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STANDARD DISCLAIMER
These are my own opinions and observations. I may not always be
100% accurate and my ideas are certainly open to debate and criticism.
I prefer the Russian style of skating and may not be as enchanted with
the "popular favorites" in North America. I hope that these reports are
enjoyable to most readers, but I do not apologise for stating my own
feelings.
Julia Lautowa of Austria skated first to "Rock Around the Clock" and the like. She landed triple lutz-double toe and a triple loop, but had some problems with her combination spin. Presentation needs a lot of help, but her jumps were solid. Yelena Sokolova of Russia skated to jazz music and had a bad fall on the triple lutz, but got the triple loop and double axel fine. She was a bit slow and more so when entering her jumps.
Jennifer Robinson of Canada skated to "Nights in White Satin" (anyone can feel free to guess what the costume looked like), landing her triple lutz on two feet and then toe-axeling. Unfortunately, she fell on the triple loop. She has picked up her speed and still has one of the most beautiful layback spins around. Michelle Leigh had done something scary to her hair.
Sydne Vogel skated her old short program in a barfy pink dress, with a really strong triple lutz combination and a triple flip. She also did a great lay-over camel spin. She still needs to find something to do with her arms, but her carriage and stroking were definitely improved. I found the combination of her skating style, her strange hair cut, and her little-girl costume very weird.
Tonia Kwiatkowski skated to "It's No Business Like Show Business" in a slightly less sparkly outfit with a faux tuxedo front, with a triple lutz-double toe combination (swung the free leg out, I couldn't see from my seat what the initial landing looked like), a triple toe walley, and an awesome death drop. It struck me as remniscent of Katarina Witt, maybe because of her age.
Fanny Cagnard of France looks to be a strong jumper, skating to scary folk music in a suitably gigantic-sleeved costume. She's a bit large for Heidi. Solo triple was loop, landed 3 lutz-2 toe combo. Lenka Kulovana of the Czech Republic could barely get off the ice, landing triple toe but only getting the double toe afterwards (she has the triple toe-triple toe as her "big" move in all her long programs and was going for it in the short), and then just squeaking out the triple sal. It was a typical Lenka program, stylish but very reserved, very much like Nancy Kerrigan's style of skating.
Maria Butyrskaya came out for her short program in an amazing bare- midriff costume with a jeweled navel inset and her hair back to a dark auburn that it was a few years ago, which I think looks a 100 times better on her. She looked like a Slavic goddess, and skated to Middle Eastern music which could be an amazing program for her, but unfortunately she popped her planned triple flip, and then fell on the triple toe afterwards. She lost her nerve, and it showed through the rest of the program, pretty stiff, stepping out of the triple loop and just scraping out a double axel.
Michelle Kwan skated to what is apparently music by Massenet in a very balletic style purple costume with a square neckline that was thoroughly doused in sequins. Moreover, she had rather dark make-up on, which I found a little surprising since she doesn't need much to look good, especially in that color of dress. Her stroking seemed to have picked up a little bit of speed and power since Worlds, but her elements were very much the same. She barely got off the ice for her triple lutz with a real lack of flow out of it. The triple toe was even worse. Michelle opened with a really stunning spiral sequence, however, and her camel spin was much improved, hitting a gorgeous position with an arched back and then bending the knee to show incredible control. THAT looked like a world champion to me.
In general, I thought Michelle's skating and her programs were moving in a positive direction, trying to emphasize power instead of disguising a lack of power. She just seemed to have no "spark" in either of the competitive numbers. She also was definitely having some kind of boot problems, making her spins a little wobblier than usual and her jumps a little more tentative. Have to give Michelle credit for her incredible consistency. A facial expression or two might have been nice.
Vanessa Gusmeroli of France skated a new program to some kind of movie soundtrack music which evolved into "St. Louis Blues" (the Kurt-o-phile beside me cringed when the "cursed music" came on). She doubled her lutz in the combination, but got the triple loop fine. I love her sense of style and her unique moves. Zuzanna Szwed of Poland skated to a jazzy bass guitar riff and went for the triple flip, putting a hand down and then doing a 3 turn before getting the double toe out. Solo was triple toe.
Finally, Hanae Yokoya of Japan skated last year's Kitaro short program, which is a nice style for her, very dramatic, but her spins weren't on and she lost a lot of speed on her footwork sequence. She did get the triple (f)lutz-double toe and triple sal down.
For the long programs, first up was Fanny Cagnard of France, skating to "Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Dracula" in a pink froofy dress. She didn't land her triple lutz this night, but did get the flip, sal, and toe loop as well as doing a decent Biellmann spin. Zuzanna Szwed of Poland skated a slow and generic program in a sparkly pink dress. She landed a couple of triples (toe loops) in there somewhere.
Next up was Maria Butyrskaya, who skated last year's "Malaguena" program in a new costume, a black lace leotard top with long sleeves and a black velvet flippy skirt over it. She had a nightmare performance that got worse and worse. After bailing on the triple flip, she did get off a triple lutz and triple loop, but nothing else worked right, doubling and totally mis-timing most of her jumps, as though she were sick or disoriented. If you have seen her long at 1995 Europeans, I think this one might have been worse. She looked stunned when she got off the ice.
Vanessa Gusmeroli skated last year's circus theme program, doubling a lot of her big triples but landing a solo triple loop as well as a triple loop-double loop. Hot and cold in terms of concentration and performance quality. Yelena Sokolova skated a long program to Strauss waltzes in a lilac dress with white boot covers on. She looked a little more solid than she had in the short and got off a strong triple flip. By the time the program finished, she was exhausted and couldn't get off the ice enough to do a flying spin. I was not all that impressed with her. Don't know much about her, but her coach, at least for this event, looked to be Marina Kudryavtseva. Jennifer Robinson skated to various Latin pieces in a great dress that was encrusted with sparkly metallic gold and cut very short and a little bit A-line. She seems to have picked up some speed and confidence since Worlds and did land a triple lutz, flip, sal, and toe loop. She might have flutzed the second triple lutz, which she turned out of before doing a double loop.
Note: The notes on the last group of women were written
at a later date.
Julia Lautowa skated first to a medley of Latin pieces. She
seems to have a problem with leg wrap and travelled on a spin.
Nevertheless, she hit some big triples including a lutz, flip,
sal and toe. She overrotated the triple loop and couldn't
hold the landing. Lenka Kulovana skated next to "Romantic
Moments" by Yanni. She fell out of her triple toe-triple
toe combination and couldn't seem to get off the ice on
this occasion, doubling everything else she tried (although
a few of these were intended to be doubles). She did a
spreadeagle into double axel, very Peggy. Sydne Vogel
skated to dull piano music by David Foster in a black
dress and nailed most of her big jumps: triple lutz-double
toe, triple flip (held on to), triple loop, and triple
toe-double toe. She fell on her second triple lutz as well
as the triple sal, but did do a double axel out of a
bracket entrance.
Michelle Kwan skated next to her "Taj Mahal" theme program in a pink and red pseudo-Indian costume which I thought was interesting, although the red dot on her forehead seemed to be in questionable taste. She began with a nice bent-knee camel spin (I guess it's called a Grafstrom camel) and then went into the same triple lutz that she was doing last year, not very impressive, that is. After a nice triple toe-double toe and triple flip, Michelle popped the hated loop. Her spirals were gorgeous. There was no discernible expression on her face for any part of this program. She hit a shaky second triple lutz and then a good triple sal and triple toe. There seem to be fewer in-betweens in this program than in last year's, and it does come across as something of a rehash.
Next up was Hanae Yokoya, skating to music by Kitaro, "Twelve Dances with God," wearing a purple dress with a velvet overlay, trimmed with faux pearls. Hanae seems to be struggling with her jumps this year, falling on the lutz, two footing the loop, and falling out of the second lutz as well as the sal. I hope she can get herself organised again, because she seems to have a lot of potential. Last to skate was Tonia Kwiatkowski, who had a somewhat disappointing program to the "Hungarian Rhapsody" by Liszt. She did perform it to the hilt, however, with improved connection with the audience and a lot of very solid jumps. She began with a huge double axel, hung on to a triple lutz, and then got a triple toe-double toe as well as a final triple toe. She doubled the loop, put a hand down on the flip, and fell on the triple sal.
Overall, the performances by the American skaters were strong in a not-very-strong field.