It is interesting that his ina bauer and biellmann look so strong this year (not that they were not always wonderful). In the back of my mind, I have been wondering how much longer he would be able to keep them. It may be my imagination, or such a fantastic defeat my sad expectation that they would not be there in his program some day, but, being somewhat familiar with the history of his skating (this thread is great for catching some of his earlier skates through links), both of those "bends" looked better at Finlandia this year than they ever have to me. My first thought when I saw the video of the practice, and confirmed when I saw the feed of the fs, was that he had, at least for this season (or perhaps for Finlandia), reversed the aging process. Maybe he is hiding the pain through sheer willpower and spirit, but it really seemed that he was in control of what he was doing and working within the bounds of what his body could take (he made it look like he could well handle them, but he does that I get the impression even when he is pushing himself beyond what he should . . . only he knows). No one can certainly fault him if he drops them from his routine, and he is still so amazing without them, but the way that he is doing that ina bauer this year is to die for.
:thumbsup:
The flower-girls were so cute and David Wilson's hands were full of Pooh lol.
Some details that caught my eye, in the positive sense: Yuzu's dress is beautiful, and the ina bauer to the music was whoaaaah. 
It will be such a joy to see how both programmes will develop through the season, which by the way will be fantastic because Sochi and everything.
arty:
