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Nebelhorn Trophy 2003 - Mens Short Program

At the beginning of the Men's SP we learned that Alexei Urmanov would be the Caller for the men's competition, which finally explained his very "business-like" suit that we had been wondering about before, I guess he wanted to make a "serious" impression :lol: This time we were sitting behind former German Federation president Angela Siegenburg, who commented on Mikkeline Kierkgaard's weight gain to another woman sitting next to her :rolleyes: (Mikkeline has a womanly figure in comparison to other pairs skaters, but she's certainly not "too heavy" or anything IMO).

The first skater of the men's short program was Scott Smith , who skated to Time from Pink Floyd. He started with a nice 3-axel, then did a 4salchow-2toeloop combination, followed by a nice flying sit. He skated rather slow and especially his footwork looked slow, both the circular and the straightline, giving the impression during that one that he'd never reach the other end of the rink. His 3-lutz was a bit shaky, but clean and he then did a good spin combo. Overall he had a very good skate, I also thought his spins especially were good overall, but his speed definitely needs improvement. The program was modern in style and gave a more athletic impression, he has clean lines that I quite liked and was overall really nice to watch.

Mikko Minkkinen, a Finnish skater who lives and trains in Oberstdorf now though was next. He skated to a Violin Concerto and wore a blue/black costume. He started with 3z-2t, but then popped his next jump (flip?). He then did a camel that was a bit shaky on the entry, followed by a 2axel and another slow camel spin. His step sequence wasn't difficult, but it was nicely choreographed. He finished with a travelling spin combination. The choreography of his program was dramatic, with lots of arm movements, it was nice to watch.

Trifun Zivanovic is a skater that I hadn't liked at all when I saw him on TV, but here he actually turned out to be much more pleasant to watch than I expected. He started with a 3f-3t, followed by a 3axel and a high flying sit. He was rather slow overall. I liked his energetic circular footwork. He tried a 3-lutz next but only completely 2 and a half rotations and stepped out, his straightline step sequence was also skated with lots of energy and I also rather liked his final spin combo that was rather fast. The program was set to some folkish music called "Ukraine", since I really have a faible for folk music themed programs, I definitely enjoyed it. His posture is still bad by the way.

Aidas Reklys from Lithuania skated to "Rendezvous a Paris". He is coached by Povilas Vanagas' mother. He fell on the 3-lutz, then got up and did a 2-toeloop. His program had a rather long empty part at the beginning. He popped the loop, but completed a 2-axel that was landed a bit on forward though. An ok camel followed, then an easy step sequence that was skated without energy, he ended with a travelling combo spin and he stopped a long time after the music. The program was rather empty choreographically, but he has a rather nice skating style.

Maciej Kus from Poland skated a program to "Cirque du Soleil" wearing a turquoise costume that was made of all-velvet material (not my taste), I really liked the choreography at the beginning (even though maybe I should have written down what it was like, because I certainly don't remember :p ). He started with a 2axel (I happened to notice that the judge in front of me gave it a +1 GoE), followed by a 3z-2t (I have made a question mark behind that on my notes, but I don't know what I wasn't sure about...). Even though his jumps were clean, he tends to lose his posture during them, meaning that his upper-body "falls down" (hard to explain in English). He did a rather good sit spin next, followed by a travelling flying sit and then did a 3-flip. The choreography and program had an oriental style, he has good expression and also quite some musicality, therefor another pleasant to watch skater.

Gregor Urbas really reminded Stefka and me of Stanislav Timchenko, mainly because of his hair-cut and his costume that was in the same style as Timchenko's LP costume from last season. But Gregor certainly has more attractive features ;) He skated to Carmina Burana. He started with a clean 3z-2t, but then heavily 2-footed his 3-axel. He did a flying sit with mediocre speed. His footwork was nice to watch, but he lacked some spark. He finished with a 3-loop. Overall he was a bit slow. The choreography of the program was very dramatic and contained lots of similar movements throughout, he expressed it with his whole body, overall it was a nice program.

Nicholas Young from Canada was next. He skated to "Duel" by Bond. He started into the program with good speed and did a nice 3f-3t combination and then a 3axel. My notes have some strange scribble behind the 3a, that *might* say "maybe slightly 2-footed", but I certainly wouldn't bet my life on it :P ). He did a very good sit spin combo, a really really cool circular step sequence that fit perfectly with the music, then a 3-lutz and also a very good straightline step sequence. What I really liked about him was that he had very interesting position variations on the spins and the program was really cool too, he was by far my highlight of the competition. The choreography was modern, he was very energetic throughout the whole skate, interpreted the music really well and to the point, using his whole body. Really impressive! Canada has too many great male skaters, we never can get to see all of them in big international competitions :wuzrobbed (and why doesn't Young beat skaters like Ben Ferreira at Nationals????)

Vincent Restencourt is a skater I can never really warm up to honestly, because his bad posture gets on my nerves and his skating style awfully keeps reminding me of Laurent Tobel. He skated to "Requiem for a Dream", wearing a black costume. He started with 3a-2t, followed by a 3-lutz (clean, but with bad air position). Fast sit spin and a high 2-axel. The program wasn't that bad, but a bit boring and there's simply nothing outstanding about this skating.

Filip Stiller, a very tall Swede, was next, skating to "Harlem Nocturne". He started with a 2axel. His nice soft skating style fitted the Blues music of the SP well. His other jumps were 3flip-2toeloop and a 3lutz, his circular footwork was nicely choreographed to the music and his spin combo was rather good. The second part of the program had faster music. He was a bit slow, but still ok. Overall it was quite nice, he's not the most artistic skater in the world, but the music in the first part of the program fit him really well and let him made the best out of his possibilities. His spins also made a good impression on me.

Alexei Vassilievsky came out on the ice and the first thing I thought was "what is Sasha Abt doing here?"...ok he does not look EXACTLY like Abt, but the hair and look, as well as the basic skating style were certainly reminding me of him a lot. Even though Vassilievsky seems to have a thing for extravagant choreographies, not classical ones. In this program he skated to "Touch and Go", wearing a costume in black and lilac. He practically fell on his 3-axel, but completed a 2t, followed by a 3lutz. He then did some nice "dancing on the spot", his straightline step sequence was very interesting, but a bit slow. A 2axel was his final jump. I really liked him, his execution on all the elements, including the jumps, isn't all THAT strong, but his program was really creative, fast paced and a bit "humoric" and very "dancy" overall and he pulled it off very well, he's a great entertainer. Even though this Technical Score wasn't that high, he got one of the highest component marks, which secured him a good placement in the short program. About the following photos...uhm actually I'm not really sure that's really him, because a) he looks so young on the photos and b) nothing like Abt at all, but the costume fits my costume description of him, so I guess it must be him...let me know if you recognize that it's actually one of the obscure German guys :P

Noriyuki Kanzaki unfortunately turned out to be a typical example of a SAW, he skated to Tango music, but his program had nearly no choreography and there was not the slightest trace of any Tango feeling in his interpretation, he didn't make anything out of his music choice at all. Overall he's a bland skater at the moment, who really needs to work on expression and needs to get better choreography. He feel on his 3axel attempt, overrated the 3z on the 3z-2t combination and only completed 2 and a half rotations on his 3 flip, then opened it up (right wording????). His spins were rather good though and his skating quality not bad either, but there was just nothing that could draw you into his skating.

Clemens Brummer skated a program to Michael Jackson music, that wasn't as entertaining as I had hoped from the music choice, because he still looked rather juniorish. He started with a sit spin, then fell on his 3z, got up and did a 2t, followed by a slow, but well-centered camel. He was slow and once stumbled while doing nothing in particular at that moment. He fell on his 3-flip, but at least was able to complete a 2axel. His footwork-sequence embarassingly enough contained a bit of the "typical" Yagudin footwork at the beginning, sigh, why do so many lower ranked skaters seem to think that they have to do that? (And does it mean that just about EVERYBODY can do that kind of footwork :EVILLE: ). He managed to put some energy into his footwork sequence though. Overall he was lacking speed and of course had a rather bad performance with all the falls.

Martin Liebers, the older of the two Liebers brothers, was the next of the German bloc. He skated to some music called "Heaven above". The choreography at the beginning contained lots of arm movements. He did a 3l-2l combination, but stepped out of both loops. The style of the music was trance/techno and the program had some nice dancy transitions. He fell on his 3flip, but landed a 2axel. His circular step sequence looked rather easy. I nearly couldn't believe my eyes when he TOO did the typical Yagudin memorial footwork toesteps :fragile: (even though he admittedly did them at the END of his straightline footwork sequence, not at the beginning like Brummer. Overall the program had a quite nice choreography and I especially enjoyed the dancy moves, but also not a very good performance from him.

Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari skated to a Tango, wearing a fitting red and black costume. He did a 3z-2t, but put his hand down on the lutz and went on to pop the flip into a single. He did a flying camel with a nice position, I liked his spread eagle and also that the program had a lot of "whole-body" movements. He landed a 2a and did a fast, but a bit travelling sit spin. He has an elegant skating style and did a good job with the Tango interpretation, is an expressive skater with good musicality and the program was really nicely put together, too bad he was fighting with his jumps. Unfortunately my photo of him was too blurry, hopefully I got one from the LP.

Frederik Pauls turned out to be my favorite of the German guys. He skated to a bluesy version of "Heartbreak Hotel". He did a 2axel-2toe, but he either heavily 2-footed the axel or also might have stepped out of it, his landing spot in the corner was hidden from our view by the rink border. His other jumps were 3t and 2a (the axel was landed very deep down in the knee). What I liked about him was that he was elegant and rather expressive and skated well in time with the music, plus there was an adorable softness to his skating. His sit spin was well-centered. His straightline was easy overall, but a small part of it was on one foot.

Nicholas LaRoche skated to "Illumination" from Secret Garden. He fell on his 3axel unfortunately, but I was instantly amazed by his speed and basic skating, he gained speed with just one or two strokes and then he just glided over the ice so easily with great flow. Of course he therefor had very good ice coverage. He landed a nice 3z-3t and then did a good combo spin, but unfortunately again fell on the flip. His flying sit was nice and his final spin also rather good. His step sequence looked relatively easy. His skating style is classical and a bit old-fashioned, but I find him really great to watch., even though I preferred his LP over the SP.

Kristoffer Berntsson is a cute guy from Sweden, who I thought looks a bit like the actor Toby McGuire. His program had a rather cool beginning, consisting of some posing moves. He fell badly on his 3axel and then did a 2z-2t, but the lutz was 2-footed. His circular step sequence was dancy which made it fun to watch, his first sit spin was nice, but his final combo rather weak. He also fell on the 3flip. His straightline sequence was a bit slow. The program (modern choreography) was actually interesting, but the skate of course just too bad.