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| 2002 Worlds Men Short Review |
| 30. Sergei Kotov /ISR/ The music is Lucifer by Alan Parsons project. He wears a black costume with orange-yellow flames on it. The choreography and steps were nice but you can see that his skating is still very junior. He's only 16. The spins were very slow. 3F+2T (stutter on the landing); 3R (fell, shoulder went too far back); 2A 29. Kristoffer Berntsson /SWE/ He was dressed in a black trousers. His top was checked (black and white). The music was from "Fight Club" and in many places there was no choreography at all. However he has a good skating quality and nice spins. He is the first skater from Sweden to land a triple axel but it eluded him today. 2A (he surely was going for triple as the set up was very long); 3L (a horrible lean but somehow he managed to land it) + 3T (stepped out); 3F (stepped out) 28. Gregor Urbas /SLO/ Urbas was skating to "Robin Hood" and his costume matched the music. Grey shirt, brown trousers and coat. Forgot his bow I suppose. He still looks very junior but this type of program suited his more athletic style. Spins were great though. 3L+3T (it didn't look pretty but was clean); 3R; 2A 27. Yosuke Takeuchi /JPN/ He had my favourite dark blue costume which looks like it has just burst with flames inside. The music was "Night on a Bald Mountain" and the choreography was very different and interesting. Shame about the jumps. 3L+3T; 3A (landing forwards on two feet and fell); 3F (stepped out) 26. Tomas Verner /CZE/ Tomas was wearing dark green trousers and white shirt with black zebra pattern. The music was "Victory" by Bond (the same that Zhangs used). He suffered from skating first. I think that he should have qualified. He is only 15 and looks like a child so I was really impressed by his abilities. He still lacks the choreography, the step sequences and the spins were slow but he's very young and he has a lot of time to develop. 3A (out of axes but somehow landed) + 2T; 3L; 2A 25. Juraj Sviatko /SVK/ Juraj had a brown, "indian" costume with a mouse at his back!!! Skated to Music de Indiana and although choreography was good in some parts, mostly he was skating through the music. 2A; 3L+3T (perfectly executed); 3F (just saved on the toepick) 24. Sergei Rylov /AZE/ Probably the most hideous outfit of the evening. Black with some red parts that looked like the material was cut. Maybe it was indeed and he was bleeding because he had a poor skate but he's been skating like that all season so no surprises. Choreography was nice but nothing special. His music was... "Jalousie". The same that Jamie&David used for their short. He is lucky to qualify but had the benefit of skating quite late. I'd have him 27th. 3F+3T (perfect quality on both); 2A; 2L (went for triple for sure, I don't know whether the double axel was planned or if he just doubled it) 23. Dmitri Dmitrenko /UKR/ I can't understand why he keeps on competing when his skating is so embarassing. He should have turned pro after getting the bronze medal at Europeans in 2000. He was skating to "Real World Eve" by Peter Gabriel and had his famous beige costume with loads of flowers attached. It is so ugly! Well shame about the jumps because Dmitri had great choreography and very fast spins, getting good positions. He will be a great choreographer when he turns pro. 3A (double footed), turn into 2T; 3F; 2A 22. Sergei Davydov /BLR/ This guy had a disaster Olympics where he couldn't land a thing in the free. At the beginning of the season he won some international competitions but seems not to be able to cope with the pressure at the big events. That's the case here as well, I guess. He was wearing a blue costume with some silver glitter in parts. Nice. The music was "Judith" by Nick Perrito and the routine was choreographed by Elena Tschaykovskaya so you can imagine that his presentation was very good. His spins were excellent as well. I think he should be a couple of places higher but he skated early and that was the case of many guys who had good skates yet they find themselves lower than they should be. 3A+2T; 3L (hard fall, weight went too far back); 2A 21. Roman Skorniakov /UZB/ The music was "Jalousie" again. He had a dull costume. Beige shirt and brown trousers and the same goes for his choreography. There wasn't any noticable choreography really. Just skated thorugh the music. And it's very strange because his program was choreographed by Alexander Zhulin, so you would expect the presentation to be much better. Again I think that he was overmarked because he skated in the third group. I'd have him 27th or so. 3A (stepped out) + 2T; 3L (long pause after the steps); 2A 20. Markus Leminen /FIN/ Markus was dressed in a blue shirt and black trousers, skating to the music by Dire Straits. It's such a shame that he skated so early (in the first group). He should be inside the top 15. It was the best skate I've seen from him for a very, very long time. Nice choreography, sold the program really well and the jumps were there. He had a disaster at the Europeans and finally managed to cope with the pressure here in Nagano. 3A (a big lean, made a spiral on the landing) + 2T; 3L; 2A 19. Vakhtang Murvanidze /GEO/ He was wearing an ugly red and pink "folk costume" which was to match his music ("Czardas") I suppose. He made mistakes as always but sold the program very well. He's a real showman! However I think that Dmitrenko, Davydov, and surely Leminen, were better. 3A (stepped out) + 2T; 3L; 2A 18. Stephane Lambiel /SUI/ Stephane had a disaster! He was skating to the tango music called "Ya Basta". As always he had great spins and nice style but he couldn't land the jumos. He doesn't have the difficult moves, the others have and needs to be foot perfect to get a decent placement. He wasn't and, in all honesty, with so many guys having such a good skates he shouldn't qualify. He was lucky because he skated last in the penaltment group and that held him up. 3L+3T (stepped out, ran out of room); 3F (stepped out); 2A 17. Ben Ferreira /CAN/ He was skating to some bluesy music entitled: "Who's that creepin'". He was wearing black trousers, violet shirt and a tie. The program was just average. Nothing fantastic, no big floors to mention either. His choreography was very generic. I'd have him below Leminen. 3A+2T; 3L (long pause after the steps); 2A 16. Song Gao /CHN/ Very simple black costume. Some glitter sprinkled on his shirt. His music was "The Heart of the Brave" and brave he was indeed. After he landed the axel, I wouldn't expect a triple toe on the end of it. Song is an average Chinese skater. Jumps are great, rotated very fast. However there was probably no choreography at all and the spins were very weak. Both step sequences were easy, his footwork was very basic. It's a shame beacause if he had a better skating quality, he would be in the top ten, having such a good jumping technique. 3A+3T; 3L; 2A 15. Min Zhang /CHN/ His music was from "Braveheart". His outfit was from charity, probably. Brown trousers, white shirt with ruffles and black gloves. Ugly. He landed three quads in his qualification, couldn't land even one here. Again there was hardly any choreography and problems with the spins. After he finished the program, he was almost in tears. 3A; 4T (stepped out) + 2T; 3L 14. Matthew Savoie /USA/ Matthew was wearing a violet shirt and black trousers. Skated to the music by Cirque de Solei and you could feel a real passion. The choreography was very nice. The spins were amazing! Some very interesting positions. Such a shame about the mistake. He landed the jump correctly and just lost the edge on the way out. 3A; 3F+3T; 3L (fell) 13. Ivan Dinev /BUL/ He is the first Bulgarian skater to land a quad. However as he isn't in a great form, he played safe and didn't go for quad here (he went for it at Europeans and Olympics). He was skating to a tango entitled "Spring in Buenos Aires" and had a nice dark red top with silver decoration and black trousers. Choreography was above average but nothing special here. 3F; 3A+2T; 2A 12. Frederic Dambier /FRA/ He skated to "The Last Temptation of the Christ" in the campest outfit of the night. Very tight black trousers (like if he was saying: "Look at my ass!") and see-through black top. There were some red vines on his costume. He had good spins and I think that his choreography, music and costume made a good overall package. 3A (double footed); 4S+2T; 3F (had to fight for it) 11. Anthony Liu /AUS/ He competed for China some years ago but not anymore. He has been living in Australia for a very long time now and has the nationality already. You can see easily that he comes from China as he lacks the basic skating quality. He skated to "Pearl Harbor", dressed in a uniform-like costume. The choreography was lacking and spins were poor. But his quad was a real monster. Enormous! 4T+3T (hop on the landing); 3L; 2A (he hasn't doubled, it was planned) 10. Kevin van der Perren /BEL/ He comes to Nagano as a Junior Worlds silver medalist. This is his last event in the season which was the best in his life. I have never seen a skater improve so much in one year. He ran out of steam in his qualification and I was afraid that he is too tired after all the events but he was foot perfect! Skated to "Tango Lesson", wearing a blue costume with pockets. And putting his hands inside them is a trademark of this program. His spins and choreography still look a bit junior and need improvement but the jumps are there already. 3A+3T; 3L; 2A 9. Andrejs Vlascenko /GER/ He skated very early and really set the standard for this competition. Had a dull costume (brown shirt, black trousers) but there was nothing dull about his skating. The music was "Variations on a Theme by Paganini" and he interpreted it very well. Spins were great, he has an overall skating quality. Presentation was good, the jumps too. Both lutz and axel were perfect and it was a shame that he couldn't get the triple toe out at the end of the combination. 3A+2T; 3L; 2A 8. Brian Joubert /FRA/ He was great in Lausanne, where he captured bronze medal, but couldn't produce in Salt Lake City. He is back to form again! He skated to "Mexican Hat Dance" and I would advice him taking some dancing lessons. He needs to improve his presentation, all the technical elements are there. 4T+2T; 3A (turn out of the landing); 3F 7. Jeffrey Buttle /CAN/ It's the first time I saw him and he really impressed me. Jeff was wearing black trousers and a black shirt with one sleeve red. "Last Emperor" was the music and I felt that the program could use a bit more choreography. All the technical elements were perfect though. He's an amazing spinner! I'd have him sixth, above Li as his spins were much, much better. 3F+3T; 3A; 3L 6. Chengjiang Li /CHN/ He was skating to Martial Arts music which was really horrible just like his red costume. His presentation has improved but still is his weak side. The spins were... suprise, suprise, very poor. No question mark about his jumping ability though. But it was a strange idea to do a quad as a solo jump and he only could do a double axel because he did the triple as a combination. 4T; 3A+3T; 2A 5. Michael Weiss /USA/ Michael was wearing black trousers and a black t-shirt with red, glittering stripes. The music was "Malaguena" and he has a very mature presentation. He is the male Maria Butyrskaya. If he went clean, he should be 2nd but he had that mistake on the quad. One judge failed to spot it though and gave him 5.9 for technical merit! 4T (double footed) +3T; 3A; 3L 4. Timothy Goebel /USA/ Tim has skated exactly like at the Olympics. All the jumps were clean. You could say that he skated a bit through the "Danse Macabre" but his presentation improved dramatically, comparing to the last season. He could work on the spins a bit more. Theoretically he should get a 0.3 deduction for double footed take off on his quad sal but the judges don't seem to care about that. 4S+3T; 3A; 3F 3. Takeshi Honda /JPN/ The music was Don Quixote and he had his olympic beige costume. He skated this short much worse than at the Olympics but there were no major floors. He was fast, had good spins and presented the program well but he had to fight for the combination as he almost ran out of room! His lutz was horrible. It was supposed to be the lutz but I haven't observed an outside edge so you can't even call it a flutz. It was something strange with three turns that was supposed to be the lutz but I would take it for a flip. Apart from that, very well done. 4T+3T; 3A; 3L (flutz) 2. Alexander Abt /RUS/ Shame that he couldn't skate so well in Salt Lake. He was perfect here. The music was from some Armenian movies and he skated from the heart. Great presentation, great fluid style of skating. Deserved to be in second. If he skates like that in the free, he'll easily get the silver. 4T+3T; 3A; 3L 1. Alexei Yagudin /RUS/ What can you say. He is one of the best skaters ever. Wasn't perfect here, had a lean on the lutz and had to fight for it, but all the other elements were as good as they get. The music was "Winter" by Bond and the choreography was something else. Breathtaking performance. Just like at the Olympics, just like at the Europeans. I don't think that he deserved a six for technical merit, nevertheless he won by a country mile. Hope he turns pro after this season to enable somebody else become a World Champion. After this short and the qualification, I can't imagine Alexei losing here. 4T+3T (perfect); 3A (perfect); 3L (lean) |
| The skaters are listed from the one who finished last to the one who was first. L is lutz. R is loop (rittberger). |