Yu and Wang (China) - First half moved well across the ice. Good transition from Waltz to Tango. So so on presentation.
Coomes and Buckland (Great Britain) - Seemed to move quick across the ice. Felt frantic at times. Twizzles seemed out of sync and off balance. Meh.
Reed and Reed (Japan) - Clearly looked the most put together of the teams this far but unfortunately Chris slipped on his twizzle. Clever music and costuming.
Ilinykh and Katsalapov (Russia) - Breezing through until Nikita had a little trouble with some turns in the straight-line footwork. Blazing fast twizzles! Still, leaps ahead of the rest at this point.
Mysliveckova and Novak (Czech Republic) - Felt like they could slip at any moment. Twizzles were kind of a hot mess, barely managed. Whole routine felt "barely managed."
Shibutani and Shibutani (United States) - Crusing along...beautiful. But Alex got caught in Maia's skirt and a tumble ensues. Darn...still lovely though.
Weaver and Poje (Canada) - Just pushed through the program with great speed. No major problems and nice presentation. Sneak ahead of the Russians by a smidge.
Cappellini and Lanotte (Italy) - Save some unison and quality issues on the twizzles...clear sailing. Great music choices for them...really sold it. Fun steps and lifts. But then only third place...hmmmmm.
Davis and White (Unites States) - Obvious class of the field. Amazing Twizzles and speed. First place by heaps!
*In general, I found the short dances rushed. All the teams seemed as though they were frantically trying to complete all the required elements in time.
**I don't like how the prescribed dance steps seem stiff and then the original choreography seems less stiff...doesn't mix well.
Bazarova and Larionov (Russia) - Nice job. No fireworks but they put down a decent performance. Solid Russian basics.
Hausch and Wende (Germany) - Nice sbs triple toes. Not quite the level of skating skills as the Russians but nice job overall.
Yankowskas and Coughlin (United States) - Nice performance. Lift was spectacular as always. Timing issue on the sbs spins. Into second but good job.
Zhang and Wang (China) - Lifeless...lacked polish. Nice throw though.
Brodeur and Mattatal (Canada) - Effervescent performance. Lacked some umpfh though. Not bad for last minute entries. Got ahead of Yankowskas and Coughlin by a hair.
Denney and Barrett (United States) - New sophistication. David Wilson choreo works. Solid elements as always. Puzzling to see them go behind Russians.
Takahashi and Tran (Japan) - Some fun quirky moments and interesting transitions. Sync issues here and there. Even more puzzling to see them go ahead of Denney and Barrett...huh?
Pang and Tong (China) - Clean as a whistle...program felt like it wouldn't end though. Kind of slow music that goes nowhere. But of course a huge lead.
Lena Marrocco (France) - Green. Lacked spark and flow.
Diane Szmiett (Canada) - Jumps didn't work. Almost fell on footwork. Another uninspired program. Seemed like she didn't want to be there.
Viktoria Helgesson (Sweden) - Lovely piece of music that she rushed all the way through. Excessive arm movements killed the program for me. Fall on Flip didn't help.
Jenna McCorkell (Great Britain) - She's never been a very elegant skater so I love the "muscle" music. Nice lutz combo. Spins and footwork need some speed.
Ashley Wagner (United States) - Nice presentation. Close jump landings and lutz still looks a little "flutzy." Good speed throughout.
Kanako Murakami (Japan) - Sold the choreography brilliantly. Lots of fun and great jumps. Nabbed the lead and gave a big smile in the K&C.
Elene Gedevanishvili (Georgia) - Promising start with triple lutz, but missed her combo and singled the axel. Life went out of program to Cell Block Tango.
Caroline Zhang (United States) - Showed much improved technique on jumps and a wee bit more speed. Also more expression in the choreography. Tried easier content but she did it pretty well! Nice job. Third behind Kanako and Ashley...seems fair.
Racahel Flatt (United States) - First half of the program is vintage Flatt...safe, secure, solid. She cuts loose a bit in the back half of the program after she "strips." Another hot wave included. Behind Murakami, I think they didn't like her lutz a lot.
Kiira Korpi (Finland) - Pleasant. Nothing special. One of those skaters that seems to get points from the "nether regions" above. Slips in just below Ashley.
Carolina Kostner (Italy) - Way easy jump content. Somewhat "forced artistry." Good footwork and spins. Somehow gets the lead...I cannot fathom how! Murakami, Flatt, and Wagner where easily better. Easily I say! Why do the judges love her so.
Mao Asada (Japan) - Technical meltdown. Missed triple axel and then singled the flip. Tomorrow's newspaper headline..."World Champ Asada in 8th Place After Short!"
Jeremy Ten (Canada) - Great choreography. After nice triple axel missed his next two jumping passes. Great program artistically but sorely lacking technical content.
Ross Miner (United States) - Good energy. Hand down on triple axel but smooth sailing from that point. Busy choreography...program feels a little rushed at times.
Takahito Mura (Japan) - Huge quad toe triple toe to open program but the next jumping passed missed a bit. Great selection of music but no real connection to it in choreo.
Jialiang Wu (China) - Lots of times Chinese skaters don't give much attention to artistry and Wu did. Clean program and nice presentation I thought.
Florent Amodio (France) - Crazy good! Fast and super solid triples. Footwork is sick!
Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan) - Super fast! Almost headbutted the ice on his lutz but managed to keep it on one foot and cranked a triple toe behind it! Huge triple axel. Close behind Amodio. Nice senior debut.
Shawn Sawyer (Canada) - Killer choreo as always. I want him to get that triple axel under his belt once and for all! Nabs the lead with ridic skating skills.
Denis Ten (Kazakhstan) - Tight. Stepped out of the opening axel and spins lacked some speed. Not the usual Denis Ten pop. Also, what is it with Frank Carroll skaters and the funeral atire?
Adrian Schultheiss (Sweden) - Bland music that droned on. Double his flip and the program never went anywhere. Way down in the standings.
Kevin van der Perren (Belgium) - Slow program to a remix of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet didn't work. Kept doubling jumps...way near the bottom. Looks to hate skating again.
Daisuke Takahashi (Japan) - Botched his axel a bit but then sold it to no end. Footwork was out of control amazing. Looked like he had fun. Decent score and into the lead.
Jeremy Abbott (United States) - Controlled and confident! Program looked super polished and was amazing start to finish. Crazy attention to detail in choreo. Everyone is shaking their heads why he is second behind Takahashi.
5 comments:
C & L (Italy) skated that dance much better at Nebelhorn, IMO. It's a great music choice for the Golden Waltz, and a pretty seamless transition. I was waiting to be convinced about Meryl & Charlie's music choices, but I really thought it worked. Just lovely. They looked like champions and they looked mature--not kids any more!
Weaver & Poje were great--except "At Last" just is not a Golden Waltz, please. It's a fast waltz, but a swinging blusey fast waltz; it's not "Viennese in character". Boy, did they look great, though.
Meryl and Charlie were beautiful! The Shibutanis were great too despite their little slip! Weaver and Poje and I&K did great too!
How is it puzzling that Denney and Barrett went behind the Russians? The had unison problems on the spins whereas the Russians were clean and have better line. Denney and Barrett's program is a step up for them in terms of sophistication, but their weaker basics and poorer lines (although improved for them) will put them behind more polished teams. Their death spiral was especially weak. I hope they work on it!
I have no clue why Kostner is in first place. Her jumps were not that great. I will give her a personal deduction for having a hole in her costume, too (right armpit).
Jer's second to Takahashi because he didn't get full credit for one of his sit spins, I believe...
Oh, well!
Otherwise, Jeremy's short program is awesome!
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