Moore-Towers and Moscovitch (Canada) - This is the first time I had ever seen them. Pleasant team. Lots of excitement...good energy in the Kiss and Cry, seemed excited about their performance.
Yankowskas and Coughlin (USA) - Pretty amazing! Nice SBS Triple Toes, outstanding lifts, and Caitlin knows how to sell a program. Within striking distance of the teams ahead of them.
Ozerova and Enbert (Russia) - Missed throw and SBS jumps. Alexander is really tall...reminded me of Anton Sikharulidze sans solid skating.
Denney and Barrett (USA) - Small step-out on SBS triple from Jeremy but otherwise great. Speed was amazing and throw was gigantic...also in the medal hunt for third.
Langlois and Hay (Canada) - Looked kind of rusty but Anabelle was hanging on to everything and in the end they got the job done. Nice to see them back in action.
Dube and Davison (Canada) - Clunky performance. Jessica singled the SBS salchow and their footwork looked labored. Their skating skills held them to 3rd however.
Mukhortova and Trankov (Russia) - Maria was scratchy on the throw salchow but everything else was fine. Amazing speed. Easily ahead of Dube and Davison.
Savchenko and Szolkowy (Germany) - Pretty amazing performance...solid as a rock. However the general consensus is the clown make-up must go. 74.16, really close to Shen and Zhao and Zhang and Zhang's record SP score (both teams share the record, 74.36).
Amelie Lacoste (Canada) - Ho hum performance. Showed nice triple loop double loop combo. Decent speed. Good enough for top six finish in short, surprising.
Cynthia Phaneuf (Canada) - Looked stronger here than in Nagano. Like Lacoste, ended up in the top six after short despite problem on landing of lutz.
Mirai Nagasu (USA) - Looked sharp. Rotated everything. Score seemed conservative though...some head scratching. Tweeps weren't happy about this. Love the circular footwork.
Joshi Helgesson (Sweden) - Poor skate, poor scores, sad face. Last place.
Jenna McCorkell (Great Britain) - Good attack. Amazing triple flip, textbook. Really surprised she was scored low as well, thought she deserved a better placement.
Sarah Hecken (Germany) - Came out with twice the speed she had in Germany. Attempted triple toe triple tow combo...almost. Seemed happy with her skate.
Alissa Czisny (USA) - Wow! Really good. Judges perked up and took notice. Spins and spirals, as always, were unmatched and the jumps were on point!
Akiko Suzuki (Japan) - Stepped out of her flip but otherwise looked fine but, like Nagasu, got really low scores and ended up behind everyone...confusing.
Caroline Zhang (USA) - Thinking is she got downgraded but couldn't tell. Hit Triple Flip Triple Toe and went on to hit everything else, gave the program some zest but got poor scores. Confusing..need the pdf!
Laura Lepisto (Finland) - Botched her combination but pulled it together from that point. Good choreography kept her in top four.
Joannie Rochette (Canada) - Impressive. Came out with attack and speed. Hit everything well. Score of 70.00 seemed a bit generous without a triple triple but Kim Yu-Na is looking more and more catchable each day. Easily took the short program.
*I was very impressed with the American women here...there is a glimmer of hope for Vancouver!
*Couple notes on the CD. Virtue and Moir killed it and are leaps ahead of the pack. Poje and Weaver have snuck in ahead of Samuelson and Bates for third currently. Pechalat and Bourzat comfortably in second.
Joey Russell (Canada) - Showed good attack! Pulled a triple flip triple loop out of nowhere. Struggles on the triple axel.
Jeremy Ten (Canada) - Ouch! Missed every jump element. Cool program though...can't go wrong with the Beatles.
Armin Mahbanoozadeh (USA) - Had a silly little slip off the top but went on to hit all his jumps including a gorgeous triple axel!
Denis Ten (Kazakstan) - Brilliant. Hit all of his jumps and then sold it! Footwork was crazy ridiculous and full of life. Crowd erupted. Big score!
Stephen Carriere (USA) - Rushed through the whole program. Quick fall then rebounce on triple axel. Needs to find a way to let this program breathe. I think the slower more dramatic version of Carmina Burana would be helpful...just my opinion. Think Todd Eldredge 01-02 SP Carmina Burana...
Samuel Contesti (Italy) - Fun but botched his loop. Needs a bit more difficulty in his footwork. Unable to move ahead of Denis.
Daisuke Takahasi (Japan) - Came out swinging. After somehow cranking out a triple flip triple toe he electrified the house with stunning footwork. Pretty awesome.
Jeremy Abbott (USA) - Another awesome performance! This short program is fantastic and showcases every good quality in his skating. Takes the lead from Takahashi.
Michal Brezina (Czech Republic) - Huge triple axel that he has to work at landing then it was smooth sailing. While his skating was solid, needs more expression in his face.
Alban Preaubert (France) - Lots of fun and gorgeous triple axel. He upstaged Contesti here and was the master showman...decent score has him in the thick of it.
Patrick Chan (Canada) - Didn't go as planned. Fall on the axel and then only a triple flip double toe. Then he had a scratchy sit spin to boot! Came back with great footwork though. Oddly, despite all the problems had the highest PCS...hmmmmmm? Tweeps weren't happy about this.
Kevin Van der Perren (Belgium) - Singled his axel and the program lost all life at that point. He was slow and huffing and puffing at the end. He looks desperately frustrated with his skating right now...fix that.
OD isn't until tomorrow so I'll update post then.
UPDATE:
Hubbell and Hubbell (USA) - They were crusing through until Keiffer totally missed his twizzle. Oh well, the program is cute...Madison Hubbell just sparkles.
Bobrova and Soloviev (Russia) - Another fun program until Ekaterina fell on a twizzle. Finished strong though.
Samuelson and Bates (USA) - Lots of energy. This Dixie Chicks medley works for them! Nice to see an American team go after American Folk Music.
Weaver and Poje (Canada) - Great attack. Went after their program which was a gorgeous Paso/Flamenco Blend.
Pechalat and Bourzat (France) - Good flow and well done. Not as good as Samuelson and Bates' Country OD.
Virtue and Moir (Canada) - Little unsteady a couple of places then actually slipped coming around a corner. Somehow Scott held on to her and they didn't go down. Then Scott messed up a twizzle a little. Weird. Program still has great character!
5 comments:
I just now finished the ladies' short program and have moved onto the men's (still haven't seen pairs or dance, will have to wait until some other day)...and I'm just completely wowed by Denis Ten! Where did THAT come from?!
70 big ones for a short without a 3-3 or triple axel?
Only in Canada!
Why does Skate Canada always have the most obvious home country advantage of all the grand prix?
Dube/Davison were overscored, Joannie was overscored, Virtue/Moir were overscored and Patrick was overscored.
Pchiddy received the highest PCS. No overscoring there, my arse!
70 for no 3-3 and 40 for a tangoless tango. If Pchiddy skated relatively clean today he would have gotten a 90.
yes, how sad to see nagasu and zhang so undermarked.
i really felt like nagasu skated with abandon and spunk!
and, GO ALISSA! joanie was a dream.
so glad to see sav/szol back on top. can't wait to see their new LP!
(i have yet to watch the men's.)
They grade Joannie like this is Canadian nationals!! She was not THAT much better than Alissa. Puleez. Either way, neither of the top two is going to have a clean long anyway so we shall see.
It's really sad that these two young American girls just can't seem to get the international judges to like them. Down grade this and that. I thought Caroline would get a much better score but I guess she just skates too slow for the judges taste. I don't get it, why doesn't she just skates faster? So irritating! Maybe she needs to have a coach change or something. I think Nagasu have become a better skater since their junior rivalry. Caroline needs to step up. She needs to do those triple triples hundred times a day like Kevin Van der Perren so they are fully rotated! Now it definitely looks like the international judges are more into Flatt and Wagner. I would not be surprised to see those two get the Olympic spot. Oh yeah, and Alissa too if she doesn't fall apart. She's actually the most mature skater among all the US ladies. Just too bad she always fall apart during long. Boitano needs to make Alissa do those triples over and over again till she can't take it no more and make her jump one more time. If she does her program perfect, she can easily get an Olympic bronze if not silver.
Will you be singling out Joannie Rochette for her outrageously overscored performance at SC like you did to Yuna at TEB?
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