Men - LP

[janetfan]

Agreed. But....to be honest, though I really like Tomas, I preferred Florent's LP to Tomas', even with the excessive posing.

To be honest I missed Florent's LP - where was it, NHK?
I think I liked Tomas's SP better and just thought at an event full of drab LP's Tomas was less blah than most of the others.
The music and the music cut is nothing I was too crazy about but thought Tomas did a decent job selling it.

Joubert was a bit of a letdown - still glad to see him try something besides techno but he looks no better interpreting Beethoven than Mroz did last season. Maybe a little better

[SerpentineSteps]

I dunno - Mroz' GOES are EXTREMELY low in general. I'd have to rewatch his program (I was just startled he was clean) to see why that was so.

Ummm... not to mention that he had 2 spins that were level 1. Like herios said, not all about the jumps.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Mroz's skate, and I think it was deserving of what he accomplished (2nd place the effect that a season off of the international scene does to your PCS). I'm very happy of the direction he's going, but the next step to make him competitive at World's would be to get his non-jump elements up to speed.

[evangeline]

To be honest I missed Florent's LP - where was it, NHK?
I think I liked Tomas's SP better and just thought at an event full of drab LP's Tomas was less blah than most of the others.
The music and the music cut is nothing I was too crazy about but thought Tomas did a decent job selling it.

Joubert was a bit of a letdown - still glad to see him try something besides techno but he looks no better interpreting Beethoven than Mroz did last season. Maybe a little better

If you haven't watched it yet, here is Florent's LP from NHK.

I understand (and agree with) why people may have issues with the excessive posing, upper-body choreography, etc., etc but Florent is so darn adorable and he clearly loves to dance so I can't help but embrace his LP as this season's favourite guilty pleasure.

And I do agree with your statement that Tomas' LP was less blah than the others--I couldn't make it through Mroz's entire LP, Kozuka has superb skating skills but was kind of meh, and I am not buying classical!Joubert at all.

[anony]

http://sport.rian.ru/sport/20101106/293220424.html

Credit to original translator:

"I think that the refereeing at this tournament will strike many more conversations - Urmanov said in a telephone conversation with RIA Novosti. - The judges ruled out that Joubert purely executed quadruple toe loop and it was reduced to a triple. When that underotation was obviously less than a quarter of turnover. But if so the less points should be given to Kozuka for his underotated quad, and other athletes. "

The interlocutor of agency has suggested that the decision of the arbitrators could deprive Joubert of medals.

"In the short program, for example, Mroz without question counted cascade" 4+3 ". And the replay clearly shows that the first jump he had a serious nedokrut - over a quarter of turnover - added the expert. - In short, this nuance judges can very strongly "hooligans." I'm pretty sure that the judges didn't even watch the video repeat of "controversial" cascade of Mroz. But they wanted to pick up on Joubert and they did. And may be those lost points were the reason Joubert didn't get to be one of the top three winners " .

"By the way, with regard to program of the Frenchman, I was very surprised that he did not even try to go to the highest levels of footwork and spins. Do not really understand, with what team Joubert going to fight for victory," - said the Olympic champion.

Judging controversy again? :0

[Nadine]

I haven't bothered to look at the replays to see whom UR, etc. It's over & done with, time to move on to the next competition, then Worlds.

But it does seem to me that Brian Joubert seems to be getting a push to retire, no high PCS like some others can get away with, not given the benefit of the doubt on UR calls, et al. The signs aren't good for him, nor any primarily technical skater, he's 26 yrs. old now.

This makes me glad that 28 yr. old Evgeni Plushenko didn't come back this season nor till the Olympic Season.

That said, Brian's LP wasn't anywhere near the brilliance of his SP. Also, he & his team really need to study hard the COP like the Japanese men have done so, as well as the Canadian men. And the American men need to study it as well. I mean look Evan Lysacek studied it to a fault, and therefore knew how to win.

It's become a sport of thinking on your feet, being a mathematician out there, knowing when to include a double jump, a triple, add a bonus point, spin a few more times, count the revolutions, which dance steps will increase your points, difficult entries & exits out of jumps to get more points. It's all about the points, Brian, time to start counting them, having several fall-back plans on the grill. Same goes for Brandon, et al.

I'm wondering if skating will eventually allow a skater to wear a bug in their ear so his/her coach can tell them what to do while the skater is skating. How to increase the points, tell them when they've maxed out on their combo. jumps, tack on a double here or there. It would make things much simpler for the skater imho, and everybody would be on the same playing field, so to speak.

Regards the competition itself, I have no problem with the outcome, Kozuka is a way better skater than Mroz, that's obvious. Brandon is just a technical skater, nothing else, but he could increase his points by learning the COP to a fault like Evan Lysacek did, and also upping his presenation by a mile. He's got such long lines, I really hope he can improve.

I just don't want Brian to end up like Samuel Contesti nor Fumie Suguri. The saddest thing for me is when a truly great champion like Bjorn Borg went out on top at a very young age, only to come back years later to find the sport had passed him by. That was heartbreaking. Whereas Katarina Witt & Brian Boitano's respective comebacks for the 1994 Olympics didn't affect their individual careers, just a bump in the road. They tried, they failed, which makes Evgeni Plushenko's successful comeback that much more appreciated by me. At least he medalled, only lost gold by a point, and made history by becoming the second man in f.s. history to medal at three Olympiads, and the first to do so in the 21st century. I consider that a success, a rare success, as time isn't kind to older ones. I'm so glad he was received with open arms.

[evplu]

Every time the same american boys got higer points than european skaters.

I´m not suprised

[Joesitz]

Brian's quad was marked as underrotated? :0 But wow those scores are pretty low...

Interesting comment. I saw a toe-axel take off (the kind Evan used to do). I believe that caused the UR call.

But Brian paid for his sins. He wasn't held up.

[ImaginaryPogue]

Every time the same american boys got higer points than european skaters.

I´m not suprised

Why not? And Huh?

[Mathman]

Joubert's music was too big for him. If you take aim at Beethoven, you better not miss.

In fact, the symphonic form is not well suited to skating, IMHO. If you go grand and glorious, the concerto form is better. At least a concerto is constructed in such a way as to give the soloist a fighting chance to stand up to the orchestra.

[evplu]

Because I don´t belive anymore in fair judging in this sport.
C´mon it wasn´t the first time

[ImaginaryPogue]

Because I don´t belive anymore in fair judging in this sport.
C´mon it wasn´t the first time

But you need to be more specific.

Mroz beat Joubert and Verner, which is what I presume your issue is with (ir is it Miner beating Liebers?). What was unfair about that? Can you be more specific?

[evplu]

I´m not a technic specialist. But I understand the words of Urmanov. You can read his quote on your own

[Medusa]

I´m not a technic specialist. But I understand the words of Urmanov. You can read his quote on your own

Urmanov didn't say that the result per se was wrong, he just pointed out some irregularities concerning the underrotation calls.

[janetfan]

I did not think Brian was short on his quad and did not think Mroz was either.
But watching early this morning on a Live feed on a 19 inch monitor hardly qualifies my old eyes to have an opinion on such matters.

Not sure if I enjoy being lectured about spins by Urmanov though

[evplu]

Urmanov didn't say that the result per se was wrong, he just pointed out some irregularities concerning the underrotation calls.

Yes, but his words mean a lot and I interprete it as en judging error.