Men and Quads

OK. Time for something new to do as we count down our last week until Worlds gets underway!

Which men will do quads in each phase? I'm particularly wondering who thinks folks like Weir, Buttle, Lysacek, etc. might attempt it, and where.

DG

Skaters with consistent or semi-consistent quads I think will try them in all phases - Plush, Sandhu, Li, Joubert, Goebel, etc.

Jeff, I think will try it just in the LP (not QR or SP), and only if it's been going well on practice and warm up. I think he'll play it by ear to see if he should do it or not (personally, I dont think he needs it to make top 5 or 6, as long as he has a solid skate)

Weir - I have no clue at all.

Skaters who will go for the quad (if they land it or not that's another story) in QR, SP and FS.
Plushenko
Goebel
Joubert
Lambiel
Li
Zhang
Honda
Lindemann
Dambier
Sandhu
Takahashi (I might be confusing him with someone else...not sure)

Skaters who might try one quad
Weir (I think he will try it in the QR and probably in the FS)
Lysasek (QR)
Buttle (QR)
Griazev (QR and depending how he lands it, might go for it in the SP and FS. I think his SP is based with a quad on it right? Also because he has the pressure to placed well for Olys' spots)

Van der Perren.... does he has a quad at all?

Isn't Uspensi the third Russian? Has he landed a quad at Russian Nats or Junior Worlds?

Joe

Uspenski it is listed as the third man but I don't know wether the result of junior worlds will affect the RF desition to send him instead of Lezin...or could it happen that they might send Dobrin?
Don't know if he has a quad or not.

Wow.

It always seem that the ladies get more pre-event discussion but the Men's event should be really exciting too. While I think Plush is way more of an odds-on favorite for Gold than anyone in Ladies (and of course the ice is always slippery) the other two spots could go a number of directions.

One week to go!!

DG

I don't think Uspenski has a quad. Not sure about Dobrin, if he's the one to go as the third man. I think Griazev will attempt it in the QR and FS, not the short. But we'll see how comfortable and confident he feels with it now.

Kasey

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050308/SKATE08/TPSports/Other
According t this Jeff will decide in these days wether to go for the quad or not.

Sandhu mentions that the podium will be filled by quad skaters.... According to the statistics page, he should be right because the top three performances are done by skaters with quads (including him)

http://www.isufs.org/isujsstat/pbsmsp.htm (Best scores on SP)
http://www.isufs.org/isujsstat/pbsmfs.htm (Best scores on FS)
http://www.isufs.org/isujsstat/pbsmto.htm (Best scores total)

Although it's true that some of the skaters that do quads has yet to make a clean program in COP, such like Lindemann and Lambiel that their best scores in those statistics is Euros 05 and both did a much better job at Worlds last year

Thanks Ximena for posting that article.

[Buttle] said he doesn't try many quads each day because of the high risk of injury. But if he tries four or five, he stands up on about one or two. One of his plans is to go for the quad combination as his first element of the long program. If he decides not to, the combination will be the easier triple flip and triple toe loop, which he's been doing all season.
***
"Obviously, I know I would be much stronger with it, but it's all about strategy," he said. "Is it worth taking the risk? A half decent triple flip, triple toe would be worth more than me stepping out of a quad toe. It's all about how I'm feeling that day."

Click to expand...

I think Buttle is making a mistake by attempting the quad (9.0 base value) in place of the 3f3t (9.5), which has been so consistent for him. If he goes for the quad, he should put it in without taking out other valuable elements, otherwise he is only adding .5 points to his base value. Johnny Weir choreographed a place for the quad in his opening where he has been doing a 3t(4.0) all season, so if he adds the quad he will add 5 points of base value. So far, Buttle and Weir have been vague about whether they are trying to add a 4t or a 4t3t(13.0). In this article Buttle says he is trying the combination, so in place of the flip combo he could add 4 points. I'm not sure if Johnny is practicinga combo, but in the 4CC clip, Evan was practicing the quad by itself. I think Johnny's advantage is that he has been very consistent on the 3a3t(11.5) and Buttle has been inconsistent on his triple axels. As for Sandhu's prediction that it will take a quad to medal, that is wishful speculation on his part that (1) he will actually land his quads and other jumps and (2) his other elements and choreography will be good enough to outscore Buttle and Weir's PCS, which have been great so far this year.

I still feel like all the quad/PCS analysis applies to 2nd place and below, because Plushenko has outscored the rest of the field across the board so far, and he always comes to worlds ready to crush everyone else.