Men's Short Program.. Tuesday 16th, 7:15PM EST | Page 61 | Golden Skate

Men's Short Program.. Tuesday 16th, 7:15PM EST

I was very impressed by the judging tonight! Very fair, in both TES and PCS. Nobody was held up or down. No gift for Chan or Weir (though I love them both dearly; they might be my two sentimental favorites, so a bit bummed that they didn't skate more spectacularly, but I'm very glad for fair judging!), or Joubert or Jeremy. Plushy's score wasn't over the top. Daisuke & Evan's deservingly high scores (I don't even normally like Evan's skating, but tonight he was really ON). Wow! Really impressed. May the best man win after the free skate! :rock:
 
Watching Mishin walking out he looked very unhappy and appeared to be arguing or yelling at someone. Plushy looked very tired - but maybe coz he skated so early and then sat around all night watching.
Happy to see Dai and Evan skate so well.
Sorry for Brian, Tomas and Jeremy and wish they could have skated better.
Thursday should be very tense!
 
This competition was divided by those who rose to the occasion and those who could have but didn't. I don't mean medals. There were many who should have skated better.

You could make a list of those who could have and didn't, e.g. Contesti - what was that dumb slip?

btw, Would you agree that Michal made a statement?
 
Wow when I said in the first post of this looong thread that some of the big guns would win or end up out of the top 10, I wasnt actually expecting it to be true :cry:

Im very happy with the top three. The three definite stand outs of the night, each with their own style. I would put Takahashi first but not more than 1.00 of distance with Plushy and Evan, so is all fair. The LP is gonna be a royal battle.

Things got fishy goind down the ranks though. When Lambiel skated early and got 84 I was very pleased, even more when the judges didnt held Nobu and put him ahead with a great skate. But after that, while I was watching Weir, Kozuka, Chan and Brezina making admirable efforts and still hardly passing the 80 mark it became painfully clear the Little Prince had been held up in the short program once again .

I believe poor Johnny and Takahiko suffer from the "Skater #3" curse. Kozuka is now officialy the Alexander Abt of this olympic cycle. Maybe Brezina too (he was pissed!!) even though he has beaten Verner the whole season is still seen as the second czech guy and lord knows that doesnt help..

My personal placementes :


01 Takahashi
02 Plushenko
03 Lysacek
04 Oda
05 Weir
06 Kozuka
07 Lambiel
08 Brezina
09 Chan
10 Ten
 
I'm so disappointed and heartbroken for many of my favorites. I really wanted Brian to skate clean but to see him just.. have a meltdown was so crushing. I was so sad about what he said during K&C. If there was one skater that I really wanted to see on podium, then it was Brian, and well, chances are very slim. Nonetheless I will continue to support him till the end. Allez Brian!!

And if there was one skater that I really wanted Skating God to be on his side, then it was Verner. So disappointing with his lost consistency and please, please, if there is Skating God, then please be with him during his LP, please, please, please, I beg of you!!

And if there was one skater that I really supported fully, with my dear heart, it was Jeremy. Smooth, nice transitions, correct techniques on his jumps, great toepick use, I was always proud of him being a skater that didn't cheat.. it's just so sad to see him falter in SP.. it's okay, pigs can fly, you can do it.


Anyway, I'm also happy for skaters that skated, well, WELL! Esp. Evan pulling it for U.S. men and also Johnny skating clean, he's being really consistent! And after Lambiel skated, I thought he wouldn't make the final flight but wow, he remains 5th place! This is a pleasant surprise and hopefully the lack of 3A doesn't give him too much disadvantage in LP. I'm also glad Patrick Chantastic handled the home crowd pressure better than I expected, and his program was actually decent, he seemed like he wasn't too much nervous, so that was good. Please show us a chantastic program in LP!

Michal wuzrobbed few points there. His spins need work but his jumps are really great and he deserved higher GOE than what some other skaters have received for jumps. I expect a great future for him.

And of course... judging.
I was actually sort-of-okay-ish with judges, but the tech really threw me off, giving edge calls only for lips and going blind when skaters flutzed. Flutz with huge GOE vs Flutz that got called with minus GOE can lead to about 4 points difference, so I'm really disappointed that tech panels aren't doing what they're supposed to do. But judges were.. actually.. giving out low transition marks for Plushenko and Joubert ?!?!?! But they still gave Plushy ridiculous PCS for other categories so I guess I shouldn't be too excited about this.. And judges were.. not.. gifting.. Chan with huge PCS scores??? I was actually surprised with his transition mark, hahaha.
 
I thought Brezina skated so well and deserved a better score but overall the judging seemed reasonable.
 
I love how they don't even MENTION Johnny Weir in the wrap-up.
They keep talking about the top 3, like there is no one else in the competition. This coverage is terrible. :(

That's because the top 3 are seperates by less thena point and the 4th place person is 6pts behind them
 
I don't like Evan's skating, I like him even less as a person. But that was the best I've seen him skate, except for two adjustments on two different spins. He deserved that giant score... except his PCS shouldn't be higher than Takahashi's. Takahashi actually has the higher TES, but Evan won the SP over Daisuke via the PCS. In fact, Evan beat Takahashi in every component in PCS except Skating Skills, where he's .1 behind Daisuke. Now, not to say Evan is a laggard in skating skills, but Takahashi is in a whole other class. He's one of the few freestyle skaters who are artists with their edges. It's absurd to suggest only .1 separates them in that area. The rest of Daisuke's PCS should be closer to Evan's too, if not outright over.

Oh well, it's not like it really matters. But still, one does like to compare when a direct comparison is available.

It's amazing how this is shaping to be exactly like the pairs competition that just was. The top 3 in a virtual tie, with 4th and below coming after a gulf. The leader is a returning athlete who had 4 years' absence. If the pattern holds, does that mean Oda will win the LP but Plushy will still get gold? We'll see. :biggrin:
 
I'm not so sure about Brezina's attitude there. He has lots going for him, but it's not like his spins and ice coverage rate with the best in the field yet. Does not seem like a good attitude at his age.......

Taka and Johnny may have suffered slightly from #3-in-country judgeing, but if makng that case tonight, I'd say it was very slightly if at all.. both had their minor issues in their skates, and there is also a little something missing from each compared to the very best.
 
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RE: Brezina. I thought he did great. But looking at the protocols, it looks like he had a LEVEL 2 spin. That would certainly not help things. And no level 4.
 
I'm generally pretty pleased with the judging. I agree that the top 3 should be super close, but I'd probably have had
1. Evan
2. Dai
3. Plush

then a bit of a smaller gap
4. Oda (I think he should have been at about 87)

Another small gap
5. Weir
6. Lambiel
7. Chan
8. Kozuka
9. Brezina
10. Ten (hee hee Ten is Tenth)

Less than 10 points separates 1st and 7th. A lot can happen to make things interesting. I hope we see some upsets. And I hope Plush knows he's not invincible now and that he has to 'bring it' in the LP because I can guarantee that Evan will... like I've said, I don't like Evan's style that much, but he is the consummate competitor and he is so consistent that if he's 'on' then everyone else better be, or the curse will be broken.
 
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