Stayed up late Friday to watch Icenetwork's broadcast of the senior men's short at the U.S. National Champs in Spokane. After a little aggravation that the event didn't actually start at 9:45 as listed, I was treated to some great skates by Johnny Weir and Jeremy Abbot. (The Opening Ceremony started at 9:45 with "Thank You Spokane!" speeches from half of US Figure Skating, and then some kids skated as the flag, then they cut the ice again. All while I could have finished watching an episode of The Tudors with my husband. Argh!)
Johnny Weir skated second and gave a first rate performance. I haven't seen him skate with such command since his "Swan" short in the last Olympic season. Jeremy Abbott ended the first group of five with his "Day in the Life" short. It's an Abbott classic and garnished him an impressive score. I was eager to see Ryan Bradley do well, and he landed a soaring quad toe-triple toe combo but then doubled his Axel and Lutz. I'd never seen Keegan Messing or Johnathan Cassar before and wow, sorry I've missed them before. (OMG, the spread eagle Cassar does could be shown to cancer patients. It would raise endorphin levels and assist with defeating cancer. It's that wicked-good.)
My late night skating spectatoring ended a bit after Grant Hochstein. I had the pleasure of watching Grant skate in person at the 2007 Eastern Great Lakes Regionals in the novice division. Glad to see he's still going at it and impressing the judges at the senior championship. After Grant, Icenetwork really started cutting in and out. As it approached 1:00 a.m. Eastern, I finally logged out and hit the sack. I missed Evan Lysacek and Adam Rippon. I did see a bit of Evan's warm up in between blackouts. He was minus the feather gloves, I guess he ditched the "Evan Featherhands" look for Nats. Despite the new look, he apparently stepped out of his triple Axel.
It's Jeremy in first, Evan in second, Johnny in third.
I'm boring - here's what the journalists and other bloggers had to say about the event:
Jeremy Abbott Looks Ahead With Confidence - Detroit Free Press
Abbott Prevails at US Skating Championship - New York Times
Abbott, Lysacek, Weir Dominate - Los Angeles Times
Abbott's 'Day in the Life' Finds Him In First - USA Today
Lysacek's Brilliant Performance Doesn't Impress US Judges - USA Today
Aaron's Blog: Axels, Loops, and Spins
Laura's Blog: Required Elements
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