Inspired skating

Before the competitions began, I assumed (always a dangerous thing to do) that the medallists from the recent Olympics will move up a place or two because the winners were not there. Boy, was I wrong! With the exception of Stephane Lambiel, nearly every Olympic medallist had difficulty keeping up the level of skating. By contrast many who did not do so well (or did not get a chance to, in the case of Yuakari Nakano and Nobunari Oda) skated inspired performances.

Without the Olympic pressure many of the skaters seemed to skate much better at worlds. It almost seemed like they were skating to prove something. Some of them medalled.

Ladies: Sasha Cohen won silver at the Olys, bronze at worlds. Most people expected her to win. By contrast, Sokolova bombed at Olys, but skated two great performances (SP,LP) at worlds and placed 4th. Fumie moved from 4th at Oly to 2nd at worlds. Kimmie Meissner moved from 6th at Oly to 1st at worlds. Yukari was not on the Oly team. Her counterpart Miki Ando finished very low at the Olys. Yukari placed a respectable 5th in her first worlds. Yoshie Onda who was left off the Oly team skated respectable SP & LP and placed 11th overall. She seemed very happy with her skates and she should be because she landed most of her planned jumps. The exception was Joannie Rochette. The pressure of expectations/skating at home probably got to her.


Dance:Belbin-Agosto:- silver at Oly, bronze at worlds. I thought they would certainly win the gold. Again, I was wrong.
Denkova-Staviyski were 5th at Oly; 1st at worlds.
Dubriell-Lauzon had the unfortunate fall in the OD and they could not skate the FD. At worlds they finished 2nd.
Delobel-Schoenfelder had a better showing at the Olys, I think. Their FD seemed flat. Normally I really enjoy their programs. May be they were burned out?
In the OD at Olys (IIRC) five teams fell.
Nobody fell at worlds. The loan exception was Romanovskaya in the FD.


Pairs: Zhang & Zhang won a silver again, but they were 4th in the LP. Only their high marks in the SP preserved the silver for them. Pang & Tong were 4th at Oly, and 1st at worlds (I call that poetic justice). Petrova-Tikhnov were 5th at Oly; 3rd at worlds after a clean skate. To their credit, Inoue-Baldwin maintained the level of performance even at worlds. They landed the throw triple axel again! (She had a hand down but it was a landed throw). Zagorska-Siudek skated an inspired LP and received a big ovation from the crowd.


Men:Buttle won bronze in Oly; placed 6th at worlds.
Joubert was 6th at Oly, and 2nd at worlds. Lysacek was 4th at Oly; 3rd at worlds. Sandhu moved up several places to finish 5th. Lambiel was perhaps the only Oly medallist who actually skated better than in the Olympics. This has to be a big confidence builder for Lambiel and Joubert. Without the back spasms, I think Johnny Weir would have skated to his potential too. I was hoping that he would medal.

In general it seemed like after experiencing the Olympic pressure the skaters relaxed and skated much better at worlds. Interestingly those who had medalled seemed to struggle (except Lambiel who skated much better, except in the SP)- possibly because of the pressure of expectation.

Vash
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Vash - but Evan did the same thing at worlds that he did at the olys... he made a comeback... so wouldn't that make him a bit more consistant than the others mentioned?

a great perspective and something to ponder

meditate on this, I will

This has happened at every post-Olympic Worlds I've ever seen. As Kurt Browning said re Worlds after the Olympics, "It's different for everybody."

For some, I think physical and/or mental exhaustion after the Olympics affected their Worlds performances.

BTW, I have more "Boy, was I wrong!" files in my head than google has zeros. And I expect a google more before the end of the year.

Rgirl

Great post Vash!

All the things you pointed out - many unexpected surprises and performances is what made the World's very exciting to follow and watch for me. I daresay I enjoyed the competition from World's even more than the competition from Oly's. While World's also had it's share of performances that were disappointing for the skaters, I felt there were many more truly inspired performances at World's. Here are a few of my faves:

Men's - E-man's "come back" after the horrible QR. Especially his SP, and the joy / relief / whatever those emotions all were when he fishished his SP.

Evan's come back for a medal. He really grew on me after seeing him live at Nats. I hope for the future that Evan can come up with a broader range of musical styles that work as well for him as the "Spanish themed" (if I'm using the right term - but I might not be) work for him.

Oda's SP - I thought he captured the character so wonderfully. That is an SP I will watch many times during the off season!!

Joubert - bringing back Matrix sure worked for him. I was just thrilled to see him skate so well (esp the LP) after a tough season (I guess that's really two seasons....) I hope that was a confidence builder that will inspire him for next year.

Lambiel - his LP was such a nail biter waiting to see if it was silver or gold. I just always love a close race!

Johhny's SP - I really love that SP!!!

Buttle - while his jumps weren't there for him, and these performances just weren't his best, I found myself thinking over and over and over through the competition "I wonder what Buttle could do with that?" every time (and in every dicipline) I heard a piece of music I liked. I hope he can get enough jumps under him to really create a diverse body of work over the course of his competitive career. More so than any other skater out there "today" I think he could turn just about anything into something wonderful to watch.

Ladies: Congrats to Kimmie on a great LP and victory. All the discussion about her and the other top ladies prompted me to go back and watch some old videos of Kimmie, and also Mao and Yu-Na. Kimmie really HAS made steady progress in several areas. I don't think she's "fully cooked" yet but if she continues making this kind of progress (and Mao and Yu-Na do to) then next season will surely be exciting. And who knows who else among the younger skaters will "break out?"

Elena's SP was just electric for me!

Sasha's SP was also electric for me!

Fumie's competition - for me anyway, no individual performance in a segment made me shiver, but she had a very steady competition overall, which IMO shows her to be a tough and solid competitor. Well deserved silver!!!!!

Tugba!! I will never forget following the action on-line, and reaching the point where she made the cut for the LP. And then she moved up from there!!!

Sarah Mieier (sp) - count me in as a new fan!!

Korpi - OH to spend just one day of my life with her looks!!

Pairs: Pang/Tong have really grown on me over the last couple of seasons and I'm happy they won. I wish they had won without a fall in the LP, but congratulations nonetheless. Their EX number this year is among my faves.

Pet/Tiks - I'm already missing the classic Russian style. I'm happy they went out with a World Medal!

I/B - What a season for them, and a great finish at World's!! As Kurt pointed out on the "re-cap" show on ESPN yesterday, lot's of people are remembered for medals, but only ONE person/team is remembered through history for being the first one to do something. And I've never been so thrilled to see someone land a 3T in my life I don't think. I hope the report is true that they plan to compete again next season.

Dance: I'm just thrilled to see that Dance seems to be turning into a real competition more than a "fix is in" sort of thing. I have to say this is the first season in many years that I have enjoyed watching dance.

I love the simple elegance of Marie-Paul's costumes. I thought their FS was breathtaking.

Den/Stavs FD was amazing. The two of them and Elena Sokolova look like sisters and brothers. 3 Cupcakes is better than 1!!!

I loved Tanith's momentary Diva Glare on the podium. (very different from the Death Stare that Barbara made famous at the Oly's LOL!) What would Dance be without Diva's!!!

Well, there were many other standouts for me overall, but this is getting long. What were the Inspired Performances for everyone else?

DG

Dub/Dav - I really love the look of this pair and can't wait to see how they continue to evolve.

H/P - They have really grown on me too. I hope they are staying in next year??

Vash said:

To their credit, Inoue-Baldwin maintained the level of performance even at worlds. They landed the throw triple axel again! (She had a hand down but it was a landed throw).

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They landed it once cleanly, in the Worlds SP and almost landed it again in the LP (hand down). I think this is the first time they've done two relative clean programs in the same competition since they finished 4th at US Nationals (don't ask!) And they had the highest TES in the LP and yet did not get a medal (sad that, since they were done in by having PCS lower than the Zhangs, whose SP may deserve better, but whose LP is rather empty, and who lost speed and crawled at the end of the LP due to his illness and her injury recovery.

Perhaps next year their PCS will creep up a bit more and they can maintain the TES! I do hope so. Then they might medal Whodda thunk it in any case! I do hope they try for a little more complex choreo next year, more like their Wonders of the New world LP in 2004, if they can keep up the speed and trick execution. I was so thrilled that John landed his 3 toe nicely, and that they had some decent unison in the jumps. Most shocking thing: the highest tech/GOE points for jumps, not even including throw jumps, in the Worlds' LP was I/B????? Who'd a thunk it double. The best two programs in the LP were by the PetTikhs & I/B whodda thunk it triple.

H/P have said they'd decide whether to compete next year in May.

Evan, Inoue & Baldwin, Fumie

I think all three of the above really showed they are made from the right stuff. Inoue and Baldwin really have upped the ante and I hope they will be rewarded for it in the future. Evan was great. He is a fighter and I am as happy for Frank Carroll as I am for him. Fumie was rock solid and I admire her more and more. She has real heart.

I think this phenomenon stems from the stress of the season...hence why OGM winners often skip Worlds nowadays. I think the results above speak for themselves.

kyla2 said:

I think all three of the above really showed they are made from the right stuff. Inoue and Baldwin really have upped the ante and I hope they will be rewarded for it in the future. Evan was great. He is a fighter and I am as happy for Frank Carroll as I am for him. Fumie was rock solid and I admire her more and more. She has real heart.

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ITA with everything you said, Kyla! I&B's throw 3A was spectacular, but what really got me jumping up and down was when John landed both his side-by-side jumps in the long program. Finally! (Which leads me to a brief digression: what is it going to take to get a US team on the pairs podium? Obviously, making FS history doesn't cut it...) But what an end to the season! I'm happy for them.
I've probably raved about Evan and Fumie enough on other threads, but along with I&B, and the Kerrs in dance (got a big soft spot for bagpipes), these were the highlights of Worlds for me.
Happy Monday, everybody!
xoxo
Rave