Skate America : Saturday Saturday Afternoon: Practice Session We arrived in the early afternoon and managed to watch a practice session for the Ladies practicing their long programs. After a free skating warm-up period, the ladies skated to their music. However none skated their entire program - they were just focusing on pieces of the routines. Baiul, who was on the ice during the warm-up period (and appeared to skate deliberately in-front of Bonaly during Bonaly's program with her fast and tight camel variation that Bonaly can't do well) left the ice just before her music started. We were ushered out of the arena after the practice session ended. Upon being allowed readmission, we took our seats - unfortunately 2/3 of the way to the top and well over to one end of the ice. Saturday Afternoon: Dance Competition The first four teams took to the ice: Minorini and Gilardi, Mayer and Breen, Humphreys and Lanning, and Piche' and Denis. There was one near collision in the warm-up period. First to skate were Minorini and Gilardi. They skated a rather fast and perky number that was in part to the "Bugle Boy" music. It was fairly well choreographed, but they seemed to have some problems with maintaining unison and similar extension. In addition they did not seem to spend a great deal of the time on solid edges. Next to skate were Mayer and Breen. They skated a fairly sensuous routine and seemed to be enjoying themselves. They made fairly good use of their edges overall. There was a slight bobble where Mayer was briefly "dropped" at the very end of the routine - right in font of the judges. The marks overall seemed to be a bit lower than they deserved. Humphreys and Lanning skated next. Their routine was nicely done, had good use of edges as well as good unison and matched extension throughout their routine. Clearly they were the best of the group of four teams. Piche' and Denis skated last in this group. Their style was more like a Ballet style than the others. Unfortunately they seemed at times to be clearly ahead of the music, but the music was interpreted well overall. They had very good unison and matched extension regardless of their timing with the music. The next five teams then took to the ice for the warm-up period: Mrazova and Simecek, Punsalon and Swallow, Nechaeva and Chesnichenko, Roca and Sur, and Moniotte and Lavanchy. These teams were much more aggressive in the warm-ups and there were several near collisions throughout the warm-up period. Mrazova and Simecek skated first. Rather it would be proper to say that they CLEARLY were DANCING! The audience really loved their routine. There were some very small unison problems but they had very nicely managed changes of rhythm. A truly outstanding performance. Next to skate were Punsalon and Swallow. They were also very good - and were also really dancing. This was refreshing, since the first four teams in comparison had merely skated their programs. Punsalon and Swallow had some unison problems in the faster portions of their routine. The slower portions had measurably better unison and flow but were less noticeably danced. The program that they skated was well done - and yet can be noticeably improved. Nechaeva and Chesnichenko skated next. They had great unison and matched extension, but did not really appear to be dancing in comparison with the two teams immediately before them. There was a small problem on the "pass-through" and Chesnichenko actually let go of Nechaeva at the end of the program, and it was obviously unintentional. The flow of the program was somewhat interrupted. The penalty for this seemed to be on the light side given their final placement. Finally Roca and Sur stepped on the ice to skate. They were classical Roca and Sur. Unfortunately, towards my end of the ice, but out of easy view of the judges, Sur's skate became tangled in the drape around the rink edge and both he and Roca fell. They immediately recovered and got back into the music without much loss of presence or obvious loss of flow. Roca and Sur obviously feel the music as they skate, and a great portion of their routine can be said to be danced. However, there were a few technical portions and a few places where they held moves overly long and gave the appearance of being "technical" skaters rather than dancers. Lastly, Moniotte and Lavanchy took to the ice. They were excellent! They had great unison, speed, flow and matched extension. There was absolutely no question that they danced the ENTIRE program. In fact it looked so much like dance - one almost forgot that they were on ice! In addition they obviously felt all three rhythm variations that they skated to. This is definitely a team to watch for in Lillehammer. Saturday Afternoon: Men's Long Program In the following write-up, I will provide some details of the program as I recorded it on paper. However due to the seating and location, I was not able to be certain that I correctly saw the entry to every jump. Some skaters are using a toe-push then step entry into a triple toe loop that looks rather like a triple flip entry. If I couldn't clearly see the entry for any reason, it will be recorded there as a Flip. The first four skaters took to the ice: Britten, Nielson, Chack, and Eichorn. After their warm-ups, they waited briefly for the competition to begin. Britten was first on the ice. His program had a very good start but he appeared to be losing it towards the end of the program. He has obviously had some training in Ballet at some time. He did not do a triple Axel , but instead had two double Axels in his routine, one in the middle and one at the end. The latter on was very weak. In all he completed 5 triples (loop, Salchow, Lutz, Lutz, and flip) but one was poorly done and one had a brief touchdown of the free foot. His spins were less than spectacular and the only combination was the camel change camel. Second to skate was Nielson. He skated a spectacular program - far beyond what I expected to see from anyone in this first group. His routine included 3 triple(?) Axels, a triple Lutz, a triple flip-double toe, a triple loop, a triple toe, and a triple flip. Some of these were remarkably well done, leading one to think of Boitano's skill and strength. His program was solid and strong right through to the end of the program. He had two combination spins - a flying camel-sit and a flying camel sit change sit. He also performed an excellent flying sit after his triple flip double toe. Nielson was obviously thrilled by his performance and even picked up his coach at the end and swung her around! The audience was greatly bothered by his scores which were remarkable low given his performance. In my judgment, he should have placed third and was probably hurt in part by being in the first group of skaters - a group he obviously dominated. If he remains consistent in his skating, he will be a skater to watch for at Nationals. Chack took to the ice next. His performance was flat compared to Nielson and he became obviously weaker toward the end of the program. Chack attempted but did not land a triple Axel. He did however land five triples (triple flip, triple Lutz-double toe, triple toe, triple Lutz, and a triple toe-double toe. He appeared to have attempted a triple Salchow but doubled it instead and did what amounted to a "open" double loop that could have been an attempted triple loop. Chack also had some combination spins - one appeared to be a camel with a slightly flying (?) change sit and a camel sit layback change sit. Eichorn was the last skater of the first group to take to the ice. He was obviously the weakest skater of the group, completing four triples (flip, Lutz, loop and toe loop) He also had attempted several other jumps that were either singled or doubled. I was unable to clearly see his Axels, there were two, and they might have been double Axels only. The next group of skaters to take to the ice were: Urmanov, Candeloro, Petrenko, Eldredge, and Boitano. Several of these skaters (especially Boitano) were concentrating intensely as they entered the ice and seemed oblivious to all that was going on around them. Boitano and Petrenko even stroked differently from the other skaters - a much more deliberate stroking with more apparent power. Urmanov was first to skate. He landed two weak triple Axels and four other triple jumps (triple flip, triple flip-double toe, triple loop-double something and either a triple toe or triple Salchow). Urmanov attempted a triple Lutz but lost it. He did not do any reasonable combination spins (or I failed to record them). His scores seemed to be rather high when compared with Nielson and in my opinion Nielson clearly out skated Urmanov. Candeloro skated second. He opened with a failed triple Axel, but succeeded in landing 6 other triple jumps (triple Lutz-double toe, triple Lutz, triple toe, triple Salchow, triple loop, and triple flip). The triple Lutz double toe was a bit on the weak side. He also did an open loop, perhaps intentionally, and an open Axel into a Camel. His combination spin was a camel-sit-camel-sit followed shortly after by a successful double Axel. And of course his sit-on-the-feet spin that ended the program. After he was done, he did a mime bit for each of the four areas in the arena, the meaning of which was lost to many people in the audience. Petrenko skated next. His program contained fairly good artistry overall. He opened with a triple Axel but was leaning severely and later on performed either a double or triple Axel double toe combination. Petrenko successfully landed five other triples (triple toe, triple Lutz, triple flip, triple flip-double toe, and a triple Salchow). He attempted a triple loop following the triple Salchow but didn't successfully land it. He did several combination spins, the best of which was a camel-change camel-change camel. Eldredge was the fourth of this group to skate. I was surprised at how well he did, since I had not seen or head much about him since Nationals. He has made an important change to his routine and is now providing himself with "breaks" during the program so that he isn't skating flat-out the entire time. Eldredge attempted two triple Axels and landed one of them (towards the end of his program). In addition he completed four other triples ( flip, Salchow, Lutz-double toe, and loop). he also appeared to do, at the end of his program, a double flip-triple toe but I couldn't clearly see the entry nor the number of revolutions on the toe loop part. Overall, he performed much better than he did at Nationals. Boitano was the last to take to the ice. Boitano actually looked like he OWNED the ice as he was skating. He performed his triple Axel with substantially more height than Petrenko. However I was far more impressed with his spread eagle-triple Lutz sequence. Don't hold me to that - it might have been a spread eagle - triple loop! It happened awfully fast and was a major surprise. I can't wait to watch that on videotape. In addition Boitano completed 3 other triples ( triple flip-double toe, triple toe-double toe, and a triple Salchow). So he dropped either the triple Lutz or the triple loop, depending on what really followed the spread eagle. Boitano also did LOTS of spread eagles. I believe this counted rather heavily against him in the scoring - as well as his lack of additional triple jumps. Once he gets it together, adding more triples and dropping 2/3 of the spread eagles, Boitano will be unbeatable. Saturday Evening: Ladies Long Program The evening event began with a young local Dallas skater singing a song on the ice. I didn't catch her age - but she is about 8 years old, perhaps a touch younger. Everyone was impressed by the quality of her singing. Hopefully this segment will be televised, if so you might expect to hear her on albums in a year or so. The first batch of skaters to take to the ice were: Erving, Ball, Swed, Von Saher, and Kwan. The warm-ups were basically uneventful, but there were a lot of falls. Erving was the first to skate. She appeared to be a little upset to be in the first group to skate and her program was less than spectacular. She completed two double Axels and three triples: triple toe-double toe triple Salchow (weak) and triple Lutz (weak). Erving did attempt two other triples but did not complete them: triple flip and triple loop. After the mid-point in her program the jumps were either weak of doubles or both. There was a variety of spins throughout her program. Ball was next to skate. She attempted only two triples (triple toes with the odd entry?) and landed them both. The remaining jumps were all doubles, including a weak double Axel and a double Axel-double toe. The only combination spin I recall is a camel change camel Swed was the third to take to the ice. She attempted 5 triples but landed only two of them: triple toe-double toe and triple Salchow - double toe. In addition she attempted but failed to complete a double Axel after having popped one into a single Axel earlier in her program. Von Saher skated next. She attempted 4 triples but landed only two of them, and both were weak triple Salchows. She did however have a clean double Axel. also Von Saher performed some very nice combination spins that up to this point in the competition had been noticeably lacking. Her best was a camel sit camel illusion sit. Kwan was the last of this group to skate. She did a remarkable job and will prove to be a major challenge to Erving at Nationals. Kwan completed 5 triples: flip, toe, Salchow, Lutz, toe. I don't recall any being in combination - shortcoming that I'm sure will be corrected as she matures as a skater. She also completed two double Axels. Kwan has also put together some nice combination spins, her best being a camel sit layback camel. The second group of skaters to take to the ice were Baiul, Harding, Bonaly, Yaginuma, and Kielmann. The warm-up was basically uneventful (no backflips) however Harding seemed to kick her foot against the ice after a few warm-up jumps. She was clearly bothered by something, however the warm-up jumps appeared to be quite good. Baiul was the first to take to the ice. She seemed a bit tamer on the ice than she had appeared to be on TV broadcasts prior to this. She opened with a beautiful triple Lutz. In addition she completed three other triples: loop, Salchow (weak) and toe loop (weak). She also attempted but did not complete a triple flip. Baiul completed a two double Axels, one right near the end of her program. There was one other jump worth noting - a Salchow that appeared to be doubled because she was coming too near the wall for comfort. And of course Baiul did her signature camel spin variation. Harding was the second skater to take tot he ice. She opened strong and completed three triples: Lutz (weak), toe, and loop. When she attempted her flip she doubled it and tapped the ice with her landing foot afterwards. Very shortly after that she took off on an Axel, singled it and looked very bothered. She quickly skated over to the judges and put her skate on the table - as only Tonya can do it. After some discussion, she had her blade worked on off ice and returned to finish her program. When she picked up the program, she missed her double Axel, doubled a Salchow, and finished with a camel sit layback sit scratch spin. She left the ice very obviously bothered by the outcome and by missing the double Axel. Also noticeably missing were combination jumps. Her scores varied quite widely, probably because of the break in the program. Bonaly followed Harding. She attempted four triples, completing only three: triple loop, triple Lutz - double toe, and triple Salchow. In addition she may have completed a triple flip, but I was unable to see the entire jump. She also attempted but failed to complete a double Axel and even singled one Lutz. Bonaly has wisely dropped her attempt to copy Baiul's signature camel variation, Bonaly's version is poor in comparison, but she still tries it in practice sessions. Bonaly's best combination spin was a layback sit layback. It is interesting to note that Bonaly's scores varied almost as widely as Hardings. Yaginuma, from Japan, skated next to last. She completed three triple jumps: Lutz (weak) Loop (weak) and toe. She did however land two double Axels. Like Kwan however, she did not perform any combination jumps. One of the most noticeable things that she did however was a long sequence of spins - I failed to write down the sequence, it was too much to remember! Kielmann was the last skater for the evening. She completed 4 triples: triple toe-single toe, triple loop (weak) triple Salchow, and a triple loop. She also completed a long sequence of double and single and half jumps to the pleasure of the audience. She had a nice combination sequence early in her program that I believe went: camel sit Bielmann layback camel sit. Her scores also varied widely as had Bonaly's and Harding's. And - yes Bonaly got her back flip in - at the awards ceremony! Saturday Night - Afterwards We attended the skater's celebration party shortly after the competition ended for the night. The vast majority of the skaters attended the party, but by the time we left neither Boitano, Baiul, Bonaly, nor Harding had arrived. However there were quite a few other skating notables there including Dick Button and Peggy Flemming. The food was great - and the liquor was on the house. And oh - the square dancing was a riot! When else would you ever see all those skaters trying their hand (foot?) at the Cotton-eyed Joe?