Sunday, March 23 - Men Free Program Practice
Surprise, Surprise
I arrived at the end of Group 6 practice that had the Americans. I was a little surprised at how full the arena had become in spectator attendance since I had left earlier that afternoon. I took a seat near center ice and back a few rows from the front on the side with no barricade where the skaters could be coached over the boards from the stands. I looked across to the section near the skater warm up area. Lyla was still there, but was being covered up with more children who were filling in the whole front row to watch and scramble for autographs.
Michael Weiss took his starting position on the ice and seemed to have quite a fan following as he is from local Fairfax, Virginia. His run-through was quite a pleasant surprise as well. He began with a triple-triple combination jump. His sit spin had a good, low position. He did another triple with a bit of a scratchy landing. He did another triple. He did a death drop into a sit spin. He did the spiral with a hand held to the knee. He did two more triples. Then, the choreography portion with more hand movements. He did a triple flip. He did a triple lutz. Then, a sit spin and a lunge. He did the slide across the ice with the type of blades he has. His final combination spin was camel to sit to change foot in the sit to backscratch. Overall, a very good skate. Maybe he can skate like that tomorrow.
Ryan Jahnke's nemesis of the day seemed to be the triple axel. He was working on it repeatedly during the others' run-throughs. Still, he had a fall on it during his run-through.
Group 7 took to the ice.
I was treated to Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic. He wore a blue and purple striped shirt and blue pants. This practice day for men appears to have them in their regular competition costumes. He touched down on the landing of a triple axel. He then did a double jump. Next, a double loop. He stepped out of another jump. He did a double axel. He did a fast scratch spin.
Zoltan Toth of Hungary opened with a triple. He did a single lutz. He did a double lutz-double combination. He did another combination jump.
Maciej Kus of Poland started with a jump combination and fell on the second jump. He two footed the landing of the next jump. He singled the lutz. He has good, dramatic arm movements to the choreography.
Juraj Sviatko of Slovak Republic omitted the first jump. He did a double lutz-double combination jump. He did a spin. He did another jump combination. He did a sit change foot sit spin. He did a scratch spin. He ended the routine on one knee.
Group 1 ensued.
Jeffrey Buttle fell on the opening triple. He did a spread eagle. He did a triple lutz. He did a spiral. He fell on the triple axel. A lot of hand movement. Another spiral. He hugs himself in the choreography. He did another spread eagle that is held for longer. He did a double jump. He did another spiral. He touched down on the second jump of a jump combination. He did a camel spin. He did a triple loop. He did an ina bauer and a lunge. His combination spin includes a camel, then inventive positions into a pancake spin.
Emanuel Sandhu fell on the triple flip. He popped the triple axel. He did a triple loop. Interesting hand motions into the short Fifth Element soundtrack piece. He began the footwork to the beginning of the jazzy music. He fell on a jump. He did a spread eagle. He did a triple axel-triple combination. He did a footwork sequence down the length of the rink. He did a combination spin with interesting positions that finished with a backscratch spin. He has the best speed of the group.
Karel Zelenka of Italy - He fell on the first jump. He did a triple lutz. He did a sit spin. He did a jump combo. He did several short spread eagles. He did a sit change foot sit spin.
Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland touched down on the landing of the first jump. He did Latin-like hip movements in the choreography. He death dropped into the sit spin, which had hands stretched behind his back. He maintained speed throughout the program. A combination spin of camel to sit change to sit with broken leg. He did more dancing and has a good rhythm. His straight line footwork sequence fit well with the music. He executed a spin with more interesting positions that ends with a fast headless scratch spin. He has a soft presentation style with a bit of flair.
Roman Skorniakov of Uzbekistan and Kevin Van Der Perren of Belgium were also in attendance. Sorry folks. My notes are sketchy.
Group 2 was the final practice group of the evening.
Min Zhang of China did a triple loop. He did a double axel and a single axel. He did a triple-triple combination and stepped out of a quad attempt.
Takeshi Honda of Japan opened with a quad. He fell on the triple loop. He did a triple that was intended to be in combination, but he ran out of room as he was too close to the boards. He did a sit spin. Then triple lutz. He death dropped into a sit spin. He did a straight line footwork sequence with a lot of toe steps. His final combination spin was camel to sit to camel to sit to backscratch.
Manuel Segura of Mexico skated to dramatic music with a lot of hand motions in the opening. He did a double loop. He fell on a triple loop. He did a camel to sit spin. He stepped out of a triple loop and did a double immediately following. He did a combination spin that included camel to sit to inventive positions to sit. He has a type of showy presentation style. If only he could master more jumps. He said 'sorry' rather loudly to Chengjiang Li at some point during this practice group, and Li nodded to him in acknowledgement. I didn't see what happened on the ice that prompted his apology.
Dong-Whun Lee of South Korea is an adorable guy. He has a baby face. He is the youngest in the competition at fifteen years old. He opened with a double axel. He did a single flip. He did a straight line step sequence. He did another single flip. The softer music in the slow part suits him better. He did a triple loop. He did a double axel into another double jump. He did do another triple jump. He did a camel to sit spin.
Mi Yon Garcia of Spain put a hand down on the triple lutz. Next were hops in the choreography. He did a double axel. He did a camel to sit spin and then a high leg position. He used his arms like a clown - juggling and so forth. It must be circus music. He did a spiral and circular turns. He did a triple jump. He put a hand down on the next jump. He did a double lutz and another double jump. He executed a nice split jump. He brought a good personality to the clown and character. Yon stayed on the ice the longest during this session, well after the others had left.
Chengjiang Li of China bowed to the audience and exited the ice long before the music was scheduled to play for his run-through. His music was the last to be played of the group.
My tired body was glad for the circa 7 p.m. ending to the practices. Back at the hotel, I laid down at 8 p.m. planning to watch at least part of the Oscars on TV. I saw Catherine Zeta-Jones win one and do an acceptance speech. Then everything went black, as I must have fell into a deep sleep until another early morning wake up.
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