Well, that was fairly underwhelming for the most part. There were a few bright spots though, so let's get started!
Ivan Tretiakov (Russia): Slightly odd entry into his triple axel, but it ended up okay. Triple flip-triple toe ; flip was a bit rough, but not bad overall. Triple lutz was on the good side. Slow spins overall, though the positions were okay. Footwork was fine too, looked like a decent level. Overall, just a rather boring skate, no personality and little speed. 36.43 TE 29.18 PCS = 65.61 Total
Konstantin Menshov (Russia): So much more speed than Ivan, even in the first few seconds of the program. Triple axel looked crooked in the air, but it was landed really well. Triple lutz/flip (I missed which... I don't do mornings!)-double toe, good. Doubled the loop. Slow flying camel with a poor variation. Footwork was alright, but had these weird noises in it, like sirens. Combo spin was on the slow side, but the sit change sit was better, at least until the final variation. Some attempt at entertainment in this program, but I didn't really dig it. I felt like it mostly fell flat. 36.27 TE 31.07 PCS = 67.34 Total
Anton Kovalevski (Ukraine): Awkward costume... it looks really, really, really junior. Fall on the triple axel, then a triple lutz-triple toe with the second foot down on the toe. Maybe underrotated? Triple loop wasn't bad , though his flying camel was slow and that knee catch variation looked terrible. So much arm waving in the footwork... blah. Sloppy change foot spin and the spins in generally weren't very good. 31.01 TE 30.04 PCS -1.00 Deduction = 60.05
Tatsuki Machida (Japan): Fall on the opening triple axel. Huge triple flip- 2 and 1/2 toe... maybe that flip was too huge. Dang it. Slow combo spin and the second spin was sloppy too. Hand down on the triple lutz. Okay footwork, but this whole program felt really rushed. Tatsuki had a lot of speed going into the jumps, but maybe it was too much, or just didn't have enough control. What a shame. I rather liked his freeskate at Cup of China. 26.76 TE 30.61 PCS -1.00 Deduction = 56.37 Total
Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan): Pretty good triple axel, maybe a little bit underrotated? Lovely triple lutz-triple toe. Rather good combination spin with mostly nice positions, except that A-Frame (one of these days I may write a post on that stupid thing!). Good triple flip, though may have been edge called. Alright footwork, and a camel with a donut variation, which was nice enough until it lost some speed. Really nice speed and good positioning on the sit change sit. His basic skating is so pretty too... very smooth. I don't believe I would mind just watching him skate around the rink. 37.86 TE 32.38 PCS = 70.24 Total I definitely would have had him a bit higher on components. If nothing else, the Skating Skills should be in the 7's. Good enough for first at this point.
Javier Fernandez (Spain): His skating seems so slow compared to Yuzuru that I actually wondered if my feed was lagging :-/. Sorry, Javier. Alright triple axel, looked a little far back on the takeoff. Triple lutz-triple toe, rough on the tail end and looked underrotated. Eeked out the triple flip. Flying sit with variations, eh. Sit change sit was a little better. Footwork stopped a good bit and wasn't particularly good, although Javier tried to interact with the crowd in it. BAD camel positions in the last spin. All in all, a rather messy performance. 34.07 TE 32.39 PCS = 66.46 Total
Artur Gachinski (Russia): Quad toe-double toe was gorgeous! A little forward on the landing of the triple axel, but it was great in the air. Okay triple loop. Sit change sit with a twist variation was okay, as well as the footwork. Donut position in his camel spin is odd, and he almost lost the combo spin entirely during some of the variations. Absolutely no surprise that Alexei Mishin coaches him. Plushenko was in the stands too, by the way. 39.35 TE 33.46 PCS = 72.81 Total
Alban Preaubert (France): Pretty good triple flip-triple toe to start off. Triple axel looked a little weird in the air, but it ended up being kinda good. Sit change sit was okay, and the triple loop was good. Flying spin was alright and the footwork was kind of fun. Massive traveling on that final upright spin. Pretty good skate for him, and I think this type of music suits him better than the classic he is using for his freeskate this season. 31.21 TE 34.29 PCS = 70.50 Total Slightly ahead of Hanyu... hm.
Samuel Contesti (Italy): Double lutz-triple toe. Oops. Well, aside from the doubling of the lutz, it was pretty nice. Held onto that triple axel, and then I think the triple flip was two footed or something. It was definitely wonky. Flying sit was okay until the end, where it slowed down. Footwork was kind of good I guess, but the spins at the end were mostly slow. Program was sort of fun, but not particularly stand out. Lots of tech problems. 31.12 TE 34.53 PCS = 65.69 Total
Tomas Verner (Czech Republic): The invisible umbrella he skates with on his way to the first jump was really a cute detail. Good triple-triple combo, but I thought the toe might be a little bit underrotated. Triple axel was alright, and his triple lutz was good too. Slow flying camel though, but his footwork was nice. Combo spin was okay but a little on the slow side, and his sit change sit was a lot better. It was a nice performance, but I know Tomas can sell this better. It wasn't quite there yet for me. 36.95 TE 37.15 PCS = 74.10 Total
Jeremy Abbott (United States): Triple lutz-triple toe... good! Followed that up with a gorgeous triple axel - wow! He is really on today. I was afraid that the other Jeremy was going to show up :P. Sit change sit with variation was really fast compared to everyone else's spins. Good triple flip. A little bit of footwork into a flying upright spin, kinda nice, and the footwork sequence was pretty good too. Great combo spin at the end. (I have heard that both he and Chan had spin issues in the short... I'd love to see the protocols now.) Still a lot of arm movement going on throughout the program, but I liked it so much better here than at NHK. It felt more believable. 39.07 TE 38.54 PCS = 77.61 Total
Patrick Chan (Canada): Quad toe-triple toe was fantastic. And then... a fall on a triple axel. Good combo spin, and a very nice triple flip. Thought his flying spin was good too, and the change foot spin was on the good side , but a wee bit slow at the end (but once again, apparently there was a spin issue I didn't catch.). He really did have nice footwork, but I'm really tired of seeing that high kick move in every program that he does. It's a cool move, but it's getting seriously redundant. 42.54 TE 40.42 PCS - 1.00 Deduction = 81.86
Huh? I didn't think Patrick should be above Jeremy, because of that fall, even with the quad-triple being so well done. I also thought that Jeremy's spins were a lot better. I don't really see much artistry in Patrick's skating either, but oh well. Different strokes for different folks. ;)
Overall... that was pretty boring. My highlights were definitely Jeremy,Yuzuru, and the fact that the seats remind me of legos.
Short Program Results
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