Golden Skate – report as of Saturday morning
I spent most of Friday at between the practice and main arena. I arrived in time to see a little of the men’s group 6 (GBR/JPN/NZL/RUS) practice, but didn’t take any notes. None of the Russians were there, but Takeshi was. Sorry, I wasn’t really able to pay enough attention to be sure if he was having a good practice or not, but it seemed to be ok.
I then went to the practice rink for the pairs. The only ones that practiced were the Canadian, Latvian and Polish teams. Both Canadian teams seemed to be in very good spirits and practiced quite well. I think that Dorota’s shoulder is still bothering her a bit and Marius was having a bit of trouble with his 3t but did land at least one good one before the end of the practice.
Back to the main rink for more pairs – this time the 3 Chinese teams were all on the ice. Hongbo seemed to be having trouble with his 3t – is his injury not quite healed? Not sure.
As I write this, I’m sitting in the practice rink (Saturday morning) watching the Chinese pairs and they’ve all just left the ice – seems that they all had a good practise. Love Pang/Tong’s program to ‘Phantom of the Opera’ – they’re the only ones that did a full run-through. Have to close down now for a bit to head to the main rink for Canadian men’s practice – bit of a debate though because the US ladies are on next at the practice rink but I’m not sure who is here and so don’t want to stay for nothing and then miss the Canadian men.
I’m back now – the Canadian men and then the French have practiced and now the Americans are on the ice and I’m watching as I type this up. They’re still getting things organized in the arena and they’ve done a lot of painting in the stairways recently and the smell of fresh paint is still pretty strong, but it looks good <G>
Back to notes on what I saw yesterday:
The Canadian pairs then practiced in the main rink and both teams were looking quite good. One thing that surprised me a bit is that Craig Butin left both practices early – Valerie stayed on the ice til the end though. I have no idea why and haven’t had a chance to talk to anyone since I saw this. They didn’t practice this morning (Sat at 6am) but will be practicing tonight and I’ll try and see what’s up.
None of the USA or RUS pairs practiced yesterday afternoon in the main rink that I know of. The Polish team was on the last pairs practice and both seemed to have good practices, Marius’s triple toe was doing much better.
I then headed over to the practice rink for the Canadian men. Saw the tail end of the Chinese practice but didn’t see enough to really note if they were having a good practice or not. Everyone looked pretty happy as they got off the ice though.
Emanuel & Jeff both practiced. Eman seemed to be having a fair bigt of trouble with his quad – didn’t see him land one although I saw a lot popped to doubles – evidently it was his 1st practice so…. I didn’t see Jeff try and quads, he had a little trouble at the beginning on his 3axel, stepping out of a few but seemed to be doing ok by the end.
I left after the Canadian men – it was around 8pm and I had been at the arenas since early morning.
Now for this morning. . .
As I mentioned above, I saw the Chinese pairs practice first and then came over here for the Canadian men.
Jeff had a soso run through – tried the 4 toe as the 1st jump in the program and fell on it – looked short of rotation to me, landed his first 3a in combo with 3t but fell on the solo one. He didn’t do a complete run through. He did land at least one 4toe prior to the run through. Eman landed the 4toe 3toe in his run through but then popped the axel to a single and the 4sal to a double.
I’m in a debate right now as to whether I’ll stay here in the main arena the rest of the day or make a quick trip over to the practice arena just for the the CAN men. If I do, I’ll miss the Chinese men in the main arena as well as the US ladies. Since I haven’t seen any ladies practice yet, I just might stay here.
Sorry the notes on how skaters are doing aren’t any more detailed.
I spent most of Friday at between the practice and main arena. I arrived in time to see a little of the men’s group 6 (GBR/JPN/NZL/RUS) practice, but didn’t take any notes. None of the Russians were there, but Takeshi was. Sorry, I wasn’t really able to pay enough attention to be sure if he was having a good practice or not, but it seemed to be ok.
I then went to the practice rink for the pairs. The only ones that practiced were the Canadian, Latvian and Polish teams. Both Canadian teams seemed to be in very good spirits and practiced quite well. I think that Dorota’s shoulder is still bothering her a bit and Marius was having a bit of trouble with his 3t but did land at least one good one before the end of the practice.
Back to the main rink for more pairs – this time the 3 Chinese teams were all on the ice. Hongbo seemed to be having trouble with his 3t – is his injury not quite healed? Not sure.
As I write this, I’m sitting in the practice rink (Saturday morning) watching the Chinese pairs and they’ve all just left the ice – seems that they all had a good practise. Love Pang/Tong’s program to ‘Phantom of the Opera’ – they’re the only ones that did a full run-through. Have to close down now for a bit to head to the main rink for Canadian men’s practice – bit of a debate though because the US ladies are on next at the practice rink but I’m not sure who is here and so don’t want to stay for nothing and then miss the Canadian men.
I’m back now – the Canadian men and then the French have practiced and now the Americans are on the ice and I’m watching as I type this up. They’re still getting things organized in the arena and they’ve done a lot of painting in the stairways recently and the smell of fresh paint is still pretty strong, but it looks good <G>
Back to notes on what I saw yesterday:
The Canadian pairs then practiced in the main rink and both teams were looking quite good. One thing that surprised me a bit is that Craig Butin left both practices early – Valerie stayed on the ice til the end though. I have no idea why and haven’t had a chance to talk to anyone since I saw this. They didn’t practice this morning (Sat at 6am) but will be practicing tonight and I’ll try and see what’s up.
None of the USA or RUS pairs practiced yesterday afternoon in the main rink that I know of. The Polish team was on the last pairs practice and both seemed to have good practices, Marius’s triple toe was doing much better.
I then headed over to the practice rink for the Canadian men. Saw the tail end of the Chinese practice but didn’t see enough to really note if they were having a good practice or not. Everyone looked pretty happy as they got off the ice though.
Emanuel & Jeff both practiced. Eman seemed to be having a fair bigt of trouble with his quad – didn’t see him land one although I saw a lot popped to doubles – evidently it was his 1st practice so…. I didn’t see Jeff try and quads, he had a little trouble at the beginning on his 3axel, stepping out of a few but seemed to be doing ok by the end.
I left after the Canadian men – it was around 8pm and I had been at the arenas since early morning.
Now for this morning. . .
As I mentioned above, I saw the Chinese pairs practice first and then came over here for the Canadian men.
Jeff had a soso run through – tried the 4 toe as the 1st jump in the program and fell on it – looked short of rotation to me, landed his first 3a in combo with 3t but fell on the solo one. He didn’t do a complete run through. He did land at least one 4toe prior to the run through. Eman landed the 4toe 3toe in his run through but then popped the axel to a single and the 4sal to a double.
I’m in a debate right now as to whether I’ll stay here in the main arena the rest of the day or make a quick trip over to the practice arena just for the the CAN men. If I do, I’ll miss the Chinese men in the main arena as well as the US ladies. Since I haven’t seen any ladies practice yet, I just might stay here.
Sorry the notes on how skaters are doing aren’t any more detailed.