Coupe du Printemps Senior Results

SENIOR LADIES FINAL RESULT
Pl. Name Nation SP FS
 1 Sarah HECKEN GER 138.91 1 1
 2 Francesca RIO ITA 135.15 2 2
 3 Mae Berenice MEITE FRA 131.97 3 3
 4 Kaat VAN DAELE BEL 128.39 5 4
 5 Isabelle OLSSON SWE 119.89 4 8
 6 Minna PARVIAINEN FIN 117.89 9 5
 7 Belinda SCHÖNBERGER AUT 114.36 8 7
 8 Alice GARLISI ITA 113.52 7 9
 9 Roberta RODEGHIERO ITA 112.59 10 6
 10 Nika CERIC SLO 106.11 13 12
 11 Enikö VASAS SUI 105.41 11 13
 12 Virginie CLERC SUI 105.02 20 10
 13 Eva LIM NED 103.64 17 11
 14 Andrina SIGRON SUI 103.35 15 14
 15 Fleur MAXWELL LUX 101.87 14 17
 16 Chelsea Rose CHIAPPA HUN 101.10 18 15
 17 Larissa VAN DER LINDEN NED 100.47 16 16
 18 Joyce DEN HOLLANDER NED 96.19 19 18
 19 Mericien VENZON PHI 91.48 21 20
 20 Malin TALJEGÅRD SWE 90.68 22 19
 21 Rosaliina KUPARINEN FIN 90.39 12 21
 22 Deborah SACCHI ITA 79.35 23 22
 23 Renk KEMALOGLU TUR 65.57 25 23
 24 Aybike KAHRIMAN TUR 63.32 24 24
 25 Dana GERASIMOVA LAT 57.75 26 25
Withdrawn
Nathalie WEINZIERL GER 41.43 6
Kristina ZASEEVA RUS



SENIOR MEN FINAL RESULT

Pl. Name Nation SP FS
 1 Jorik HENDRICKX BEL 190.58 1 3
 2 Zoltan KELEMEN ROU 180.94 2 4
 3 Franz STREUBEL GER 176.01 4 1
 4 Abzal RAKIMGALIYEV KAZ 175.07 5 2
 5 Adrian SCHULTHEISS SWE 174.57 3 5
 6 Mikael REDIN SUI 161.85 6 6
 7 Saverio GIACOMELLI ITA 144.72 7 7
 8 Michael NEUMANN SWE 139.49 9 8
 9 Tomi PULKKINEN SUI 133.81 8 9
 10 Mario Rafael IONIAN AUT 118.33 10 12
 11 Daniel NEUMANN SWE 116.97 11 11
 12 Noah SCHERER SUI 116.10 12 10
 13 Christian GIJTENBEEK NED 76.30 13 13
Withdrawn
Girts JEKABSONS LAT`

Finlandia Trophy Men's Free Skate Results

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS =	TES +		PCS +	SS	TR	PE	CH	IN	Deduction -	StN.
1	Douglas RAZZANO	USA	126.43	63.43		64.00	6.55	6.25	6.40	6.35	6.45	1.00	#16
2	Adrian SCHULTHEISS	SWE	125.44	61.84		63.60	6.55	5.95	6.40	6.40	6.50	0.00	#8
3	Maciej CIEPLUCHA	POL	124.55	63.15		61.40	6.05	5.90	6.30	6.30	6.15	0.00	#10
4	Takahito MURA	JPN	121.77	59.87		62.90	6.65	5.75	6.40	6.30	6.35	1.00	#15
5	Alexander MAJOROV	SWE	119.54	60.84		59.70	6.00	5.70	6.05	6.00	6.10	1.00	#14
6	Zhan BUSH	RUS	118.90	62.10		57.80	6.00	5.40	5.80	5.95	5.75	1.00	#7
7	Ivan TRETIAKOV	RUS	117.27	61.87		55.40	5.85	5.20	5.50	5.65	5.50	0.00	#17
8	Paul Bonifacio PARKINSON	ITA	116.88	58.28		59.60	5.95	5.70	5.95	6.10	6.10	1.00	#13
9	Akio SASAKI	JPN	114.83	51.23		64.60	6.35	5.60	6.65	6.80	6.90	1.00	#11
10	Artem BORODULIN	RUS	114.36	54.46		59.90	6.05	5.70	6.05	6.00	6.15	0.00	#9
11	Paolo BACCHINI	ITA	108.22	50.12		60.10	6.10	5.70	5.80	6.20	6.25	2.00	#18
12	Abzal RAKIMGALIEV	KAZ	104.67	52.27		54.40	5.55	5.05	5.40	5.60	5.60	2.00	#12
13	Julian LAGUS	FIN	97.79	45.49		52.30	5.00	5.00	5.35	5.30	5.50	0.00	#5
14	Matthias VERSLUIS	FIN	93.60	47.70		46.90	4.85	4.65	4.60	4.75	4.60	1.00	#3
15	Vitali LUCHANOK	BLR	91.26	48.66		42.60	4.50	4.10	4.15	4.35	4.20	0.00	#6
16	Bela PAPP	FIN	89.84	44.14		46.70	4.80	4.60	4.75	4.60	4.60	1.00	#4
17	Ari-Pekka NURMENKARI	FIN	86.66	35.76		51.90	5.25	4.95	5.00	5.50	5.25	1.00	#2
18	Valtter VIRTANEN	FIN	78.59	38.39		42.20	4.70	3.90	4.20	4.20	4.10	2.00	#1

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Takahito MURA	JPN	189.55	1	4
2	Douglas RAZZANO	USA	189.43	5	1
3	Maciej CIEPLUCHA	POL	184.35	8	3
4	Alexander MAJOROV	SWE	183.81	3	5
5	Adrian SCHULTHEISS	SWE	182.39	10	2
6	Ivan TRETIAKOV	RUS	180.27	4	7
7	Paul Bonifacio PARKINSON	ITA	179.30	6	8
8	Zhan BUSH	RUS	179.00	7	6
9	Paolo BACCHINI	ITA	173.97	2	11
10	Artem BORODULIN	RUS	173.12	9	10
11	Akio SASAKI	JPN	167.80	12	9
12	Abzal RAKIMGALIEV	KAZ	160.05	11	12
13	Julian LAGUS	FIN	146.36	13	13
14	Matthias VERSLUIS	FIN	136.05	17	14
15	Bela PAPP	FIN	135.84	15	16
16	Ari-Pekka NURMENKARI	FIN	131.80	16	17
17	Vitali LUCHANOK	BLR	129.76	18	15
18	Valtter VIRTANEN	FIN	125.98	14	18

Mont Blanc Trophy

Mens Final Results:

1. Samuel Contesti, ITA: 233.34
2. Adrian Schultheiss, SWE: 185.83
3. Paul Bonifacio Parkinson, ITA: 169.47
4. Justus Strid, DEN: 159.07
5. Maxim Shipov, ISR: 156.02
6. Valtter Virtanen, FIN: 140.83
7. Manuel Koll, AUT: 140.17
8. Jimmy Karlsson, SWE: 131.06
9. Lasse Saakslahti, FIN: 97.07

Ladies Final Results:

1. Lena Marrocco, FRA: 144.47
2. Joshi Helgesson, SWE: 140.57
3. Roberta Rodeghiero, ITA: 123.97
4. Kerstin Frank, AUT: 119.24
5. Carol Bressanutti, ITA: 118.13
6. Belinda Shonberger, AUT: 110.95
7. Reetta Romppanen, FIN: 110.85
8. Christine Adrian, SWE: 108.08
9. Martina Bocek, CZE: 106.96
10. Kaat Van Daele, BEL: 102.26
11. Isabelle Pieman, BEL: 99.96
12. Susanna Fryden, SWE: 96.89
13. Sonia Radeva, BUL: 78.08

Pairs Final Results:

1. Volosozhar/Trankov, RUS: 199.84
2. Vartmann/Van Cleave, GER: 136.14
3. Tarasova/Chudin, RUS: 113.44
4. Malakhova/Kenchadze, BUL: 102.53
5. Kiefer/Martini, AUT: 92.95

Dance Final Results:

1. Cappellini/Lanotte, ITA: 162.35
2. Khokhlova/Andreev, RUS: 144.27
3. Guignard/Fabbri, ITA: 132.63
4. Heekin-Canedy, Shakalov, UKR: 128.14
5. Agafonova/Ucar, TUR: 127.32
6. Frieling/Rumi, ISR: 110.07
7. Turoczi/Major, HUN: 109.39
8. Silna/Kurakin, AUT: 108.09

Pairs Short Program:

1. Kiefer/Martini, AUT: 28.95

•  Double twist with good height and a decent catch
• Throw double jump, couldn't see the entry
• Through the legs into their lift, she has some nice air positions but I'd like to see more stretch through her legs
• She has some really nice spiral positions into this death spiral, but she's doing the upside down version and doesn't have a very good position
• Off unison on the sbs spins
• A big set up into their side by side loops, might have been double or triple, feed is really jumpy
• They get really far apart during their step sequence
• Really late into the ending pose

2. Vartmann/Van Cleave, GER: 47.18 and into 1st place

• Nice double twist
• They have good speed across the ice
• She puts a hand down on their sbs triples
• She has some really nice air positions in their lift and has really long legs
• Throw double salchow, maybe a little forward on the landing
• Decent unison on the side by side spins until the change of foot
• They start very far apart on their footwork and it takes them a while to come together
• She has an interesting entry to her death spiral and a nice position, but a big ice spray on the exit

3. Malakhova/Kenchadze, BLR: 35.21 and into 2nd place

•  He two foots the landing on their side by side double jumps
• Double twist with a clean catch and she gets such height in her arabesque
• Interesting entry into their throw double salchow but she two foots the landing
• There seems to be a lot of movement to get into the death spiral and there aren't a lot of revolutions
• Decent air positions in her lift
• She needs to really stretch through her back leg in the camel position in the sbs spins
• They're so far apart on their footwork that the camera can't get them both in the frame

4.Tarasova/Chudin, RUS: 37.34 and into 2nd place

•  A good double twist
• He stumbles on their side by side triple toes
• She has a decent death spiral position but seems to be really close to his body
• She two foots the landing and falls on their throw triple salchow
• For being Russian she doesn't have the famous air positions they're known for but her position is decent
• They have good position in relation to each other in their step sequence but seem to be off unison
• Good unison on their sbs spins but she could stretch through her free leg in the sit position

5. Volosozhar/Trankov, RUS: 68.30 and into 1st place

• Huge triple twist with a clean catch
• Perfect side by side triples
• Great air position and position changes in their lift
• Huge throw triple loop and it looked like she put a hand down on the landing
• Nice positions in the sbs spins and good unison, showing off some really nice flexibility
• I'd like them to be a little closer on the step sequence but it's nicely done and well choreographed
• Very nice death spiral but a little close to the ice

Nordic Figure Skating Championships

Mens:

1. Alexander Majorov, SWE: 200.88
2. Adrian Schultheiss, SWE: 189.17
3. Kristoffer Berntsson, SWE: 180.82
4. Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari, FIN: 155.92
5. Viktor Nubik, FIN: 150.99
6. Manuel Koll, AUT: 147.44
7. Justis Strid, DEN: 145.21
8. Bela Papp, FIN: 144.27
9. Valtter Virtanen, FIN: 136.91
10. Lawrence Evans, GBR: 113.36

Ladies:

1. Viktoria Helgesson, SWE: 149.35
2. Linnea Mellgren, SWE: 134.45
3. Juulia Turkkila, FIN: 131.87
4. Anne Line Gjersem, NOR: 126.03
5. Beata Papp, FIN: 123.85
6. Joshi Helgesson, SWE: 123.42
7. Karina Sinding Johnson, DEN: 117.09
8. Alisa Mikonsaari, FIN: 116.96
9. Christine Adrian, SWE: 110.70
10. Cecila Torn, FIN: 105.52
11. Louise Wessberg, DEN: 99.71
12. Sofie Castler, DEN: 89.38

Complete results here: http://resultater.danskate.dk/Nordics%202011/

Europeans: Mens Preview

Florent Amodio and Tomas Verner are the only two competitors from the Grand Prix Final at Europeans.  Both have short program, free skate and total scores in the top 10 for the season thus far.  Both have tons of personality on the ice.  I adore Verner's short program to Singing in the Rain and while I'm not crazy about his free skate I prefer it to the mess that is Amodio's free skate.  Verner has had higher scores all season than Amodio and beat him at the Grand Prix Final, so I give Verner the edge here.  Verner has been talking about putting the quads back in his program and if he can land them consistently, this could give him an even bigger edge.

Brian Joubert is the only returning medalist from last season.  He had a disastrous Grand Prix season and is looking to redeem himself here.  He beat out Amodio at nationals but has yet to do so in international competition this season.  His short program score does fall in the top 10 for the season so if he can go clean in both programs he could reclaim his European title.  After he withdrew from Trophee Eric Bompard where Amodio won silver, many began to write him off as the top skater in France.  He'll be looking to quiet the naysayers with a good placement here.

Javier Fernandez is the only other European man to appear on the list of top 10 scores and he does so with his free skate.  He finished 8th at last year's Europeans and is looking to move up.  He has been struggling with injury and recently lost his national title, but if he's healthy and can put together a short program to match his free skate he could be in medal contention.

Kevin van der Perren is also in the mix with huge, fairly consistent junps but he generally has low program components. Michal Breznia sat out the Grand Prix season due to injury.  He finished 4th last season, but it seems his injury is still plaguing him as he struggled to keep up with Verner's scores at Czech nationals.  Samuel Contesti finished 5th beyond Breznia last year and has had an up and down Grand Prix but improved in his last outing.  Alban Preaubert and Peter Liebers had respectable Grand Prixs and should finish in the top 10 here.  Artur Gachinski is the reigning World Junior Bronze medalist.  He had decent Grand Prix results while setting personal best scores and is right in the medal hunt and is definitely an up and coming skater to watch out for. 

My podium predictions:
Gold: Verner
Silver: Joubert
Bronze: Amodio

My USFSA Fantasy Team:
A) Verner
B) Gachinski
C) Lucine

The skaters:

Viktor Pfeifer, AUT (D):  He placed 21st at the Olympics, 20th at Worlds and 17th at Europeans.  He received personal best scores in the free skate at the Olympics and in the short program and total score at Europeans. He finished 12th at Skate America.

Mikhail Karaliuk, BLR: He finished 35th at the World Junior Championships. 

Jorick Hendrickx, BEL: He finished 15th at the World Junior Championships and 20th at Europeans.  He finished 7th and 6th at his two JGP assignments this season.

Kevin van der Perren, BEL (D): He placed 17th at the Olympics, 8th at Worlds and 11th at Europeans.  He is the two-time European bronze medalist (2007, 2009).  He finished 8th at Cup of China and 6th at Skate America.  He is married to Jenna McCorkell who competes for Great Britain.

Damjan Ostojic, BIH: He finished 33rd at the World Championships and 28th at Europeans.

Georgi Kenchadze, BUL: He finished 40th at Worlds and 36th at Europeans.

Michal Brezina, CZE (D): He finished 10th at the Olympics, 4th at Worlds with personal best scores across the board, and 4th at Europeans.  He is the 2009 World Junior Silver Medalist.  He sat out the Grand Prix season due to injury.

Tomas Verner, CZE (D): Verner placed 10th at Europeans and finished 19th at the Olympics.  He was the silver medalist at Europeans in 2007 and won the title in 2008.  Verner won bronze at Cup of China and gold at Rostelecom Cup with a personal best free skate to qualify for the Grand Prix Final where he placed 5th.

Justus Strid, DEN: He is the 4 time national champion.

Viktor Romanenkov, EST: He finished 36th at the World Championships, 29th at Europeans, and 26th at the World Junior Championships.  He finished 8th and 11th at his two JGP assignments this season.

Valtter Virtanen, FIN: He is the reigning national silver medalist.

Florent Amodio, FRA (D): Amodio finished 12th at the Olympics with a personal best short program and 15th at Worlds.  He won bronze at NHK Trophy with personal best free skate and total scores and silver at Trophee Eric Bompard with personal best scores across the board to qualify for the Grand Prix Final where he placed 6th.

Brian Joubert, FRA (D): Joubert won bronze at Europeans, placed 16th at the Olympics and won a bronze medal at Worlds.  He is the 2004, 2007 and 2009 European champion and has medaled at Europeans every year since 2004.  He has won one gold medal at Worlds, two silvers and two bronzes.  He finished at 4th at Cup of China and withdrew from Trophee Eric Bompard.

Alban Preaubert, FRA (D): Preaubert finished 7th at Europeans with a personal best short program score.  He finished 6th at Skate Canada and 5th at Cup of Russia.

Peter Liebers, GER (D): Liebers finished 25th at last seasons World Championships.  He finished 9th at Cup of China and 7th at Trophee Eric Bompard.

Denis Wieczorek, GER: He finished 5th and 15th at his two JGP assignments this season.

David Richardson, GBR: He is the reigning national champion.

Tigran Vardanjan, HUN: He finished 41st at the World Championships. 

Maxim Shipov, ISR: He finished 43rd at Worlds and 25th at Europeans with a personal best short program. 

Paolo Bacchini, ITA (D): He finished 20th at the Olympics with a personal best short program and 16th at Europeans with a personal best free skate and total score.  He placed 12th at Skate Canada.

Samuel Contesti, ITA (D): Contesti placed 7th at Worlds with personal best scores in the Short and Free programs.  He also placed 18th at the Olympics and 5th at Europeans.  He won a silver at Europeans in 2009.  He finished 6th at Cup of China and 4th at Cup of Russia. 

Saulius Ambrulevicius, LTU: He finished 38th at the World Championships with a personal best short program, 34th at Europeans and 32nd at World Juniors.  He finished 13th and 16th at his two JGP assignments this season.

Kim Lucine, MON:  He finished 11th at the 2008 World Junior Championships.

Boyito Mulder, NED: He finished 32nd at Europeans and 45th at the World Junior Championships.

Maciej Cieplucha, POL: He finished 35th at Worlds and 21st at Europeans.

Zoltan Kelemen, ROU: Kelemen finished 29th at the Olympics, 32nd at Worlds and 19th at Europeans with personal best scores across the board.  He finished 9th at Trophee Eric Bompard with personal best free skates and total scores.

Artur Gachinski, RUS (D): Gachinski is the reigning World Junior Bronze Medalist.  He finished 7th at Skate Canada with personal best scores across the board and 6th at Cup of Russia with a personal best short program.

Konstantin Menshov, RUS (D): Menshov finished 10th at Cup of China with personal best scores across the board.

Jakub Strobl, SVK: He finished 31st at the World Junior Championships.

Javier Fernandez, ESP (D): Fernandez finished 14th at the Olympics, 12th at Worlds with personal best short and total scores, and 8th at Europeans.  He finished 5th at Skate Canada with a personal best free skate score and 9th at Cup of Russia.

Javier Raya, ESP: He finished 12th at Junior Worlds with personal best short program and total scores. 

Kristoffer Bertsson, SWE (D): He finished 15th at Europeans with a personal best short program.  He finished 11th at Skate Canada.

Adrian Schultheiss, SWE (D): He placed 15th at the Olympics and 9th at the World Championships with all personal best scores.  He finished 12th at Europeans.  He finished 6th and 7th at his two Grand Prix assignments last season.  He finished 10th at the NHK Trophy and 7th at Skate America.

Laurent Alvarez, SUI (D): He is the reigning national silver medalist.

Moris Pfeifhofer, SUI: He finished 12th at the 2008 Junior Worlds.

Stephane Walker, SUI: He finished 30th at the World Junior Championships.

Ali Demirboga, TUR: He finished 45th at Worlds with a personal best short program. 

Anton Kovalevski, UKR (D): Kovalevski finished 24th at the Olympics, 16th at Worlds with a personal best short program score, and 13th at Europeans with personal best free skate and total scores.  He finished 12th at Rostelecom Cup and 8th at Trophee Eric Bompard.

Swedish Nationals

Men: 2 spots at Euros, 2 spots at Worlds

Short Program Results (Top 3)
1. Kristoffer Berntsson: 71.95 (36.40 TES + 35.55 PCS)
2. Adrian Schulteiss: 69.67 (36.29 TES + 33.38 PCS)
3. Alexander Majorov: 57.71 (24.29 TES + 33.42 PCS)

Final Results (Top 3)
1. Kristoffer Berntsson: 205.31
2. Adrian Schulteiss: 198.87
3. Alexander Majorov: 186.84

Ladies: 2 spots at Worlds

Short Program Results (Top 3)
1. Viktoria Helgesson: 52.42
2. Linnea Mellgren: 50.98
3. Joshi Helgesson: 50.31

Final Results (Top 3)
1. Viktoria Helgesson: 161.89
2. Joshi Helgesson: 150.10
3. Linnea Mellgren: 143.97

Skate America Mens Free Skate

Group 1

Viktor Pfeifer, AUT

• He will be performing a circus themed program
• Opening triple toe-triple toe is clean with a nice flow between the jumps
• Triple axel nice landing
• A little bobble on the ending of his third triple
• Triple-double combo good but a little slow
• Footwork seems a little simple but he did the majority of it on one foot--a little more stretch on his free leg would really help with his GOE
• Triple salchow-double toe with a little bit of a skid on the landing of the first jump
• Turned out of his next triple lutz but didn't put his free leg down
• Doubled his next jump
• Nice camel spin but a little slow, showing some good flexibility
• Double axel tilted in the air and he falls
• Awkward position in his combination spin and misses the end of the music for his ending pose

53.02 TES + 55.44 PCS -1.00 = 162.47 into 1st place

Shawn Sawyer, CAN

• Alice in Wonderland themed program
• I really love Sawyer's artistry and I hope he works on the jumps to back it up because he has some really great qualities
• Triple axel was slightly tilted in the air and he too footed the landing
• Triple flip-triple toe was nice
• Tilted on his next triple lutz but holds onto the landing
• Flying sit spin with some nice arm positions
• Gorgeous spiral that a lot of the women would kill for
• Great triple jump with almost no prep into it
• Doubled his flip and turned out of it but was able to tack on the triple loop
• Nice interaction with the judges
• I like that his whole body is engaged in the footwork sequences
• Nice triple out of his footwork sequence
• Great camel position but I prefer the traditional donut spins
• Hits the triple-double-double combo but with almost no speed at the end
• Hits his trademark Y spin
• Some jump problems but a pretty solid program for him
• I love that someone gave him a Mad Hatter hat and he totally played it up as he exited the ice 

63.10 TES + 66.58 PCS =129.68 new seasons best and into 1st place

Stephen Carriere, USA

• I'm not sure I would have picked this costume for West Side Story but we'll see where he goes with it, interesting choice of the bandages on the hands as well
• Nice axel to start the program
• Two foots his quad toe and takes a fall
• Step sequence he takes a bobble but there is a whole section where I'm not sure if he's actually falling or if that's the choreography
• Nice triple on the music change
• Camel spin with arms back  into a donut--could use a little more flexibility in his back
• Lands his next triple
• Double axel-triple toe combo is solid
• Double toe with one arm over the head and two arms over the head but weren't very well done
• Spins are very slow and almost came to a stop
• Triple salchow out of footwork
• Hand down on triple-triple combo with overhead arm variation again
• Last spin comes to a virtual stop
• Some real highlights in this program and a lot of so-so moments, maybe some stamina problems toward the end
• Priscilla Hill has different scarves to match each of her skaters costumes!

62.28 TES + 63.78 PCS -1.00 = 125.06 into 2nd place

Nan Song, CHN

• Yellow River Concerto and he's wearing a top with multiple shades of yellow
• Doubles his opening quad attempt
• Great height on his triple axel-triple toe but he nearly stops between he jumps
• Falls on his next jump
• Combination spin has some so-so positions which could be more stretched out
• Triple lutz-double toe good, but slow between jumps and he doesn't ride out the landing
• Tilted in the air on his triple axel and he turns out of it but he doesn't put the foot down
• He needs to really stretch his free leg during the footwork and add a little more speed and flow across the ice
• Fighting for the endings on all of his jumps but he's staying on his feet
• Camel spin into broken camel spin, needs more flexibility through the triangle spin
• Finished after his music

60.55 TES +58.34 PCS - 1.00 = 117.89 and into 3rd place

Kevin van der Perren, BEL

• Mummy soundtrack is his music and it looks like he has a wing on the back of his costume
• Nice quad toe with a little bit of a lean on his landing
• Triple axel with a lot of height
• Nice combination
• Sit spin was good, nice low postion but he lost a lot of speed
• Footwork seems a little slow and he's not getting his whole body involved in the movement
• Solid triple with great flow out of the landing
• A little bobble on the landing of his triple loop
• Doubled his toe and bobbled on some footwork out of it
• Lands a triple-double but fights for the second landing
• Slow on his second sit spin combination
• double axel-triple toe combo
• Really slow camel position in his combination spin

69.87 TES + 62.54 PCS = 132.41 into 1st place and new seasons best in total score

Adrian Schultheiss, SWE

• Romeo and Juliet--quite a departure from his free program last year where he was insane
• Huge opening quad toe
• Triple axel-double toe combination
• Another triple-double combo
• Some really awkward positions in his camel spin
• Singled his next jump
• Sword-fighting through his step sequence but its very slow and lacks the intensity one would see in a duel, this part of the music also sounds like its been dramatically slowed down
• Nice triple
• Good low position in the sit portion of his combination spin
• Pops his next jump
• Turns out of the landing of the triple flip
• Nice sit spin positions but he loses some speed when he changes feet
• I'm not sure this program suits Schulheiss very well and it doesn't seem like he has a lot of connection to the program or the audience, it looks like he's just going through the motions

60.21 TES + 64.28 PCS = 124.49 new seasons best and into 2nd place

Warm up group is on the ice.  Ten took a fall on a jump attempt.  Murakami takes a fall on a jump.  Oda lands a nice three jump combo.  Takahashi two foots a jump.  Mahbanoozadeh lands a nice jump.

Group 2

Denis Ten, KAZ

• Ten taking his time at the boards before heading out on the ice
• Fall on his opening triple axel
• Fall on his next jump--tilted air position and he couldn't correct
• Triple double combo and he turns out of the double and puts both hands down
• Some nice attack on this step sequence
• Takes a hard fall on his next jump and slides toward the boards and takes a second to get back up
• Lands a triple loop
• Hands down on his next jump
• Nice triple
• Takes a fall on a double axel out of a difficult entry
• Combination spin is a little slow
• Nice stretched out camel position
• Really going for it here in his choreographic step sequence but he takes a little bobble
• A tough program but I really admire how much he still put into the program and he still tried to put on a performance

54.69 TES + 61.92 PCS -5.00 111.61 = new seasons best and into 6th place

Daisuke Murakami, JPN

• Triple lutz-triple toe was solid with a lot of speed but his air position looks odd
• Triple axel-double toe
• Great camel position
• I don't like when skaters go to the board, stop and prep for their step section and announce it's coming
• Nice entertaining step section and he's really performing to the crowd and engaging them in his performance
• Great height and landing on his triple axel
• Lands another nice triple and he looks like he's having a ball on the ice
• Takes an awkward landing on his next jump and puts both of his hands on the ice
• Nice triple triple sequence
• Could be a little lower and more stretched out in his sit spin positions
• Interesting variation of a spin in the pike position at the end of his program
• Very energetic, entertaining and mostly clean skate for this young Japanese skater

68.83 TES + 68.16 PCS - 1.00 =135.99 into 1st place (personal best free and total score)

Armin Mahbanoozadeh, USA

• He is skating to Avatar soundtrack and wearing a blue costume
• Nice opening triple toe
• Great triple axel with a nice landing and flows right into the next movement
• Triple-double with one arm variation
• Another nice triple
• Some playful choreography through the step sequence and a really nice difficult sequence done on one foot
• He could work on performing some of these character moves a little more and making sure not just to execute the movement
• Triple axel double toe was nice
• Nice sit spin position
• Triple flip with a difficult entry
• Another interesting spin sequence
• Another clean triple
• Singles the first jump of his three jump combo but tacks on the double toe-double loop
• The smile has really come out for this step sequence
• Camel spin into a really nice donut spin and picking up speed into his sit spin and a nice fast scratch spin
• Fantastic program from Mahbanoozadeh!  I hope he can keep this up and continue to land clean programs. 
• Priscilla is now wearing her final scarf of the night.

73.62 TES + 69.94 PCS =143.56 and into 1st place (beats his old personal best by 20 points)

Adam Rippon, USA

• I love the way the fabric of his costume ripples when he skates
• Doubles his triple axel
• Nice triple with great flow out of it
• Fought for the ending of his Rippon Lutz but holds on
• Nice position on his flying sit spin
• Puts a hand down on his second triple axel
• I wonder if he'll be able to hold off Mahbanoozadeh with these errors on his jumps
• Nice triple toe-triple toe
• Lutz with one arm over his head and he's able to add the sequence
• Falls on his next jump attempt
• Interesting cross foot spin position
• Nice foot work sequence and the crowd is getting behind him
• Nice triple
• Great donut position in his combination spin
• Not a great program for Adam and we'll see if he can hold on to the podium

57.94 TES + 72.24 PCS -1.00 = 129.18 and into 2nd place

Daisuke Takahashi, JPN

• Turns out of his opening jump
• A little forward on his triple axel but he holds on to the landing
• Solid triple for his next jump
• Nice spin position in his sit spin but he slows through the rest of the combination spin
• Great footwork sequence right in front of the judges and really performing and engaging his entire body
• Triple flip double toe he looks a little odd in the air but he hangs on
• Takes a hard fall on his next triple and lands on his side
• Layback spin variation
• Next triple is clean
• Great triple with very little set up
• Triple toe combo but he loses a lot of speed on the last jump
• Another great step work sequence for Takahashi
• He needs to straighten his bottom leg in the last spin sequence
• Another tough program in the mens competition but he didn't give up and gave the program everything he had

64.95 TES + 85.00 PCS -1.00 = 148.95 and into 1st place

Nobunari Oda, JPN

• Takahashi left the door open so Oda just has to go relatively clean to win gold
• Falls on his first jump attempt
• Low landing on his next triple but he hangs on
• Triple-triple, maybe two footed on the second jump
• Really interesting position in his sit spin and he gets very low in his traditional sit spin
• Nice triple axel
• Triple double combo
• Nice triple jump right on the music
• Triple salchow-double toe-double loop
• You shouldn't do the spread eagle jump unless you can hit the full position
• Really hitting all these jumps at the end of the program
• Nice position in his camel spin and good speed throughout the sequence
• That should be good enough to win

68.17 TES +79.64 PCS -1.00 = 146.81 and into 2nd place

Top three free skaters:
Top TES: Mahbanoozadeh
Top PCS: Takahashi

Gold: Takahashi
Silver: Oda
Bronze: Mahbanoozadeh

Takahashi and Oda will qualify for the Grand Prix Final.

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.