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Laurie's Log |
| Reports! |
Either Vancouver, Telus, or my hotel had the worst internet service in the world, but I don't think it was just my hotel, because everyone I talked to also complained. At least I didn't have to pay the $52 Canadian that I was charged for my internet access when I'd get booted seconds after logging on and being charged for it! I guess I'm not the first hotel guest to complain. Anyway, after I whined while I was checking out, they cheerfully took the charges off my bill. But I might as well not have even taken my laptop with me, for all the use I could get out of it. I once *almost* posted my reviews of the ladies and pairs and got booted just as I typed the last line and went to hit "reply."
Grrrrrr...... I have a lot to say about Worlds, but it's been a long traveling day, and I won't get it all done tonight. But tomorrow I should give it a good try. Roller coaster ride of a week, with Alexei's disaster-riddled qualifying round, his incredible and awesome short program, and then the final free skate which left me with mixed feelings. I agreed with Becky that I didn't care for the way Alexei decided to throw in the slide and clap to the audience. No way to know, though, what Alexei was thinking. I do know that backstage before he skated, he was telling the other skaters that it was impossible for him to win (he was right - mathematically, it was impossible unless Plush had a complete and total meltdown, which looked very unlikely at that point). I question whether Alexei can motivate himself to skate his very best when he knows there is no chance to win. I think he always has to have a little hope. Without hope, I don't think anyone can psych themselves into giving the performance of a lifetime. I think he was able to throw his whole heart into his short program because there was hope he could win that, even if Plush skated well, which he did. The day before the exhibitions, the rumor had been going around that Alexei wouldn't be skating in it or doing the Skate the Nation tour, either. And he was the only men's skater not to show up for practice that day. Too bad, because he missed seeing Gwendal reveal his underwear at practice, LOL...(it was in retaliation to Plush's scene stealing during the dance practice, I think). A photographer got a shot of this, but I don't think we'll be seeing it on the web....  It was great to meet new people and see old friends, and leaving them on Sunday night and Monday morning was sad....(sniff) I'm definitely going to Euros next year. I have more photos from Emma and Leigh which you'll want to see - there are some great ones from practice. It was also great to see Alexei with the balloons, because after he started the competition, we hardly ever saw him. Alexei normally watches most of the competition sitting in the stands, but this time he was very reclusive. We rarely saw him at the hotel, too, except going to and from the elevator. Normally, you can find him in the restaurants and lounges, hanging out with the other skaters. I imagine it isn't easy to lose the title you have held for so long, and to be in pain besides. He must have been extremely frustrated at life that week. Hope he feels better about things soon. I would say that most of this audience was very skating sophisticated and was very familiar with Alexei's "Gladiator" - if I didn't know better, LOL, I would have said that Alexei was more popular with this Worlds audience than Elvis. Alexei was very, very popular at the practices, with girls calling out to him all the time, and many in the audience singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He was easily the star of the men's practice group he was in. And the applause that he was greeted with every time he showed up at the rink was tremendous. I'm still thinking about when Plush and Sasha came out to the gate at one of the practices and were almost ignored by the audience, but when Alexei walked out to join them, many in the audience started clapping. And he hadn't even stepped out on the ice yet. The practices were extremely well attended, even the ones at PNE, which was some distance from General Motors Place and the hotels. Our good buddy Igor (the Russian "sun and fog" reporter  ) also seemed impressed with the reception the Russian skaters got - I noticed he forgot to point out that Alexei was the most popular, though,
LOL... I think Julie has most of the Canadian papers with her, so we can post some good quotes from the extensive coverage. Anna and I wondered if this certain Russian guy we saw all over the place was Igor, but it turned out not to be,
LOL....boy, does he not know what horrible fate he escaped...
Nothing like having to get up at 3:15 a.m. when you didn't get
to bed until 2:00 a.m., LOL...(sigh) Anyway, I got a little sleep on the
plane for an hour or so. And remind me not to fly Air Canada again - nothing
wrong with the airline but it has to be the absolute farthest airline from
United in the San Francisco terminal - and there I am, carrying two carry-ons
and a laptop all over the airport. No wheels on these puppies, LOL...
Alexei was wearing a red sweater, with, I believe, light blue pants. He later took off the sweater and was wearing his black T-shirt with the white Chinese design. He was very friendly and smiled and waved to lots of fans, and he was greeted extremely warmly. Plush walked through his "Bolero" program and looked pretty impressive when he was working on his jumps - the ones I saw, anyway. I did see him fall once, but I didn't see what jump he was working on when he fell. I confess most of my attention was on Alexei during his group's practice, LOL...
Alexei did a walk through of his Chopin program, doing mostly just his connecting moves. He also worked on his jumps when they weren't playing his music. He started with a couple triple toes, and I think completed a double
lutz, a triple lutz, and a triple axel. He also worked on his triple/triple combinations, did a 4/3 in the corner like he likes to do, following that with two solo quad toes and a 4/3/2 like Plush likes to do. He also stepped out of a few jumps. I thought it was interesting that Elvis, Tim, and Alexei were doing that 4/3/2 combination in practice, almost as if to show the judges that Plush isn't the only guy who can do one,
LOL... Plush also stayed behind to sign autographs, as did most of the popular skaters. Sasha Abt mostly worked on his wonderful footwork sequences with those cool leaps. Todd was very good in practice, landing some beautiful triple jumps. Men's practice, Sunday at PNE: No skater in Group 6 (Alexei's group) shows up for this practice. I saw some nice quads and triple combinations from Tim, who also looked impressive, although he fell a few times on a triple axel and something else. He mostly walked through his short program. Neil Wilson - his program was sort of new age/world music, like something from Zanfir. He has a very nice sit spin and Mazurka spin, but with a little bit of traveling at the end. But he is an artistic-type skater, and I really liked him. Angelo Dolfini - I like this guy! I had never seen him before, but he was adorable. He skated to perky music, sort of Mancini-type. He has very unusual spins. Emma called one of them a broken leg sit spin, so I guess I will call it that, too. Laura also loved this guy, LOL... Robert Kazimir - He skated to bluesy guitar music and had some interesting footwork. Anthony Liu - Skated to symphonic classical music. I saw a nice triple lutz and triple axel/double toe. While I was watching Anthony, Vakhtang Murvanidze did a very cool cantilever. I had never seen Vakhtang before, and he was very impressive. I can see why so many like him. He left before his music was played, though, and I was planning to make my notes on him while he skated to his music.
The gorgeous skater from Spain (I don't seem to have his name written down in my notes - guess I was too distracted... Patrick Meier, Michael Shmerkin, and Ivan Dinev didn't show for this practice. Laurie I have horrible internet connections,
if you can call it that
Alexei made it to one of the men's practices yesterday - I'm sure a lot has been posted already by others with hopefully better internet connections than I have here. Anyway, he was a big hit once again, with fans singing Happy Birthday to him when he came onto the ice. He was a bit more serious today, more all business than the day before, but still very good natured and stayed again to sign all the autographs people wanted signed. He was very cute again about not leaving the ice when directed to, and Amy got a shot of him hanging onto the zamboni, LOL... He and Plush traded 4/3/2s again - think I also saw a 4/3/3 from Plush. He went through his "Gladiator" program when his music played, but he just did the choreography - no jumps - what we call the Russian run through, LOL... Finally saw Elvis' "Gladiator." We were hanging the banner at the time (we have another one to hold - we brought two), but we did stop what we were doing to watch "the King." It was really hard for me to judge because I've seen Alexei's all year long, and I love his "Gladiator" so, so much. So I didn't think Elvis' was nearly as good. But, again, I don't know if I can judge impartially when I think I've already seen the definitive version. We saw Alexei back at the Hyatt later, laughing and joking with Todd at the elevators - well, "others" saw him - blind me missed him again, LOL! Julie and I finally met Anna last night, along with the ever famous Sharpie and the rest of the delerious gang. Emma has almost talked me into Lausanne, LOL....got lots more Alexei pics from Leigh, which I will scan and put up along with all the other pics she gave me. Got my own beautiful copy of the "angel" pic from Amy. We only saw men's and ice dance yesterday - missed the pairs and ladies - hard to choose when there are two practice rinks so far apart. I will try and post later, but, again, it's really, really tough here. I've logged on about ten times and only been able to post twice! Men's Sunday practice - GM Place We noticed at this practice that the banner spaces were being filled up alarmingly quickly, so decided to hang our banner before the last good available places were taken. We did reverently put down the banner, though, to watch Elvis skate his "Gladiator" program - this was our first look at it. The program didn't seem as powerful as Alexei's or build to the same climax, but I don't know if I can be objective at this point. Elvis did seem to perform it rather cautiously. This probably should have been our first indication that he might be in trouble at this comp, but I just figured he was trying to save energy for the qualifying round and that he would "come to life" then. Some of the music cuts were the same, but I think Sasha's is more similar to Alexei's. Sandhu - I see I have no notes other than an indication that he practiced his free program and was wearing a red bodysuit - don't know if that means his practice was too good or too bad to mention, LOL.... Restencourt - Skated to "Phantom Menace" - noted two very nice triple axels, a triple/triple of some sort, and he fell on his triple lutz. Jeannette - had a bandaged hand and skated to classical music. Stepped out of a triple axel. His spins were interesting - I liked his Lucinda Ruh spin where he puts his hands down through the donut - something like that, LOL... Lindemann - what a cutie! He skated to somber classical music and I think I saw a triple axel/double toe and a wonky triple lutz. Ina Bauers and footwork were good. Eckhardt skated to "Lawrence of Arabia!" It wasn't quite the same as Alexei's version, LOL. He had trouble with his lutzes. Leminen was very popular - some girls called out, "We love you, Markus!" LOL Unfortunately, I missed much of his skating because I was distracting watching fans hang Plushy's banner right over one of the blue screens - they came back to move it once they realized what they had done, LOL.... Alexei arrives - fans make a big fuss over him (well, of course, LOL!) and call out "Happy Birthday, Alexei!" to him, plus two different groups on each side of the rink started singing the birthday song. He wore his red jacket, but took it off to reveal a never-before-seen-by-us jade green shirt with a white design across the chest, red emblem, and jade green pants. Emma took some really great pics of Alexei at this practice. I wondered if the emblem meant anything and showed one of Emma's pics to Sharpie to see if it was a European sports team symbol of some sort, but she said she didn't know. Alexei seemed more somber and serious at this practice than he had been at the previous one. Alexei did a nice triple loop, a couple good triple lutzes and two good triple axels. He also did two 4/3/2s, and put his hand down on a solo quad toe. He still looked strong at this point, and you wouldn't have guessed he had any sort of injury, except for getting a look at his foot off the ice. I hate to think of how much effort it took him not to show on the ice that he was having any problems. He just walked through his program when they played his music. He also stayed to sign a huge amount of autographs after he was done. I think Beth and Julie or I have already posted a bit on this. This time when the hapless announcer tried to get him off the ice, she told him he would have to leave when the Zamboni driver came in. Alexei just grabbed onto the back end of the Zamboni - Amy says she got this photo, LOL! Sasha did not show up for this practice, probably because he had been the only skater to show up for his group's practice the night before. Plush did some 4/3s and a 4/3/3. He skated to "Slavic Dances," but just walked through his program. He also worked on his footwork. He also seemed more serious at this practice. He looked good. The New Zealand skater had really great music, kind of new age with a very strong beat. I see no notes on his actual program, though, LOL... Berntsson of Sweden starts to skate, but Julie spots Alexei sitting in the stands, wearing his red sweater, and there is no hope of watching anything else, LOL...he and Nikolai are sitting in the section next to ours. Several eagle-eyed fans spot him and go over to get autographs. Todd skates to "1492" - I think I saw a nice quad toe, several nice triple combos, a triple axel, and a beautiful deathdrop. Tim is having some problems today, falling on a quad and a triple axel, but his 4/3 was very good. He seemed to work on his quads pretty well after that.
Laurie I didn't see him, but others in our party
did, and said he seemed in fairly good spirits when he returned from the
hospital about an hour ago, where he had x-rays taken. Supposedly, a decision
was to be made as to whether or not he will withdraw. I'm sure we will all
know tomorrow. We went to the Hyatt after the pairs short programs were over - Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze were great, by the way - but the only coverage we saw on the TV in there was a brief recap from Debbi Wilkes showing results of the men's qualifying and the pairs short programs. Todd had the best performance I've seen from him all year, and Tim was darn good, too. I was not very surprised to see Plushy fall on his quad attempt. He looked nervous to me when he came out to skate. But he impressed me by gathering his wits, deciding to forgo any subsequent quad attempts and just skating a clean program of triples. I see he has learned his lesson from last year. Good for him. Alexei....(sigh) I kind of wish that he had just gone the triple jump route since at that point he knew he was really in trouble with his ankle. But I think he wanted to go for it because that is his nature. My guess is that when he missed the first two quads, he wanted to put in his most spectacular trick to start to try and save the program. And I think his ankle betrayed him on that death drop (and I think there's a reason he hasn't been doing it very much lately - I think his ankle has been a problem for a while, and I think the death drop aggravates it). I'm amazed he pulled out the two triple axels after that. And let's remind ourselves never, ever to say that nothing could go worse for Alexei than the free skate at Skate America, because I just saw something go worse for him. My heart was breaking. One thing that really irritated me is that the camera would not leave him alone backstage. They kept the camera on him (they showed this on the big screen monitors at the venue) the whole time while he was waiting to see his marks backstage. If you go backstage, I think you should have a little privacy, but I guess not.
Laurie Men's Qualifying - Group B Lindemann - thankless job to be first - nice triple axel! - decent combo spin with Mazurka and catch foot - he's a lyrical skater - some jump problems - solid performance but conservative. Tamura - skated to techno music - looked like good 4/3 - doubled first jump - major problems with axel, but jumps mostly solid. Kazimir - skated to bombastic soundtrack music - "Dragonheart." Some jump problmes, some nice ones. Korean skater (Lee) withdrew. Toth - music was "Face Off" - major jump problems. Sandhu - skated to "Journey of Man" - 3A/3T okay - fell twice - sticks tongue out when viewing fall on monitor from Kiss and Cry. Stojko - skated to "Gladiator" - tried 4T and 4/3, but fell out of both, fell out of 3A, triple loop, triple lutz looked okay - double axel - seemed slow - music cuts seemed slightly awkward. Jeannette - skated to "Rondo Capriccio" - nice 3A, doubled lutz, fell on something I didn't catch - 3A/2T okay - cool slide move, cool spins. Shmerkin - skated to "Swing" - fell on first jump (quad attempt?) - hand down on at least four jumps, double footed another - disaster. Skorniakov - skated to "First Knight" - jump combos looked good, but two jump problems (can't read my notes - this might mean doubled jump, LOL) - triple lutz, triple loop looked okay - strong beginning, weak finish. Medellin - skated to "Tango" - fell on triple lutz - disaster - audience was kind. Zhang - skated to "Jazz Suite" - triple axel/triple toe looked good, 4T looked good, hand down on another quad? - triple lutz looked okay - flipped out of another jump. Berntsson - nice triple sal - cute! Chengjiang Li - skated to "Blue Man" - popped first quad combo - landed 4S/2T - triple axel/double toe okay - triple loop was wonky - clobbered by judges. Murvanidze - skated to "Godfather" - popped axel, second axel okay - interesting cantilever move - triple lutz good, doubled his sal - some good jumps. Eckhardt - skated to "Lawrence of Arabia" - jump problems - pretty gutsy to take on "Lawrence" after Alexei's sterling performance of it at 99 Worlds - slow, kind of lackluster. Rylov - skated to "Carmen" - nice jump-change foot-spin, some nice jumps. Liu - skated to "Journey of Man" - fell out of quad attempt - stepped out of triple axel - combo good! - nice triple loop and triple sal - hand down on triple lutz. Honda - popped axel - step out on quad - spread eagle into 3A/2T was good - triple loop okay - triple lutz was nice! Milanovic - weak - fell on triple axel attempt - disaster. Leminen - skated to "The Untouchables" - triple lutz good, triple loop looked two footed - good flying sit spin - sold his program.
Eldredge - skated to "1492" - great program - fluid and lyrical - triples all great - spins perfect. Litvinov - fell on first jump - jump problems. Chiper - skated to "Black Cat, White Cat" - triple axel looked two footed - triple loop looked good - fell on something (can't read my notes - maybe on the 3/2, maybe that was clean). Perren - skated to "Rhapsody in Blue" - brave to tackle Kulik's perfect program at Nagano, not wise decision - interesting layback spin - combo spin included Marzurka. Goebel - skated to "Henry V" - started with triple lutz - 4S/3T looked good, so did 4T - triples looked good, except I think he doubled or singled second toe loop of 3A combination. Dinev - skated to "Zorba the Greek" - fell on first jump, triple axel wonky, triple axel/triple toe was okay. Markouizos - nice Ina Bauer - performed mostly doubles - don't see any notations for triples, but maybe I missed it. Garcia - skated to "Romeo & Juliet" - gorgeous music, unfortunately, program not up to it. Restencourt - skated to "Xotica" - stepped out on 3A, popped next one - triple loop okay - fell on last jump or next to last jump. Yunfei Li - 4/3 great - nice martini glass spin - that's two men who can now do this spin well, LOL - very flexible - liked his fan spiral with the held foot.
Alexei - skated to "Gladiator" - fell hard on first quad attempt - popped second one, - popped third jump (axel?) - fell on deathdrop - triple flip was good - triple axel/single toe okay - solo triple axel okay - doubled loop and lutz - disaster. I did think he rallied towards the end, as is his usual wont, but it was too late. At least he got the triple flip and the two triple axels in, and I think that is what saved his marks. Believe it or not, I think if he had managed to turn the loop and lutz into triples instead of doubles, he would have been sitting fine, despite missing his first four elements. And I absolutely hated the way the camera simply would not leave his face, even when he was backstage, looking for his marks on the monitor. Meier - nice triple axel - good triple lutz - has a real sit spin, and is a nice all around spinner - unusual and interesting footwork - low marks, perhaps due to not a lot of speed. Wilson - very artistic - nice Ina Bauer - nice ending combo spin! Abt - skating to "Gladiator" - my notes show 4T attempt - maybe two footed - triple axel/double toe - popped lutz - other triples fine, including another triple axel - very nice camel/sit/back camel/back sit spin combo.
Plushenko - skated to "Slavic Dances" - fell on opening quad attempt - crowd helped him rally - triple combos were good - everything else looked fine. A cautious, conservative skate. I'm at an internet cafe and don't know what I'm
doing, LOL. Here goes: Laurie Alexei was in the stands - was besieged by autograph seekers and went backstage to warm up for his practice. He was wearing his short program costume, he looked serious and pale - worked on his footwork, looked fast and great - worked on jumps, several times shaking his foot in between jumps - double loop, triple loop, triple loop, triple lutz, triple lutz, triple axel, triple axel, quad toe/triple toe, quad toe, falls on next quad toe, went back to check tracings - hand seemed to be bothering him slightly from his fall, he kept rubbing it every so often - talked animatedly with Tatiana - just walked through program, did do footwork. Stayed after to sign autographs. Men's Short Programs I've been booted off twice already, LOL - let me
see if I can get this done before I get booted a third time... Kasimir - Wearing a brown shirt and black pants and skated to "Texas Flood" by Stevie Ray Vaughn - triple axel, camel/sit/back camel/back sit spin combo, triple lutz/triple toe, footwork, fall on jump, sit/back sit spin, straight line footwork, deathdrop. Restencourt - Wearing black and skating to "Clubbed to Death" (?), triple axel/double toe, quad toe, camel/sit/back sit/something weird, LOL, interesting spiral variation, double axel, sit spin & something unusual, sit/back sit, tuck jump, footwork, deathdrop, straight line footwork. Skorniakov - Wearing white shirt & black pants, skating to "The Fantastic Story." Triple axel/triple toe with extra turn, triple lutz, sit/back sit, footwork , double axel, deathdrop, combo spin including cross foot spin. Urbas - Wearing yellow shirt & green pants, skating to "Riverdance." Triple axel/double toe, double footed the axel, double lutz, sit/back sit spin, footwork, camel/sit/layback/back sit/scratch spin combo, footwork, looked like he tripped, double axel, sit/back sit spin. Wilson - Wearing sapphire blue body suit with cut outs, skated to new age flute music, deadhdrop, triple jump of some sort - didn't catch it, maybe a flip - triple axel/double toe with a step out on the triple axel, footwork, sit/back sit with unusual arm and leg positions, footwork, double axel, sit/layback/cross foot spin combo - cool! Leminen (cutie!) - White shirt & burgundy velvet pants, skating to "Gettysburg." Triple lutz, deathdrop, triple axel with hands down, sit/back sit, footwork, double axel, sit/catch foot/back sit with interesting down hands position. Murvanidze - Wearing brown shirt & black pants, skating to "Czardas." Triple axel/double toe - saved, but exta turn, flipped out of triple lutz, deathdrop, double axel, good, fun footwork, camel/sit/catch foot/back camel/back catch foot combo spin. Liu - Wearing blue pants with navy shirt with gold trim. Quad toe/double doe, deathdrop, double axel, footwork, triple lutz, sit/back sit, footwork, sit/back sit combo. Davydov - Wearing white shirt with gray vest, black pants, skating to "Australian Tango." Triple axel/double toe with step out, double lutz, sit/layback/back sit and something else combo spin, footwork, double axel, camel spin, footwork, sit/back sit spin. Chiper - Wearing brown pants, red/orange shirt with gold design. Triple axel - wonky landing, triple flip/triple toe, deathdrop, footwork, triple lutz, sit spin, footwork, sit/back camel/back sit, something else, combo spin. Dmitrenko - Two tone gray bodysuit, skating to "Don Quixote." Triple axel, step out, double toe, triple lutz, sit/back sit, footwork, illusion spin, double axel, camel/sit/layback/back sit/something else combo, footwork, flying camel. Dolfini - Black bodysuit with white bow tie type design, skating to "Vecchio Park." Cool footwork, triple toe/triple toe, saved, but very wonky, triple flip, great footwork, deathdrop with no real height, double axel, sit/back sit, arms back. Chengjiang Li - Wearing green pants and shirt. Quad toe, triple axel/triple toe, camel/sit/catch foot/back sit/scratch spin combo, good footwork, sit/back sit, footwork, double axel, flying camel. Good job! Dinev - Wearing gray and black striped bodysuit with orange design, skating to "Afro Celt Sound System." Triple axel/triple toe, stepped out, triple flip, Ina Bauer, deathdrop, double axel, camel/sit/back camel/?, footwork, sit/back sit. Rylov - Light gray bodysuit with red tie design, skating to "La Traviata." Triple axel/double toe, sit/back sit, footwork, triple lutz, footwork, camel/sit/catch foot/back camel/martini glass spin combo, double axel, flying camel, footwork, barrel rolls. Meier - Wearing black suit & tails, vest, red shirt. Triple axel/double toe, triple lutz, sit/pancake sit/back sit, double axel, camel/pancake sit/jump change foot/something else combo spin, very dancey footwork, deathdrop. Lindemann - Wearing black pants, red velvet shirt with gold trim, skating to "First Knight." Triple axel, hand down, double toe, triple lutz, camel/sit/back sit/martini glass spin combo, footwork, double axel, sit/back sit, footwork, deathdrop. Danilchenko - Wearing black and red with gold trim on top, skating to "Gypsy Passion/Strictly Ballroom." Footwork, triple axel, triple lutz, wonky landing, footwork, double axel, sit spin, camel/sit/back camel, donut spin combo. Yunfei Li - Wearing light cream to gray costume. Quad toe/triple toe, triple axel, footwork, triple lutz, camel, sit/back sit, footwork, camel/sit/martini glass spin/back sit/scratch spin combo - missed the flying spin, whatever it was. Tamura - Wearing a light blue shirt with dark blue pants, skating to "Moonlight Sonata." Two footed quad attempt, may have only been a triple toe, footwork, camel/sit/back camel combo, double axel, deathdrop which he fell out of, footwork, triple lutz/triple toe, fell on triple toe, sit spin. Sandhu - Wearing blue pants with suspenders, light blue shirt. Footwork, quad toe which he fell out of, single axel, footwork, butterfly, double axel, footwork, camel/sit/bell/back sit/short martini glass spin combo. Zhang - Wearing black with a white design around collar. Footwork, triple axel with step out, quad toe/triple toe, footwork, flying camel, triple lutz, sit/back sit, footwork, camel/sit/back sit/scratch spin combo. Alexei - Wearing red and
black and skating to Chopin's "Revolutin Etude." Quad toe/triple toe, triple
axel, deathdrop, footwork, triple lutz, footwork, sit/back sit/martini glass
spin, and who knows what else, LOL - too excited to write everything down. Abt - Wearing black bodysuit with silver trim. Triple axel/triple toe, wonky, double footed quad toe, camel spin, camel/back sit/back camel/back sit combo, double axel, camel /back camel combo, footwork. Plushenko - Wearing burgundy and gold with yellow gloves, skating to "Bolero." Quad toe/triple toe, triple axel, camel/donut spin, footwork, triple lutz, spin/Biellmann/sit spin combo, footwork, sit/back sit spin combo. Goebel - Wearing black with gold trim, skating to "2001 Space Odyssey." Quad toe/triple toe, slightly wonky, triple axel, deathdrop, spread eagle, triple lutz, footwork, camel/sit/back camel/back sit/scratch spin combo. Honda - Skating to "Don Quixote." Fell on quad combo attempt, triple axel with hand down and step out, sit spin, triple lutz, sit/back sit, butterfly - probably more elements but I didn't get them down. Stojko - Skating to "Cirque du Soleil" music, wearing black and white bodysuit. Fell on triple axel, fell on quad toe, sit/back sit/scratch spin combo, footwork, triple lutz, footwork with tuck jump, deathdrop, sit/back sit combo. Eldredge - Skating to "Xotica" with black sparkly shirt, black pants. Triple flip/triple toe, footwork, triple axel, sit/back sit, triple lutz, deathdrop, cannonball spin, camel/sit/back sit, scratch combo. Jeannette - Wearing harlequin costume. Quad toe/double toe, double lutz, double axel, unusual sit spin positions, sit/back sit, Besti squat, camel/sit/back sit combo - cool spins. Fantastic to see Alexei
come back like gangbusters - the look on his face and Tatiana's reaction were
something to see! Horrible to see Takeshi, Emanuel, and Elvis implode. Great for
Todd! After the men's short, we (Julie, Anna, Beth, and Laurie - another Laurie, LOL!) headed to the Hyatt bar as happy little campers, met Jenny from FSU/FSW, met Michael Bernadsky and gushed over his IFS Alexei pics, LOL, Todd and his people were at table next to ours, Nikolai at the table next to that, we all watched the CTV coverage from the TVs in the bar, and cheered when Alexei and Todd skated. Anna saw Alexei arrive and said his foot was just swathed in bandages. (sniff) Laurie Okay, we're up to the last men's practice (I *think* it was
at PNE) before the final men's free skate. It looks like I only have notes on
Alexei. The nice people sitting around Julie and me who knew we were Alexei fans
(I think the banner we were holding was a clue, not to mention the wild
cheering when Alexei stepped on the ice
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