2011 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: Trophee Eric Bompard Mens Free Skate LIVE BLOG

1) Chafik Besseghier (FRA)
     Music: Massive Attack, Children, Safrio Duo

• Two foots that opening jump
• This is very cool music, but I don't know that the costume matches
• Really good power into that triple axel, stumble out
• Please give us some face!!
• This softer section in the middle is very nice musically
• I know this music from somewhere but I can't think of where
• It's interesting because he's landing all the jumps but none of them are pretty, none of them have a nice glide out
• He must be nervous because everything looks stiffled, even in this footwork everything looks small and constricted, he isn't going all out
• He needs to point that foot!

FS Score: 58.58 (TES) + 55.38 (PCS) - (DED) = 113.96
Total Score: 46.43 (SP) + 113.96 (FS) = 160.39

2) Romain Ponsart (FRA)
     Music: Romeo and Juliet

• He is a beauty of a skater, its a shame about that first fall
• I love his look on the ice and this romantic music suits him well
• He is quite expressive
• I love his posture and carriage
• He has a very fast clean rotation on his jumps
• He has all the goods if he could build some consistency, perhaps the 2nd coming of Joubert
• A few mistakes, but he shows nice promise and is young for a male skater

FS Score: 54.94 (TES) +56.48  (PCS) -1.00 (DED) = 110.42
Total Score: 50.03 (SP) + 110.42 (FS) = 160.45

3) Alexandre Majorov (SWE)
     Music: Flamenco Bolero

• Please no! He's much too young and not artistic enough for Bolero
• That weird hip roll was just bizarre
• He needs to lift his head up to the audience
• That mesh shirted costume is more Boy George than Bolero
• This footwork is doing nothing for me, its slow and it lacks a flamenco flair
• He rotates very quickly, sometimes he goes in with too much speed and can't control it
• Nothing about his skating is much too pretty but he does attack those jumps nonetheless
• He is attacking the 2nd step sequence much harder, I appreciate the commitment to the piece, at least at the end
• Ends a bit before the music
• The whole thing was a little wild and sloppy for my taste, but the strongest free thus far

FS Score: 65.78 (TES) + 62.70 (PCS) - (DED) = 128.48
Total Score: 62.12 (SP) + 128.48 (FS) = 190.60

4) Nobunari Oda (JPN)
     Music: Umbrellas of Cherbourg

• I like this new softer approach for him, but I miss the gigantic jumps
• 3A-2t-1t combo, count those combos Nobu!
• Oh Goodness, we're losing the jumps
• Oh now, a fall on footwork and it takes him a long time to get back into the movements
• This is so unfortunate that he's not up to his best this season
• Unless there are major major issues at the top, this will likely leave him off the podium
• Goodness me, two more falls on the next two jumping passes, what is happening to him today?
• The jumps are his big strength, he must be either sick or injured for them to have left him in this way
• He has completely left performance mode as well, this is so sad to see him breakdown like this

FS Score: 46.63 (TES) + 60.62 (PCS) - 3.00 (DED) = 104.25
Total Score: 62.95 (SP) + 104.25 (FS) = 167.20

5) Kevin Rynolds (CAN)
     Music: Chrono Trigger

• Withdrew from the Free Skate

FS Score:  (TES) +  (PCS) - (DED) =
Total Score: 65.56 (SP) + (FS) =

6) Florent Amodio (FRA)
     Music: Besamo Much, Rio

• He is self-destructing circa Skate America with bailed jumps and falls
• He stops mid-program to pose more than anybody I know
• This is the weirdest program, I feel like nothing happens, exactly like his program last year
• I feel like this is not even a program, there is just no through line to it

FS Score: 60.48 (TES) + 70.44 (PCS) -1.00 (DED) = 129.92
Total Score: 71.42 (SP) + 129.92 (FS) = 201.34

7) Adam Rippon (JPN)
     Music: Air, Toccata and Fugue

• This is such a beautiful, elegant piece
• Two footed and landed with the chest down, but that was the Quad Lutz
• Spread eagle into triple axel, landed really low, bt landed
• Very clean flow out of the triple sal
• I love that floating arm on the twist sit spin variation
• He makes every moment mean something
• Could there be a bigger contrast from Amodio to Rippon?
• I love the placement of that 2nd triple axel right as Toccata begins
• He's landed his big elements now if he can just stay clean
• A little funny off of the triple lutz, but landed in combination
• Great Rippon lutz right on a musical shift
• I LOVE that toe point on the sit spin
• The arrangement of this music is fantastic
• Good job, fist pump!

FS Score: 70.05 (TES) + 74.88 (PCS) = 144.93
Total Score: 72.96 (SP) + 144.93 (FS) = 217.89

8) Michal Brezina (CZE)
     Music: The Untouchables

• Will we actually see a program unlike the splatfest that was Skate America?
• Huge 3A
• Huge 4t-3t, stumble out
• He is coming out so much more aggressive here than at Skate America, which is nice to see
• I don't like the techno arrangement of this piece
• Very clean jumping today from Brezina
• Stumble out of 2nd triple axel
• This program as a whole does nothing for me other than jumping, the spins are weak and he does not "perform it"

FS Score: 67.72 (TES) + 76.56 (PCS) = 144.28
Total Score: 74.32 (SP) + 144.28 (FS) = 218.60

9) Nan Song (CHN)
     Music: Hungarian Rhapsody

• That is one very shiny vest
• Get ready for some jumps
• Turn out of the 4t, ugly air position
• HUGE 4t-3t
• This is not much more than a string of big jumps with some arm movements
• Solid 3a
• He actually does a decent job of pointing the foot on the sit spin and turning out the leg
• Nearly into the boards on the 2nd 3A
• All these air positions are ugly, but he straightens them out on the landings, amazing athleticism
• I hate that ugly upside down spin

FS Score: 79.93 (TES) + 67.64 (PCS) = 147.57
Total Score: 76.53 (SP) + 147.57 (FS) = 224.10


10) Patrick Chan (CAN)
      Music: Concierto de Aranjuez

• Very clean Quad Toe, I love the immediately outstretched arms to check the landing
• 4t-3t
• Bail out of the 3A, into a 2A
• This first footwork sequence is very nice, oops, caught an edge and puts hands down, not sure if that was a fall or not
• You can't deny that he is a rare talent, even with falls and silly mistakes, he performs to he max and makes it all look beautiful
• Stumble, hands down again
• He always starts the season a little rough like this
• His spins seem to have gotten faster this season
• Another stumble out of, what looked to be a bail to a double
• This simply won't do later in the season, but for now it should be good enough

FS Score: 72.30 (TES) + 85.14 (PCS) - 1.00 (DED) = 156.44
Total Score: 84.16 (SP) + 156.44 (FS) = 240.60

Pl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Patrick CHAN	CAN	240.60	1	1
2	Nan SONG	CHN	224.10	2	2
3	Michal BREZINA	CZE	218.60	3	4
4	Adam RIPPON	USA	217.89	4	3
5	Florent AMODIO	FRA	201.34	5	5
6	Alexander MAJOROV	SWE	190.60	8	6
7	Nobunari ODA	JPN	167.20	7	9
8	Romain PONSART	FRA	160.45	9	8
9	Chafik BESSEGHIER	FRA	160.39	10	7

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS =	TES +		PCS +	SS	TR	PE	CH	IN	Ded. -	StN.
1	Patrick CHAN	CAN	156.44	72.30		85.14	8.82	8.36	8.21	8.64	8.54	1.00	#10
2	Nan SONG	CHN	147.57	79.93		67.64	7.00	6.14	6.96	6.93	6.79	0.00	#9
3	Adam RIPPON	USA	144.93	70.05		74.88	7.57	7.11	7.54	7.54	7.68	0.00	#7
4	Michal BREZINA	CZE	144.28	67.72		76.56	7.89	7.14	7.82	7.61	7.82	0.00	#8
5	Florent AMODIO	FRA	129.92	60.48		70.44	7.14	6.50	7.29	7.04	7.25	1.00	#6
6	Alexander MAJOROV	SWE	128.48	65.78		62.70	6.39	6.00	6.39	6.21	6.36	0.00	#3
7	Chafik BESSEGHIER	FRA	113.96	58.58		55.38	5.79	5.29	5.57	5.50	5.54	0.00	#1
8	Romain PONSART	FRA	110.42	54.94		56.48	5.93	5.14	5.71	5.75	5.71	1.00	#2
9	Nobunari ODA	JPN	104.25	46.63		60.62	6.86	5.71	5.46	6.57	5.71	3.00	#4
WD	Kevin REYNOLDS	CAN											#5