Men - SP

[Okami]

Ouch, Kozu!

Great job from Nobu! He was a bit overly cautious, with rather tentative jumps (especially 3Lz, the landing of which was slightly curved, as if he wanted to change the trajectory before launching the 3T) and a bit slower overall than at Worlds. Still, a fine performance. I hope he'll get a program that will suit his speed more next season. I love the new positions in the change foot sit spin. A bit robbed on PCS, IMHO - at Worlds the English commentators raved about his skating skills and transitions. Still, it might be caused by the fact that he skated as the first of the big guns and was slower and more tentative than usual.

Good luck in the LP!

I haven't watched the rest yet (and probably I won't be abe to until tomorrow - damn you, deadline for the Uni project!). Could somebody please post what went wrong with Kozu and Chan?

 

[skatingbc]

Chan is as much jet-lagged as any other North American skater. Evan has a stress fracture in his foot, and still managed to turn in a good performance. Abbott managed to finish 5th in the SP despite the severe pain of a sprained finger. Chipeur finished top 6.

Chan also got the lowest PCS score of all the men. I can't help wondering if his grousing about PCS during Worlds had anything to do with that.

I'm not excusing Patrick for his performance. I was wondering if perhaps he arrived later than some of the other skaters and didn't give his body enough time to recuperate. Or maybe, his body takes a lot longer to adjust. If this were the case, he should leave earlier than he normally does. Of course all of the athletes have to adjust to the time change (except the Asian skaters). I'm not trying to make excuses for him. He had a terrible skate! I just thought it was interesting that his other meltdown this season was in Korea, and wondering if he is not a good traveler. Although, he didn't do too badly when he went to France. But that is only a 5hr time change from ET compared to 13hr (I think!) to Japan.

And actually, Chan's TES was the lowest of all the men. I haven't seen all of the other performances but this seems right. His PCS was actually 3rd, behind Brian and Evan.

 

[Medusa]

Chan also got the lowest PCS score of all the men. I can't help wondering if his grousing about PCS during Worlds had anything to do with that.

The lowest TES - but the third highest PCS. Not too bad with two falls and a rather lackluster performance.

 

[Wrlmy]

Brian's score seems too low even with the hand down on 3A. Funny because the last time I checked, his spins and footwork were all getting high levels.

((Patrick and Kozuka))

 

[i love to skate]

I think Patrick is just exhausted. He was saying before Worlds how the year had been a strain on him with all the competitions and I'm sure after the excitement of Worlds it is hard to gear yourself up for another competition. His coach isn't there as well, maybe that has something to do with it. Who knows.

Personally, I think this whole competition is a mistake right before the all important Olympic year. So many of the skaters are fatigued and injured, and it is a long way to travel for many of the skaters. I will keep my fingers crossed that no one gets hurts!

 

[Buttercup]

Brian's score seems too low even with the hand down on 3A. Funny because the last time I checked, his spins and footwork were all getting high levels.

Actually, it's about a point and a half under what he got for a clean performance at Euros. Since -1 GOE on the 3A is more than -1 off the base mark, the rest is likely just random differences between panels.

skatingbc, I've no idea when Patrick arrived, but the other Canadians seemed to be fine. Maybe you're right and he just doesn't travel well. Good thing for him Olys are just a 3-hour difference.

 

[Medusa]

Wasn't that fall Jeremy had on the 3A absolutely freaky? I mean, what happened? He had the jump, he landed it well. He looked so sad at the end, I feel really sorry for the bloke - I hope he can regroup for the Olympic season.

Ohhh, and Brian was great. The slip on the 3A was really minor and didn't affect the rest at all. But his Quad looks scary sometimes, I know it's very consistent, but he didn't have great height or a great position on it today - he still got it fully rotated and cleanly landed. His 3Lutz has more height though Quad Lutz, Brian? Please? Pretty Please? But only if you don't risk your health doing it!

 

[Buttercup]

Wasn't that fall Jeremy had on the 3A absolutely freaky? I mean, what happened? He had the jump, he landed it well. He looked so sad at the end, I feel really sorry for the bloke - I hope he can regroup for the Olympic season.

Ohhh, and Brian was great. The slip on the 3A was really minor and didn't affect the rest at all. But his Quad looks scary sometimes, I know it's very consistent, but he didn't have great height or a great position on it today - he still got it fully rotated and cleanly landed. His 3Lutz has more height though Quad Lutz, Brian? Please? Pretty Please? But only if you don't risk your health doing it!

Both of Jeremy's falls were pretty strange. The 3A looked like his toepick caught on something.

Re Brian's Lutz, I had the same thought! But seriously, why risk it? Unless he gets it really consistent, it's not worth trying.

 

[antmanb]

Both of Jeremy's falls were pretty strange. The 3A looked like his toepick caught on something.

Re Brian's Lutz, I had the same thought! But seriously, why risk it? Unless he gets it really consistent, it's not worth trying.

I'd heard at one point Brian was hitting the quad flip with some consistency, however, that was before the wrong edge penalties were being applied to flips as well as lutzes.

And when he first appeared on the senior circuit a UK commentator (might have been Chris Howarth) mentioned that Brian could land four different quads in practice. I assumed that is all except the loop and axel.

Ant

 

[Medusa]

Is that Voronov? Somewhere in that costume must be Voronov, because it's his costume, but I barely recognise him! Did he land everything by the way? TES of 40 isn't bad, I guess he only did 4-2. (EDIT: yes, 4-2. Icenetwork says so. Why is he never doing 4-3? A 4-2 is barely worth the risk, scores only slightly more than a 3 Lutz - 3 Toe)

 

[Buttercup]

Was Patrick Chan's 3Lz downgraded? Even if it wasn't UR, it looked pretty awful. If it was, that might explain the score - which was lower than what I'd expect him to get, even with the two falls. The judges really helped him on PCS, no way was that P&E score warranted.

 

[viv]

Morning Glory, thank you for the links - so at least we get to see it on youtube!

...Great job from Nobu! He was a bit overly cautious, with rather tentative jumps (especially 3Lz, the landing of which was slightly curved, as if he wanted to change the trajectory before launching the 3T) and a bit slower overall than at Worlds. Still, a fine performance. I hope he'll get a program that will suit his speed more next season. I love the new positions in the change foot sit spin. A bit robbed on PCS, IMHO - at Worlds the English commentators raved about his skating skills and transitions. Still, it might be caused by the fact that he skated as the first of the big guns and was slower and more tentative than usual.

Good luck in the LP! ...

ITA - I thought his performance was great, but he seemed to be a bit nervous. Maybe his role as team captain, and performing at home got him a bit. And he again had bad luck with the draw, as he had twice at Worlds. I think his PCS were way too low, though, especially compared with Jouberts.
Hope he has a brilliant LP tomorrow - good luck, Nobu!

 

[kitkat28]

Thank you so much for posting those links. Brian was fantastic and undermarked in my opinion, though I must admit to a lot of bias!

 

[Okami]

ITA - I thought his performance was great, but he seemed to be a bit nervous. Maybe his role as team captain, and performing at home got him a bit.

Actually the commentators just mentioned that Nobu said before the competition that he was REALLY nervous. Some time ago he said in an interview that he doesn't feel so strong in team events/disciplines, because in addition to being nervous for himself, he's nervous for all the team members.

He did a nice job as a captain anyway! Hopefully it will give him more confidence.

BTW, I just found out that Kozu is injured (which explains his not-so-great-showing):
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090416&content_id=63966&vkey=ice_pressrelease

"The ladies and men's single skaters have to take the lead, especially myself as Kozuka is injured. Our ladies did very well and it was a very nice start for us today", team captain Oda said.

I hope it's nothing serious. Best of luck in the LP! :agree:

 

[museksk8r]

Looks like Jeremy fell twice again. He is punching Johnny's ticket to the Olympics with this kind of performance. Heck of a score for falling twice though.

These kind of catty comments are so ridiculous! Have you even seen his performance? Besides, what does a post season performance at a fluff competition have to do with performances at 2010 Nationals/the Olympic trials? How do you know Johnny won't implode again at Nationals? Why can't we just hope everyone skates well and may the best men deservedly go to the Olympics, a dream event they all work hard and hope to strive for.

 

[skatingfan04]

Ouch, poor Patrick. This SP could cost team Canada the trophy. We can't blame him, though. He's been rock solid all season, and the fatigue must be a huge factor. If he had to bomb in the SP this season, this was the place to do it. I hope he can skate a phenominal long and blow everyone else out of the water.

 

[chuckm]

Ouch, poor Patrick. This SP could cost team Canada the trophy. We can't blame him, though. He's been rock solid all season, and the fatigue must be a huge factor. If he had to bomb in the SP this season, this was the place to do it. I hope he can skate a phenominal long and blow everyone else out of the water.

Chan is almost 20 points behind Joubert and 17 points behind Lysacek; he skates 4th in the FS. His goal at this point should be to forget about 'blowing people out of the water' and just skate as cleanly as he possibly can. It is a team competition after all, and he needs to move up in the standings, not be a grandstander.

 

[dorispulaski]

Have you even seen his performance?

Yes, but not here at WTT. (I'm not sure whether you meant in general, or at this competition. ) I have seen Jeremy at Liberty. He was not impressive either time, but it was early in the season both times. Patrick was there also, both times. Patrick was amazing the first time. Both were having a lot of trouble with their jumps this last summer, but Patrick's basic skating was far more pleasing to me than Jeremy's. For that matter, I enjoyed Ryan Bradley's performances more than Jeremy's both times.

Besides, what does a post season performance at a fluff competition have to do with performances at 2010 Nationals/the Olympic trials? How do you know Johnny won't implode again at Nationals? Why can't we just hope everyone skates well and may the best men deservedly go to the Olympics, a dream event they all work hard and hope to strive for.

Jeremy, according to an icenetwork interview, was hoping to 'redeem' himself for his performance at Worlds at WTT. Being seen as a consistent skater is an important trait, and can be a tie breaker as to who to send to an event. Only the gold medallist at Nationals is assured of the chance a trip to Worlds or Olympics. There other two slots are at the whim of USFS.

Here, Jeremy fell twice in the SP. However, apparently he had a very painful sprained finger. I hope he feels better tomorrow.

I don't know whether Johnny will implode next year. I hope he does not, however.

I hope both of them skate very well in this important year. I just hope Johnny skates better, because I would really like to see Johnny at Worlds & Olympics again. That is perhaps selfish of me, but it is what it is.

 

[nubka]

These kind of catty comments are so ridiculous! Have you even seen his performance? Besides, what does a post season performance at a fluff competition have to do with performances at 2010 Nationals/the Olympic trials? How do you know Johnny won't implode again at Nationals? Why can't we just hope everyone skates well and may the best men deservedly go to the Olympics, a dream event they all work hard and hope to strive for.

Because that would be soooooooo boring!

As for catty comments, this is FSU, you know...

 

[jettasian]

If it's not for the money and next year's Olympic, I don't think many top skaters will go to this event.

This event should move to before World. Have the Grand Prix and 4CC move up and this one before World. After World, either these skaters are tired or don't have the fire like the World.