Not enough Thin Ice

After taking advantage of the warm weather and late sunset for some spring yard work, I checked into ABC's Thin Ice. The show pairs skaters who have never skated together to well, skate together. It has a judging panel made up of Kristi Yamaguchi, Dick Button and Katarina Witt.

I was sad it was only an hour of skating! I thought it was going to be dorky show, possibly worse than the pitiful Skating with Celebrities of a few years ago and that's why it was only slotted for two shows. Instead, I was enthralled watching the programs. The judges commentary was great, especially from Mr. Button!

Loved Stephane Lambiel and Shizuka Arakawa skating together. Good use of showing off their singles skills in a fun program and not attempting to get into dance positions or lifts. Stephane brought in a quad! Little hand touch but that was cool.

I wonder if this is successful in the ratings if this become a short series in the fall? While I love my skating on webcasts and I know I get more coverage of skaters online, I miss the cheesefests of professional skating on TV. All that's on now are the icky Disson skating shows that pair an old band performing with some skaters. Thin Ice was all about fun, upbeat and current music paired with great skaters. The show actually showed skating without cutting away to a band or audience. Super sweet!

Vancouver Men's Long - Spin Focus

I'm going to try to focus on the spins in this post as everyone else focuses on the jumps! I'm also only noting the skaters I see on the NBC broadcast.

Jeremy Abbott - Nice flying sit, good position in the sit change sit with a change to a forward inside edge, wobbled on the first camel rotation then back to the good, low and extended sit spin positions. Glad you focused and fought Jeremy! I'm proud of you. 149.56 free, 218.96 total.

Takahiko Kozuka - Flying change foot combo - way low in sit spin, cool upside down manuever; sit change sit with the foot tucked behind making a little ball position, nice; camel not as stretched as it could be but nice speed and extension in the sit spins, excellent blur scratch spin to finish. How often do you see a fast scratch spin these days? Thanks for that treat Takahiko! Like Sandra Bezic said on the broadcast he has a pure skating technique. I'm really looking forward to watching him over the seasons to come. 151.60 free, 231.19 total.

Denis Ten - Flying Camel Spin that started with good stretch and then almost immediately switched to inside and grabbed his blade. I wish he just held the initial extension, it was a good position. Change foot sit spin that featured resting his foot above the knee on both sides. Oooo, a Bielmann in his combo spin! Threw several positions in the combo spin, wish he picked two out of four and held longer and centered. 135.01 free, 211.25 total.

Huh, NBC showed Tony Dungy and Jerry Jones are in the seats watching. That's different. Wonder what they think of the event.

Florent Amodio - love this music from the Amelie soundtrack, superb speed, positions and centering in the combo spin; inside edge entry to back sit, then change sit and a nice tucked under position;  super sweet tuck position in flying sit, displaying snowboard-like "big air" with that flying sit tuck position. Loved the straight-line footwork preceding it too. This is a performance I'll look up on YouTube to relax and enjoy skating. 134.95 free, 210.30 total.

Patrick Chan - Nice position on a centered and fast sit. Good transition to another edge by pulling in his leg and placing his foot on his knee. Classic sit change sit after the half way mark. Camel, sit spin with unique arm position as part of combo. The crowd cheers are the end! Another program I'll go back too, loved the knee action and glide in his footwork sequences. Good jump technique too. I'm going to enjoy watching him over the next four years, stay healthy Patrick! 160.30 free, 241.42 total.

Michal Brezina - Flying sit with a good air position like Florent's, little wobble on a revolution; sit change sit with a change to an inside edge on the back sit; running out of steam but nice inside edge into back camel for the combo that included more sit spins and camels. He seems to rock to back of his blade in his sit spins and then quickly corrects. I must squeeze in a bit about his jumps. He has a great position in the air, really nice, tight leg position. Good edge riding out of his jumps as well. This is first time I saw him skate on TV instead of a web feed. It was so enjoyable on a bigger screen. 137.93 free, 216.73 total.

Penultimate group done, big guys warming up! Great six minutes of skating - but they decide to go to commercial. Argh.

Realizing as I watch Evan at the boards with Frank Carroll that he is first and Evgeny is last... remembering Michelle and Tara skating order in Nagano. Don't hesitate Evan, go for it!

Evan Lysacek - good position for a tall skater in a sit spin, pulled his leg into a wrap; jump not as high as others in flying sit, but again he's tall it's hard to tuck that daddy-long leg underneath; extended camel could have been held longer, beautiful, fast and centered sit spins that he held for about 10 revolutions each into great extended catch-foot spin to end. I felt I could see him thinking and not performing the first half of the performance. He built energy at the end, good skate. 167.37 free, 257.67 total.

Nobunari Oda - like the lift in the death drop into the sit spin position, good to see a spin earlier in the skate; oh, shades of Tonya Harding with a broken skate lace. Well that's a nice spin after retying his skates, his sit spin position is reminiscent of a curled up cat. Good combo spin with the same curled-cat position as well as nice camel positions. So calm and focused with the skate lace snafu! 153.69 free, 238.54 total.

Stephane Lambiel - La Traviata music; flying camel with excellent arm position along with leg extension; oh this ending combo spin is bringing a big and well deserved cheer from the crowd, camel with hands clasped behind the back, sit spins with about 12 revolutions each and changing arm positions throughout. Love how he streches an arm in the air during his sit and it looks like he could balance a plate better than a restaurant waiter on that hand as the spin is so centered. Then the combo ends with a "headless" back scratch where he's tipped his head back and he's just a blur. Looked a bit tight throughout, but I'm glad he made his comeback. I've missed him! 162.09 free, 246.72 total.

Daisuke Takahashi - nice variety of positions in his sit spins, he works the changes in foot and edge by extending and pulling in while adding features to the spin; cute flying sit, but not the same height and tuck as others, good move to go from a low sit into an extended camel, that's difficult; back camel, back scratch with leg crossed behind into scratch. I enjoy his spins as he puts effort into unique positions instead of the same old same old. Similar to Lambiel but missing the speed. 156.98 free, 247.43 total

Johnny Weir - Spin stumble! He seemed to catch his toepick while on the inside edge in the sit, will be reflected in the GOE. Nice death drop into sit, love how he drapes his upper body with a beautivully arched back over his extended free leg in his sit spins. Running threes into a camel, the gorgeous sit position again, extended catch-foot spin. The audience roars! I've got tears in my eyes, thank you for that skate Johnny, that was wonderful. 156.77 free, 238.87 total.

Evgeny Plushenko - Death drop into sit, not as low as Johnny or Evan, back slouched over; fast sit spin combo, impressed; choreography looks so silly after the last few skaters; back camel, sit, funky upright spin, slooow camel, funky upright with contorted arms, scratch and it's done. 165.51 free, Lysacek wins! Frank Carroll coached a gold medalist! 256.36 total.

Oh Plushenko, so close! Only quad combo of the evening and an amazing comeback. I'm sure he's disappointed, but he should be proud of the comeback effort and still being able to land a quad combo under pressure.

Proud of you Evan!

Vancouver Men's Short

I'm so not going to be able to sleep tonight and tomorrow's my day to get up early and skate. What a night of skating. The hype for the men's event was worth it.

The broadcast started with fluff on Evgeny Plushenko interviewing him while driving through St. Petersburg with shots of old Lenin statues throughout. He said he bought a fast car just to have some risk in his life and now he wants to be like Dick Button y winning back to back gold. I would love to see Evgeny Plushenko live into his 80s as a commentator as well. Plushenko is a bit of a modern day Muhammad Ali with his smack-talk.

Plushenko looked a bit nervous and stiff tonight. He hit the quad-combo, triple Axel and triple Lutz. I've seen stronger landings from him before, but what cajones land those three jumps at the Olympics after being retired for 3 years! 90.85 points put him into the lead and he held on the rest of the night.

Daisuke Takahashi WOW! Triple flip + Triple toe, triple Axel, triple Lutz. Fantastic footwork to tango rhythms. 90.25

Stephane Lambiel has always had difficulty with triple Axels, so he only planned a double. He's generally solid with his quad, but he stepped out in the combination. The footwork and spins were classic Lambiel. Always impressed with how centered his spins are. 84.63

Nobunari Oda skated and I didn't find anything really memorable about it. I like his long better, this was very business-like and earned a solid 84.85. I did get a slight sense he was imitating Lysacek with big arm movements and leg extensions. Lysacek does those moves because he's tall and they didn't fit the compact Oda.

Brian Joubert came out with an opportunity as Lambiel missed the quad and Takahashi didn't do one. Oooh, he steps out! Swivels hips. Triple Axel easy! Triple Lutz... he's down. He went through the motions the rest of the skate. He picked up the energy a bit in the straight line sequence realizing he would need to earn some points... he earning all of 68 points. He put so much pressure on himself to do well at the Olympics, awful to watch his dream fade away.

Takahiko Kozuka makes it 3 for 3 for Japan. They make skating at the Olympics look easy. 79.59

Patrick Chan stepped to plate next to the roar of the Canadian crowd. He stepped out of his triple Axel but then executed a triple combo and triple Lutz. Sweet to see a circular footwork sequence go in the opposite (clockwise) direction, then a weird step on the straight line sequence where he nearly tripped. Finally, he ended the program after the music so it ran 2:51. One point time deduction and earns 81.12.

Johnny Weir skated to I Love You, I Hate You but the audience was all about the love. He earned much love from the crowd with triple Lutz + triple toe, triple Axel, triple flip. Playful program after the jumps were through. They played Lady Gaga's Poker Face while he sat in the Kiss'n'Cry, but then seemingly low scores popped up prompting boos from the crowd. He received a negative grade of execution on the flip so I'm guessing a wrong-edge takeoff was called there. 82.10

Watched the OT of the UK-Mississippi State game and missed Kevin van der Perren. I don't think I missed much other than his costume. Several tweets it would glow in the dark. 72.90

UK also took precedence over Tomas Verner. He doubled his planned quad and finished behind Joubert. 65.32

Evan Lysacek is back to the Edward Featherhands look and his program took off! Bad writing, I know, sorry. Textbook landings on his triple flip, triple Lutz + triple toe, triple Axel. Besides the jumps he commanded the ice with his deep edges and speed. Spins second best to Lambiel with speed and centering. So proud of him to be able to focus and perform while making it look natural. I thought it would be close between him and Plushenko and Lysacek might pull ahead. My mind tried to remember how many times Evan has been in the lead after the short in a major international competition, I think he does better as an underdog in the free. He'll be the best an underdog can be with 90.30 points right behind Plushenko's 90.85.

Jeremy Abbott skated next and I don't want to type about it. Crushing. Jeremy you're free sings and pigs can fly, Thursday's free skate is another day. 69.40

Good Night, try to go to bed!

To Quad Or Not To Quad

If Shakespeare was sweating under Broadway's lights or sipping coffee before a slam poetry reading today, I think he could find some inspiration in the stories of the men taking to ice tonight. Particularly as the ponder the worth of completing a quadruple jump as they take the Olympic ice.

The Quad
Baseball has the homerun. That amazing athletic feat of hitting a ball that took barely a second to travel from the pitcher's mound to the plate and to hit hit over 400 feet is hallowed by baseball fans. The difference between a hit and homerun a combination of the pitch, and the speed and strength of the batter in his swing.

Figure skating has the quad, any jump done completed with 4 revolutions in the air before landing on one foot. It takes speed and strength and the precision of setting up the jump and landing on a narrow steel blade.

A decade ago the quad was the future of the sport with top skaters conducting jump seminars in their skating programs. Elvis Stojko, Ilia Kulik, Alexei Urmanov, Michael Weiss, Timothy Goebel & Alexei Yagudin pushed the sport from quad toes to quad combinations, multiple quads in a freeskate, and a quad for the short just to be in contention. These skaters represented the best of North America and Europe. Everyone was training a quad.

As the quads increased, the age old skating debate of artistry vs athleticism heated up. Then came the IJS awarding points for completing a quad successfully, and the deductions for underrotating or falling on a quad. The base value of a quad toe is 9.8 points, but a fall counts as zero plus one point deduction. That debate of whether the quad is worth it is reaching a boiling point on the eve of the men's short.

Brian Joubert and Evgeny Plushenko have made statements of the quad being everything in men's skating. Brian Joubert maintains a quad should be worth more and worth the risk of performing one in competition. He says,

There is pressure when you try a quad and there is pressure after it, because it is more difficult to do the next jump.

He has also lamented the lack of quads in skating these days and insists it is the future of the sport.

For all of his talk of quads as king, it would seem that his skating has suffered. After the Torino Games, he was on top the world the following season. He was the first skater to land three quads in a free skate that 2006-2007 and he capped it off with win at the world championships. Since then, he's experienced some illness and injuries. He seems to be able to easily overcome those, but not overcome the weight of the expectations he's put on himself to complete all of his jumps.

His North American competitors have seemed to play some head games with him on the quad topic. Patrick Chan of Canada in particular has reminded reporters while mentioning Joubert that his countyman Jeff Buttle won a world title without a quad. In fact, no one since Joubert has won worlds with a quad. While Joubert lands one, he falls on a triple making the pursuit of quad perfection questionable.

Most of the North American men will not attempt a quad this week in competition. Nancy Amour tweeted that Johnny Weir busted out the quad in practice (nice head games Johnny!) and Jeremy Abbott completed one in his win at US Nats but is more focused on adding a second triple Axel in the free. Evan Lysacek won his world title last year without one and thinks the rest of his skating is strong enough that he doesn't need it.

The North American skaters have used transitions, solid triples, spins and footwork to their advantage under IJS. They read the rules and the great points from the quad, but did the math and saw more points are to be had with other elements. While the Europeans have focused on quads, the transitions between jumps have suffered.

Still, Evan was planning on adding the jump to his free skate until last week. He has chimed in with Joubert on occasion that a quad keeps up the challenge and pushes boundaries in men's skating. Recently, he said he feared he had reinjured his foot. X-rays proved he does not have the stress fracture that bothered him last spring, but he doesn't want to risk it with a quad in his free skate.

With so many top competitors not planning to do quads or willing to take their quad out, why all the fuss?

The Quad 2010

Brian Joubert's pining for the old days of 15 top skaters doing quads is coming back to haunt him. Evgeny Plushenko and Stephane Lambiel have come out of retirement and beat him at Europeans. Both have solid quads, and Plushenko will probably do a  quad-combo in the short and multiple quads in the long. Stephane Lambiel does more quads than triple Axels in his free skate.

Patrick Chan isn't scared, he said this week of Plushenko's skating,

He has the confidence that he doesn't need to do the transitions because he can do what I think is a magnificent quad. But he's old!

The pendulum still swings in the debate of artistry vs. athleticism.  Perhaps a better question is what is more athletic? Skating with complex and fast transitions that take deep knee bends to maintain the speed for four minutes or accelerating down the ice into a quad Salchow-triple toe-double loop combo during a four minute program?

Of course Daisuke Takahashi and Jeremy Abbott can do transitions and quads, proving you can have both and there's no need for debate!

What do you think, to quad or not to quad?

Opening Ceremonies and A New Skating Goal

The Vancouver Opening Ceremonies confirmed why I like the Winter Games more than the summer. The ceremony is shorter and they allow the athletes to parade through earlier. I spotted a few skaters marching through BC Place and several were flag bearers: Stephane Lambiel for Switzerland, Alexandra Zaretsky for Israel, Kevin Van Der Perren for Belgium, and Song Choi Ri for North Korea. Also noticed Cheltzie Lee in the Australian delegation and Tugba Karademir in the Turkish delegation.

Didn't spot Elene Gedevanishvilli with the Georgian delegation. Since her event is last, she may not have made it to Vancouver yet. I'm so glad they walked despite the tragic turn on the luge track Friday and I hope they come together to find some meaning in these Games.

While the Dutch walked through, the commentators tauted the Dutch love of speedskating. Either Matt or Bob mentioned the Dutch have a winter race on the canals between a few cities. The Dutch essentially have an ice marathon. I would love to do an ice marathon!

I hate running with a passion, it's not so good on my knees and I find it boring. I'll jog or run on a treadmill for 10 minutes max as a warm-up, but I've just never been able to really go for a run as part of a healthy routine. I've also never understood marathon runners. All that training just to run for miles. I do admire the part about runners training for a marathon in Hawaii. Setting a healthy goal and getting rewarded with a vacation trip has always sounded fun, it just involves running great distances.

However, with the knowledge that there are ice marathons in this world, I'm all about training for a marathon and going to a distant although cold land. I could set a little training plan similar to those runners and do endless laps around the rink and build up my stamina. I would expand my knowledge of skating sports and equipment into speedskating. I'll learn some Dutch and pick up some tulip bulbs coming home from the race.

I googled ice skating marathon and marathons on ice. Unfortunately, several doomsday global-warming sites pop up. The big race through 11 Dutch towns hasn't been held since 1997. Darn! However, there are some in Finland and Canada now. They are also not annually scheduled, they need to make sure the ice is thick enough before those events are scheduled. This really throws a wrench in the training plan I was developing in my head. Now I may need to know Finnish and ending sentences with, "eh?"

Someday....

Around the World of Figure Skating - European Championships

The Canadian Championship has wrapped up and the US Nationals are at the half way point. Over in Tallinn, Estonia the European Championships are beginning.

The compulsory dance took place today with Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin winning that portion of the event. I'll be watching if they keep the lead and checking in our their scores. This is the first international competition for the reigning world champs due to Maxim's knee troubles. North American teams have dominated this season, but I keep hearing skating fans chatter that podium predictions for ice dance can not be made until the Russians have skated. Russians skating are the equivalent to a fat lady singing in the world of figure skating.

Articles and Blogs on European Ice Dancing Championship:
Domnina-Shabalin Open Strong in Dance


Required Elements by Laura

Beyond ice dancing, the most anticipated event gets under way tomorrow with the men's short program. It's billed as a match up between several past European winners who are either coming back from retirement or from an injury. Tomorrow we'll see if the hype is justified as Evgeny Plushenko, Stephane Lambiel, and Brian Joubert take the ice.

The much hyped trio of former champs have had various injuries whether retired or not. Plushenko has been working on a quad-triple combo, seven revolutions in a second, wow! However, I heard some rumors the training has been rough on his knees and his Lutz was doubled at both Rostelecom Cup and the Russian Champs. Lambiel only competed at Nebelhorn in early fall and Joubert is coming off a foot injury that kept him out of the Grand Prix Final and the French Nationals. He was said today that his foot feels better skating than walking because it's locked in his skating boot.

I suspect there will be some surprises from Samuel Contesti, Tomas Verner and Michael Brezina if any of the hyped trio falters.

Articles on European Men's Championship:
Plushenko, Lambiel, both on comeback trail, feature at European Championships

Plushenko, Lambiel in focus at European Championships

Anticipation for the 2009-2010 season

With the Nebelhorn Trophy under way, here are the people and events I'm most looking forward too this season:

Who will have the most Micheal Jordan-like comeback ala coming back to play basketball for Bulls comeback after playing baseball versus coming back to play for the Wizards after a first retirement.

The 2006 Olympic men's champ, Evengy Plushenko, will be competing again after four years of touring in Russia, dabbling in Russian politics, getting divorced and married again. Will he still have the jumps, especially the quad? Melissa Gregory & Denis Petukhov worked with him on his programs.

Stephane Lambiel, the silver medalist in 2006, is also coming back. He is coming out of his 2nd retirement since the last Olympics. Plushy's last competition was the Olympics. Lambiel followed his silver by winning the world title after the games. He was entered in a few Grand Prix events the following season. Mid-season he said his heart wasn't in it anymore and retired. He found some passion later and ended up with a couple more medals at worlds, but no titles. Last year, he retired after some injuries were not healing as quickly as he would of liked. His biggest obstacle comes this week in working to gain Switzerland a spot for a man in the Olympic competition at the Nebelhorn. If he assists in earning that spot, I'll be interested to see if he keeps his interest in competing.

Sasha Cohen, the ladies silver medalist in 2006, has decided to return to competition as well after attempting an acting career in between touring with Stars on Ice. Looking forward to seeing the spins and spirals she's known for in competitive programs. I hope see found some consistency and focus through having to perform almost nightly on tour for stretches at a time.

Isabel Delobel and her partner Olivier Schoenfelder will have a comeback of sorts. Isabel is due to deliver her first child soon. This working mom will be a skater, I love it!

Beyond comebacks I'm looking forward too:

Watching and comparing the seasons of Belbin & Agosto and Davis & White before the US Nationals. Then seeing the battle for first at Nationals. I have a feeling Davis & White could overtake Belbin & Agosto this year in a head to head match up.

Johnny Weir's programs choreographed by David Wilson.

The ladies competition at Nationals with two spots to the O's and worlds.

Seeing how skaters who changed coaches in the off season fare:

Mirai Nagasu and Carolina Kostner to Frank Carroll, should give them some confidence and better preparation.

Jeremy Abbott with Yuka Sato after parting with his coach of many years, Tom Zakarasjc.

Caroline Zhang after swtiching coaches and then going back.

Brian Joubert made a change over the summer in his quest for Olympic gold and gaining 2nd last year at worlds.

Finally, I'll be interested to see the continuing saga/answer of that burning question, "to quad or not to quad?" Particulary in the case of Brian Joubert.

The season begins: Nebelhorn Trophy this week!

The first major senior event of the season gets underway this week in Oberstdorf, Germany at the Nebelhorn Trophy. The Nebelhorn serves as an official Olympic qualifier for countries to fill the remaining slots available for the Olympics. There are a few countries who were unable to qualify skaters in certain disciplines due to their skaters' low placements at the 2009 World Championships.

The remaining slots are generally filled by some of the smaller countries such as Azerbijan, Luxembourg, or New Zealand. Generally there are bigger countries that traditionally supports skaters that just missed qualifying in a discipline. Switzerland falls into this category. Their current champion, Jamal Othman, finished 26th at Worlds. I don't believe he even qualified to continue the freeskate after his short. Switzerland is without a spot for the Olympics in the men's competition from his 26th place finish. What makes this pursuit interesting this year is the return of a two-time World champion and Olympic silver medalist: Stephane Lambiel.

Lambiel is the Swiss Brett Favre, perpetually going in and out of retirement. I'm anxious to see if this Favre can still prove himself. (He would instantly lose the Favre-title if he doesn't succeed, right?) I'm looking forward to catching his skate on YouTube... come on European fans, get your camera phones ready, it's Stephane Lambiel making a comeback (for the 2nd time!)

Ah, catching skating on YouTube. There was a stir on a message board that NBC's Universal Sports would be televising Nebelhorn. Alas, they just posted upcoming skating competitions on the calendar on their figure skating site. Hopefully, some info on the event will show up there. I've heard the US Olympic Committee has something in their bylaws that anything deemed an "Olympic Trials" comes under their jurisdiction which I think usually extends to broadcasting rights. NBC is so big into promoting Olympic Trials they usually will cover and promote those events. It would make sense to have some coverage of an international Olympic Trial, even if it's just a webcast or posting updates. Online coverage counts these days.

Beyond searching for Stephane Lambiel's skates, I'll also be searching for the six American skaters competing. The US can't qualify anymore slots for the games, they were set at Worlds (3 men, 3 dance teams, 2 pair teams, and 2 ladies). This is an international competition debut to test drive programs before the Grand Prix season. Alissa Czisny, Ryan Bradley, Brooke Casitle & Ben Okolski and Meryl Davis & Charlie White will be there. I'll be searching for Davis & White's new programs for sure. I've heard the original dance is a mix of Bollywood music. Ryan Bradley and Alissa Czisny always do well early in the season and I hope that trend continues and gives them confidence for the rest of the season. I've not seen Castile & Okolski too much, but I think the last time they competed here, they did well and ended up winning the US Champs later that year. Here's hoping to a great competition for all!