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Men's Long Programs |
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Laurie's Practice Photos of Alexei Laurie's Impressions of Skate Canada
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Okay, here's my review of the men's long programs at Skate Canada. I'll get to the ladies, pairs, dance, and exhibitions, but I was pretty sure you wanted the men first.... Fedor Andreev - Wow! Nice performance from him - Seven triples, including a very nice triple axel! He didn't have the triple/triple combinations, but considering the problems he had had with his jumps in practice that morning, I was impressed. I like his unusual spins. He wore an electric blue/green bodysuit with clear "wings" under the arms, LOL, and skated to techno music. Marks ranged from 5.1 to 5.2 for tech and 5.2 to 5.6 for presentation. Gabriel Monnier - I really like his interesting choreography - must be because he's French... He also has some very unusual spins. Gabriel skated to "Dracula" and wore a black bodysuit with a red tie on it. He fell on his quad toe attempt and also popped his lutz. He managed only two triples, but at least it was in combination. Had real problems with his axel and kept trying it over, doubling it each time. Marks ranged from 4.1 to 5.7 for tech, 4.6 to 5.5 for presentation. Jeff Langdon - Music sounded like classical or classical/soundtrack, LOL...he wore black, sparkly on the top. Jeff fell on triple axel, fell on triple sal, fell on what I think was a triple flip, and fell out of his triple lutz, along with popping a lutz. He did manage a triple axel/double toe. Marks ranged from 4.2 to 4.9 for tech and 4.5 to 5.3 for presentation. Szabolcs Vidrai - Skated to techno music and wore black with a white diamond pattern on half of his shirt. Managed six triples although the triple loop was shaky and the triple axel was too close to the boards to tack on another jump, but it was good. Doubled a sal and lutz, too. Marks ranged from 4.7 to 5.3 for tech and 4.4 to 5.4 for presentation. Chengjiang Li - I think Li must be injured or something, because his normally very reliable jumps were simply not there. After his disastrous short program, he didn't do too much better in the long. He fell on his quad toe attempt, popped his axel, almost lost it on his deathdrop, and had a wild landing on his triple lutz. Tech marks were 4.3 to 5.0, presentation marks were 4.8 to 5.2. Matthew Davies - Wore a plum silky shirt with black pants and skated to what I would call new age music. Managed two triple/triple combinations along with along with three other triples. Popped a couple jumps, including an axel. I liked his fast combo spin and his nice low sit spin. He also fell on a triple axel, as I recall. Tech marks were 4.8 to 5.1, presentation marks were 4.8 to 5.2. Todd Eldredge - Skated to "The 13th Warrior" in his regular costume. He put his hand down on his quad, but otherwise had no other big problems. Ripped off a nice triple axel/double toe and a triple flip/double toe, triple lutz, triple axel, triple loop, and I think a triple sal. As usual, his spins were great. Tech marks ranged from 5.6 to 5.7, presentation marks were 5.6 to 5.8. Takeshi Honda - Was wearing what looked like a track suit with a yellow stripe down the side and a tan peasant blouse and skated to Roderigo. He stepped out of one triple axel, fell on another triple axel, and had two other wonky triples. I don't think he had any problems with the triple sal or triple loop. Tech marks ranged from 5.2 to 5.5 and presentation marks were 5.4 to 5.8. Andrejs Vlascenko - Skated to classical music and wore navy velvet with silver trim. Triple axel, step out, double toe combo. Hand down on triple sal. Triple lutz, triple loop, triple toe were okay. Doubled some jumps he didn't mean to, I'm sure. Tech marks from 47 to 5.3, presentation marks from 5.1 to 5.5. Matt Savoie - Wore a cream or gray vest with a white shirt and skated to something which sounded like Gershwin. Managed a nice triple axel/double toe. He fell on a triple axel from a spread eagle, but otherwise had few problems, except for a step out on a triple flip or toe. Good program for Matt and one of his better performances, with his usually interesting choreography. Tech marks ranged from 5.2 to 5.5, presentation marks from 5.3 to 5.6. Ben Ferreira - Wore a pin-striped black suit with a cream tie and a red flower. He skated to jazzy music. Doubled his quad attempt, stepped out between his triple axel/triple toe combo. Managed a triple flip/triple toe and four other triples. Not too bad considering the splatfest before him. Tech marks ranged from 52 to 56, presentation marks from 5.3 to 5.7. Alexei Yagudin - Wore his newest "Gladiator" costume and skated to his eligible version of "Gladiator," of course. Once he landed his opening quad toe/triple toe combo (very close to the boards, but he did it) and his triple axel/triple toe combo, I knew he had it and so did he, LOL....Even though he could have made several mistakes and still won easily due to the poor skating ahead of him, Alexei also managed a triple lutz, triple flip, triple axel, triple loop, and triple sal. Footwork was leaping and plunging and fantastic, with Tatiana roaring at him as he came down the rink on his last footwork sequence. The landing on the solo triple axel was a tad off, but I don't remember any other bobbles. One of Alexei's most inspired performances. Tech marks were all 5.9s, presentation marks were all 5.9s plus two 6.0s. Almost scary to be so good so early. I would say the judges don't have any problems understanding this program, LOL....
Laurie |
