Roman Skorniakov
Tatiana at the boards....pinky white blouse, black trousers.....3a3toe,
being married must suit him! Don't speak too soon I hear you say but he
lands the lutz! Deduction for no linking steps though....nice spins, nice
and low on the sit....perfect 2a....camel to sit to laybacky type thing and
other positions which I don't have time to type before it's
over......steps, and he looks tired! Flying spin to finish, and wow! Is he
happy or what! Best we've seen so far...group one will follow at the end of
the night, but you didn't miss much!
Marks .... 4.4-5.0 / 4.8-5.1

Ben Ferreira
Haven't seen him since Kurt's special way back when......and hasn't he grown
up well!!! Leather pants.....and you know me and Canadian skaters!
3a/2t.....yes! hand down on the lutz and he was flying into it....but nice
fast spin, although the sit position needs a helluva workout......cross foot
spin too which Chris christens brilliant.....please tell him to do something
about the sit spin postition and also eliminate the
travel.....steps......clean double axel.....flying sit and I give up.....and
he's done and me like very much! Shame about the lutz, but overall he gets
the Jeanine seal of approval, which lets face it, he's been looking for all
his life!<G> don't know what went wrong on the ,lutz, it looked fine, CHris
says late with the knee bend. I bow to his wisdom.....oh my. What a looker!
Comments about crumbs and beds are flitting across!
Marks ....4.2-4.7.../ 4.6-5.2
Second overall

Marcus Leminen
Speaking of lookers, crumbs and beds//////purple velvet trousers, white
blousey shirt, Gettysburg SDTK......swoon......sorry!.....3lz, perfect,
beautiful sort landing and a huige flying spin and the speed of it! hand
down on the triple axel, double toe...lots of fight, goes into sit change
sit.....straight line step the length of the rink as he goes into a piece of
music I also associate with TOdd the Bod....prefer this, and a clean double
axel landed with arms crossed.....how good is this fella???? Yumm......sorry
again.....camel spin to sit, to upright to sit...and he's done and oh baby!
He liked it, Simon didn't and who cares really??? Simon and Chris agree on
the lack of musical interpretation, esp on the step sequence.....it might be
true but my lustful gaze overruled my ears on that one......can you spell
bias? That wasn't bad at all....good thinking on the axel to get the lutz
out....
Marks....4.3-4.7 / 4.5-5.1 and he's third at the moment. Very good says
Robert Tebby

Konstantin Kostin
What is he wearing??? Bright blue, black bits flesh coloured net...Cirque du
Soleil's Incantation....can you do one to fix that costume??? All blue on
the front all black onthe back....triple axel. put the free leg down and
double toe....huge elevation but slow rotation...held the lutz
well......good position on the camel change camel but that costume gives me
a headache!....huge huge huge flying sit spin.....but baaad centering.....oh
my...arms folded RIGHT THE WAY THROUGH the double axel!!!! Oh my......now
that would make me forgive the costume......except for it looks mad weird
when you're spinning.....replays how did he hold the lutz????
Marks 3.4-4.5...thought they'd be higher than that.....4.4-4.9
He's 4th with Roman still leading.

Szabolcs Vidrai
OK, that hair is weird. Blues music and he holds a long starting pose.....oh
dear me....got the axel way wrong, and singled it....no height at all
whatsoever......lutz double.....oh me oh my a disaster. although his spin is
nice, nice varied position...and now he mimes the harmonica.....steps, and
the heart looks like it's gone......clean double axel.....Blues Brothers as
he does a nice and centered but slower as it goes on sit spin....and looks,
there's Robin COusins right behind him as he finishes and he sinks to his
knees and puts his head in his hands. Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh no. What a shame.
He has had problems though...his home rink burned down before Euros so he
had to train in Germany, and the axel, trust me, was all wrong.....usually
he's so good technically! And I've just seen his face on the replays of the
lutz...'twould make you weep......
Marks and he can hardly watch...joining the club.....long wait....long
wait.....3.0-4.1 / only 4 beneath him now, this is
danger....4.0-4.8.....eep!

Michael Tyllesen
You know how I feel about this man, so I'm gonna be all gushy now. (I hear
you cry, what do you mean now?!) George of the Jungle.....costume is
manky....triple axel...single toe!!!! Screaming now.....3flip!!! yes! stilll
screaming.........primal scream in the music...and you thought it was just
me!! Step sequence.....camel to sit change sit to upright.......he mimes
playing drums...double axel and the klaxons go!!! great sit spin, now there
is a position!! straight line step..........it's so much better when it's
clean! .3 off for not getting a double on the end of the combination and it
was so good! I'm so pleased for him! That's twice he's landed the triple
axel this week... and he nearly ran out of space there was no room for the
double toe! Oh I am so happy happy happy happy! And I'm smiling too! Oh yay!
this he says is his last competition....oh well.....but yay!! Woo-hoo....and
someone threw him the beanie baby Schweetheart...well he is a schweetheart
isn't he?? Bless him, bless him, yay!
Marks....be nice.....please....3.8-4.9 Canada what the bleepy bleep bleep
were you looking at???? 4.5-5.4....second overall, four 1st, Canada says
7th....

Dinev
Still Terracotta, still in unflattering beige. Can't someone make him stop,
please?? It's just not good! heavy landing on the 3a, no speed out of it,
did well to put on the double toe....triple flip....steps...to combo spin,
very little travel.....sit spin, very fast, change, sit spin....double
axel...and he's done....one hand is gloved, like a snake which explain the
snake charm music....could;ve been a more charming program personally, but
that's just me.....oh yeah, I can see the snake wrapped around him now,
that's why there's the weird yoke all over the costume.
Marks...4.6-5.1 and a shake of the head from him..../ 5.0-5.3
He's first overall

Restencourt
You should hear the noise!! Nice grey silky shirt, black trousers, 13th
Warrior, is this a new short for him? I think he had the natty one, and not
in a good way at Euros......triple axel double toe.....steps into triple
flip and this is looking better than his qual skate...sit change
sit....right on the money.....2ax.....step sequence.....camel to lousy sit
position to change sit and so on.....into flying sit.....and he's done and
now they have something to shout about!!! Great position in the air on the
triple axel...best so far....nailed the flip....
Marks .....4.7-5.3..../ 4.7-5.3 Australia has him in 5th! He leads overall


Goebel
Waistcoat and matching trousers, glitter tie......Caravan......in sit spin
with a great position, really low....not so good after the change......quad!
quad sal out of nothing! Chris is speechless...which never happens!
axel...triple not neat, with a double toe...slipped on axel
takeoff.....lucky, very deep landing.....straight line step as he tries to
sell it....double axel, agian out of nowhere...nice sit spin again, not as
low on the back spin as he is on the forward I notice, winds up for a combo
spin to finish, and there's a smile! I think I may see tears! He made the
quad look like a double! He needs to do something about his shoulders, you
really notice the carriage in the sit spin,,,,left foot did indeed slip on
the axel and it was very obvioud But they showed the quad again and there
wasn't a flutter on it!
Marks....5.1-5.6 and he's gonna be first.....5.1-5.5...a row of ones!

Patrick Meier
Shiny silver shirt....ooh boy, shiny! Desifina is the music and I apologise
for the spellings! steps out of triple axel, has to put the free leg down,
and does a double toe.....clean on the lutz....great sit spin again on the
forward side not so good when it changes to the back.....circular
step.....seen worse....double axel....into flying sit.....more
steps....camel with travel to begin combo spins and he's moving all over!
Could be better, could be worse.....
Marks 4.2-4.5...more boos....4.8-5.1 6th so far, 14 to go.

Anthony Liu, Australia
Made top ten last year....nice blue velvet soldier boy....to a classical
something or other....flies into the quad and he nails it! A toe loop since
ou ask,,,flying sit, and Chris is already in raptures! And I can see why,
this is good! triple lutz triple toe and he's looking good! First triple
triple of the night!! 2ax to finish the jumps and nice sit change sit, fast
and centered.....and he's flying about the place! Combo spin to finish....oh
yes! Big round of applause! Big smile! That was fantastic....you guys have
got to see the 4....huge! And there was room to spare on the rotation, and
he had the steps on front of it! Should be first...by far better than Goebel
,on speed artistry everything! This was great....the whole package..
Marks...5.0-5.6 5/0 from the Australian!!!!....5.2-5.5...the Aust has him in
second with the Brit and someone else....hard to believe!

Dmitrenko
If you were here for Euros, you know I like this chap...still the silver,
for Adagio....triple axel ,and he fell off the end of the triple toe! Most
would have played it safe with double and extremely double footed on the
lutz...I can see it, S&C not as sure....oh well.....still though, for flow
and genuine artistry, this is lovely....double axel...sit spin, do not start
me on that position on EITHER foot! Get thee to a coach young man! Nice step
sequence though so I'll forgive him, and a combo spin, incl half biellman,,
crossfoot to finish...not quite there....if only he'd held the triple toe.
....sigh...we'll always have Vienna right??
Marks...and he can hardly watch and shakes his head....4.3-5.0 he's in
fifth....5.2-5.6 canada has him in second!!!

Canada no offense - your judge needs glasses. (that's edited by the way!)

Liu, Goebel, Restencourt, Dinev, Dmitrenko, Skorniakov, Tyllesen as the warm
up group comes out.

Jeannette
Still the weird costume..Art of Noise...triple axel triple toe and the crowd
comes to life! Interesting choreogprahy and he doubles the lutz! Left it too
close to the barrier and point 4 off.....oh look there's Midori Ito in the
commentary box! As he does a straight line step...which is weird.....combo
spin.....which travels miles, with innovative positions.....you can hardly
hear the music the crowd is clapping so hard! little off kilter on the
double axel, but got it clean.....and he SCREAMS!!! In
frustration...could've been spectacular...so close...looks like he realised
how close he was to the barrier and Annik almost punches a hole in the
wall....really really innovative spins....he ties himself into knots!
Marks.....and boos.....4.6-5.1..a little low?? 5.3-5.4....third on the night
second overall.

Guo
Landed the quad..Children of Captain Grant...natty gold waistcoat, navy
trousers white shirt......triple axel triple toe loop....takeoff on the axel
a little funky....did well....clean quad toe, not a lot of steps leading
into it, a little trouble on the first part of the combo spin....huge flying
spin...double axel...easy as you like! sit change sit.....and he's done and
he's a happy little camper...hard to know where to put it....I'm giving it
to Liu on the second mark...as in, he had one.....but then, I'm not a judge
am I?? But Simon and Chris agree with me....he gets such height on his
jumps, it's incredible.....
Marks....5.1-5.6...in third place on the night second
overall....4.8-5.3....ordinals all the way from first to fifth!

Danilchenko
Black trousers, brown shirt, Rhapsody in Rock ,and this rocked at Euros!
Pardon the pun. Solid triple axel double toe...triple lutz, long pause
before it....blinding camel spin......double axel, oscillating all over the
gaff! Sit change sit, gets slow at the end.....really fast combo spin to
finish....and he looks pretty happy....so do the fan club!!!
Marks 4.7-5.2 / whistles and catcalls abound..4.9-5.4 - 6th.

Honda
Mendelsohn.....what's with the blond??? oh no! Down on the quad and he
literally kisses the boards! That as they say us that, and he falls out of
the triple axel, and turn, turn toe......sit spin......spreadeagle into a
double axel, nice move........sit change sit....steps into a combo spin with
travel and more travel......oh Takeshi....the poor kid! Nasty nasty fall on
the quad ....oh dear. And it was such a nice program as well, which nearly
makes it worse!
Marks.... long long time to wait for the marks... 4.3-4.8...I can feel the
bruises forming here!....4.7-5.6....7th overall.

Now, another of my favourites, Stefan "Little Larry the Leprechaun"
Lindemann, bedecked in green for his Corrs short program.....triple axel
double toe, looking for a triple but oh well.....eek! Double footed the lutz
horribly....and now he bobs the head and step dances down the ice as the
crowd get inspired and clap along....flying sit spin which travels, took a
while to center it,.....double axel clean...combo spin and again he's moving
all over the place......sit change sit and he's done....as the klaxons
blare....he's changed the short from Euros...he did 3ax on its own there,
then lutz/toe and flip....could've been worse...and it was a bad
doublefoot...what a shame...
Marks....the judges are earning their keep tonight I'll tell you that much!
4.5-5.0 after a three minute wait.....5.0-5.3
6th overall and ordinals askew!

Vlaschenko
Tango music oh the joy.....two tone black shirt....nice deep V though not as
deep as normall, thanking god for small favours....triple axel double toe,
and the toe was a little funny....eep! Double the lutz, ran out of room, too
close to the barrier....double axel....schmooze the judges....sit change
sit.......and he's done, and did not a doggone thing for me! I'm seeing way
more of his chest on the slomos than I ever wanted to see in my lifetime!
Marks....and let's see how long it takes to do the math on this one!!!!
4.2-5.1..you can hear him falling! 5.1-5.6....9th overall....


Liu, Guo, Gebel, Jeannette Restencourt Lindemann, Danilchenki Dinev
Vlaschenko...that's the top 9

Ferreira 15th
Tyllesen 13th

Ice resurface

And they are on for warm up and I must type and talk and tell you just what
they do, and hope that when the time comes, I can rely on muscle memory to
do the job and type properly. I will also take this time to apologise in
advance for the many typos which are sure to be contained in this report.

I must also take this time to ask what the heck is Li wearing?? Black with
flourescent yellow leaves and blue flowers? Plushy has a new costume as
well, all black but still army boy. Yags and Abt stick with the ones from
Euros...Plushy has just had to fight on the landing of the 3a...there;s our
boy, in the same black and blue from 4CC...Chris likes his draw AND THERE'S
THE QUAD FROM ELVIS!!!! Had to shout...and it was pretty good, bit low in
the knee but who cares. Michael Weiss, looking not unlike Paul Wylie from
Wylie's On The Waterfront Costume, except his is black and tan plaid, and he
just landed a quad but I though the free foot was very low, and it was quite
far back didn't make the full rotation, and I could just throw up right
about now. Sorry, but I must share. Quad from Yags, again not bad.

Clear the ice...here we go!!!

Abt
Black costume with red accents....3ax 3toe........and he flew! clean triple
lutz.....steps.....much waving of the arms.....difficult steps
though......forward camel change camel, very nice, and nice to see someone
doing a camel instead of a sit......and he is tearing up the ice! More
steps.......flying camel...slow.....2ax...played it safe...no quad
tonight.....combo spin....he must be happy with that and he is!! Wow! That
was great...Chris waffles on about new self-belief there.......lutz was a
little off axis but it was good, you'd never have known it from the landing.
But the lack of a quad could make the difference...noone can make a mistake
now says Chris, as I shake in my seat.
Marks.....5.5-5.6...and they have to stay low....5.6-5.8 mostly 5.7s he's
first

Oh God, take me now......

Li
The costume has got to go. But he's young, he'll learn. Tarzan is the
music....explains the costume.....perfect quad toe, right out of the box!
Made it look like a double...double footed and steps off the triple axel,
did something on trhe end think a triple toe loop....combo spin, with a nice
forward sit position.....ice is flying all over on the footwork and not in a
good way....sit change sit.......crowd clap along.....double axel.....and
he's done. Just one mistake but it's gonna kill him. Short on height on the
axel, but he did get the triple toe in now that was gutsy!
Marks....where will they put him.?.......pause....big long pause.....planets
form flourish and die.....hairs, mostly mine, turn grey....4.9-5.5...oh
dear....5.1-5.7 4th on short second overall

This isn't funny...you see what i put myself through for you guys??????

Plushy
Sabre Dance.....my heart pounds in time!....clean quad! combo....triple axel
triple toe loop....just about perfect....camel.........I feel he's skating
through the music a little.....double axel and he's clean on the jumps...sit
change sit.....combo spins to finish....biellman not as good as
normal....ohme! He's right back in it..no question about it...Chris calls it
breathtaking I don't know about that.....he milks the applause....combo was
great.....quad was perfect Chris thinks the musical interp was
fantastic...whatever....
Marks...oh this is so not funny.....5.7-5.8......5.7-5.8 first overall

Oh me.....

Elvis..
I can't do this! I can't watch this and type at the same time! There's no
way! Cirque du Soleil.....wink from Uschi.....oh please.....triple axel
triple toe!!! I'm too vervous to exclamate......crowd clap..........please
please please....no!!!!! down on the quad..... no gold medal says Simon and
he was down make no mistake about it.......and you could hear the groan from
the crowd...sit change sit...nice position but travel......double
axel......combo spin travel on the camel.....and he's done. I'm going to go
and lie down now. Simon hammers the message home that Elvis lost the gold
medal...Chris reminds us he never gave up....round the corner too much ont
he quad, skate landed sideways....didn't get around the full way....and what
the smeg are they going to do with this? Chris saysthe spins are the best
ever from Elvis...Simon says the second mark will be good....
Marks.....5.1-5.5....ouch....he's in 3rd above Liu....5.5-5.8....2nd overall
third on the night.

Could have been worse.

Weiss
resigned shrug from me......with the tension headache of my
life.....spiral.....quad...held onto it...hint of a doublefooted landing??
He's slow with the free leg you see..tripleaxel triple toe.....not much
speed out of the axel and now he goes to sell it.....flying sit, well done
and well centered.....ohmygod he's just double footed the double axel and it
was a big double foot wit ha turn out can I bve in shock now?????
SPins....steps......I can't believe this.....camelto sit....change sit.to
upright....and he's done....Lisa and Audrey clap.....what happened on the
axel?? Holy smoke..... 0.3 off for a double footed landing....judge
that!!free foot stayed off on the quad, I admit it!! Combo a beaut!
Over-rotated the 2ax, did well to stay on his feet....Simon has the feeling
that Elvis could have gotten off lightly, and thinks he might have been
hasty writing him off! Ain't hindsight great? Chris says 2nd on the night
above Elvis..I'm not even trying to do that math I'm way too panicked....my
sister thinks Weiss is yum....huh??? How can two people look so alike and
think so different??
And chris is right......5.1-5.6....5.5-5.9
2nd on the night and overall.

hanging the head

Yagudin
You play that piano honey.....clean quad....crowd clap....tripleaxel triple
toeloop.....and now it's sell baby sell.....huge flying
spin.....steps.....2ax and he does it clean.....you play those
drums.....steps.....camelto sit...to upright....and he's done....and there
are people standing! Except Tatiana who is jumping! Canadians and Americans
and all on their feet...I think we'll see sixes I really do....fair play to
him, he had to wait until the end ,and he went and he was clean and he gave
it his all....more power to him. There's no way that's not going to be
first....the only thing is by how much?
Marks...and he waves the flag as if it were a "terrible towel" .... 5.7
(1)5.8,5.9.......all 5.9s for pres. canadian has him in second.....I've said
it before someone is going to have some serious explanations to give!

Yags
Plushy
Weiss
Stojko
Abt
Li
Liu
Guo
Goebel
Jeannette
Restencourt
Lindemann
danilchenko
Dinev
Vlaschenko
Dmitrenko
Honda

I am now going to go and get a nice hot cup of tea, and a nice big bar of
chocolate and I'm going to lie down in a dark room and I'm never doing
another one of these as long as I live!