I thought I'd start this thread for everyone who watched the CBC coverage of Four Continents last weekend....open to your thoughts-here are some of mine:
All-round the competition was a bit of a splatfest. Tons of errors in mens, ladies and pairs, and even noticeable (to the untrained eye) errors in the top dances. I was sort of disappointed in the general calibre of performance.
Ladies: Cynthia Phaneuf! Woo hoo! I thought for sure after the short program she was going to have a clunker of an international senior debut, but boy did she lift my spirits with her freeskate. Clearly the best of the night. And to come all the way up from 8th to win the silver medal - I'm officially impressed. I thought she skated a better freeskate here than at nationals. I can't wait for her to be in seniors for the whole season next year.
I've loved Ota since I saw her short program this year at Skate Canada and I'm really pleased for her that she won. She had a glitch or two but overall she is a beautiful, expressive skater.
Angela Nikodinov - disappointment. She's always been one of my favorites, but clearly she had a terrible skate. She just seemed to give up and double everything. I hope next season she gets the competitive fire back.
Amber Corwin - again, the mistakes - but she also lost a lot of her performance quality. I can see why she didn't do so hot in the Grand Prix this season if she underrotates her jumps so badly on a regular basis - they really dinged skaters for that under COP.
Joannie Rochette - not a total disaster, but not the skate I wanted to see. I hope she has that at worlds. She clearly has no confidence in the lutz - as Paul Martini stated in his commentary. She approaches it like she knows she's going to fall - no surprise that she does. It's odd because the rest of her jumps are gorgeous and high, she can clearly get the power she needs - it's a mental block.
Jennifer Robinson - she's just so darned slow. I hope she retires from eligible competition after worlds. She's not going to improve at this point and she doesn't have what it takes to compete with the young up and comers.
Mens:
I love Jeff Buttle, I really do, but there is no way he should have won the gold medal with the skate he put down. He didn't even seem to think so judging by his reaction afterwards. Nice for him to go out on a high note, but I hope he plans to train, train and train some more so he has a nice, consistent quad for next season.
Emmanuel Sandhu - I thought he should have won the event. While his skate wasn't perfect, I disagreed immensely with the commentators who seemed to deem it a disaster. He landed a fully-rotated quad - not the prettiest landing, but one-foot and rotated, combined with a double loop. Then he landed two triple axels after doubling the initial one - one of them in combination with a triple toe, add his other triples, good spins and footwork and I thought he had the winning skate. I was very encouraged to see him go out, obviously not ON, and make a mistake but not give up - he fought for everything.
The two Americans, Janke and Lysecheck also had good skates - the cleanest of the night, but neither did the quad and one only had the one triple axel. One of them should have had silver, the other should have been third or fourth.
The Japanese guy with the mohawk had a meltdown - ouch. Nice to see him smiling and joking afterwards anyway though.
Pairs:
Both my mother and I thought that the Zhangs were clearly the best of the freeskates and should have won the title. Chalk another one up to the 6.0 system I guess.
Pang and Tong were lovely as well, but I didn't think that, on the night they had the performance quality to beat their countrymen.
Marcoux and Buntin - not the thrilling skate I would have liked to see, but a solid bronze. I hope they take this new confidence into worlds.
Langlois and Archetto - I was very disappointed in their skate. In the realm of speculation, I wonder if something is off with their training. Even the beginning of the season - in spite of two of the best programs in the world field this year - they haven't looked as good as they did last year. The GPF, where I thought they should have finished in 3rd, was one of their better skates. At Canadians and again here they just looked really off. I so want them to do well at worlds, so I hope they sort things out.
Dance:
I thought everyone pretty much finished in the right spots. Neither Dubreuil and Lauzon, nor the American pair really came out and won it, and it was a split panel at the end, with the nod going to the Americans. I was happy to see Wing and Lowe make the podium - I thought they did, presentation wise, have the best skate of the night.
All-round the competition was a bit of a splatfest. Tons of errors in mens, ladies and pairs, and even noticeable (to the untrained eye) errors in the top dances. I was sort of disappointed in the general calibre of performance.
Ladies: Cynthia Phaneuf! Woo hoo! I thought for sure after the short program she was going to have a clunker of an international senior debut, but boy did she lift my spirits with her freeskate. Clearly the best of the night. And to come all the way up from 8th to win the silver medal - I'm officially impressed. I thought she skated a better freeskate here than at nationals. I can't wait for her to be in seniors for the whole season next year.
I've loved Ota since I saw her short program this year at Skate Canada and I'm really pleased for her that she won. She had a glitch or two but overall she is a beautiful, expressive skater.
Angela Nikodinov - disappointment. She's always been one of my favorites, but clearly she had a terrible skate. She just seemed to give up and double everything. I hope next season she gets the competitive fire back.
Amber Corwin - again, the mistakes - but she also lost a lot of her performance quality. I can see why she didn't do so hot in the Grand Prix this season if she underrotates her jumps so badly on a regular basis - they really dinged skaters for that under COP.
Joannie Rochette - not a total disaster, but not the skate I wanted to see. I hope she has that at worlds. She clearly has no confidence in the lutz - as Paul Martini stated in his commentary. She approaches it like she knows she's going to fall - no surprise that she does. It's odd because the rest of her jumps are gorgeous and high, she can clearly get the power she needs - it's a mental block.
Jennifer Robinson - she's just so darned slow. I hope she retires from eligible competition after worlds. She's not going to improve at this point and she doesn't have what it takes to compete with the young up and comers.
Mens:
I love Jeff Buttle, I really do, but there is no way he should have won the gold medal with the skate he put down. He didn't even seem to think so judging by his reaction afterwards. Nice for him to go out on a high note, but I hope he plans to train, train and train some more so he has a nice, consistent quad for next season.
Emmanuel Sandhu - I thought he should have won the event. While his skate wasn't perfect, I disagreed immensely with the commentators who seemed to deem it a disaster. He landed a fully-rotated quad - not the prettiest landing, but one-foot and rotated, combined with a double loop. Then he landed two triple axels after doubling the initial one - one of them in combination with a triple toe, add his other triples, good spins and footwork and I thought he had the winning skate. I was very encouraged to see him go out, obviously not ON, and make a mistake but not give up - he fought for everything.
The two Americans, Janke and Lysecheck also had good skates - the cleanest of the night, but neither did the quad and one only had the one triple axel. One of them should have had silver, the other should have been third or fourth.
The Japanese guy with the mohawk had a meltdown - ouch. Nice to see him smiling and joking afterwards anyway though.
Pairs:
Both my mother and I thought that the Zhangs were clearly the best of the freeskates and should have won the title. Chalk another one up to the 6.0 system I guess.
Pang and Tong were lovely as well, but I didn't think that, on the night they had the performance quality to beat their countrymen.
Marcoux and Buntin - not the thrilling skate I would have liked to see, but a solid bronze. I hope they take this new confidence into worlds.
Langlois and Archetto - I was very disappointed in their skate. In the realm of speculation, I wonder if something is off with their training. Even the beginning of the season - in spite of two of the best programs in the world field this year - they haven't looked as good as they did last year. The GPF, where I thought they should have finished in 3rd, was one of their better skates. At Canadians and again here they just looked really off. I so want them to do well at worlds, so I hope they sort things out.
Dance:
I thought everyone pretty much finished in the right spots. Neither Dubreuil and Lauzon, nor the American pair really came out and won it, and it was a split panel at the end, with the nod going to the Americans. I was happy to see Wing and Lowe make the podium - I thought they did, presentation wise, have the best skate of the night.
Though I was pretty happy about this particular result. 
