Euros - Men's Short

We literally got to Tallinn/the rink just in time to see the last group of the men's short, which we had to buy tickets for on the door, but I am so glad we did, because what a group! It was Lambiel, Contesti, Verner, Préaubert and Joubert (I think that's the right order), which is basically all my favourite Euro skaters besides Brezina, so that was really exciting. I was kind of surprised to get in and see Ponsero sitting comfortably in second, because he's not had that good of a season this year, but definitely good for him! I saw him a lot around the rink at Nebelhorn and have been feeling kind of sorry for him all season, so it was nice to see him skate well.

Stéphane was skating first, and because of the rush from the airport to the hotel to the rink, as well as getting into our seats just as the warm-up ended, I kind of feel like I didn't get to appreciate and enjoy the program as much as I would have otherwise, but it hardly mattered, I loved it anyway. I think that program is possibly my favourite SP this season, especially the step sequence, which is just fantastic. It was so obvious that probably 95% of the audience were massive Stéphane fans, too, the collective gasp when he went down on the combination was pretty funny and the crowd were yelling/screaming pretty much right through his final spin, which, of course, was gorgeous. That boy really is something else.

Contesti has been a favourite of mine since last season, his free at Euros last year was brilliant, but I have to say I was kind of underwhelmed with him in the short, he seemed kind of slow and the audience didn't get behind him as much as I thought they would have. Apparently, though, he didn't go to the press conference afterwards because he didn't feel well, so maybe that was the reason, since he was definitely much more engaging in the free. He skated pretty well though, clean as far as I can remember. I know he skates for Italy now, but these French guys definitely brought it this season!

I was really nervous for Tomas, he has not had a good season at all this year and I just really felt like he needed to do well going into the Olympics. He didn't exactly meltdown but he definitely didn't skate clean, either, which is such a shame because I love his choice of music and his program in general this year. I just feel really bad for the guy, it must be hard enough to have had Brezina suddenly taking all the limelight in Olympic year (not to mention Lambiel & Plushenko's comebacks), and then to be ill all season, as well, it's got to be tough! Tomas has always seemed like such a fun person, too, I just really want him to get it together in Vancouver.

Of all the men in that group, I was expecting to like Préaubert the least, but that wasn't the case at all, I loved him! Hilarious program, he hardly ever looks like he stands a chance in hell of landing any of his jumps but somehow he does, and I officially think that it should be compulsory for all male skaters to do their step sequences to the William Tell overture. Great program, the audience were really into it.

Joubert! I'd never really liked him, I think partly because he's always seemed a little arrogant and I didn't like his comments after Jeff Buttle won Worlds in '08, and then he didn't skate too well when I saw him in the free at TEB so he didn't particularly endear himself to me then, either. This season, though, he's been growing on me. Eurosport showed a hilarious fluff program on him just before we flew out to Estonia, it was an interview all in French and it showed him talking about how he used to want to be a bus driver and how he has kept these little action figures he used to collect, and he came across so genuinely lovely that I couldn't help but like him, and then wow, seeing him live this time really made a difference. He has amazing charisma that has just never come across to me before, and his short was brilliant. I really wanted it to go ahead of Plushenko (I'd want almost anyone to go ahead of Plush, really, but Brian really skated lights-out), and I cracked up at the Plushenko-esque 'number 1' hand gesture at the end.

Overall, it was definitely worth the ticket price just to see those guys skate, it definitely set up the competition for the long, which was just amazing, and which I will write about in a separate post!

xxx