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!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
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…
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
2010 Worlds Day Two: Men's SP: The Young and The Vindicated
SO much to talk about! And yet before I forget:
RATINGS UPDATE: The Sunday episode of Thin Ice actually did a little better than Friday’s show: 4.3 million viewers, 2.9 rating/5 share… but Sunday is traditionally the most watched night of TV all week, so this looked kind of weak compared to other offerings.
And to really put it in perspective, consider these numbers pulled down by the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars (featuring U-NO-WHO): 24 million viewers, 15 rating/22.5 share… anywhere from 4 to 5 times as many viewers for a show like that.
Meanwhile, over at Universal Sports, there was a whole lotta competing going on.
MEN’S SP HIGHLIGHTS (and lowlights):
Artem Borodulin (RUS) automatically gets the “worst luck ever” award when he has to stop his program, then withdraw completely because his blade broke. Damn… what are the odds? Hope he hasn’t affiliated himself with a particular brand back in Russia...
Adrian Schultheiss (SWE) consequently has to get out there a little early, but was given enough time to adjust… 3lz/3toe yes… 3 ax yes! I’m still in shock about this music… so different from his free skate (which includes “Insane in the Brain” and a straitjacket!). Last triple good! Ooh, and a knee slide end coming out of his flying spin at the end! Wow! After the free skate he gave at the Olympics I’d love to see him make top 10 here. Glad the broken blade thing didn’t throw him off his game; maybe it did him some good? He gets a 72.35… Season high! Good boy! (I sound like Dick Button) IN 12th.
Ryan Bradley (USA) is next… I didn’t put him as a medalist, dark horse or anything, if only because he’s got a broken bone in his foot… but here in the SP he falls on his quad, then doubles his triple axel. Last triple looked OK but…this won’t get out of the 60s, will it? That’s my guess. Let’s see… season high on this for him is 66.22, so…56.10. OUCH. IN 21st.
Skip through several guys to… Jeremy or JeremEEE? (Abbott, of USA) Let’s see if he can get it back. 3 flip/3toe good…3ax YES, a tiny bit scratchy…3lutz YES… he’s back!!! I saw a smile as he did that cool part of his FW where he’s kind of hopping modern-dance style in front of the judges!! Crowd LOVES this piece… they were cheering as soon as the music started, really. Oh so happy. High 70s maybe? Not sure it’ll go 80’s with the axel; it might get dinged a little… oh, 81.05! Jeremy so funny in K& C; smiles, shrugs, says OK… IN 6th.
Sergei Voronov (RUS)—saw a quad/double w/hand down…But then whoa! The Universal online feed cut to black and we hear what sounds like Peter Carruthers talking to people as if they are getting ready for a show… yep, it’s Carruthers, and the “people” are Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski. (These three contributed to the action all day in the “Universal loft”.) When do we see more skaters? Hmm… Voronov had 73.42. IN 11th.
OK, they’ve moved on at Universal; now we’ve got Takahiko Kozuka (JPN) getting all his jumps clean and an awesome death drop… Paul Wylie and Andrea Joyce are on the VO commentary. Ooh that was great…but dammit, Italian world video feed, how dare you get off of him too early to show his coach! That’s unacceptable.
Kozuka may have bested Jeremy with that… yep, 84.20. If I was guessing, I’d say he got better points on the axel and the spins… Jeremy’s were great, but Kozuka’s were outstanding. IN 4th.
Nobunari Oda (JPN)—Ooh, he popped the triple axel. And now popped his lutz too. You knew it would happen as soon as I called him for bronze, huh? Oh my God… a THIRD pop… yep, Paul just said he won’t make the cut with this… good Lord, what is it with this guy?? Maybe he should only skate half the season. Even his footwork was rough. This is even worse than when Lu Chen’s lovely “Take Five” program blew up at ’97 Worlds. Wow. What do you say…A 50.25! That was generous. I know it was all in PCS numbers but… doesn’t matter; he’s already in 20th. Buh-BYE. You mean we won’t even SEE his Chaplin??? Well yes… yes, that’s exactly what I mean. I need to stop trying to predict stuff. (NOTE: He ended the day in 28th; his TES (tech element score), as 16.90, was the second lowest of the entire field of 46 skaters. Give me a week or two back on the ice, and I could jump at least as well as that).
Patrick Chan (CAN) is back to form. Nice 3axel… nice 3/3… 3 lutz good… yep, he’s looking fierce. Brilliant stuff. He’ll make top 3 in this part of it for sure. 87.80. IN 2nd.
And then, Daisuke Takahashi (JPN) is up… and he’s so dang good I forgot to take notes :-)… but everything was clean, snazzy, spectacular. Take my word. 89.30. IN 1st.
Up next is Samuel Contesti (ITA); ooh, forgot he’s the “local” favorite (I use quotes because he’s actually French). 3/3 is OK but slow… 3axel okay… 3flip was “tight” according to Wylie… he did it in “winning ugly” style, but at least he did it. 78.40. IN 8th.
Oh boy, here comes Brian Joubert (FRA). Which one showed up today? Let’s see… 4/3 toe—got it! 3 axel—done! 3lutz brings a fist pump from the now humbled Joubert. I was over this SP of his a long time ago, but I’m glad he pulled it out. 87.70… IN 3rd, and I can hear the “value of a quad” debates from here!
Kevin Van derPerren (BEL)—Andrea Joyce gets off my favorite comment yet about the Bones getup: “…Van der Perren in a costume that seemed a good idea... back in October…” HA!He pulls off a 4t/3toe! No kidding! But then falls on his 3axel. 3flip is OK but as usual, his spins and footwork are very pedestrian. 73.55; IN 10th.
Michal Brezina (CZE) is squeaky clean throughout with great speed and run-out on his jumps; I suspect this could be in the point range of JeremEEE’s… yup, 81.75. IN 5th.
Adam Rippon (USA)’s here. Walley into 3 flip/3toe nice…and the axel? Eh, double-threes out. Better than a fall anyway. “Rippon Lutz” w/ arms up beeeauty and no boards crash this time. 80.11!!!!! Unexpectedly good and grand. IN 7th.
Denis Ten (KAZ)… all jumping passes are clean; oh boy; I suspect this will be his best turn all season with this program. I’m pretty impressed how many of these guys saved the best (or near best) for last, at least w/regards to the SP. Could sneak into the top 6 with that…? Nope, 77.40 and IN 10th… at age 16. Crazy.
Oh, and we’re back to hearing open mics on Carruthers & Co. online. “Where’s Abbott?” he asks while they’re in black…Sorry; it’s probably not as amusing to y’all but one of the little perks of working in TV production is sitting in a control room waiting to roll tape, and the mics are open in the studio, and you can sometimes hear all KINDS of things you never expected…
Peter, Tara and Johnny chew the fat for a while… analyze Ryan and Jeremy… talk about Worlds vs. Olympics… then they had 10 minutes to fill so we did a “director’s cut” on Johnny’s Olympic FS. He certainly sounds like someone who is talking about competing in the past tense… until we’ve got the whole “unfinished business” bit he talks about at the very end… whatever.
I know the Pairs FS was today as well, but my notes are unfinished… will post them as early as I can in the morning!
RATINGS UPDATE: The Sunday episode of Thin Ice actually did a little better than Friday’s show: 4.3 million viewers, 2.9 rating/5 share… but Sunday is traditionally the most watched night of TV all week, so this looked kind of weak compared to other offerings.
And to really put it in perspective, consider these numbers pulled down by the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars (featuring U-NO-WHO): 24 million viewers, 15 rating/22.5 share… anywhere from 4 to 5 times as many viewers for a show like that.
Meanwhile, over at Universal Sports, there was a whole lotta competing going on.
MEN’S SP HIGHLIGHTS (and lowlights):
Artem Borodulin (RUS) automatically gets the “worst luck ever” award when he has to stop his program, then withdraw completely because his blade broke. Damn… what are the odds? Hope he hasn’t affiliated himself with a particular brand back in Russia...
Adrian Schultheiss (SWE) consequently has to get out there a little early, but was given enough time to adjust… 3lz/3toe yes… 3 ax yes! I’m still in shock about this music… so different from his free skate (which includes “Insane in the Brain” and a straitjacket!). Last triple good! Ooh, and a knee slide end coming out of his flying spin at the end! Wow! After the free skate he gave at the Olympics I’d love to see him make top 10 here. Glad the broken blade thing didn’t throw him off his game; maybe it did him some good? He gets a 72.35… Season high! Good boy! (I sound like Dick Button) IN 12th.
Ryan Bradley (USA) is next… I didn’t put him as a medalist, dark horse or anything, if only because he’s got a broken bone in his foot… but here in the SP he falls on his quad, then doubles his triple axel. Last triple looked OK but…this won’t get out of the 60s, will it? That’s my guess. Let’s see… season high on this for him is 66.22, so…56.10. OUCH. IN 21st.
Skip through several guys to… Jeremy or JeremEEE? (Abbott, of USA) Let’s see if he can get it back. 3 flip/3toe good…3ax YES, a tiny bit scratchy…3lutz YES… he’s back!!! I saw a smile as he did that cool part of his FW where he’s kind of hopping modern-dance style in front of the judges!! Crowd LOVES this piece… they were cheering as soon as the music started, really. Oh so happy. High 70s maybe? Not sure it’ll go 80’s with the axel; it might get dinged a little… oh, 81.05! Jeremy so funny in K& C; smiles, shrugs, says OK… IN 6th.
Sergei Voronov (RUS)—saw a quad/double w/hand down…But then whoa! The Universal online feed cut to black and we hear what sounds like Peter Carruthers talking to people as if they are getting ready for a show… yep, it’s Carruthers, and the “people” are Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski. (These three contributed to the action all day in the “Universal loft”.) When do we see more skaters? Hmm… Voronov had 73.42. IN 11th.
OK, they’ve moved on at Universal; now we’ve got Takahiko Kozuka (JPN) getting all his jumps clean and an awesome death drop… Paul Wylie and Andrea Joyce are on the VO commentary. Ooh that was great…but dammit, Italian world video feed, how dare you get off of him too early to show his coach! That’s unacceptable.
Kozuka may have bested Jeremy with that… yep, 84.20. If I was guessing, I’d say he got better points on the axel and the spins… Jeremy’s were great, but Kozuka’s were outstanding. IN 4th.
Nobunari Oda (JPN)—Ooh, he popped the triple axel. And now popped his lutz too. You knew it would happen as soon as I called him for bronze, huh? Oh my God… a THIRD pop… yep, Paul just said he won’t make the cut with this… good Lord, what is it with this guy?? Maybe he should only skate half the season. Even his footwork was rough. This is even worse than when Lu Chen’s lovely “Take Five” program blew up at ’97 Worlds. Wow. What do you say…A 50.25! That was generous. I know it was all in PCS numbers but… doesn’t matter; he’s already in 20th. Buh-BYE. You mean we won’t even SEE his Chaplin??? Well yes… yes, that’s exactly what I mean. I need to stop trying to predict stuff. (NOTE: He ended the day in 28th; his TES (tech element score), as 16.90, was the second lowest of the entire field of 46 skaters. Give me a week or two back on the ice, and I could jump at least as well as that).
Patrick Chan (CAN) is back to form. Nice 3axel… nice 3/3… 3 lutz good… yep, he’s looking fierce. Brilliant stuff. He’ll make top 3 in this part of it for sure. 87.80. IN 2nd.
And then, Daisuke Takahashi (JPN) is up… and he’s so dang good I forgot to take notes :-)… but everything was clean, snazzy, spectacular. Take my word. 89.30. IN 1st.
Up next is Samuel Contesti (ITA); ooh, forgot he’s the “local” favorite (I use quotes because he’s actually French). 3/3 is OK but slow… 3axel okay… 3flip was “tight” according to Wylie… he did it in “winning ugly” style, but at least he did it. 78.40. IN 8th.
Oh boy, here comes Brian Joubert (FRA). Which one showed up today? Let’s see… 4/3 toe—got it! 3 axel—done! 3lutz brings a fist pump from the now humbled Joubert. I was over this SP of his a long time ago, but I’m glad he pulled it out. 87.70… IN 3rd, and I can hear the “value of a quad” debates from here!
Kevin Van derPerren (BEL)—Andrea Joyce gets off my favorite comment yet about the Bones getup: “…Van der Perren in a costume that seemed a good idea... back in October…” HA!He pulls off a 4t/3toe! No kidding! But then falls on his 3axel. 3flip is OK but as usual, his spins and footwork are very pedestrian. 73.55; IN 10th.
Michal Brezina (CZE) is squeaky clean throughout with great speed and run-out on his jumps; I suspect this could be in the point range of JeremEEE’s… yup, 81.75. IN 5th.
Adam Rippon (USA)’s here. Walley into 3 flip/3toe nice…and the axel? Eh, double-threes out. Better than a fall anyway. “Rippon Lutz” w/ arms up beeeauty and no boards crash this time. 80.11!!!!! Unexpectedly good and grand. IN 7th.
Denis Ten (KAZ)… all jumping passes are clean; oh boy; I suspect this will be his best turn all season with this program. I’m pretty impressed how many of these guys saved the best (or near best) for last, at least w/regards to the SP. Could sneak into the top 6 with that…? Nope, 77.40 and IN 10th… at age 16. Crazy.
Oh, and we’re back to hearing open mics on Carruthers & Co. online. “Where’s Abbott?” he asks while they’re in black…Sorry; it’s probably not as amusing to y’all but one of the little perks of working in TV production is sitting in a control room waiting to roll tape, and the mics are open in the studio, and you can sometimes hear all KINDS of things you never expected…
Peter, Tara and Johnny chew the fat for a while… analyze Ryan and Jeremy… talk about Worlds vs. Olympics… then they had 10 minutes to fill so we did a “director’s cut” on Johnny’s Olympic FS. He certainly sounds like someone who is talking about competing in the past tense… until we’ve got the whole “unfinished business” bit he talks about at the very end… whatever.
I know the Pairs FS was today as well, but my notes are unfinished… will post them as early as I can in the morning!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Worlds Predictions Day Two (Men's/Ladies); Worlds Itself Day One
Before I give a few observations about the opening events at Worlds, let’s do some guessin’…
For the MEN:
Gold—Daisuke Takahashi
Silver—Patrick Chan
Bronze—Nobunari Oda
By this point in the season, I think I’m back to picking more of who I’d like to see win than who I think (based on recent results) has the best shot at it. With Dice-K, it certainly doesn’t hurt that he’s the top-finishing Olympian at the event. But as I think I’ve said at least once before, La Strada is probably my favorite men’s free program of the whole season. And the nice thing here is that even if he misses his quad again, he still stands a decent chance at the top. Chan will rebound a little, I think, but I’m doubtful that it will be enough for gold. And Oda’s Chaplin has gotten the short shrift of late—such a shame that he’ll be remembered more for his broken lace in Vancouver than much of his skating, which was still quite good. He’s missed the mark at Worlds for many years now, so I’m hoping this nifty program of his finally serves him well enough for a medal.
But this event is probably the least predictable of all. Brian Joubert could come back strong here, or he could have mentally checked out for the season. Jeremy Abbott could find the third time’s the charm and skate at Worlds as he’s wanted to for three years… or he could be haunted by Olympic-sized ghosts. Takahiko Kozuka is marvelous, and as capable of medaling as anyone. And I can think of at least three rookies—France’s Florent Amodio, Czech Republic’s Michal Brezina, and even the U.S.’s own Adam Rippon—who could make significant splashes in this somewhat smaller pond.
And the LADIES…
Gold—Kim Yu-Na
Silver—Mao Asada
Bronze—Miki Ando
I don’t suppose I’m going out on much of a limb here. We already know that Asada, at her best (read: with all three triple axels), cannot defeat Kim these days. Kim may be the most burned-out athlete of all of them right about now, but I suspect even a Kim Yu-Na at 80 or 85% will come out a winner this season. I suppose logic would dictate that Olympics finisher #4 (Mirai Nagasu) will move into the bronze void left by Joannie Rochette, but I’m afraid I don’t see it just yet. Ando’s skating has become less inspiring to me as each performance goes by this season, but world medals are familiar territory to her and I think she’ll hang in there. As for the possible spoilers… on my list this time are both U.S. ladies (Nagasu and Flatt), plus Akiko Suzuki (I’d LOVE to see her take bronze rather than Ando, but I don’t think she has enough tech. difficulty to pull it off under normal conditions)… and I guess we have to include Laura Lepisto, since she pulled down the fourth-best free skate in Vancouver.
OK, on to TORINO DAY ONE.
+ Compulsories are over for Ice Dance, and as I understand it they could really be over, if the vote this summer is cast as such by the ISU. We’ll have to get back to that in the off-season.
+ Virtue/Moir, Davis/White, and Faiella/Scali went 1-2-3, but it was a nice surprise to see the North Americans so close in points (44.13 for V/M; 43.25 for D/W) given how much we’ve heard all year about how D/W’s weakest link is their compulsories.
+ The difference in score between # 4-5-6 (Pechalat/Bourzat, Khokhlova/Novitski, and Kerr/Kerr, respectively)? Less than .25. Yeowsers.
+ Samuelson/Bates are currently in 10th, with a score just .10 above last year’s (which had them in 13th after the CD). Navarro/Bommentre are in 14th.
+ In pairs SP, both Pang/Tong and Kavaguti/Smirnov skated clean, and finished 1-2 for the day.
+ Mukortova/Trankov were clean as well, though they are currently 4th behind Savchenko/Szolkowy despite his doubling on the SBS 3toes. Discontent body language abounded (especially from Trankov)at the sight of those scores.
+ Zhang/Zhang skated like they want the season over with already. They’re currently in 5th.
+ USA’s Denney/Barrett skated like they never want the season to end. They went clean, and are in 6th. Russia’s youngest team, Bazarova/Larionov, are a surprise 7th.
+ Dube/Davison are in 8th after yet another fall from Dube on the SBS 3salchow… their PCS (artistic) mark being the only thing that kept them ahead of USA’s Evora/Ladwig (again skating clean, as they did in the SP in Vancouver)… and France’s team of Vanessa James and Yannick Bonheur, who might be something of a surprise in 10th (though if you watch their Olympic performances, not such a shock).
The men skate tomorrow morning…
For the MEN:
Gold—Daisuke Takahashi
Silver—Patrick Chan
Bronze—Nobunari Oda
By this point in the season, I think I’m back to picking more of who I’d like to see win than who I think (based on recent results) has the best shot at it. With Dice-K, it certainly doesn’t hurt that he’s the top-finishing Olympian at the event. But as I think I’ve said at least once before, La Strada is probably my favorite men’s free program of the whole season. And the nice thing here is that even if he misses his quad again, he still stands a decent chance at the top. Chan will rebound a little, I think, but I’m doubtful that it will be enough for gold. And Oda’s Chaplin has gotten the short shrift of late—such a shame that he’ll be remembered more for his broken lace in Vancouver than much of his skating, which was still quite good. He’s missed the mark at Worlds for many years now, so I’m hoping this nifty program of his finally serves him well enough for a medal.
But this event is probably the least predictable of all. Brian Joubert could come back strong here, or he could have mentally checked out for the season. Jeremy Abbott could find the third time’s the charm and skate at Worlds as he’s wanted to for three years… or he could be haunted by Olympic-sized ghosts. Takahiko Kozuka is marvelous, and as capable of medaling as anyone. And I can think of at least three rookies—France’s Florent Amodio, Czech Republic’s Michal Brezina, and even the U.S.’s own Adam Rippon—who could make significant splashes in this somewhat smaller pond.
And the LADIES…
Gold—Kim Yu-Na
Silver—Mao Asada
Bronze—Miki Ando
I don’t suppose I’m going out on much of a limb here. We already know that Asada, at her best (read: with all three triple axels), cannot defeat Kim these days. Kim may be the most burned-out athlete of all of them right about now, but I suspect even a Kim Yu-Na at 80 or 85% will come out a winner this season. I suppose logic would dictate that Olympics finisher #4 (Mirai Nagasu) will move into the bronze void left by Joannie Rochette, but I’m afraid I don’t see it just yet. Ando’s skating has become less inspiring to me as each performance goes by this season, but world medals are familiar territory to her and I think she’ll hang in there. As for the possible spoilers… on my list this time are both U.S. ladies (Nagasu and Flatt), plus Akiko Suzuki (I’d LOVE to see her take bronze rather than Ando, but I don’t think she has enough tech. difficulty to pull it off under normal conditions)… and I guess we have to include Laura Lepisto, since she pulled down the fourth-best free skate in Vancouver.
OK, on to TORINO DAY ONE.
+ Compulsories are over for Ice Dance, and as I understand it they could really be over, if the vote this summer is cast as such by the ISU. We’ll have to get back to that in the off-season.
+ Virtue/Moir, Davis/White, and Faiella/Scali went 1-2-3, but it was a nice surprise to see the North Americans so close in points (44.13 for V/M; 43.25 for D/W) given how much we’ve heard all year about how D/W’s weakest link is their compulsories.
+ The difference in score between # 4-5-6 (Pechalat/Bourzat, Khokhlova/Novitski, and Kerr/Kerr, respectively)? Less than .25. Yeowsers.
+ Samuelson/Bates are currently in 10th, with a score just .10 above last year’s (which had them in 13th after the CD). Navarro/Bommentre are in 14th.
+ In pairs SP, both Pang/Tong and Kavaguti/Smirnov skated clean, and finished 1-2 for the day.
+ Mukortova/Trankov were clean as well, though they are currently 4th behind Savchenko/Szolkowy despite his doubling on the SBS 3toes. Discontent body language abounded (especially from Trankov)at the sight of those scores.
+ Zhang/Zhang skated like they want the season over with already. They’re currently in 5th.
+ USA’s Denney/Barrett skated like they never want the season to end. They went clean, and are in 6th. Russia’s youngest team, Bazarova/Larionov, are a surprise 7th.
+ Dube/Davison are in 8th after yet another fall from Dube on the SBS 3salchow… their PCS (artistic) mark being the only thing that kept them ahead of USA’s Evora/Ladwig (again skating clean, as they did in the SP in Vancouver)… and France’s team of Vanessa James and Yannick Bonheur, who might be something of a surprise in 10th (though if you watch their Olympic performances, not such a shock).
The men skate tomorrow morning…
Monday, March 22, 2010
2010 Worlds: Who's Left? Who's Watching? Who'll Win? (Dance & Pairs)
The Olympics season is such a long one for skaters these days… I suppose several of the Worlds entrants were road-testing their programs at national and international events as far back as 7-8 months ago… and not just the lower-level skaters; Jeremy Abbott, to name just one, was competing his current programs at the DuPage Open over the summer.
So it always seems like no small miracle to not only make it Worlds, but to even think about doing some of your best work there… especially if you were also at the Olympics a few weeks ago. But regardless of who shows or doesn’t show in a particular discipline, a Worlds title in an Olympic year is just as earned as it is in the other years… and maybe more important, placements are just as valuable in order to earn the max number of spots for a team. The top two U.S. men, for instance, still have to finish without exceeding 13 in their placements to get 3 slots again for next year. In other words, anti-climactic doesn’t equal unimportant.
Having said that, here’s what you need to know about actually SEEING Worlds this year…
+ They’re not on NBC. I don’t think there were ever any plans to put them on NBC this time; when I spoke to NBC Sports Exec Producer David Michaels late last year in one of our interviews for my book, the plans to carry Worlds on NBC’s Universal Sports sub-channel were already in place. So it has nothing to do with how skating did for NBC during the Olympics…
+ The Universal Sports coverage will be LIVE, but it will be in primarily 2-hour blocks, featuring most likely the final 2 flights of every event. Since Worlds is in Torino this time, everything will subsequentially air during daytime hours in the U.S.
+ If you’re looking for wall-to-wall coverage a la Ice Network—since Universal Sports owns the rights (Internet rights too), the wall-to-wall will be found at universalsports.com. (I presume it will be the world feed with no commentary, as it is for most of IceNetwork’s GP coverage).
Required Elements has posted an awesome rundown of what airs online/on TV and when, so please go check that out and come back :-) Compulsory dance kicks off at 7AM Eastern time TUESDAY online… no TV coverage of the CD this time.
Moving on to predictions, part 1…
For ICE DANCE:
Gold—Virtue/Moir (Canada)
Silver—Davis/White (USA)
Bronze—Faiella/Scali (Italy)
Barring a bout with food poisoning, shark attack, or other Act of God, I’m guessing the gold and silver medals are sewn up already. With Dom/Shab and Belgosto, last year’s #1/2, both out of the running, I can’t imagine anyone else for the job of holding down those top two places on the podium. (And V/M and D/W weren’t close enough in the Olympic standings for me to think there will be a big battle for gold.) As for bronze, the Italians’ closest competition in Vancouver was Delobel/Schoenfelder… who are not here… and I believe they were five points ahead of Pechalat/Bourzat, which seems a little much to be negligible. But we shall see Pech/Bourz would be my best bet to challenge for that bronze; I’d love to say the Kerrs were in the running, but it just wasn’t close enough. (Curses to those twizzles of John’s, which never help!
Also, I’m hopeful that Samuelson/Bates will break into the Top 10 for the first time… they were 11th last year. Navarro/Bommentre were 12th at Worlds 2 years ago, but here I think they would do well to stay in the Top 15.
For PAIRS:
Gold—Pang/Tong (China)
Silver—Savchenko/Szolkowy (Germany)
Bronze—Mukhortova/Trankov (Russia)
A lot of folks out there believe Pang/Tong were robbed of Olympic gold this time around… and I can see why they say that. As far as this event goes, P/T actually did win it, at the last post-Olympic worlds. I’d hazard a guess that both they and Zhang/Zhang will be moving on after this season, so I’d enjoy seeing them wrap up their eligible status this way. Sav/Szol, at this point, would do well to end the year with silver as it just hasn’t been a stellar season. Are you surprised by my bronze pick? I’ve concluded that I’m not very comfortable watching Kavaguti/Smirnov anymore… I know they’ve had better overall scores, but proportionally it just feels more and more forced…and Kavaguti’s desire to do well for her coach and herself must’ve taken a beating in Vancouver. It’ll be interesting to see if they repeat as medalists, but for once I wouldn’t mind seeing Muk/Trank triumph, just as they did at the start of the season. Of course dark horses abound—everyone from Kav/Smir to Canada’s Dube/Davison (if she can get that dang triple salchow) to Canada’s Langlois/Hay (but if they stick with the double twist rather than triple, probably not). I wouldn’t put either American pair in that race yet, though. The goals with them are to earn 3 spots for next year; that’s good enough for now (and I’d say attainable, if Evora/Ladwig can keep the confidence infused within them as they did in Vancouver).
For the Clip of the Day, I’ve got Pang and Tong’s exhibition performance from the 2006 Worlds Gala… listen to what is said about their history at the end of the performance. I hope they do well if they’re moving on to pros after this—they’ve lived under one of the biggest shadows pairs skating has ever seen, and still managed to grow beautifully in the process. No small feat.
So it always seems like no small miracle to not only make it Worlds, but to even think about doing some of your best work there… especially if you were also at the Olympics a few weeks ago. But regardless of who shows or doesn’t show in a particular discipline, a Worlds title in an Olympic year is just as earned as it is in the other years… and maybe more important, placements are just as valuable in order to earn the max number of spots for a team. The top two U.S. men, for instance, still have to finish without exceeding 13 in their placements to get 3 slots again for next year. In other words, anti-climactic doesn’t equal unimportant.
Having said that, here’s what you need to know about actually SEEING Worlds this year…
+ They’re not on NBC. I don’t think there were ever any plans to put them on NBC this time; when I spoke to NBC Sports Exec Producer David Michaels late last year in one of our interviews for my book, the plans to carry Worlds on NBC’s Universal Sports sub-channel were already in place. So it has nothing to do with how skating did for NBC during the Olympics…
+ The Universal Sports coverage will be LIVE, but it will be in primarily 2-hour blocks, featuring most likely the final 2 flights of every event. Since Worlds is in Torino this time, everything will subsequentially air during daytime hours in the U.S.
+ If you’re looking for wall-to-wall coverage a la Ice Network—since Universal Sports owns the rights (Internet rights too), the wall-to-wall will be found at universalsports.com. (I presume it will be the world feed with no commentary, as it is for most of IceNetwork’s GP coverage).
Required Elements has posted an awesome rundown of what airs online/on TV and when, so please go check that out and come back :-) Compulsory dance kicks off at 7AM Eastern time TUESDAY online… no TV coverage of the CD this time.
Moving on to predictions, part 1…
For ICE DANCE:
Gold—Virtue/Moir (Canada)
Silver—Davis/White (USA)
Bronze—Faiella/Scali (Italy)
Barring a bout with food poisoning, shark attack, or other Act of God, I’m guessing the gold and silver medals are sewn up already. With Dom/Shab and Belgosto, last year’s #1/2, both out of the running, I can’t imagine anyone else for the job of holding down those top two places on the podium. (And V/M and D/W weren’t close enough in the Olympic standings for me to think there will be a big battle for gold.) As for bronze, the Italians’ closest competition in Vancouver was Delobel/Schoenfelder… who are not here… and I believe they were five points ahead of Pechalat/Bourzat, which seems a little much to be negligible. But we shall see Pech/Bourz would be my best bet to challenge for that bronze; I’d love to say the Kerrs were in the running, but it just wasn’t close enough. (Curses to those twizzles of John’s, which never help!
Also, I’m hopeful that Samuelson/Bates will break into the Top 10 for the first time… they were 11th last year. Navarro/Bommentre were 12th at Worlds 2 years ago, but here I think they would do well to stay in the Top 15.
For PAIRS:
Gold—Pang/Tong (China)
Silver—Savchenko/Szolkowy (Germany)
Bronze—Mukhortova/Trankov (Russia)
A lot of folks out there believe Pang/Tong were robbed of Olympic gold this time around… and I can see why they say that. As far as this event goes, P/T actually did win it, at the last post-Olympic worlds. I’d hazard a guess that both they and Zhang/Zhang will be moving on after this season, so I’d enjoy seeing them wrap up their eligible status this way. Sav/Szol, at this point, would do well to end the year with silver as it just hasn’t been a stellar season. Are you surprised by my bronze pick? I’ve concluded that I’m not very comfortable watching Kavaguti/Smirnov anymore… I know they’ve had better overall scores, but proportionally it just feels more and more forced…and Kavaguti’s desire to do well for her coach and herself must’ve taken a beating in Vancouver. It’ll be interesting to see if they repeat as medalists, but for once I wouldn’t mind seeing Muk/Trank triumph, just as they did at the start of the season. Of course dark horses abound—everyone from Kav/Smir to Canada’s Dube/Davison (if she can get that dang triple salchow) to Canada’s Langlois/Hay (but if they stick with the double twist rather than triple, probably not). I wouldn’t put either American pair in that race yet, though. The goals with them are to earn 3 spots for next year; that’s good enough for now (and I’d say attainable, if Evora/Ladwig can keep the confidence infused within them as they did in Vancouver).
For the Clip of the Day, I’ve got Pang and Tong’s exhibition performance from the 2006 Worlds Gala… listen to what is said about their history at the end of the performance. I hope they do well if they’re moving on to pros after this—they’ve lived under one of the biggest shadows pairs skating has ever seen, and still managed to grow beautifully in the process. No small feat.
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