Sure, Patrick Chan won with a quad and Alissa Czisny won by landing most jumps in both the short and free, but I'm going to focus this results post on the spins skated by the medalists.
Patrick Chan - kept last year's free skate music to the Phantom of the Opera. Death drop with low sit; beautiful and low right inside three entrance to a fast, low back sit, change into forward sit, then good position with free leg tucked behind his spinning leg; final spin combination a camel into a sit spin, then change foot into a back scratch variation with his free foot crossed in front on the ice. Excellent speed and centering on all spins.
Nobunari Oda - He didn't do a spin until nearly two minutes into the program. I can't explain why I find that odd, but since I've noticed it, I'll probably notice it more. The IJS has caused more skaters to front load their program and Oda's program was certainly packed with jumps and footwork in the front half. The first spin was a combination starting with a camel that seemed a bit unlevel as it rotated into a sit, change, sit, and pulled his bum up and kept his head down for a unique position. Then lots of skating around with some jumps and finally, a flying camel into a sit spin, back scratch with free leg behind the skating leg, tucked sit, few pushes out into a death drop into a cannonball sit position, scratch spin and final pose. Those last two spins were slow, much slower than Patrick's. I know there will be articles and talk on quads versus quads, but I truly think his slow spins hurt him here more than any jump misses.
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| Oda - bum up, head down position |
Adam Rippon - through training in Toronto, Skate Canada is somewhat of a home competition for Adam. Maybe that caused some jitters in the short, but he had a great skate in the free to win the bronze medal. Adam didn't get into a spin until after the 2 minute mark either, but when he did he stroked into a death drop and held an arm up as a variation in sit spin landing then transitioned into a forward sit in a tuck position while draping his arms towards his spinning foot; right forward inside edge three into back camel, fast and low sit, scratch spin with variation of the free foot crossed in front on the ice; then he ended with stars into a flying camel and stretched back into a doughnut position, then moved into a sit with a neat arm variation - he wrapped his arms around the free leg - and final scratch and end pose. Good centered spins with nice position variations which he held.
Complete Men's Results:
Alissa Czisny - Wow, this program is lovely. Her dress and music reminded me a bit of Michelle Kwan's Lyra Angelica, I hope she can have a moment at Nationals like Kwan in 98 with this program. Her first spin was a flying camel into a held and extended back camel into a doughnut position and then on the same foot pulled into a gorgeous catch-foot position. What I thought was especially nice was that she spun in three different positions on the same foot with the same amount of speed throughout. Wonderful spinning technique on display at Skate Canada. Next a camel, sit, change sit into a "Y-spin" that had such extension, it was really more of an "I-spin." Finally, she ended with a classic layback and then moved into a haircutter and finally into wonderful and rather natural looking Biellmann. Again, these three positions were on one foot with good speed and centering throughout.
Ksenia Makarova - Layback to the side, haircutter, Biellmann, good speed in all positions; stars into camel, sit spin, broken leg position sit spin; finally, butterfly into good sit position and done.
Amelie Lacoste - classic layback, pretty haircutter position; back camel, illusions, change foot to forward sit and scratch spin
Complete Ladies' Results:
Alissa Czisny - Wow, this program is lovely. Her dress and music reminded me a bit of Michelle Kwan's Lyra Angelica, I hope she can have a moment at Nationals like Kwan in 98 with this program. Her first spin was a flying camel into a held and extended back camel into a doughnut position and then on the same foot pulled into a gorgeous catch-foot position. What I thought was especially nice was that she spun in three different positions on the same foot with the same amount of speed throughout. Wonderful spinning technique on display at Skate Canada. Next a camel, sit, change sit into a "Y-spin" that had such extension, it was really more of an "I-spin." Finally, she ended with a classic layback and then moved into a haircutter and finally into wonderful and rather natural looking Biellmann. Again, these three positions were on one foot with good speed and centering throughout.
