Johnny Weir, Another Victory at Cup of Russia !!!!!!

2007-2008 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating is still coming up.

It is a series of international invitational competitions in the first half of the figure skating season.

Skaters ( 36 skaters ) compete in four disciplines (men's singles, ladies singles, pairs, and ice dance) over six events.

Ray and I usually watch men's & ladies singles and sometimes ice dance. Especially for all the men's COP that Johnny Weir is up.

For Ladies singles, Ray loves Miki Ando ( from Japan ), and I also love her skating so we are rooting for those two.

Skaters can earn a certain amount of points per placement. The top six scoring skaters or teams at the end of the series compete in the Grand Prix Final.

Johnny was competing at " Cup of China" and " Cup of Russia " this season.

and Johnny earned 30 points ( perfect ) , Miki will compete at NHK trophy COP which will be held next weekend.

and one of the competitions Cup of Russia was held last weekend . and 12 skaters ( men & ladies )were competing then. As a result ,

Yes ! Yes! Yeeeeeeeeees !

Johnny won again at Cup of Russia !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The broadcast will show it next Sunday but we already checked the result and saw his performances on Youtube.

I was really shocked ! He did it again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG !!!!!!!!!!!!

For his Short Program, he skated completely clean, no mistake. It was SO gorgeous !

He was not just skated clean ,but with his high signature quality jumps. He moves smoothly , beautifully from one element to the next, his spins are fast, varied with interesting positions and he puts a lot of emotion into his footwork sequences.

His skating looks SOOO effortless.

For his Free program, one of his 3A ( triple axel ) was downgraded and got deduction from it, but it looked no problem. He didn't ruin the program.

The rest of the program was perfect. and he added 3-2-2 combo in it which I've never seen.

He looked so nervous though compared with his performances at Cup of China because in Russia, he is like a rock star, and so many his fans were screeming and were expecting his performances.

Maybe that made him a lot of pressure.

According to Russian article, Johnny's banners were everywhere and Russian audience was expecting Johnny more than their own contries skaters.

Johnny is also very popular in Japan. His emotional expressions are always amazingly natural.

Since he changed his main coach this season , I could see so much difference. His body line is beautiful as usual but looks like has more muscle than ever and looks stronger. All his jumps looks so secure, and very balancing.

He received those scores with no quad jumps below.

Here is the result,

SP ( Short program ) -

1. Stephane Lambiel : Total: 80.49, TES: 41.84, PCS: 38.652. Johnny Weir : Total: 80.15, TES: 43.30, PCS: 36.853. Andrei GRIAZEV: Total: 70.95, TES: 39.20, PCS: 31.75
4. Yannick PONSERO: Total: 67.93, TES: 37.38, PCS: 31.55
5. Andrei LUTAI: Total: 65.55, TES: 35.50, PCS: 30.05
6. Jeffrey BUTTLE : Total: 65.16, TES: 30.06, PCS: 35.10

LP ( Long program )-

1. Johnny Weir Total : 149.81, TES: 74.51, PCS: 75.302. Stephane Lambiel Total : 138.35, TES: 61.85, PCS: 77.50
3. Jeffrey Buttle Total : 136.61, TES: 66.21, PCS: 71.40

Overall :

1. Johnny Weir (USA) 229.962. Stephane Lambiel ( SWE ) 218.84
3. Andrei GRIAZEV (RUS) 206.13
4. Jeffrey Buttle (CAN) 201.77
5. Takahiko KOZUKA (JPN) 199.98
6. Yannick PONSERO (FRA) 189.76
7. Alexander USPENSKI (RUS) 189.17
8. Kevin REYNOLDS (CAN) 186.69
9. Andrei LUTAI (RUS) 185.35
10.Kristoffer BERNTSSON (SWE) 182.46
11.Ming XU (CHN) 159.01
12.Gregor URBAS (SLO) 155.62

Ray and I were celebrating for Johnny's another victory last Saturday !!!

Johnny had a very tough time last season for many reasons, mainly it came from mentally. Ray and I thought he is a very talented skater, but I understand that in this sports, they can not win with only talent.

I suppose all the skaters minds are unstable, everyone have to go through hard wall to get to their goal.

I respect Johnny alot, he is SO strong !

The rest of Grand Prix competition is only NHK trophy and Johnny's one of toughest competitor Daisuke Takahashi will be there.

I'm sure he will win in it unless he gets injury or health problem and will go to Grand Prix Final COP.

Present ISU scores ranking is below,

Johnny Weir 231.78 (COC), 229.96 (COR), Total : 461.74Daisuke Takahashi 228.97 ( SA) , coming soon ( NHK)
Evan Lysacek 220.08 (SA), 229.36 (COC) Total : 449.44
Brian Joubert 213.62 ( SC) withdrew
Patrik Chan 213.33 (SA), 214.94 (TEB ) Total : 428.27
Stephane Lambiel 192.22 (COC), 218.84 (COR), Total : 411.06
Kevin VAN DER PERREN 202.55 (SC), 204.75,(TEB) Total : 407.30
Alban PREAUBERT 194.40 (SA), 207.10 (TEB) , Total : 401.50
Jeffrey Buttle 198.77 (SA), 201.77(COR), Total: 400.54
Sergei DAVYDOV 181.75 (COC), 208.91 (TEB), Total : 390.66
Takahiko KOZUKA 177.47 (SA), 199.98 (COR), Total : 377.45
Christopher MABEE 192.20 (SC), 175.17 (TEB), Total: 367.37
Stephen CARRIERE 196.33 (SA), coming soon ( NHK )
Tomas Verner 189.37 (TEB), coming soon (NHK)
Vaughn CHIPEUR 187.41 (SC) coming soon (NHK)
Ryan BRADLEY 181.66 (SA), 191.32 (TEB), Total : 372.98
Alexander USPENSKI 179.94 (COC), 189.17(COR) , Total: 369.11
Yannick PONSERO 178.18 (SC), 189.76(COR), Total: 367.94

Johnny's total score is the top of all the other skaters right now except for skaters who will be competing this weekend.

But Daisuke Takahashi may beat Johnny, if he skated clean at NHK, becasue his programs this season is more tough than last season, beside he is planning to do two quad jumps in it.

He is also a great skater who is truly feeling with music, and technically, artistically, an amazing skater.

He was a Silver medalist at last World Champion ship.

2007 World Champion Brian Joubert had health problem after finished Skate Canada COP, and canceled the rest of the Grand Prix COP.

So far, Johnny, Evan Lysacek (U.S.A.) , Patrik Chan (CAN) earned enough points to get to the final COP.

I'm guessing, this season, Johnny's toughest competitors are Daisuke Takahashi and Evan Lysacek.

Stephane Lambiel ( my second favorite skater ) was struggling with his 3A right now and reworking it. He has two quad jumps but it didn't look secure this season.

Stephane will be about to go to final COP, If Daisuke Takahashi didn't win at NHK , but I guess it won't happen.

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