Men SP - 2014 European Championships

Li'Kitsu said:

Wow, do you hate Plushenko that much?

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What does Plushenko have to do with Kovtun's scores?

Li'Kitsu said:

I'm asking, because I think Kovtun getting 41+ in PCS is already a bad, bad joke. And saying Kovtun has better SS and PE than Javier... I don't agree with that at all.

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Kovtun skated on deeper edges and had more speed. SS are Fernandez's weakest point, PCS-wise.

As far as PE goes, Kovtun showed a really strong posture and lines and all of his movements were sharp and well defined, and in character of the music (if you turned the music off, you'd immediately recognise them as Flamenco). I think Fernandez could have shown some more projection and attack (that's in the eye of the beholder, obviously) and his posture, carriage and lines are a bit weaker than Kovtun's.

I would have probably given something like:
Kovtun SS 7.50 TR 6.50 PE 8.75 CH 7.25 IN 8.75 = 38.75
Fernandez SS 7.00 TR 8.00 PE 7.25 CH 7.75 IN 7.50 = 37.50

I understood that to be kovtun support is based in plushenko hate.

Ziggy said:

Kovtun skated on deeper edges and had more speed. SS are Fernandez's weakest point, PCS-wise.

As far as PE goes, Kovtun showed a really strong posture and lines and all of his movements were sharp and well defined, and in character of the music (if you turned the music off, you'd immediately recognise them as Flamenco). I think Fernandez could have shown some more projection and attack (that's in the eye of the beholder, obviously) and his posture, carriage and lines are a bit weaker than Kovtun's.

I would have probably given something like:
Kovtun SS 7.50 TR 6.50 PE 8.75 CH 7.25 IN 8.75 = 38.75
Fernandez SS 7.00 TR 8.00 PE 7.25 CH 7.75 IN 7.50 = 37.50

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Being stiff and wooden has nothing to do with good posture. Kovtun might have a straight back but he sometimes looks more like he swallowed a broom, to say it in a bad way. His arms especially are really stiff and he flails them around with not much feeling to it. If you'd turn off the music, maybe everyone could see this is supposed to be a Flammenco, but I don't think it really works (and this argument is a bad one anyway, as some music is just easier to characterize in that way than other music is - jst tell any random kid to slam their toe pick into the ground and make a dramatic arm/hand gesture and most people would know what it is). He tends to overdo it and the movements look repeptitive. So I don't agree at all with "really strong posture". It's good, but for another reason than Fernandez' not more than that. Additionally, I thought Fernandez projected better than Kovtun did, who attackted his program but he looks very focused on himself and didn't really look like he minded the audience much (which is something that will come with time).

gmyers said:

I understood that to be kovtun support is based in plushenko hate.

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Yepp, pretty much what I meant.

MEN'S SHORT PROGRAM - VIDEOS & RESULT - Updated

1. Javier FERNANDEZ (ESP) - 91.56 Short Program, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy, 4th Copy
2. Sergei VORONOV (RUS) - 85.51 Short Program, 2nd copy, 3rd Copy
3. Tomas VERNER (CZE) - 83.51 Short Program, 2nd Copy, 3rd Copy
4. Maxim KOVTUN (RUS) - 83.15 Short Program, 2nd copy
5. Michal BREZINA (CZE) - 82.80 Short Program, 2nd copy, 3rd Copy
6. Alexander MAJOROV (SWE) - 79.62 Short Program, 2nd copy
7. Florent AMODIO (FRA)78.60 Short Program, 2nd Copy
8. Peter LIEBERS (GER) - 77.42 Short Program, 2nd Copy
9. Brian JOUBERT (FRA) - 73.29 Short Program, 2nd Copy
10. Jorik HENDRICKX (BEL) - 73.21 Short Program, 2nd Copy
11. Konstantin MENSHOV (RUS) - 72.12 Short Program, 2nd Copy
12. Chafik BESSEGHIER (FRA) - 70.85 Short Program
13. Alexei BYCHENKO (ISR) - 68.68 Short Program
14. Zoltan KELEMEN (ROU) - 68.32 Short Program
15. Maciej CIEPLUCHA (POL) - 65.84 Short Program
16. Viktor PFEIFER (AUT) - 60.89 Short Program
17. Stephane WALKER (SUI) - 60.54 Short Program
18. Kim LUCINE (MON) - 60.00 Short Program
19. Franz STREUBEL (GER) - 59.96 Short Program
20. Javier RAYA (ESP) - 57.13 Short Program
21. Yakov GODOROZHA (UKR) - 57.09 Short Program
22. Pavel IGNATENKO (BLR) - 55.99 Short Program
23. Viktor ROMANENKOV (EST) - 55.43 Short Program
24. Paul Bonifacio PARKINSON (ITA) - 52.08

Men's SP Groups 1+2, Men's SP Groups 3+4, Men's SP Groups 5+6
Complete Men's SP: Part 1, Part 2