The Olympics: Evan Lysacek's Big Plans
He wouldn't be the first Olympic champion to try and score another gold medal, but could Evan Lysacek be the first one (at least in recent years) to actually achieve his goal?
The American's plans to leave Sochi with a gold medal have been common knowledge for the past three seasons, when he constantly tried to come back on ice, but failed. In 2011/2012, he had some disagreements with the US Federation and in 2012/2013 he got injured right before Skate America. This was followed by a hernia surgery that prevented him from competing at the National Championships. Could fate be telling him something?
Now that he's feeling a lot better, the big question for Lysacek is not whether he can perform at his best or not, but whether his best is still good enough. Lysacek's Olympic victory was so acclaimed not only for defeating Evgeni Plushenko, but also for lacking a quadruple jump, thus proving that technical elements do not make or break a programme. Four years later, the situation couldn't be more different. Nowadays, any skater who claims any sort of medal can land a quadruple. Michal Brezina, from the Czech Republic, can land two, as does Brian Joubert, and Javier Fernandez from Spain landed three quadruples perfectly in the same program. Even though none of these names poses a threat or a real claim on the Olympic gold medal, they've got fans and judges alike used to a certain level of technical difficulty, and Lysacek must comply with the new standards. Pointless to mention that his no. 1 rival, Patrick Chan, can master the artistry and the quadruple brilliantly, and with the judges loving him as much as they do, he''ll be extremely hard to beat.
Lysacek's new short programme will feature the soundtrack of the Oscar-winning film Black Swan, while his free skate will delight us with the story of Samson and Delilah. He is working with the same team that already got him one Olympic gold: Frank Caroll as coach, Lori Nichol as choreographer (she also worked with Mao Asada and the Olympic champions Tatiana Totmianina & Maxim Marinim, among others) and, although with a smaller, but still significant role, the famous fashion designer Vera Wang.
So, it's top concepts and top people for a top skater. It would seem that the only thing missing is a top quadruple, which we hope to see soon.
Evan Lysacek's first competition will be the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Salt Lake City (September 11-15).
The American's plans to leave Sochi with a gold medal have been common knowledge for the past three seasons, when he constantly tried to come back on ice, but failed. In 2011/2012, he had some disagreements with the US Federation and in 2012/2013 he got injured right before Skate America. This was followed by a hernia surgery that prevented him from competing at the National Championships. Could fate be telling him something?Now that he's feeling a lot better, the big question for Lysacek is not whether he can perform at his best or not, but whether his best is still good enough. Lysacek's Olympic victory was so acclaimed not only for defeating Evgeni Plushenko, but also for lacking a quadruple jump, thus proving that technical elements do not make or break a programme. Four years later, the situation couldn't be more different. Nowadays, any skater who claims any sort of medal can land a quadruple. Michal Brezina, from the Czech Republic, can land two, as does Brian Joubert, and Javier Fernandez from Spain landed three quadruples perfectly in the same program. Even though none of these names poses a threat or a real claim on the Olympic gold medal, they've got fans and judges alike used to a certain level of technical difficulty, and Lysacek must comply with the new standards. Pointless to mention that his no. 1 rival, Patrick Chan, can master the artistry and the quadruple brilliantly, and with the judges loving him as much as they do, he''ll be extremely hard to beat.
Lysacek's new short programme will feature the soundtrack of the Oscar-winning film Black Swan, while his free skate will delight us with the story of Samson and Delilah. He is working with the same team that already got him one Olympic gold: Frank Caroll as coach, Lori Nichol as choreographer (she also worked with Mao Asada and the Olympic champions Tatiana Totmianina & Maxim Marinim, among others) and, although with a smaller, but still significant role, the famous fashion designer Vera Wang.So, it's top concepts and top people for a top skater. It would seem that the only thing missing is a top quadruple, which we hope to see soon.
Evan Lysacek's first competition will be the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Salt Lake City (September 11-15).
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