Go Johnny Go

[kareliz]

I just had to start a thread just to gush about Johnny Weir. That was truly wonderful skating. I have always liked him, but last season I kept waiting for him to have a little more dynamic range in his programs - more strength, speed and power to balance his wonderful lyrical qualities. What a beautful program.

I especially love how he holds his position when he lands from a jump. This is not just holding his edge, but holding the free leg up in a beautfiful extended postion. Most of the men can't do it because their groins are too tight. Even many of the ladies just let that leg fall down. (Not Michelle.) His spins are fabulous, he finishes his movement, and I just loved it.

Now, all he needs is a quad, and to continue to work with moments of power and tension to balance the softness. If Johnny has a quad, and Plushenko is healthy, there will be some wonderful competitions. I like Joubert very much, but he has a long way to go to compete with either of them artistically.

 

[Hikaru]

I like Johnny's skating a lot as well. Like you mentioned, he has a way of landing the jumps, he keeps his position and glides out of the jump, there is no sudden stop between jumps, and I like that very much. Some skaters do have a tendency of sort of stopping after a jump, or more like loosing speed. In the past, for example, when Michelle was younger she had more glide out of the jumps, but these days I see that she sort of looses speed out of the jump, and doesn't keep that extra glide that Johnny has. I think this gives him more credit in the presentation score because his jumps look more finished, and he also rotates in the air very well. I would like to see more stretch in Brian and, 'cause he also spins very well in the air, the same with Takeshi; both have good height, but if only we could have more stretch with them, that'll be great. Alexei has also that beautiful glide out of the jumps.

I hear that Johnny does the quad, and quad / triple too. Maybe he still doesn't feel comfortable doing it in competition? maybe he is waiting to compete with Brian and Plushy, to see how it goes with his triples and the CoP, which could be good and then he would know what to expect at Worlds. I think he could do a triple/triple/double with a lot of ease