Saturday, January 29, 2011

European Championships: The Men's Free Skate


ALLEZ!!!!!!!!!

Videos and results after the jump!



Official Free Skate Scores

Standings:
1. Florent Amodio
2. Brian Joubert
3. Tomas Verner
4. KVDP
5. Artur Gachinski
6. Samuel Contesti
7. Konstantin Menshov
8. Michal Brezina
9. Javier Fernandez
10. Alban Preaubert
11. Peter Liebers
12. Paolo Bacchini
13. Adrian Schultheiss
14. Kristoffer Bertnsson











24 comments:

  1. Joubert's skating has annoyed me since about forever, so I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think that maybe I think he should have won over Amodio - who just spent too much damn time during his program standing in place to be worthy of a gold medal.

    From what I could tell watching him on a tiny screen, that Menshov guy was not bad, you should put his LP up there.

    PS: What F*CKING vast shadowy conspiracy is behind the continuing propping up of Rachal Flatt? I'd really like to know so I could see if maybe they wouldn't mind managing MY career.

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  2. Agree. Amodio won thanks to... his inflated pcs!

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  3. first time since cop began euros winner is quadless amodio didn't even attempt one-Good for verner who went back to doing a quad and good for Joubert. I find amodio's win gross. His jump did not have any ambition. Just staying at triples. He is also totally 100% UNcompetitive at worlds. he is just euro champion who doesn't have any quad skills. Huge gaping hole in his rep. sad for euro judges to do this after the rules were change so that now Patrick chan is doing quads now.

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  4. Wow some bitter bitches on here today. No one skated particularly well on Saturday, but Florent won by virtue of being the only skater who really delivered in the short program. His free is far from perfect but even when the jumps aren't on he sells it so well. I hope this will encourage him to push himself further, I know he is capable of much more complex choreo. Looking forwards to see if he can deliver the quad sal he has been promising at Worlds.

    Great comeback from Brian in the free, and although I hate his skating with a passion, a fantastic effort from KVDP as well.

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  5. Really delivered with an e call and no quad in the short? That and all other excuses including the nonexistent quad sal and that complex choreo he's supposedly capable of:)

    But for someone who hates Joubert's skating with a passion makes perfect sense I guess.

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  6. Reading comprehension fail. I hate Van der Perren's skating with a passion :P

    Yes, Florent delivered in the Short Program, landing everything, good GOE for everything apart from the edge call, solid spins and steps sequence, it all added up to be way above what anyone else managed on Thursday. His free skate was sloppy but Joubert's short was a disaster and he was lucky to get the PCS he did for it.

    You can argue all you like about whether the champion should do quads, but in my opion there is no point in landing quads like Brezina, Gachinski and Joubert did if you just mess up on other elements. Morozov said that this season was about getting Florent to be consistant and learning to compete; a strategy which has worked perfectly so far, and paid much higher dividends that that of those who only focus on being jump machines.

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  7. I find it hilarious that people are saying Flo's quad sal is non existent, he was competing it in juniors, so he's definitely capable. But his focus was on skating clean this season and becoming consistent.
    Also, having a quad does not ultimately make you competitive you need to have other good qualities too.


    And inflated PCS really? Many people were saying he was robbed in PCS, because he definitely has excellent presentation and sells his program. I'm not even a huge fan, I just think he deserved to win on the night and people bitching about his win sound like they don't know the first thing about skating.

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  8. You're such a passionate individual, it's confusing.

    More and more excuses. He just chose not to quad here. But he will when he wants to. Besides, quad isn't that important (but it will become such the second Amodio lands one, of course).

    Excellent presentation (of what exactly?). Everyone who disagrees, i.e. isn't a fan of that horrid free of his, doesn't know the first thing about skating. Many people - you mean Florent's fan forum crowd? If he's robbed in Euros then Plushy was royally robbed of pcs in Vancouver, too. He, too, had an excellent presentation, everyone who disagrees is an idiot.

    Looks like Worlds will be an eye-opener to many 'many people'.

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  9. I think Anon @5.00AM was referring to commentators when talking about Florent being robbed on PCS. I know the Eurosport commentators didn't think the marks were quite right.

    I'm under no delusion that Florent is on the level of Chan or the Japanese skaters, none of the European men are. But at this competition and over the whole of the season so far, he has shown that he's the best in Europe right now.

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  10. Good for KVDP for skating two clean programs back to back! I'm a little disappointed he didn't medal - his program was very clean.

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  11. There are two programs. Joubert bombed the short. Florent hit both programs. It really isn't that difficult to see why he won. If you land a quad, they don't just come and give you a gold medal.

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  12. Yes, I was referring to the commentators regarding PCS. And I do agree that he needs to do more skating in his free program rather than just dancing/staying in one spot, so...
    Get over yourself.

    Thank you, AJ. Quads are great but landing one shouldn't mean you win (w/o good SS, spins etc). KVDP should have won by that logic!

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  13. Amodio is the buttle lysacek of Euros. Ending a major quad streak. I didn't say it is just about landing one quad it is about a quad and doing everything else! quad, axels other jumps, spins steps choreo- someone who is just doing triples in jumps in mens is not pushing difficulty in jumps. Joubert did and Verner did and others did but Not amodio. he just did triples- just a totally lower level of everything. Amodio didn't push himself. Yeah like he is going to well at w orlds! LOL he is not.

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  14. And had the other competitors successfully completed their elements, they would have placed higher. But they didn't. There is a lot to be said for consistency.

    Yeah, he probably wont place at worlds, Chan will win or one of the Japanese men. That doesn't take away from the fact that he hit his programs and deserved this win.

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  15. I think the suggestion that Joubert is just about jumps is ridiculous and bears no relation to his actual skating (especially live). However, he was lucky to still be in contention after the SP; that was a mess and the judges went pretty easy on him.

    Florent Amodio was lucky that nobody rose to the occasion, because the level of difficulty in his programs wasn't that high, he made some mistakes of his own, and his LP is a show program. Much easier to skate well when nearly a minute of your program is dancing in place. But overall, he delivered two good enough performances, and he's a deserving champion. There's nothing really controversial here; I'd have scored the five components a bit differently, but the total PCS is more or less right.

    It's a nice podium, and the guys seemed to be having a great time during the ceremony. Must have been some party last night in Bern.

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  16. Amodio's goal was to be consistent this year. Next year is when they'll likely push more difficulty. His program is set up well with having five jumping passes in the second half. Basically, he delivered and the others did not. If you can hit, you'll pretty much always do decently well.

    Joubert live is a bogus argument. His spins and footwork aren't any better in person. Yes, he skates fast and with a masculine power.

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  17. When did you last see Joubert skate live, AJ?

    It's not a bogus argument and has nothing to do with his spins and steps. When he's paying attention, Joubert gets mostly good levels on his spins, so that's hardly an issue anyway. There are qualities to his skating that don't come across on TV and are reflected in his PCS, and it's not just his speed.

    That doesn't mean that Joubert's style of skating will - or should - appeal to everyone, but he's not just a jumper.

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  18. AJ just has a weak spot for Morozov.
    Had someone else, say Mao Asada or Evgeny Plushenko or Joubert, skated Amodio's lp (by a different choreographer) s/he'd be ridiculed and called names and made fun of.

    But since it's Morozov, 7.04 for nonexistent transitions and 7.71 for the 'choreo' are all of a sudden 'deserved', because Amodio 'delivered' while others did not.

    Would be nice if some of the skating experts here just named all transitions in Amodio's free and explained how the judges arrived at those numbers in the protocols.

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  19. Ok, I officially hate Amodio's LP. For the first time in my life I think Joubert was robbed.

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  20. After, Joubert's shitty 7th place SP? Come on.

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  21. I'm not really a fan of competitive programs that look like exhibition ones, so no, not a fan of Amodio's LP. However, if this is the direction men's skating is going, I'd say just have Joubert skate shirtless next time (a la Candaloro). That's gold medal worthy to me! :)

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  22. Did the crazy people here realize Joubert actually won the LP but lost the title overall because of his poor SP? Amodio was actually only 3rd in the LP but won overall based on his strong SP.

    And Amodio has better spins than all of Joubert, VDP and Verner, maybe combined. It's not just levels. It's quality too.

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  23. Yeah yeah, since you are not crazy but oh so knowledgeable, could you plz name transitions in Amodio's free and explain how the judges arrived at those numbers in the protocols.

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  24. i don't need to see joubert live to know that the lobes of his turns aren't round and that he has to take pumps before starting his crossovers. that's what skating skills are supposed to be judged on...

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