Men - Short Program - Comments

Wow! For awhile there Jeff was in the lead. I really thought he was going to hang on, but without the quad it's a tough field. Anyway, I am happy to see that he is in fourth overall. I hope he "hits another one out of the ballpark" with his long program like he did at Canadians. It's awesome.

Go Jeff!!!

Mathman said:

I thought Lambiel totally blew Plushenko off the ice. Give Evgeni his props for a gutsy try while injured, and if you must, give him some points for showmanship. (Didn't you just cringe when he lifted his leg for a Bielmann, knowing he had a groin injury?) But Stephane's spins are light-years ahead of everybody else's, with speed, centering and many intricate changes of position. I thought both Lambiel and Buttle deserved to have higher component scores than Plushenko, irrespective of what country they were competing in.

Mathman

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I think this is absolutely where the personal preference for styles comes into play. For my money I agree with you Mathman - Lambiel blew the competition away. His elegant style and quiet power are just a joy to watch and having seen him live several times, I am just awestruck by how quiet and how fast his skating is and how effortless and complete his presentation is. Although I do find myself holding my breath when he sets up a jump. He still has slight wobbles on his quads and 3a landings that lead to heart in mouth moments for his fans.
Again these are the qualities I like about Buttles skating too, the effortless and elegant skating. For me powerful skating is not about how many quads you can do, or how fast you can skate your footwork. As much as I respect Plushenko, I am not a fan of what I see as the over the top style. I find there is something very confrontational about his skating and can't really ever get into it. But that is just my opinion and had Plush not had the fall - I think it would have been difficult to call who should be in the lead and I think there would be very good arguments for both Lambiel and Plushenko to have been in the lead. As it is I am glad that Lambiel is in the lead and really really hope he can keep it going into the free program.

ITA with diver chick. I'm been shamelessly gushing for Lambiel for a while now so I might as well just do it again here. The flow he carries with is just amazing, especially during the footwork. There's not a moment when his blades are not on an edge. It's just butter-smooth. I think he's one of the most naturally gifted skaters we've ever seen. And when he's on, he just wears his heart on his sleeve (a skater that I can really describe him like that); with the passion and abandon he skates with, he can bring the house down ANYWHERE. He's a perfect skater for me, because he has the combination of charm, that natural elegance, the musicality, and the expressiveness...he's just effortless and SO magical!

Count me in on the Lambiel GUSH!!

I've only gotten to see him skate a few times before....blah blah blah US pitiful coverage and all that. I was able to watch the SP's yesterday on the Russian link, and OMG. He truly is a marvelous skater. I really wish Plush were at his best, because I think that would be a REAL showdown. (BTW, I prefer the style of Lambiel to Plush, although I have high respect for Plush's talents) But in any case, my fingers are crossed that he has an excellent LP, and brings it on in to the finish line!

DG

Mathman said:

I thought Lambiel totally blew Plushenko off the ice. Give Evgeni his props for a gutsy try while injured, and if you must, give him some points for showmanship. (Didn't you just cringe when he lifted his leg for a Bielmann, knowing he had a groin injury?) But Stephane's spins are light-years ahead of everybody else's, with speed, centering and many intricate changes of position. I thought both Lambiel and Buttle deserved to have higher component scores than Plushenko, irrespective of what country they were competing in.

Mathman

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I completely agree with you. By the way, much of the time I cannot understand the really strong PCS scores given to Joubert - reputation maybe? Strong jumps really are his strongest suit.

Anyway, I was thrilled to see Buttle skate so well - I'm Canadian so I'm really rooting for him. What can you say about Sandhu - does a beautiful quad/triple then SINGLES the axel. More of the same. Sad for Weir - I'm a big fan of his skating, but he really didn't have it. Aside from his jump error, his program looked cautious and deflated.

Plushenko was lucky the judges were so generous to him in qualifying. Yikes for the short. Feel bad for him skating injured, but can't help but wonder if he should pull out and properly heal.... that goes for all the injured guys actually. Look at Lambiel - took a whole season off, properly heals from an injury, and comes back stronger than ever.

Was thrilled by Lambiel. Loved his style. He really held nothing back and I hope he can hang onto his enthusiasm for the long. I'd be more than happy to see him take the gold. It's his to lose. His spinning is sublime - I wanted to see more - and I love how he's choreographed to really take advantage of his tall, lean body type. It's really made him unique.

Li's placement showed me one of the positive things about the new system that has made me optimistic about it in spite of other flaws. He had probably the best jumps of the night, and under the 6.0 system probably would have landed in the top three. But COP takes way more notice of his weak spins and footwork, and overall choreographic blah-ness. No longer are the jumps EVERYTHING, which I see as a positive move.

there's very little expectation for a not well known skater like lambiel,but he did the right thing taking care of his injury, something plushy should have done. plushy wanted to save his body for worlds but was forced to compete in china it didn't help his condition. can this comp be more dramatic?

Li

I don't know... Li always gets robbed no matter what system is in use. Even landing all of the jumps in the 6.0 system, they deduct for bad choreo for Li but not for Tim.

Plush skated great in the SP despite the mistake. Lambiel outclasses Plush, but Plush still has the aura even when he makes mistakes.