Quick thoughts on the pairs last night and the men's short program today
In the pairs, I was of course delighted for V/T, although I wish their skate had been a little freer. You could see they were tense -- understandably! Their reactions at the end showed just how much pressure they had been under. They were so relieved! Tanya very rarely cries. So happy for them that they came through! I wonder if they'll retire now, or keep going? With only one world title, they might want to rack up a few more. We shall see!
Stolbova/Klimov weren't even on the radar this season, and wow did they deliver! So happy for them.
Heartbreak for the Germans. Bronze or silver didn't really matter -- anything less than gold and a great performance was going to be a huge disappointment for them. They were so gutted. :(( Pang/Tong went out strongly, but jumping mistakes kept them off the podium. I was so thrilled with Moore-Towers/Moscovitch!!! He doubled a triple, but it was still such a great skate! What a great moment for them. Too bad Duhamel/Radford couldn't keep it together. Alas.
Onto the men today! Well, as you can all imagine I was TOTALLY HEARTBROKEN when Plushy withdrew!
I only wish he hadn't been so selfish as to think his body could hold up when he could have withdrawn before the deadline so Maxim Kovtun could have competed. I mean, I get wanting to try. I do. But ugh. And really, did the back just flare up today? Even the Russian media are apparently skeptical! It seems like this was all part of his plan for a "tragic" goodbye. Maybe, maybe not, and we can't say for sure. I certainly am not likely to give him the benefit of the doubt, frankly. Either way, I've loathed him for more than a decade, and I'm not sorry to see the back of him. Especially after he was so insanely overmarked for the program components in the team event.
Man, Hanyu laid it down! So thrilled for him!!!!! Total rock star, and I adore him so much. Patrick was great, and the stepout on the triple Axel was unfortunate, but it was still a terrific skate. He will be in very tough for the gold if Hanyu lays it down again. Hanyu is peaking at exactly the right time.
And then the rest of the men! Man. 9-way battle for bronze! Denis Ten HAD THAT DAMN QUAD. Gah. And Machida doubling the triple Lutz!!!
He could do it in his sleep. Oy. And of course Jeremy Abbott's horrible fall on the quad. Like everyone, I thought he was done when he couldn't get back up, but so proud of him for finishing the program! And doing the other jumps!! That was freaking great. Obviously he's out of contention, but you know, that was a victory for Jeremy, IMO.
Hey, look at Jason Brown in 6th and in the final flight tomorrow! I still don't imagine he'll medal without a quad, but it's possible if the others falter again! I really just hope everyone has a great skate tomorrow, and we'll see what happens.