Great coverage of this event per the internet! [two thumbs up]
Just got through reading all the reviews.......btw props to
Paula for the superb articles that she always provides (one of the reasons why this site is my favorite skating site)........and a special thanks to
Jaana, Eislauffen, & Ritti ~ GREAT JOB!
^)
First off,
CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners, with special hugs going to the following:
Chiper (ROM) ~ for truly being an underdog (totally came out of left field); landed his first quad in competition and as a result won the whole thing! Also, if I'm not mistaken, he was the oldest competitor on the men's side at the age of 25! YES! This reminds me of when Maria Butyrskaya became the oldest female to win a World Championship at the age of 26 in 1999.
^)
Drei (FIN) & Manzano (AUS) ~ for winning the silver & bronze medals respectively, but most importantly for doing so at the ages of 25 (Drei) & 28 (Manzano); the latter being the oldest competitor in the competition btw. YES! Score another one for the old warhorses. (;^)
***Note: also Congrats to Drei's teammates ~
Poykio ~ for winning the whole thing for the second year in a row. One more time and she will have tied Elena Sokolova for the most wins at Finlandia.***
Hinzmann & Parchem (USA) ~ for winning the bronze despite only being together since the summer.
^) ***Note: however, being a huge Aaron Parchem Fan, I have to admit that I'm concerned with his choice of a new partner - one not known for being able to land the jumps - basically the same story as his old partner, which was aesthetically gorgeous on the ice but not good technically. IMHO he should have just stayed w/Stephanie. Or tried to get Jennifer Kirk as his new partner, who represents the best out of the not-so-best. JMHO***
On a somewhat down note, too bad about
Kostner.......the result here obviously is not an indication of what she is capable of......and I'm wondering what the problem is since last year she came out fairly strong early on in the JGP??? And I'm not talking about coming in 4th at a B-level competition, rather about her missing so many jumps in competition as well as practice. Not that I expected her to repeat her amazing performances at 2003 Euros & Worlds, but I didn't expect her to make soooooo many errors: SP - only landed the 2A cleanly, whereas the other two required 3jumps were shakey/underrotated/turnout/etc.; LP - only landed three 3jumps cleanly, no 3/3s (which she had become known for), 1A!, etc. Hmmmm....
***Note: IMHO Kostner has either had a growth spurt, which would obviously explain the aforementioned errors and therefore take about a year to get back (crossing fingers). Or she was just plain out-of-shape, undertrained, et al. Hopefully for her sake it was the latter. And she can get it together before Skate America in 2 weeks time and manage to place in the Top 5.***
Peace & Love, Nadine
P.S. Though none of my FAVS for this particular event (i.e. Kostner, Nikodinov, & McCorkell) did well, it's only the beginning. And hopefully the results here will give them the impetus to do better in the future.
^)
"this above all????" - CLo
Because of that, it's hard to get excited about a brand new pair - been burned too many times in this regards - as far as getting my hopes up for a promising pair. 
for Nikodinov. It just gets worse for her, doesn't it?
