Vancouver 2010 - Men's Short

Last night was one of the best competitions I think I have ever seen in figure skating. With only three notable exceptions, everybody brought it. I was more nervous in this competition than I think I have ever been before; with everybody that did well, I became more and more convinced that it couldn't last and that everybody coming up was sure to bomb. Luckily, that didn't happen, although obviously, I am devastated for Jeremy, Brian and Tomas. My thoughts:

- Things got off to a fantastic start. I was very pleasantly surprised by Ri Song Chol, who knocked out a 3A easy as you like, the Ukrainian Kovalevski, and even Gregor Urbas looked more energetic than usual. Florent Amodio, of course, was absolutely beautiful. The way his feet move is incredible and his jumps are gorgeous as well. I really, really hope that he, Brezina and Rippon all stay on top form over the next four years. It was also lovely to see my boy Viktor Pfeifer skate clean. It was actually kind of weird seeing him on TV after seeing him live all season/EVERYWHERE in Oberstdorf. Most I have ever enjoyed a first group, I think.

- I surprised myself by how sad I was to see Nurmenkari bomb. He's generally a nice, consistent presence always down at the bottom. I'm kind of assuming that he'll be retiring after this season, so hopefully he can put something down at Worlds to send him out on a (relative) high. In fact, the whole second group was kind of a let down after we'd been so spoiled in the first. I generally find Chipeur quite watchable (although he was almost ridiculously slow at TEB, which I'm putting down to a bad day) but he didn't exactly skate well. According to the notes I wrote while watching, I could have sworn that he mouthed 'call me' in the KnC but I assume he did not.

- I have kind of a fond hatred of Plush now. He's a total love to hate. The little gallop section in his steps is hilarious, and maybe I was just looking for reasons for his score to be lowered but I didn't think his jump landings looked particularly smooth or solid. There was definitely a glimpse of hope for judging in his TR mark, which was actually relatively fair. Shocker.

- Third group got us right back on track, beginning with Paolo Bacchini, who I loved in Tallinn and who has an amazing costume. He kind of messed up his axel - I thought he was headed for a fall for sure so he did well to save that and pull off a double - but he had great spins, footwork and choreography. I thought he was a young one for some reason but he's twenty-four or five, so maybe not one to watch for 2014, but rather one to watch tomorrow night.

- Borodulin was ON, which is good as the Russian Federation sent him over Voronov. I didn't understand the link between his costume and his music, but on the other hand, his hair is supreme. He looked kind of like a cross between a puppy and Charlie White. Stefan Lindemann was also absolutely on form, with a HUGE 3A, a great 3L and an adorable little fist pump after his 3T-3T. Javier Fernandez had a hand-down on the second half of his combination and looked like he slipped a little in his sit spin, but an absolutely stunning 3A and fantastic choreo. He is just inherently watchable, I think.

- I am a huge fan of Sing Sing Sing (ties with William Tell for my favourite music-to-step-sequence) and Denis Ten absolutely worked it. Love him.

- Takahashi = wow. His footwork was incredible. I hadn't even factored him into my favourites but last night, I absolutely got him. He was magical. And I loved his score even more - I would have had him miles above Plush, obviously, but .6 behind without a quad is pretty damn impressive. At this point, I would love to see Taka at the top of the podium.

- I loved that one of Schultheiss' hobbies was listed as 'enjoying life'. Nice outlook, Adrian. Shame he missed the combination.


- I don't think I have ever been so nervous as I was watching Stéphane. I LOVE that program. Such a shame about the messy combo. If only he had a 3A, he's be unbeatable. He smashed Plushy's PCS, as he should (everyone else's, too). Not as close as Takahashi but I don't think the door was completely closed on him by any means. If he can pull off a totally clean free, he is in with a chance to medal, although probably at the expense of Takahashi rather than the flailers.

- Oda was...meh. I was kind of on a post-Lambiel comedown anyway, and Oda has nowhere near the charisma of Stéphane or even Takahashi. I'll be interested to see him skate tomorrow because everyone raves about his Charlie Chaplin free and honestly, it didn't really capture me in Paris.

- Oh, Brian :(. Words can't even describe how sad I was for him. He looked so absolutely devastated. This time last year I would have been honestly delighted to see him bomb but wow, things have definitely changed. His program is absolutely electric when it's clean and he has such incredible charisma. I think that Jouby has tried really hard to work on his artistry and I think that he just tries to think about everything too much now. I kind of get the feeling that he wanted that Olympic medal more than anyone else. Heartbreaking in the KnC. I was trying to listen to what he was saying but I was too much in a state of shock at his epic bomb to tune into the French. One good thing is, he has absolutely no pressure for tomorrow night with nothing at all to lose.

- Kozuka brought it, too. Fantastic program. Good boy. Somehow I completely missed his messed up landing on his 3A, so I was shocked at his lower placement, but that made slightly more sense after I realised what had happened. Still think he was possibly undermarked but I don't really have enough of an interest in Kozuka to argue it.

- I love Contesti but I much, much prefer his FS to his SP. Definitely a shame about the fall, and when he's skating in amongst the big guys you can tell that his quality is much lower, but still, I'm a fan of Contesti. Also, it seems that everytime I see him, he is better looking. I love his long so I am excited to watch him tomorrow, too. He's currently sitting in fourteenth and if he can hold it together, I think that's more than a very respectable placing for him in this field.

- Chan does absolutely nothing for me. I appreciate his nice softness, but he is just very, very obnoxious, and I think what bothers me most about him is that he says all this stuff and seems to think that the whole figure skating world has been living in fear of him and his tremendous skills, but he actually doesn't have the competitive history to back those comments up. At least Plush's arrogance is based on his winning of basically every title in the world. All Chan has is a world silver.

- Johnny is such a diva. I love it. GREAT skate! Yay! Go Johnny! Gorgeous!

- It was fantastic to see Kevin van der Perren skate so clean. He rotates so incredibly fast in the air. I'm assuming he'll be retiring - he looks like he might actually die if he continues - so hopefully he can carry on his clean-ness to tomorrow night. I like his Robin Hood program.

- I was really hoping that Tomas might actually pull it out of the bag and skate clean, but no. Sad, but not exactly a surprise, and when the competition was so good, nothing short of perfect would have held him up. He does a great job of keeping selling it, though. Has he skated that program cleanly at all this season? I'd love to see it. There's always Worlds, I guess.

- I really didn't want Evan to be, but damn, he was near perfect and yes, he probably deserved his score. Except for that spin at the end which almost took him back to LA.

- I commented after Johnny & Evan had skated that it seemed impossible that all three US men would go clean, and apparently I cursed our poor, poor Jeremy. He's looked so strong all season and I really hoped that he had gotten over his stupid headcaseness, but I guess the pressure was just too much. Like Joubert, though, at least he has no pressure for tomorrow and while a medal may be out of the question, I really hope that he can at least turn his experience around a little with the clean and beautiful skate that we know he is capable of. In the mean time, I will watch his US Nats SP and tell myself it's the Olys because that was perfection.

- Brezina was a lovely way to finish a brilliant night of competition. He really does have the most beautiful jumps. They are just absolutely gorgeous. He is wonderful. I love him. Also, his coach has the most hilarious glasses.

It is all to play for on Thursday! I am really hoping that the brilliance of last night does not mean that we are in for a splatfest tomorrow. It is absolutely depressing to look at the start order and see that Verner is kicking things off, when really, based on talent alone, he would be right up there. It also strikes me as slightly unfair that he is currently sitting right under Joubert and yet twelve skaters separate them tomorrow night. I am still hoping for a miracle and that Plush might actually fall (how great would it be if he just completely bombed? The world would implode), although there is only one person that I would like to see Plush beat, and that is Evan Lysacek. It is rare that I have such strong dislike towards a skater, but I really, really cannot stand Evan Lysacek.

At this point, my dream podium (based partly on logic, partly on hope) would go: Takahashi, Lambiel, Weir. It's not going to happen, of course, but hey, I can hope.

xxx