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ABBREVIATIONS
I have written out most jumps and other elements, but do use standard edge
abbreviations (F forward, B backward, I inside, O outside, L left, R right) and
SBS for side-by-side in the pairs.
I was beginning to doubt whether there was a women's event at this competition by the time Friday morning rolled around and I found myself the sole spectator in the rink at 6:45 a.m., determined to see the women practice before the short programs so I'd have at least some idea of what I could expect and how the contenders were doing. I had spotted three ladies' competitors that I could actually recognize here and again; actually, I saw Fanny Cagnard so often that the poor girl probably thought I was stalking her. But as I sat there bleary-eyed and vaguely aware of my patheticness (pathetitude?), the daunting first group of ladies took to the practice ice, all but one clad in a plain black practice dress, all but one with hair colour ranging from medium blonde to medium brown, I think every one with her hair up in a ponytail, and I felt the pressure of learning new faces and bodies and skating styles more keenly than at any other point in the competition. :-) Since I was the only non-credentialed person in the entire building, I felt it impolite to take any photographs of the short program practices, but I did take lots of notes, mostly for my own sake so that I would have a prayer of keeping who was who straight. As with the men, I will incorporate any notes from practice into the discussion of the competition so as to save space.
First up was Idora Hegel of Croatia in a black dress and one black glove, skating to pseudo-Vivaldi music. She began with a triple loop-double toe, accomplished out of a very long set-up, which was good news for her because she had been struggling in the warm-up. Double axel, not much fly in the flying sit spin, overall the stroking was not of good quality. Spirals fairly shallow, circular footwork not great, spins okay but slow.
Kaja Hanevold of Norway is a tall, pretty girl with medium brown hair who wore a dark blue dress and skated to a soporific version of "Summertime" that unfortunately made her look even slower than she already was. She began with a triple toe-double toe combination and a good double axel, nice positions in the combination spin but she travelled a bit. Very slow straightline footwork sequence, weak spirals, flying sit spin not great.
The next skater, Anna Lundström of Sweden, is an attractive young woman with dark blonde hair who looks like someone... maybe a bit like Katya Gordeeva? She has those small, "tight" facial features, but looks a bit stronger and more solid. She skated to a weird version of music from "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" in a burgundy dress and just squeaked out a triple loop-double toe combination. Poor layback in terms of position, speed, and number of rotations. Spirals a bit wobbly, but overall better speed and flow than the previous two skaters.
Viktoria Volchkova of Russia is a long-haired blonde with a pixie-ish face; she looks a bit like Marina Khalturina and was being coached here by Viktor Kudryavtsev. She skated to dramatic music in a fluorescent salmon pink dress with bright white boot covers and began with a huge triple lutz-double toe. She has excellent flow and good presentation, but an expressionless face and a hunched over sit spin position. The double axel was fabulous, with a lot of height and ice coverage, but then she singled the required double flip and finished her program with a look of complete dismay on her face.
The next skater, Michelle Kriz of Australia, is a clockwise rotator who wore a black dress and skated to "Sabre Dance," emphasizing the labored quality of her skating. She appeared to be coached by Kathy Casey, but perhaps my eyes were deceiving me. Fell on the triple toe, two-footed the double axel, layback and spirals slow. Didn't make the cut to skate the long program.
Julia Sebestyen of Hungary was up next. She has long dark brown hair and wore a blue and white dress for a nicely choreographed program to waltz music by Sviridov. Good musicality, expression, flow over the ice. Spiral into double axel, combo spin nice, interesting positions, but travelled a bit. Fell on triple lutz. Layback pretty, but again travelled, not a lot of revolutions. Good double flip with the arms folded in front. A promising teammate for Czako.
First to skate in the next group was Shelby Lyons of the US, in a white dress with a pretty red and gold "peasant" border design, all done in sparkling sequins and the like. Her music was the Russian Dance from Tchaikovski's "Swan Lake." Her stroking still gets bouncy sometimes, good speed, still tends to look down at the ice a lot. Fell on triple flip, good double flip with hands on the hips, solid spiral sequence and double axel. In practice that morning, Shelby was also working on the triple lutz from a mohawk entrance, close but not enough height to make the full rotation.
Chisato Shina of Japan skated to the "Russian Sailor Dance" by Gliere in a sparkly green dress, some cute choreography but the music was a bit fast for her. Her jumps don't have much height, but she is a very tight rotator. Triple lutz-double toe okay, a layback Dick Button would hate, nice spiral sequence, combo spin travelled a bit, included a pseudo-broken leg sit spin position. Very low sit in the flying sit spin made a good final impression.
The next skater, Anna Wenzel of Austria, wore a silver cropped outfit for her short program. I can't see where I've noted down her music. I could have sworn she had a silver streak in her hair, but maybe she just had a very tight part (her hair is dark brown)... shades of Mr. Lee in the men's event. She has nice extension in the spirals, almost in a full split, and tends to bend at the waist on her jump landings. Another clockwise rotator. She began with triple toe-double toe which may have been slightly two-footed, okay double axel, combo spin lacking rotation, flying sit not great. My favorite part of the program was the "Kazakova" spiral entrance into the double flip.
Anna Jurkiewicz of Poland is a very tiny girl with long brown hair who looks about ten. She skated to "A Chorus Line" wearing pink and fell on her flutzed triple lutz attempt. When she is on the right edge, this is a good jump for her, but when she falls over to the inside, she usually hits the deck. Although she's very small, Anna has nice solid jumps with good height. Bouncy skater. Double flip with the arms pulled out straight in front of her and the hands clasped, cute with the music. Very fast layback spin.
The next skater, Viktoria Dzirko of Byelarus, did not make the long program but had pretty good flow and speed. She has long blonde hair and wore a bright pink dress. Triple toe, turned out, double toe. Her big problem is the double axel, which she entered at about 1 mile per hour. Combo spin pretty good, fairly slow footwork sequence. Spirals nice, but flying sit spin was very poor and very slow.
Brittney McConn of the US, who I entitled "the Lindsey Davenport of skating" because she really looks a lot like her (except shorter :-)) skated next to "Caravan" wearing a black dress that was very, very low both in front and in back (the naughty bits covered with a sheath of illusion fabric). Somehow the cut of the dress brought Tonya Harding to mind. She began her program with a spiral sequence and the "pseudo-seduction of the judges..." somehow I could just hear Dick Button... Ina Bauer into a double flip (does that really count as footwork leading into a jump?), and then a triple loop-double toe. Brittney has a very prolonged set-up for this jump and did her triple loop at the very far end of the rink, in the corner, up against the wall. But she did it. Layback good, posture could be better, good double axel, well-done "travelling"/"running" entrance to combo spin. She was thrilled.
Huan Wang of China skated first in the third group, wearing a neon green dress and skating to Latin music. She began with a triple lutz-double toe, accomplished without any flow on the landing of either jump. Layback okay but slow, spirals fairly weak, not much fly in the flying sit. Not a lot of flow over the ice in general. Double axel was forward on the landing, combo spin was okay but again, slow.
The next skater, Christel Borghi of Switzerland, has short, dark hair and skated a number to more Latin music, this in an unappetizing orange dress. Triple toe was forward, turned on landing, double toe. Combo spin with the Nathalie Krieg/Neil Wilson sit spin variant (the upper body leans forward and twists to the side, with one hand and arm outstretched at an angle to the leg... I don't know quite how to describe it). A choppy skater, spirals okay, straightline footwork fairly simple, layback okay.
Sara Lindroos of Finland has short curly blonde hair and performed a "saucy" number wearing a navy blue dress. A fairly stylish skater, began with a triple toe (may have been slightly two-footed)-double toe. Good flow over the ice, fast layback, spirals done with good speed. Double axel was underrotated, she fell out of the landing. Overall a pretty solid skater but without much height in the jumps.
Next up was Keyla Ohs of Canada. Whenever I watch the Canadian women these days, I feel miserable, not because they are poor skaters, but because I see them as being perpetually in a "lose-lose" situation, every misstep breathlessly anticipated by a very hostile NGB, every success only a set-up for the Next Big Test. I can't imagine the pressure they must feel. In any case, Keyla had looked very tentative in practice that morning and I expected the worst. She wore a hideous speckly flowery orange and red thing for a program to music from the movie "Soapdish" and began with a nice spiral sequence, good flow and extension. Then, miracle of miracles, she landed her triple flip!! Double toe on the end. Why did she land it, unlike Skate Canada or the other times I've seen her work on it? She actually went into it with some speed! I thought she was going to do a triple toe combination! Anyway, it was great to see her hit it and she just beamed for the rest of the program. Combo spin and layback nice, very pretty positions. Pulled out the double axel.
Yelena Ivanova of Russia, who already has a full assortment of Junior Worlds medals (silver in '95, gold '96, bronze '97), skated next to "Puttin' on the Ritz" in a black dress with long black gloves. She is very fast over the ice and her jumps are huge! Yelena is one of those people who looks big and muscular on the ice, but off the ice in street clothes she is just tiny. Triple lutz-double toe was awesome, but not a lot of flow on the landing. Great double axel, good height on the flying sit spin (one of the few nice ones in the competition). Choreography slightly Markova-esque at times, a bit bouncy but smoother than I have seen her before. Spins are very fast, okay positions, forward and back Biellmann spins. The double flip was so huge that she just about killed herself on it in the warm-up. Good straightline footwork too.
I was looking forward to seeing the next skater, who I had heard many good things about. Yulya Soldatova of Russia is a small, auburn-haired young woman who is coached by Marina Kudryavtseva. She skated to "Tico Tico" in a dress composed cleverly of alternating bands of dark green fabric and illusion fabric. She began with a nice double flip with the arms over her head, then turned out of the triple lutz landing... basically, she landed the jump, spun around, and then did a double toe. (So she did take off for the second jump backwards). Spirals pretty, straightline footwork good but not as difficult as Ivanova's, overall not quite as fast as Ivanova but more charismatic and "sparkly" if I can use such a Peggy-Fleming-esque term. Gorgeous side-leaning spin like Butyrskaya's with one arm stretched straight up above her head.
The first skater in the next group was a tiny girl from Korea, Yea-Ji Shin, who wore a costume so bright blue and sparkly that she gave the appearance of being gift-wrapped. It actually reminded me just a little of Midori Ito's costume at the 1988 Olympics. She didn't have the greatest warm-up. She was attempting to practice her jump combination, unfortuntely using the same corner where Cagnard and Nikodinov were doing their triple lutzes. First Nikodinov cut her off (unintentionally), just about killing her, and then Cagnard plowed right into her, nothing painful but both kept skating holding on to each other for a second and then Cagnard, with an expression of infinite disgust, said something to Shin and tapped her forehead like "think, think!" Aw, ya big meanie. Anyway, Shin skated to some bombastic music that was just a bit much for her, but was so adorable that I couldn't mind it at all. She began with a spiral sequence done in a circular pattern instead of across the whole ice surface, and then successfully did her combination in the dreaded corner, triple salchow (from a mohawk entrance)-double toe. Same arm-pull move on the double flip landing as Jurkiewicz, double axel accomplished from practically a standstill. Cute.
Julia Lautowa from Austria, who had struggled so much at Skate America and Skate Canada, was up next doing her "Two Guitars" gypsy program in a pretty bright green and pink dress with a "tatter" fringe finish. I was pulling for her to get her head together, and she did skate better here, put a hand down on the triple lutz, double toe, sort of. Good speed over the ice, big double flip with arm over her head, nice footwork on a diagonal. Layback fast but position not ideal. She seems to be holding out her moves a bit more. Spirals strong. Not much flow out of the double axel.
Next up was Fanny Cagnard of France, skating to "French" music in a striped blue and white dress. The front of the dress comes to an open "V" over her crotch, where there was more of the striped material on the panties. Sort of a bizarre effect. If I were still in my art history grad program, I might say that the liminal spaces between underwear and outerwear were being realigned. But I dropped out of that program, thank god. :-) Now I can eat Cheetos and watch Beavis 'n' Butthead in peace. But I digress. Actually, I have another off-topic story relating to Fanny Cagnard. As she took the ice, the Frenchies in the stands made a great deal of noise, as is their wont, including many hearty "ALLEZ!" cheers. The woman behind me, who had been irritating me for over an hour at this point, decides to ask, "is that some kind of Russian cheer?" Excuse me, but isn't New Brunswick an officially biligual province? Has she not heard French before? Can she not read English to see the FRA after Cagnard's name on the billboards? I already knew that she was a schoolteacher who lived in town. Learning a great deal about her was unavoidable given the volume of her voice. It was later that same day that she tapped me on the shoulder to ask me a stupid question and prefaced it with, "do you speak English?" I responded with: "I'm from Boston. It's my native tongue." I guess I needed more caffeine or a snack at that point of the day. But she took it in stride and we were soon chatting merrily away. Well, as merrily as I was going to chat with anybody.
Oh, Fanny Cagnard. She got in the triple lutz-double toe, sort of "saved" but okay, good flow, spirals okay, blew a kiss at the judges (told you it was "French" ... the dance team of Espejo & Zenezini had almost the same move in their program in almost the same part of the ice), pulled out the double axel which was landed a bit forward. Combo spin okay, a bit slow. Slight stumble at the end of the circular footwork.
Anina Fivian of Switzerland wore a black dress with silver dots on it and skated to "Last of the Mohicans." Triple loop-double toe, both just barely, combo spin nice but not a lot of revolutions. Spirals very solid, nice positions and flow. Layback not great; her toe points down. Popped the double axel to a single. Circular footwork was okay, sort of simple, flying sit.
Next up was Angela Nikodinov of the US, who had been popping jumps left and right in the practice that morning and looked very unhappy afterwards. She began with an excellent triple lutz-double toe and then some nice footwork done on a diagonal, but then completely fell apart. She singled the axel. Spirals good, layback a beautiful position but a bit slow. Then she singled the double flip out of footwork! I was shocked; this woman has a gorgeous triple flip. Her ending combination spin was good, but again seemed just a little slow. It's hard to know what's going on when skaters pop jumps, but with her it seems to be a problem with nerves or concentation rather than technique and to me that seems like a more difficult problem to resolve. Hope she can pull through this and figure out what's wrong. Angela is a very strong skater technically with little else to offer at the time being, but at the very least she has the potential to be a top ranking skater based on her technical level alone.
Katerina Blohonova of the Czech Republic skated next in a strange yellow costume (well, not a vinyl giraffe costume, so I guess it ranked fairly low in the scale of strange yellow costumes). Landed triple sal a bit forward, double toe, bobbled the landing a bit. Fell out of the flying sit spin. Overrotated and fell out of the double axel. Layback variant, nice. Double flip shaky but okay. Spirals okay, but slow. Combo spin okay, again a bit slow. She did not make the long program cut.
The next skater is a tiny blonde sprite from Denmark, Mikkeline Kierkegaard, who skated to "They're Playing Our Song" in a neon coloured dress with an orange underskirt. She may have some potential and has good spring in her jumps; according to the media guide she is coached by Henrik Walentin. Her program began with a bad fall on a double axel, nice low sit spin position in the flying sit, fell out of the triple toe-double toe. Nice spirals, good flow over the ice. Layback from a "travelling" entrance, good diagonal step sequence. I think she was 25th in the short and just missed the cut.
Andrea Diewald of Germany may also have some real potential. She is a powerful skater with strong jumps and spins. Andrea has long dark brown hair and skated to the Chopin "Fantasie Impromptu" in a glimmery off-white dress. Triple lutz tends to be a bit flutzy. In the short, she took a bad spill on the lutz. Nice double axel, a pretty side-leaning spin, good spiral sequence. A lot of promise, good flow and presentation. Can be a bit mechanical with some of the choreography. Spreadeagle into Ina Bauer into a couple of footwork maneuvers (don't remember, probably just a couple of mohawks) into the double flip. Great flying sit spin.
Next up was Yuka Kanazawa of Japan who hit a nice triple lutz-double toe. Double flip with an arm over her head was a bit shaky, but okay. Flying sit. Spirals pretty good, one wobbly. Layback okay, good speed. Good flow over the ice, but then another small stumble in the circular footwork. Then she singled the axel!
Shirene Human of South Africa is coached by Carol Heiss Jenkins and wore a sparkly ice blue dress for a program to Yanni, "Reflections of Passion." Shirene is not a small girl; she's quite tall and built fairly substantially... not overweight at all, just a much larger frame than most other skaters, especially at this event where almost everyone was in the pre-pubescent waif category. Began with an okay triple toe-double toe combination, combo spin, nice spiral sequence. A bit slow, but nice flow and presentation, solid double axel, very pretty layback spin position.
Next up was Tina Svajger of Slovenia, who used the same "Native American" music as Juraj Sviatko and wore a black fringey dress with a bare midriff. Began with a triple toe-double toe and then a double axel out of a very slow and tentative set-up. Very slow skater, spirals weak, costume exposing much where the sun doesn't shine, combo spin slow, double flip with one arm up, layback poor verging on abysmal. Did not qualify for the long programs.
The last skater was Georgina Papavasiliou of Great Britain, a dark-haired young woman from Scotland who had a program to Indian sitar music. Her costume was lovely, a red dress with a "sari" over-layer of chiffon and chiffon sleeves. She began with a beautiful layback spin in the Jennifer Robinson category. Spirals good, double axel she had to fight for the landing but okay, combo spin including the Zaggy catch-leg position, nice big triple toe-double toe with a lot of flow on the landing. Liked the music, liked the choreography, a bit choppy and slow. Double flip with hands on hips.
The first thing I noted down in my comments on the long program practices is that thanks to the cumulative effect of practices at Skate Canada and Junior Worlds, I now have all of the lyrics of "Barbie Girl" memorised. Anyway, that has little to do with the first skater in the long programs, Idora Hegel of Croatia. She wore a pale pink dress with off-white lace on top and had a bit of a nightmare performance (although we'd see worse). Doubled the loop, double lutz, flying camel was slow. Looks down at the ice while she skates. Double toe, triple sal (barely), double flip (?). Spiral into double axel, just. Very slow over the ice. Triple sal, turn, double toe, triple toe with a step out on the landing. Double axel, half loop, turn, failed death drop. The music ended before she even changed feet in the combo spin.
Next up was teeny-tirl girl number one, Yea-Ji Shin of Korea, who started off her program with a triple lutz attempt. This was pretty amusing. She did approximately two rotations (maybe), then landed on two feet, sort of bounced, and checked out. Sorry, that's not a triple lutz... But she did stick a double toe on the end of whatever it was that she was doing. Next a jump combination, split jump-stag jump-double flip-double toe. Death drop into a nice fast backspin with the free leg stretched up over the head. Spiral sequence a bit slow, double axel-double toe, triple salchow okay, layback spin. A naturally graceful skater with nice arms. Then she attempted a triple toe loop with about the same success as the lutz, way underrotated, a little hop on the landing to get her backwards and on one foot. Combo spin with Biellmann, footwork on diagonal, double loop, circular footwork, double axel. Very cute.
Christel Borghi of Switzerland skated next to "Schindler's List," which was pretty dreadful. She has a bit of the Steven Cousins ram-rod arms. Double axel to start off with, then a triple toe-double toe combination. Combination spin and then about a one and a quarter salchow that she fell out of in mid-air. Slow skater. Triple toe forward on the landing but okay, double loop, death drop. Drags the free blade on the ice in all of her spin entrances, I guess to slow them down a little and get balanced. Double lutz, some simple footwork mostly on two feet, a very labored double axel into a half-loop into a double toe, and then fell on the double toe. Layback nice, again with the blade drag, the "Jenkins" spiral with one hand on the ice at the end.
Also from Switzerland but with a bit more spring in her jumps, Anina Fivian skated to Yanni in a black dress with pink floral accents. Began with a good triple loop-double toe, flying camel, triple toe-double toe, nice triple salchow. Choreography in the program was minimal and basically consisted of stroke-stroke-jump. Double toe, single loop. Spirals, double axel. Multiple walleys (I think?) into a triple sal-double toe. Combo spin with Biellmann position. Although she has one or two nice spin positions, I think the Biellmann/Krieg/Ruh standard doesn't quite apply to Fivian.
Anna Wenzel of Austria was up next wearing a cream-coloured empire waist dress that did nothing for her, skating to Beethoven's 5th, "Moonlight Sonata," "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," and the "Ode to Joy." She began with triple toe-double toe, then a fall on a triple loop attempt. Flying camel, nice arch in her back. Ina Bauer, double axel, a good spiral sequence. Fell on triple toe, almost wiped out during footwork, double axel-1/2 loop-double flip (well, that's what I wrote down, anyway...) Death drop. Pretty slow. Double loop, combination spin with "half-Biellmann" back spin position, split jump into double flip, layback.
Sara Lindroos of Finland wore a black dress with gold accents and a very low front replete with illusion fabric, skating to "Lord of the Dance." More of the pseudo-Irish hopping. Oy vey. Began with a triple toe which was low but okay and a scary double lutz. She had been working on triple lutzes in practice with minimal success. Nice deathdrop. Fell on triple sal. Much more choreography than the previous skaters, even if it wasn't entirely successful. Triple flip (???), fell out of landing. Layback, spirals, a bit slow over the ice. Triple sal, pause, double toe. Straightline footwork okay, not great. Double axel-1/2 loop-double loop. Slow combination spin at the finish.
The first skater in the next group, Georgina Papavasiliou of Great Britain, skated to Chinese sounding music which later became the "Polovets Dances" by Borodin, wearing a green and purple costume. She began with a move lifted from Michelle Kwan's "Salome" program, up on one toepick with arms and free leg bent in a pseudo-"Oriental" pose. Her layback spin, one of her strongest elements, was slow, perhaps signalling the poor performance to come. Fell on triple toe and then singled the lutz. She had been working on triple lutzes in practice as well and had landed a couple which were very flutzy. Instead of setting up the jump into a corner of the rink, she was doing it a bit further up the ice, but still back into the boards on the long side of the rink. Stroking was bouncy and later in the program, labored. Double flip. Ina-spreadeagle well-done, double axel, hand down on triple salchow. Double loop. Slow combination spin, single salchow, messy footwork, she had given up on the program at this point. Flying camel into illusion spins.
Julia Sebestyen of Hungary was next using the same music as Shishkova & Naumov this year (? title?) in an extremely pink dress. Big triple lutz, fall. Combo spin good, including the Nathalie Krieg "upside down" position and after the change a donut spin into a back Biellmann. Double axel was overrotated, fell out of the landing, fell on triple loop, triple salchow okay. Better flow than previous skaters. Good triple toe, spirals, double salchow, double toe-double toe combination (?), layback spin, straightline footwork. Quite a mess for such a strong skater.
Next up was Angela Nikodinov of the US, using Midori Ito's ill-fated "Cinderella" music. She wore the type of über-sparkly dress usually reserved for American skating champions, this one in pale blue. Began with a nice split jump into double axel, then put a hand down on the triple lutz in combination with double toe. Fell out of triple flip, singled the loop, layback was nice. Triple salchow was the one clean triple jump in the program. She is a bit Kerrigan-esque, slightly wooden and affect-free, but not as bad. The second triple lutz was badly flutzed and she fell out of it after about 2 1/2 rotations. Back spiral. Doubled the toe loop. Flying camel. Yikes. Her marks were very kind and possibly over-generous.
Shirene Human of South Africa skated to something generic in a black dress, opening with an Ina Bauer and spiral sequence. Triple toe was saved by the grace of... something or other. Layback spin nice, double axel, double lutz, flying camel. Graceful skater. Double axel-double toe, spreadeagle into Ina Bauer. Fell on triple sal, very underrotated. Combination spin, double toe, turn, double toe. Nice split jump, double flip-double toe (barely), combo spin.
Next up was Huan Wang of China in a pretty pale blue dress with ruffly sleeves. Fell on triple lutz with a very slow entrance; she had been struggling in practice on just about everything. Double axel. Triple toe (?). Wimpy flying camel, very good triple salchow, triple toe-double toe with zero flow on the landing. Layback, sort of. Very little relation to the music. Double flip and a weak combination spin.
The last skater in this group, Anna Lundström of Sweden, skated to a tango in a stylish black dress. Spreadeagle, singled the axel-1/2 loop-triple salchow. Flying camel, and then only a double lutz. She had been working on the triple in practice, but was not even close to making the rotation. Almost fell on the triple loop, but stood up on the landing somehow. Layback, triple toe-double toe, double flip, combo spin. Nice presentation and flow. Spiral sequence, triple salchow, straightline footwork simple. Bad fall on the double axel and then completely botched the last flying spin as well.
Yuka Kanazawa of Japan was up first in the second to last group, beginning with a good triple lutz-double toe and then doubling the flip. Flying camel, nice triple toe, spirals into a layback spin, fell out of the triple salchow. Fell out of second triple lutz, not fully rotated. Singled the loop. A bit lifeless; not much in the way of choreography. Triple flip (?), double axel landed very close to the boards, deathdrop.
Anna Jurkiewicz of Poland began with a flying camel into a donut spin, nice triple flip-double toe, fell out of the next jump but I completely missed what it was. She is a very solid skater with fast spins and good quality jumping technique. Triple (f)lutz, fell out, underrotated. Flying sit, spreadeagle into double axel, spiral sequence, triple salchow very low but okay, 3 turn on the landing. Side-leaning spin, fall on triple loop, combo spin nice, circular footwork. Choreography was juvenile. Triple toe-double toe and a double axel at the very end of the program. Her marks were quite high, reflecting the good quality in her skating despite the many mistakes in the program.
Next up was Fanny Cagnard of France in a navy blue dress skating to the very gloomy Barber "Adagio." Fell on opening triple lutz, triple flip badly two-footed, double axel forward on the landing, triple loop okay. Flying camel, triple toe-double toe, pulled out the landing. Triple sal-1/2 loop-double sal a la Dmitri Dmitrienko earned her some brownie points with me. Combo spin with the "Love of Knee" position a la Michael Tyllesen earned her more brownie points with me. Triple loop, maybe a bit cheated on the landing, in combination with a double toe. Layback, dramatic spiral sequence, Biellmann spin with good speed.
Shelby Lyons of the US wore another super-sparkly dress for a program to klezmer music by Yitzhak Perlman. I noted that between her solo skating and pairs skating, Shelby is always either perky, ethnic, or both. She began with a fall on the triple lutz. I didn't note what entrance she used, but in the practices she was working on the lutz out of a mohawk entrance. Triple flip-double toe okay, about a two and a quarter salchow (again, opened up in the air in a really weird way like Borghi had earlier), in combination with a double toe. Combo spin, doubled the loop, spiral sequence good, double axel, layback spin, triple toe loop. Stag jump, triple salchow, and then a flying camel at the finish. She didn't make much impression on me one way or the other.
The next performance was entitled the "Laetitia Hubert Memorial Performance" ... and I'm not talking this past Trophée Lalique. Andrea Diewald of Germany, wearing a bizarre orange and yellow costume, began with a fall on the triple lutz. She then got a triple toe, turned out of the landing, turned, tried to put another triple toe on the end of it, and fell badly on that. Flying camel. Triple loop, fall. Spiral into Ina and spreadeagle sequence. Triple sal, very forward, possibly two-footed, but upright. Layback spin, circular footwork, and then a one and a quarter axel, came down almost but not entirely forwards. Triple flip, fall. Walley, double axel-double toe. The music finished before she did.
Keyla Ohs was up next skating to "Samson and Delilah" in a lavender colored costume. She had been falling continuously on the triple flip in that morning's practice, that same stupid triple flip she had landed so easily in the short program. She began with double axel-1/2 loop-triple sal, falling on the salchow. Flying camel, triple toe, inside axel, and then singled the flip. Combo spin, Ina Bauer very nice, into spirals. Triple salchow, triple loop fall, just underrotated. Double axel okay. Triple toe, fall. Split jump into double lutz, barely.
First to skate in the last group was Viktoria Volchkova of Russia, who skated to Spanish music which I believe is the "Concerto d'Aranjuez" in a black lacey dress with fluorescent hot pink ruffles and lining in the skirt. She had had some problems with the lutz in practice, but began her performance here with a walley into a huge triple lutz, very solid. Then Viktoria singled the flip, just as she had in the short program. Side-leaning spin, nice triple loop with good height, spirals with very good flow. Triple toe loop. Flying camel into layover position, triple salchow okay, straightline footwork, fall on triple flip. Double axel-double toe, combo spin with a slight bobble on the change. Looked a bit glum after the second flip and tends to be very deadpan in terms of her facial expression.
Next up was another Russian, Yelena Ivanova, who wore a blue and white "peasant" costume with her hair in two odd-looking little ponytails on either side of her head, skating to folk music. In practice, Yelena had knocked off many triple lutz-triple toe, triple flip-triple toe, triple lutz-1/2 loop-triple loop, and double axel-triple loop combinations... Wow. In this performance, however, she looked a bit tentative and nervous. She actually retied her skates right before starting her program. Yelena began with triple lutz-double toe, spreadeagle into spiral, triple flip-double toe, double axel with nice height. Triple salchow, perfect second triple lutz, flying sit with good height, Ina Bauer, triple loop without any flow on the landing. Fell out of the last jump, a triple toe. Combo spin with forward and back Biellmann spin positions, layback spin.
Chisato Shina of Japan skated to "Gaité Parisienne" in a pink dress, beginning with a fall on her triple lutz. Double axel okay, triple toe-double toe, layback pulling the free skate close to the body a la Slutskaya. Doubled the salchow, which did not get off the ice, triple flip, combo spin. Noticeably slower than the Russians. Spirals, double axel, hand down on the triple toe loop. Dinky split jump followed by double axel-double toe. Flying camel. Looks tired. Not much connection to the music.
Julia Lautowa of Austria did her program to Latin music in the fluorescent panelled dress, beginning with a triple lutz which was forward but saved, doubled the flip, change camel into half-Biellmann position. Singled the loop. Has she become a head case? Fell on triple toe, triple salchow on a bad lean, fell out of landing. Double axel, straightline footwork into triple toe. Flying camel. She had been struggling in practice that morning as well. Doubled the loop. Singled the axel. Combo spin.
Next up was Brittney McConn of the US, skating to "Les Miserables" in a navy blue lacey dress. She tends to break at the waist on jump landings and can look clunky at times. Began with spreadeagle and then an attempt at the triple lutz, but fell. She hadn't landed any in practice that morning that I saw, not coming close to the full rotation. Triple loop-double toe accomplished in the same manner as the short program. Deathdrop. Looks tentative. Slower than the Russians and the "Austrian." Double axel nice, spiral sequence. Music a bit ponderous alongside her skating. Triple salchow. Fell on triple flip, pretty close to full rotation. Walley, pause, triple sal-double toe. Her hair scrunchie flew off on the final (successful) triple toe loop. Combo spin.
Last to skate was Yulya Soldatova of Russia. Her number was to "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" and I had no idea what it was going to look like because she didn't do a run-through at all in practice. In fact, she had left the practice session before her music had even been played! I guess she was ready. She had an unusual costume which I really liked; it was sort of a peachy, but slightly coppery, colour with floral trim in a darker hue of the same color around the front and on the waist, with a skirt made of peach and aqua chiffon and slightly coppery tights over the boots. It looked wonderful with her pale complexion and dark auburn coloured hair and suited the music as well. Yulya, who had done a spectacular "waxel" in the warm-up, began her long with a perfect triple salchow-triple toe loop combination. She fell out of the triple lutz landing, but did manage to stick a double toe loop on the end of it. Deathdrop, triple loop, just a gorgeous landing position with tons of flow. Held on to the triple flip, combo spin. Good presentation. Second triple lutz was solid, spiral sequence. A bit smoother than Ivanova. Spiral into a double salchow, double axel, flying camel. Yulya was thrilled at the end of her program.
All night, the marks had been very slow to come up, prompting me to wonder if the judges for this event were semi-trialling for Worlds/Europeans/Olympics and had not judged fields this large. In any case, I knew that Soldatova had gotten some very nice marks in the short, particularly for presentation, and that it would be close between her and Ivanova, who had more jumps but perhaps not the polish and the smoothness. So I used my telephoto lens on the camera to spy on the computer below me where the marks were coming up, and turned to the couple next to me and "SPOILED" the results for them, saying "Soldatova has it, on the second mark!"
This event was not as well-skated as some of the others in this competition, but there were some real up-and-comers to be seen, even if some of them didn't turn in their good performances when it counted. I think the Russian women are just beginning their total domination of the world. They are not afraid to skate with speed and attack, and their jumps are just huge. The next batch of strong young Americans is probably around the corner, but they weren't really here this time (Nikodinov I think of as a senior skater, not a junior skater). Meanwhile, there is some more talent coming out of Europe (Poland and Germany) and Japan. There were probably 6 of the top 24 women here who were not at least working on triple lutzes.