Keep meaning to sit down and write this, but between one thing and another
it seems like I only get the chance on Sunday afternoons! This week, it's
my extremely insightful (**ahem**) thoughts on men at worlds, mostly based
on and relating to the (wow of a) free skate.

Those who didn't make it to the finals who really impressed me, you can
probably guess from my first email. The most obvious one is the best thing
to come out of Denmark since bacon, Michael Tylleson. His free skate, which
we saw at qualifying was "The Man in the Iron Mask" and it was just
adorable. I thought I'd get sick of that music since three people used it,
but no, it's just fabulous. And he used it well, I especially loved a
little posey bit that he does in the middle, where he has his hands joined
together in front of his face, and he does this little peek-a-boo thing
from behind them....melt melt! Missed that photo op at practice, missed it
on the Monday, thought I'd get it on the Friday, but such things are not
meant to be. Short program was weird - went splat on the triple axel, and
the lutz, I think he doubled it, but it was obvious from the moment his
foot picked in that he was in a lot of trouble, this huge chunk of ice went
flying up, there was no saving it. The music was his Eleanor Rigby
piece....yes, I loved it. Michael has the artistry down pat, he's a
pleasure to watch, he was just having some problems with his jumps this
week.

Also one I was screaming for was our repatriated paddy, Neil Wilson. Didn't
make it out of qualifying, so I don't think we gave him the luck of the
Irish! I do like his skating though, and I think he can go far. His spins
are amazing, centred, fast, the whole nine. What he needs, and couldn't
live without in this event anyway is the triple axel. I was gritting my
teeth everytime he did it, because the whole time he's a half rotation
short, and glaringly so. If he was a quarter turn short, he'd have a shot
at cheating it, which is bad, but doesn't look as bad! He's a really
graceful, balletic skater, reminds me a lot of John Curry. I took some
photos of Neil and sent them to the webmaster of the Niceweb site, which
has a page for Neil on it. If they're put up, I'll send you the url.

We were also rooting for Clive Shorten (western brits for the week, right
Nora?) who is a different kind of skater to Neil. He's more obviously
masculine, as someone said to me during the week, he looks like he'd fit in
well on a building site! I can't recall seeing a triple axel all week, even
in practice, although he was injured a couple seasons ago, and was doing
the axel before that, but I'm not sure if he has it all back yet. What I
absolutely recall seeing is him keeping on trying to land a triple loop
triple loop combination and getting it once! He was more often than not
doing the triple double, but still it was a really impressive bit of
skating by him. Just couldn't put it all together in qualifying, and paid
the price. Next years British nationals look like being really interesting,
with both of these going for the one place that they have in the Euros and
worlds. And guess where British nationals are being held? Neil Wilson's
home rink, Dundonald, Northern Ireland! I'm thrilled - good skating, no
flying! Yay!

Before I go on to the top 24, let me just say a couple of things about the
mens free in general. Thursday night was THE BEST NIGHT OF FIGURE SKATING
EVER. I sincerely believe that. The first skater out was Marcus Leminen
(hometown boy) the next was Margus Hernits (skated to Lord of the Dance)
Now I ask you - can you think of a better two skaters to get the crowd
going? And they did - they both skated great. But it didn't stop there. One
by one, every skater came out and skated great. Every single one. (except
Andrejs Vlashenko, but skating 23 of 24, he's guaranteed to blow up, and
even then, his routine, while the worst we've seen wouldn't have been the
worst at any other competition)

I've not seen much discussion about this, but let me ask you, do you know
how many falls we had on Thursday night?

Take a guess. Of 24 skaters, how many falls do you think we saw?

You want the answer?





One. Un. Uno. Ceann Amháin.




We had touch downs, double footed landings, pops into doubles, but we only
had one sit down, butt on the ice, rest a spell fall.

(Which by the way, came from Emmanuel Sandhu. I don't like to say anything,
but my diary entry for that day does in fact read "take that Bev Smith!")

That's pretty remarkable by anyones standards,and tells you a lot about the
kind of skating that we saw that night.It was a nice surprise after one of
the sloppiest short programs I've ever seen. If people didn't fall on jumps
there, they doubled them, or slipped on footwork, or fell out of a spin, or
something stupid like that. The free is made even more remarkable by the
fact that of the 24 skaters in the final group, 23 landed at least one
clean triple axel. (Patrick Meier stepped out of his) What more can you say
about a night like that?

Well, this is me. I can say plenty.

Markus Leminen - Doug Leigh strikes again. How does he keep finding these
skaters that I just fall in love with? I don't even think anymore - it's
like "He's coached by Doug? Yay!! Go on you!" And since he was the hometown
boy, he was guaranteed a good reception. He's a lot like Steven Cousins for
me, great presentation, boy can he sell to the crowd, but has a little
trouble with his jumps. But even though he finished 24 of 24, he still
skated well, landed his axel and everything. And he's such a little cutie!
Nora wasn't convinced of this, but once she actually saw him skate, she
changed her mind. I think he can go a long way....probably not to the top,
but quite a way. His gala program was where he most reminded me of Steven.
He skated to "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor Doctor)" by Robert Palmer,
very high energy, complete with doctor's coat which he "lost" halfway
through the routine. And if someone sitting in say, section 120, row 8,
seat 10, said something along the lines of "he could doctor me anytime"
well, what about it?

Margus Hernits - made a silly silly mistake in the short, falling out of a
spin of all things, and was criminally undermarked in the qualifying,
having set the place alight with Lord of the Dance. I may or may not have
yelled out "Shoot the Finnish judge" between this and the marks for Neil.
But he was so good, he just flew across the ice. Finished 19th in the free
skate and 19th overall, one place lower than last year, but if he can get
the judges to mark him fairly, and stop the silly mistakes, he can do
better.

Patrick Meier - aside from the little aside about the triple axel, I can't
remember a thing about this routine. I remember a Harlequin costume. That's
all.

Robert Grzegorczyk - also known as the routine where Jeanine sappily
remembers Elvis' routine to Dragon as Robert skates to it. And makes quite
agood fist of it. Used slightly different cuts of the soundtrack to Elvis
mercifully, which obliterated a lot of comparisons. Finished last on the
free...he was good, but there wasn't the spark that was in Markus Leminen's
preformance. He's a little wooden in terms of his presentation.

Emanuel Sandhu. First fall of the night, and a shock it was too. Also was
to be the only fall of the night, and I can't say that enough. His ballet
training really shows through, and in spite of myself I've got to admit
that his jumps are a sight to behold. They're more powerful than you might
expect for someone of his build, and they're very secure. However, Nora and
I both agree that he creeps both of us out. He's too stretchy! And **that**
spin.....I've seen a couple of skaters practice it, and why? why, Why, WHY?
It's the ugliest thing I've ever seen! Another part of my problem with him
is that when he's on the ice, he seems totally insulated, totally absorbed
in the routine, it's like there's no-one else there, no audience at all.

Roman Skorniakov. Shadow of Tatiana Malinina for the week, and she was at
the boards, cheering him on. She had plenty to cheer about, although I
wonder, looking at what he was wearing, if she was really checking to see
if he'd borrowed one of her blouses on the sly. Finished 20th on the free,
21st overall. Worst result ever at worlds for him, although this field was
pretty steep. Although that being said, I've no doubt he'll carry on next
year. He's not so hard to look at either!

Anthony Liu - my dear boy, what has happened to this little Ozzie chappy?
His free was to Mission Impossible and he was amazing! Skating 7th out of
the box, and he gets marks enough to finish 9th on the free? 10th overall.
He didn't even make it out of the short program at the Olympics last year,
that's the last time I remember seeing him skating. He just came out and
blew away half of the field, I was in shock. All going well, I can't wait
to see him in Brisbane next year. If he keeps improving like he's improved
this year, the Aussies are gonna have something to shout about, especially
when Joanne Carter recovers from her injury. Mind you, they'll need it with
the ice dance team they have, but that's another letter. Anthony Liu -
watch out for him!

Vakhtang Murvanidze - certifiable mad yoke, a character on the lines of
Philippe Candeloro, although Vakhtang remembers to keep his shirt on, thank
God! He lists his hobbies as music dancing boxing and girls, so that tells
you a little about him! Short was to Scent of a Woman - think the Al Pacino
character on ice and there you go. Long was Sherlock Holmes, where he was
dressed as a butler, and he did the whole bowing, and letting people in.
Considering I was expecting a pipe and deerstalker, I was quite surprised,
although nothing should surprise me with him! 18th on the free 17th
overall, and he's only 19. I predict if not gold medals, certainly audience
adoration. He's not the prettiest to look at, but he gives some bang for
your buck.

Trifun Zivanovic. Choccy Tiffin. I'd never seen him skating, and wasn't
sure what to expect. I loved him. His short was to "The Rocketeer" which,
of course, I love, and he did the triple axel solo, a triple lutz triple
toe then went and doubled the flip! I could've wept, because of course,
that dropped him like a stone. Long program was to West Side Story,
choreographed by Scott Williams, a skater I adore and never see enough of,
and while my original thought was "WWS again??" by the end of qualifying,
I'd forgotten that anyone else had ever skated to it. Trifun seems like a
really versatile skater, at the start he was skating to some of the real
schmoozy bits, then when he went into the more lyrical "Somewhere" he could
do that too. I just didn't want it to end!

Timothy Goebel. Oh darling. (Gush coming, dead ahead) Before I gush about
Tim, let me just say that I was predisposed to like him because of who his
coach is. I've seen Carol Heiss Jenkins interviewed on tv, in magazines, in
books, I've seen her with her other students who I like (Aren Nielson,
Tonia K) and I just think that she's a fabulous lady. Seeing her around in
Helsinki, my opinion hasn't changed. She's great. I will always look at her
students with a favourable eye. Tim is no exception. I saw him when he won
Nebelhorn in 96 (??) and I have his gala piece on video, he did an Elvis
medley. I liked what I saw, and although I never got to see him skate
since, I followed his career, and was thrilled when he did the quad sal
last year. So I was all ready to scream for him in Helsinki. It was beyond
even my wildest dreams! When he came out in qualifying, and landed the sal,
I was nearly in tears. I was so thrilled for him and for Carol, and so
disgusted with the marks when I saw them. 5.2 with a clean quad for
technical? Short program, traditional format, 3flip, 3a/2t, 2a, marks
4.8-5.2 for technical, 5.0-5.3 presentation, again I though that a little
low. Long program. If I never again go to another live skating event, I am
so glad that I got to see this! I can't remember anything from the first
bit of the program, I just remember being on the edge of my seat waiting
for the quad sal, praying for him to get it. When he went up, I was like,
"1-2-3-4-yes!!!" all ready to cheer loudly when it dawned on me that the
free leg was going back, and I'm like "1-2-3.....oh my god!!" Incoherence
abound, that was me! What struck me was the look on his face when he did
the combination - when he came out of the toe, he was looking right at
Carol, who was jumping, and he just put his hands over his face, you could
almost hear him thinking "oh my God, I can't believe it!" It was so nice!
For the rest of the routine, I was like "keep thinking, don't do anything
stupid!" I nearly died when he tried the quad toe. But at the end, I was up
cheering, so happy for him. Marks were ridiculous - the 4.7 for technical
got a huge boo, it was way out of step with the rest. He landed 7 clean
triples for crying out loud! But it was the quad sal combo that got me -
I'm so tickled to have been there!

Evgeny Pliuta. The only reason I know he skated is because I have pictures.
How I took them I don't know, I was on planet Tim. We were looking out for
the quad lutz here, but we didn't see it. Liked the music, but he's a
little too insipid, both in looks and skating style for my taste.

Szabolcs Vidrai. His motorcycle thing again, with the Rocky Horror show to
finish off. Why didn't he work the Timewarp in there? He limped off the
ice at the end of the free, he looked like he hurt himself, you could see
him grimacing all the way through by the end. I like him better in person,
although I'm not sure about the blonde hair though.

By now, it was intermission in the free and we were more than ready to
catch our breath. The atmosphere in the arena was electric, everyone was so
pumped up. Those of us who had seen lots of competitions, some who were
arena vetrans, other who were Eurosport vetrans were especially gobsmacked.
I'd never seen an evening like it, ever.

First up was Stefan Lindeman, or as we called him, Little Lindeman the
Leprechaun. His short was to Erin's Shore/Toss the Feathers by the Corrs,
so we felt right at home! His long was to the Day Light soundtrack, and by
the end of the routine, we were all hyped up and screaming again. He may be
small, but he fills up the ice, he's got such a presence and great power on
the ice. And I'm looking for him to do great things in the future. Between
him and Vlaschenko, to my mind at least, there's just no competition. Once
he gets a little seasoning under him, maybe a quad, he'll blow the others
away. And even without a quad, pound for pound, you won't get much better
entertainment than him.

Unless it's Laurant Tobel. The Finnish judge in qualifying hated him,
giving him the lowest marks he got off the panel and thereby proving my
theory that violence was in order for that person. Short program, he did
3a/3t, hand down on 3toe, 3lz and 2a, but didn't really get the marks. In
the long - wow! Performance of a lifetime! Landed the 3a/3t and never
looked back. The bit to the Pink Panther theme brought the place down, and
by the time he got to the last cut of it, it was a case of "sell baby sell"
We lead the standing O in our section, and all around the arena people
were standing too. The noise was something else...and he actually took the
only other fall of the night on his way to the kiss and cry! Annick was
bouncing up and down, we got some great shots of her on the jumbotron!

Ivan Dinev - the boy looks like he has a permanent frown and he wasn't a
happy camper after his free program. 13th on the free to finish 14 overall,
this was not what he was looking for. Dropped like the proverbial stone.

Zhengin Guo - yes indeed. Quad watch. And he landed one in the qualifying.
And in the short. And in the free. And he landed all his triples. And if he
got some advice on presentation, I might sound more enthused. It's actually
much more glaringly obvious in person more so than on tv that he needs a
lot of help in this area. The judges were pretty clear on it too. Technical
marks were way up there, second set took a huge hammering. Not that I
disagree, but it's what he needs to address.

Takeshi Honda. Silly mistake in the short. But the free. Skated to Man
inthe Iron Mask, and he was fantastic. At the risk of sounding cliche,
Honda looked like a Rolls Royce there. (Chris Howarth, not me!) I saw him
at Nebelhorn too, in 95 when he won it, and I can't believe how far he's
come in 3 short years. Its amazing. And of course Doug coaches him too! But
I hadn't seen him skate since Nagano..or was it Minneapolis? Anyhow, lads,
you told me he'd improved, you didn't tell me how much! He's fantastic!
Artistry, presentation, solid jumps, the quad ( I was on the phone to
Bronagh the next day, she says to me me that Honda was great, did I see the
quad. Once I told her that he actually landed it right in front of us and
we couldn't miss it, I could hear her turning green!) - he has the lot.
4th on the free, 6th overall, the fall on the quad in the short and the
resulting 8th place was what killed him. Next year, I'm backing him for the
podium.

Dmitry Dmitrenko - Romeo and Juliet and since I was on planet Takeshi and
was all too aware in the latter stages of the routine of the next group
coming out to warm up, let's just say that I was none too attentive. I do
remember that he wasn't as good as Takeshi, and the fact that he was 11th
on the free backs me up. Didn't he double a lot of jumps? I must check my
tape.

Now the next group was warming up. Let me just say that by Thursday
morning, we had sussed where they posted the skate order, way before they
put the photocopied sheets in the trays at the door. Thus, this was our
first port of call. We looked at the start order for the last group first.
My immediate thought was not very articulate, and not very loud, but
straight from the heart. Namely "S***" Repeated for emphasis. The fact that
Elvis was skating first was bad enough. When I saw that Weiss was skating
last, I turned to Nora and said then and there that he had the bronze. I
had explained factored placement to Nora the Tuesday night, using the
possible results from the free as examples, so she knew exactly where I was
coming from. Namely, that even if Weiss had a bad skate, the judges could
still put him above Elvis, who had been getting pretty low marks all week,
and probably wouldn't hesitate to do so. A few people I had been talking to
during the week mentioned that Elvis looked like he was getting "goodbye
marks" all week.

Elvis - Elvis was 6th out of the box, so at least I got it over with early.
I was extremely nervous, but as Bronagh told all of you, I got through it
ok, and you know how I thought Elvis did. I loved Merlin on
first sight, and I loved his costume. It grew on me! The short program -
good lord above, you guys were nervous! I coudn't get over the list traffic
over that one! I have to admit, and Nora will bear this out, I was so calm
it was unbelievable. Not a nerve in my body. I think once I saw that he was
drawn last it was going to be ok. WHen he doublefooted the quad I was
shocked, but not as shocked as I was when I saw the marks. At the hostel
that night, we saw the short again on tv (gee the hardship!) and the
ordinals knocked me off my feet. 6th place was way too low in what had to
be one of the sloppiest short programs I've ever sat through. By and large
they all underperformed. (By the way, the site you were all relying on for
your screen stills? That's Eurosport, the tv channel that I see all my
skating on. They go live right the way through the competition, it's how I
can give you those summaries that you all like so much! ) Now, because I
was so calm in the short and I had more or less made up my mind that Weiss
had the bronze no matter what, I thought I wouldn't be nervous. How wrong
can I be? I was so nervous, I was shaking. I was talking to a very nice
German girl behind me, who also was an Elvis fan, and she was nervous as
me. I swear, I will never ever again think badly of relatives of skaters
who can't look at them skate, because I know exactly how they feel. My
exact words were " I did not come all the way to Helsinki to leave before
he skates" I freely admit it, punt signs were the only things that kept me
in my seat. Even the clean flip at the start didn't calm me down. When he
fell out of the quad, it was right in front of us, and I nearly threw up.
Nora offered me her hand to squeeze which I did when the axel came up,
again right in front of us. THe only thing was, when he did the axel, I
started clapping, and harder again when he did the toe, unfortunately, I
forgot I was holding Nora's hand, and moshed it a little. Sorry Nora! But
I've never been so nervous.The quad double calmed me down, I didn't expect
him to get the loop, it was that kinda night, but the look on his face at
the end! You all saw it, you don't need me to tell you. All in all, I was
quite surprised that my leprechaun made it to the ice, I was shaking when I
threw it. Anna, the German girl was just as bad. When it was over, I just
hugged Nora.....how can Irene sit there so calm?

Yagudin - Nora was just as bad as I was, and she repaid me handsomely. He
was injured, we could tell that much from the practices, and in the short,
when he put his hand down, Nora just about had a heart attack! In the long,
I thought we were going to be scraping her off the ceiling! I'm not a
particular fan of Yagudin. His short irritates me, his long doesn't do a
thing for me, but I have to give him his dues. He came out there, injured,
and gave the performance of his life. I have heard it called the
performance of the championships, but for me, that was Tim Goebel. Yags was
definitely the winner on the night, there's not a doubt of that. It was
hard to believe that that performance would be beaten, and the marks
removed all doubt. Especially the 6.0 from the Polish judge. Interesting
story which we heard later - that judge was retiring, and the mens free was
his last event. He was bound and determined to give a 6.0 out, so when he
saw Yags' skate, that got one!

Urmanov - the tone was set in practice when he started running through the
routine and Nora and myself collapsed in giggles. All that preening and
prancing, "look at what a man I am!" - it looked more like self parody to
me, hence the giggles. Jumps were good, but the whole package does nothing
for me. Short program was weird -slipping on footwork? Come on!

Plushenko - I like him much better in person, and his gala performance
doesn't even remind me of Mr Humphries anymore!! Short program was
outstanding even if the costume was a disaster, deservedly in front. Long
program.... well it was pretty much done and dusted for us after the hand
down on the quad, the stumble in footwork just copperfastened it. There was
an audible gasp when that happened! ANd it happened because of just what
I've always said about him - too cocky, too sure of himself, and look what
happens.

Vlashenko - I had said to Nora when we saw the order, and I'd calmed down,
that there was no way on God's green earth that he was going to skate 23
out of 24 and hold his nerve to do well. Remember Paris 97 was my mantra. I
was expecting him to blow up, so I wasn't that surprised when he had was to
me was the worst skate of the night. I'm not a Vlashenko fan, so I may be
biased, but anyhow 10th on the free, 9th overall.

Weiss. What do I say about him? About the qualifying, I have to give him
all credit. He knew he needed the quad, knew he'd never landed it before,
and in spite of what I have said and written before, he put it in and he
pulled it off. Credit where credit is due, even if I don't like him! Short
program, he was 4th, and were it not for the fact that he was behind Elvis,
I would've been saying he should have been higher. That was a clean short,
the new format, and even if I didn't like it, he skated well. In the long,
like I say, I knew he'd get the bronze, just a feeling I had, but he did
deserve it. Anna was sitting behind me, and we had the same train of
thought before he skated, as we had for all the skaters after Elvis. She
leaned forward before Michael started and said "One fall and Elvis has
bronze!" I wasn't convinced, and once Michael landed the triple flip
triple toe combination, I knew it was all over. Again, much praise to him.
With his track record, trying the quad was a risk, but he made it, albeit
with a shonky landing. His gala performance surprised the heck out of me, I
actually liked it, even if he skated to Paul's music of "Touch Me" (Nora
couldn't believe I knew all the words!) And in a perverted twist of fate,
the two pictures that turned out the best in the gala (Spots and my camera
didn't get on!) were of Michael. Definition of irony anyone?

Overall, the mens free alone was worth the price of the tickets. Best night
of mens skating ever, and even though Elvis didn't get a medal, finishing
fourth in that free was no disgrace, no disgrace at all. Any other night,
his performance would've got him a medal, and it would've won many other
competitions. I thought before I went to Helsinki that if he didn't get a
medal it'd be the end of the world, but I was much more philosophical after
the event. What a night!