- Sonia Lafuente fell on her first 3F and I did worry that she and Tugba may have been leading us off to an epic splatfest of a night, but no, she held everything together well after that. She doesn't have great spark or presentation skills though, especially considering how striking looking she is physically, and had very little connection to her music. That could have been mainly down just to nerves and concentration, though, since I remember finding her a lot more interesting at Nebelhorn.
- Yan Liu hit most things but Christ, that was dull.
- Glebova's dress looked like something even Mao would have rejected. Nice easy 3T-3T but her jumps were not really there otherwise. It's a shame, because she has a fun personality and she's a good performer.
- Gimazetdinova fell on her steps and looked so surprised that she seemed to forget to get up again for a while, which was really the highlight of the program. Hopefully she will not get it into her head to try and beat Sebestyen's record of four Olympics and will retire either now/after Worlds, because it really does not look like she is going to get anywhere at this point.
- Sarah Hecken has been irritating me of late but I quite enjoyed her program and I loved that she looked as if she'd just been presented with the gold medal itself at the end. I love seeing skaters skate their absolute best in big competitions.
- Kiira showed more speed and attack in the first twenty seconds of her program than most of the other girls did in their entire program. She popped her 3-jump combination but managed to turn her 2A into one and other than that it was a great program, really nice to see her skate well after something of a disaster on Tuesday. Very well done for her, she pulled way up to eleven, so not too far off where she probably expected to end up.
- Cheltzie Lee looked like she was absolutely running on empty by the end, but apart from the fall on the last 3T, that was a great program from her. She has such nice fight and attack, and she also wins the prize for nicest dresses. Top 20 in the Olympic games, for a 16 year old from a 'non-skating' country who only found out she was going to Vancouver 4 weeks ago, is definitely not a bad showing.
- Sarah Meier made a pretty Juliet and has lovely quality to her skating but did not have the jumps at all, which is a shame. She had, what, two triples? It's a sad way for her to go out, especially after she's had such a rough time with injuries and the like. Hopefully, like so many others, she can have a second chance at Worlds, but still.
- I enjoyed the tiny Korean, Min Jung Kwak, a lot more last night, she has a beautiful spiral sequence and spins and really nice rotation on her jumps. Hopefully she doesn't have a growth spurt or anything, she was fantastic. She was also absolutely adorable in the KnC, I don't think I've ever seen a non-medallist look so genuinely delighted with their scores before.
- Leonova seems to have lost a lot of the freedom that she used to have but she skated clean enough and she looked very pleased with herself which was nice to see, I was worried that she'd peaked way too early and would have a Euros-repeat in Vancouver, but luckily that didn't happen. I would like to see her try some more sophisticated choreography in at least one of her programs but then I'm not sure how well she would carry that off.
- Wonderful program from Suzuki, just one doubled jump and everything else perfect, and that step sequence is just fantastic. Huge score, rightly so. Last night was the first time I have really 'got her' without having to try to.
- Carolina depresses me. I will never know where these girls find the strength to keep selling their step sequences when it's all gone so horribly wrong. Poor thing, she dropped like a stone to sixteenth place, and to think, she featured in my potential top-five. I would also imagine that Valentina Marchei is furious that she didn't get to go.
- Yay for Laura! I was so happy for her! Just one doubled jump and everything else lovely. She is such a beautiful skater, I could watch her forever. Lovely to see her so excited in the KnC too. Fourth in the free and sixth overall is definitely a huge achievement, especially considering that she doesn't even have a lot of the more difficult jump content. She was also the highest-finishing European lady, which I was happy about. Good for her!
- My girl Ksenia didn't let me down. I like to think she fell out of her spin out of solidarity for Johnny. Beautiful jumps and spirals and she is one of the few girls who actually has a nice picture as her athlete ID. She's so pretty. She could absolutely be the face of Sochi 2014 and I'm calling her right now as future European champion if nothing else. She just needs to fix her spins.
- I was really hoping that Elene could keep up this fantastic streak she's been having, but apparently it was not to be. She has the most lovely spirals and I love her entry into her 2A, it's such a shame to see her drop so hard. Still, she should definitely be proud of herself for her Olympic short, and of course her European medal.
- Our UK commentators never once mentioned Rachael's school career, which is refreshing after watching/following US coverage all season; Robin Cousins was actually telling us how feisty and bubbly she is. Her spins were both quite hideous, but she had an especially lovely 3L in amongst her usual 'solid' jumps. I prefer her SP but I thought it was a fantastic program from her, as did most everyone else, but apparently her flips were downgraded and she went in below Lepisto, which I never thought would happen in a million years.
- I just found Miki Ando kind of meh. Actually, I'm not even sure I watched her entire program. I did like her new dress though, much better than that blue thing she was wearing earlier in the season.
- Straight up BEAUTIFUL from Yu-Na. That was just exquisite. Gorgeous. I've never seen anyone make anything look so easy as she made that program look. What a score. I don't even know what else there is to say. Great reaction, too, it was lovely to see behind that cool facade she keeps up and wow, how well did she handle that pressure? Just perfect.
- I had a horrible feeling that Mao was going to melt down after hearing Yu-Na's score or at least her crowd reaction, but then she landed those 3As and I thought she was going to kill it, and then there were just those two random mistakes in the middle, and oh, she looked so sad. I felt so sorry for her, but at the same time, a silver Olympic medal is nothing to be ashamed of, especially when you consider that really, her disastrous season only started coming together at 4CC last month. Good job, Mao.
- Joannie Rochette is an absolute inspiration. Nice to see her smile, and wow, what an amazing competitor. Her bronze medal was so, so deserved. These games are hers.
- I can't help but love Mirai more and more everytime I see her, what a fantastic smile. Love her Ina Bauer into 3L and spreadeagle into 2A. And that layback is fabulous. She was great in the KnC, as ever - "I'll be back for the next Olympics!", "Thanks for all my make up, doesn't it look great?" Too cute. I really love Frank Carroll, by the way. It was amazing to see her take fourth, looks like she's definitely putting herself back in the game!
What an incredible way to round off these Olympic competitions. Those last four girls in particular are all absolute superstars, and I think that Vancouver 2010 will definitely be remembered as one of the best Olympic competitions ever.
Oh, one more thing - I am so excited to see Ryan Bradley at Worlds! I wish there was some way Adam could go, but there is definitely nobody I would sacrifice from that Jeremy-Johnny-Ryan team, so yay! If my calculations are right, there is less than a month to go, right? Exciting - and yet at the same time, I can't believe that this season is nearly over already!
xxx
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