Men's Short Program

[Serious Business]

Taking time out from the Chan-storm to review more early skates:

Joey Russell — Graceful mover, but not the greatest skater, and probably won't ever be.
Paolo Bacchini — Charming Pinocchio program that actually does a decent job of telling a story. Aside from that, though, nothing too exceptional about anything here.
Maxim Shipov — Such awkward jumps! Nothing else is horribly objectionable, except the pantomiming that is almost as awkward as his 3axel attempt.
Peter Liebers — Even though skating to electric guitar blues is old hat by now in competitive skating, it's still a bit of a welcome relief from the endless orchestral pieces. A pleasant enough skate.
Misha Ge — What an adorable performance from that little boy! Wait, what? He's 19? Well, he's still figure skater sized, so he can pull it off.
Jorik Hendrickx — An instrumental cover of Muse's Feelin' Good that utterly misses the point by replacing raucous rock vocals with a timid violin. Perhaps as a result, Jorik's choreography never has any of that rock and roll swagger, or even the exuberance of what is practically the theme song of exuberance. Jorik's skating seems good, but he deserves a much, much better program.

[prettykeys]

Hmm, I just had a thought. Not to look too far into the future, but when is the last time Canada won the OGM in Men's Figure Skating? We had so many top contenders for so long but it certainly wasn't in my lifetime. And of course Jeff Buttle was our last World champion. If Patrick Chan does it in Sochi...that'd be awesome.

[rain]

There would be a lot less complaining from some people if A) Chan skated worse (entirely possible, this is his best SP performance by far this season). Or B) Other top skaters skated better (also entirely possible, both Oda and Takahashi posted substantially higher scores previously in the season). It's just that on this day, Chan had the skate of a lifetime while all his closest competitors had below par skates. The gulf in their scores reflect that.

There is no conspiracy here. I don't believe that many judges were colluding or cheating. I don't think the rules that created these particular score differentials are unfair. I'd actually have a problem if we had a system that produced closer scores in a situation like this because that would not be an accurate assessment of what happened on the ice.

This is an unusual men's SP at a Worlds/Olympics level event. I can't think of any other one where the 1st ranked skater skated so wonderfully while all the other top skaters fumbled to varying degrees. It's a coincidence. The free skate will likely be different.

I just wanted to say how much I agree with this. Also to comment that I have seen exactly this kind of gulf between first and the rest — back before Plushenko retired the first time there were a number of years where none of the other competitors were in his technical league and exactly this kind of scenario was the result. He led by such a margin after the SP that it would take a meltdown in the LP for him to lose (and Plushenko did not melt down. Consistency was one of his strengths). I was not a Plushenko fan, but given the performances, it was undeniable that he deserved his placement and lead. Ditto with Patrick now, though I do love his skating, so bonus for me.

Chan was brilliant. I find television (let alone youtube video) does not adequately convey the quality of his skating. The speed and flow of the straightline footwork where his goes over half of the way down the rink on one blade — it is utterly breathtaking live. I just hope to see another magical performance in the LP, like at nationals.

Overall, I thought the quality of the competition was pretty good. I didn't see any major meltdowns in the field.

[Mathman]

4. Joesitz predicted Gachinsky on the podium and we all mocked him. I did anyway. Lets just say that whatever the result, we give Joestiz a round of applause for that one (granted he said Gachinsky over Chan, but we all make mistakes!).

What Joe actually did was post a list of contenders, Chan not among them, Chan having slipped Joe's mind. Joe was tarred and feathered.

[SkateFiguring]

But then again, you could look at it this way. Chan won. Therefore Chan fans are happy. Not angry. Right?

I am having a blast! I'm so amused by the desperate effort put out by those who insist on Chan's evil unworthiness. Even visited the most Chan hating board to enjoy the implosions! I'm evil like that.

I sent out a cosmic order and got exactly what I asked for so I will exercise my psychic power again for tomorrow's event. This is too much fun!

But what I really need now is some sleep.

eta. OK, I have to say I am even more gratified to see more respect, grudging or not, paid to Patrick after this skate. There are those who really have their beef with the judging system and they can reconcile their conflits with acceptance of a clean deserving win. And then there are those who just hate. Their heads are exploding today!

[Mathman]

I am having a blast! I'm so amused by the desperate effort put out by those who insist on Chan's evil unworthiness. Even visited the most Chan hating board to enjoy the implosions!

What I don't get is, why aren't Patrick's fans celebrating his achievement instead of looking for non-existent enemies behind every bush?

[Tonichelle]

What I don't get is, why aren't Patrick's fans celebrating his achievement instead of looking for non-existent enemies behind every bush?

do you really want to open that can o' worms?

[SkateFiguring]

What I don't get is, why aren't Patrick's fans celebrating his achievement instead of looking for non-existent enemies behind every bush?

I am, I am! With a bigger celebration still to come.

Actually I've been celebrating privately so as not to rub anything into anyone's face. But somtimes it's fun to watch the torturers torture themselves. Some people just keep on attacking and deriding no matter what, but they are the ones taking poison and expecting me to die!

Mathman, though I've not bothered to respond to many allegations, I don't think when others respond with exact quotes are looking for non-existing enemies behaind every bush. There are those who do post long and post often slamming Chan's scores today, nothing hidden at all. After all, it's a legitimate tradition practiced openly. Your characterization makes it acceptable one way and not the other. Reactions and responses to posts is a right on the forum.

[Bluebonnet]

Joubert definitely has better speed, basic skating, and posture than Bradley. A better program as well. He demolished that lead in PCS by screwing up his Quad and not doing a combination at all, though. That's essentially 2 mistakes right there. His non-jump technical elements don't pull him like some of the other competitors.

Watching the performances again, Ross Miner is even better than I recalled. I thought I remembered a small bobble on a spin (too bad the audience doesn't get a review of all the elements the way sitting judges do at the competition) but they were all solid and his 3Lutz-3Toe combination was massive with a flowing leg line on the way out. I already thought his program was the best of the Americans but I gave Bradley a slight advantage because of the better Triple Axel and more difficult combination. Looking at the elements again, Miner definitely should have lead the Americans (so of course the judges only had him in 13th).

Denis Ten was really boring, so I actually do think Joubert deserved to be in 12th ahead of him. I still don't think Joubert deserved to top any of the Americans, though. He should have at least put a 2Toe on the end of his 3Flip after missing the Quad combination.

Joubert has already paid his due. He's only got 71.29. If he didn't get that quad popped, he should easily get around 78. I find that he's paid great effort on his performance this time. Clear presence aroused the audience. Did you hear the spontaneous claps from the audience through part of his program? I think he got the correct score, and deserved to be on top of all Americans.

I agree that Miner should have lead the Americans. Bradley was the wildest of all three, with the most difficult jumps and the worst of everything else.

Dai does not get me interested in his flamboyant style, and that is the cornerstone of his performances since he started competing.

I think this is right on.

Takahashi: love him, he's prefect. Sure, this is not his best program, but I'm choosing to close my ears and be in denial of any mistake he might have made *la la la la la la la...* But when it comes to owning the ice, no one comes near him these days. No one.

Cute, but it's true.

Most people expected a close race regardless. So to see such a wide gap between 1 and the rest......Chan must be overscored

Close race was because Chan hadn't shown the consistency that could match his abilities. Even some European skaters chose to ignore his impact in the race. Once he skates clean, there won't be close race any more.

[ImaginaryPogue]

prettykeys, I agree. I think it's odd that Mens, where Canada is arguably strongest, doesn't have a OGM. But we have one in ladies. That's just wierd.

Imagine this: Adelina Sotnikova becomes the first Russian woman to win Olympic Gold (and does so at home). Patrick Chan becomes the first Canadian. That's what I'm rooting for, anyway.

[skfan]

Hi all Dai's fan on this broad.

I am sad about his score.. Yes, it is true that his spins were weak, and also a little mistake in step sequence.
However, I just love him so much that I fell into deep denial that he earned barely 80 this time.

IMO, he is the best artistic skater among all skaters who has ever lived on this earth. I really doubt that the skater like him will appear again in the future.　He is that special to me and I know many fans feel the same way.

He may not win this time, but I believe that he will skate his best free program tomorrow just lke he did at Nationals last year. I want to be moved to tears again along with so many enthuziastic fans of Dai-chan. He is the one and only who touches people's heart so deeiply.

i want dai to have a skate that _he_ is happy with. whatever the score. whatever the placement.

of course he's worked extremely hard, fought back from a devastating injury, and he has hopes and dreams and his scores and placement will no doubt matter to him. i want him to be happy because i adore him, so i can't say i completely do not care about the scoring.

but i've been underwhelmed with the scoring of skating since 1994, so i don't expect to find myself in agreement with the judges often it's skaters like daisuke, who can truly move me, who keeps me watching skating, whatever the scoring system, whoever is the flavor of the month now.

skaters have different styles, different on-ice personalities, if you will. i agree that dai doesn't have the purest lines, yet to me they are still aesthetic. i would have preferred it if he weren't skating latin themed programs for both short and long this year, yet because he's dai i can't help but watch and find his programs enjoyable anyway. perhaps he thought since this would be his last year, a worlds at home, he wanted to go with what he felt was his strength and give himself and his home fans a memorable performance.

in light of all the upheavals, i'm pleased that he was able to gut it through and his love of performing still shined through. the performance was flawed, but it still touched me.

p.s. chan was impressive just can't love his skating. my loss, i know.

[SkateFiguring]

You know, I don't think skaters like Dai and Nobu scoring over 80 is anything to sneeze at or for fans to feel bad about. As P J Kwong explains, 70 - 75 for SP is very good, 75 - 80 is excellent, and anything over 80 is phenomenal. Just because Patrick has a huge lead today does not diminish the values of his rivals' scores. They are worth celebrating too. I certainly don't think less of Dai, Nobu, or Taka, all excellent skaters I like, appreciate, and respect, and I'm still cheering them on.

Just because I celebrate Patrick realizing his potential does not reduce my other fandoms.

[Blades of Passion]

Blade of Passion is quiet for a little while now. Hmmm. Must be busy writing up his critique of Chan's LP tomorrow.

LOL, I have to get work done too! Can't be writing about skating all day long. I wish I wasn't compelled to watch this comepetition live. Kind of unfortunate how figure skating is making me drag *** at the rink. "I'm sorry, I have no energy today because of watching skating all night!" Totally messed up sleep pattern this week. I need to get more sleep before the competition tonight.

Anyway...no point in critiquing Chan's LP anymore than I already have unless he implodes and undeservedly wins the competition anyway. I still think he needs to have more *** to be able to convey the correct emotions in the programs he's trying to do.

(Self-censoring myself is no fun. I saw that my other comment earlier was removed. Are these statements satisfactorily veiled?)

[lavender]

Not a Chan fan. Really dislike his personality but I just can't argue with his scores. His skating skills are top notch along with Dai and his jumps were effortless. That was like the best axel I've ever seen Chan do. Dai made mistakes and he didn't do a quad. Dai would have been up there. He was just off today.

I am still hoping Dai will have the amazing skate in the lp

[BigJohn]

Wow. Not even close. It should not be anyway.

Chan outperformed everyone. No one was close, no matter what you look at. The only aspect Takahashi clearly won over Chan is flamboyance. That lead could (should?) be even bigger.

Oda did well. Very happy for him.

Joubert overscored? Business as usual...

Both Oda and Takahashi were good, Chan was excellent.