FS Worlds Day2...Spectacular highlights and crushing disappointment
The men's short program went yesterday, and there were some surprises for sure. Let's start with the bad stuff...Emanuel Sandhu bombed out yet again. Popped his quad and fell on his triple axel. Complete disaster. I've come to the conclusion that he is not a competitor, he is an artist. Just listening to the way he speaks about his skating, (Lethargic because he slept in??? This is the Worlds!!!) and the way he can't seem to perform when the pressure's on seems to prove this point. He will make an exquisite professional skater, but I don't think amateur comptetion is in his nature. What I am most worried about is, could this prevent Canada from sending two men next year? I think Sandhu will have to improve tenfold in the free skate to move up...By the way, he is currently in 11th.

Another disappointment for me was Ilia Klimkin. He just didn't have it today; he fell on his quad and over-rotated his triple. His presentation was pretty good though, which sort of saved him. But I don't think this program did justice to his eccentric skating style. His long program, to the crazy Dr. Diesel music is far better suited to quirkiness. Alas, he's in 8th, but I'm looking forward to his free skate.

On to the better stuff. I have to say I was mighty impressed by some of the young guys. Johnny Weir of the US surprised me, he's quite a nice elegant skater (he's currently 6th). And I was even more impressed by Russia's 18-year-old Andrei Griazev. Although his technical work isn't very high right now, I loved his presentation. I love it when skaters "sell" their programs and he sure did. The commentators were bang on when they likened his footwork to Yagudin. I think this guy's a rising star. He's in 9th. Another delight was Germany's hometown hero, Stefan Lindemann. He nailed everything, and had great energy, it was awesome to see. He's in 3rd! Stephane Lambiel of Swizterland is in 4th, he didn't impress me very much till the very end of his program when suddenly he pulled out these amazing spin combinations! That was pretty cool.

As for the top two...Well, of course Plushenko is brilliant, but I am just not a fan. I'm a Yagudin gal after all. He is breathtaking to watch at times but I can't say I am excited when he wins. He is currently first though. He's head and shoulders above everyone in the field, no one will touch him (only Sandhu has the artistic sophitication to match Plushenko, too bad his head's not in it!). Oh, why did you have to retire Alexei? Speaking of Yagudin...19-year-old Brian Joubert of France put in a solid, clean skate and is currently 2nd. Brian works with Yagudin and you can totally tell that from his super-cool footwork sequences. I love a good footwork sequence. I think great footwork makes a program come alive and sparkle. Brian channels Yagudin pretty well, but he doesn't skate with enough emotion. He's a tad on the robotic side. I thought Griazev did a better job of selling his footwork, despite not being as technically proficient. But Brian's still young, I think he's still maturing as a skater, and he has the potential to be great. Oh, and by the way, Canada's Ben Ferreira put in a pretty solid effort, couldn't quite get that quad to work, but he did his best and is currently 15th. Good on ya, Ben! Should be an interesting men's free!

Today is the pairs' free, that's gonna be a crazy show. It's wide open for sure. And it's the ladies qualifying, I'm super pumped for that, I hope they show some highlights, of Sasha at least...

In other news, Colorado tied Chicago, hahaha! (And Pittsburgh beat the rangers (haha!), that's 8 wins in 10, hilarious!) Colorado's still only 5 points up on us. There' still time...The Nucks play LA tomorrow, gonna have to tape the figure skating...Go Canucks Go!