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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.
Chen Lu withdrew after a few dismal practice sessions. She was falling a lot, and in her last session had a terrible fall on a lutz, where she slid into the boards and just lay there, seemingly completely discouraged. I am not sure what the story of the development of her injury is (more specifically a re-aggravation of a previous injury, I thought), but she had terrible practices, I mean abysmal, every time I saw her. On one session, all she worked on were triple toes, and I didn't see her land one. Lu-Lu's short program is to "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck and looks to be one of the season's best, if she will be healthy enough to perform it. Her long is to a different selection of romantic music which I didn't recognize (I only saw one run-through of this one).
Brief comments on the women's event, since there was little or nothing posted on the list. Short programs were terrible; no one skated clean. Jennifer Robinson fell on the solo 3 loop. Tara Lipinski was next and had one of the funniest falls I have ever seen in competition. She was skating backwards for her triple lutz (which she had been landing in combination with a triple loop in practice, mind you), and totally slipped off her edge and fell before even putting her toe pick into the ice. (Think Debi Thomas' "Wanda Beazel" - it was exactly like that). The truly depressing part was that even with this incredible mistake in the program, she was still THIRD after the short. That gives you an idea of the quality of the skating.
Astrid Hochstetter skated to the faux Vivaldi music from the DeBeers commercial and missed both the combination (fell out, underrot) and the double axel (fall). Irina Slutskaya skated a new short program in her white "New York, New York" dress and fell on the triple lutz, which she had been having major trouble with in practice. Liashenko did a double flutz-double toe, a two-footed triple toe, and then fell on the double axel. This was more rotation than she got on anything in her long program. Yulya Vorobieva did last year's "Sing, Sing, Sing" and did a triple lutz-*single* toe, and then a triple flip. Her programs will always get a favorable reception because she can always end them with her incredible spin combination!
The highlight of the women's short was Lucinda Ruh, who skated a moving and beautiful number, very Toller (he must have choreographed and outfitted both the short and the long, but she is no longer working with him, as of recently). Unfortunately, she singled the axel, but the 3 toe and sal were fine. In general, Lucinda looks stronger and more powerful and her programs are more well-rounded. She used subtle changes in spin positions to accent the music, something very few skaters are able to do.
Susan Humphreys fell on the 3 lutz and the double axel, and then two-footed the 3 toe. Silvia Fontana skated a "jungle" number with truly terrifying crossovers and weak spins. She popped the axel but did get the 3 toe. As for the long, Liashenko couldn't rotate anything in a new long to music from "Il Trovatore" (at least "Di Quella Pira" was in there). She looked like she wasn't prepared for this competition. Astrid skated to "Far and Away" and looks like she could be a good skater one day, but certainly not on that day.
Silvia Fontana's long program to "Carmen" was really amusing. Basically, the program consisted of her lumbering down the center of the ice in a straight line, forward stroking and swizzling to set up her jumps, and then turning around at the last minute. All or almost all of the spins were at the exact middle of the rink. She got one triple, the toe loop, in combination with a split jump, which was very good, but everything else was a total disaster. Humphreys skated better in the long, hanging on to a triple lutz and also landing a 3 toe and 3 loop. Her flying camel was wimpy. Vorobieva had to skate first in the final group and unfortunately had a really rough skate. She had been very on in practice, hitting all her triples within the first half an hour, and doing triple-triple combinations, but when judgement time came, she looked nervous and missed many jumps. New long is to Russian folk music and could be very fun if skated better. I really like what I have seen of Yulya here and at Worlds.
Irina had been very wobbly in practices, and I couldn't believe that she pulled off the 3 lutz in the long. In general, she didn't skate a program that was very technically difficult, but what she did, she did well, and the program itself was quite nice, much more serious and dramatic, with better upper body carriage and extension. The dress was red with a low-cut back and long sleeves, which looked very nice on her. This program will be a real stand-out with more technical difficulty. Lucinda skated next and two-footed a lot of jumps, although I was glad to see her trying for a 3 flip in competition. A much more complete skater this year than last. Jennifer Robinson lost her nerve and missed more than not in her Latin long. Finally, Tara Lipinski skated to "Much Ado About Nothing" in hot pink, falling on her 3 flip but getting just about everything else. Basically, she still looks like an 8 year old who can do triple jumps. Her hair is now blonde, BTW. I was just glad that my nightmare scenario of Tara Lipinski winning the whole competition did not come to fruition, given how poorly Irina had been skating in practice. Great - now the FOX broadcast of SC can consist entirely on fluff pieces on Tara. Did not see how Sandra Bezic has magically transformed her into someone who is "senior level" when she is not rotating in the air.