Yesterday afternoon was one heck of a men's event. Yes, there were some falls, yes there were some tears. Mainly from Ryan Bradley's fans as we realized his dreams of the Olympics will probably never be realized.
The little things really started adding up for all of the men in Spokane Sunday afternoon. Jeremy Abbot was the sole skater who rose to the occasion and nailed everything. He rightly deserved his placement and his score. It was pretty inspired. The question this blogger has is: will this be a repeat of last season? Will Nationals be his shining moment and then the rest is downhill? We'll see next month.
The biggest shock, possibly, was Evan Lysacek actually going for the quad. To be honest, no one was going to touch Jeremy with the long program he had, but it was still a risky move on Evan's part. He fell, not completing the rotation. Interestingly enough this US Nationals has had the most fair judging that skating's seen in a very long while - and I think EVER in the history of a National Championship (in any country!).
For Sandra Besic to come out and say that Evan deserved the title (this was prior to Jeremy taking the ice) based on the "magic of the program" was laughable. Evan made simple, basic, mistakes in both the Short and Long program; he practically gave the title away.
This should not concern those who believe Evan to be the best shot at a medal. He typically does not skate lights out at nationals - Spokane 2007 being the major exception since Evan became one of the Elite - and seems to save it for Worlds. With the Olympics being the main prize and goal, it should not come as a surprise that he was merely attempting to tick off the elements. This has worked in the past for Evan - he is World Champion the same year he barely made the World Team - so why think it won't continue to work.
Johnny Weir was the spoiler. No one knew WHICH Weir would show up. The confident ready to win avante garde skater with nothing to lose, or the scared to death he's going to fail skater who just hopes he stands upright for four-plus minutes. It seems that both came to the table. Johnny was on fire in the Short Program, he was sassy and completely his own skater. And it worked. He nearly tied Evan, and had their skating orders been reversed, their scores/placements might have been as well. But, the long program brought out the ball of nerves. It was incredibly evident that the pressure was beinging to take its toll on Johnny. The USFSA made it clear last season that they weren't going to give out favors for him, and he knew it going into the Long Program.
The one downer was - there aren't four spots on the Men's team. Ryan Bradley made costly errors in the Short Program only to completely rebound in his Long Program with two quads and more personality than the rest of the top skaters COMBINED. Such is the trademark of Ryan Bradley, and if SOI doesn't sign him up they'll make the biggest mistake - and they can't afford that right now.
So half of the US Figure Skating Team for Vancouver has been decided.
Pairs are Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barrett, and Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig
Men are Jeremy Abbott, Evan Lysacek, and Johnny Weir.
Can't wait for the rest of the events, it's a great year for USFigure Skating!
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