Hi again! Thanks for all the positive feedback Heather has given us (keeps us poor sleep-deprived skating psychos going ;-))!!! We think we did a much better job reporting on the practice today. Again, details on all competition follow practices. Just like last night, it was poorly attended and we moved down to the front row. Enjoy!!

Liz & Amy

Again, don't read below the 2nd ruled line if you don't want to know the results!

a = axel
z = lutz
f = flip
l = loop
s = salchow
t = toe loop

** PRACTICES **

Dance Practice, Group A

Liz messed up and thought Group B was first…we got there 35 mins late and walked into the middle of L/T's FD rt. Amy, being a huge fan of Peter T., was ready to lynch Liz! Button and Shpilband were really chatting it up the *whole* time.

Fuhring/Ellinger, Anissina/Peizerat, Chalom/Gates, Lang/Tchernyshev

Fuhring/Ellinger
More West Side Story with completely inappropriate costumes. Ho-hum.

Anissina/Peizerat
Amy: "geez, look at the hair on him, would you!"
FD rt…dark, slow, expansive, march-like, had "movie soundtrack" written all over it! Lots of crossovers and gliding, but WAY COOL LIFTS! One particularly cool one where she again lifts him, she squats down, he squats too reaches around her back so her knees are in his back, then he kicks his feet up off the ice and she grabs one leg. Totally awesome, especially from the fornt row view we have!

Chalom/Gates
Missed their rt's, but were wearing identical costumes to A/P Romeo & Juliet from last year, but purple rather than blue.

Lang/Tchernyshev
Walked in in middle of FD rt, using a Astor Piazzola tango (also used by Punsalan & Swallow). She looks like she is keeping up with him better than last year, and look like they are developing good chemistry between them … better than last year. (Could be due to the romantic relationship now?)

Dance Practice, Group B
LeFebvre/Brunet, Fusar-Poli/Margaglio, Arakawa/Miamoto, Lobacheva/Averbukh, Semenovich/Federov

The funniest thing happened to Liz! I'm always self-conscious of the skaters watching me sitting in the front row taking notes. Well, just as a I was writing something, my worst nightmare - Michel Brunet came over and purpsosely slammed his hand down on the board right where I was sitting! I didn't see him coming and he scared the you-know-what out of me! My pen went flying across the page and the whole section where we were sitting was laughing at me. They were about to do their FD rt and he wanted to get my attention! It was a really funny thing for him to do, however, and he looked back at me smiling…Michel has a new fan!

LeFebvre/Brunet
FD (I was paying attention!) was an Argentine Tango and has one really difficult footwork sequence where he did a knee-slide and fell get ice burns on his hands.

Fusar-Poli/Margaglio
She really has an attitude and was staring everyone down (she seems to have been taking Pasha lessons!) We thought they were leaving after the OD runthru and we weren't going to see Dracula….wrong! They just went to change into their Dracula costumes. He's wearing a black Dracula outfit with a huge lavender collar. She's wearing a lavender dress with a skin-colored cut-out cross over her chest (a Pasha-special!) Amy thought the program was "yukky!" I thought is was ok, but liked L&A's much better too. It's full of difficult looking moves, but also full of a lot of unattractive positions. The music is slow and dark and has an arificially applied beat which is kind of annoying. Amy couldn't stop thinking of Klimova and Ponomarenko.

Arakawa/Miamoto
FD is a mix of Brahms Hungarian dances. Liz kept feeling sorry for them because they were so out of their league with all the other couples on the ice.

Lobacheva/Averbukh
FD - opening/closing cuts sound like a bad fusion of Tesh/Riverdance. Middle section is slow almost Latin, violin/guitar. Very energetic and passionate, especially on his part. Amy comments that when they skate face to face, their chests are close, but their hips and feet are father apart. A good program, didn't do a whole lot for us, but we liked it much better than their JCS program last year.

Semenovich/Fedorov
She was wearing Oksana's "Possession" dress, and she looks good in it! FD is to Phantom of the Opera, he's skating with a mask covering half of his face which he pushes to the back of his head halfway thru (at the "cackle"). He's not as dramatic as her and this work a lot better if he was.

Men's Practice, Group B
Tobel, Urmanov, Yagudin, Stojko, Weiss, Delmore

Tobel
It's amazing someone so tall can do these triples. You need to see them in person to appreciate how HUGE they are! Hit 3l, 3z, warming up. LP rt…typical Tobel techno, lots of humorous sections. Huge 3a-3t, 3z, 3l, 3z-3t…

Urmanov
Looks so good in regular practice clothes! Started out doing goregous stuff 3t-3t, cool jump sequences w/half loops.
Lp rt…Tango program, 3f-3t (beautiful), skipped 3a-3t, skipped second 3a, nice 3z (where was that in the short when he needed it!), 3l, 3s-2l (step out.)
Finished w/3a-3t's that Amy wanted to faint over! Tried the 4toe, but crashed and went into boards. Left early.

Yagudin
Came about 15 mins. Late. LP rt…Lawrence of Arabia. Didn't do any jumps. In the beginning the choreography is simple and plain, lots of crossovers, 2foot skating. Did a 3t early, should be a 4t in competition. Does Egyptian arm movements to the judges. Nice circular step.
Later in session he missed 3a-3t (pitched forward) and was really mad at himself. The worked on quad until the end, but never got it.

Stojko
Started warming up 1a's and 2a's., then 3s's. LP rt..hard to describe because he skipped lots of jumps and sections. Typical Elvis soundtrack music. Starts at end of rink, opens with a 3flip…ends with a 3lutz. Went on to work on 3a-3t, then work on quad, hitting a few triples, and left without doing one (at least I didn't see one.)

Delmore
Came 10 mins. late. LP rt…lots of unrelated music cuts, opens with perussive movie music, then slow jazz, then Latin dance music, then synth music. Amy liked first two selections. Opens with 3z-2t, 3a-turn-2t, stopped, then picked up with a nice outside spread eagle, skipped next axel, then good, fast straight line step, 2f, great low sit-ch-sit, 2l, nice Ina Bauer…was having more problems towards end. Has a bit of a weird leg wrap in his jumps.

Weiss
Warming up with gorgeous edges (everyone else is doing crossovers and he's doing edgework!) Wearing his LP costume? Black with tan, ribbony strips on costume, torn strips hanging down. LP rt…opens with 3toe (will be 4toe?), 3a-2t (right in front of us, still skids takeoff but not as bad) 3f out of mohawk, 2waxel, stopped and skated over to Weisinger. Went back and finished program, w/nice 3z. Has the makings of a really great program. Later was working on 3f-3t (still out of mohawk.)

Men's Practice, Group A
Hopfes, Tamura, Hebert, Litvinov, Clark, Dambier

Hopfes
Wacky costume! More crushed gray velvet (we saw a lot of crushed velvet these past two days!) with shiny silver shoulders and big silver fleur de lis on one shoulder. LP is to Dragonheart and about 80% of it is the same or similar cuts to Elvis' 97 long.

Tamura
LP is to Joe Satriani? Hitting 3flip-3toe. Hitting lots of stuff…cool delayed 3loop.

Hebert
Another tango LP. Really rough session, popping stuff. Having fits with the 3flip. Worked on 3sal-3loop.

Litvinov
Did not show. LP music sounds like Yanni!

Clark
He really is a striking presence, we both agree - his height and posture are eye-catching. Worked on 3lutz-2toe. Having a really really rough time with 3axels popping attempt after attempt. Runthrough of Warsaw Conc. LP was rough. We agree in his combo spin we "love the layback!"

Dambier
Looked shaky…didn't watch him much.

Ladies Practice, Group A
Butyrskaya, Arakawa, Rechnio, Robinson, Sokolova

Robinson
Really really focussing on 3z in this session. She hitting it quite a bit or just two-footing, only fell once in the runthru. It's a true lutz on a back outside edge, but she wavers on her edge a lot on the long glide into it. Amy and I both agree that she's a really pretty skater, nice spins, line, positions, layback. And Callaghan really does look to be doing a lot for her jumping - she could really be good if she can hit all the jumps! Two SP rt's, missed lutz on one, but hit it on the other.

Rechnio
Really is fast and poweful. Still having jump problems. Hit 3t ok, but problems with everthing else. Worked on lutz a lot…it's badly flutzed and he was consistently two-footing it. Both runthroughs, she flutzed, two-footed (but still got 2t combo). Left early.

Arakawa
We both agree she's a very "gentle" skater. There is nothing jerky about her…very calm, takes her time, jumps are straight. Her lutz technique is very very good, but has a tendency to double it, which she did in her rt. Did rt of both SP and LP. LP is to Mulan and his very pretty.

Butyrskaya
Looked very serious, confident, left after 20 minutes and one runthrough of her SP she was so satisfied. Hitting 3z-2t perfectly. Played her LP music even though she left and it's the same as last year.

Sokolova
Didn't look as good as yesterday, but her 2a and 3l were solid. Problems on the lutz, working on 3z-2l. Did one rt of SP then worked on the lutz combo and left early.

Ladies Practice, Group B
McConn, Malinina, Fontana, Bobek, Nikdinov

McConn
Did some nice jumps, axels, loops, sals, a couple flips, trying the lutz and maybe landed one or two? Runthrough of short and long but mostly w/o jumps.

Nikodinov
Spends most of her time talking to Oppegard. Once again, only half-hearted runthroughs. In both practices (4 plays of her SP music) she never did one complete runthrough (not even a complete one without jumps!) She was wearing her costume…charcoal, grey, yellow and brown, wavy, vertical stripes (yes, it is as ugly as it sounds.) Was hitting most of her jumps.

Bobek
Hitting 3t's and 2a's no problems. Hit some 3l's and maybe a sal or two? Worked a lot on the lutz and was having all kinds of problems. Every attempt was doubled or a triple with a fall (she kept landing on her heel and falling backward.) Did two fairly complete runthroughs without jumps. Great personality in her footwork and connecting moves. Alexei Mishin liked watching her.

Fontana
Mishin really had a thing for her too - watching her intensely! Lots of doubled jumps, lutz was never more than a double.

Malinina
She is really skinny! Her lutz and flip are to die for - just incredible. There are many many men who don't have as good a flip or lutz as she. Her techinique is straight in and up! Absolutely perfect runthrough and left shortly thereafter. Once again, scratch spin is amazing - so fast!

Pairs Practice, Group B
Sargeant/Wirtz, Hartsells, Ina/Zimmerman, Steiglers

Stieglers
Began by warming up th3loop. We both agree that Johnny is much more expressive and relaxed this year and complementing her even more. LP rt…same as last year "Giselle". Skipped a lot of elements, did a nice star lift. Worked on the sp3twist for awhile then left early.

Sargeant/Wirtz
LP is an all-Duke Ellington program. Very low sp3twist, hip lift, th 3sal (?), forward inside death spiral, SBS spins, th2axel (trademark huge!), SBS 2axels, missed next lift and stopped…back outside death spiral. Not as fast as a B/S or as much stretch and that seems to be what holds them back from being a top top couple.

Hartsells
Looking good and confident after their 3rd place SP finish. Began warming up the so-called "Heartattack lift" - it does look scary and she would be in big trouble if it toppled over - but they are solid on it. LP rt…skating to Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet. A good runthrough and hit almost everything. They were having some problems with the SBS 3toes, especially him.

Ina/Zimmerman
Began warming up sp3twist - caught rather low. Phantom of the Opera LP…sort of a half-hearted rt, skipped some stuff and stuff they tried was shaky - low landing on throw 3loop, low catch on sp3twist, she singled SBS 2axels. Later worked on SBS 2axels, then Kyoko practicing some jumps alone, John practicing his 3toe. Then worked on SBS 3toes, which they hit once or twice.

Pairs Practice, Group A
Abitbol/Bernardis, Berezhnaia/Sikharulidze, Khalturina/Kroukov, Maksuta/Zhovnirsky

Abitbol/Bernardis
Another rough practice. Began by waming up SBS 3toes - he's still having problems. Then warmed up the throw 2axel…we were hoping for a throw 3axel, but didn't get any attempt. Were hitting the throw 3loop. Worked on those pesky SBS spins and are still having unison problems - you can hear him yelling instructions, but it's not helping.

Khalturina/Kroukov
Did not show.

Berezhnaia/Sikharulidze
LP runthrough…people are either going to love this or hate it. It's the opera program w/singer singing one note throughout (no lyrics) with orchestra accompaniment. It's similar to Michelle's Lyra in that the music is very similar and calming throughout and the program will need to be inspired and clean to work, but when it is it will be just exquisite! After runthrough (where they skipped all big elements expect lifts - he has excellent technique BTW) they worked on SBS 2axel-turn-2toes (excellent unision), throw 3 sal and throw 3loop (were hitting both). Then went to work on split 3twist - she is still having the same problem waiting too long to snap the rotation. Overall an excellent practice and they look really confident now.

Maksuta/Zhovnirsky
She took a *really* bad fall on a throw in warm up. This was an ok practice for them. They spent a lot of time working on jumps (individually and SBS) with some problems.

** ORIGINAL DANCE **

ARIKAWA/ MIKAMOTO (JPN) Music:
Costume: She wore bright pink dress w/darker pink trim. He wore black tie and tails.
Comments: Their line, speed and unison are all far below most of the other competitors here. They were Japanese Junior champs only last year and still quite young.

ANISSINA/ PEIZERAT (FRA)
Music: Masquerade Waltz
Costume: She wore white chiffon dress w/pastel flowers painted around the bottom and the top beaded in white (including a bunch of crystals that tinkled when she moved). He wore black pants, white shirt and black vest.
Comments: Good speed, fairly close holds, holds were a little unsure but not b ad, difficulty was well balanced. They're passionate and intricate. The presentation is reminiscent of K&O, but maybe not as smooth and sweeping.

FUSAR-POLI/ MARGAGLIO (ITA)
Music: Sounds very much like a Tchaikovsky waltz (not a Strauss as I reported earlier.)
Costume: He wore slate gray crushed velvet pants and top w/puffy shoulders and white cutouts on shoulders. She wore gray and white dress, flowy w/wings on arms and cut out back (nice tan line too).
Comments: Good speed (but slower than A&P), fairly close together, but difficulty was not well balanced. She had all the hard steps, his skating was mostly on two feet.

LOBACHEVA/ AVERBUKH (RUS)
Music: Opened with G&G's Strauss Waltz from '89 long program, but then changed to a different one.
Costume: He wore all white. She wore white/powder blue skirt w/skin colored top and strategically placed powder blue flowers (a "Eltsova '96 free special").
Comments: Pattern defiinitely crossed the center line more than once. Is that not a deduction anymore? Not sure. Decent speed, hips and feet a little far apart. Obvious to us that they are not quite as good as A&P, but better than F-P&M.

SEMENOVICH/ FEDOROV (RUS)
Music: Strauss waltz?
Costume: He wore black pants, white shirt w/gray swirls. She was a walking argument for banning flesh-colored material. Red dress w/left half of torso flesh-colored w/red swirls. Serious white bra showing in front and back.
Comments: A lot of side-by-side skating and not enough Waltz holds. Not as fast or close together as F-P&M. Scratchy, not as secure and lots of little separations.

CHALOM/ GATES (USA)
Music: Masquerade Waltz
Costume: Literally wore A&P's "Romeo & Juliet" FD costumes, but in purple. Had masks painted on their faces.
Comments: Interesting choreography w/lots of waltz holds. Well balanced difficulty, but noticeably slower and the last lift was rather dicey.

FURHING/ ELLINGER (AUT)
Music: Strauss waltz
Costume: He wore black tux w/ruffled ascot. She wore bright yellow dress.
Comments: Quiet feet but slower than C&G and not as difficult.

LEFEBVRE/ BRUNET (CAN)
Music: "It's a Most Unusual Time" - Johnny Mathis?
Costume: He wore black pants, purple shirt w/pleated stand up collar and black/purple/gold patterened vest. She wore dark lavender dress w/fringes.
Comments: We really like the unusual music choice, a nice change from all the Strauss, Tchaik, and Masquerade Waltzes. Fall, she lost her edge. Their expression was good but line could be better and free legs were a tad out of sync.

LANG/ TCHERNYSHEV (USA)
Music: Masquerate Waltz
Costume: He wore dark gray pants w/lighter gray billowy shirt. She wore very classy white chiffon dress w/beaded top. Why can't they all dress this classy?
Comments: Just as we were saying they were better than S&F, and wondering if they would get the marks, Peter tripped and fell. It took him a couple of seconds to catch up to Naomi and was a major mar in an otherwise very nice dance. They had great swings-very light and effortless. Speed was good, not as scratchy as S&F. Should have beaten S&F if they skated clean, in our opinion. Fall knocked them below L&B.

Dance Standings after OD

1 A&P
2 L&A
3 F-P&M
4 S&F
5 L&B
6 L&T
7 C&G
8 F&E
9 A&M

** LADIES SHORT PROGRAM **

This was a TOTAL SPLATFEST!! Not one clean program!

MARIA BUTYRSKAYA (RUS)
Music: slow jazzy music that picks up speed at the end (not "Fever")
Costume: dark red, one short sleeve, diagonal cut out that wrapped from front to back-other shoulder was bare except for sequined straps. Asymmetrical skirt.
Elements: 3 lutz (fall-short of rotation), footwork-3 loop (nice), camel-change-sit-catchfoot, 2 axel (touchdown), flying camel, serpentine spiral sequence (OK), ugly layback (slow)
Comments: Liz said they'd ridiculously hold her up w/about 5.3/5.7 and lo and behold…they did. This is a classic case of leaving the jumps on the practice ice. She was hitting everything this afternoon and yesterday. She seemed to really run out of steam after the 2 axel mistake. It's baffling why she's held up so much. It's not as if her skating is so far above the rest of the field like Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze in the pairs.

SYLVIA FONTANA (ITA)
Music: Upbeat "pops" style orchestra music
Costume: sparkly black dress w/asymmetrical neckline trimmed w/white beading (also on cuffs)
Elements: 1 lutz (combo, but not), good layback, 2 axel, serpentine spiral seq (ok), footwork-3 toe, stars-flying camel, circular footwork seq (seemed short), comb spin (decent speed, mostly catchfoot positions)
Comments: Not very fast compared to the other skaters but hit the end of the music right on.

JENNIFER ROBINSON (CAN)
Music: pretty violin piece (famous? but can't name it)
Costume: red dress w/off the shoulder neckline, hot pink trim around shoulders, down front and around waist
Elements: 2 axel, 3 lutz (fall-not enough height), flying camel, footwork 3 sal, layback (beautiful until she dropped her foot), serpentine step seq, circular spiral seq, camel-layback-change-sit-corkscrew.
Comments: Pretty good speed. Really a shame because she was hitting the lutz in practice and she's a lovely skater. We thought she got hosed on the marks.

SHIZUKA ARAKAWA (JPN)
Music: also another famous violin piece, but can't name it
Costume: pretty navy blue dress. Strapless but w/sheer material over arms and shoulders. Like Nancy Kerrigan ca. '91-'94 but w/long chiffon skirt.
Elements: serpentine spiral seq w/outside spread eagle, 3 lutz (2 ft.-short rotation)-2 toe, good layback, footwork-3 toe (fall-missed the toepick), death drop-sit, 1 axel, straight line step (easy), camel-sit-layback-change-camel-donut
Comments: She's absolutely capable of doing these jumps and another case of leaving it on the practice ice. Her presentation marks were 1.0-1.4 better than the tech marks.

NICOLE BOBEK (USA)
Music: Percussive opening, expansive movie music in the middle, then flamenco ending.
Costume: black dress w/red bolero jacket (but one piece) and multi-colored beading on jacket. Another cut out back.
Elements: 3 flip (fall)-2 toe, flying camel, footwork-3 toe, serpentine spiral seq, layback (leg could use improvement), 2 axel (maybe slight 2 ft.?), good circular step seq, camel-layback-change-camel-eggbeater
Comments: This is a great program w/lots of attitude. More mature than her usual folk programs. Killer expressions in step sequence. Lots of other skaters came out to watch her. Didn't look too depressed afterward.

ANNA RECHNIO (POL)
Music: muzaked Barry Manilow? w/very abrupt ending
Costume: black sparkly lace dress w/plunging neckline and back
Elements: 3 flip (2 ft), 2 lutz-2 toe, flying camel, serpentine spiral seq, 2 axel, layback, ok circular step seq, camel-sit-layback-change-camel-donut-catchfoot
Comments: She can be very powerful and fast. Could use more extension on her spirals. An occasional smile wouldn't hurt anything either.

ELENA SOKOLOVA (RUS)
Music: slow jazz
Costume: silver & black long program dress from last year-hate the dirty white boot covers
Elements: 3 lutz-2 toe (first clean!), outside spread eagle-3 loop, flying camel-illusion, outside spread eagle-spiral-2 axel (w/hand over head, hand down on landing), comb spin (ok), straight line step (good), serpentine spiral seq (ok), layback
Comments: Her face after landing the loop was one of pure confidence. When she finished the program she was very happy and pumping her fist. This should have beaten Butyrskaya. Pure highway robbery. Seriously hosed on tech marks.

BRITTNEY MCCONN (USA)
Music: Duke Ellington's "Caravan"
Costume: hot pink w/silver sparkles on top half of dress, black skirt.
Elements: serpentine spiral seq, double Ina Bauer-double 3 turns-3 loop, layback, 3 lutz (fall-picking foot turned over), death drop-sit, straight line step, spiral-2 axel, camel-layback-change-sit-corkscrew
Comments: Her costume, hair & makeup seemed too immature for her style of presentation.

ANGELA NIKODINOV (USA)
Music: pretty violin music
Costume: charcoal, grey, yellow and brown, wavy, vertical stripes (yes, it is as ugly as it sounds).
Elements: 3 lutz-2 toe, layback (beautiful!), footwork-2 flip, 2 axel, flying camel, serpentine spiral seq (ok), camel-sit-layback-change-sit
Comments: ho-hum presentation (Angela's usual), lost to Maria on presentation. Highest tech marks of the night.

TATIJANA MALININA (UZB)
Music: Mozart piece used by Usova & Zhulin in '94
Costume: pink sleeveless crushed velvet dress w/skinny straps and darker pink beading (very pretty and much more flattering than usual for her).
Elements: 3 lutz (fall), 3 flip (2 ft.?), camel-layback-change-camel-sit, 2 axel (open air pos.-kind of wonky), flying camel (very nice), serpentine spiral seq (nice line, if not high), circular step seq (good), layback (horrible leg pos.)
Comments: Much improved!! Presentation marks .3-.6 HIGHER than her tech marks. When was the last time you saw that from her? I think she has two new fans. A real shame she left that gorgeous lutz on the practice ice.

Ladies Short Standings 1. Butyrskaya
2. Nikodinov
3. Sokolova
4. Bobek
5. Malinina
6. Rechnio
7. McConn
8. Robinson
9. Fontana
10. Arakawa