Cup of Russia - Review

I was so glad to see that ESPN broadcast showed Johnny fan's fever, how popular he is in Russia.

Everybody was screaming his name loudly like crazy, and one of his Russian fans was interviewed about him.

His banners with his images were everywhere. It's always great to see it. Thank you ESPN for showing it.

Also commentator Paul Wylie mentioned about Johnny's award for Love of Russia just before he skated his SP.

Johnny thought he was ignored about it from US federation but it's great they did mention in ESPN and also figure skating magazine. And he feels better now. He is so lovely and cute, he added extra note for it after he posted his last journal.

Johnny Weir

SP - It was perfect !! How could he handle his nerves from the situation where so many his fans are expecting his performance ? He was very mentally strong. I love the beginning of the choreography so much. Very artistic and also his face expression. Also after the first jump, his elegant sentimental arm movements are so beautiful. Those movements are really magical.

For technical part, all his jumps were very secure , his signature landing pose and posture are amazingly smooth.

When I checked his score result with pdf file, all his spins were level 4 plus GOE. And received high GOE from his all jumps. Straight line footwork and circular steps were level 2.

His component score was higher than COC. And he received his personal best score for his SP. 80.15 ( without quad )

FP - He looked more nervous than SP before he started , so many of his fans were calling his name, but Galena 's support for him looked very strong.

His opening jump 3A-3T was wonderful. Second jump 3A was okay, it was downgraded and had deduction for it but it didn't look bad, he did land and it 's better than stepped out or hand down or fell. I thought it was scored too strict. But maybe it was under-rotated. He received only 2.38 from it . ( normally 7.50 plus GOE).

The rest of the program was perfect. I especially love the choreography just after his third jump, 3Lz .

Also his 3Lz in it is my favorite jump. Everything is just perfect and landing looked forever. He changed some parts in choreography, and I also loved those movements.

Also he did beautiful 3-2-2 combo in it. It was very fast movements. Well done ! I think it was the first time I saw his three combo in COP.

Last jump was 3F but I think he was planning to do 3F-2T. But did 3F.

I saw his jumps plan at COR was 3A+3T, 3A, 3Lz, 2A, 3S, 3Lo, 3Lz+2T+2Lo, 3F+2T

And according to my calculation, if he didn't downgraded his 3A and also did 3F+2T in it, his TES was going to over 80. Also he footwork sequence was level 3 for this.

I already watched over and over for both programs !

This season, he and Galina may be more care for all the elements than choreography. Just my impression. But as a result, it's very successful !

Stephane Lambiel

SP - This was great, really great. I have to admit this choreography for this season is the most fun and interesting. He is like a Bruce Lee type. Very unique , artistic, wild , fun, speedy and complicated. His performance doesn't have depth like Johnny's but very fun to watch.

Technically, he did land 4T-2T , and 2A instead of 3A. And did great 3Lz. Footwork , spins were very speedy and he was really on for this one. I loved it.

FP - Performance itself was great, I really love the choreography and his flamenco dance. It's so cool. He made some mistakes from his jumps, 4T-2T , and fell from another quad, 3F became double, stepped out from one of triple jumps, but his energy level was high and foot work, movements were great.

I think getting both complicated choreography and high level technical elements are very difficult with this judging system.

I think Johnny is caring more elements than choreography this season , and Stephane might more cared for choreography and has lack of jumps training.

Same for Jeffrey Buttle. Jeffery 's choreography for his SP this season was interesting, too. But he just could not jump.

But to win, improving all the elements might be the most important. For free program, high stamina is necessary to handle all the elements, it's really a sports .

I'm sure Johnny knows that, and he wants to win. This judging system is really not good for artistic skaters.

Brian Joubert 's choreography is much less compared with Stephane and Jeffrey but his jumps skill could help increasing his skating skill.

Actually component scores are not real component. Since I saw Plushenko's less choreography " Godfather ' could get over 80 in his PCS.

Evan Lysacek reusing his previous choreography so that he can more concentrate only his jumps.

Skaters are not robots so it's impossible to handle all of them.

Fortunately,all of Johnny's elements are already art, even he is just flowing on ice, and just skating, it's already artistic and beautiful.

So it didn't bother me even though less choreography compared with his other programs.

For other skaters ,

In COR, Johnny and Stephane were the most impressive , ESPN showed Jeffrey's only FP, but I'm not so crazy for the music. But it's unique and creative, the choreography was good, too. He is also an artistic skater. But I was not so impressed for this program. I watched his SP on Youtube, that choreography was much better.

He was wearing unique costume with tearing eye face design in his SP. And he got tearing result ?

I believe it's a bad luck costume. He better change to more good luck costume.

Andrei Griazev who won bronze medal was not so impressive for me. It was enough to watch once. It was choreographed by legendary Tarasova coach and she is wonderful , but …. I understand that coach is very important but the students also need artistic talent to make big impression.

Grand Prix Final will be coming very soon !

I've just checked Daisuke Takahashi 's jumps plan for this season,

4T 9
4T+2T 10.30
3A 7.5
3A+2T+2Lo 12.65
3F+3T 10.45
3Lz 6.60
3Lo 5.50
3S 4.95

and is planning to do 5 jumps after halfway of the program. So I guess it's going to be over 85 TES if he will be able to handle this perfectly.

Stephane has just finished SP at Swiss Nationals, and sounded like he is still struggling with his quad and 3A.

Fell from his quad but received total of 76.84 , TES 37.34, PCS 40.50. Stephane sounded like upset for the performance and didn't go to K&C and didn't talk with anyone after finished it.

Brian Joubert also has just finished SP at French Nationals, and sounded like well done, skated clean and did 4-3, 3A, and one more triple jumps. and received Total : 86.66, TES 46.17, PCS 40.49. Wow !
Nationals Championships scores are usually different from international COP ( usually higher ) so I can not measure based on it. But Brian sounds already fine.

In GPF, Daisuke, Evan, Stephane, all of them are tough competitors, and also Patrik.

He may be possible to get medal, too. It's very hard to predict but I can only guess Kevin will be the last.

Go Johnny !!!

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