Some highlights for me at worlds2006

[Vash01]

I may think of more later, but here are some highlights for me at the recent worlds.

1.Kimmie Meissner's free skate. It was great to see it live.

2.Pet-Tik's LP. First I thought it was a typo when they displayed 'Four seasons' on the screen. They actually skated to their 2000 program, and it was great.

3.For medals when Pet-Tik's names were announced, they skated to the middle of the ice. Alexei lifted Maria and spun her around before both took bows. It was very sweet.

4.Dubriell-Lauzon's clean OD- it brought tears to my eyes when the crowd cheered them at the end of their OD. At the Olympics they had that horrific fall on the final lift and it crushed their Olympic dream. It was nice to see them win a silver at worlds.

5.Denkova-Stavisky: They are for real. Maxim Stavisky is a phenomenal skater. This dance team skated great and it was great to see them win.

6.Elena Sokolova's SP and LP. She skated great, after a poor showing in the QE. She was smiling throughout both programs and the exhibitions. It was so great to see her so happy. She has a really cute smile.

7.Brian Joubert's free skate. He had been down all year. He switched to the Matrix program and it worked like a charm. He was great.

8.Inoue-Baldwin landed throw triple axel AGAIN! She had to touch a hand down but she landed it. That's three for three in major competitions. Wow!

9.Belbin-Agosto were classy again after winning only a bronze at worlds.

10.Drobiazko-Vanagas skated an exhibition that will stay in my memory for many years. Their OD & FD were excellent too. They always bring the audiences to their feet.

11.Yukari's exhibition skate to Amazing grace. She is lovely with smooth stroking and her own style. I hope she can develop into a top skater.

12.After the pairs medal ceremony and after signing autographs for fans, both P&T's went to the boards and Tikhonov lifted Xue Shen from her spectator position. It was very touching.

13.Andrei Griazev's great LP skate. He has had such poor performances this year that he did not even make the worlds team. The only reason he was in Calgary was Uspenski bombed at the junior worlds. Andrei was something like 21st entering the free skate and I was pleasantly surprised by his LP performance.

14.Emanuel's LP skate- so much better than usual. He had a few mistakes but not the typical disasters we are used to seeing from him. It was wonderful to see him happy after his skate.

15.Elene Gadevanishvili- even though she skated poorly this time, she is a future star, IMO. There is just one way to describe her- Cute & adorable.

16.Evan Lysacek's LP. He attempted and almost completed a quad-triple combination. Way to go Evan!

17.Sixteen year old Kimmie won at her very first appearance at worlds made a great story, reminiscent of Sarah Hughes win at the 2002 Olys.

18. In the mens event three men cleanly landed quad-triple combinations (Lambiel, Joubert, Cheng Jiang Li). Joubert landed a second quad in his LP, and Lambiel matched that in his. Quads aren't everything but they are among the most spectacular athletic things and it was great to see those.

19.Yukari Nakano landed a triple axel in the warm up (although no lady landed one in competition in Calgary).

20.Lambiel had a freedom in his skating that had been missing earlier. He has really come into his own at this point. If Plushenko decides to continue in the eligible ranks he will have his hands full.

21. As always it was nice to see some young skaters that could make it to the top in a few years. Nobunari Oda is one of the cutest young skaters. His 4th place finish was impressive.

Non-FS related highlights:

1.Tim Horton's donuts. They are delicious!

2.My brief excursion to Banff. The Canadian Rockies are awesome, and I can't wait to go back there.

3.The city of Calgary- LOVED it! The view from the Calgary tower was awesome.

A few disappointments:

1.Johnny finishing low because of back spasms. The fall on triple flip in the LP was heart breaking.

2.Carolina is such a pleasure to watch. It is so disappointing when she falls on jumps.

3.Joannie's free skate- I had such high hopes for her after her first place in the QR. I thought she could medal.

That's all for now.

Vash

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Very nice list, Vash. I can't disagree with any of your points.

For me, it was noticing a few newcomers to the scene:

Alban Preaubert (France) and Kiira Korpi (Finland)

Less impressed but possible goodies in the future:

Arina Martinova (Russia) Amanda Nylander (Sweden), Anastasia Gimazetdinova (Uzbekistan), Nadege Bobillier (France), Tugba Karademir (Turkey)

Joe

 

[clairecloutier]

A highlight for me was seeing Johnny Weir try the quad (and almost land it) in his long program. I was excited about that. Also, watching the triple Axel/triple toe at the beginning of the program. I don't think anyone does that combination better, or more smoothly, than Johnny.

 

[Sk8swan]

Very nice reading, Vash. Thank you

2.Carolina is such a pleasure to watch. It is so disappointing when she falls on jumps.

And she so much more a pleasure to watch when she skates away from the spotlight and the pressure of the competition... *sigh*

 

[CDMM1991]

Non-FS related highlights:

1.Tim Horton's donuts. They are delicious!


Vash

Ah, I see you discovered our national treasure

 

[Doggygirl]

Vash, it sounds like you had an awesome time, both inside and outside the rinks. Good for you! (and I'm pea green!! ) Sounds like an experience you will never forget.

DG

 

[Vash01]

Ah, I see you discovered our national treasure

I had never heard of Tim Horton's before. First few days I wondered why the lines there were so long. I found out soon after tasting those delicious doughnuts. A few days later I read a newspaper article that wrote that the chain recently did an IPO and guess what! They are still owned (82 percent) by Wendy's which is a USA chain! However, I doubt that they will expand into the USA quite yet- certainly not in my part of the country. That was an interesting tidbit outside of FS.

Vash

 

[Vash01]

Very nice list, Vash. I can't disagree with any of your points.

For me, it was noticing a few newcomers to the scene:

Alban Preaubert (France) and Kiira Korpi (Finland)

Less impressed but possible goodies in the future:

Arina Martinova (Russia) Amanda Nylander (Sweden), Anastasia Gimazetdinova (Uzbekistan), Nadege Bobillier (France), Tugba Karademir (Turkey)

Joe

Joe,

I agree with your list of newcomers to watch out for. Arina Martinova is just 16 and I see her as possibly becoming an artistic skater like Maria Butyrskaya. I see Amanda Nylander as a possible future star. I was less impressed with Anastasia but the tiger costume may have something to do with it. Tugba has improved her PB and overall placement in the competitions I have seen her in. I am not yet sure that she can master the more difficult jumps because I think she is a little older (19-20?) but I could be wrong. She has a very fluid style and she skates clean nearly everytime. I would add Mira Leung to your list. Although she made a couple of mistakes in her LP, I see a huge improvement in her from last year.

I was a bit disappointed with Yan Liu because she missed some easy jumps. The biggest disappointment may have been Julia Sebestyen. She was the European champ just a few years ago. She barely made the cut for the LP, and placed 22nd overall. I wonder if she has an injury or has trouble finding skating facilities?

Vash

 

[hockeyfan228]

Sebestyen announced that she was changing coaches. (I don't remember whether this was before the Olympics or Worlds.) It couldn't have been easy competing without the new coach in place, but having made the announcement.

She looks so unhappy on the ice. I suspect her confidence was damaged severely when she started to miss her money jumps, the lutz and flip. I think she's a terrific skater, and I would love to see her happy and successful again.

 

[antmanb]

Sebestyen announced that she was changing coaches. (I don't remember whether this was before the Olympics or Worlds.) It couldn't have been easy competing without the new coach in place, but having made the announcement.

She looks so unhappy on the ice. I suspect her confidence was damaged severely when she started to miss her money jumps, the lutz and flip. I think she's a terrific skater, and I would love to see her happy and successful again.

That's what's so weird about Sebestyen - she was routinely mentioned as the toe jumper who struggled with her edge jumps. Even winning the European title i think she doubled one of the edge jumps....this worlds she can't buy a lutz of flip but lands both the sal and loop??? Very strange indeed.

And the coach thing really confused me since the Eirosport commentators were saying lots of things that didn't make sense about the coaching change and in the end i didn't know if she had changed coaches or was going to change coaches.

To be fair the commentators were getting quite a lot wrong in the comments!

Ant

 

[Mathman]

I had never heard of Tim Horton's before. First few days I wondered why the lines there were so long. I found out soon after tasting those delicious doughnuts. A few days later I read a newspaper article that wrote that the chain recently did an IPO and guess what! They are still owned (82 percent) by Wendy's which is a USA chain! However, I doubt that they will expand into the USA quite yet- certainly not in my part of the country. That was an interesting tidbit outside of FS.

They have made it to Detroit.

Actually, it's more their chicken salad sandwiches than their donuts, IMHO.

 

[Vash01]

They have made it to Detroit.

Actually, it's more their chicken salad sandwiches than their donuts, IMHO.

When their donuts make it to the US, I may just make a trip to that place

I heard they were thinking of expanding into the northeast US. That's too far. I am in the southwest.

Vash

 

[jsteam4501s]

Oooooooh, I'm so envious that you got to see Kimmie's LP in person! Is it true that Kimmie's SPEED on the ice is much more obvious in person than it is on TV? I've seen several comments to that effect.

I'm very disappointed that ESPN did not show Yukari's exhibition number. I love her smile and her "wrap" leg on some jumps is not the least bit ugly to me. Hope to see plenty more of her in the future - although I must say, if she's 20, she's a very youngish 20!

 

[Vash01]

In general we don't see the real speed on TV; skaters appear slower on TV than in person, so the answer to your question is yes. There was so much excitement in the arena as Kimmie went on landing jump after jump, it was incredible.

Yukari's leg wrap used to bother me but it has not bothered me this year. I just see it as a different 'style'. It does not keep her from completing those jumps for sure. The exhibition showed another side of her skating. During competition I had not noticed how smooth she was on her skates.

Vash