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Sunday, the 22nd: The Long Day

During one of the groups of the dance practice, we practically HAD to leave the rink in order to try to find a shop where we could buy something to drink, at first it seemed totally hopeless, but in the end we found some gas station only about a 15 minutes walk from the rink. In the rink you could buy some open drinks, like Pepsi or water in plastic glasses, but the little shops there weren't open yet on Monday during the day. Other than that all you could get in the rink was coffee (I made use of that, LOL), disgusting French Fries, fatty pizza, fatty noodles, unhealthy yucky looking curry sausages and undersized overprized baguettes...and then you always had to be lucky that the shop would actually be already or still opened. Well they had one cool store where you could by candy though, but after the first 2 or 3 days of the week I was so used to not eating anything that whenever there was an opportunity to finally eat something good, I had absolutely no appetite :-P

After the dance practices the men's qualifying started, oddly enough I took some notes on all the men, eek, but then that's the part of the competition that wasn't on TV, so maybe it will be interesting to some people. Overall I have to say I was really positively surprised by the qualifyings, both men's and ladies', because one always hears how bad and boring they are and they really weren't. We saw all of both and I did not get bored and there were some skates in both men and ladies that I most definitely would have not wanted to miss!

The first skater in the men's qualifying group B was Juraj Sviatko, who wore a costume that made him look like "Biene Maja" (that's some figure from an old German animated film serious, about a little bee called Maja). He skated to a music selection that included both Safri Duo songs and "Freude schöner Götterfunken", interesting :D The jump highlights of his program were a 3z-3t and a 3f-3t, where he 2footed the second jump. His skate god caught in his pants during the footwork. So overall he had some struggles (2footed some more jumps too I think), but he didn't fall. It was a modern program, he tended to rush through his movements a bit.

Tomas Werner wore a black and grey costume, he fell on the 3axel, but saved the 3f-3t. Apart from that he skated well, just popped one lutz. I especially liked his serpentine footwork. He could use some more speed in his skating maybe, but it was a lovely musical program. Bradley Santer skated to the Matrix soundtrack, in a black and red costume. He seemed to slow down towards the end of his program and his difficulty wasn't very high. He doubled and stepped out of some of his jumps. His style and posture reminded me of Elvis Stojko a bit. Stephane Lambiel skated very well, he only was a bit sloppy in this program, but he did a 3a, 4t, two different 3-3 combinations and only had one step-out of the salchow. Very very good.

There obviously can't have been any North Americans at the rink yet during the men's qualifying, because Cinquanta was only applauded and not booed when he was introduced ;) (the norm at all European events I had attended so far :-P). Frederic Dambier for example landed a 3-3 and the 4salchow and managed the 3axel in the second attempt, but made a mistake on the 3loop. Ben Ferreira skated to the "Untouchables" soundtrack, he was quadless, but skated well otherwise, only mistake was a step out of the salchow. His footwork was slow and not very impressive though. He had a strange move in his choreography where he mimed shooting at something with a gun.

Ivan Dinev skated to "Kismet" and managed a 3-3 combination. He managed to get some good stuff in, but also made some mistakes. I was impressed by his ice coverage, presence and style. Johnny Weir wore his black and light blue costume and skated to Dr. Zhivago. He did a 3-3, two 3axels, his only mistake was a doubled loop (and if I'm not completely mistaken, this only turned out to be his very only mistake in the whole competition!). It was immensly beautiful, even though I think he was a bit slower than in the later two competition portions. On our last day of Worlds we and our friends agreed that he was probably the only skater who you would not have to be nervous for at all, because it just seems impossible that anything could ever go wrong with his jump landings. One of us also developped the theory that he is not actually skating on the ice, but 2 centimeters above of it in the air ;) , so naturally he would not be bothered in any way by ice that is too hard or too soft or whatever :)

Neil Wilson skated with good flow and speed, I also liked his music and program, both very classical. He struggled with his jumps at the beginning, but got quite some triples in later. Yamato Tamura, the guy with the best hair by far, skated to some music that was oddly called "Space Battlecruiser Tamato" (is that a movie???????). He fell on his quad and had no 3axel, but he managed 3z-3t and 3f-3t and a 3z out of a spread eagle. The positions of his spins were good. My notes on Miguel Moyron got strangely mixed with my notes on Emanuel Sandhu and I just unbelievabling stared at them for some seconds, wondering if it really can be possible that Moyron did a 4 and a 3axel. Ahem. Anyway, if I interpret my notes correctly, what I have written down about Moyron is that he had very nice layback spins (I wish we would see more of them in the men's) and good lines and posture. So Emanuel Sandhu managed his quad, fell on the first attempt on his 3axel, but landed the second, he singled or doubled a salchow, but managed a 3-3. His program was definitely the coolest one so far and his spins were really good.

Andrei Griazev did two 3axels, I think his only mistake was an extra turn after a jump landing. His jumps are very high and he seems like a very natural jumper. His circular footwork was real fun. Sergei Kotov did a nice 3l-2t and a 3z-2t, but overrotated most of his jumps. His spin positions very nice and I also really liked the straightline at the end. I think he might have qualified had he been in the other group. Brian Joubert landed a quad and one 3axel. He had fast spins and got the job done with his skate. Patrick Meier screwed up his jumps, I took the program as an opportunity to explain the theme to Steffi, who agreed that with a manual to go with it, it makes a lot more sense. Kevin van der Perren managed a 3axel (if I'm not completely mistaken!), but then fell on a moment where he was just stroking and on the next jump. He managed an impressive to watch 3-3-3 combination, but there were some falls too, so it wasn't the best skate.

Matt Savoie skated with nice flow, but he had one fall on the 3axel (the second try I think). His skating looks very polished. He made some mistakes overall, but there also was very good stuff in his program. Chengjang Li managed 4t-3t and 3a-3t, but was a bit pale in his skating, as usually. Ion Garcia had one of the nicest programs in the competition or actually probable THE nicest program. There was so much attention to detail in the choreography of his Charlie Chaplin program and in his skating, it was most playful and cute. He reminded me of Angelo Dolfini in style. Unfortunately he was pretty much jump-less, but all the mistakes could not marr his program at all, which also shows what a good program it was, an absolute highlight. Andrei Dobrokodov had a bit of a strange style, but landed most of what he tried. He had a Biellman spin and I think it was not a bad skate for him.

Here are some photos from the men's qualifying, but I did not take many:
Stephane Lambiel
Stephane Lambiel
Stephane Lambiel (yes, this photo was taken DURING the program, LOL)
Juraj Sviatko (with the bee costume)
Johnny Weir
Johnny Weir
Johnny Weir
Tomas Werner
Tomas Werner