Joubert landed 4T+3T, 3F+2T, 3A, 4T, 3Lo, 3F, 3Lz, and 3S.
Joubert landed a number of quads before and after his dismal 2005 season, strongly at the beginning of the program, until he'd unravel on the 3A or what should have been reliable jumps for him. He's like Sandhu that way.
I would say his 2006 Worlds program was arguable the best LP of his life because the quality of his spins has improved greatly since 2004. However, he skated brilliantly in 2004 at Euros and Worlds.
One more Joubert post, and I'll stop.
As I remember the 2004 Worlds, Plushenko did his Njinsky poses and danced later to a fiddler. He was at his best 'show off' skating in Dortmund. Joubert, introduced his Matrix and it also got the crowd going. It was more of a sport with Joubert, but judges go for personality and Joubert lacks that, imo.
Joubert's SP was relatively flat and was not flawless; this was very clear live. I'll have to go back to watch the video, but I believe he had a flawed landing on the solo jump. (Lindemann should have been ahead of him in the SP.) He really picked it up in the long program. Plushenko did make at least one major mistake in the LP, falling on the 3Lo, and if you watch his landings, they were of mixed quality, but Plushenko would have had to melt down to lose that one.
I disagree. Comparing Lambiel's skating to Lindemann's, both had faulty 4T combos -- Lindemann's being worse, but both were flawed -- he had tilted and low landings on other jumps, his camel spin was perfunctory and another spin was relatively short. Only two of his spins were superb, and Lindeman had a blazing scratch spin to end his program. Lambiel had a great 4T and a terrific 3F/3T combo. Lindemann had two excellent 3A's, one in combination, as well as a spread eagle entry into the solo. He also had steps into the 3Lz, and harder transitions overall. His serpentine footwork was more difficult, faster, and more flowing than Lambiel's straightline, and Lambiel was behind his music in the footwork. Lindemann had more speed in general, and a tremendous amount of energy, surpassing Lambiel in more ways than one.I also remember that years Worlds since Lambiel and Weir both far outskated Lindemann in the long program, but Lindemann came in 3rd in the long and easily hung onto his bronze overall. Well Worlds were in Germany after all, they did win a bizarre ice dance medal as well.
Lambiel also had 2 quads, Lindemann did not even land his 1 quad clean. Weir landed all is jumps cleanly, a quadless Lindemann beating a clean Weir is also nuts. Speed is hard to tell on TV but his program was full of stops, and his polish, line, and musical interpretation is miles behind both Lambiel and Weir.Lindemann was on a blaze all week in practices, hitting everything. He did not let the pressure of skating for the home crowd affect him, except for the flaw of the quad combo in the LP. I doubt that Weir would have beaten him anywhere but in the US, as Weir had never competed at Worlds before. I doubt that Lindemann would have won bronze anywhere else, and that Lambiel would have, but that would have been based on reputation, not the performances they put down in Dortmund.
I suggest you go back and actually look at his final scratch spin, which in addition to its speed was perfectly centered, with his arms overhead.Any of Lindemann's spins blazing,
And Lambiel's quad combo was not clean, nor did he have a single clean 3A in the LP, while Lindemann had two beauties, one in combination, and the other from a spread eagle after the 3 minute mark.
Lindemann landed quads in every phase of the competition, even though his LP quad combo was flawed. Lambiel blew the SP and was in the final group based on reputation, and should have been no higher than 8th in that phase. Had Weir not been underrated in the quali round, and had Lambiel been scored properly in the SP, Weir would have been in the final group, and Lambiel would not have.
Legline, I'll grant you that barely, but Lambiel's upper body had little control, while Lindemann's was still and controlled. As for the rest, I'll leave you to your opinion.
He may never reach that level again. That doesn't diminish the programs -- all three of them -- that he put down in front of a pressure-filled home crowd, with the media down his back the entire week.
Weir's spins better then Lambiel's? That is so nuts it is hilarious.
Lambiel, despite his injuries, is a far better skater now than he was in 2003 and 2004. (He was just a kid then.) His late-season short program was magnificent: he had control in his upper body, the majority of his jumps were landed with a straight back, solid edge, and upright position, unlike the hit-or-miss technique (his edge jumps in particular in 2003-4), under CoP, he has no "throw-away" spins (like the camel) he and others had under 6.0, and he was rhythmically spot on. In this program the great potential he'd shown in his first years of senior competition blossomed into the complete skater. I think "Four Seasons" was less successful than his SP -- I think that was the toll of his injury -- but the core of his skating was more solid, even though he skated a more overall technically sound program in 2005 qualis, for example.
