Sandhu — getting worse?

I have to say I've totally given up on Emanuel Sandhu to ever live up to the potential he had as a young skater. Not only has he failed to gain consistency over the years, but he has actually gotten worse as a skater overall, IMO.

It used to be that Sandhu would have one bad portion of a competition, then, more likely than not, he would come blazing back with a brilliant skate. But these days all we get is the disaster, without the following brilliance.

I'm not sure when the last time he actually landed a quad was, but it's been awhile. His triple axel has never improved to what I would consider dependability. He seems to have actually been at his jumping peak when he was competing against Stojko lo, these many years ago. He also seems to have gotten slower, and his programs emptyer and less interesting. When I'm looking at competition rosters I never consider him for the top spot anymore. Not because he's not consistent ( ironically, he's gotten more consistently bad) but because he hasn't had what I consider a good skate in at least two years.

When you look at what he was capable of several years ago, he should be right up there with Lambiel and Joubert, he even rivaled Plushenko once upon a time. But no more. Cup of Russia was just one more typical showing for Sandhu these days.

Thoughts?

rain said:

I have to say I've totally given up on Emanuel Sandhu to ever live up to the potential he had as a young skater. Not only has he failed to gain consistency over the years, but he has actually gotten worse as a skater overall, IMO.

It used to be that Sandhu would have one bad portion of a competition, then, more likely than not, he would come blazing back with a brilliant skate. But these days all we get is the disaster, without the following brilliance.

I'm not sure when the last time he actually landed a quad was, but it's been awhile. His triple axel has never improved to what I would consider dependability. He seems to have actually been at his jumping peak when he was competing against Stojko lo, these many years ago. He also seems to have gotten slower, and his programs emptyer and less interesting. When I'm looking at competition rosters I never consider him for the top spot anymore. Not because he's not consistent ( ironically, he's gotten more consistently bad) but because he hasn't had what I consider a good skate in at least two years.

When you look at what he was capable of several years ago, he should be right up there with Lambiel and Joubert, he even rivaled Plushenko once upon a time. But no more. Cup of Russia was just one more typical showing for Sandhu these days.

Thoughts?

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He is beyond return. These days, Patrick Chan might even beat him at Nationals.

Here's packick chan's sp and lp at TEB.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKGDJKdQmX4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wjme9ni1VA

I didn't even like patrick chan. but he did have solid basics, very complicated footwork, in-between and connection. But Patrick Chan needs 3a and higher jumps, otherwise he's going nowhere like most male Canadian skaters who have no jumps.

iloveaxel said:

I didn't even like patrick chan. but he did have solid basics, very complicated footwork, in-between and connection. But Patrick Chan needs 3a and higher jumps, otherwise he's going nowhere.

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Well Patrick Chan is still so very young. He will evenutally get those jumps and will most likely by-pass Eman, Buttle too, in the very near future.

As for Eman himself, he is so unpredictable that he could come back next week with a brilliant skate and totally bomb a week after that. This is not the first time we've seem this from him. It's very upsetting for a fan like me though. haha.

Saundy said:

Well Patrick Chan is still so very young. He will evenutally get those jumps and will most likely by-pass Eman, Buttle too, in the very near future.

As for Eman himself, he is so unpredictable that he could come back next week with a brilliant skate and totally bomb a week after that. This is not the first time we've seem this from him. It's very upsetting for a fan like me though. haha.

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I agree with what rain said, Sandhu seems to have lost his speed, spins this season, then minus the jumps, he's rapidly becoming a second-tier skater.

He seems to have a 'growth' spurt this season, has gained a lot of weight. Does that have anything to do with his performance?

Saundy said:

As for Eman himself, he is so unpredictable that he could come back next week with a brilliant skate and totally bomb a week after that. This is not the first time we've seem this from him. It's very upsetting for a fan like me though. haha.

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That's the problem, though. When was his last brilliant skate? Those moments were always what kept me hanging on as well, but there just haven't been ANY lately, let alone consistently.

iloveaxel said:

I
He seems to have a 'growth' spurt this season, has gained a lot of weight. Does that have anything to do with his performance?

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I noticed that at CoC, where he looked a little thick around the middle. He is 26 now, an age when men, if not careful, start to develop "love handles". I suspect this is happening because Eman has not been training as he should.

Gaining weight (especially in the middle of the body) is going to affect speed, stamina and flexibility as well as jumps. Eman had better get back to a regular training regimen and get himself in shape if he wants to challenge for a World medal.

rain said:

That's the problem, though. When was his last brilliant skate? Those moments were always what kept me hanging on as well, but there just haven't been ANY lately, let alone consistently.

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Wasn't his FP at the last Worlds more or less brilliant? Most of the commentators and fans seemed to regard it as a great comeback.

He did look heavier. Unfortunately it's impossible to look at an athlete as an elite contender when they are out of shape and hence slow. But I think that he's still capable of returning to form. Will he, though? That's the Eman conundrum.

IMO, Emanual has skated two truly brilliant performances. His first was when he won Junior Men's at the 1997 Canadian Championships in Vancouver. The second was when he beat Elvis Stoyko in the short program at the 1999 Canadian Championships. Both performances were absolutely breath-taking, stunning!!! Emanual has not however, even come close to those two stellar performances, although I really do think he skates his best at the Canadian Championships. On the International stage he has had other pretty good performances, mostly come-backs from disappointing short programs, but nothing has come close to the 1997 and 1999 Canadian Championship events.

Unfortunately, Emanual has allowed himself to fall short of his potential. IMHO, he is the most talented skater of all the Canadian men today. He has the most natural talent, the best body line, training in musicality, the best esthetics, a huge ego that yearns for performance opportunities, he's had top notch coaching and has had and continues to have the fullest support from his individual Section (BC), from Skate Canada and the international judging community. He has been given unlimited chances to live up to his ability. All of this support and opportunity and ... poof, nothing. Emanual has fallen victim to his own sad story. Yes I know, being left off the 1998 Olympic team was a huge blow for him, as it would have been for any other athlete, but the difference there is other competitors move past their disappointments and lost opportunities and become stronger, they take something negative and turn it into a positive. Dare we say, something that drives them even harder. Emanual hit a roadblock in his fledgling career and has allowed it to be his undoing, the wall that has prevented him from building a first rate amateur career. It wasn't as though the federation didn't want him to go to Nagano, it was the Olympic selection rules of the day that prevented him from going. But instead how has he responded to the disappointment? He takes a sad defeatest route, he choses to blame poor performances on ghosts in hotel rooms, on the temperature of his morning shower, on the waiter that took too long to bring out his breakfast eggs, on the taxi driver that was too slow, on his music playing too fast, he's even said his skates wouldn't speak to him ... the excuses go on and on. Nothing in his life is a problem except HIM. He is his own worst enemy! When the Canadian torch was passed from Elvis to Emanual, the guy actually had the potential to fill the skates and be the next world champion ... it is such a shame because Emanual truly had the ability according to Mishin, to worry both he and Plushenko (should Emanual have ever put 2 performances together). Too bad no one told Emanual.

Have his performances gotten worse? With the way the guy thinks, the way he does not train, his lifestyle and behaviour ... there is only one direction to go ...

I think the bottom line is, he just can't handle pressure. He is probably the ultimate "head case extraordinaire" in a sport that has seen a lot of them. If he'd been say, 6th or 7th after the short instead of 3rd, he probably would have skated better in the long; he only seems to skate REALLY well when he's got nothing to lose.

Personally, I don't know what he's thinking hanging around for the Vancouver Olympics. Even getting beyond the fact that Shawn Sawyer and Patrick Chan (and perhaps several others) should be in peak form by then and poised to knock him off the team to start with -- from a MENTAL perspective, Eman is just not the skater to come into an OLYMPICS in his HOME TOWN and do well. He did skate great in the long at the Vancouver Worlds in '01 -- but once again, he had to knock himself down to 13th place after the short to do it. If he does make the team, Carolina Kostner's "deer in headlights" routine in Torino (which isn't even her hometown) is going to have NOTHING on what Eman's probably gonna look like in Vancouver.

And it's a shame. Because when he's "on", IMHO, he's the best one out there. However, the characteristics that make his skating so wonderful and different to watch come out of an "artistic tempremant" which is what can cause problems of this nature.

That just about says it all. Eman would be my favorite male skater if he had more consistency and showed more of a champion's attitude and discipline.

Fair Weather Fans

You people, Emanuel's so-called "Fans" never cease to amaze me. Don't you remember Elizabeth Manley? What about Paul Wylie?

It just takes one good competition to turn around a history of competitive disappointement.

Emanuel has the kind of talent that you simply don't give up on or walk away from...no matter what. You know he has it, youv'e said it, so believe in it.

I am with Dick Button on Emanuel. Even when he makes mistakes, I still prefer to watch him to 99% of other skaters, even the ones who land their jumps consistently, because they simply do not have what Emanuel has. They don't have his talent and never will.

I simply do not believe in throwing away diamonds just because they have yet to reach their full luster. Call me a gem collector, but I know how special and one-of-a-kind Emanuel is. I cannot give up on talent like that.

The good news is his continuing presence in the sport. Without Eman, men's skating would be much duller, full of soulless technician's who don't know a thing about "performing." Eman just comes from the opposite school. He can mesmerize without a single jump.

He could have walked away from the sport after his Olympic disappointment, but he has chosen to stay. He makes Figure Skating richer and far more interesting by doing so, and I believe that his moment will come.

layman said:

He makes Figure Skating richer and far more interesting by doing so, and I believe that his moment will come.

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Well said, and so true.

layman said:

You people, Emanuel's so-called "Fans" never cease to amaze me. Don't you remember Elizabeth Manley? What about Paul Wylie?

I'm with Dick Button on Emanuel. Even when he makes mistakes, I still prefer to watch him to 99% of other skaters, even the ones who land their jumps consistently, because they simply do not have what Emanuel has. They don't have his talent and never will.

The good news is his continuing presence in the sport. Without Eman, men's skating would be much duller, full of soulless technician's who don't know a thing about "performing." Eman just comes from the opposite school. He can mesmerize without a single jump.

He could have walked away from the sport after his Olympic disappointment, but he has chosen to stay. He makes Figure Skating richer and far more interesting by doing so, and I believe that his moment will come.

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Hey, if he does somehow manage to pull it off in Vancouver, I will remember this post and will be more than glad to spend the rest of the night wiping egg off my face. And it might be impossible to believe this from my previous post, but I honestly thought he was going to win in Torino. Truly, I did. And I totally, 100%, agree with the assessments of his skating. Of all the guys out there, he's the one I most like to watch regardless of what kind of night he's having (tho let's be honest, the programs flow a lot better without all the splatting) because he can do so many interesting, innovative things. And I still don't rule out the possibility of a World title for him (tho I believe if he is going to do it, based on his record, he's gonna have to do it from 7th or 8th place; if there's one skater who has really benefitted from CoP, it's Eman.) But I'm sorry, I just can't see him pulling it off in his hometown. It's certainly not a TALENT issue, as I said, it's a MENTAL issue.

re. Wylie and Manley: OK, I'll give you Wylie. But I don't recall Manley being all over the board with her results the way Eman is. As I recall, she just worked her way up the ladder fairly gradually.

layman said:

You people, Emanuel's so-called "Fans" never cease to amaze me. Don't you remember Elizabeth Manley? What about Paul Wylie?

It just takes one good competition to turn around a history of competitive disappointement.

Emanuel has the kind of talent that you simply don't give up on or walk away from...no matter what. You know he has it, youv'e said it, so believe in it.

I am with Dick Button on Emanuel. Even when he makes mistakes, I still prefer to watch him to 99% of other skaters, even the ones who land their jumps consistently, because they simply do not have what Emanuel has. They don't have his talent and never will.

I simply do not believe in throwing away diamonds just because they have yet to reach their full luster. Call me a gem collector, but I know how special and one-of-a-kind Emanuel is. I cannot give up on talent like that.

The good news is his continuing presence in the sport. Without Eman, men's skating would be much duller, full of soulless technician's who don't know a thing about "performing." Eman just comes from the opposite school. He can mesmerize without a single jump.

He could have walked away from the sport after his Olympic disappointment, but he has chosen to stay. He makes Figure Skating richer and far more interesting by doing so, and I believe that his moment will come.

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AMEN! To all of it!

Sandhu is Sandhu. I believe he has lost any competitive edge but he still has a certain je ne sais pas quois about his skating. Who can turn their heads when he is skating?

Joe

The minute Sandhu makes is first mistake is when I take a bathroom break. One mistake is inevitably followed by several more. It is painful to watch.

I believe Sandhu's big moment has already happened: when he won the GPF several years back. It isn't impossible for him to pull himself back into shape, but does he want to? I understand he spent a lot of his time this summer on other activities, such as recording an album.

Joesitz said:

je ne sais pas quois Joe

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Joe, speak english, please!!

Dee