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Initial impressions from practices: Elvis slimmer, less bulky up top, with shorter haircut (much more flattering), new long program is more refined but still the same old, same old. Ilya's new long more technically difficult than Elvis' or Todd's, more footwork. Yamato Tamura is a nice quality skater who has a very cute face and perpetually tousled hair. Michael Tyllesen is here as a surprise guest (Konstantin Kostin was supposed to skate but withdrew with yet another injury), has a beautiful new long program, hit both triple axels in run-through. Kulik's short program is very well-suited to his style, long program a bit more redundant in choreography. Cool slide spreadeagle moves. He looks "beefier." This is particularly noticeable since I just came from Skate America and seeing Aleksandr Abt. At '95 Skate America, the two of them had pretty much identical body types, but Kulik has gotten taller and more "built," while Abt is still very slender and leggy-looking. Hollander hitting a lot of jumps in practice, many triple axels in evidence.
First to skate was Laurent Tobel of France, a very tall and gawky looking skater who wore a checked vest over a black shirt and trousers, a very silly program, deals with his physique by over-emphasizing rather than minimizing, so he always has to skate in "parody" mode. I feel strange about parody when the skater is not of a higher quality. Began with a double axel, no doubt intended to be a triple. Put a hand down on triple lutz, not much speed on the entrance. Camel-back sit-camel. Tends to lumber around. Triple axel attempt - fell and slid into the boards. Sit spin with back parallel to the ice. Oy. Tends to bring the arms up really high in jumps, and he rotates fairly slowly. The overall picture in the air is terrifying.
Yamato Tamura of Japan skated to flamenco music including "Andalucia" in a burgundy and black costume with a white ruffly "collar." Excellent sit spin, very fast and low to the ice. Triple flip-double toe, bad lean but saved (planned triple-triple). Triple lutz very good. Nice expression. Double axel okay, wild landing. Neil Wilson of Great Britain skated next to more Spanish music, this in a bodysuit with a white bolero jacket-design over black legs. Nice solo triple flip. Triple axel, underrotated, two-footed, turned out of landing, did double toe. Double axel okay, nice landing positions. Excellent combination spin to finish, got crowd going.
Next was Michael Tyllesen of Denmark, one of my favorite "obscure European skaters," who did a new short program to a sort of Spanish guitar version of "Eleanor Rigby" in a black outfit with a red "flower" design on the front and back. Triple axel low, but good (!!), in combination with double toe. Triple flip overrotated, turned out of landing. Double axel. Very "ahtsy" program, elegant skater with good attention to body line and choreographic detail. Nice camel and low sit spin, but I have written "zero back camel." I don't know what that means, beyond that I guess I need to take notes that *I* can understand ... Sven Meyer of Germany skated next, and having seen Jens Ter Laak at Skate America, I can say with true vigor, Sven is a much better skater than Jens. That said, he didn't do too splendidly here. He wore a white top with suspenders and a yellow tie and began with a flailing attempt at a triple axel, not fully rotated, no combination. Sort of ponderous. Triple lutz, just. Double axel-double toe. Huh??? Sven!?! His coach must have had a heart attack. Botched flying spin.
Dan Hollander of the US skated his blues number in grey and black, beginning with a triple lutz, underrotated, fall. Triple axel-fall. Nice fast change camel. Combo spin okay. Double axel, overrotated, turned out. Okay. Now I see what happened in Lausanne. Next was Elvis Stojko, who wore a black outfit with a gold "V" design down the front and skated to Japanese drum music. Began with triple axel-triple toe, slight bobble on the landing. Triple lutz okay. Seems slower than usual. Sit spin looks lower than last year. Double axel okay. Footwork seems weak. Combo spin with scratch and back scratch, very fast, impressive.
Markus Leminen of Finland, a Doug Leigh student, skated next to a bluesy number in a white top and black pants with a black band. Double axel, popped lutz to about a 1 1/2 lutz. Change sit. Double axel-double toe. What a night we are having in Halifax. Kids, you can't do double-double combinations in the short... Two-foot spin transition in combo. Next was Jeff Langdon of Canada, doing last year's short program, began with a fall on the triple axel (did a nice one in warm-up). Triple flip gorgeous. Incredible change camel (the positions and the control). Double axel okay. Flying camel into a layover position, and then back to upright. Great choreography.
Ilya Kulik skated next, wearing a vision of a costume to which my initial (completely positive) response was, "Ilya is draped in seaweed." In any case, he wore a fluttery grey and black concoction with one shoulder "bare" (illusion fabric bare, anyway) and skated to modern electronic music that suited him perfectly. Perfect triple axel-triple toe and triple lutz. He has this amazing lightness in his jumps, as though he lands with a cushion of air under his blade that most people don't have access to. The technique is so spectacular. Footwork and choreography in this program was just brilliant, I can't rave enough, but then Ilya singled the double axel to a chorus of groans.
Ravi Walia of Canada skated to "Les Miserables" (I think?). He's a tall, extremely thin and occasionally awkward-looking skater who I did not see having any degree with triple axels at any point during the week. Here he did about a 2 1/4 axel in combination with a double toe. Flying sit. Slow. Double axel, change sit, triple lutz which he held on to, possibly slightly two-footed. Last to skate was Cornel Gheorghe of Romania, doing a typical Cornel program. He began with a giant waxel (the Fabrizio Garratoni Skate Canada Commemorative Waxel?). Triple lutz, pulled out the landing. Change camel. Another double axel. I'm sorry, my attention always seems to waver when Cornel is on the ice. It's nothing personal.
The practices before the men's long were not much more revealing than the previous practices. Elvis skated fairly consistently throughout. Ilya was not doing any work on quads and obviously was not planning anything of the sort in this competition. I assumed that it was his strategy to work on skating clean instead of focusing all of his energy on the quad the way he did last year. I saw Jeff Langdon hit a couple of excellent triple axel-triple toes, but I also saw him wipe out a lot. Neil Wilson is not very close on the triple axel, but I admire him for going for it. He just needs to pick up his speed and power. Dan Hollander, again, skated very well in the practices. But I took it with a grain of salt, having seen his short program.
These practices were also memorable because I had picked up the new Beverly Smith book, Talking Figure Skating, and while skimming through read the section on fans, chuckled over her references to the internet, and then was struck by the write-up of the "Ilya Stalker." My initial response to this was "I hope I don't know her, because she's been to everything I've been to!" This woman's itinerary sounded like mine for the last two years, and it was a bit creepy. Well, then in the last men's long program practice I went over to a different seat to get some close-up photos of Ilya at the boards with his coach. All week I'd been sitting center ice with my friends, but Tatyana kept setting up camp way in one corner, and so I figured I might as well go over and take a few photos at this last session. Well, there was an older woman sitting in what would have been the *ideal* Ilya photo seat, so I sat two seats over from her and happily took some pictures and then went back to my seat. Maybe five minutes later, I was informed that the Ilya Stalker was alive and well, here at Skate Canada, and security was aware of her at all times. I didn't need two guesses to figure out who she was. Ewww!!! I'm someone who doesn't even like bugging the skaters for autographs, let alone trying to "get to know" the skaters. It still gives me the heebie jeebies to think that I was sitting that close to her. Poor Ilya!
Anyway, the long programs began with Markus Leminen of Finland, who wore a black turtleneck and trousers with a belt and a faux watch chain and skated to what I could only describe as flatulent music. Sorry. Triple axel, a bit two-footed. Doubled the lutz, too close to the boards. Double flip, ditto. Double loop-double toe. Double loop, overrotated. Triple loop (!). Long section of edges and spirals. Double sal. Icky change sit. Ponderous doesn't begin to describe. Triple sal (flip??), a bit two- footed. Single sal. Death drop. Next up was Sven Meyer skating to "Les Miserables" in a white top, burgundy sash, and grey pants. Began with a fall on the triple axel. Death drop. Triple toe-triple toe. Triple loop. Double axel, fell out of landing. Triple flip, bad fall. Double lutz, flying camel, double lutz with no speed going in, triple loop, triple sal, combo spin.
Cornel Gheorghe wore a burgundy vest, black pants and off-white top. Triple axel, triple lutz-double toe, triple loop nice, double axel, change camel okay, triple flip overrotated, fell out. Double lutz, triple sal touch down with free foot. Sloppy footwork sequence. Double sal (?), death drop. I have no notes whatsoever on the music, choreography, expression. I am guessing this was not a masterpiece. Next up was Ravi Walia, skating to "Fiddler on the Roof" in a blue top with a sash. Began with a double axel (intended triple), and then, to my complete surprise, did what appeared to be a basically clean quad toe-triple toe. !!! He's a messy jumper, his axel technique is awful, but he can rotate really fast, and the triple toe is an easy jump. It makes sense that we'll be seeing more of these kinds of skaters in the next few years, especially if the ISU decides to allow quads in the short program. Hand down on triple lutz, bizarre combo spin, triple sal, fall on triple flip, triple flip (?), death drop. Triple lutz two-footed, triple sal, sit spin. (The quad was called two- footed, I believe, in any case it wasn't ratified).
Neil Wilson skated next in a blue and purple silky top and black pants to soft classical-esque music with whale sounds in it. Double axel, nice triple flip, triple axel landed on two feet, underrotated. Gorgeous flying camel. Triple toe. Triple flip, turn, duoble toe. Triple loop with a reeeeally long set-up. Triple sal. Catch-foot layback, choreography a bit weak, but a beautifully refined young skater. Too slow over the ice. Only a double lutz. Line and expression nice. Footwork good, slight stumble at the end. Triple toe-double toe, another gorgeous combination spin. Following this lovely but technically weak program was Laurent Tobel, about whom I've written: "scary striped outfit. Scary music. Scary skater." Okay, this is a bit mean, but during the practices I came up with a theory that when Laurent Tobel jumps and does more three or more rotations, he can actually create his own weather system and is in danger of sucking up smaller skaters. I had this image of him checking out of a jump and finding Dan Hollander stuck in his armpit. There's just something about his jump technique, with the slow rotation and the head bobbing around, a bit like Shepherd Clark, that I find a little frightening. Began with triple axel, hand down, double toe. Triple sal wonky but okay, triple flip. My comment on the choreography: "a little Laurent goes a long way." Double axel, combo spin, triple loop, and then a triple lutz-triple toe.
Dan Hollander was up next doing his 95-96 long program to "Legends of the Fall" in a blue outfit. Triple lutz-pause-double toe, turned out of landing. Triple axel- attempted in combination with a loop, but loop never left the ice. Flying camel, triple flip fell off the blade on landing, knees look stiff. Single axel, double sal, losing all confidence. Single axel. Triple toe, triple sal, death drop. Oy. Next to skate was Ilya Kulik, who I spotted quickly in the skaters' entrance. Hey, is "spotted" a pun in this context? Peering through my camera's telephoto lens, it took me about three seconds to decide that I liked the "vinyl giraffe" costume. It's just so too much. Amazing yellow vinyl contraption with a white vinyl backless "vest," who thought of this? "Rhapsody in Blue" skated with vintage Ilya choreography, in a couple of instances I felt a bit too vintage. Triple axel-triple toe, triple flip- *single* toe (ILYA!!), huge deathdrop. Triple loop, flying camel, long "camera section" including multiple t-stops, snorts, and poses. Cute but a bit too obviously a breather. Perfect triple axel, he's not doing the second 3 axel out of a spreadeagle anymore. Easy speed through some difficult and very original footwork, triple lutz, triple flip, another good footwork section, triple sal overrotated, into a two-footed triple toe, underrotated. Even though he was a bit messy at the end, I still felt that Ilya should have won this competition. The overall quality of his skating was so superior to the other skaters there. Abt is the only other skater I've seen with that kind of easy speed over the ice, and Ilya is so polished, particularly in his jump technique and in the difficulty of his footwork.
Michael Tyllesen skated next, doing a lovely program with some kind of "painter" or "artist" theme to classical music including the famous Tchaikovski Violin Concerto, wearing a burgundy and black costume. Singled the initial triple axel. Triple lutz okay, nice camel spin, triple flip good height, triple toe overrotated, into a "toe waltz" jump. "Love of Knee" spin! Triple axel, hand down. Triple loop, perfect triple salchow, triple toe-double toe. I can't tell you how overjoyed I was to see him skate this well! He wasn't even able to do an exhibition because he had already booked his flight to leave on Sunday. What a wonderful surprise. He has a tendency to stiffen up in competition and here he skated just gloriously. Following Michael was a young man I hadn't seen before but really grew to appreciate over the week, Yamato Tamura, who has a good sense of style and a dramatic look on the ice. He wore a blue top and black pants and skated to "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" and "Love Story." Nice choreography and expression, tends to hunch over on jump landings and save everything with mega-knee bend. Triple lutz way forward, hand down. Double axel, flying camel into poor position, triple loop, a little slow during footwork but maintained flow. Triple flip-triple toe, more magic of knee bend. Spreadeagle into triple lutz, nice circular footwork with better speed. Double flip, triple sal, deathdrop, spreadeagle into double axel, triple toe. I like this guy.
Next was Elvis Stojko, skating to the soundtrack of "The Ghost and the Darkness," a film I had never heard of which is apparently about a man taming lions. Oh, lord. He wore a grapey lavender version of the "Dragon" costume, so grapey that I wondered if it was actually scented, like those scented markers... Anyway, he began with triple lutz, triple loop a bit low but okay, quad toe-double toe, triple axel-double toe. Slow over the ice, especially in comparison to Kulik. Triple axel overrotated, almost sat down on landing. Triple flip pulled out the landing. Triple sal. Fast combination spin again with forward scratch and back scratch. This year he did a spiral for a few seconds. In general, there IS some choreography in this program, whereas there was absolutely none in last year's, but it's still superficial and dull (in my opinion). Last to skate was Jeff Langdon who wore a blue silky top over black pants. Triple axel, just a bit far back on the blade, fell out. Triple flip-single loop (Ilya is still in the building!), nice flying camel with layover position. Triple sal-1/2 loop-1/2 loop-triple toe. Music I've written: "Something-Harlem Nocturne-Something." Really like the choreography, cool spreadeagle on a flat down half the ice. Fall on triple axel, double toe out of a backspin, triple lutz, triple flip overrotated, fell out.
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