*When I watch live skating from Japan I learn how much I love coffee!
Zhang and Zhang (China) - Fosse program still lacks pizazz but it was a little better. Dan has to figure out how to emote...she looks like a limp log out there...the music is Fosse...cut loose!
Kavaguti and Smirnov (Russia) - Lovely program with little awkward moments sprinkled in. Iffy toe loop landing for Yuko, slight collison on split twist, bad landing on throw, slight stumble at the end...not their best.
Savchenko and Szolkowy (Germany) - Beautiful choreography. Robin put his hand down on toe loop...that might be the difference between them and Shen and Zhao...will have to wait and see.
Mukhortova and Trankov (Russia) - Lovely! This team seems to be getting it together at just the right time.
Pang and Tong (China) - They breezed through their program like it was easy. Conservative scores from the judges...puzzling.
Shen and Zhao (China) - Again outclassed the field but a little roughness on a lift exit kept them from running away with it.
Crone and Poirier (Canada) - Good attack. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain so I say go for it 200%!
Kerr and Kerr (Great Britain) - Rushed a bit. John had some weird unfinished edges that made the program look sloppy at times. Good energy though.
Cappellini and Lanotte (Italy) - Charming program. Clean as a whistle but not that difficult.
Pechalat and Bourzat (France) - Solid. Similar to the Kerr's but a touch cleaner. Very close...very close.
Virtue and Moir (Canada) - Sizzlin'! That Flamenco has to be the best I've ever seen put on ice. Epic battle heating up here!
Davis and White (USA) - Looked nervous prior to beginning program but turned it up once they got going. Meryl Davis is so in tune with the character of this dance it's scary. Basically amazing, a season's best score, and the lead!
Akiko Suzuki (Japan) - Not sure if the Grand Prix Final is where you should be watering down the content. Took the lutz out of the program. Slightly under-rotated loop. Good attack though.
Ashley Wagner (USA) - Great performance but technical issues on the jumps...lots of two feet, under-rotations, and edge calls. She had great energy though.
Alena Leonova (Russia) - Whimsical. She manages to get the funky chicken in her program. Struggled on the lutz but lots of personality. Surprisingly solid score.
Joannie Rochette (Canada) - Seemed lifeless. Fell out of the back end of her combination and had to hang on to the flip. Still hasn't found her groove this season. BEHIND Leonova...wow.
Miki Ando (Japan) - Solid jumps but little else. Something weird happened during her layback (forgot a position/transition...not sure) and she had to redo a little choreography. Seemed to get a decent number from the judges.
Kim Yu-Na (S. Korea) - Seemed on her way until she singled her triple flip. Despite amazing choreography only made it to second place. Thinking she may have got downgraded on the triple toe as well. It's like "Stop the Press...Kim doesn't lead a short program!"
Tomas Verner (Czech Republic) - Opened with a gorgeous quad/triple combo and then singled his axel and lutz. Who does that?
Johnny Weir (USA) - Came out with gusto! Beautiful jumps and a big ole score in the mid 80s! Wowza!
Daisuke Takahashi (Japan) - Double wowza! Huge jumps, amazing footwork! He so close to catching the highest SP score of all time!
Jeremy Abbott (USA) - Great combo but iffy axel and a fall on the lutz. Still had strong components though.
Evan Lysacek (USA) - OMG! Amazing triple jumps and he sold that footwork like no other! Right behind behind Takahashi...I'm talking less than a point! Both are in the 89's!
Nobunari Oda (Japan) - The hits keep coming! Beautiful! His knee flexibility is enviable. Huge ovation. Into third just ahead of Weir.
*Weir, Oda, Lysacek, and Takahashi put on a short program for sure! The four of them are close! Who needs, Plushenko, Joubert, Chan, and Lambiel!?!?
10 comments:
I thought Pang/Tong's score was right on. It was just barely below Mukhortova/Trankov's score, which seems right. P/T's 3Ts could have been better synchronized and Pang's lift position is poor with no stretch. However, they at least attempt to emote during their programs. M/T seem so cold out there, even when they skate clean. So I am glad those two teams scored so close to each other.
I'm wondering how S/S scored as high as 73 with a hand down on his 3T. Then again, the entire event was scored high from the start with K/S receiving a 62 for an off performance and Z/Z scoring a 66 with an uninspired SP that she doesn't try to sell at all!
i was very amused that kavaguti returned to kawaguchi, now that she's in japan. very sneaky! probably trying to avoid getting tarred and feathered in her homeland.
have you ever watched her in the kiss-'n-cry? i'm sorry but she looks one breath shy of CRAZY! perhaps it's just her "air".
i am constantly amused that szolkowy is essentially in "white face" in their SP...sort of the reverse of old al jolson...which is no longer politically acceptable, of course.
i wish szol hadn't touched down...it would have made the pairs' result more interesting. (BUT, GO SHEN & ZHAO!!!!)
to my eye i felt virtue/moir should have come out on top, but i don't have the eye for that degree of subtlety in ice dance...davis/white looked more "controlled"...and seemed to skate with less abandon, but that may just be the nature of indian dance, vs. spanish, which inherently looks like it's with abandon, eh?
I'm so happy for SHEN & ZHAO. They should have scored much higher than the Germans who touch down on one of the jumps.
Davis/White skated amazingly fast. I think that was the breaker between them and the Canadians. It'll be interesting to see how the US judges score D/W against the "toothache ones"...
Glah.. Now I really want to see the videos of the men's SP!
Look like the top 4 were on fire!!
i haven't watched the ladies' shorts yet...but the men's shorts...OH MY!!!! what an exciting competition. now it's REALLY heating up. that is the BEST i have ever seen johnny skate. i was so proud of him. thankfully he's only a bit behind, so the free skate will really decide his fate. takahashi and lysacek of course were perfection. did oda do a triple/double combo, or were my eyes playing tricks on me?
Playing tricks...that lutz opened up so early it almost did look like a double.
Those top four guys were on!
i'm sorry but i HATE peter carruthers. PLEASE bring back ANYONE else, dick, peggy, ANYONE. he is terrible commentating for ladies' skating. i'm convinced he has issues with women...i can just feel it in his comments.
i thought ashley skated very well, and he was knocking her like she was a mess. but, then, i understand there was the two-footed landing and edge deduction...but it was BEAUTIFUL! and she made me care about the music and program.
miki and joanie were duller than dirt. wow...they've got to shape up. all season the ladies' shorts have been like this...with a few exceptions.
i love how when even is .10 behind daisuke they call it a virtual tie, but when kim is behind miki .65ish, they talk about it like it's the apocalypse. PLEASE!
haha. They put Joannie behind Alena Leonova where she belongs. No more freebie scores for her. She actually has to earn it!
Ladies shorts were kinda messy. No one did a perfect program. Miki came the closest to it (she had a weird spin in the end).
Very proud of Johnny. Surprised that Oda was couple points behind the other two. He skated just as well. Surprised that Evan got a score nearly as good as Takahashi. I guess Takahashi is back. Just add a quad and he got the Olympic silver in the bag unless Joubert (if he gets well enough) comes in with 3 quads. Too bad for Weir and Lysacek. Even with free clean programs, without quads means they will not get a medal if Takahashi, Joubert, Oda, Plushy all skated clean (which is a very big possibility). Even if Lysacek throws in a quad, he's still won't beat a clean Plushy, Takahashi, Joubert who all can do multiple quads).
Where is Lambiel?
Schedule is keeping me from watching, I've only caught the OD and the Pairs short so far. The Savchenko and Szolkowy SP is one for the record books; gorgeous choreo perfectly understood by quintessential artist-athletes.
Peter Carruthers said that Pang and Tong broke apart on their pairs spin and lost that element. When they went to change direction they had a weird issue and let go of eachother's hands - so I think that's why they were behind Mukhortova and Trankov.
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