The men’s event last night wrapped up at the Pacific Coliseum and it could not have been more telling as to the future of the sport.
What I mean is as I watched the event unfold with the leader from the Russian Federation Evgeni Plushenko skating last, it was not until the results were posted that I knew who would take the title.
Evan Lysacek of the United States took the title with a program that was technically sound and aritistically superior. You could see him thinking his way through the program and what he may have lost in the emotional connection to the audience he made up for in attention to the details of his program. As the first skater in the final flight, he had about an hour and a half wait to see what would happen. Turns out, it was well worth the wait.
Lysacek won.
It was a thrill.
Classy, gentlemanly, humble and the complete antithesis to the arrogant displays from Mr Plushenko. For example, at the end of Plushenko’s program, he milled around with his “I am #1” index fingers waving in the air and he then went over to his imaginary fans (in a real corner) to do an imaginary salute with his imaginary sword – all before taking his bow at the end of the program. In other words, he came, he saw, he conquered – he thought. He took silver.
Daisuke Takahashi of Japan was solid enough to take the bronze with speed and a skating style that is so fluid that he was able to easily overcome the fall he had on his opening quad.
Other suprises were Patrick Chan’s season’s best score, but not career best skate which helped him move from 7th to 5th proving once again that the construction of the programs and the program component scores can go a long way to help a skater’s overall points total.
Japan’s Takahiko Kozuka and Switzerland’s Stephane Lambiel both presented performances that were entertaining and memorable in a field where skaters had lots of mistakes.
Pj’s Podium Picks?
Right countries – wrong order – I had Plushenko, Oda, Lysacek. Japan’s Nobunari Oda’s skate came undone during his program which, because of the program interruption, cost him a 2 point deduction in addition to another point he had for a fall. he dropped from 4th to 7th overall.
A special shout out to Lori Nichol! The Toronto-area choreographer responsible for Patrick Chan AND the first two Olympic Champions programs: Shen and Zhao and Lysacek.
With dance getting underway in just a few hours, I will be back to talk about ice dance after the compulsory segment – but feel compelled to make Pj’s Podium Pick before the start of the event:
GOLD Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir CAN
SILVER Meryl Davis and Charlie White USA
BRONZE Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali ITA