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Grand Prix Figure Skating Finals 2007
Dec. 25th, 2007 06:04 pmI didn't work today and spent the day in traditional Jewish fashion by watching videos and eating Chinese food. One of the things I watched was the Grand Prix Figure Skating Finals. It was an exciting competition, held in Torino, Italy where the 2006 Olympics had just been. Overall, the technical skating was much improved, with a number of contestants earning their personal bests. Everyone had clearly worked on their sit spins (which had been being cheated in recent years) and a number of skaters were appropriately called on poor edge entries to their flips and lutzes. Also, the costumes were mostly good to great (as opposed to some of the fashion atrocities in past years - Stephane Lambiel's zebra stripe print shirt comes to mind).
In the Men's event, Swiss cutie Stephane Lambiel pulled out a victory over Daisuke Takahashi. He earned it, with slightly better jumps and amazingly better spins. Evan Lysacek came in third over Johnny Weir, who had several mistakes. I think that Johnny is a far better skater than Lysacek, but he's more of an artist, while Lysacek is more of an athlete. Lysacek increased his energy and musicality, but still suffers from lack of flow.
In Ice Dancing, Russian team Domnina and Shambalin edged out Belbin and Agosto in what I think came down to a matter of taste. Both were excellent. French team Delobel and Schoenfelder finally won a medal and have definitely upped their game.
ESPN barely showed the Pairs competition since the American team withdrew due to injury. The excellent German team won followed by the equally exciting two Chinese teams that are looking to replace the amazing Chinese team that retired last year.
Finally in the Ladies' event, Yu-na Kim of South Korea blew everyone away again, although Japan's Mao Osada gave her a run for her money. Italian favortie Carolina Kostner came in third and finally delivered a consistent short and long program. American Junior World Champion Caroline Zhang made a huge entry onto the senior cicuit by coming in fourth at age 14. Kimme Meissner had three falls and a disappointing finish in fifth place.
Some other tidbits - It was annoucned that American teens swept the Junior Worlds events so there should be a number of exciting new skaters rising through the ranks. Brian Joubert was injured and did not compete, but he could be a major force in the upcoming events of the season. Americans still don't have a Pairs team that can compete with the top teams. I'm looking forward to Nationals and Worlds coming up soon.
Tomorrow I'm going to my brother's for a nice family day with the nephews and niece.
In the Men's event, Swiss cutie Stephane Lambiel pulled out a victory over Daisuke Takahashi. He earned it, with slightly better jumps and amazingly better spins. Evan Lysacek came in third over Johnny Weir, who had several mistakes. I think that Johnny is a far better skater than Lysacek, but he's more of an artist, while Lysacek is more of an athlete. Lysacek increased his energy and musicality, but still suffers from lack of flow.
In Ice Dancing, Russian team Domnina and Shambalin edged out Belbin and Agosto in what I think came down to a matter of taste. Both were excellent. French team Delobel and Schoenfelder finally won a medal and have definitely upped their game.
ESPN barely showed the Pairs competition since the American team withdrew due to injury. The excellent German team won followed by the equally exciting two Chinese teams that are looking to replace the amazing Chinese team that retired last year.
Finally in the Ladies' event, Yu-na Kim of South Korea blew everyone away again, although Japan's Mao Osada gave her a run for her money. Italian favortie Carolina Kostner came in third and finally delivered a consistent short and long program. American Junior World Champion Caroline Zhang made a huge entry onto the senior cicuit by coming in fourth at age 14. Kimme Meissner had three falls and a disappointing finish in fifth place.
Some other tidbits - It was annoucned that American teens swept the Junior Worlds events so there should be a number of exciting new skaters rising through the ranks. Brian Joubert was injured and did not compete, but he could be a major force in the upcoming events of the season. Americans still don't have a Pairs team that can compete with the top teams. I'm looking forward to Nationals and Worlds coming up soon.
Tomorrow I'm going to my brother's for a nice family day with the nephews and niece.
