Skating
Haters are gonna hate, but I was so proud of Patrick Chan this weekend at Nationals. He not only did a gorgeous quad in the short program, but two in the long (one in combination with a triple). He really has stepped up and is delivering. You just know that every beautiful quad Patrick does sticks in Evgeni Plushenko's craw, because Patrick shows that you can do quads AND be a complete skater, with footwork and spins and transitions. He was very wise to take his time and not do the quad until he was ready to do it. And in the meantime, he honed on all his other skills. Whereas with Plushenko and Joubert, there is precious little there but the jumps.
So far only the CBC Bold version is up (as opposed to the main network), which unfortunately has annoying commentary (Josee Chouindard? No, CBC, no!), but the picture is beautiful.
Given that he's only 20 years old, there is still so much Patrick can achieve. Yes, he has been overmarked in the past (and Nationals marks are generally always inflated, which is why the ISU doesn't count scores from national events in the record books), but there is no question in my mind that if he skates his best at Worlds (and that's always a big if -- it's tough not to crack under the pressure), he will deservedly win and likely set a new world record for high score. I don't think Takahashi can hold him off, although I'd love to see him try.
Shawn Sawyer had the skate of his career to finish second to Patrick. So thrilled for him! Everyone expected him to retire after failing to make the Olympics last year, but he decided to come back to prove something to himself and to have fun. He's always been a gorgeous skater, but he could never nail the triple axel, and the 3A is a must for elite men. Shawn's 3A here is the best I've been him do possibly ever, and although he barely hangs on, that is a moral victory. The whole performance was just wonderful, and I really hope he can skate well at Worlds, too. I suspect this will be the high note that he'll want his career to go out on, but you never know, he might return.
Not a lot of deep thoughts on the other disciplines. I was happy for Cynthia Phaneuf winning the Canadian title again seven years after she first won it as a 15-year-old, but she didn't have much competition. Nice depth in the pairs and ice dance, though. I was rooting for Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje to win in the dance, not because I don't love Vanessa and Paul, but because I feel like this was Kaitlyn and Andrew's one shot. And man, only a point between the teams -- they came so close. That's gotta be a tough loss, but at least they're going back to Worlds after a couple years of being on the bench. They worked so hard to improve, which is so great to see.
In pairs, the top teams are rough around the edges, but the potential is there. It'll be interesting to see if Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison can come back next year after Bryce's knee surgery. I hope so, because as Jessica proved by competing in singles this year, she's a great pairs skater. It's a shame she let her head get the better of her, because she's such a gorgeous skater. But as much as you need the whole package, you need the jumps, so.
US Nationals are this weekend (and NBC has decent coverage for once!), and I'm crossing my fingers for Jeremy Abbott and Adam Rippon. In other US skating news, by far the most interesting revelations to come out of Johnny Weir's book are his confessions of faking illness and injury in the past. The only surprise to long-time skating fans is that he's admitting it. Johnny is one of those skaters I've always loved, but also wanted to slap upside the head for his shitty work ethic. Galina did manage to whip him into shape, but for too long he just didn't work hard enough, and had too many excuses. I will be shocked if he gives up his busy schedule of media whoring and Being Outrageous™ to ever really commit to training again, but stranger things have happened, I suppose.
So far only the CBC Bold version is up (as opposed to the main network), which unfortunately has annoying commentary (Josee Chouindard? No, CBC, no!), but the picture is beautiful.
Given that he's only 20 years old, there is still so much Patrick can achieve. Yes, he has been overmarked in the past (and Nationals marks are generally always inflated, which is why the ISU doesn't count scores from national events in the record books), but there is no question in my mind that if he skates his best at Worlds (and that's always a big if -- it's tough not to crack under the pressure), he will deservedly win and likely set a new world record for high score. I don't think Takahashi can hold him off, although I'd love to see him try.
Shawn Sawyer had the skate of his career to finish second to Patrick. So thrilled for him! Everyone expected him to retire after failing to make the Olympics last year, but he decided to come back to prove something to himself and to have fun. He's always been a gorgeous skater, but he could never nail the triple axel, and the 3A is a must for elite men. Shawn's 3A here is the best I've been him do possibly ever, and although he barely hangs on, that is a moral victory. The whole performance was just wonderful, and I really hope he can skate well at Worlds, too. I suspect this will be the high note that he'll want his career to go out on, but you never know, he might return.
Not a lot of deep thoughts on the other disciplines. I was happy for Cynthia Phaneuf winning the Canadian title again seven years after she first won it as a 15-year-old, but she didn't have much competition. Nice depth in the pairs and ice dance, though. I was rooting for Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje to win in the dance, not because I don't love Vanessa and Paul, but because I feel like this was Kaitlyn and Andrew's one shot. And man, only a point between the teams -- they came so close. That's gotta be a tough loss, but at least they're going back to Worlds after a couple years of being on the bench. They worked so hard to improve, which is so great to see.
In pairs, the top teams are rough around the edges, but the potential is there. It'll be interesting to see if Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison can come back next year after Bryce's knee surgery. I hope so, because as Jessica proved by competing in singles this year, she's a great pairs skater. It's a shame she let her head get the better of her, because she's such a gorgeous skater. But as much as you need the whole package, you need the jumps, so.
US Nationals are this weekend (and NBC has decent coverage for once!), and I'm crossing my fingers for Jeremy Abbott and Adam Rippon. In other US skating news, by far the most interesting revelations to come out of Johnny Weir's book are his confessions of faking illness and injury in the past. The only surprise to long-time skating fans is that he's admitting it. Johnny is one of those skaters I've always loved, but also wanted to slap upside the head for his shitty work ethic. Galina did manage to whip him into shape, but for too long he just didn't work hard enough, and had too many excuses. I will be shocked if he gives up his busy schedule of media whoring and Being Outrageous™ to ever really commit to training again, but stranger things have happened, I suppose.