Men's Long Program

[jennylovskt]

Having just watched the top six ( in the SP) skater's LP, I'll say that Jeffrey deserved his gold. His performance was really a treat, such a beautiful, classic skater. I haven't seen his performance as good as this one for a long time. Brian's a fighter. But I don't think that there is any doubt in the placement between gold and silver. Brian should come down. There alway is next year. Wish him the best on his health and his skating.

Johnny did very good, not the best he can do but I felt it's much better than I thought after I read some of the comments about his skating in this thread. I am very happy that he has raised his international status by earning his first World medal. He has met his own expectation which is to end the season on a high note. Good for him!

It's painful to watch Tomas' skating. What a shame! I am not a Takahashi fan, but I am so sorry that he didn't even medal this time. It has been a bad season for Stephane. Hope he comes back strong next season.

 

[Tigger]

One more thing....

If it does end up being Kevin Van Der Perrin's final skate at a Worlds due to how serious his hip surgery is sounding, I can't think of a better way to go out.

If this was "it", then he's certainly represented Belgium w/pride and he'll be missed. What a skate that was!!

 

[bleuchick]

I went to see Tristan & Isolde opera at the Metropolitan Live and missed this competition thinking Brian was gonna win this and that Jeff will have a meltdown...business as usual. And this is coming from a fan who felt stung when Kurt Browning openly showed that he favoured Patrick Chan on tv and in front of Jeffrey at Nationals 2008. I felt bad for Jeffrey and therefore resigned myself to next year or the year after...but one day he will come through and do 2 clean programs.:yes:

The opera was 5 hours(3 acts..LOL) but great and at one point and I thought...hmmm..wonder WHO won the men title. How Jeffrey did. Maybe he is the new world champ then I said ..nahhhh...back to Tristan and Isolde.

Glad to know I was wrong!

Congratulation to Jeffrey who not only won the world champion but FINALLY SKATED A CLEAN ASTOR PIAZOLLA and I will die a happy camper for getting this clean ADIO NONINO

All I ever wanted was a clear Short Program but to win a world title...wheee..WTG Jeffrey

 

[Ximena]

One more thing....

If it does end up being Kevin Van Der Perrin's final skate at a Worlds due to how serious his hip surgery is sounding, I can't think of a better way to go out.

If this was "it", then he's certainly represented Belgium w/pride and he'll be missed. What a skate that was!!

My guess, actually my hope is that he will get that surgery, sit out the next season and try for Vancouver. KEvin is really that one kind of skater that one will miss terribly if he leaves.

And he has to realise by now that this kind of program, the Safri Duo, the Robin Hood and Pirates are the one that work for him. No more Lawrence-type for him!!

 

[bleuchick]

Question to those who watched the men skating on Eurosport...

who was that blonde woman with red framed glasses that gave Lee a hug after Jeff's FP replay?

Debbie Wilkes?

 

[Ximena]

You know what's really impressive that right now you have (officialy as today) Joubert, Lambiel, Buttle, Weir, Lysacek, Verner and when they compete against each other, three of them would always be out of medal and it doesn't seem that fair, does it?

I mean before when it was Yags/Plush time, it did seem fair (to me at least) because they were so above the rest, but the six above they are pretty much all in the same level. And now it seems one can add Voronov to the mix.

I'm impressed and quite happy about it, and yet it does not seem fair that 3-4 of them won't medal at the upcoming worlds, you know what I mean?

 

[jennylovskt]

You know what's really impressive that right now you have (officialy as today) Joubert, Lambiel, Buttle, Weir, Lysacek, Verner and when they compete against each other, three of them would always be out of medal and it doesn't seem that fair, does it?

I think Takahashi should be in that list too.

 

[Ximena]

I think Takahashi should be in that list too.

Oh yes of course, sorry got up insanely early for the FS

 

[Axel Rose]

Question to those who watched the men skating on Eurosport...

who was that blonde woman with red framed glasses that gave Lee a hug after Jeff's FP replay?

Debbie Wilkes?

Yes, that was Debbi Wilkes. She's now Director of Marketing and Sponsorship at Skate Canada.

As an aside, I've had ABBA's "The Winner Takes it All" in my head since this morning and it's starting to drive me nuts. Just added to the "surreal" quality of the medal ceremony though.

 

[Skye]

One more thing....

If it does end up being Kevin Van Der Perrin's final skate at a Worlds due to how serious his hip surgery is sounding, I can't think of a better way to go out.

If this was "it", then he's certainly represented Belgium w/pride and he'll be missed. What a skate that was!!

Oh yes, it was such a treat to see KVDP have the skate of his life when he might never be able to step on ice again. Another highlight for me was Voronov, who bombed at last year's Worlds and had so much pressure to secure 2 spots for Russia, coming back strong in the free skate.

 

[Jaana]

While I am happy that Buttle could win a surprised gold medal at this World, I have to say that this World has lowest level of the men's competition of the season as far as the technical elements concerned.

Maybe so, but wouldn´t it be much more sensible to compare to other Worlds rather than to what happens in smaller competitions? The winner´s technical elements in Worlds freeskate:

2008 Buttle 84.29
2007 Joubert 80.57
2006 Lambiel 78.70
2005 Lambiel 67.32

The winner´s combined technical elements (sp and fs):

2008 Buttle 44.07 + 84.29
2007 Joubert 44.85 + 80.57
2006 Lambiel 39.49 + 78.70
2005 Lambiel 42.56 + 67.32

To me it seems, that Buttle´s result in 2008 is actually the leader in technical elements, although some rules may have changed a bit?

 

[Germanice]

Honestly, you guys shouldn't take too serious what Joubert said. No doubt he was p***** (mostly about himself), disappointed and frustrated. I guess his entire season came down to him. He desperately wanted to retain his title, he hates to lose, that's what Champions are made of - and it's not always nice.

I always thought one shouldn't put a mic up in front of someone who's just been through extreme emotional heights, and downs, until waiting at least one hour - but that's a different story.

Please keep in mind he also said:
""He (Jeff) did a clean free program and after his short program, he deserved to win."

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20885

The "other" remark was anything but political correct, but again, to me it was more frustration about himself than anything against Buttle.

 

[tstars]

Joubert angry

I found a clip showing how pissed Brian was when he found out he had lost to Jeff. http://youtube.com/watch?v=B_HnrnBIWsI I'm so disappointed in his reaction.

 

[Germanice]

I found a clip showing how pissed Brian was when he found out he had lost to Jeff. http://youtube.com/watch?v=B_HnrnBIWsI I'm so disappointed in his reaction.

Wow, he was p*****, indeed! Seriously, I'm not saying it's okay, but then I prefer a honest, *human* reaction like this much more than a lukewarm "lost-the-gold-won-the-silver"-attitude.

 

[Medusa]

Maybe so, but wouldn´t it be much more sensible to compare to other Worlds rather than to what happens in smaller competitions? The winner´s technical elements in Worlds freeskate:

2008 Buttle 84.29
2007 Joubert 80.57
2006 Lambiel 78.70
2005 Lambiel 67.32

The winner´s combined technical elements (sp and fs):

2008 Buttle 44.07 + 84.29
2007 Joubert 44.85 + 80.57
2006 Lambiel 39.49 + 78.70
2005 Lambiel 42.56 + 67.32

To me it seems, that Buttle´s result in 2008 is actually the leader in technical elements, although some rules may have changed a bit?

It really shows how much more the skaters understand COP nowadays. Look at Lambiel's win in 2005 - Johnny got these technical marks in this competition, and he lost lots of points with the Quad and missing Triple Toe, missing Doubles and the level 2 step sequence.

And while we were talking about Johnny being lucky: I guess Lambiel was a bit more lucky back then when he managed to grab the gold with these marks.

Buttle is Mr.COP - but if this is COP how it is supposed to be - I suddenly don't have a problem with COP anymore. It was a beautiful performance, and is it just me or were Buttle's spins equal or even better than Lambiel's last night?

 

[NatachaHatawa]

I am a brian fan and naturally I'd have liked to have seen Brian win gold. I'm not shocked by Jeff's gold medal, but however, I am shocked by his 10 point technical advantage. I think the score should have been a lot closer. Brian did a gorgeous quad and beautiful jumps, whereas Jeff didn't do a quad and his jumps aren't as huge. Jeff's spins and footwork are better.
I do think Brian did a tactical mistake. He did his free program to beat the other guys, but underestimated (as most people did) Jeff: He never does two great programs and had a sloppy training seasion. Congrats to Jeff though. One thing I really admire Jeff for, is not making ma fallasleep as he usualy does; his artistry was better than usual. I do understand brian's anger, because the quad is under'estimated in the new system. The real problem is though that Brian only did 2 combos, and one of those was a 2A-1T and he didn't do a second quad when he announced three. I do think he was severly judged technicaly, but he also underestimated Jeff. I think Brian would have won if he had skated last.

Brian was angry, but here's an artical I found: http://fr.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080322/tts-glace-patinage-artistique-mond-cr-pr-c1b2fc3.html

In this artical, he says he was pissed off with the system, and not with Jeff, who he admits underestimating , and recognises his competitor qualities.

I'm sooooooooooooo sad for Tomas and Stéphane! :-(

Congrats to kevin!

Like Jeff, Johnny took everyone by suprisse by doing 2 great programs. Yay to Johnny!

 

[luckyguy]

Takahiko Kozuka

I saw this guy for the first time. It was a joy to watch his program and his speed. What a figure skater! I think he is the future champion.

 

[Jaana]

Look at Lambiel's win in 2005 - Johnny got these technical marks in this competition, and he lost lots of points with the Quad and missing Triple Toe, missing Doubles and the level 2 step sequence.

Yes, there was a difference less than 2 TES points between Buttle/Weir after the short programme, but in the freeskate it was almost 20 points. Unfortunately Weir keeps losing TES points by not doing all his elements or not doing them as well as he surely could do (level 4). Besides, he looked really tentative in the freeskate and unlike Buttle seemed to be just going from one jump to the next one.

I was really impressed by Buttle, the way he skated as if he would be in an exhibition, no pressure seemed to be there, WOW, what a freeskate performance.

 

[antmanb]

Scoring?

What the hell has happened at this world championships? The scoring, to me, simply didn't make sense on an element by element basis. How did Brian Joubert get an "e" on his flips and still have GOEs of 0? I thought the computer was supposed to stop judges from inserting anything that wasn't a -GOE?

The other thing that makes no sense whatsoever is Lambiel lands his triple axel in a sitting position and steps out in what is practically a fall and obtains straight -2s except one -1 and a -3. Weir two foots what is otherwise a perfectly good quad - it's one of those were the free foot touch down didn't particularly take a lot of weight and he get's all -3s bar a few -2s? That doesn't make sense.

Saying that i'm overjoyed at Jeff's win and am so glad he's finally got the gold he deserves.

How Joubert gets the PCS he does is beyond me because to me he shouldn't even be near anyone in the top 6 with them.
Ant

 

[MissIzzy]

I don't know why the judges were so nice to Joubert(sheer relief that someone wasn't fumbling it?) but Johnny's quad is all the fault of the technical panel, which downgraded it because the wrong foot hit the ice first, which left the judges obliged to be mean. Scott Davis is a little overzealous, oh yes.