Pages

Friday, November 12, 2010

Skate America Mens Short Program

Warm up group is on the ice.  Most of these men have been competing internationally since 2006.  Carriere's costume might give you seizures.  Mahbanoozadeh is at the boards retying his skate.  Nan Song doing some jumps and landed one low but went for the combo.  Shawn Sawyer showing off some gorgeous spin positions.

Group 1
Daisuke Murakami, JPN
  • Poor guy had the choice to compete for USA or Japan, both with deep mens fields. 
  • He is coached by Frank Carroll
  • Nice triple lutz-triple toe
  • Nice triple axel
  • Nice triple with a good control of the landing
  • I like the positions in his sit spins but he could work on maintaining his speed all the way through
  • Interesting changes in his combination spin
  • Doing his footwork to a slower section of the music, nice intricate footwork
  • Good position in the camel spin
36.26 TES + 30.75 PCS = 67.01 into 1st place

Armin Mahbanoozadeh, USA
  • He is coached by Priscilla Hill who coaches Ashley Wagner and Viktor Pfeifer
  • Triple axel with a hand down--he looked a little off in the air
  • Triple flip-triple toe with nice reach back between the elements
  • He could work on more stretch through his camel position but a very nice donut position
  • Triple lutz and he hangs on to the landing
  • Nice low position in the sit spins but losing speed at the end
  • Nice footwork sequence but he could work on using a little variation in the arms--he really playing to the crowd
  • Interesting spin position in his combination spin where he's upside down with his free leg and arms back behind him
  • Solid skate for this young skater but someone needs to tell these commentators that this is not his Grand Prix debut
37.05 TES + 30.56 PCS = 67.61 new personal best and into 1st place

Viktor Pfeifer, AUT
  • It's interesting that Pfeifer has been to two Olympics and no Grand Prixs
  • Pretty triple axel
  • Triple lutz-triple toe looked effortless
  • Final double flip was clean
  • Nice Camel positions and shows off some flexibility but losese speed
  • Costume change to go with the Mask theme
  • Nice footwork sequence but he could use a little more extension through his free leg and really attack the accents in the music
  • Flysing sit spin with no change of position
  • He needs to watch his bottom hand on the camel spin
  • He gets into a weird position in his combination spin that looks like a dog peeing but the final position where he grabs his leg from over his shoulder is great
26.82 TES + 28.19 PCS = 55.01 into 3rd place

Stephen Carriere, USA
  • And Carriere is coached by...Priscilla Hill!
  • Some nice character movements off the top and great fluidity
  • Takes a nasty fall on his first jump
  • Triple lutz-double toe for the combination
  • Nice solid triple loop to complete his jumps
  • He could be more stretched out in his camel position
  • Nice character throughout the footwork and great changes in position and movement across the ice
  • Nice speed through his spins
  • Could be a little lower in his sit spin positions
  • Final combination spin is making me a little sick with the costume--way too many stripes in different directions way too close together
  • This will be a great program for Carriere when he ups the perforamnce ante and goes clean
27.17 TES + 32.97 PCS - 1.00 = 59.14 into 4th place

Shawn Sawyer, CAN
  • Nice attack off the top in this tango program
  • Two foots the landing on his triple axel and falls
  • Triple flip-double toe combination, can't get enough height to do the triple triple
  • Double lutz
  • Camel in the opposite direction
  • Great flying sit spin on the music accent
  • He's attacking the tango more than most skaters but I'd still like him to hit the accents just a bit harder especially since he has great musicality
  • I really like his step sequence and it flows really well in the music
  • Trademark upright split position spin into his ending pose
  • Once he gets the jump errors worked out, this will be a great program
24.63 TES + 33.31 PCS - 1.00 = 56.94 into 4th place

Nan Song, CHN
  • Step out of his triple flip and looks like he was early on the music.  He won't get credit for a combination.
  • Triple axel with a great landing
  • Interesting positions in his camel spin
  • Solid triple lutz to finish his jumps
  • Nice sit spin position and great speed throught the change of position
  • Great section of music for the footwork sequence but I think he could use a bit more difficulty and movement here and really get into his edges
  • Could get a bit more flexibility into the triangle position in the combination spin
  • Overall a good program for his senior debut
31.23 TES + 30.98 PCS =62.21 into 3rd place

Warm up group is on the ice.  Rippon looks very relaxed.  He lands a gorgeous jump.  Takahashi getting a feel for the ice and doing some nice scratch spins. 

Group 2
Denis Ten, KAZ
  • He recently switched coaches to Frank Carrol
  • Nice height on his triple axel but he falls on the landing
  • Turns out of his triple lutz but he doesn't put his free leg down and completes the combination of a triple toe
  • Hand down on his final triple flip
  • Nice positionl in the camle spin and nice low position in the sit spin
  • He needs a little more stretch through his free leg in the sit spin
  • He really has his whole body engaged in his footwork sequences
  • Nice donut position in his final spin but he has almost no speed by the end
32.50 TES + 33.00 PCS -1.00 =64.50 into 3rd place

Adrian Schultheiss, SWE
  • Triple lutz-triple toe, wasn't a lot of speed through the middle of the combo
  • Hand down and a turn out of his triple axel
  • A few awkward positions in his camel spin
  • He could be a little lower in his sit spin positions
  • Final triple flip is nicely done
  • Combination spin was fine--could have used a bit more speed and flexibility
  • Step sequence is very flowy and a little slow
  • He doesn't really finish with the music and doesn't really hit a pose at all
  • He doesn't have a coach with him in the kiss and cry and he looks like he's not quite sure what to do while waiting
32.21 TES + 31.50 PCS =63.71 new seasons best and into 4th place

Adam Rippon, USA
  • I'm really impressed with how much Adam has grown performance wise
  • Stumbles out of his triple axel and puts a hand down
  • Triple flip triple toe combination is nice
  • Fast camel combination with good positions and nice use of his arms
  • Gorgeous Rippon Lutz
  • Nice low position in his sit spin
  • Nice stepwork sequence incorporating the story into the program and really using the ice
  • Final spin has lots of speed and some really great positions
  • I love Adam's skating quality and I think if he can get his triple axel problems resolved he'll be a solid competitor on the world stage
36.83 TES + 37.11 PCS = 73.94 into 1st place

Kevin van der Perren, BEL
  • Nice triple axel to open his program
  • Triple lutz-triple toe also solid and effortless
  • Popped his last triple flip into a double--he had a lot of height but maybe just not enough control to get the 3rd rotation
  • Nice sit spin positions and kept speed up
  • Camel spin is very sloow and he really drops his leg to grab it for the catch foot position
  • Good footwork section but I feel like he needs to attack it a little bit more and really show off the edge changes
  • The music changed into a slower section for his final spin and his spin was very slow
30.12 TES + 32.10 PCS = 62.22 new seasons best and into 6th place

Daisuke Takahashi, JPN
  • Takahashi has some amazing skating qualities and his performance skills when he is on are unreal
  • Easy triple flip-triple toe combo to start with
  • Triple axel--maybe put hand down or might have been choreography?
  • Really interesting scratch spin position--he's worked with Stephanie Lambiel and it shows
  • Stepped out of his triple flip
  • Nice sit spin positions but losing speed at the end
  • And this is how footwork is supposed to be skating--speed, lots of position changes, hits the accents
  • Despite a few hiccups on the jumps this is a great program for Takahashi and his program components should be sky high for this program.  I can't wait to see it develop over the year.
35.69 TES + 42.43 PCS = 78.12 new seasons best and into 1st place

Nobunari Oda, JPN
  • Great triple axel and some nice footwork out of it
  • Nice triple flip-triple toe combination on the music change
  • He needs to watch his free foot position in his camel spin and really stretch through the foot and not let it hang there
  • Solid triple to end his jumps
  • Great low sit spin position into a nice triangle position and back into the sit spin
  • Nice footwork but he needs to really stretch through his legs and feet and not let his legs flop around
  • Great speed through his spins and throughout the whole program
  • Solid, solid program for Oda.
39.60 TES + 39.68 PCS = 79.28 and into 1st place

Top three are: Oda, Takahashi, Rippon
Highest element score goes to Oda.
Highest program components goes to Takahaski.

No comments:

Post a Comment