- Joined
- Dec 28, 2003
Sorry I couldn't come up with a more original off-season question, but I figure it's going to be discussed anyway, so I thought I'd get some sort of official ball rolling...
I think it's going to be a real brawl, since there are so many contenders just past the two year mark, as showcased at this year's World Championships...
You don't have to pick a champ in any discipline, per se, just talk about what you expect certain skaters to have on their agenda and why their timing is right (or off) to make a strong bid for Olympic gold, that most coveted of skating prizes.
I have no clue on this one, that's why I'm asking...I'm just psyched to sit back and watch the marvelous skating produced by sooo much competitive tension in the air; the drama is bound to be grand...though I will venture some speculation on the major contenders...
Michelle seeks the lone prize that has eluded her in a formidable competitive career; she finally seems to have found a perfect coaching match (for this stage of her career, at any rate) and with the edge that her wily veteran experience and his considerable expertise--and tremendous respect, affection, and consideration for his skater--affords her, knows how to build on her existing abilities...but when venturing into uncharted territory (has her field of competitors ever been THIS deep and THIS hungry for her spot at the top? 2004 Worlds and all, she is not really the underdog yet, IMO), what can we expect come February 2006?
Sasha's hungry to win it all, having finished just off the podium last time and sick to death of all the buzzing in her ears about how great she is and how she should be winning it all, right now; how will the psychologically successful yet choreographically suspect pairing with Olympic champion coach RW...
Shizuka just coming into her powers and having the world at her very able feet and, with the winning Arakawa/Tarasova combination, the sky as the limit, finally...
The youngest (they're all young in my eyes) guns standing up after landing their bigger-than-life combos but remaining question marks in the artistry department, though all the potential is there and visible (and they're also hungry as all hell--Miki with the golden blades hinting at the color medal she's shooting for...Carolina just as daring to push the envelope, fast, furious, and with a good bit of growing up to do, and she certainly seems up for the challenge--the loverly Stephane Lambiel can certainly give her a few pointers in the artistry department...Cynthia Phaneuf MUST be full of frustration but also fire, looking to prove that her Nats win wasn't a fluke after it all fell apart for her at Jr. Worlds)
Irina just valiantly getting back into the game, just happy to be skating, but a truly courageous competitor who's used to standing victorious in her own right, even after having to compete against perhaps the most able competitor in the history of the sport during her prime, and she might be right on schedule to come back for the medal that just slipped through her fingers two years ago this February...or at least give it her best shot...
and so many more, and I haven't even discussed the men...
Evgeni Plushenko, whose luck (and quad) deserted him and cost him Olympic gold, which went to his nemesis, has since seemed (to me, anyway) to be competing with the fire that the loss lit under him...if his knee holds up (BIIIIIG if), we may be seeing him walk off (though barely) with the gold in Torino, courtesy of the quad loops, sals, three-jump combos, intensity, charisma that have won him nearly everything else but what he'll be looking for in Italy...
Brian Joubert wants it, wants it, wants it...his jumps sing, have solid, elegant landings most of the time (and a few fist pumps for good measure), his artistry doesn't (to me, at ALL), but it's as much about standing up in all phases of the competition as it is about being a complete skater (as Shen and Zhao, Michelle, Stephane Lambiel, and a few others saw at this Worlds), and his ambition seems to be keeping him on his feet when in head-to-head combat against his mentor's nemesis...
Stephane Lambiel...what can I say, all attempts at cool, levelheaded analysis go out the window and all I can muster is an "I HOPE he doesn't miss a jump and wins it all", but I see him on schedule and certainly capable of pulling out all the stops that he has available (though not a quad combo, which is another reason--besides the other SL's hometown heroics--he finished off the podium, IMHO)...
Johnny Weir+quad=medal of some color, and I see him and MK in the same boat in that respect, aside of course from the HUGE differential in experience, both have a very complete presentation/artistry arsenal and jumps with wonderful flow and runout, and the way they seem to just muster them, to land them at will, positively unruffled, give them big points in making the technical aspect a seamless part of a complete program, no hitches after hitting the "big ones"...
I'll stop here and let you all weigh in on this one if you feel inclined to do so; Torino is still a ways away, and charting the probable progress of the many great skaters in our midst (possible dark horses?) is probably the prime off-season activity...aside from tearing apart whatever the ISU proceedings on the CoP will yield...
Sarah
I think it's going to be a real brawl, since there are so many contenders just past the two year mark, as showcased at this year's World Championships...
You don't have to pick a champ in any discipline, per se, just talk about what you expect certain skaters to have on their agenda and why their timing is right (or off) to make a strong bid for Olympic gold, that most coveted of skating prizes.
I have no clue on this one, that's why I'm asking...I'm just psyched to sit back and watch the marvelous skating produced by sooo much competitive tension in the air; the drama is bound to be grand...though I will venture some speculation on the major contenders...
Michelle seeks the lone prize that has eluded her in a formidable competitive career; she finally seems to have found a perfect coaching match (for this stage of her career, at any rate) and with the edge that her wily veteran experience and his considerable expertise--and tremendous respect, affection, and consideration for his skater--affords her, knows how to build on her existing abilities...but when venturing into uncharted territory (has her field of competitors ever been THIS deep and THIS hungry for her spot at the top? 2004 Worlds and all, she is not really the underdog yet, IMO), what can we expect come February 2006?
Sasha's hungry to win it all, having finished just off the podium last time and sick to death of all the buzzing in her ears about how great she is and how she should be winning it all, right now; how will the psychologically successful yet choreographically suspect pairing with Olympic champion coach RW...
Shizuka just coming into her powers and having the world at her very able feet and, with the winning Arakawa/Tarasova combination, the sky as the limit, finally...
The youngest (they're all young in my eyes) guns standing up after landing their bigger-than-life combos but remaining question marks in the artistry department, though all the potential is there and visible (and they're also hungry as all hell--Miki with the golden blades hinting at the color medal she's shooting for...Carolina just as daring to push the envelope, fast, furious, and with a good bit of growing up to do, and she certainly seems up for the challenge--the loverly Stephane Lambiel can certainly give her a few pointers in the artistry department...Cynthia Phaneuf MUST be full of frustration but also fire, looking to prove that her Nats win wasn't a fluke after it all fell apart for her at Jr. Worlds)
Irina just valiantly getting back into the game, just happy to be skating, but a truly courageous competitor who's used to standing victorious in her own right, even after having to compete against perhaps the most able competitor in the history of the sport during her prime, and she might be right on schedule to come back for the medal that just slipped through her fingers two years ago this February...or at least give it her best shot...
and so many more, and I haven't even discussed the men...
Evgeni Plushenko, whose luck (and quad) deserted him and cost him Olympic gold, which went to his nemesis, has since seemed (to me, anyway) to be competing with the fire that the loss lit under him...if his knee holds up (BIIIIIG if), we may be seeing him walk off (though barely) with the gold in Torino, courtesy of the quad loops, sals, three-jump combos, intensity, charisma that have won him nearly everything else but what he'll be looking for in Italy...
Brian Joubert wants it, wants it, wants it...his jumps sing, have solid, elegant landings most of the time (and a few fist pumps for good measure), his artistry doesn't (to me, at ALL), but it's as much about standing up in all phases of the competition as it is about being a complete skater (as Shen and Zhao, Michelle, Stephane Lambiel, and a few others saw at this Worlds), and his ambition seems to be keeping him on his feet when in head-to-head combat against his mentor's nemesis...
Stephane Lambiel...what can I say, all attempts at cool, levelheaded analysis go out the window and all I can muster is an "I HOPE he doesn't miss a jump and wins it all", but I see him on schedule and certainly capable of pulling out all the stops that he has available (though not a quad combo, which is another reason--besides the other SL's hometown heroics--he finished off the podium, IMHO)...
Johnny Weir+quad=medal of some color, and I see him and MK in the same boat in that respect, aside of course from the HUGE differential in experience, both have a very complete presentation/artistry arsenal and jumps with wonderful flow and runout, and the way they seem to just muster them, to land them at will, positively unruffled, give them big points in making the technical aspect a seamless part of a complete program, no hitches after hitting the "big ones"...
I'll stop here and let you all weigh in on this one if you feel inclined to do so; Torino is still a ways away, and charting the probable progress of the many great skaters in our midst (possible dark horses?) is probably the prime off-season activity...aside from tearing apart whatever the ISU proceedings on the CoP will yield...
Sarah