To Men, Their Own

The boys' SP started with a burning question - will Fernandez beat Chang? - and ended in an entirely different fashion. Here's what happened to some of the skaters:


  • Zoltan Kelemen is suffering from a serious case of inconsistency. What can be quite an entertaining program when performed at its best was today peppered with mistakes. The Romanian got 58.24 points.


  • The costume was not the only pretty thing about Viktor Romanenkov's program. The Estonian astonished even himself when he landed all his jumps perfectly, but he's got a lot to learn about expressing "Tango Amore". His score: 65.33.


  • Justus Strid is not a name you want to forget. Although he's yet young and inexperienced,  his funny program showed lots of potential both technically and, especially, artistically. The skater from Denmark got a surprising score of 63.25.


  • Alexander Majorov knows how to choose his music (not his costumes though), but he didn't impress today. His two mistakes were not major (over-rotated jumps), but they were enough to draw attention away from the program as a whole. The Swedish skater obtained 68.32 points.


  • As superb as the OST of Alexander is and as much as music can make or break a program, it didn't do much for Peter Liebers today. Technically perfect, Germany's best needs more complicated and expressive transitions. Nonetheless, he got a well deserved score of 71.20.


  • The name that was on everyone's lips, Javier Fernandez, was a big let down today. Yes, he still jumps quads like no other; yes, his presentation skills are still some of the best out there, but he lost focus and points on what was supposed to be a Triple Axel and ended up being a Single Axel. Spain got today fewer points than it should have - 80.76.


  • Simple, but efficient - that's how Kevin Reynolds' program could be described. Against all odds, the Canadian rising star took the lead in front of the European champion (Fernandez) and hold on to it for quite a while, to everyone's pleasant surprise. His score: 85.16.


  • Brian Joubert is back, ladies and gentlemen, and I, personally, couldn't be more excited about it. The French skater delivered a flawless program with his usual flair and showed the new comers what it means to be a champion. He won everyone over and got 84.17 points.


  • Florent Amodio had the worst fall of the day on his last spin and only got 75.73 points. His low score was also due to him failing to jump the quad.


  • Tomas Verner continues his saga of poorly performed programs, which is a shame because his choice of music is always captivating. Maybe it's time to admit he made a mistake when changing coaches and return to Michael Huth. The skater from Czech Republic got 68.05 points.


  • No quad, but a very high Triple Axel and a perfect combination, in addition to his enjoyable performance of Malaguena, brought Takahito Mura 73.46 points.


  • Michael Brezina was a bit too close to repeating Amodio's silly fall, but managed to keep his feet firmly on the ice and saved a brilliant short program that has one of the most difficult step sequences in the competition. His score: 83.09.


  • Probably due to his knee injury (everything but the elements was pure perfection), Yuzuru Hanyu is unlikely to cry tears of joy at the end of this World Championship. His score: 75.94.


  • We've been waiting for this since the start of the season - the moment when Denis Ten gives us a flawless performance and shows what a brilliantly put-together program he has. Like tutor (Stephane Lambiel), like student. His well-deserved astronomical score was 91.56 points.


  • Daisuke Takahashi began his program with a dodgy jump, but gained back control and made us forget about the mistake by the end of the program. Too bad judges can't forget. His score: 84.67.


  • Patrick Chan was so focused on his program today that if the music had stopped, I'm willing to bet he would have kept skating. His skating was so good that if the music had stopped, the audience would have probably not noticed. And yet, you can't help but think his score was just too perfect - 98.37.


  • Ross Miner gave his best today, but his best is not enough. With a failed quad, but some of the fastest spins of the competition, the American finished his SP with 70.24 points.


To sum this whole madness up, Javier Fernandez did not beat Patrick Chan, nor will he (or anyone else) be able to. Without doubt, the biggest surprise was Denis Ten, and it is high time he was so. As for Daisuke Takahashi, the fact that this great program was one of his bad days says a lot about what the Japanese can do. Finally, I'd like to congratulate Mr Brian Joubert for a fabulous performance, and say I can't wait to see a repeat performance in the LP.

To see the full results, go to: http://www.isuresults.com/results/wc2013/

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