Summer Questions - Men

Re: Summer Questions - Men

Dee, I meant that Yagudin was not his best in the freeskate at the Olympics. It was not his best performance of that programme, or otherwise. Besides as he was the last to skate, he in my opinion played it safe and it showed. I understand from others also that he gave a better performance at Worlds.

Marjaana

Re: Summer Questions - Men

Joe, How did I miss this topic?

1. Alexei-no, I don't think he will be at his best, but even at his worst he is a formidible competitor, and I expect him to be on podiums in his GP events. And if he is-I am sure that he will go on to World's. Where you can never rule a competitor like Alexei out.

2. Will Elvis make a Golden come-back? Maybe Golden at Canadians. I have not been all that impressed with either Sandhu or Buttle. Buttle just has not got the jumps yet, and getting your quad and 3axel consistent, is just not a consistent goal with taking an engineering program. Eman did manage to skate badly without having a total meltdown this year (instead of having just very good or very bad performances), so he did show improvement, but I would not be surprised if competing against the ever competitive Elvis would shake any new won confidence he has.

3. Is Plush a shoo-in at Worlds 2004? Plush had a number of slips and hard landings at worlds and because of injuries, he could not do his usual great 3axel (all in the SP and LP had small problems). Plush still won. IMO if Plush does not do a Weir and resign, they might as well not hold World's and just mail Plush the gold medal. However in 2005, when COP is used at Worlds, it will be interesting to see how the grading is done--at that time, unless he adds a 3rd and possibly 4th quad to his routine, he may be beatable.

4. Will Tim better his 2003 Worlds performance? What I take this to mean, is not will Tim win the gold (since he has already won the silver twice, from the 'ladder' point of view, that's the only place for him to go), but will he quite literally have a better performance than his 2003 Worlds? Tim, like Michelle, and for that matter like Plush, is a very focussed, consistent skater. I have watched him get better year by year. Technically, I would not be surprised to see him land 4 quads in a program this year. Artistically, I expect to see him connect to the audience again as he did in Washington. He obviously loved how that felt--I think that he can get back to that level, just driven by knowing how it feels to really give a performance. I have heard good things about his COI programs, compared to the old Tim. I expect good things here.

5. Given the above-mentioned, where does Takeshi stand?
Takeshi stands with one foot on the platform and the other on the train. He is getting old to be developing consistency, and there are a lot of good performers coming.

6. Who among the following do you see as podium potential: Abt? Buttle? Joubert? Klimkin? Lambiel? Li? Sandhu? Weiss?

Not Sandhu, Buttle, or Weiss in 2004. But if Weiss stays in till 2005 and world's is judged COP, look at the points for a failed quad lutz. Weiss is then in better shape than we think. (But I hope not--his skating has stalled and has not changed since maybe 1999, funny skates or not.

Definitely Abt (if healthy). I may not have always loved his costumes, but I really like the style and power of his skating.

I love Klimkin. I love the strangeness. I love the fact that even when he is massively screwing up the jumps, there is still a program there, and it is still interesting. He has landed multiple quads. He has a chance, but the stars have to be right. He has to get consistent.

Lambiel. I think he needs another year or two to develop, but I bet we see him on the podium (some day, but maybe not this year). I love any skater with the Swiss gyro gene!!

Joubert-nicely proportioned body, cute face, dull as dishwater LP, especially when the jumps fail him as they did in the World's QR. He's still young, so I expect improvement, and he has nice posture, and good edges, but he has to get some of that quirky French style from Jeannette. He needs to add some interesting transitions to his programs. Wearing watch parts on your body to symbolize skating about Time is pretty lame. I don't expect him on the World podium next year. But I bet he wins at least Lalique. And he needs a 4salchow or 4 flip or 4lutz. And I am sure he will be on the World's program some time.

From the outer regions, Kevin van der Perren may have a chance some day.

(Joe thanks for the topic!)

dpp

Re: Summer Questions - Men

Doris - Glad you found the thread, and I believe we are perfectly in sync with your take on the men in 2004. That's probably because we saw the Worlds live.

As for my boy, Klimkin. I do believe with a quad and a clean program together with the most interesting style in Men's figure skating since Cranston, he will be telling Plush and Tim to move over.

Joe

Re: Summer Questions - Men

I like Brian Joubert's skating a lot and think he has tremendous potential, but I don't think I see him winning Lalique this season with both Plush and Alexei competing there, too. I'm not sure what kind of physical condition Alexei will be in at that point in the season, but I would expect Plush to be in usual GP form. I can't see him losing to Joubert at this point in his career.

Laurie

Re: Summer Questions - Men

1. If Alexei skates in 2004, will he be at his Olympic best? No. I

2. Will Elvis make a Golden come-back? I doubt it.

3. Is Plush a shoo-in at Worlds 2004? A favorite yes but no longer a shoo in.

4. Will Tim better his 2003 Worlds performance? Yes.

5. Given the above-mentioned, where does Takeshi stand? 3rd place.

6. Who among the following do you see as podium potential: Abt? Buttle? Joubert? Klimkin? Lambiel? Li? Sandhu? Weiss? Buttle

Re: Summer Questions - Men

Laurie, I'm sure you're right if both Plush and Yagudin are at Lalique. However, at Lalique the home court judging advantage does seem to be strong. I have seen some strange wins there from time to time.
dpp

Re: Summer Questions - Men

<span style="colorurple;font-family:georgia;font-size:x-small;">The home court (or ice) advantage didn't work for Joubert last year at Lalique, but this year may be different. He also damn near beat Alexei at SA in the SP. I agree with Doris that the Time costume was a bit tired, but the program kicked some serious butt. It was spectacular to see at Worlds, especially after melt down in QR. If Alexei, Plush and Joubert skate clean at Lalique, I predict the podium will be 1. Plush 2. Joubert 3. Alexei, due to lack of quad due to injury.

Cheers,

Laura </span>

Never mind

I lost what I typed in when was told to hit 'Back' and try to login.

This was second time it did to me after I spending 30 min to type in somethin.

Re: Summer Questions - Men

<strong>1. If Alexei skates in 2004, will he be at his Olympic best?</strong>
As other posters have already stated, Alexei didn't truly skate his best in SLC. A similar skate may not be enough to win.

<strong>2. Will Elvis make a Golden come-back?</strong>

I hope not. Personally, I'm cheering for Emanuel Sandhu and Jeffrey Buttle to make the world team, again.

<strong>3. Is Plush a shoo-in for World 2004?</strong>

No, I don't think so. Of course, we'll have to wait to see who will be injury free. That will make all the difference in who can challenge for the top spots.

<strong>4. Will Tim better his 2003 Worlds' performance?</strong>

His skating bores me most of the time. However, I did enjoy his lp at Worlds and I hope the he will continue to hone his presentation skills. He'll have to in order to improve upon 2003.

<strong>5. Give the above-mentioned, where does Takeshi stand?</strong>
I still think that he has a chance to challenge for gold at Worlds, but he needs to save his best performances for that competition. He tends to be at his best at earlier comps such as 4CC.

<strong>6. Who among the following do you see as podium potential: Abt? Buttle? Joubert? Klimkin? Lambiel? Li? Sandhu? Weiss?</strong>

I think that Emanuel and Jeffrey are both podium material, but they need to improve their consistency. I think that Emanuel has improved. It used to be that once he missed a jump that he would completely fall apart. That doesn't see to be happening anymore.

Re: Summer Questions - Men

Hi Lynn226. If you're new here, welcome to Golden Skate.

MZheng, I just hate it when that happens. If you compose a long post you could always copy it to your clipboard as you go along, just in case. Or you could compose in another window in your word processing program (or even off line), then copy and paste into the ezboard window.

Another thing that <em>sometimes</em> works is to try "forward" instead of "back" to get you back to the dialogue box. "Back" will take you back to that page, but it will be refreshed (i.e., erased).

Mathman

Mathman

Hi, Mathman!

Thanks for the welcome. I've been lurking for a while and this is one of my first posts.