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I have to hand it to the judges, they called this one well. Javier Fernandez put together two solid performances in his best competition of the season to win Spain’s first world championship gold medal. After previously winning two bronze medals, it was great to see Fernandez achieve more in Shanghai. His reaction to winning the gold was priceless and truly great to watch. Vamos Javi! Yuzuru Hanyu will always be a favorite of mine. Considering the rough season he had, he did well at Worlds, but needed a bit more time to be truly prepared. He made a few mistakes in the competition, but as always, he was stunning on the ice. I am proud of the judges for not holding him up based on Hanyu-flation, but he well deserved his silver medal. Denis Ten continued to be what Denis Ten has always been- incredible and inconsistent. He performed well, but made too many mistakes to finish higher than third. He actually won the free skate, but a third place in the short held him down. His programs worked really well for him this season and hopefully he can conquer some of his demons (finally?) over the summer. The US men finished high enough (Brown 4th and Rippon 8th) to keep three spots for the men at the 2016 World Championships that will be held on home ice in Boston. PAIRS I have to hand it to Megan Duhamel and Eric Radford- they put together one hell of a season. Their programs had the highest of technical difficulty and they managed to be clean and consistent all year long. They leave Worlds still undefeated for the season and skated well in Shanghai to win their first World title. Sui and Han had just a wonderful free skate to win the silver medal. Their reaction to their skate was really fun to watch. They’ve had a good season and cheers to them for capping it off with a silver medal finish at Worlds. Oh, Pang and Tong were just beautiful as usual in their performance in Shanghai. They were second in the short and third in the free to win a bronze medal. It was touching to see these two come back for one more run and to see them succeed was even better. What a great podium! The Americans finished 7th (Scimeca and Knierim) and 12th (Denney/Frazier) and will only have two spots at next year’s Worlds. ICE DANCE This was perhaps the most surprising finish of all - and I thought it would be the least! I did predict the upset win by Papadakis and Cizeron, but what happened beneath the top step of the podium surprised me. Papadakis and Cizeron came from nowhere after last season to have a fantastic end-of-the- year run. They truly knocked it out of the park with their free dance this season and now hold two of figure skating’s biggest prizes- a European Championship and a World title. They had the highest PCS in the short dance and were the only couple to get a level 4 step sequence in the free dance. They seemed surprised by their win, but I saw it coming. Their free dance is magic! Chock and Bates surprised me with their silver medal finish. It was their technical marks that had them ahead of the crowd after the short dance, but Madi made a twizzle mistake in the free dance. I had predicted that they would win a medal, but I thought it was bronze for sure. Kudos to them for finally beating the Canadians and putting out good skates in Shanghai to win their first World medal. Weaver and Poje will leave Worlds no longer unbeaten this season. Unfortunately, they got a lift deduction and level 3s on their step sequences which landed them in third place. I know it has to sting for them after such a successful season, but I do think the placements are fair when I really look at it! It was truly a great competition- I got to see most of it live and I am so happy that I did. I am very much looking forward to next year’s Worlds in Boston- it certainly won’t mess up my sleep schedule as much : )
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About the Blog:Reviews, predictions and opinions in the magical, sparkly and dramatic field of figure skating. Archives
November 2017
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