Looking Toward Torino: A review of Skate Canada

Skate Canada

Well, the figure skating season is off to a promising start with Skate America and Skate Canada.  And of course it’s an Olympic year, so all of these ISU Grand Prix events take on a heightened importance.  It’s early days yet, so there were lots of bobbles and falls, but it’s shaping up to be an exciting year.  Here’s my take on the weekend’s competition and its television coverage.

New Code of Points: Can I just say how much I love the new Code? God bless that wicked French ice dancing judge from the SLC Olympics; without her infamous perfidy, we’d all still be screaming at our TVs because of the insanity of the old 6.0 method.  People in fourth suddenly zooming into first, just because of some byzantine ranking system—I ask you.

I love it that skaters with unusual skills are finally rewarded for them—the Swiss spinners finally have their day.  (Would that this system had been in place back when Scott Davis was skating for the USA!)  I’m glad that more difficult and beautiful entries into jumps and spins are rewarded now; I’ve always hated that Bonaly-like signaling, where the skater drops everything else to gain speed in a straight line across the ice. They can’t abandon their choreography and telegraph their intentions so baldly anymore.

And the female skaters who take the time to do a truly spectacular spiral sequence can at last claim not only artistic merit for it, but also technical points.  One of the helpful things that ESPN showed after Skate America was that Alissa Czisny’s spiral sequence alone was worth 11 or 12 points because of the difficult changes in edging, the leg extension, leg switches, and the serpentine flow.  So that spiral sequence is worth as much as some of the triple jump combinations. It’s about time that this extreme difficulty and artistry is rewarded. Congrats to the ISU also for adding the Level 4 distinction to the judging this year.

But it is still possible to have judging issues under the new Code. Jeffrey Buttle’s long program was overscored, considering all the execution problems he had.  Now, I love Buttle’s skating, but he had a terrible day on the ice.  I have a feeling that the judges gave him the benefit of the doubt because of that unfortunate mishap with his blade slicing his leg. He got sympathy points not only for being the home crowd favorite but also for bleeding on ice, which is something all Canadians will pay good money to see. 

Buttle’s presentation scores were far too high considering the troubles he had with some of the transitions; it was obvious that he lost steam in the second half.  Having said that, though, did you see his absolutely amazing circular Ina Bauer work?  Most men don’t have enough arch in the back to pull that off.  Also, Buttle shows wonderful musicality and elegance in his interpretation.  His spread-eagles are very commanding and reminiscent of Brian Boitano.  I hope he pulls his jumps together because he could have a fantastic year with this program.

New Commentators for ABC & ESPN: Thumbs way, way up for the new men’s commentators, Paul Wylie and Kurt Browning.  (No offense to Dick Button, but it would be so good if he could gracefully retire.  There, I said it.  He annoys me.)  Both Wylie and Browning are knowledgeable about skating and able to articulate their expert analysis for the viewers at home – two skills that don’t always go together.  Dick Button, for instance, will sometimes just say, “That layback is very bad.”  Why is it bad? 

Paul Wylie in particular seems born for this role.  He’s wonderfully spoken and has a generous spirit.  Of course, the fact that I’ve had a crush on Paul Wylie lo these many years does not in any way affect my judgment. 

Camera Work: Thank you, ABC/ESPN, for getting rid of that insanely stupid zoomy overhead camera from last year.  It’s enough for viewers to appreciate the difficulty of the skaters’ spins without having to practice them ourselves.

Most ironic moment: Takeshi Honda traveling uncontrollably on his spin in front of a Goody advertisement reading, “Stay Put.”

A close second on the irony scale: Johnny Weir marking and walking through his long program immediately after he was quoted in an interview criticizing other skaters who don’t go all out in every competition.  However, the poor guy seemed like his ankle was really hurting.  I hope he’s OK.

Pairs: I missed the excitement of the Chinese pair teams, with their stunning athleticism. It will be good to see them at the Cup of China next week.  The pairs spiral sequence by the German team was fantastic – highly TiVoable – though they had trouble on their jumps.  I was glad they managed to beat Petrova and Tikhonov, whose lackluster artistry has bored me for years.

Ice Dancing: Grushina and Goncharov are wonderful, despite the uncharacteristic stumble, but they might want to rethink those pink costumes and the hippie hair.  They look like flower children who accidentally wandered into pre-Islamic Arabia.

And that’s all for now.

Comments

[Debra Farrington]

Hooray for your figure-skating review, Jana! I didn't realize you were also a fan. My husband knows (and he knew this before marrying me) that everything stops when figure-skating is on. I love him, but figure skating comes first.

I agree with your assessment of Dick Button. His regular comments about how skaters shouldn't do things wrong (as if they'd planned to make an error) annoy the daylights out of me. Everytime I watch him I have to utter "shut up, Dick" a few times. I'm glad for the new talent as well.

Can't wait for Torino, and I'm sooo jazzed that Tanith Belbin got her US citizenship.

[Susan Elia MacNeal]

Congratulations on joining the figure skating bandwagon! I, too, have a crush on Paul Wylie (and got to interview him) -- and loathe Dick Button. (After not-very-insightful comments from him, I often add aloud, "Thanks...DICK," which my husband finds hysterical.