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

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I looked particularly and carefully at Evan's Axel takeoff. It seemed to me that is was not his usual skidded takeoff but a simple forward outside takeoff. I realize when a skater is negatively branded as never being able to do certain elements properly, that the branding continues through blind eyes, There are people today that say Sara Hughes underrotated her triple combos and that the judges were wrong. Similarly, Plushenko is always branded as nothing more than a jumper even though his spins have so much improved with deep sitsspins, speed and a bit of color.

The fans that brand a skater's elements usually have someone else in mind for winning a competition, and are unable to agree with the judges on the scoring of a presumed lesser skater.

Evan, imo, and it is only one opinion, belongs on the podium because of "the THAT day" factor. Btw, Evan has never been a favorite of mine. Had the three results have been reversed, I would not have complained because it was just a podium competition. A few new judges could make the difference in all the totals of the skaters. Keep watching! Michal may move up to 4th place with Stephane's gold.

 

[zowie]

CdnSkateWatcher View Post
OMG! Pelletier hit it! He thought he was competing in SKELETON not figure skating!


LOL, David was saying how you can't show up at the olympics in a skeleton costume and Rod replied 'there's no bones about it'

 

[76olympics]

Plushenko and Lysacek are competitors ( a la Kat Witt)- they can bring it in the clutch. That said, I am not excited about either winning. I like the lyrical skaters and both of them don't qualify for tha designation. I really felt for Jeremy Abbott- Paul Wylie syndrome without the Olympic break-through. But- he could turn it around like Paul in the next Olympics. I can't get excited about "the quad-the future" either. Triple Axel is just a far more impressive jump to me. But, I can see why Plushenko does them as he does them well and few others do.

Enjoyed the"tap dancing Czech" and the young French guy. I always enjoy watching Lambiel spin. Glad Weir did well in the short, but I will hold my breath on the long as far as he is concerned. I noticed he went over to a fan before he went to the Kiss and Cry; this quality is why his fans love him so much....

 

[seniorita]

Plush interview before sp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNBOtQYhWyY

Now i m coming back to earth

Plushy for Lady Gaga! You promised!

 

[demarinis5]

Congratulations to Plushenko, Evan and Dai. Great competition and I am happy with the placements and thought they were correct. Loved Dai and Evan's SP. Being an Evan fan I can tell you that I am thrilled for him and I will be rooting for him to take Gold on Thursday but I will not be disappointed if that honor goes to Dai or Stephane.

I thought Johnny's score should have been a bit higher. If Stephane had hit his combo imo he would probably be in first place. Love his SP and no one dances across the ice like Stephane. Not crazy about Oda's SP (love his LP though) but he did a clean program and I was happy for him.


Feel bad for Brian, Jeremy, Tomas and Patrick it just was not their night.

Wishing all the men good luck in the free skate.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

With this editing by NBC and Cutting into other Sports, I was wondering how the following skated which we were not blessed with seeing on NBC.

Dennis TEN
Artem BORODULIN
Jaview Fernandez
Stefan Lindeman

^^^ They all won over Joubert and Abbott.

 

[Darcy518]

Australia is the worst country in the world to watch winter Olympics from. Men's short coverage was particularly lamentable, showing only five skaters, without the 3rd and 4th who were of course Takahashi and Oda. Sooo disappointed :-(

 

[Bennett]

When I was watching the performances with my family, my mom commented that Patrick and Chan are among the fastest and Patrick skates more lightly than Koz who looked more powerful. I think Patrick could be powerful but tonight he didn't.
Jeremy was not as bad as I had expected from the scores. His missed jumps were not that bad-looking and his program was really beautiful. It is SP and can't help low TES but I still wished if he had gotten better PCS.

 

[figuristka]

Iam thinking that http://debilizator.tv/tv.cgi?kanal=7 will probably show the short programs soon. Well iam hoping. Keep checking to see. I really want to see Lambiel, Plushenko, Takahashi, Oda as i missed them earlier as they were in the first groupings. I have not see it but i actually prefer Plushenko's skating to Lyscek and Oda. I was surprised Weir was not alittle higher, good for him though for skating well.

 

[Alatariel]

Just saw Evan, Lambiel, Weir and Taki again.

Evan was way way overscored on the PCS. Blah.

Weir immensely underscored. The ES commentator kept saying I don't understand this, in regards to the PCS.

 

[janetfan]

I thought Dai was masterful last night and deserved to be first. Oda skated well too but as Bezic pointed out his lack of extension and finishing moves in his SP held him back.

Evan, as Scott pointed out hit his best 3A of the season and skated with high octane energy and commanded the ice.

Plushy - same old masterful jumper and only average on all other elements. Slow,with a lack of fluidity across the ice and not as musical as Evan and his bladework nowhere near Dai. But still a very theatrical performer with highest charisma.

I expect all three of them to be on the podium - but a bad performance on Thursday from one of them with a great skate from Lambiel, Oda or Johnny could change things.

 

[demarinis5]

snip

I expect all three of them to be on the podium - but a bad performance on Thursday from one of them with a great skate from Lambiel, Oda or Johnny could change things.

I agree. This is the Olympics and anything can happen.

 

[seniorita]

With this editing by NBC and Cutting into other Sports, I was wondering how the following skated which we were not blessed with seeing on NBC.

Dennis TEN
Artem BORODULIN
Jaview Fernandez
Stefan Lindeman

^^^ They all won over Joubert and Abbott.

I ll send them to you!!!
Ten was awesome!!! Fernandez did mistakes but was good, nice program! I dont remember Lindeman and slightly I remember Borodulin, I dont know what i was doing then. Probably still crying??Dunno..

 

[figuristka]

I think Evgeny and Evan will medal but i think Daisuke will drop and Stephane will climb on to the podium.

 

[Medusa]

Is it just me, or has Morozov worked on ice-coverage and power with Fernandez? I found those two really improved last night.

 

[Mathman]

I looked particularly and carefully at Evan's Axel takeoff. It seemed to me that is was not his usual skidded takeoff but a simple forward outside takeoff.

I agree, Even's triple Axel was much improved. I also like the fact that he looks like he is skating for an Olympic gold medal, not gamboling in the meadow chasing butterflies.

I hope he does not go for a quad in the LP. Two triple Axels and all that other stuff will keep him competitive. Plushenko will do two quads but may run out of steam at the end.

Lambiel could win the whole thing.

 

[Bennett]

According to Protocols:

Top 10 Guys in TES :

1 Plushenko 51.10
2 Takahashi 48.90
3 Lysacek 48.30
4 Oda 46.00
5 Weir 42.90
6 Brezina 42.50
7 Kozuka 42.14
8 Amodio 41.90
9 Lambiel 41.48
10 Chan 41.42

Brezina shoul be a bit higher. and Amodio made the top 10 here, nice for him, too bad he had such an early draw. The rest of the top 10 seems fair.

Top 10 Guys in PCS :

1 Lambiel 43.15
2 Lysacek 42.00
3 Takahashi 41.35
4 Chan 40.70
5 Plushenko 39.75
6 Weir 39.20
7 Oda 38.85
8 Abbott 38.70
9 Kozuka 37.45
10 Brezina 36.30

Again, Brezina got a bit robbed. Same for Kozuka. Nice to see Abbot here, the non mistakes parts of his SP were beautiful to watch. Im pleasantly surprised to see Plushenko ONLY FIFTH!! :agree: Takahashi being thirs is totally wrong though. He shoul've taken the PCS crown by far.

Top 10 Guys in GOE :

1 Lysacek 8.30
2 Takahashi 7.55
3 Plushenko 7.00
4 Oda 6.20
5 Lambiel 5.28
6 Amodio 4.70
7 Brezina 4.30
8 Weir 3.60
9 Abbott 2.80
10 Lindemann 2.70

I think i've found the new way for the judges to hold up their faves despite the Technical panel's decissions. Evan's elements while well executed shouldnt receive so much positive GOE. Odd to se Lindemann here, I guess thats what happens when THREE MEDAL CONTENDERS have major bombs

Thanks for your helpful list! I thought that Koz, Jeremy, and Johnny were underscored in PCS. I thought that Oda and Weir would receive better GOE, too. It's nice to see Jeremy still in the top 10 GOE list. Why not Koz in top 10 GOE list? I would pull Lambi's and Evan's PCS down a bit. I missed Tomas. They didn't show him. Oh my.

 

[Alatariel]

This:

Top 10 Guys in PCS :

1 Lambiel 43.15
2 Lysacek 42.00
3 Takahashi 41.35
4 Chan 40.70
5 Plushenko 39.75
6 Weir 39.20

Absolute nonsense. Lysacek ahead of the two?! No, no, no. And Lambiel is just a point ahead of him - again - no, no, no. Talk about overscoring!

 

[jpfromtheblock]

I enjoyed the men's short program last night. My thoughts:

Plushenko - nice jumps, but I have to agree with Dick Button that everything else is arm flailing. His footwork and spins left more to be desired.
Lambiel - it's too bad the guy can't do triple axels. If he had jump consistency like Plushenko, he would surely be miles ahead in first place. Spins were fabulous as usual
Lysacek - loved the energy in the program. He certainly gave it his all and you can feel the intensity as he skated. I was impressed.
Takahashi - awesome short program and has such great presence on the ice.
Weir - nice and consistent and fun program, but it seemed to lack the spark that I saw in his SP in '06.
Oda - great spring on the jumps, but as Sandra Bezic said, he needs a bit more refining, but he definitely looks good overall.

So my top 3 sps are: Takahashi, Lysacek, Plushenko

Well at least they're all virtually tied - I'm glad that the judges kept it close, instead of gifting the whole thing to one skater with an insurmountable lead.

Other programs I enjoyed:
Brezina - great potential for the next Olympics. I like that his jumps are secure and have such good spring and height
the 3rd Japanese guy (forgot the name) - he reminds me of Oda as well

Disappointments:
Brian Joubert - he's too good of a skater to be all the way down. What a meltdown that was. I think he wants the OGM too much that it psyches him out when he comes to the Olympics.
Jeremy Abbott - he may have peaked at Nationals. His triple-triple combination looked good, so I was a bit surprised when he popped the axel and then doubled the lutz.
Tomas Verner - it's too bad he's that inconsistent because his jumps, when he's on are beautiful.

 

[nghtvsn]

Plushy, Evan, and DAisuke are essentially tied at the top in the men's competition but Evan and Dai have the advantage in the long. They were able to match Plush's score without doing a quad triple. Hello! I think Evan is very probable to win the gold thursday as long as he gets past that triple axle.

As for the others, Lambiel is a great skater and he's won a world title without a triple axle in the past but it is not going to be possible in this competition but with what he scored in the short he's possible for bronze as well as Oda and Weir. I thought Weir was a bit undermarked but they said something about his triple flip. Maybe it had a neg GOE. Idk.

So sad what happened to Abbott. He's really technically capable of matching the scores posted by the top 6 but he just crashed today. Ultra disappointing. Then Joubert imploding on that Lutz. The Quad mistep he probably could have weathered but not having a combo at all was devastating.

I'm going to go with:

1. Evan
2. Daisuke
3. Plush
4. Oda
5. Weir