World champs open in Los Angeles on March 24

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090320&content_id=62664&vkey=ice_pressrelease

The 2009 ISU World Figure Skating Championships will open in Los Angeles on March 24. L.A. will host the world championships for the first time. A new record number of 216 skaters from 52 ISU member countries have been entered for the event. Montenegro is represented for the first time in any ISU Championship, and Brazil and Ireland will participate for the first time at the ISU World Championships.

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The Germans took their third consecutive European title in January and come to L.A. with a season's-best score of 188.50 points.

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That is wrong. Their season's best is 199,07 from Europeans - the highest among all the pairs this season.

I don't think I've ever been less excited about the Worlds. Ever.

That said, I guess there's a bunch of stuff going on next week that's going to take my mind off of it, anyway. Maybe the interest will be there again on Friday.

I think this is the most exciting worlds. I have no idea who is going to win.

enlight78 said:

I think this is the most exciting worlds. I have no idea who is going to win.

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ITA with this. Every category is up for grabs. I cannot wait for this comp to begin.

Gold and Silver medals for the Ladies is fairly obvious, which one goes to whom is not fairly easy to predict. the remaining bronze is a Tale of Two Continents.
If there is going to be an upset, this is the Division it will happen.

The Front Runner of the Men has a big contender in his own backyard. Also there is a Canadian entry and the numerous first-rate challengers from many countries, this is the one impossible Division to predict unles you are going for a favorite.

I believe we were told (indirectly) at 4CC that Zhang/Zhang are out of it now, and what's left for podium at Worlds is S&S, P&T, and K&S. I hope B/D can hold on to it. M/T are also special.

Dance is never a challege, for me. Who are the judges? Who are the Tech Specialist? Once known, prediction should be easy and even more so this year with Del/Sho out of it.

Short interview with Joubert - Hersh & Chicago Tribune

Joubert wants Lysacek to do well... Because Lysacek does Quads. But he is not right that other top guys aren't trying them, both Oda and Kozuka are trying them, with zero success though.

"I like his strength and his looks; he looks and acts like a star," said Frank Carroll, Lysacek's coach. "His weakness is that he is stiff and not musical, but he does have the ability to move audiences with his power and delivery."

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Carroll is talking about Joubert here I guess - but he could just as well talk about his own skater. That is how I describe Lysacek.

"[What] separates Brian from some of the other guys is his speed and height on his jumps and the fact that he is a very powerful skater. I like his footwork and his choreography is very masculine, which is somewhat rare in men's skating these days."

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Not that anyone cares, but for me Todd Eldredge's opinion concerning skating is quickly becoming as unpopular as Hamilton's. I love watching Joubert skate, I love his strength, the jumps, the charisma - but why can't we leave it at that? Why do we have to evaluate it as masculine versus non-masculine (which essentially means feminine - and what's wrong with feminine?)?

Medusa said:

Joubert wants Lysacek to do well... Because Lysacek does Quads. But he is not right that other top guys aren't trying them, both Oda and Kozuka are trying them, with zero success though.

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Hersh wrote a 1. mostly positive piece 2. about a skater who is not Caroline/Sasha and who is also 3. not a lady, period and 4. not even American! I'm pleased with that. :yes:

Last I heard, Brian wants Tomas Verner to do well, probably because he's good, does quads, and the two of them seem to be friendly (accusations of music theft notwithstanding). The bit about Lysacek does not include any wishes regarding Evan's performance: "Joubert, world runner-up last year, considers Lysacek the most dangerous and gives him special respect as the only other likely title contender to do quadruple jumps." Evan is dangerous, he's sort of a wild card who could perform really well or totally bomb.

Of course, you are right that Lysacek isn't the only one going for quads, though I'm not sure Brian was aware that Kozuka finally had a fully rotated one last month. But it's certainly no secret that he thinks quads are important, and he's right that they have been disappearing pretty fast, especially from the SPs. How many skaters this year are even planning quad combos in the SP? Not many, I'd wager.

I wonder if the point Eldredge was getting at is not masculinity/femininity, but more along the lines that Joubert is more masculine & athletic rather than musical and artistic; because it is true that most of the top guys right now tend toward the artistic/musical side of that spectrum.

Funny that Joubert praises Lysacek for doing quad in the season when he removed it from SP and landed it only once in LP.
I wish Brian just went for his own quad(s). His quad hasn't been that reliable this season.

Buttercup said:

I wonder if the point Eldredge was getting at is not masculinity/femininity, but more along the lines that Joubert is more masculine & athletic rather than musical and artistic; because it is true that most of the top guys right now tend toward the artistic/musical side of that spectrum.

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So masculine is non-musical and non-artistic? Weird, what was Baryshnikov doing all those years then?

My problem is that "masculine" is an evaluation, it categorises certain styles into gender roles. And I just don't think that gender roles are relevant at all in figure skating. There are better expressions to describe Joubert's style.