Got home from work late, so managed to miss Steven. Phoned a friend, who
bless her, was home early. She said he went clean (3A/2T, but the lutz had
gaps between the steps) but he was undermarked. I'm hoping they'll repeat
it. Sandhu was pretty bad, sorry to tell you. He fell on the triple axle,
and doubled the lutz (if that was his solo triple, I'm not sure, dinner was
fighting to stay down) Schmidt of Luxembourg is skating now.

Plushenko was great, although his 3A was slightly 2 footed. The crowd loved
him -watch for the fan with the giant teddy bear! Yagudin was clean as
well. He's in the lead, Plushenko third, Zaggy is 3rd, I think. We're at
the end of the third group, so we'll have checks in a minute...........

Schmit is 14th....Vlaschenko 4th , Steve 5th Dinev 6th.....Sandhu is 17 of
eighteen so far, and looking at who's to follow, it don't look good.

Tobel.....what is he wearing??.....down on 3A....huge crowd reaction for
the footwork...very off the wall, can you imagine the free? Nearly had 3A
too.... ordinals from 6 to 13, for 9 overall

Shmerkin..step out of 3A, good camel combo spin, nice footwork, crowd is
noisy at end of routine....6th overall

Honda...words of wisdom from Galina...3A, just holds onto 2toe...washe
really a short trackspeed skater?....down on the lutz....Slow goinginto
flying spin, and coming out of it...good ice coverage with footwork, nice
2A, strong ending. 4.7 to 5.2 tech....5.0 to 5.4 art...6th overall

Tamura...just held onto 3flip 2 toe, nearly fell on flying back sit
(yep, it is possible, Steve did it once) double lutz, VERY bad fall on
footwork after teh double lutz. No reason, just a bad splat. 4.0 to 4.3
tech....4.7 in and around for presentation.

Vidrai...looks like he's wearing a dress....3A/2t ...3lutz off
steps....fabulous 2A, good spin, no travel at all...this is weird music,but
by gum, he's selling it! Very very good technically. LEft me a little
artistically, but these should be good... WHAT!! 4.4 to 5.something
tech....4.8 to 5.1 pres, ok... 8th right now.

Todd the Bod, and the crowd goes wild. I'll give this my undivided
attention... NO I WON'T!! HE'S MISSED THE TRIPLE AXEL!!!!!! OFF FROM THE
GET GO!!! SHOCK!!!! Good triple lutz... nice spin, no travel...easy double
axel. Footwork, selling it as much as he can, it is Todd after all, still
it ain't bad. Combo spin to finish, but what a shame! The crowd are on
their feet, there's Mom and Dad, but he does not look happy.Yep, body
weight just tipped out of the circle, he was fine on takeoff. Got double
toe. It's just showed his parent's reaction when he fell. Is that Jill
Trenary behind and to his dads right? 5.0 to 5.6 tech. (That Hungarian is
whacked) 3 5.9s for pres, down to 5.5. He's 3rd.

Zamboni break....he's group hugging the flower girls, that's sweet.

We can hear a back stage interview. Reporter asked him what he thought.
"Could've beeen better"

What happened to your triple axel?

Missed it! It was too big and too wild...I wasn't nervous...I just tried
too hard

Thats' part of what was said, I didn't get it all, but he was very civil to
her..I'd have told her exactly where to shove the mike!!

Tysslon...clean 3A/2T, got the flip all wrong, all wrong! Got it back
together. It looks like the toe slipped, ended up tucking the legs under
himself. Eek! Choreographed by Igor Bobrin....music In Memory of John
Lennon... 4.0 to 4.9, 4.9 to 5.4. 14th

Piluta....looked like he nearly slipped going into it, but got the
3A/2T, great 3Lutz, stepped out of the 2Axel, so .3 off...pity.The rest is
fine. Very balletic, elegant, classically Russian. "Bet he's saying to
himself "You idiot" and he wouldn't be far wrong" (Simon Reed) Yet another
long wait...this'll be fun.. still waiting....4.8 to 5.1, those are HARSH
4.9 to 5.5, but he's 7th, so not too bad.

Weiss....is it just me, or is that costume an exact replica of Elvis'
Love is on the Way costume from Lausanne? Seriously, maybe I'm
hallucinating from Elvis withdrawal, but still! Lisa looks calm...ooh,
flamenco..(I've not seen this) amazing 3Lutz off steps....very low landing
on the axel, takeoff all over the place, but alnds it, 2toe, great spins
wow!....crowd clapping along.. huge 2axel,,,, sit spin is soooooo
low!.....huge flying sit spin....WOW!!! that was fantastic! Superb! Loved
it! (Can you tell!) Has to be third, at least, if not higher. They cannot
put him below Todd, no way. I'd have him first, but I'm not fond of
Russians as you know. Landed 3Lutz with arms crossed...how did he do that
axle? There's Dad. Well done Mike! 5.2 to 5.7 What!! 5.4 to 5.8. Third
overall, Todds 4th.

Guo 3A/3T...flyning back sit...Lord of the Dance, cool
music....3lutz...step out of 2A, nice sit spins, to music.....hard music to
interpret, he just seemed to skate through it. Hard to keep up with the
pace. They're saying it's hard to keep up with. .3deduction for stepping
off. if that (Steven is 7th at the moment) tech 4.7 to 5.4 ..pres 4.8 to
5.4 ...ouch 12th!

Leminen (who?) Pink Floyd music...coached by Robert Tebby and Doug
Leigh, I'll root for him! 3A/2toe, good boy!! Fell out of the lutz, steps
questionable...clean 2A....I love the spins, no trace of travel....footwork
a little slow, could be dodgy, nice flying sit.... not bad, he's happy!
Similar style of skating to Steven. 4.6 to 5.2 tech, he is happy. Thrilled
with presentation 4.8 to 5.2, 12th

Langdon. Not bad. Another man in black ,and quite a cutie. Love all the
banners from the Canadians. Encourages crowd to clap...YES! 3A/2T !!. 3
flip..seems to go up high with picking foot, but do I care? Good spins and
footwork, the crowd are eating it up. 2A, super. Such speed! Straight line
step is fantasitc, sucj a low spin! YEOW!!! Canadians be happy, he was
FANTASTIC!!!!!! Not Elvis of course, but not bad at all. I can carry on my
14 year tradition of following Canadian men!! (So that's what Michelle
Leigh looks like!) ooh... 5.1 to 5.3....4.9 to 5.6....8th!!!?? Hello,
inquiry! Fifth, maybe, but 8th??
Steven is 7th, Jeff 8th. It was the draw did Steven in. Not in top group.
Oh well. Sandhu is 29th....what does thatmean for next year?