Men's Long Program

[feraina]

Wow, so happy for Johnny! I hope this gives him motivation and energy to work hard and train for the next season, and come back even stronger with the support of his new team!

Also congrats to Jeffrey (he was phenomenal!), and Brian (he's a real fighter!).

That's a great podium -- I'm just remembering how at the start of the season everyone was doubting Johnny & Jeff as even capable of being top 6 or 7, and also just last week, Brian Joubert thought it was a 3-way race. I wonder how he feels about those comments now being sandwiched in between two North Americans.

I wonder if all the judging controversy of the ladies' event influenced the outcome of men's. It had eerie parallels. Carolina's error-strewn skate was like Stephane Lambiel's, and Yukari's clean and crowd-rousing skate finished the night like Jeff Buttle did for men. The results are totally different: Carolina's got a silver, and Stephane 5th; Yukari's 4th and Buttle is the champion.

Of course, there were some differences as well. Stephane's errors were maybe slightly more severe than Carolina's, and Yukari has a leg wrap that gives her -GOE's and makes her prone to under-rotations whereas most of Jeff's jumps were text-book.

Still, the differences in results are huge!

 

[mizu_iro]

Wow, so happy for Johnny! I hope this gives him motivation and energy to work hard and train for the next season, and come back even stronger with the support of his new team!

Also congrats to Jeffrey (he was phenomenal!), and Brian (he's a real fighter!).

That's a great podium -- I'm just remembering how at the start of the season everyone was doubting Johnny & Jeff as even capable of being top 6 or 7, and also just last week, Brian Joubert thought it was a 3-way race. I wonder how he feels about those comments now being sandwiched in between two North Americans.

I wonder if all the judging controversy of the ladies' event influenced the outcome of men's. It had eerie parallels. Carolina's error-strewn skate was like Stephane Lambiel's, and Yukari's clean and crowd-rousing skate finished the night like Jeff Buttle did for men. The results are totally different: Carolina's got a silver, and Stephane 5th; Yukari's 4th and Buttle is the champion.

Of course, there were some differences as well. Stephane's errors were maybe slightly more severe than Carolina's, and Yukari has a leg wrap that gives her -GOE's and makes her prone to under-rotations whereas most of Jeff's jumps were text-book.

Still, the differences in results are huge!

I think the complaining that happened after the ladies' competition may have played a part in the judging for the men - some of the PCS was a bit doubtful, but as a whole the judging was spot-on. Then again, the men aren't as prone to UR as the ladies.

 

[london_calling]

I am so happy for Johnny! He should be so proud of himself. I was holding my breath every time he jumped. He really came through tonight.

Jeffrey skated wonderfully and am so happy for him too. Talk about an upset!

 

[lmarie086]

Thanks london_calling!
And here are the men's final standings.

Name Nat. Points SP FS
1 Jeffrey BUTTLE CAN 245.17 1 1
2 Brian JOUBERT FRA 231.22 6 2
3 Johnny WEIR USA 221.84 2 5
4 Daisuke TAKAHASHI JPN 220.11 3 6
5 Stéphane LAMBIEL SUI 217.88 5 7
6 Kevin VAN DER PERREN BEL 216.02 9 3
7 Sergei VORONOV RUS 209.93 15 4
8 Takahiko KOZUKA JPN 205.15 8 8
9 Patrick CHAN CAN 203.55 7 11
10 Stephen CARRIERE USA 201.69 11 9
11 Jeremy ABBOTT USA 197.26 14 10
12 Sergei DAVYDOV BLR 196.79 12 12
13 Adrian SCHULTHEISS SWE 194.39 13 13
14 Kristoffer BERNTSSON SWE 193.72 10 15
15 Tomas VERNER CZE 191.94 4 20
16 Karel ZELENKA ITA 187.65 17 16
17 Gregor URBAS SLO 187.48 18 14
18 Yannick PONSERO FRA 182.06 16 18
19 Yasuharu NANRI JPN 179.88 20 17
20 Anton KOVALEVSKI UKR 178.13 21 19
21 Igor MACYPURA SVK 169.93 19 21
22 Jamal OTHMAN SUI 164.02 22 22
23 Chengjiang LI CHN 155.75 23 23
24 Abzal RAKIMGALIEV

 

[Hikaru]

I think is time for some pictures of our men in the podium!

http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/S...l&ebd=2008-03-21&p=Johnny Weir&src=standard#1

 

[zandor]

Brian is a true CHAMPION! He was absolute fabulous after such an awful season! He showed the world that Brian Joubert should never be taken out of consideration!

Congrats to Jeff, Brian and Johnny!

 

[Kasey]

Brian is a true CHAMPION!

A true champion, but a sore loser. Reportedly he was being interviewed by French TV and was quite ticked off to not have won, and being beaten by someone who "doesn't attempt difficulty in his program".... So sayeth Brian, who only went for one triple axel and two combos (and one being a wussy 2A-1T). Whatever.

Congrats Jeff and Johnny!

 

[rain]

I've never cried over figure skating before....but I'm crying right now for Jeff it's not even funny. soooo happy and proud for Jeff Buttle!!!!

I just got out of bed and went to my computer with shaking hands to check the results, convincing myself that I wouldn't be too disappointed if Jeff only managed to hang on for 4th or 5th place.....never even daring to hope that he would win the whole thing. My jaw dropped and the tears started coming when I saw the results. Winning with both a victory in the short and the long programs.....this has made my whole day!!!!! Best result ever! And to hear that he did it with a great, rather than a so-so skate is fantastic! Over the moon, absolutely over the moon.

 

[exNyer]

OMG !!!!!
my hands are shaking. I'm tearing up too! I can't believe it!!!
Both Johnny & Jeff on the podium.
Because of the big grin and this shade of green this smilie always reminds me of JeffB

 

[taylorfax]

I am so ridiculously proud of Johnny this season. I agree it's been a great comeback and rebuilding season for him and I hope he takes these moments and uses them to buildbuildbuild. And win the gold next year. He wasn't perfect tonight by any means but showed some grit. *gets teary*

I am sooooo happy that Jeff won!! The three first placings in general are exactly the way I'd have them after this free skate. And I'm so beyond thrilled he won without a quad.

Congratulations to Brian, too! Even though I don't really like his skating he was clean a nice tonight and totally deserved this!

 

[exNyer]

I believe in the Worlds championship the short and long program top three finishers are awarded small medals for their respective placements. Therefore both Johnny & Jeff have two little medals along with the formal final medals.

 

[hongligl]

Why they do that???

Three guys made the same mistake! One more jump combo that's invalid element!!! Patrick Chan, the second american skater, and Daisuke, all of them tried to make up for the jump combo they missed and forgot that when they fell and miss the combo, it still counted as a jump sequence(when the first jump had been done as a single jump already), and take away one pass of the 3 combos already. What a pity, and the jumps were all come at the later part of the program, which means at least a 5 point loss, when you can add a second jump to it usually that jump would earn +1 goe, that makes it at least 6 point! ouch!

 

[chania36]

CONGRADULATION TO YOU JEFF, YOU ARE SO GOOD, YOU MADE ME CRY AND ITS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCED i'VE HAD THIS KIND OF EMOTION IN FIGURE SKAT NG, IT IS WELL DESERVED, AND ALSO i CONGRADULATE THE OTHERS WHO SKATED AND GOT A PODIUM FINISH.

 

[gourry]

Three guys made the same mistake! One more jump combo that's invalid element!!! Patrick Chan, the second american skater, and Daisuke, all of them tried to make up for the jump combo they missed and forgot that when they fell and miss the combo, it still counted as a jump sequence, and take away one pass of the 3 combos already. What a pity, and the jumps were all come at the later part of the program, which means at least a 5 point loss, when you can add a second jump to it usually that jump would earn +1 goe, that makes it at least 6 point! ouch!

Yuna did same last Worlds in LP. Sometimes just sticking to the original plan is better I guess.

 

[Sackie]

Three guys made the same mistake! One more jump combo that's invalid element!!! Patrick Chan, the second american skater, and Daisuke, all of them tried to make up for the jump combo they missed and forgot that when they fell and miss the combo, it still counted as a jump sequence, and take away one pass of the 3 combos already. What a pity, and the jumps were all come at the later part of the program, which means at least a 5 point loss, when you can add a second jump to it usually that jump would earn +1 goe, that makes it at least 6 point! ouch!

I know - had Chan not tacked the 2t on the end of the 3S he would have remained in 7th place. By adding the 2T he got no credit for even the 3S. I guess that's inexperience for you and what happens when you change your program mid season and or mid skate.

 

[summervie]

I'm so happy for Jeff and Joubert skated like a true champion, considering the season he had and coming from a 6th place...!

It seems some people get confused about the very essence of figure skating and sports in general. To skate like a true champion is to skate like a true champion under the circumstances when everybody expect from you the skate of a true champion. Not being an underdog. The very sense of sports lie in this.
Today all the heavy favorites melted down, while on the podium are the guys who had the lesser pressure on their shoulders.
Which doesn't make the victory of Jeff less valuable, of course. :agree:
Congrats to Jeff, Johnny and Brian!

 

[Medusa]

Buttle: Oh my god, I was so happy that he won. All the time through that program I was afraid that he will press the self-destruct button and that it will be over. But he was so great. He also had the best program tonight I think. This has to be the best skate / competition he ever did. Because when he won the Bronze at Olympics and that Silver at Worlds - he wasn't really outstanding. He had lots of stumbles in his programs back then - but not tonight, he was so on! :chorus:

Joubert: I can't believe that Joubert actually did the same mistake Johnny tends to do. He left out one Triple and failed to do 2 other combinations (that 2A-1T so doesn't count in my book). So he left the points of one Triple and 3 Doubles on the table + extra points because of the second half bonus. If you know that your spins mostly got level 2 in the short and you don't change them for the long and also know that the guy behind you has level 4 spins throughout the program - you can't loose those points. Brian is probably disappointed but it's a bit his own fault.
I loved his performance, it was good, there was conviction in every move. And I think he deserves high PCS. Except for the edge calls everything was well executed. I hope he can be happy with this performance, with the fact that he is healthy again, that he fought himself onto the podium after the fall in the short and that he was one of the three top guys (the others being Buttle and Weir) who didn't loose their nerve during the program.

Weir: God, he looked so beyond nervous! And he was tentative throughout the program and not as confident on his jumps as he normally is. The PCS shows that and I think that he didn't deserve better PCS. He also didn't do enough combos, left out one Double and one Triple jump.
But - he completed 7 Triple jumps, among them two well-done Triple-Axels. He went for the Quad - which didn't help him today but will help him in the future. His spins were good, the footwork precise. It was an okay performance and combined with a great short earned him a well-deserved medal. He kept it together what the other big guns failed to do. Congratulations!

VAN DER PERREN! Yes! He changed everything, deleted every attempt of artistry and superior choreography out of his program and hopefully burnt that costume - then he came here, put on some Bongo music and rocked the house! Great, great job. The standing ovations were so well deserved - the Triple-Triple-Triple incredible. Thanks Kevin! Come back next year!

Lambiel: There is nothing artistic about falling / stumbling / stepping out. I hope he gets that now. He had about two clean jumps, and these were the easiest of his program. And that after his "I am not treated well by the judges". Go home, and train those jumps. I love your programs, love them so much. You are the best artist out there. I think today it was that bad - that there wasn't much left from his beautiful program. I hope he doesn't quit the sport altogether now. He has so much potential.

Verner: I was close to tears. Poor guy. He will regroup and come back strong next year. No doubt there.

Voronov: somehow I am afraid of the Voronov of next season. Because Voronov-last-season wasn't good. Voronov-this-season was great, even with these stupid injuries and proved that he is good under pressure and just doesn't enjoy the short program. Voronov-next-season will have back the Flip and Lutz (have you seen how high he scored, and two of his Triples were just Triple Toes!).

Takahashi: Think on your feet boy! He must have known that he did two Quad Toes and two Triple Axels without making them a combo! He will kick himself for that, cost him a Bronze. Apart from that - it wasn't nearly as good as at 4CC, he was as nervous as Johnny and the spark was missing. But he kept fighting and should be proud of that.

 

[spookyangel]

Unlike women's was so much controversial, I don’t think anyone would argue with the result of men’s. I still can’t believe Jeff has won and I am so happy for him.

Every single skater tonight was really great! After I was quite disappointed with women’s competition, I had a great time watching their performances.

Congratulations to Jeff/Brian/Johnny!!!

 

[Sackie]

Nice to see Jeff for it in the LP too. Skating last he could have played it very safe and left out the second 3A. He only had to have just over 148 ((2nd) to win but instead he went for the full performance. Last year Brian didn't have to go for it in the LP and he didn't and he still won. Wonder if that's why they kept the SP scores so close so they wouldn't have that happening again in the long. It really doesn't look good to have the person who wins the title not have a winning LP.

 

[Hikaru]

More pictures:
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//080322/483/13482de4125142bda0712ea57667f2e6/

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slide...03_22t125555_450x318_us_figure_skating_world/