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Europeans 2002 - Men's Long Program
Well at the beginning of the men's long program I was very tired and throughout the first groups of skaters I really had difficulties to concentrate and keep my attention alive. Seeing 2 events in one day is really kind of demanding. For the men's long program we had gotten cheaper seats at one of the short sides of the rink, they were quite far away, but gave a good overview. Due to me feeling so tired, I didn't really feel like taking notes and wrote down only very little things. It's also possible that someone is missing!
Abbreviations:t=toeloop, l=loop, s=salchow, f=flip, z=lutz, a=axel
Men's long program
Kristoffer Berntsson from Sweden did a pretty boring program, with a lack of presentation, some jumps were good, but he also popped several ones.
Next to skate was Angelo Dolfini from Italy. He's an interesting skater, with quite good presentation that helped him getting relatively good results, despite being a weak jumper. Until last season he hadn't got 3flip and 3lutz at all, but until this season he has been working on them (at least that's what the commentators said during the short program, that I had seen on TV at home). He didn't land any clean flips or lutzes during the competition though as far as I remember, but he tried them as triples. In this long program he struggled with some of his jumps, but fought through the program and didn't have any major mistakes. The program was ok, I had seen a much more charming program from him during an exhibition.
Patrick Meier from Switzerland had ups and down in his program, his presentation was pretty good.
Matthew Davies from Great Britain fell on his 3a, fell on his 3z and on his tried 3-3 combination. The program was nothing special.
Sergei Rylov from Azerbaidchan (I really should look up how that one is written...) wore a strange costume, grey pants and a shirt in white, pink and violet. I liked his music, but the program was nothing special and he made quite some mistakes.
Gregor Urbas from Slovenia was mostly clean, some problems though and the program bored me. I really don't know if all the men really were so boring or if it was just because I was tired! The whole first group seemed boring to me and all the music they used sounded the same (soundtrack-ish).
The second group was opened by Juraj Sviatko from Slovakia (or is it called Slovak Republic in English). He used a cool music, some rock piece, that made me wake up. This part of music was followed by something Irish sounding. Some good elements, some mistakes.
Margus Hernits from Estonia failed on both tries of his 3x and had problem with other jumps, the program did nothing for me.
George Chiper from Romania also had technical problems and a similar kind of music (of course I haven't written down what kind of music). His presentation was ok.
Vaktang Murvanidze from Georghia screwed up most of his elements.
Kevin van der Perren from Belgium started skating only at age 11. He fell on his 3a attempt and had troubles with his lutz, but overall a pretty good skate and his presentation also looked promising.
Tomas Verner from the Czech Republic. Now that is someone to look out for! He has a very nice lyrical style and his presentation is already very good for his young age. He reminded me a little of Johnny Weir, the young US-American. I also liked the music, a very nice program. He fell on the lutz and singled his second 3a. His program was the highlight for me so far.
Ivan Dinev from Bulgaria was next. He had a pretty good skate with some small programs towards the end, he used interesting upbeat music and had a creative choreography.
The former European Champion (I think from 1993)Dmitri Dimitrenko from the Ukraine used nice music that was interrupted several times by a voice saying "yeah" in it though. Weird. Maybe he should have edited that out. The program was rather boring and he had a few mistakes.
Sergei Davydov from Belarus made many mistakes and his choreography wasn't too interesting either, a bad skate for him.
Our German hopeful Stefan Lindemann stumbled out of his 3a, then attempted his 4t, for the first time in competition, but couldn't land it. It would have surprised me if he had landed it, because we didn't see any too hopeful attempts in practice either. He stumbled out of the second 3a and put his hand down. He was able to land the rest of his jumps solidly though. This program has a quite nice choreography and I really like the part with the upbeat part of the music. He has improved his presentation skills, but there's still work to do.
Gabriel Monnier from France has the typical avantgarde French style of skating, which is a matter of taste. For this program he used very dramatic music, a dark and monotonous program, rather boring. He had some technical problems too. Oh yeah and he has weird hair.
Frederic Dambier from France had a very good performance with a doubled lutz at the end of the program being the only mistake. I also liked the choreography of his program (he's relatively un-avantgarde for a French skater).
The RussianIlia Klimkin had a clown-themed program. His costume was fitting this theme, but I would have prefered a clown-themed costume without the use of neon orange. He fell on the 4t, then did a 3a-stumbled out-2t. He also doubled two of his jumps and fell on the flip, so not the best skate for him. The program had a nice choreography though, playful with a lot of little details, I liked it!
The favorite, Alexei Yagudin from Russia was next. He nearly fell on the landing of the 4t, then did a clean 4t, 3a-half loop-3s, 3a-3t, and then doubled the loop 2 times. The other triples were clean, but I haven't written them down in detail. Not his best skate and the presentation suffered from it, he just didn't look on.
Brian Joubert from France was next. He could try to be a little more typical French, because his program was rather boring, but he looks like a promising skater. Nearly fell on the 4t and had a slight problem with the landing of the 3f and another fall on the 3s at the end. He managed to hold on to bronze, despite only being 6th in the free skate.
Stephane Lambiel from Switzerland. Lots of cowbells rang for him (the Swiss got a cute way of cheering ;-). I loved his costume. His music was from Cirque du Soleil. He had a very good skate, completely clean, his technical most difficult element was a 3z-3t combination. His presentation is good and I loved the choreography. A great performance and a very enjoyable program, all that in his home country. He of course got a standing ovation that he really deserved!
Alexander Abt from Russia continued with another fantastic performance, followed by another standing ovation. He seems to be in very good form this season, it's a pity though that his long program isn't really that good in my opinion, I think it's rather boring and not the best choice for him. But he was very on and had a great skate. For a change I noted down all elements, here they come: 4t-3t, 3a-3t, 3z, 3a, 3s, 3f, 3l, 3t His 4t really seems very solid now, until the beginning of this season he was still constantly landing it on 2 feet, but now it looks great! Lets see if he can hold his great shape during the Olympics.
Andrejs Vlascenko from Germany was next. As often before he was sitting in a good position before the free skate, with good chances for finishing 3rd or 4th. Unfortunately for him this unevitable seems to mean that he'll bomb completely. Every time I hope that it's going to be different, but again in vain. He stumbled out of the 3a during the 3a-2t combination, but then did a clean 3l(or z? I can't read my notes)-3t, doubled the next jump, just held on to the 3t, stumbled out and put his hand down on the 3a, 3l, 3s. He only finished 8th overall. Theoretically he would have had qualified for the Olympics, but he still hasn't got a German passport.
Final Standings Men
After the men's long we were really tired, so we decided to go back to the hotel directly.
