So What Happened With The Artistic Guys?

[Ladskater]

Truly the big jumpers ruled this Worlds. The artistic skaters - Jeff, Johnny and Shawn had some rough moments. I was proud of Emanuel though and thought he should have at least been awarded the bronze. Oh well, back to the drawing board as they say....

 

[shine]

I think Stephane Lambiel is just every bit as artisitc as any of them, if not more.

 

[rain]

Sawyer redeemed himself a bit in the LP. I put it down to first worlds after the huge distraction of a great finish for him at the Olympics. In fact, I think a lot of the guys looked like they were suffering from some of that kind of fatigue (not just physical).

As for Weir, pretty par for the course. He's almost as inconsistent as Sandhu. Buttle had a really rough outing this worlds. I'm sure that's not how he wanted to end his season. You mentioned that the jumpers ruled the day.... well, I've been thinking all season that, big a fan as I am of Buttle, he really needs to work on his jumps. He has to be able to count on those. He needs a quad. Without it, he's always in the position of hoping other skaters make mistakes. He needs to start from the same playing field as the guys who do have the quad. Otherwise, he'll always be the guy who can win if....

 

[Ladskater]

I think Stephane Lambiel is just every bit as artisitc as any of them, if not more.

Yes, he is more artistic than Brian Joubert but his program leaned mostly to technical content. I think that is the ticket now - load the program with the most technical content one can to gain more points. It's kind of what Plushenko did at the Olympics. It's great to watch these guys knock off the big jumps, but at the same time kind of boring choreographically speaking. Give me a Jeff or a Johnny or Shawn program anyday.

 

[zeytin]

you think that lambiel is not artistic??? i think he is as artistic as the other skaters and more artistic than most of them...
and yes the other guys like weir,sandhu or buttle need more consistency with their jumps...it's not a jumping contest but it's not a artistry contest either...

zeytin

 

[Jaana]

I see both Stephane and Evan as artistic skaters. They are very different of course, but really artistic with their own styles of skating. Also both are really great in interpreting music, and they have a huge charisma that does not come out of choreography, LOL. Other current top skaters that I see as artistic: Weir, Buttle and Sandhu.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I think Stephane Lambiel is just every bit as artisitc as any of them, if not more.

Methinks more. Definitely more than Weir and Sawyer, imo, who skate beautifully, but not artistically.

 

[enlight78]

Methinks more. Definitely more than Weir and Sawyer, imo, who skate beautifully, but not artistically.

I disagree. When weir is on he is definitly more artistic than Lambiel. Lambiel doesn't put weight into his movements. There almost meaningless sometimes. Buttle is the best artisticly.He not only back his movements with flowing edges but there is heart and full expression in them. Maybe it is just his puppydog eyes. I just get more from buttle and weir when they are good.

 

[harmonie]

I see both Stephane and Evan as artistic skaters. They are very different of course, but really artistic with their own styles of skating. Also both are really great in interpreting music, and they have a huge charisma that does not come out of choreography, LOL.

I agree with you 100%.
They are complete skaters, they have both great artistic and technical elements in their skating, and that is why I love them so much.
They are just so perfect

 

[Tonichelle]

I see both Stephane and Evan as artistic skaters. They are very different of course, but really artistic with their own styles of skating.

ITA. I get a (competitive)Browning vibe more when I watch Evan than Jeff (who's been touted as the second coming of Kurt from day one, and I just don't see it)

and Stephane is a subtle skater... he's just not North American so his style is a bit different than what we like to see over here

 

[layman]

The arteests are burned out. They have all had 12 competitions (or more) this season and we all know how much the arteests put into each and every program. I think they are just plain tired.

 

[rain]

ITA. I get a (competitive)Browning vibe more when I watch Evan than Jeff (who's been touted as the second coming of Kurt from day one, and I just don't see it)

and Stephane is a subtle skater... he's just not North American so his style is a bit different than what we like to see over here

I think both Lysaceck and Lambiel are also artistic skaters.
That said, what I wanted to comment on was the Browning/ Buttle/ Lysaceck comparasin.

I don't get a Browning vibe from Lysaceck at all. I think Lysaceck has style, just not style reminiscent of Browning. Where I get a Browning vibe from Buttle is in both of these skaters' ablility to go out there and own a piece of music....any piece of music. They are both wonderfully versatile in that way.

 

[alina]

...it's not a jumping contest but it's not a artistry contest either...

zeytin

Yes, it´s sport on the highest level and jumps and artistry are both part of this sport.
I don´t think that only the arteests are burned out - they all are burned out now.
For me Lambiel is one of the most artistically skaters at the time.

 

[Kasey]

I think all three medalists are every bit as artistic as the "artistes"....just in their own style. And many here have stated that Lambiel and Lysacek especially match up any day with Buttle, Weir, and other more "artistic" skaters. No, it's not just about the jumps, just as it's not about "Fall, fall, stroke my face, EMOTE, pop a jump, and win a medal". I think the three medalists we had were very satisfying, both technically AND artistically.

 

[EvanLysacekFan]

I don't see how people can say Weir isn't as artistic as Lambiel? Weir is the most artistic skater.

 

[EvanLysacekFan]

I was proud of Emanuel though and thought he should have at least been awarded the bronze.

Uh, why?

 

[1hunter]

Men's freeskate

Can someone remind me please if the bronze medalist landed a quad/triple combination as well as a 3 axel and a 3 axel combination. Did he land a quad/ triple and a 3 axel in the short?


This is what Emanuel, Lambiel and Joubert all did! I was SURPRIZED to see Emanuel not on the podium with a bronze medal. I might have forgotten what the bronze medalist did.. sorry.

I do think that Johnny Weir and Emanuel are very artistic. They use their entire body outside of the circle to create movement .. not just swinging their arms around in time to the music and at the same time as doing difficult elements... just much much more.

That fall of Johnny Weir's was tough... sort of a belly flop... I really felt for him.. he looked as if he was in agony.

 

[chuckm]

I think the ultra-high PCS marks that have won Jeff Buttle all those medals up to this point have in a way contributed to his not serously working on his jumps. He knew he could afford to try the quad, fall on it , and still wind up with 5 points, and then have a fall or a step out on a 3A and still win a medal.

What he didn't foresee was that a time would come when he didn't completely rotate the "quad" and wind up putting a hand down on an underrotated 3T for basically 0 points, then pop the 3As that he had been having problems with all season.

What is going to happen is that other skaters who didn't have quads are now actually trying and landing them, if imperfectly, and can land 3As with no problem as well. Weir and Lysacek are about to become much tougher competition than they've been so far. Joubert is back, and Lambiel is not going away.

Jeff needs to land those jumps consistently, or what happened at Worlds will happen again and again.

 

[Rgirl]

ITA. I get a (competitive)Browning vibe more when I watch Evan than Jeff (who's been touted as the second coming of Kurt from day one, and I just don't see it)

and Stephane is a subtle skater... he's just not North American so his style is a bit different than what we like to see over here

I really like Jeff and find him very artistic, but his style definitely is not mainstream. He's got to get those jumps down, though, in order to be a complete skater.

One of the things I really like about your post is that you bring up cultural differences in artistry. I think it would make a good thread topic, if not now perhaps after Worlds' discussions have died down. One of the things I liked about the FS results of the OWG is that except for the Russian gold rush in every discipline other than ladies, skaters from a lot of different nations were in the top 10. The variety of skaters representing different countries and doing well at Worlds, at least so far, is also impressive. I think a discussion about how skaters from different cultures express their artistry differently--or even if people feel this happens--would be very interesting.

Rgirl

 

[chuckm]

Can someone remind me please if the bronze medalist landed a quad/triple combination as well as a 3 axel and a 3 axel combination. Did he land a quad/ triple and a 3 axel in the short?


This is what Emanuel, Lambiel and Joubert all did! I was SURPRIZED to see Emanuel not on the podium with a bronze medal. I might have forgotten what the bronze medalist did.. sorry.

I do think that Johnny Weir and Emanuel are very artistic. They use their entire body outside of the circle to create movement .. not just swinging their arms around in time to the music and at the same time as doing difficult elements... just much much more.

That fall of Johnny Weir's was tough... sort of a belly flop... I really felt for him.. he looked as if he was in agony.

You have to remember that there were THREE parts to the competition: the qualifying round, the SP and the FS. Only 25% of the QR score counted, but it did count. It's the number of points a skater accumulates in the three rounds added together that determine the total points, and the medals go to the men with the top 3 totals.

Lambiel was 1st in the QR, 4th in the SP and 1st in the FS for a total of 274.22 points (40.23 + 77.41 + 156.56) and a gold medal.

Joubert was 5th in the QR, 1st in the SP and 2nd in the FS for a total of 270.83 points (34.05 + 80.31 + 156.47) and a silver medal.

Lysacek was 3rd in the QR, 8th in the SP and 3rd in the FS for a total of 255.22 points (34.93 + 70.32 + 149.97) and a bronze medal.

Oda was 2nd in the QR, 3rd in the SP and 5th in the FS for a total of 251.21 points (36.23 + 78.25 + 136.73) for 4th place.

Sandhu was 15th in the QR, 2nd in the SP and 4th in the FS for a total of 249.89 points (28.95 + 78.41 + 142.53) for 5th place.

It doesn't matter what Sandhu or Lysacek landed in the SP or FS that determines who wins the medal, it's the TOTAL points for the 3 segments. Sandhu lost out on a medal because he finished 15th in the qualifying round and that put him automatically 6 points behind the eventual 3rd place finisher. Lysacek did not have a good SP, but he scored a respectable 70 points and then outskated Sandhu in the FS. Sandhu was ahead of Lysacek by about 2 points after the SP, but Lysacek outscored Sandhu in the FS by 7+ points and won the bronze medal. Sandhu also lost to Oda, who beat Sandhu by 7 points in the QR, nearly tied Sandhu in the SP, and lost to Sandhu by only 5 points in the FS.

Sandhu's FS was slow, lifeless and sloppy, and that plus his poor performance in the qualifying round kept him off the podium.