In the first group of Ladies, Amber Corwin seemed quite strong except for the lutz. Same on the lutz for Laetita Hubert, who also had alot of trouble with the flip and was generally not having a good morning. However, I really love her long program more each time I see it. It's a very strong number and really suits her speed and attack. I just wish she was having more luck with the lutz, every single one was about 1 1/4 to 2 1/4 rotations with a crazy pull out in the air and usually a bad crash landing. Irina Slutskaya was also having a tough practice. In group 2, Fumie Suguri had a tough runthrough but otherwise looked okay. Liashenko looked very strong and we all thought she could win it with a skate like the practice. It's great to see her skate well so early in the season. Keyla Ohs looked about as miserable as you can imagine and I don't think landed a single triple all practice. I give her credit for trying the flip and lutz but not landing either in the short seems to have done a number on her. I also tried to take a picture of Yulia Vorobeiva in a spin to see if I could stop her motion. How did I do?

The men practiced next and the place was getting pretty full. The Canadian men practiced in the second group so the crowd had to be satisfied with Plushenko landing quad toe-triple toe fairly easily a few times. Dinev was falling on the quad toe a great deal but Dan Hollander, finally, looked a bit better. For me, the nicest part of the practice was seeing Micheal Hopfes land a 3 flip - 3 loop and 3 toe - 3 loop. I took this picture of Micheal in his costume at practice. During the competition that evening I sat with a journalist for a German skating magazine and showed him the photo. He liked it enough to take a copy to possibly use in his article. I hope it will be published but I wish it had been a Canadian journalist to publish a picture of Jayson. I guess that is my next goal!

The coaches had staked out their positions early in the week and the diehard practice fans (like, for instance, us) also staked out spots but, since it was now much more crowded, the place where Galina and Josée usually sat was filled with some teenagers. Josée moved to the other side of the judges panel but Jayson didn't seem to catch it. He came out to practice and went to the boards where Josée usually was and met up with Galina. However, just about everyone sitting in those rows had been there all week and started pointing to where she had gone. He circled about a few times in confusion and then spotted her. They both got a good laugh out of it and maybe it even released some tension because the practice went well for Jayson. The long program is quite nice and all the stopping bits seem to be right in front of my seat! Here are a few photos.

Yes, okay, there were others in the practice group. Poor Jeff Langdon still looked miserable and unable to land jumps. I guess even the good skate in short was not enough to lift his confidence. Takeshi Honda could not miss. Nice change from the day before when he was so miserable. I didn't see much of Pliuta but he was working quad lutzes. I didn't see if he landed any. Szabolcs Vidrai missed a good portion of the practice sitting in the kiss and cry doing something with his boots. We couldn't figure out if it was a boot problem or foot problem or perhaps something as simple as a ripped lace. He didn't get much practice time and we did wonder if he was going to skate that night. I only kept half an eye on Stokjo, whom I saw 2 foot a quad toe.

In the first pairs practice, Shen/Zhao are in a class by themselves. They are fast and strong and have really cleaned up the problems I saw in them last year. The side by side spins still have a few problems but the twist and lifts and throws are so strong. Petrova/Tikinov have nicely done and innovative lifts, inlcuding the one made more famous by Bereznaia/Sihkarulidze that I like better on them since Petrova is smaller and her legs don't seem quite so much in the way. She is small but a real power skater. Jaime and David continue to dominate the second group. All three of the Canadian women were having some troubles with the triple toe; Marie-Claude and Kristy were struggling alot but Jaime less so. I think Sargeant/Wirtz's new long program is a good step for them. They have more of a chance to show off their personalities and have some fun. Sale/Pelletier's program is pretty much non-stop energy. We all laughed as they came around our side of the rink before the second double axels and give a big grin. I tried to get a photo but they just came by too fast! It's clear that they are both so happy to be skating pairs together and it's really a joy to watch them.

In the two groups of free dance practice that were next, I just took some photos. I guess you can tell which dances I liked the most, or perhaps just the ones that were easiest to photograph. Unfortunately, we are starting to get to the photos that were sent through the x-ray machine at the airport so some are a bit dark and all have fairly muted colours. At the end of the final practice, Bourne and Kraatz were one of the few teams left on the ice and the gave a display of some of their hydroblading tricks. I thought this was a bit out of place but Angela and Catherine thought it was fine.

Olga Sharutenko/Dmitri Naumkin	Albena Denkova/Maxim Stavisky
Margarita Drobiazko/Povilas Vanagas	Megan Wing/Aaron Lowe

So, the quickest of breaks and on to the ladies long programs.

Ladies Long Program

• Zuzanna Paurova - slow into a popped single lutz. 3 flip - 2 toe. underotated and two foot and hands down on 3 loop. Flying camel. 2 axel (hard fall). good positions in combo spin. 3 sal (hands). Layback. 2 flip. Another popped lutz. straight line footwork. A nice 3 sal - 2 toe. Sit spin to pulled up leg spin. Tough program for her, esp. after the good job she did in the short.
• Amber Corwin - Her music was Rhapsody in Blue, which I remember she skated to in 1996 but I don't know if this was a new program or not. She started out landing the 3 toe - 3 toe and then got the 3 lutz - 2 toe and was pretty much on a roll after that. Death drop to crossfoot spin. 1 flip. Flying camel with lots of revs. Spirals. Combination spin. 3 loop. Good layback. 2 lutz. 3 sal. Combination spin. A really well skated program with good flow and edges, as well as nailing the tough jumps.
• Yulia Vorobeiva - Fall on 3 lutz. Almost put her hands down on the 3 flip. Very good 3 sal. Excellent flying camel. 1 axel. spirals. 3 loop - 2 toe. 3 toe. layback excellent. 3 toe - 2 toe. death drop. Circular footwork. 1 axel but then went for and got 2 axel. She got stronger by the end.
• Keyla Ohs - Sandra Bezic choreographed program to music from the movie Sabrina and David Dore sat in row three and watched her like a hawk. I felt very sorry for her, she looked incredibly nervous. fall on 3 toe. 2 axel - 1/2 loop - 2 sal (meant to be 3 sal). Good flying camel. 3 flip was almost clean, 2 foot and hands. 1 loop. very good layback. 1 lutz. Flying sit. 1 axel. wonky 2 axel. Spirals. ina into 1 1/2 sal. Combo spin to cross foot. Once it started to go badly for her, she just couldn't get it back.
• Zoe Jones - 3 toe (hands). 1 loop. 2 axel (held it). Straight line footwork. 2 lutz - 2 toe. combo spin. 3 flip (2 foot and underotated) - 2 toe. Death drop without much fly in it. 3 sal (my notes say on wrong foot, which I am guessing means she landed on the back inside edge of the left foot.) 2 loop. Spirals had good speed. Her layback in quite impressive and I failed to get a decent photo of it in either program.
• Laetitia Hubert - She caught the boards with her foot doing back crossovers at the beginning of her program and fell over hard. At that point I said 'It's going to be one of those nights for Laetitia.' She never really recovered herself from that. The lutz was the 1 1/2 variety. 2 loop. Flying camel. 3 sal. 3 flip. 3 toe. Back spin. Spirals at very high speed. Combo spin. Lovely 2 axel. 2 toe - 2 toe. Headless spin. Even with the problems, I found it a very evocative program but it didn't seem to go over very well with the audience.
• Fumie Suguri - She opened with alot of speed into a nice 3 lutz - 2 toe. 2 foot on 3 flip. Waxel. 3 sal. flying camel. layback. 1 loop. 2 lutz. Spread eagles. Combo spin. Straight line footwork. 3 toe. 3 sal. 2 axel. Huge death drop. She faltered a bit in the middle of the program but came back strong. I was also really impressed with how well she skate to the music, which was three pieces by Bach including the cello suites that Torvil and Dean used recently. Not easy music to skate to but she really did a lovely job.
• Alisa Drei - she skated to a Muzaked verision of Leibestraum that was like fingernails on the chalkboard to me. 3 toe - 3 toe (2 foot and underotated but still, how many women were trying it here? Nice to see.). A very underotated and 2 footed 3 lutz. 3 loop. Flying camel. Good fotwork. Bad fall on lutz. Change camel. 2 sal. 2 flip. Slow combo spin with Beillmann. 2 sal. Fall on 2 axel. Missed footing on arabian. Layback. The program pretty much fell apart for her and she was so slow into the jumps.
• Elena Liashenko - 3 lutz - 2 toe. 3 loop (underotated and 2 foot). Good fly on flying camel. 3 flip and then steps to 3 toe, which she just held on to. Spirals. Good layback. 3 sal very good. 2 axel - 2 toe. Sideways leaning spin. Straight line footwork good. Held on to 3 toe. Combo spin. Best I've seen her skate in the fall! It was a joy to watch,
• Diana Poth - 3 toe. 3 lutz ( step out). Flying camel to cannonball sit spin. 3 loop (hand). 3 flip (fall). Poor layback. Good Spirals. 3 sal (hand down and step out). 3 toe (fall). Combo spin to leg pulled up position. 3 sal not pretty but clean. 2 axel. camel. Spread eagle.
• Irina Slutskaya - 3 lutz (2 foot and underotated). 3 sal - 2 loop. Flying camel very good as usual. 2 toe. 3 toe. Spirals. 3 sal. Layback. Possible 2 foot on 3 loop. 1 axel. 2 axel (step out). Combo spin gave short shrift to camel position but otherwise very good. Circular footwork. Considering how she had been practicing, it was a pretty good skate for her and with Laetitia's problems it was enough to keep her on the podium.

Before the resurfacing a large Hershey's kiss toddled onto the ice. No, I am not kidding, here it is:

Mens Long Program

• Dan Hollander - Dan usually has good taste in music but this one lost me. It started as blues guitar but the middle section had some saxaphone jazz that was schmaltzy and not suited to Dan at all. My notes don't make much sense here, it seems to say 3 lutz - 3 sal - 2 loop, which I can only assume means 3 lutz. 3 sal - 2 loop. Or else Dan has invented a new jump.... Hands down on 3 axel. 2 flip. Flying camel. Fall on 3 loop. Outside camel. 3 toe - 2 toe. Combo spin. 2 axel (step out). 3 sal (step out). Straight line footwork slow. 2 axel (step out). Combo spin. Arabian to back scratch.
• Jayson Dénommée - What can I say? Oh, I said it already! It was a fantastic skate, not just skated well but really fought for. Hands down on the opening 3 axel but still got 2 toe. Good 3 flip. Flying camel. 3 lutz - 2 toe. Footwork. Hand down again on 3 axel. 3 loop. Flying sit. 3 lutz. Death drop. Far too much energy into an intended 3 sal that become somewhere around 1 rotation but he just kept going with the program. 3 toe. Combo spin. I don't know if anyone else stood but we three did. It was a great moment, esp. to skate so well at home in front of the CTV cameras and David Dore, still in row three. I didn't see but Angela said Josée Normand was just beaming in the Kiss and Cry when he finished.
• Micheal Hopfes - 3 lutz (really nice). Fall on 3 axel. very good flying sit. 3 toe and spin out in a loop take off position. Change sit. 3 flip. 3 loop. death drop. 3 sal. 3 toe - 3 loop (Good job!). Fall out of 2 axel. Flying camel into combo spin. I was glad to see him finally get that 3 toe - 3 loop, nicely skated.
• Takeshi Honda - 3 axel. Fall on 4 toe that was tilted and underotated. 3 lutz. sword fighting footwork, ala Phillipe Candeloro. 1 axel. 3 flip (step out) and eventually a 2 toe. backspin. Just held 3 loop. step out on 3 sal. Arabian. Spread eagles and lunges. more sword fighting footwork. Combo spin. I thought the program started strong and then fizzled out but after some more thought I began to wonder if it was a choreographic problem, as there isn't much at the end of the program. This program did move Takeshi up, though.
• Marcus Lemenien - 2 foot on 3 lutz. 2 axel. Flying sit. possible 2 foot on 3 loop. 2 flip. 3 toe. back camel to sit to forward sit (neat!). 2 axel. circular steps. 2 lutz. back camel. Straightline footwork (done to Bonzo's Montreaux, which I have to say does not seem a wise move. Why invite a comparision to Kurt Browning's footwork?). 3 sal - 2 toe. Death drop.
• Szabolcs Vidrai - 3 axel - 2 toe. 3 toe - 3 toe. 1 foot footwork. 3 lutz. death drop. combo spin. 3 sal. 3 axel (he's REALLY happy now!). 3 flip. 2 axel. death drop. After the problems in morning practice, I thought it would be the end of him but he came through great! This is the same program as last year, to Rocky Horror music and the crowd loved it, motorcycle riding and all.
• Elvis Stokjo - 3 flip. 2 foot on 4 toe. Flying camel. 3 sal. Just held on to 3 loop. 3 axel - 2 toe. Footwork. 3 axel. death drop. Straight line footwork. 3 lutz - 2 toe. Split jump. Arabian. Combo spin. Back scratch. To me it was the same program he's been doing for the past few years and not really up to his usual techincal level.
• Ivan Dinev - 3 axel - 2 toe. Bad fall on 4 toe. Camel. Held on to 3 flip. 3 axel (hard fall). At some point in this fall or after the strap on his pants came loose. He did a change camel and seemed to notice it then but I guess didn't know what to do because he finished the camel and then tried to refasten it and go on but the referee called him over and had him restart from after the camel. This seemed to really take the wind out of his sails. 2 lutz. 3 loop. Flying camel. Straight line footwork rather slow and scrapey. Another spin. 3 lutz and many steps to 3 sal (possibly 2).
• Evgeny Plushenko - With Stokjo faltering, it was up to Plush and he did so easily. Opened with a lovely 4 toe - 3 toe then moved on to a 3 axel. 3 loop. Flying camel to catch position. 3 axel - 3 toe. 2 lutz (his only real mistake). very good footwork. excellent change sit. 3 flip. 3 sal. Beillman. more good fast footwork. Combo spin with Beillman. Best of all, he really interacted with the crowd and used the energy to skate even better.
• Jeff Langdon - A tough performance for Jeff to follow. Fell on opening 3 axel. 3 flip - 2 toe. 1 axel. gorgeous flying camel. Spread eagle. Combo spin. 2 sal. Camel. footwork into 3 lutz (hard fall). Spread eagle to 3 sal then steps to 3 toe (fall). Scratch spin. The spins and edge quality are all lovely but the jumps just completely deserted him and he really was marked down heavily for it.

Pairs Long Program

• Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon/Luc Bradet - They are continuing with the Gone with the Wind program from last year. 3 twist (low catch). very nice throw 3 sal. She doubled the sbs 3 toes. Sbs spins slowish. BI death spiral. Back press lift (please note, I am slowly learning pairs lifts names so I hope these are all correct, if I don't know I just say lift). sbs 1 axel steps to 2 flip. A lift where he nearly tripped and fell but managed to save it. sbs 2 sal. throw 3 toe. Carry lift. Pair spin. 2 hand lift with flip out. BO DS.
• Heather Allebach/Matthew Evers - The music was the Rachmaninoff Paginini variations. 2 twist. 2 flip steps to 2 toe (she a bit scrapey). pair spin. Fall on throw 3 sal and a longtime getting back up. Upside down lift. sbs 2 toe or flip(?). Nice speed and extension on pull through spirals. BO death spiral with slip at end. Loop lift. throw 3 loop (2 foot and step out). sbs 2 flip. sbs flying sit lost unison. Press lift a bit shaky. BI death spiral. Final pairs spin a bit laboured and travelled.
• Katerina Berankova/Otto Dlabola - throw 3 sal had low landing but good. 3 twist (poor catch). sbs 3 toe (she 1 1/4). Lasso lift got out of position but saved. throw 3 toe. She does a flexibilty spin and he skates around. Spirals. sbs 2 axel. BO death spiral nice. Hip axel lift with slow entry and possible early exit. sbs 2 flip steps to 2 loop (he slipped) then more steps to 2 toe. Back press lift. sbs spins out of unison. BI death spiral. Cartwheel lift. pair spin showing her flexibility.
• Marsha Pouliashenko/Andrew Seabrook - throw 3 toe (hard fall). sbs 2 axel (she singled). Hand to hand lift. FI death spiral (her knee bent). BO death spiral poor. Hip axel lift. throw 1 axel. poor spin unison. sbs 2 toe. 2 twist. spirals. Pair sit to scratch nicely done. good unison on footwork. Hip axel lift came down very fast. Both messed up on sbs 2 loops. I really enjoyed this team at Worlds but they seem to have taken a step backwards. Hopefully it's just some injury or a bad luck week for them.
• Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao - sbs 3 toe. 3 lateral twist lovely. Huge throw 3 loop. sbs 2 axel (she slightly two foot). Spirals. Fast entry into lasso lift but early set down. FO death spiral. Huge throw 3 sal. sbs spins very rushed. Pair spin. Hip axel lift. 1 axel - 2 toe sequence with some step outs. Back platter lift. Pair spin. My notes are full of exclamation marks, when they are on, they are really on and only a few flaws in a great performance.
• Maria Petrova/Alexei Tikhinov - sbs 3 toes lovely. 2 axel - 2 toe sequence. great speed and flow. 3 twist. nice throw 3 sal. Lift also done by Bere./Sikh. Lift where she folds over his arm. FI death spiral. Good spirals. throw 2 toe. Hip axel lift with flip out dismount. sbs Flying camel. Pair spin. Footwork good. A carry lift at the end went a bit awry and they sorta slipped into the ending but still very well done.
• Kristy Sargeant/Kris Wirtz - She fell on 3 toes. 3 twist a bit short. Lasso lift. Throw 3 sal became a 2 1/2 with a very hard fall and lost part of the program. BO death spiral. Sbs spins had some unison troubles. Step out on throw 2 axel. sbs 2 axel (she landed on toe) steps to 2 toe (she stepped out). lift. Pair spread eagle. Pair spin. Hip Lift. sbs split jumps. BO death spiral. They were visibly unhappy at the end and both left the kiss and cry area before the marks came up.
• Jaime Sale/David Pelletier - Great 3 twist. sbs 3 toe (2 ft by her). Throw 3 sal (slight step out). Lift. sbs 2 axel - 2 flip sequence (skating really close together). Pair spin. Spread eagle death spiral entrance. Lift. A second lift that never got into the air. Recovered from this mistake with a great throw 3 loop. sbs death drop with great unison. sbs 2 axel (she singled). Lasso lift to 1 hand. BO death spiral. great speed. They really took control of the program and skated so well. Even with a few slips, it was clearly deserving of third.

The only thing left was to award the medals. Well, first the podium had to be put together. For those who haven't been to Canadian skating events, the podium comes in four pieces and is shaped like a maple leaf. The staff didn't seem to have the right instructions ( slot A into tab B) and kept moving the pieces around and around. The crowd helped out a bit by waving Canadian flags at them. It seemed that they were right but when the Ladies came out they seemed to be standing very far apart and I couldn't get a photo because one of the presenters was standing in front of Irina Slutskaya. After the ladies were done, they came out and shifted the pieces yet again, Joyce Hisey taking the lead in moving them around until it was correct. So, I did get the men and pairs podiums. And THAT was finally the end of the day.

Elvis Stojko(CAN), Evgeny Plushenko(RUS),Szabolcs Vidrai(HUN)

Petrova/Tihkonov(RUS),Shen/Zhao(CHN),Sale/Pelletier(CAN)

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