The 2008 Surprises in Figure Skating

psycho · Dec 30, 2008

Jeff's Worlds win: I seriously couldn't believe it, thought I forgot to refresh the ISU page and was looking at the SP results! :rofl:

His retirement was expected, though.

Stephane's retirement: This one was unexpected and so, so sad.

TAT's sabotage of Lysacek. I was surprised that he went to her at all, but she really screwed him with those costumes! :laugh:

Joubert's struggles: health, blades, issues, I really expected him to dominate.

Chan's PCS: not a pleasant surprise at all :banging:

Kozuka and Abbott: where did these two come from?!

Tinymavy15 · Dec 30, 2008

Caroline and Marai falling apart more or less.
Evan not landing 1 good quad and otherwise looking shaky.
Miki trying the quad.
Abbott winning Cup of Russia and the GPF!!!!
Belbin and Agosto not returning to the top.

museksk8r · Dec 31, 2008

Jeff winning the SP, the LP, and the title at Worlds.
Carolina winning silver at Worlds.
Tanith/Ben placing 4th at Worlds.
Daisuke placing 4th at Worlds.
Stephane placing 5th at Worlds.
Kiira placing 4th in the Worlds SP.
Jeremy winning the GPF.
Mao only landing 2 clean triples in the LP at TEB.
Mao's multiple downgraded jumps in the LP at Japanese Nationals.
Fumie winning the LP at Japanese Nationals, winning the silver, and making the World team.
Alissa winning bronze at Skate Canada.
Brian only placing 4th in the LPs at both TEB and Cup of Russia.
Brian placing behind Alban in 2 competitions.
Charlie's multiple falls in the OD at Cup of Russia.
Nathalie/Fabian finishing 3rd at Skate Canada.
Shawn winning the LP at Skate Canada, but only finishing 5th overall.
Ryan beating Evan at Skate Canada.
Joannie's SP at the GPF.
Patrick's performance at the GPF.
Yukari finishing last at the GPF, 5th at Japanese Nationals, and not making the World team.
Aliona/Robin placing 3rd at the GPF.
Oksana/Maxim placing 3rd in the FD at Cup of Russia.
Rena/John placing ahead of Jessica/Bryce at NHK Trophy.
The retirements of Jeff and Stephane.

fairly4 · Dec 31, 2008

figure skaters are human, they make mistakes. no surprises except underseved high pcs scores or scores in general for some skaters at certain events (in their own country) but that isn't are surprised.
medals or non- medals are won and lost on how the skaters skate.
joanie two gold medals (underserved

cloudkicker09 · Dec 31, 2008

Why did Brian Joubert and Kurt stop working together, that was some of Brian's best stuff.

BEST PART OF 2008- THE RETURN OF FEDOR!!!

Winnipeg · Dec 31, 2008

Biggest disappointing surprise - Jeff Buttle retirement

Biggest happy surprise - Andreev return

rosee · Jan 1, 2009

cloudkicker09 said:
Why did Brian Joubert and Kurt stop working together, that was some of Brian's best stuff.

The official reason is that Kurt don't have enough time to work with Brian.

lerei · Jan 1, 2009

I think Samuel Contesti's reemergence is a pleasant surprise. After being completely screwed over by the French Fed, he's making waves this season with a silver medal at Karl Schafer (ahead of Tomas Verner) and a massive score at Italian Nationals. He could be a contender for a European medal if he keeps this up.

lmarie086 · Jan 1, 2009

Jeff Buttle winning Worlds
DelSchoes winning Worlds (I didn't think the judges would let them!)
Tanith falling in the CD
All the coach changes during the off-season-AND Adam Rippon's coach change in December to Orser :rock:

(thank GOD)
Verner's disastrous LP at Worlds
Takahashi missing the podium at Worlds
The retirements of Jeff and Stephane

Both Oda and Brezina beating Verner at Nebelhorn
Davis/White winning SC...likewise Pechalat/Bourzat having such a poor showing
Charlie's disastrous showing in OD at CoR (so painful to watch!)
Jeremy Abbott winning CoC and GPF (I knew he was great, but wow! Way to suddenly develop some consistency! Hope it continues)
Linichuk giving dances to DomShabs and BelGosto that IMO are not up to the caliber of her reputation
Yannick Ponsero winning French Nationals :clap:

Fumie Suguri's comeback
Volosozhar/Morosov finally skating up to their potential more than they had been. Hope they gain more consistency
Savchenko/Szolkowy only 3rd at GPF

Eurofan · Jan 4, 2009

US Nationals, the Ladies' Podium. I was really expecting "Kimmie Meissner and..."

The Lysacek-Weir tie. (The final decision didn't surprise me. Very 6.0.)

Europeans: Verner defeats Joubert and Lambiel. They were my top three, but I thought Joubert would win.

World's: Buttle's win, Verner's LP meltdown, Kostner's silver medal, Belbin & Agosto finishing off the podium.

Buttle's retirement.

Alissa Czisny, whose scores at the Nebelhorn Trophy (168.28, 1st pl.) and the GP would have put her 7th at 08 World's. A good comeback from her disastrous Nationals.

Jeremy Abbott's GP wins. I would not be surprised to see him on the US podium this month.

Russian Nationals: As if to outdo the US, gold and silver medals went to girls too young for Junior Wolrds. Adelina Sotnikova is 11 and Elizaveta Tyktamisheva is 12.

Blades of Passion · Jan 4, 2009

Joesitz said:
The year is over. What were your unexpected surprises this past year? Here are my surprises:

Rochette becoming a gold contender

That never happened. She is a Bronze contender.

saltypig · Jan 5, 2009

Biggest surprises in 2008 for me was

1) Jeff Buttle winning Worlds and then retiring

2) Yukari Nakano not making worlds after winning SP at Japan nationals.

3) Patrick Chan and Joannie Rochette winning their respective Grand Prix events then disappointing results in the GPF.

4) CBC picking up Grand Prix Coverage.

5) Pang & Tong winning GPF.

antmanb · Jan 6, 2009

Blades of Passion said:
That never happened. She is a Bronze contender.

And her Gold medals at Skate Canada and Trophee Eric Bompard were...?

Ant

mjames · Jan 6, 2009

Shocking to me is that Fumie beat Miki Ando and even finished ahead of Mao in the freeskate at Japanese Nationals. She is proof of what can result from focus and hardwork. Congratulations Fumie!

gold12345 · Jan 6, 2009

Bad surprises:

Meissner placing 8th (!) in both her GP events.

Meissner placing 8th in the short at CoR with a clean skate.

Nagasu kind of melting down at NHK and placing 8th, behind Hacker!

The US ladies in general all struggling with growth spurts, UR issues, or both.

Dube/Davison skating extremely poorly at NHK.

Buttle retiring after his best finish yet, with the upcoming Olympics in his own country. A wimp? Injured? Both?

Chan winning Skate Canada with a mess of a long program. I will just forget that Men's free skate all together.

Good surprises:

Abbott in general. I didn't know he had it in him to skate this well.

Pang/Tong winning the GPF, not because I love their skating or anything, but because the judges didn't hold up Z/Z or S/S.

Fumie! I love her longevity and her ability to rebound from lackluster seasons. Nothing stops her!

Buttercup · Jan 6, 2009

antmanb said:
And her Gold medals at Skate Canada and Trophee Eric Bompard were...?

GP wins. I think Blades of Passion was referring to events at which all the ladies are present, such as Worlds, GPF and Olys. And I agree that she is not a serious contender for gold at those events, barring really bad performances by Yu-Na and Mao (as was the case for the latter at TEB).

gold12345 said:
Buttle retiring after his best finish yet, with the upcoming Olympics in his own country. A wimp? Injured? Both?

Neither. A classy competitor who decided, at age 26, that he had gone as far as he could in figure skating and wasn't as passionate about it any more.

Kypma · Jan 6, 2009

Buttercup said:
Neither. A classy competitor who decided, at age 26, that he had gone as far as he could in figure skating and wasn't as passionate about it any more.

-Kypma

sillylionlove · Jan 6, 2009

One of the biggest surprises for me was that very few skated a clean program this yer.

Another surprise is that other then worlds, Skate America and Nationals, no television network here in the US picked up other competitions!!! (and this is leading to an Olympic year)

antmanb · Jan 7, 2009

Buttercup said:
GP wins. I think Blades of Passion was referring to events at which all the ladies are present, such as Worlds, GPF and Olys. And I agree that she is not a serious contender for gold at those events, barring really bad performances by Yu-Na and Mao (as was the case for the latter at TEB).

Ok but it was Joe who called her a gold medal contender and didn't elaborate - ambiguous enough to bring up her two GP gold medals (afterall if only worlds count then why do we tune in for the rest of the season?)! In any event Mao has been far from consistent this season meaning that a clean SP and LP at worlds this year is not looking likely - Rochette beating her overall at TEB and Suguri beating her in the LP at Japanese nationals shows that she's not untouchable. Yes she has planned the hardest technical program in terms of jumps but the risks that come with attempting that difficult a program is that if you miss a lot of elements then you lose a lot of points.

I agree though that in order to get gold at worlds Rochette would need others to make mistakes, however, i think the likelihood of the others making mistakes (getting jumps called as underrotated in particular) is pretty high. On that basis she is a contender for gold, along with a good few other skaters.

Ant

jennylovskt · Jan 7, 2009

So many things surprised me except one, Johnny Weir is the same like last year. :biggrin:

The 2008 Surprises in Figure Skating

psycho

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win

museksk8r

fairly4

cloudkicker09

Winnipeg

rosee

lerei

lmarie086

Eurofan

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be

saltypig

antmanb

mjames

gold12345

Buttercup

Kypma

sillylionlove

antmanb

jennylovskt

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