Worlds 2011 Ladies Final McNotes (longer version)

OK, I guess it’s time for me to explain Meh for those of you who were baffled by my earlier post… or have been miles away from any skating coverage today.

Which requires another listing of the top finishers…

1) Ando (130.21/195.79)

She won, and she won fair and square. She won because she went out and did what she was capable of, which in her case is quite a lot. She’s not my favorite skater, but she’s very good, very consistent, and earned a great honor at a time when Japan could certainly use a lift—no matter how incidental.

2) Kim (128.59/194.50)

As tight as it was between she and Ando, she really needed to do all her elements for her artistic superiority to give her the win. But she popped the back end of a 3Sal combo, and then popped a triple flip. Game over.

3) Kostner (124.93/184.68)

She got her 3Flip back just in time to land one when she needed it most. That, along with 4 other triples (but still no lutz), coupled with one of her nicest long programs to date, equaled bronze for Kostner—the third world medal of her career.

4) Leonova (124.17/183.92)

Less than a point from the bronze was the redhead from Russia, slicking back most of the Annie-esque do today and nailing 6 triples in by far her best free skate of the season. Coming into today literally tied in the points with Kostner, Leonova out-elemented her by about 2 points… but Koster out-componented her by about 3 points. I know I just invented a couple of words there, but the 3-4-5 situation here left me rather frustrated…

5) Czisny (120.78/182.25)

See, it’s like this (at least on paper): Czisny fell on her first 3lutz, and although she skated the rest of her program with nary a hitch (and even got credit for the fallen lutz being fully rotated), it ultimately made the difference (to the judges at least) between 3^rd and 5^th. Me? I don’t think it should have been so close to begin with, simply because I think Czisny’s spins, technique and component skills exceed those of Leonova and Kostner. But it is what it is.

6) Asada (114.13/158.66)

Knock-knock. Who’s there? Triple axel. Triple axel who? Exactly. (Triple axel skulks away into the fog.)

That’s my way of saying Asada’s “signature jump” still isn’t back in all its glory. Throw in a few other errors, and you get a 6^th place finish for the former world champ.

7) Makarova (105.60/167.22)

Yes, she fell (hard!) on a 3Lo, but that wasn’t the problem as much as it was a lack of technical difficulty compared to her peers. The last to skate, her finish compounded the frustration that seemed to be felt by the mostly-Russian audience when Leonova was bumped off the podium, resulting in one of the most subdued-sounding post-event crowds I’ve ever heard. Or not heard, in this case.

The rest of these skaters I’m listing scores only, for I haven’t seen their performances yet in their entirety…

8) Murakami (105.60/167.22)

9) Korpi (109.71/164.80)

10) Gedevanishvili (104.63/156.24)

11) Hecken (103.10/155.83)

12) Flatt (97.39/154.61)

…Except for this one. I saw the whole thing, unfortunately, and heard too how Flatt indicated after the free skate that her “leg pain” (which apparently kept her 3lutz at bay in the SP) was actually a tibia stress fracture that was officially discovered only last Friday.

So I hate to have to throw this out there, especially since I know nothing about the pain of a stress fracture, but… with an injury as seemingly “un-sudden” as that, shouldn’t she have ceded her spot to alternate Mirai Nagasu a few weeks ago?

So there it was. No completely clean performances in the final group (so Alissa, at least you were in good company), several missed opportunities, frustration all around—for me, at least. Which brings me back to… meh.

And then Davis/White won the freakin’ World Gold a few hours later… and the Shib Sibs, the bronze… which changed the meh to my goodness, how awesome is that??

For a little while, anyway.

More on the ice dance finals coming soon!

2011 World Ladies Finals Super, Super-Short Analysis (aka McNotes)

Ladies Final ended half an hour ago.

My take?

Meh.

More later.

2011 World Ice Dance SD McNotes

Here are the top 10 finishers in the Short Dance, accompanied with a bit of know-nothing, “I just know what I like” commentary.

1) Virtue/Moir 74.29

Judy Blumberg (who was the analyst, I believe, during Universal’s coverage) thought they seemed slow, a little choppy, and were up on their toepicks too much. But their marks didn’t seem to show it much.

2) Davis/White 73.76

Blumberg also noted that Charlie didn’t catch his blade properly during the twizzles, but otherwise it was deemed their best yet of the season… though they, once again, landed just ½ a point behind. Grrrr.

3) Pechalat/Bourzat 70.97

Has anyone noticed their opening moves in the SD are very similar to this year’s FD (minus the “she’s blind” thing)? Great effort; glad they’re poised for a medal at last.

4) Shibutani/Shibutani 66.88

The awesome rookie season continues. In 4^th after the SD on your first senior Worlds?? WHAT?

5) Bobrova/Soloviev 65.88

Here I was, waiting to hear their Tom Jones music and then I see they changed it at Europeans…

6) Ilinykh/Katsalapov 65.51

Did they change their SD music too? Blumberg found it “distracting” and I agree, though they had some nice moments in there.

7) Weaver/Poje 65.07

Last time I saw them they were having a bummer of an FD at 4 Continents. Glad to see them back in fine form. Less than a point separates them and the two Russian teams, you might have noticed.

8) Cappellini/Lanotte 64.12

In their case, Que sera sera (part of their SD music) means “you are in about the same spot as last year headed into your free dance.”

9) Chock/Zuerlein 61.47

Great senior Worlds debut so far! Can we keep all three U.S. teams in the top 10?? Stay tuned… (Samuelson/Bates really have their work cut out for them when they return.)

10) Crone/Porier 61.01

I told them to change this SD program, but did they listen?? And then she flubs the twizzles too. Egads.

The Dance Finals are up shortly… more on those later tonight…

2011 Worlds Ladies SP Results/McNotes

I got out of bed, I watched (most of them), I posted… here are some quick notes on the Top 15:

1) Kim (65.91)

In her long-awaited return to competition, Kim skated beautifully to Giselle but fell out of her opening triple lutz, putting the combo elsewhere…and just barely out-scoring….

2) Ando (65.58)

Spot-on as always, now that she’s settled into this “Mission” program. 3lutz/2Loop was her combo.

3) Makarova (61.62)

Her clean SP included a 3T/3T, just barely out-scoring…

4) Czisny (61.47)

Clean short! Only error I could see was pitching forward on the 3F a little bit. Should have outscored Makarova, with whom she is very nearly tied for 3^rd.

5) Leonova (59.75)

With another new hairdo (this time looking like Little Orphan Annie with a more relaxed perm), she lit up the home crowd with a clean skate which included a 3T/3T.

6) Kostner (59.75)

Kostner fell on her triple flip, but is currently tied with Leonova… Leonova is placed higher because the higher tech. score gets the nod in an SP tie.

7) Asada (58.66)

One guess as to why she’s down here in 7^th… yep, blame that pesky triple axel. Asada’s 3ax landing was two-footed and, I’m guessing, possibly downgraded (anyone know for sure?)

8) Flatt (57.22)

No triple/triple here; her combo was a 3Flip/2Toe. But guess what? No triple lutz either… she doubled it (which required the knock-knock “oops-I-goofed” move right after the skate was over).

9) Korpi (55.09)

Maybe her horrific FS at Europeans was haunting Korpi, as she fell on the front end of her 3T/3T combo and never put the combo in elsewhere.

10) Murakami (54.86)

I missed this one, but judging from what I’ve seen of her crazy-packed “Jumping Jack” SP before, Murakami must’ve skated well below her average.

11) Meite (53.26)

Who? Why, that’s Mae-Bernice Meite of France, who skated cleanly and landed a 3T/3T.

12) Hecken (52.73)

I missed Hecken too, but I’m guessing she also skated clean and landed a 3T/3T (that’s the combo she did last year, anyway).

13) Phaneuf (52.62)

Apparently Phaneuf and Flatt were sipping from the same water fountain. She doubled her 3Lutz too. (And only does a 3Toe as her stand-alone triple.)

14) Lacoste (51.98)

With a clean skate which included a 3lutz and a 3Loop/2Loop, Canada’s fill-in for Myriane Sampson held her own at what I think is her first Worlds.

15) Gedevanishvili (51.61)

It looked like her triple lutz/double toe might have been 2-footed, and her 3Toe definitely was.

The big free skate showdown happens Saturday!

2011 Worlds Pairs FS McNotes

Top 11 summaries from the Pairs Final… yes, it’s a Top 11 so I can include both U.S. teams...

1) Savchenko/Szolkowy, GER (144.87/217.85 TOTAL) Solid as a rock. A taut, pony-tailed, neon-pink rock.

2) Volosozhar/Trankov, RUS (140.38/210.73 TOTAL) What a year for these two! May this team, in the future, provide something the Germans didn’t really have this year: an apples-to-apples run for their money.

3) Pang/Tong, CHN (130.12/204.12 TOTAL) I say “apples-to-apples” because I don’t really think of P/T in the same skating style… more lyrical, less dynamic. Unfortunately Tong wasn’t getting his jumps off well in the first part of the FS (popping an axel here, doubling a triple there), which hurt their technical score.

4) Kavaguti/Smirnov, RUS (124.82/187.36 TOTAL) Not a bad outing for them, but with a fall on the throw 3Loop and a double-3 exit on the throw 3sal, they couldn’t enter medal territory this year.

5) Bazarova/Larionov, RUS (122.49/187.13 TOTAL) BazaNova’s problem this year has been the opposite of Kav/Smir—well-managed throws, but weaknesses in the SBS jumps. It happened again here; he fell on one SBS pass, and she stumbled around on the other.

6) Yankowskas/Coughlin, USA (117.18/175.94 TOTAL) – They should be so very proud of themselves! Save for a hand down on the throw 3sal, it was a glorious performance for them. Great way to send off their “Ave Maria” tribute.

7) Duhamel/Radford, CAN (114.20/173.03 TOTAL)

8) Moore-Towers/Moscovitch, CAN (106.31/163.17 TOTAL)

I’m talking about the two Canadian teams at once because I have the same thing to say about both of them… stick around! There was lots of promise within your skating this year; in fact, you almost qualified 3 teams for next year’s Worlds. With Dube/Davison out of the picture, Canada needs you.

9) Takahashi/Tran, JPN (100.94/160.10 TOTAL)—two falls (one on the SBS jumps and one on the throws) kept T&T from building on their 6^th place SP finish.

10) Berton/Hotarek, ITA (99.52/157.15 TOTAL)—Only one in the top 10 I haven’t seen yet, but it sounds like they’re holding steady, finishing similarly to last year.

11) Evora/Ladwig, USA (101.27/155.91 TOTAL)—I came in as they were getting off the ice and heard their coach say “good fight”… never a good sign. I soon saw why via the replays reel: Ladwig’s wicked fall on the SBS 3Toes… Evora’s wipeout on the throw 3Flip… a hot mess of an SBS 2ax combo… aye carumba! Too bad.

2011 Worlds-- Men's FS McNotes

Men’s FINAL (Top 15)

Some very quick summaries, and sorry to say I haven’t studied the protocols yet so feel free to correct/confirm anything I put out here… sorry I couldn’t get this up sooner!

1) Chan, CAN (187.96/280.98 TOTAL)—not as perfect as Canadian Nationals, but still very well-deserved.

2) Kozuka, JPN (180.79/258.41 TOTAL)—he’s laid down a couple of spot-on beautiful free skates this season, and this was definitely one of them. Sooo excited to see him medal.

3) Gachinski, RUS (163.52/241.86 TOTAL)—OK, raise your hand if you’d guessed this teenager for bronze—or anywhere near the podium, for that matter. But admittedly he earned it.

4) Brezina, CZE (156.11/233.61 TOTAL)—I came in while this was in progress… did I see Brezina land TWO quads? (I know I saw him fall TWO times later on… probably stamina-related, with him barely competing this year.)

5) Takahashi, JPN (152.72/232.97 TOTAL)—At 4CC’s, Mark Ladwig suffered a boot malfunction that nearly took him and Amanda Evora out of competition. Here, Dice-K suffered a boot/blade malfunction (looked like the screws holding them together fell out or broke??) that nearly took him out of the event… and no better time to find this out, of course, than when you’re launching into a quad. He finished, but it was far from his best.

6) Oda, JPN (150.69/232.50 TOTAL)—At first I was thinking this was Oda’s best Worlds free skate to date… then I saw the scores and realized that must’ve been a triple/triple at the start, not a quad/triple like I thought. It wasn’t that he did badly… it’s that he didn’t do enough.

7) Amodio, FRA (152.04/229.68 TOTAL)—The last skater of the night was probably looking for a lot of whoopin’ and hollering by the time he got to the last couple minutes of his program. Instead he got a lot of distracted people wondering to themselves “Why on earth did he put vocals in his competitive free skate??”

8) Joubert, FRA (156.38/227.67 TOTAL)—Got a nice quad in, and stayed upright in general, but he was too far back for it to do him much good.

9) Dornbush, USA (151.88/222.42 TOTAL)—As with Nationals, he turned in a great, clean, everything-but-a-quad kind of performance to Sherlock Holmes. Probably never guessed he’d be the best-finishing American at this event when he was still competing Juniors just a handful of months ago!

10) Fernandez, SPAIN (149.10/218.26 TOTAL)—One of only two on this list that I haven’t seen yet. He skated very early, but apparently did pretty well with his Pirates program. When was the last time Spain had a guy in the top 10? Nice going, Javier!

11) Miner, USA (147.53/217.93)—I underestimated you, Mr. Miner… just slightly less content than Dornbush, but every bit as clean. I shall remember this going forward J

12) Verner, CZE (140.93/216.87 TOTAL)—This is the other one I missed. He was smiling big as I came in and saw him leaving the ice, but I guess that wasn’t representative of the skate. Too bad; he was having a pretty good comeback year and I was hoping he’d make the top 6.

13) Bradley, USA (142.26/212.71 TOTAL)-- Perhaps I overestimated Mr. Bradley. It was a flawed free skate for sure, but maybe, given all that’s transpired between January 2010 and now, 13^th at Worlds is truly the best he can do.

14) Ten, KAZ (138.99/209.99 TOTAL)—Unfortunately, Denis Ten couldn’t hold onto the promise of his SP. Two wipeouts on two 3ax attempts did him in.

15) Liebers, GER (137.86/205.59 TOTAL)—Turns out Dornbush wasn’t the only guy here with a Sherlock Holmes free skate. In my opinion Liebers paled by comparison, but it was still a good clean effort that deserved to be rewarded.

2011 Worlds-- Pairs SP McNotes

Quick update for those who can't watch live, and/or want to comment on the Pairs SP:

The Top 12 are as follows:


1) Pang/Tong 74.00 (Didn't see it yet but it sounds like their best performance of this all season)

2) Savchenko/Szolkowy 72.98 (Didn't see this yet)

3) Volosozhar/Trankov 70.35 (Dang, they did it again... just as strong as they were at Russians.)

4) Bazarova/Larionov 64.64 (Didn't see this yet)

5) Kavaguti/Smirnov 62.54 (They looked pretty good throughout, but Smirnov had a weird fall on a non-element that disrupted things for a couple moments)

6) Takahashi/Tran 59.16 (skated clean and brought a throw 3lutz I think?)

7) Duhamel/Radford 58.83 (unfortunately, the "highlight" of their pretty-good program was a bloody nose Radford endured during their triple twist...)

8) Yankowskas/Coughlin 58.76 (she had a step out on the SBS triple toe; he was yet another one who had a weird fall on a non-element. They'd be in at least 6th without the fall.)

9) Berton/Hotarek 57.63 (Didn't see yet)

10) Moore-Towers/Moscovitch 56.86 (Didn't see yet)

11) Evora/Ladwig 54.64 (Amanda went down on the SBS 3T)

12) Hausch/Wende 53.90 (Didn't see yet)

More to come, bright and early tomorrow morning (eastern time)!