Women’s Free Skate, Worlds 2007

It seemed that nerves got the best of some of the female skaters at the World’s championships, while others were able to rise to the occasion.

Kimmie Meissner, for example, was in third after her short program, and in spite of being the defending gold medalist and having less pressure than the Asian women, wasn’t able to shake off her nerves. Of course, it didn’t help skating immediately after Mao Asada, who came from behind after a short program affected by her nerves to make her personal best and win the free skate.

“It was tough tonight,” admitted Meissner. “Mao skated before me and obviously did very well so that the crowd was really into it. It was very emotional and intense. I had to calm down myself, and I think it took me a jump to get into it.”

As Candus Thomson of the Baltimore Sun said about Meissner, her “performance at the World Figure Skating Championships looked a lot like her performance at the U.S Championships. Except for one major difference: she didn’t win here today.”

Like she did at Nationals, Meissner put her hand down on her opening jump and failed to do a triple-triple combination. She was also downgraded for cheating the landing of the second jump of her triple flip-triple toeloop combo. She was able to complete six clean jumps and her footwork was excellent, but it unfortunately wasn’t enough. It was the first time since 1994 that no American woman won a medal at Worlds.

“It was not my best; I can do better,” Meissner admitted. “So I’ll regroup and come back strong next year.”

Yu-Na Kim’s long program was the most disappointing, especially after she earned the highest-ever score for a short program earlier in the week. She came into the long program the favorite to win Korea’s first gold medal at Worlds. Her nerves and chronic back pain seemed to get in the way, though. Two minutes into her free skate, it appeared that Kim would fulfill all expectations, but she fell on the first jump of an intended three-jump combo, fell a second time, and had another combo ruled scoreless.

“I didn’t really feel any pain in my back,” she reported. “But my legs felt heavy and so I was unable to perform well and I wasn’t as confident in my jumps.”

The biggest comeback at Worlds was Canadian champ Joannie Rochette. She skated a dismal short program, putting her way back in 16th place. Canada needed two berths for next year’s Worlds, though, and she was able to deliver for her home country. She rallied and her long program was the fifth-best.

“I was disappointed [in my short program] so I wanted to come back and fight for it and try to keep those two spots,” Rochette said. “I knew I needed a top-12 finish. It was really hard to stay focused and I tried to give it my all.”

Mao Asada won the free skate, but narrowly missed the gold medal, probably because of her disappointing short program. Her home audience was completely behind her; by the time she ended her free skate, they were on their feet. She was able to overcome the nerves that had hassled her previously and she earned her personal best, winning the silver medal.

“I am very happy,” said Asada. “Before the program, I was in the 5th place after the short program, so I really wanted to win a medal of any color. I am very satisfied with my performance. The crowd was very nice. I was very impressed by myself. I love skating at home!”

Asada’s teammate Miki Ando came back in more ways than one. The first woman to land a quad salchow, Ando was attacked in Japan after a poor showing at the Olympics. After finishing 15th in Turin, she re-hired her previous coach, Yuko Monna, and moved to New Jersey to work on her choreography and jumps.

At Worlds, though, she had practiced her acclaimed quad and even made it a few times during the practice sessions earlier in the week, but chose to play it conservative and “only” do a triple salchow, her opening jump. When she ended her marvelous performance to the roar of the crowd, Ando knew that she had won a medal, but didn’t know if it would be enough to win the gold. She posted a personal best. She was second in the free skate, but edged out Mao Asada by a mere 0.64 points.

“After the Turin Games I had such a hard time,” Ando said, tears running down her face. “I came back strong.”

Sources:
Associated Press. Ando Wins Women’s Title. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032401047.html

Canadian Press. Rochette 10th at figure skating worlds. http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/195716

ISU World Figure Skating Championships: Tokyo (JPN) Day 5. http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268081-news-item,00.html
Kaye, R. 2007 World Figure Skating Championships: Ladies’ Free Skate Highlights. http://goldenskate.com/articles/2006/032507_ll.shtml

Thomson, C. Meissner comes up short in world championships. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-skating0324,0,80130.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

Pairs Free Skate, Worlds 2007

Instead of writing an "article" on the pairs free skate, I'm going to give some "random" musings about it. Why? At this late date, I was only able to find two articles about this part of the competition, and my thoughts aren't organized enough for something more formal.

The articles mentioned above do an adequate job at reporting what happened. Here they are:
ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 - Day 2. http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268020-news-item,00.html

Kaye, R. 2007 World Figure Skating Championships: Pairs' Free Skate Highlights. http://goldenskate.com/articles/2006/032207_pl.shtml

One of the things I love about figure skating is its bittersweet nature. As a fan, I experience happiness and sadness, often to their extremes. The highs are high and the lows are low. That seemed to be the case for the pairs free skate at Worlds.

For example, two couples had to bow out at the competition due to injury, and they were due to retire after this season. Petrova and Tikhonov of Russia had to withdraw before the long program after Tikhonov injured his right leg during practice. And the inspirational Dorota Siudek and Mariusz Siudek from Poland had to withdraw after Mariusz re-injured his back. What a sad way to end a career, especially for the Siudeks. Plus, it made the field a bit tougher for the Russians, who failed to medal in any of the disciplines, something that hasn't happened since 1960.

A highlight of this competition was the gold-winning performance of China's Shen and Zhao. Their skate was flawless. They personified another reason I adore this sport so much--they were able to transport me somewhere else as I watched them. They were emotional as well--hugging and kissing as they ended their program and Zhao touching the ice as they left it "to thank the ice in Tokyo." They earned their standing ovation, and the gold as well.

It was great to see my favorite program (of all the disciplines) of the season one last time: Germans Savchenko and Szolkowy's long program. It unfortunately wasn't their best free skate of the season, but it was good enough to earn them a bronze here. I've talked about this program before--it's choreographed to one of my favorite pieces of music; the costumes fit the choreography and their personalities; it's almost an ice dance. Great stuff.



One final comment before I close and go work on my final Worlds article. Dick Button, in his commentary on Pang and Tong, called Qing Pang "frail." For the life of me, I don't understand that comment. If I were to ever meet Mr. Button, I would like to ask him about it. I wonder, though, if he says it because of her fall at the Olympics, in which she fell after attempting a throw quadruple Salchow and had to stop for several minutes. Please, how is that "frail"? The only other explanation I have is Qing's appearance. It's true that she doesn't look as muscular as other female skaters, but anyone who can get through a five-minute skating routine has to be somewhat robust!

Women’s Short Program, Worlds 2007

It was the “battle of the teenage jumpers.”

Many of the female figure skaters who competed at the Worlds championships in Tokyo this year were under the age of twenty. The reigning World champ, American Kimmie Meissner, is just sixteen, as is Korea’s Yu-Na Kim and Japan’s Mao Asada. Both Kim and Asada were too young to compete at last year’s Olympics and Worlds. Much has been made this year of Asada’s ineligibility, but most of the press has seemed to forgotten that Meissner also experienced the same thing the year before, when she was too young to be eligible for Worlds in 2005.

The difference, however, is that Meissner is participating in a sport that many are saying is in a decline in her home country, while figure skating in Japan has never been more popular. Even Meissner recognized that although there was a great deal of pressure on her as the defending champion, the real pressure was on the Japanese skaters, with their massive and highly critical press and enthusiastic fans.

The pressure was so great on Mao Asada after her ineligibility last year that she moved to Lake Arrowhead, Calif. to train. There has been a great deal of discussion about the fairness of the international rules regarding skaters’ age limit, but Asada’s short program at the 2007 World championships seemed to give support to the wisdom of the limitations on young skaters. Asada started off well with a triple Lutz, but then crumbled under the pressure and popped the second jump of her planned triple flip-triple loop combo into a single jump. She lost eight points on that one move alone.

“I didn’t feel that nervous. I knew I had to do my best,” Asada said. “When I finished I thought, ‘I failed.’”


The big story thus far at this competition was Yu-Na Kim, who has become Asada’s biggest rival. The Korean, who bowed out of her own Nationals due to a herniated disc in her back, had just come out of a month of intense training (with her coach, Canadian great Brian Orser) and acupuncture treatment. Kim arrived in Tokyo still in pain, but had improved by the time she skated her short program. “Today during the performance I felt no pain, so I was feeling better and was able to skate in a very confident manner,” she said.

Kim put out a dazzling performance of her short program. She made a triple flip-triple toeloop combo, a triple Lutz, and a level-four combination and layback spins. She had just one shaky moment, in her spiral sequence, but earned another level four anyway. When her marks came up, Kim reported that she could hardly believe them.

“I was surprised with such a high score. I made a small mistake on the spiral sequence, but I’m happy that I had a good score," she said. The end result was amazing: not only did she post a personal best (71.95 points), she set a new record in the short program, beating Sasha Cohen’s score (71.12) back in 2003.

Miki Ando, the only female skater to execute a quad salchow, has been touted as another of Asada’s rivals in the Japanese press. Her quad made history, but it has also proven to be her undoing; she tried one at the Turin Olympics, but fell and missed most of her remaining jumps. She finished in a disappointing 15th. Although Ando hasn’t successfully made a quad for three years, she was able to make a quad during a practice session earlier in the week, however, putting her one the front page of Japan’s many sport papers.

She was coy about whether she would bring it out for the free skate. “I don’t want to make the same mistake as last year,” she told reporters.

Ando’s performance was exceptional enough to put her in second place after the short program. She nailed a triple Lutz-triple loop, a triple flip, a double Axel. She earned a level four for her spiral sequence and flying sit spin, but only a level two for her layback spin. Her 67.98 points slightly improved her previous personal best.

The other two notable teenagers in the short program, Americans Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes, seemed to falter. Hughes came in sixth, but was happy with her skate, which included a triple flip-double toeloop comb, a triple Lutz, and strong spins.

“The excitement in the arena helped a lot,” said Hughes, who skated after Kim and Ando.

Meissner came in fourth place after her short program. She landed a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combo, a triple flip, and a double Axel, but earned only a level one for her layback spin. “The short program is always nerve-racking for me,” Meissner said. “The long program is definitely my favorite, so I am looking forward to it.”

Sources:
Associated Press. S. Korean Soars to Big Lead At Worlds. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301566.html

Brennan, C. Once-Popular Figure Skating Losing Heat. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/brennan/2007-01-24-brennan-figure-skating-popularity_x.htm

Figure skating: Asian debutantes raring to steal show at worlds.http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_sports/view/264724/1/.html

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 Tokyo (JPN) Day 4.
http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268075-news-item,00.html

Thomson, C. Meissner skater to beat in Tokyo: Bel Air teen set to defend title at World Figure Skating Championships
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/olympics/bal-meissner0319,0,2842347.story?coll=bal-sports-olympics


Zanca, S. (Associated Press). South Korea's Kim leads World Figure Skating http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Mar/23/br/br4739568021.html

Worlds 2007 Free Dance

It has happened at least one other time this season: at Skate Canada, to Stephane Lambiel. He was so certain that he wasn’t going to make the podium that he changed out of his costume, but made an amazing comeback (over 14 points after the short program) to win the gold at that event. A similar thing happened to Belbin and Agosto at Worlds.

(YouTube video chronicling Lambiel's rise at Skate Canada: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja2sd5iecgI)

The U.S. ice dancing champs were so certain that their free dance wasn’t good enough to win a medal, they also changed their clothes and were ready to leave the building when they were called back for the awards ceremony. “I learned a lesson,” Tanith Belbin said. “Don't take anything for granted.”

“I guess we dodged a bullet on that one,” Ben Agosto said. “We’ve been working really hard on the program. We didn’t skate our best, but I guess we did it good enough.”

Belbin and Agosto had only been skating their free dance program, done to the soundtrack to the French film “Amelie,” for a little over two months, having introduced it for the first time at the U.S. championships in January. As a result, it still had some rough spots at Worlds. Belbin bobbled a twizzle and nearly bumped into Agosto. They also lost a point on a lift held longer than the rules stipulate.

"I can’t believe I missed my twizzle. I never do that,” Belbin said.

The judges must have thought Belbin and Agosto’s errors were minor, for they made up what they lost in their other elements: excellent choreography and high marks for their lifts and step sequences. It was close, however; they were a mere 0.25 points over the fourth-place finishers, French champs Isabelle Delobel and Oliver Schenfelder.

“We're happy with how we skated,” said Delobel. “We were beaten by the Americans. Oh well.”

By the competition’s end, it was an exact duplication of the podium at the Worlds championships last year in Calgary: the gold going to Denkova and Staviski of Bulgaria, the silver to Dubreuil and Lauzon of Canada, and the bronze of course to Belbin and Agosto.

2006 Worlds podium

2007

The Bulgarians were very proud of their performance, which was probably their last in competitive figure skating. “It is wonderful for us to be here and to have won the second gold medal," Denkova stated. "I never thought this is possible. We’ve fought for it since the beginning of the season, we fought every moment.”

Denkova also admitted that she didn’t understand why she and her partner won the gold medal last year, but felt more secure with their performance this year. “I feel happier than last year,” she added.

Albena and Maxim had previously stated their intentions to retire from competition, but resisted formally announcing it. “I want to have a rest. But she’s the president. I’m just a skater,” Staviski grinned, referring to the fact that his partner and wife was elected president of the Bulgarian Skating Federation last fall.

Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon exhibited the romance in their relationship with their long program, set to “At Last” by Etta James, took the silver again this year.

"Last year the worlds were in Canada,” Dubreuil said. “It added to the pressure. After the accident in Torino my body was not 100%, and to get back on that ice after Torino, it was overwhelming and was very hard to skate. We skated this competition very well with no pain and much less stress.”

The married couple were, disappointed that they lost the gold by such a close margin (barely one point). It didn’t mar their happiness at winning the silver, though. “We skated with a lot of love and joy,” said Dubreuil. “We just felt really free out there, which felt great.”

Sources:
Associated Press. Figure skating: Bulgarians’ intricate swirls win ice dance title.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/23/sports/skate.php

Free Press News Services. Belbin, Agosto capture bronze.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/SPORTS18/703240377/1048/SPORTS

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 Tokyo (JPN) Day 4.
http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268075-news-item,00.html

Kaye, R. 2007 World Figure Skating Championships: Free Dance Highlights. http://goldenskate.com/articles/2006/032407_fd.shtml

Men’s Free Skate

At the World’s figure skating championships this year, Canada’s Jeffrey Buttle found himself in the same position as Johnny Weir at the U.S. Nationals.

Skating after a performance that blows the roof off the house is always difficult. Weir, the defending U.S. champion at the time, found himself skating his long program after Evan Lysacek made his first quadruple toeloop in competition, and Buttle had to skate after the momentum of three other spectacular performances at Worlds.

Switzerland’s Stephane Lambiel, the wild card of the competition, skated third in the final group of male skaters. The two-time and defending world champion has admitted to being burnt-out after last year’s intense Olympic season and only recently decided to come to Worlds, but he landed a quad-double-double combination jump and fully rotated a second quad. He stumbled out of the second quad, but came from sixth place after the short program and earned enough points to win the bronze.

Lambiel had a marvelous free skate, charming the crowd and rattling the nerves of Brian Joubert, who skated next. Joubert was in first place after the short program, and recognized what he was up against. “Stephane did a great performance, which made it more difficult,” Joubert said. “I didn’t want to win the program. I wanted just to do a good program and win the title.”

Joubert did end up winning the gold, but points-wise, his free skate came behind Lambiel’s. Joubert nailed his opening quad-toeloop, and then a triple flip and a triple Axel. Instead of risking a second quad, the European champ and first Frenchman to win the Worlds since 1965 went for a triple toe-triple-toe combination, three more triples, and two level-three step sequences. His flying sit spin and sit spin, however, were downgraded to a level one.

You could say that Joubert “skated smart.” I’m very tired,” a triumphant Joubert said. “I didn’t attempt the second quad because I wanted to give the audience a clean program. I worked for this gold. It’s been a great season, and I gave it everything I had tonight.”

This in spite of coming back from a serious injury; in late February, Joubert spiked his foot with the blade of his other foot, causing him to miss crucial training. As a result, he wasn’t up to the form he was earlier in the season. At the Cup of Russia competition in November, he produced four quads. Out of any male skater in the senior circuit, Joubert understands the importance of the quad jump, especially for the future of the sport of figure skating.

Fortunately, he enjoyed a huge lead after the short program, which was a good thing regarding Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi’s performance immediately after Joubert’s. Takahashi overcame the pressure of skating at home and captured the home audience with his exuberant and emotional free skate.

Other than putting his hand down on his opening quad toe loop that seemed to relieve the pressure, Takahashi’s performance was flawless. He subsequently reeled off two triple Axels (one in combination with a double toeloop), a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, a triple Lutz-double toe-double loop, and three more triples. He seemed tired towards the end of his program, but the audience’s support gave him new energy to complete his final straight-line footwork.

“Before I went out to skate, I was so nervous, I almost cried,” Takahashi said. When he finished, he couldn’t stop sobbing with relief and joy while the crowd erupted into a standing ovation. “I’m very happy and full of joy,” he added.

Then it was Buttle’s turn. He was in second place after his short program, but his free skate placed eighth, putting him in sixth overall. He stepped out of a triple axle and fell twice, first on a quad toe loop (which was downgraded to a triple) and his first triple Axel. In spite of these mistakes, however, he produced five more triple jumps. Buttle also made level threes in his complicated and expressive footwork and spins.

And so, like Weir at the U.S. Nationals, Buttle failed to take advantage of a great opportunity. His coach, Lee Barkell, chalked it up to a season of injury and the lack of a consistent quad jump in Buttle’s arsenal.

As far as skating after Takahashi’s pivotal performance, Buttle admitted that it made a difference. “Obviously, it has an effect,” he said. “You can’t ignore that kind of volume and response.”

Sources:
Associated Press. Figure Skating: Joubert’s quad and 7 triples suffice to win men’s title. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/22/sports/skate.php

Cole, C. Joubert wins world figure skating title, Buttle sixth. http://www.canada.com/topics/sports/story.html?id=a12cc65c-3d00-42d8-a32c-effea1f2116f&k=43993

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 Tokyo (JPN) Day 3. http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268038-news-item,00.html

Kaye, R. 2007 World Figure Skating Championships: Men's Free Skate Highlights. http://goldenskate.com/articles/2006/032307_ml.shtml

Smith, B. Joubert wins men’s world figure skating title. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070322.wsptskate22/BNStory/Front

Worlds 2007 Original Dance

There was at least one sports blogger who, in his “preview” of the Worlds Figure Skating Championships, held in Tokyo last month, who refused to write about ice dancing, saying, “Ice Dancing doesn’t get a preview because Ice Dancing is s***.”

In a previous post, he attempts to support the above assertion this way: “When I say ‘Figure Skating’ I don’t mean any of that wussy crap that comes under the category of ‘Ice Dancing.’ ‘Ice Dancing’ is not a sport, it’s what skaters do when they can’t make it as figure skaters. ‘Ice Dancing’ is the Rugby League of the Ice World.”

This fellow doesn’t know what he’s talking about, of course. He obviously hasn’t watched ice dancing in the last few years, and he certainly didn’t watch ice dancing at Worlds. The original dance portion of the competition was full of all kinds of excitement. Of course, Worlds ice dancing could be called“the D&S competition,” since three out of the top five competitors’ initials were D and S.

By the end of the original dance, the race was tight, the top three couples separated by only half a point. Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria edged out Canada’s Marie-France Dubrueil and Patrice Lauzon to take the lead. Americans Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto moved up from fifth to third place.

Much of the reason for the excitement with the ice dancers at Worlds happened before the competition began. Canada’s Dubrueil and Lauzon, who in recent years have garnered a great deal of attention, came to Tokyo the favorites by plagued by recent injuries.

As Sportsnet, a Canadian sports webpage, reported, “It’s been one thing after another for Dubreuil.” They continue:

“A terrible fall in the original dance at the Turin Olympics last year left her with an injured right hip and lower back, forcing their withdrawal. They recovered to win silver at the world championships in Calgary last March, but misfortune again befell the Montrealers when Dubreuil hurt her right knee and ankle just before the Canadian championships in January.

They again pulled themselves together just in time to win another national title, and they went on to win Four Continents gold while Dubreuil continued to undergo physiotherapy on her right thigh. If anybody needed a break before the world championships, it was Dubreuil and Lauzon.“It feels so great just to concentrate on training and still have fun with it,” a healthy Dubreuil said from Leon, France, where the couple trains. “Last year I was in so much pain it was hard to focus on anything else other than the problem.”

Dubreuil and Lauzon’s original dance ranked third place, and they were in second place going into the free dance. All their elements were awarded a level four. “It was pretty good,” said Dubreuil. “Probably the best of the season. We love the tango. We even look Spanish so it’s easy to put the feeling and expression into the moves.”

Another thing that garnered a great deal of attention had very little to do with ice dancing, at least not technically, and that was American Tanith Belbin’s hair color change. The native Canadian, who was granted U.S. citizenship before the Olympics, pulled a Jennifer Aniston on Tokyo, which was all a-buzz about her change to darker locks. She and her partner Ben Agosto came in second after the original dance, a mere 0.2 points behind first place.

This in spite of a near-miss of the boards by Belbin. She assured at least one reporter that it wasn’t a new part of their choreography. They were able to go on like nothing happened, though, but it did slightly affect their performance.

“We didn't actually have (an original dance) practice in this arena before, and it doesn’t have hockey lines like the other arena,” Belbin said. “I think we just started our beginning too close to the boards. I’m staring at Ben the entire opening, and I don’t look away from him. So by the time I stepped forward to see where I was, it was too late. But I recovered all right. The rest of the program could have gone better had I not been disappointed and distracted by that little bobble.”

“She recovered really quickly,” said Agosto of his partner touching the boards. “I’m always impressed how she recovers when she has to, and I felt like the rest of the program was strong. We’ve been trying to work on connecting with each other and looking at each other a bit more and expressing that passion between two people in the tango. I think we did a pretty good job at that today.”

So ice dancing delivered in the area of excitement, musicality, and athleticism. By the end of the original dance, the score between the competitors was as close as it gets. There was plenty of drama as well, and that continued later in the week going into the free dance.

References:
Dubreuil and Lauzon carry Canadian hopes.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/more/article.jsp?content=20070317_143125_4580

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 Tokyo (JPN) Day 3.
http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268038-news-item,00.html

Kaye, R. 2007 World Figure Skating Championships, Original Dance Highlights. http://goldenskate.com/articles/2006/032307_od.shtml

Preview: World Figure Skating Championships 2007. http://shottonothing.wordpress.com/2007/03/19/preview-world-figure-skating-championships-2007/

Why am I so Damned Obsessed with Figure Skating? http://shottonothing.wordpress.com/2007/01/23/why-am-i-so-damned-obsessed-with-figure-skating/

Worlds Men’s Short Program

It seems that every male skater in the world loves to skate in Asia, except for Asian skaters.

The pressure seemed to get to most of the male figure skaters who competed at the 2007 Worlds Championships in Tokyo last month, especially the Asian skaters. This was apparent in the short program.

When all was said and done, it wasn’t an Asian skater that won the gold medal; it was France’s Brian Joubert. Joubert also came on top after the short program, hitting his opening quadruple-triple toeloop and triple Axel, showing good footwork, and making his personal best (83.64).

It wasn’t the clean program he wanted, though. The European champ put his hand down on the triple flip, but he earned a level four for his three spins and a level three for both his circular and straight-line step sequences. “I’m very happy with my performance,” the Frenchman said. “I beat my personal best. I did one small mistake on the triple flip, and I’m a little disappointed about that.”

Joubert was the only male skater who was able to make his quad-combination. Only one other skater made the attempt, American champ Evan Lysacek. He put his hand on the ice on his quad and lost points for the combination when he waited too long for the second jump. He ended up in the fifth place, but eleven points behind Joubert.

“What I feel proud of is that I put the quad out there under the pressure of the world championships,” Lysacek said. “I knew I had to take the risk.”

Other skaters were plagued by mistakes as well. Ryan Bradley, who surprised everyone with his skill and enthusiasm at the U.S. Nationals by winning the bronze medal, came in a disappointing 19th after falling on a triple axel jump.

"It just wasn't in the cards today,” he said. “It’s my first worlds, and I guess it happens.”

Johnny Weir, who has had a less than stellar season, wanted to please his Japanese fans. He blamed his weak performance on weariness. He started with a smooth triple axel and a triple-triple combination but then stumbled on a triple flip and finished fourth.

“I gave it maybe 65 percent tonight,” Weir said with his characteristic wry sense of humor. “I’ve been having some trouble adjusting here. My costume is even tired.”

Jeffrey Buttle from Canada did well, however, coming in second after the short program. He was excited about the competition upon his arrival in Tokyo; “I love competing in Asia,” he said.

For good reason, since Buttle has done well in Asia of late: second in the Grand Prix Final and first in the Japan International Challenge, both in 2005 in Tokyo, and second in the Grand Prix Final and first in the Cup of China, both in 2004 in Beijing.

In Buttle’s short program at World’s, in spite of a back injury that kept him out of the Grand Prix this year, he landed a solid triple flip-triple toe, a triple Axel, and a triple Lutz. His three spins were all level fours, and he set a new personal best (79.90 points).

So it was the Asian skaters that felt the pressure of skating at home the most. Japan’s Nobunari Oda, one of the most talented and promising young skaters in the world, had a disappointing short program. He missed his first triple axle and had points off his score for other badly executed jumps.

It seemed that his style, which usually serves him well, hurt him this time. Oda tends to skate with “deep knees,” meaning that he bends his knees before and after making his jumps, but his weight has to be placed in just the right way. The pressure seemed to get the best of him at home, and he missed his first triple axle and had several points taken off for other badly executed jumps (including some popped jumps). He placed a dismal 14th.

Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi did the best of the Asian men, coming in third after the short program. He opened his program with a triple flip-triple toe combination, but the second jump was under-rotated. He then went on to produce a triple Axel, a triple Lutz, and a level-four combination spin.

“It was my worst performance in this season,” Takahashi said afterwards. “I was not able to show what I can do. I am very lucky to end up in third place.” He admitted to feeling pressure. “We are the host country, and the crowd had very high expectations and I tried to respond to it. This made me very nervous.”

Figure skating is huge in Asia, so the crowds at Worlds were enthusiastic. It had to be difficult for the skaters from Asia, and as it turned out, it was.

References:
Associated Press. Americans stumble at skating worlds. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/today/s_498942.html

Associated Press. Lambiel says pressure is off, but defending figure skating crown will be tall order. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/19/sports/AS-SPT-FIG-Worlds-Lambiel.php

ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2007 - Tokyo, Japan - Day 2. http://217.158.112.238/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,4844-131973-133281-18886-268020-news-item,00.html

Stevens, N. Canada has a strong presence at figure skating worlds. http://thechronicleherald.ca/Sports/565473.html

Stevens, N. Joubert leads heading into men's free program at figure skating worlds. http://www.cbc.ca/cp/sports/070321/s032155A.html

Worlds YouTube videos

I'm filling in the many gaps that make up the ESPN broadcast of the Worlds championships. I don't know when I'll be able to edit and post the performances they actually showed, so I suggest that folks do a search on YouTube for those videos. So as I find the missing performances, I'll go ahead and post them here.

Please excuse, of course and as always, the lack of English. I'm finding that the more I watch the non-English versions, the easier it gets to overlook it myself.

A better article focusing on Kimmie Meissner

This AP article is substantially better than the USA Today one. It focuses on Kimmie Meissner's chances at Worlds.

I love this quote:

She failed to qualify for the Grand Prix final and only won the U.S. title after Emily Hughes fell.

A bit harsh, I think. Accurate, but harsh. Yes, it's true that if Emily hadn't fallen, she probably would've won, but Kimmie did beat Emily handily at the Four Continents competition.

I'm really looking forward to watching the broadcast of Worlds tomorrow.

USA Today is so lame

USA Today has a short and lame article about Evan Lysacek's chances at the World's championships this week.

The article is lame because all it mentions about Evan's foreign competition is that Pleshenko is taking this season off. What about the Japanese men? And the fact that Lambiel also has a quad jump in his repertoire, and has been more consistent about making them.

Like I said, so lame.

Excuses, Excuses

So I haven't blogged for a while. There are lots of reasons for that. Mostly, I've lost momentum and need to get it back. Worlds is this week, so I intend to write up some reports about that. It should be a very exciting competition.

My technical difficulties with TiVo, my computer, YouTube, and Blogger continue. Plus, I'm still figuring out the best way to do this blogger thing. To be honest, the motivation is low when I have almost no readers. Perhaps that situation will change by next season.

My health has also not been the greatest. I fought off a cold (congestion, cough, sore throat) for a couple of weeks. Then there was the worse tooth pain I've ever experienced in my life.

Back in January, I had a bunch of dental work done--a deep cleaning, a few fillings. One filling in the front of my mouth continued to be hot-and-cold sensitive until the beginning of March when it became somewhat more sensitive, on the pain scale of about a 3, enough to disturb my sleep. So I went back into the dentist and he told me that some of the filling had fallen out and repaired it.

At first, the tooth was sensitive but seemed to be on the mend. Two days later, though, the pain had moved up to a 5-6 and my face had swollen up with infection. My dentist called in a prescription for antibiotics, but with the infection, it did very little good. I would take Tylenol and ibuprofen, go to sleep, wake up in pain, take some more, wait a couple of hours for the meds to kick in, and then go back to sleep. By last Sunday, the infection had reached my right eyeball. (I couldn't take anything more powerful than that because I'm sensitive to pain medications.)

This was a situation that you didn't know how bad it was until after it was over. While I was going through it, all I could think about was decreasing the pain so I could sleep. I went into my long-suffering Irish mode and downplayed it for myself and those around me. I was in so much pain and so sleep-deprived, I found myself unable to make any decisions about what to do about it. It took my husband to make the decision to go to the ER, since my dentist wasn't calling me back. So we left the kids with my mother-in-law and he drove me there.

Putting it simply, the ER doc lanced the boil in my mouth. He said that a teaspoon of puss came out, and it felt pretty shocking to me. I went home, medicated myself again, and slept for over three hours. The infection had already started going down, and by the evening, I felt 100% better.

Later on in the week, my dentist gave me a root canal, and in a couple of weeks, he'll give me a crown. I told someone I worked with about it, and she said, "Tooth pain is worst than childbirth." Now that I've gone through both, I'm not so sure I agree. But it was a pretty intense experience.

Up until a week ago, I spent almost an entire month in constant pain, from the tooth and a strong sore throat two weeks beforehand. It wasn't fun, and it gave me a taste of what it must be like for people who suffer from chronic pain. I found myself getting really tired of it, and actually prayed that God would take it away. (Which he did, I suppose.) I also told God, "I'm no John Paul II." I found no comfort in it, and wanted nothing to do with suffering alongside Christ. I suppose if it was really chronic, I'd eventually change my attitude.

I did learn something about myself, though. When I'm in serious pain, I stop thinking clearly. I'm unable to make decisions about my own medical care and well-being. I suppose that's why God gives us our loved ones--to help us make good decisions when we're in this situation. I'm thankful he's given me people who love and care for me and want the best for me. People who will take care of me when I need them.