Two "Dark Horses" Win | Golden Skate

Two "Dark Horses" Win

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Well, who would have predicted the two "dark horses" of the competition would pull off a win.

That's the fun part of figure skating. I always love it when someone totally unexpected rises to the occasion and "hits one out of the ball park." It really adds to the drama.

Good for Emanuel and Fummie. Congratulations to them both!
 

guinevere

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I also love this - especially in a season that has seemed to have 2 clear front runners (plush & cohen) with everyone else scrambling for 2nd and 3rd.

But, although I totally expected Sasha to win GPF (no matter what she did, actually), Fumie is not quite an upset - she has beaten Sasha several times, in fact often scooting in just in front to deny Sasha a medal. I'm glad Fumie went out there and did what we've seen her capable of doing!

But for Plushenko to finally end his 14-competition winning streak - to Eman?!? wow. It was not just a shock that Plush would not win, but a huge victory for Sandhu to put 2 strong programs together in the same competition!! I'm still not going to really believe this until I see the competition. Amazing.

Can't wait for Worlds!! (and various Nationals, of course :D )

guinevere
 
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hockeyfan228

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
NHK Trophy this year was the first GP medal won by Suguri. It's not that Suguri is a dark horse to beat Cohen at Worlds, but I agree that she was a dark horse to beat Cohen in the GP, given Cohen's two-year track record there and that Suguri tends to peak later in the season.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I actually saw Fumie giving Sasha a run for her money... I never predicted because I didn't want to jinx her... but I was hoping and had a good feeling she would... :)

Eman, however, was totally unpredicted! :eek:
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I use this term loosely - Fumie has been up and down through out the season. Everyone expected Sasha to win. In this case Fumie was the "dark horse" - in other words she was not favored to win, but was on when it counted.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
I think after her win at NHK, Fumie had to be seen as a challenger to Sasha, especially after Sasha's dismal skate at the Winter cheesefest.

I know I fully expected to see a head-to-head battle and was not disappointed. What was astonishing, however, was Sasha 's falls in both SP and FS. I thought Sasha might be a little uncertain after finishing 3rd the previous week, but I really hadn't expected another meltdown.

Nor, I might add, did I expect to see Sasha held up as vigorously as she was, particularly in the FS. She fell twice and Shizuka skated clean, but Sasha beats Shizuka by 2 points in the FS? No way!
 

euterpe

Medalist
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
There was such a huge difference between Fumie's skate at CoC and her winning performance at NHK that I thought Sasha might finally be facing a real competitor.

When Arakawa beat Sasha at the Winter Challenge, I saw Sasha as vulnerable in the Final and believed Fumie had a fair chance to beat her.

So I don't think Fumie was a dark horse at all. And if Shizuka had skated the kind of SP she did at Skate Canada, Sasha might have had to settle for bronze.
 

mzheng

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 16, 2005
euterpe said:

So I don't think Fumie was a dark horse at all. And if Shizuka had skated the kind of SP she did at Skate Canada, Sasha might have had to settle for bronze.

The question is why Sasha beat Arakawa at LP?
 

euterpe

Medalist
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
Zheng, I agree Shizuka should have been placed ahead of Sasha in the FS. Sasha won on the Skating Components marks, and as others have noted, some of these were way out of line for a skate with two falls.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
I definitely believe that "FALLS" should be reviewed from a technical viewpoint and decidely as a presentation viewpoint. Any fall is a meltdown in any other SPORT!

Acutally, in any other skater but the top tier, they are knocked down ferociously. It is only for the favorites that they are basically overlooked.

Joe
 

lavender

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
hockeyfan228 said:
NHK Trophy this year was the first GP medal won by Suguri. It's not that Suguri is a dark horse to beat Cohen at Worlds, but I agree that she was a dark horse to beat Cohen in the GP, given Cohen's two-year track record there and that Suguri tends to peak later in the season.

Actually Cohen has a one track record which isn't really a track record. She went and won the gp for the first time last year.
 

hockeyfan228

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
lavender said:
Actually Cohen has a one track record which isn't really a track record. She went and won the gp for the first time last year.

2002-

Cohen:
1st SC
1st TL
2nd CoR (to Volchkova)
1st GPF

Suguri:
2nd SC
2nd BC
4th NHK
6th GPF

2003-

Cohen:
1st SA
1st SC
1st TL
2nd GPF

Suguri:
3rd CC
1st NHK
1st GPF

In 2001, Cohen was 5th at SA and 3rd at TL. Suguri was 4th at SC and 7th at NHK.
 
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