’ve thought Brian sounded just like Pokey the Horse (from the Gumby shows of the ‘50s/’60s) for YEARS, and Peter pretty much nailed it. Apparently no one else in “the loft” thought so.
Peter tosses to break… he needs to lay off the “we’re just chillaxing” vibe… we get it. If you have to keep telling us how relaxed everyone is, I don’t believe it anymore.
Peter asks about the sleeves when they come back from break. Apparently they are in honor of the ladies… Johnny addresses the “have to be pro-American” flack that apparently dusted up yesterday… I missed most of it (had the sound turned down on their chatter parts yesterday because I’m on deadline with other non-skating work), so whatever.
Warm-up group is up…they talk about the pressure on Nagasu, and I’m reminded of when she was in 1st after the short at a GP event, and then dropped out of the medals…
Kostner’s up first (in 4th). Is this a new dress since Vancouver? Not sure. 3flip/3toe nicely done…3loop fell out…2axel ok…3flip 2-footed we think… 3toe/2toe squirrely (and downgraded)… 2axel/2toe/2toe… 3salchow low landing…Tara hints some of these might be underrated… scores should be interesting; only the first combo contained stellar triples, and I just noticed she’s ditched the lutz. Amazing to me how skaters can just toss out the jumps they don’t do well anymore, rather than fight to improve them because they HAVE to.
115.11 is her new SB/177.31 total; she’s already in 4th and the crowd goes nuts in the wrong way cuz of course she’s already off the podium. They should be pleased though… infinitely better than last year. Maybe she can start a new chapter now. FINISHED 6th.
They spoke briefly to Kim coming back… in short, she sounds like she just wants to get out of here and go home. Yeah, no doubt kiddo.
Asada (in 2nd): 3axel good…3axel/2toe… 3flip/2loop… 3loop good… (my daughter was just in here; says her music is “scary”… I’m with her!)… 3flip/2loop/2loop… 3toe (missed in Vancouver) good…2axel OK… death drop… if her triple axels are good; even if one of them is, then she’s got it I think. 129.50/197.58 Total; she’s above Kim… we’ll see about the rest. (2nd triple axel was downgraded) WON GOLD.
Flatt (in 6th): 2axel good… 3flip/2toe, no triple (leg looked wide again like in SP)… 3lutz good… Tara doesn’t think SHE looks like herself either. Lots of strangers wandering around the ice it seems. 3loop good…2nd 3lutz popped... 3toe?/2toe/2loop… 3sal/2toe good… 106.56/167.44 Total. No soup for her. FINISHED 9th.
Lepisto (in 3rd): 3toe/3toe good…3lutz good (looked underrated but no one called it as such in protocols)…3loop is 2loop/2toe…2axel good… another 3loop becomes a double…2axel good…3sal is 2sal/2toe/2toe…any more triples please? Only 3 sofar…Oookay, guess not. Decent start, ran out of steam; we’ll see if her PCS marks keep her in the medal hunt or not. 114.32/178.62 Total.
WON BRONZE. Yeah, I know.
Nagasu looked kind of worried at the boards w/Frank Carroll… hmmm. (in 1st)
3lutz steps out, no combo. Uh-oh. 2ax/3toe nice…3flip nice…killer layback spin after a while…3lutz and her feet are all twisted up coming down, hops around… 2toe anyway… 3 loop to 2ax good… spreadeagle to 2ax and she was way off axis, FALL… 3toe OK. Aww… not sure if she can stay on the podium with this. Love Carroll: she apologizes and he says “It’s fine; you’re not dead…”105.08/175.48 Total; drops to 7th. Wow. We won’t get that 3rd spot after all. Sigh. That’s rough.... especially since they HAD it, right there...
Makarova (in 5th): 3toe/3toe good…3flip good; a little wide…2axel OK… 3loop good…2axel good… nice layback position…little rough on spirals…3salchow/2loop/2toe…3salchow fall… but pretty decent debut. Could she hop up to medal with that? 107.58/169.64 Total. FINISHED 8th.
OK, well, sub-par tired skating is over.
1) Asada. Good girl. You earned it.
2) Kim. Nice comeback and the rivalry is (sort of) back on. Now go take a nap.
3) Lepisto. There, is everybody happy now?
4) Ando. Ok except for you Miki. She’s not happy. 4th and 5th placements at these events kind of blows.You’ve a right to be bummed, even if you brought it on yourself.
5) Phaneuf!!! Best surprise of the night. I wish you could have medaled with that.
6) Kostner. All things considered, this is a miracle but hard-fought & won.
7) Nagasu. Sigh. Back to school you go.
8) Makarova. Really decent debut; I’ll look for you on the circuit next year.
9) Flatt. Yep. You too, kiddo. Hit the books. And by that I don’t mean THE BOOKS.
10) Helgesson. Who?? I’m just kidding. Imagine being the first one from your country to crack the Worlds Top 10 in over 50 FREAKING YEARS. That’s amazing.
Still promise to get back to the free dance from Friday… that’ll be tomorrow, probably.
The off season for Olympic-eligible figure skaters has officially begun for ALL of them. The off season for skating bloggers is non-existent! Thanks for reading, and keep coming back… we always find something to talk about here.
P.S. I’ll probably have plenty to say about the Loft Chatter (from Carruthers and friends)… trouble is I haven’t watched much of it yet. If you have favorite exchanges for which I should keep my ears perked, let’s hear ‘em!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Worlds Day 4-- when Kim Yu-Na Became Kim Yu-Huh?
LADIES SP as it happened… (well, 20 of them, anyway)
CHELTZIE LEE (AUS)—3salchow/2toe was good, 3toe good too, 2axel also…nice layback at end… wish she’d held her end pose for even I really do like her style, in that she does have some! Of course her jump difficulty needs to increase, but hopefully that will come. LOVE this SP dress, as I think I said at Olympics time. 51.36; IN 17TH.
SARAH MEIER (SWI)—Huge fall on the 3lutz, and by that I mean she completely flattened to her back and bumped against the wall… looked like it REALLY hurt. But, almost in tears already, she keeps going… then pops her salchow, and tentatively at that. Again, thought she might stop. But on she went, and managed a 2axel (nice one) among other things. 45.06; FINISHED 26th and missed the cut for the Free Skate. Damn, what a crappy way to end a season. And possibly an amateur career.
CYNTHIA PHANEUF (CAN)—2axel wide-ish leg… 3lutz hand down but 2toe combo anyway… 3toe good… lovely everything else, and no fall on footwork this time (as happened in Vancouver)… quite a pretty program and she has wonderful presentation. Now, if I could just talk to her about a new haircut… :-) 59.50; IN 8th.
KWAK MIN-JUNG (KOR)—Fall on 3lutz… 3sal/2toe good… 2 axel good… has sort of junior-ish presentation for now, but of course that’ll improve… but she looks quite upset coming off the ice. Brian (Orser, he coaches her too) tells her “good thinking” about adding the toe loop to her salchow (the lutz was supposed to be a combo I guess)… but still, plenty of tears in the K&C. 47.46; IN 23rd.
SARAH HECKEN (GER)— 3Toe/3Toe good, 3salchow good (w/double fist pump)…2axel good too… it’s so much fun to watch her skate well; she gets so happy… 55,20; IN 13th.
JENNA MCCORKELL (GBR)—2axel OK…3lutz/2toe looked good…3flip good!...already looks very happy…all the way through in fact… (she missed the finals cut in Vancouver, so this was probably especially sweet)… they cut to a shot of her hubby, Kevin VanDerPerren… 52.12; IN 15th.
VIKTORIA HELGESSON (SWE)—3toe/2toe I think looked OK…3 loop nice…2axel too…has one of those “laybacks” that is more like a headback… sigh. 56.32; IN 8th.
KSENEIA MAKAROVA (RUS)—had a good 3toe/3toe… then a good 3flip… and a nice 2axel… and a fast combo spin too. Get the door; I hear the future knocking… 62.06; IN 5th.
MIRAI NAGASU (USA)—3lutz/3toe (!)…3Flip good… 2ax good… fab layback…wow! It’s hard to believe this is the same Mirai that was competing just 4 months ago; let alone last season. Gets a 70.40 and it’s great to see she and Frank Carroll both staring at the score shrieking “WHAT?!” IN 1st.
KIM YU-NA (KOR)—3lz/3toe great… 3Flip not her best (and cheated)… then she mangles the hook into her next spin; has to start again, and this resulted, I think, in one of her spins (at the end?) not getting any credit. Then she had trouble with her spiral sequence (!) to the point where it was downgraded to a Level 1… then everyone’s jaw drops as she gets a 60.30; IN 7th. Yep. It’s true.
AKIKO SUZUKI (JPN)—3Flip FALL… 3Loop double three out to 2toe…also has a bit of trouble with her spirals (looks very tired)… 2axel fall out…oy. One event too many I guess. 48.36; IN 20th.
RACHAEL FLATT (USA)—3flip/3toe became a 3/2…. Too bad; I think she must’ve done it because her 1st landing was a little wide… 3lutz OK…2ax is fine…audience doesn’t really seem to be with her until the footwork. 60.88; IN 6th.
JULIA SEBESTYEN (HUN)—3lutz/2toe huge as usual… 3Flip downgraded?... 2ax ok… she seems to have extra punch in her footwork, and she’s probably the oldest one here… take that, whippersnappers!
ALENA LEONOVA (RUS)—Fell on opening 3flip... then tried to make her next pass a combo,but did a lot of unintentional hopping around on the 2nd jump…2axel OK. This program seemed especially manic this time, but maybe that’s because it’s the last SP we’ll likely see this season. 54.36; in 12th…
And now, my odd request for tomorrow’s free skate: Don’t win, Mirai! Kimmie Meissner won a Worlds title right after the 2006 Olympics at age 16, and we all know what’s happened to her since then. Let’s pull for Asada (assuming Kim cannot make up the 10+ point deficit, which she probably can)… even with the Bells of Moscow dragging around her neck, it would be remarkable if she could claim her second World title. Or if she falters, let ‘em give it to Lepisto (in 3rd)—they’re dying to anyway.
Finals start tomorrow (Sat) at 7:30AM eastern, you can catch them online all morning or from 10-12:30 on Universal’s TV channel.
Not the shortchange the ice dance finals, but I’m giving the Extreme Cliff Notes version right now and will delve a little deeper over the weekend:
1) One event where my predictions were right… (Virtue/Moir, Davis/White and Faiella/Scali went 1-2-3)
2) For added fun, Davis/White actually won the FD with an even better skate than at Vancouver… and then Virtue/Moir had the not-Vancouver-but-not-bad performance right behind them.
3) Pechalat/Bourzat pulled a “Kerr” and went back to an old program (the circus-inspired dance from 2008-9). Then pulled down their season best score… and scored better in the FD than Faiella/Scali… but still didn’t overtake them. At least we didn’t have to hear “Requiem for a you-no-what” again.
4) Cappellini/Lanotte may have had the most disappointing FD of the night, when Cappellini went down on the twizzles sequence. They recovered fairly well, but she was downright inconsolable afterwards. Rough event for them; after starting up in 7th on the CD, they were 12th in the OD and 14th in the FD, resulting in 11th overall.
5) Khoklova/Novitski withdrew from the event, which didn’t hurt as Samuelson/Bates pulled up to 9th overall (3 spots next year guaranteed), and Navarro/Bommentre finished 14th. (I couldn’t find a reason for the withdrawal, though… anyone know?)
More coming soon on all that… gotta get to bed so I can catch as much of the ladies tomorrow as possible. Is the season really this close to (finally) being over?
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Day Three (of 2010 Worlds): OD and Men's final...
My Original Dance notes are as follows: No one fell.
There… do you really need to know anything else? :-)
Well, there’s a little movement in the standing that’s worth talking about…
+ Faiella/Scali had some twizzle trouble that might have put their potential bronze medal in jeopardy…
+ Except that then Pechalat/Bourzat went out and had practically the same mistake. So those two are still 3rd and 4th.
+ Khoklova/Novitski had a sub par OD as well… it was enough to drop them to 6th overall, nearly 4 whole points behind…
+... The Kerrs (yay!), who made the interesting decision to abandon their Johnny Cash number in favor of their Scottish, kilts-for-two folk dance from several years back. Twizzles were OK, everything else clean too… and they’re in 5th and less than a point out of 4th.
+ The Zaretskys (ISR) came up a notch and are now in 7th…
+ Crone and Poirier (CAN) did the same and are now in 8th…
+ Cappellini/Lanotte (ITA) are the other ones that had an off day in the OD. Home country crowd booed as they fell from 7th to 10th overall.
+ Though Samuelson/Bates (USA) seemed to skate well and had the 10th best OD (and the 10th best compulsories)… their OD score was several points below their season’s best (look for protocols), and they are in 11th overall. The good news is that they are only .05 behind #10 (Cappellini/Lanotte)…and unlike last year with Davis/White missing the podium by about that much, there’s still another phase of the competition to come.
+ For anyone who follows Cathy and Chris Reed, representing Japan… they came back from 23rd in compulsories to have the 14th best OD and pulled all the way up to 16th overall. Pretty unusual move for ice dancing!
And later in the day, the men’s season came to an end. Here’s what I saw:
Ryan Bradley: 4 toe landed, though waay pitched forward… 2nd attempt (at other end of rink) FALL. 3ax 2’d I think… 3lutz ok… lots of footwork, eventually taking him to 3 flip OK… 3Loop way off axis, but he saved it… (where are the combos??) Ah, ask and ye shall receive… 3sal/3loop nice… then a 3/2/2 (I think)…big combo spin… end. I suppose he will be the court jester in just about any ice show he can find in his pro career. (Should add that Weir mentioned yesterday that he’s about the nicest guy in the biz right now, always with a joke (no kidding!), and “loves a good video game”.)
123.14/179.24 Total. FINISHED 18th.
Javier Fernandez (SPAIN): I didn’t see but the last 1/3 of his program and in fact he looked rather tired… but based on crowd reaction (and his own) I think made a good impression. On the replays it appears he fell out of his Quad toe, but 2 Triple axels were clean as well as other jumps…144.01/215.66. FINISHED 12th.
Denis Ten (KAZ, also Joined In Progress)… 3Loop popped…3lutz/2toe rough… 3 sal to 2axel sequence… he looks tired. But good combo spin at the end with a MAN-Biel (male Bielmann spin)…looking at the replays, I see he fell on a triple flip I think. 125.06/202.46 Total. FINISHED 13th.
Sergei Voronov (RUS)… 4 toe landed!...then the bad pop on 3axel… saw a FALL on another 3axel…(sorry, had some interruptions on watching this one)… nice 3flip/3toe… spreadeagle (?) into 3 sal/2toe/2loop… 2axel… 127.18/200.60 Total. FINISHED 14th.
Oh boy, Italy’s Samuel Contesti is here and he brought his panpipes again!…3axel fall out…3flip good…3lutz good. Combo spin…circular FW…change-foot sit spin… 3ax hand down, still combo’d it w/3 toe that was OK… split to 3Loop… 2axel… 3sal/3toe scratchy, but done… one more crazy 2 axel combo that finally failed him and he went splat on the last one. Aw… sloppy work but he looks like he had fun, and he’s feeling the homecrowd love. Good. 140.26/218.66 Total. FINISHED 7th.
Adam Rippon’s up next: 3flip/3toe NICE…3axel flip out again (same problem as in SP; adds 2toe anyway…really flexible and creative change foot spin… 3loop… GREAT 3axel!! ‘Tano 3lutz… then “Rippon” 3lutz/2toe/2loop… Russian split to 3salchow!! Wait for it … combo spin…OK, he’s done and I can say it: THIS almost..COMLETELY.ROCKED. except for the 1st axel. But otherwise… SO excited for this guy’s future. 151.36/231.47 Total. FINISHED 6th… awesome debut.
Adrian Schultheiss is here too, and he brought his crazy pills: 4 toe-got it. (I’m still pulling for top 10 with this guy. 3axel/2toe good… 3lutz (?)/2toe… ah, learned to love this circular FW and all it’s wicked Pac-man funkiness. 2nd 3ax good! 3flip good, real nice run out… 3loop little forward but OK…. 3salchow good. Last jumping pass (a 3/2/2) is completed but shaky all around… aaaaugh!!! (that’s me re-creating his primal scream at the end) 145.91/ 218.26 Total… FINISHED 9th. (He’s so nice for fulfilling my goals for him…)
Kevin VanDerPerren just did a freaking quad/triple/triple… and a triple axel after that. Jeez! Then a 2flip… will he have anything left for the rest of the FS? Looong break till next pass.. 3flip... then a 3flip/2toe at the other end…3 loop… 2axel… dang, I would never have guessed him to skate so relatively strong … 3salchow barely hung on, but still… ! Immediately threw his hands over his mouth in shock at the end. Then bent down and kissed the ice, I think. Way to go! (NOTE—this wasn’t same FS as he used in Vancouver… Wylie informs us his music is “familiar to anyone who’s ever been to Disneyworld”… I’ve never been, so I’ll have to take his word on that.)
144.88, season’s best… 218.43 TOTAL. FINISHED 8th.
Fill fill fill with what is rapidly becoming “the loft crew” (Carruthers, Lipinski, Weir) as the ice gets resurfaced. Peter desperately needs to find another word for Wow… drinking game people, take note!
Meanwhile, here’s the online Thesaurus alternatives for “wow” (as a verb):
bowl over, break one up, charm, cheer, crack up, entertain, go over big, kill*, knock dead, knock someone's socks off, make laugh, make roll in the aisles, slay, tickle, tickle pink, tickle to death…
Sorry, Peter… but remember when I interviewed you for my book Skating on Air, and you said you didn’t remember any particular phrase you leaned on too much? I’m just saying…. (Oh, wait, he also indicated he didn’t really read skating blogs.)
Anyway, back to work:
Jeremy Abbott: (I’m nervous for JeremEEE). 4 toe… underrotated; FALL. (sigh) 3flip little forward, no combo (uh-oh)… 3axel/3toe good (whew)… 2axel out of footwork FALL (wha…??). 3axel/2toe good (exhale)… 3lutz/2toe/2loop ok (hang in there)… 3loop had to fight for it a little (I said HANG IN THERE)…3salchow OK (thank you)… “he missed the hardest jump.. and the easiest jump,” noted Wylie. Word.
151.05/232.10 total… just barely over Rippon… FINISHED 5th.
And that guarantees 3 spots for next year. Yea!
Takahiko Kozuka: FALL on 4toe…3axel popped/2toe. Oh, pull it together… 3lutz/2toe/2loop ok…footwork galore, till 3sal/2toe…3axel #2 opened up into some incomplete mess… 3 flipOK…3loop OK…3lutz OK…nice spin at end, but I’m only counting five triples to Abbott’s and Rippon’s seven each.
132.53/216.73 Total. Ouchie. FINISHED 10th, which seemed low even under the circumstances.
Brian Joubert: quad #1/2toe Done…quad #2 Done… can he get the 3ax landed too? Yes… 3lutz? No… fall (Wylie indicates it comes too soon in the program after the axel. Hmmm)… 3flip is a mess… another 3lutz (w/2toe); this one’s OK… 3loop ugly…3sal/2toe/2toe OK…is this redemption? Hard to say.
154.04/241.74 Total. WON BRONZE… and you know what? I think he should have had silver over…
Patrick Chan: 3ax/2toe OK but put other foot down near end… 3flip/3toe OK…3lutz good… 3 axel good… 3lutz/2toe/2loop good… 3loop FALL… 3salchow, off-balance yet again… 2axel. 159.42 /247.22 Total. WON SILVER.
Michal Brezina: 3axel good… 3flip nice… 3salchow, yep… 3axel/2toe good.. 3flip/2toe not so much… 2axel… 3lutz good…2ax/2toe/2loop good… simpler than others, but also much cleaner. 154.31/236.06 Total. FINISHED 4th. (I see Ripon/Brezina smackdowns in the future…”
Daisuke Takahashi attempted a 4 flip where his other quad used to be. Do the judges even know how to score that?! Everything in his program is stellar, 3flip/2toe… 3loop… 3flip/3toe has some trouble. But then triple salchow…2nd triple axel was better than the first…3lutz OK… 2ax/2toe…Done, and a quad flip!!??!?!
168.40/257.70 total. WINS GOLD.
Ladies get started bright and early; Free dance follows in the afternoon….
2010 Worlds: Pairs FS As it Happened...
Sorry these are late!
PAIRS FS NOTES…
I came in on Evora/Ladwig (USA)… missed a little, but it sounded like they blew a throw and maybe had trouble on a SBS? I’ll have to check back when time allows. 165.96 total; FINISHED 9TH in their Worlds debut (not too shabby).
Berton/Hotarek (from Italy; apparently coached by John Zimmerman among others)— she went down on the SBS 3toes…2twist lift… sbs 3sals were OK… DSpiral was ugly…throw 3sal OK…throw 3 loop OK (I can’t tell much about the quality of the landings from the hi angle they’re shot at)… 149.78 Total; FINISHED 11th.
Langlois/Hay (CAN) she didn’t fall on SBS 3sal, but very low landing and stepped out… throw 3sal she had big 2-foot… SBS 3 Toes FALL for her… throw 3lutz another big two-foot; she’s just very very unsure now… reverse overhead lift… another lift… death spiral… Not their best. 154.72 Total; FINISHED 10th.
Bazarova/Larionov (RUS) Good start, we’re told (it was JIP)… throw 3toe good… she falls on SBS 2ax SEQ… nice carry lift with fancy acrobatic exit… nice throw 3Loop… nice d.spiral too… good lift; I don’t know what to call that position though… pairs spiral seq good… pairs spin…really pretty good except for that one SBS pass… 172.04 Total; FINISHED 8th.
Zhang/Zhang (CHN)…SBS 2ax/3toes OK…SBS 3sal good…3twist… dspiral good… throw 3 loop & throw 3 salchows both good… everything’s clean; they finally look kind of happy. They’re still not my favorites by a longshot, but I’m glad they got it done anyway. 195.78 Total; FINISHED 5th.
P.S. as Weir pointed out in the “Loft segments”, she has a new haircut.
Dube/Davison (CAN)… 3twist good, 2ax seq good… star lift… she 2’d the SBS 3salchow… nice d.spiral… throw 3 lutz? Good… 1-handed press lift…throw 3Loop good…little glitch on pairs spin at end, but overall closer to what they wanted at Olympics, I’m sure… 177.07 Total; FINISHED 6th.
Denney/Barrett (USA)… nice 3twist… he falls on SBS 3toes… throw 3lutz great… SBS 2ax seq good… d.spiral good; not great… SBS spins good & fast…Carruthers mentions need for more stretch on the lifts… throw 3 loop great (always love that it’s on the swell of the music…) Not perfect, but nothing to be ashamed of either. 172.47 Total; FINISHED 7th.
Kavaguti/Smirnov (RUS)… went for the throw quad salchow this time but had the same old SPLAT as usual (I think Carruthers referred to it as a “bambi fall”… if so I see what he means). Doesn’t look like she dislocated anything this time though… God bless her for continuing to try, though a part of me kind of wishes she’d refuse at this point. Rest of program was OK except for a pitch forward and two hands down on the throw triple loop. They lose a little ground, but hang in for medals. 203.79 Total; WON BRONZE.
Mukhortova/Trankov (RUS)… I was hopeful they could pull up and over their teammates, but she popped the second half of an SBS 3toe combo… and then in one of the more unusual mistakes of the event, Trankov actually fell while getting Mukhortova into the throw 3salchow. Ah well… 197.39 Total; FINISHED 4th.
Savchenko/Szolkowy (GER)… seemed the most likely candidates to phone it in, as they didn’t seem very enthused on SP day. But—no, I don’t think they did badly here at all. Like everyone else it was far from perfect, and like many, the most noticeable error was on the SBS 3toes (she doubled)… but they do two 3t’s in sequence, and they got back in sync and both nailed the second jump. Good for them, as it was very close between 2nd and 3rd and that probably made the difference on their medal color. 204.74 Total; WON SILVER.
Pang/Tong (CHN)… In a testament to how worn out everyone is, even these two had an error when she doubled an SBS jump (3toe )… and I gasped a little, concerned that they might toss their gold away. But they got back and the Impossible Dream horse and rode that sucker out of town with all the grace they could muster, which of course is TONS… even if they took 2 weeks off of training after Vancouver just so they could get the energy to challenge here. Seems to have been effective. 211.39 Total; WON GOLD.
Up Thursday: Ice Dance OD in the AM, and Men’s Final in the afternoon…
PAIRS FS NOTES…
I came in on Evora/Ladwig (USA)… missed a little, but it sounded like they blew a throw and maybe had trouble on a SBS? I’ll have to check back when time allows. 165.96 total; FINISHED 9TH in their Worlds debut (not too shabby).
Berton/Hotarek (from Italy; apparently coached by John Zimmerman among others)— she went down on the SBS 3toes…2twist lift… sbs 3sals were OK… DSpiral was ugly…throw 3sal OK…throw 3 loop OK (I can’t tell much about the quality of the landings from the hi angle they’re shot at)… 149.78 Total; FINISHED 11th.
Langlois/Hay (CAN) she didn’t fall on SBS 3sal, but very low landing and stepped out… throw 3sal she had big 2-foot… SBS 3 Toes FALL for her… throw 3lutz another big two-foot; she’s just very very unsure now… reverse overhead lift… another lift… death spiral… Not their best. 154.72 Total; FINISHED 10th.
Bazarova/Larionov (RUS) Good start, we’re told (it was JIP)… throw 3toe good… she falls on SBS 2ax SEQ… nice carry lift with fancy acrobatic exit… nice throw 3Loop… nice d.spiral too… good lift; I don’t know what to call that position though… pairs spiral seq good… pairs spin…really pretty good except for that one SBS pass… 172.04 Total; FINISHED 8th.
Zhang/Zhang (CHN)…SBS 2ax/3toes OK…SBS 3sal good…3twist… dspiral good… throw 3 loop & throw 3 salchows both good… everything’s clean; they finally look kind of happy. They’re still not my favorites by a longshot, but I’m glad they got it done anyway. 195.78 Total; FINISHED 5th.
P.S. as Weir pointed out in the “Loft segments”, she has a new haircut.
Dube/Davison (CAN)… 3twist good, 2ax seq good… star lift… she 2’d the SBS 3salchow… nice d.spiral… throw 3 lutz? Good… 1-handed press lift…throw 3Loop good…little glitch on pairs spin at end, but overall closer to what they wanted at Olympics, I’m sure… 177.07 Total; FINISHED 6th.
Denney/Barrett (USA)… nice 3twist… he falls on SBS 3toes… throw 3lutz great… SBS 2ax seq good… d.spiral good; not great… SBS spins good & fast…Carruthers mentions need for more stretch on the lifts… throw 3 loop great (always love that it’s on the swell of the music…) Not perfect, but nothing to be ashamed of either. 172.47 Total; FINISHED 7th.
Kavaguti/Smirnov (RUS)… went for the throw quad salchow this time but had the same old SPLAT as usual (I think Carruthers referred to it as a “bambi fall”… if so I see what he means). Doesn’t look like she dislocated anything this time though… God bless her for continuing to try, though a part of me kind of wishes she’d refuse at this point. Rest of program was OK except for a pitch forward and two hands down on the throw triple loop. They lose a little ground, but hang in for medals. 203.79 Total; WON BRONZE.
Mukhortova/Trankov (RUS)… I was hopeful they could pull up and over their teammates, but she popped the second half of an SBS 3toe combo… and then in one of the more unusual mistakes of the event, Trankov actually fell while getting Mukhortova into the throw 3salchow. Ah well… 197.39 Total; FINISHED 4th.
Savchenko/Szolkowy (GER)… seemed the most likely candidates to phone it in, as they didn’t seem very enthused on SP day. But—no, I don’t think they did badly here at all. Like everyone else it was far from perfect, and like many, the most noticeable error was on the SBS 3toes (she doubled)… but they do two 3t’s in sequence, and they got back in sync and both nailed the second jump. Good for them, as it was very close between 2nd and 3rd and that probably made the difference on their medal color. 204.74 Total; WON SILVER.
Pang/Tong (CHN)… In a testament to how worn out everyone is, even these two had an error when she doubled an SBS jump (3toe )… and I gasped a little, concerned that they might toss their gold away. But they got back and the Impossible Dream horse and rode that sucker out of town with all the grace they could muster, which of course is TONS… even if they took 2 weeks off of training after Vancouver just so they could get the energy to challenge here. Seems to have been effective. 211.39 Total; WON GOLD.
Up Thursday: Ice Dance OD in the AM, and Men’s Final in the afternoon…
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