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- Jul 26, 2003
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Love your detailed reports. You answered my questions without my even having to ask them. Thank you so much!Went to all the practicex today and adjusted predictions based on what I saw, even though obviously practices are not an indicator.
Today groups looked more shuffled by ranking so to speak.
In pairs, first group with exceptions of L/E looked noticeably weaker than second group. F/M had best jumps, S/D looked more in control with a nice high twist, good landings on throws and sbs. Absolutely loved the look of H/V, both aestetics and the way he handles the partner, in contrast to the Americans. They were not landing much.
In women, Dupuis' short looked great in the first warm up. Shiryaeva has lovely combo, but still lacks speed. I thought Chiba was more convincing as a frontrunner than Nakai, particularly since Nakai popped her 3A attempts except one. Levito looked far better than I remember her, and really delivered charm. Everhardt was nice and light. Tennell appeared basically dated/labored. Gutman didn't fire the audience up as she did in previous year. Other women are hard to specifically say anything about, though Seniyuk looked a bit unsure.
In men, i went from being concerned for Miura to being terrified for Miura. He walked through his warm up after the fall on the first jump, which looked like it put his ankle or whatever out of commission. When Samoilov lands, he has great jumps and his spin with a split looks absolutely gorgeous. The two smaller framed skaters, Hiwatashi and Tomono, look at disadvantage in practice when taller/larger guys warm up with them, but both commanded the rink when they had run throughs. Samoilov and Malinin ran through without jumps, Malinin warmed up methodically, finishing the practice with jumping. It's hard to say if he is injured or cautious. Egadze jumped a storm. Aymoz didn't really stand out except for step sequences with lots of slides. Selevko did large, impressive skating throughout, some cool jumps, some botched. Memola let music and good looks do the job. Looks dramatic and gorgeous when he skates towards audience. Other than that, Moskvina wouldn't have been amiss there to reminded the young men to tack shirts nicely, because there was a fair bit of brightly lit abs.
In dance, I spent most of the first time frustrated with Mrazkovs wrestling the skirt. It tripped her at the start of run through, he had hard time on a spin with it, it covers his face on a lift and their attempts to bunch it togther... particularly with C/B going for the same effect with a simpler and more intriguing skirt (because it has black/red surfaces)... I beg them to ditch the skirt. I adore them and a few times Mrazkov improvised when they had to hug the boards was wonderful. Anyway, I am gonna grind my teeth to dust if they keep persisting. I keep remembering how the skirt nearly cost them the JGPF, and it's the Olympic year...
Anyway, everyone else was, in late Grishin's words, a pure concert.but from what I had seen in practice, C/B will win in the finals.
thanks for the practice reports ! I hope you have a good day at the rink !Of course, of course, Mrazkova tripped on the skirt. It has gaping holes in the hem, so I guess there is a deduction coming for that too. Argh.
In men's practice, Selevko looked dominant, great, wide, hearty skating. I will work as Peter of Slovakia today, i guess, since i haven't seen Estonia number one fan in the arena. Gogolev didn't do an rt, not sure why, didn't see any bad falls. Malinin maybe looked healthier, did full rt without jumps. Tomono's free doesn't have much impact after Selevko and Miura. Ditto Aymoz. Unfortunately, Miura had the full collection of pops, unsure landings and a fall or two but nothing at least looked heart-stopping. Egadze looked tentative, Samoilov still wear back brace, and i cannot recall anything else of note.