Pairs

Only two pairs came out to warmup...Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev and Elena Leonova and Andrei Khvalko. Where was Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer? They were announced at the beginning? They were then shown on the screen stretching backstage. I don’t know why they didn’t warmup.When the warmup was over, they came out to skate. She had on a long blue costume. They skated to Last Dance. She started on a chair. At one point, he ripped off the long skirt on her costume. Ended with her flipping over his shoulders. Their marks:

POL USA CAN RUS GER
5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8
5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8

Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev skated Sad Waltz. Lots of original moves (as always) Obviously the best program of the night. Their marks:

POL USA CAN RUS GER
5.9 5.8 5.9 5.9 5.9
5.9 5.9 5.9 5.8 5.8

Elena Leonova and Andrei Khvalko skated to Don't Wanna Miss a Thing. Again, lots of original moves. She is too flexible! She fell on the throw double axel. Such a shame since she landed it so many times in warmup. Their marks:

POL USA CAN RUS GER
5.8 5.8 5.8 5.9 5.7
5.7 5.7 5.7 5.8 5.7

Final Results:

  1. Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev
  2. Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer
  3. Elena Leonova and Andrei Khvalko

Ladies

In this warmup, Michelle landed everything she tried. She even did a spiral! On the other hand, Nicole had a terrible warmup. She fell twice on the lutz (hard!), and popped most of the rest of her jumps. Did not look good for later on.

As with the technical program, when the warmup was over, all the ladies got off the ice. Oksana was shown backstage lacing up her skates...again! She skated to My All...with the phone. I know that the program used to have a phone conversation and phone rings, but since they took it out, shouldn’t she get rid of the phone. Everyone was asking what the deal with the phone was. She unfortunately fell out of her lutz. She later landed the triple salchow, but, right after it, went into a double axel, and fell. Right at the end of the program. When the program was over, she threw the phone across the ice. Even with the phone, I like this program (though I’d probably give her an extra .1 without it.) Her marks:

CAN USA GER ITA RUS AUS FIN
5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.6 5.5 5.5
5.6 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.5

While NBC was interviewing Oksana in the kiss and cry, Katarina was skating around on the ice. She made hand gestures to the crowd to cheer. She skated to Angel. I love this song, and it suits Katarina well. She looked much better tonight than in the technical program. When she was done, Mandy W sat with her in the kiss and cry. Her marks:

CAN USA GER ITA RUS AUS FIN
5.6 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.5 5.6 5.7
5.7 5.8 5.9 5.8 5.6 5.7 5.8

Lu Chen skated to Black Magic Woman. She had lots of sparkles on her face. I thought seeing this program in person would change my opinion of it, but I didn’t. I just don’t like the program. Her jumps weren’t with her again tonight. Her marks:

CAN USA GER ITA RUS AUS FIN
5.4 5.6 5.7 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.7
5.7 5.6 5.8 5.7 5.8 5.8 5.7

Michelle was next, skating to East of Eden. This used to be my least favorite program of hers. Don’t ask me why. But when she brought it back this year, I fell in love with it. I have never seen it in person, so I was happy when I heard she would be doing it here. And, wow! Before the competition, I was excited about seeing her new long. But EoE overshadowed it. She had such feeling. And was so secure in her jumps. In fact, I wasn’t nervous at all when she skated (and I’m usually nervous even when she’s just doing an exhibition!) Just before she did the spread eagle, I got tears in my eyes, and they didn’t go away until a few seconds into Yuka’s program. Just breathtaking! I heard some people saying they felt like they did after she skated at Nationals. I wouldn’t say it quite had that feeling, but it was close. It probably was the best I have seen her skate in person other than Nationals. Standing ovation. I was hoping she would get 6.0s, but when the marks came up...wow (again!) Not only did she get 6.0s for artistic, but 2 for technical, as well. That is very rare. BTW, the USA judge is the judge that gave his first 6.0 ever to Michelle’s short program at Nationals (and then gave her one in the long, too.) Her marks:

CAN USA GER ITA RUS AUS FIN
5.8 5.9 6.0 6.0 5.9 5.8 5.9
5.9 6.0 6.0 5.9 5.9 6.0 5.9

Yuka skated to Hat full of Stars. This has to be one of my favorite (if not favorite) program of hers. Her marks:

CAN USA GER ITA RUS AUS FIN
5.7 5.9 5.9 5.8 5.8 5.7 5.8
5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.8 5.9 5.9

Nicole skated to her Motown medley. This program suits her perfectly. I don’t think anyone else could pull it off as well. It is such an entertaining program, and is better in person than on TV. No one really knew what to expect here. I was so nervous when she went into her jumps! Since she had such a terrible warmup, I thought it would be another splat fest. Boy, was I wrong! When she was going into the triple lutz, I was SO nervous! And when she landed it, I, and the crowd, erupted! Her next jump was the double axel. She landed it facing us, and her smile was HUGE! She went on to land the triple loop and toe, each time, her face beaming more. Everyone jumped to their feet when the program was over. I thought she should have come in second, but since there was no room between Michelle and Yuka, she finished third. Still, great job, and a huge confidence booster. Yea Nicole! Her marks:

CAN USA GER ITA RUS AUS FIN
5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8
5.8 5.8 5.9 5.8 5.9 5.8 5.8

Final Results:

  1. Michelle Kwan
  2. Yuka Sato
  3. Nicole Bobek
  4. Lu Chen
  5. Katarina Witt
  6. Oksana Baiul

Dance

In the warmup, the only real time there was any tension between Pasha & Sasha and Maya & Evgeny. Maya was just skating around, and Pasha was doing a move, and Pasha skated right towards Maya. They almost collided. I also found it ironic that Maya and Evgeny wore white, and Pasha and Sasha wore black (the exact opposite.)

Pasha Grischuk and Alexander Zhulin skated to Unbreak My Heart. Again, not much applause. In fact, there was actually booing and hissing. I have never heard someone boo a skater at a skating event. There was a lot of catcalls throughout the dance event. This program was better than their first one, but still just lots of tricks. Their marks:

POL USA RUS CAN AUS
5.8 5.8 5.8 5.7 5.8
5.8 5.8 5.9 5.8 5.8

Maya Usova and Evgeny Platov skated to Moonlight Sonata. Again, better than their first program. More tricks and lifts. Their marks:

POL USA RUS CAN AUS
5.9 5.8 5.9 5.8 5.9
6.0 5.9 6.0 5.9 5.9

Before Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow skated, someone screamed out “if you win, it will be perfect.” They skated to “I Put a Spell on You.” It’s a cute program, and the crowd loved it. But Maya and Evgeny’s marks were too high for them to win. Their marks:

POL USA RUS CAN AUS
5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.8
5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9

Final Results:

  1. Maya Usova and Evgeny Platov
  2. Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow
  3. Pasha Grischuk and Alexander Zhulin

Men

Before the warmup, Kurt was playing around with some of the flower girls. He had on a black costume, so I figured he wouldn’t be doing his new clown program. Todd was also wearing a black costume, so I figured he wouldn’t be skating to Il Mare Calmo Della Sera. He landed several perfect triple axels. During each warmup, when the timer got down to about 10 seconds, some of the crowd would countdown to zero. This time, when they started counting down, Kurt jumped up, and literally ran off the ice, and jumped into the crowd! (Ironically, into a section that had signs for Todd.)

Rudy skated to his violin number. Completely different number than what he did the first night. He fell on his double axel right on the beat of the music. His marks:

USA CAN POL ITA RUS FIN AUS
5.7 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.7
5.8 5.8 5.9 5.8 5.8 5.7 5.8

Kurt was next. He now had on his clown costume with a red nose. He came out sheepishly. Great program! So entertaining! He ends the program by jumping onto the judge’s row, and shakes hands with some of the judges. After taking his bows, a flower boy skates over to him, and gestures to him to leave. Kurt then puts his hands up like he is going to fight. The flower boy then pulls him by his ear off the ice. LOL! His marks:

USA CAN POL ITA RUS FIN AUS
5.8 5.8 5.8 5.6 5.7 5.7 5.7
6.0 6.0 6.0 5.8 6.0 5.9 5.9

What are the chances of seeing someone skate to a clown program? Well, tonight, we saw two! Alexei skated his clown short program. Wasn’t impressed with this program as I thought I would be (based on what I heard about it.) Thought there was still room for Todd to win (if he skated clean), until his marks came up. His marks:

USA CAN POL ITA RUS FIN AUS
5.9 5.9 5.9 5.7 5.9 5.8 5.8
5.8 5.8 5.8 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.8

Todd was next. I was so happy when I heard the first bars of Il Mare Calmo Della Sera. This is my favorite program of his, and one of my all time favs. I usually go into a trance watching it. Then, he fell on his triple axel (and the crowd gasped.) I don’t think I have ever seen him fall in this program. He later doubled his lutz. It’s the costume! I have always said that skaters shouldn’t change their costumes (didn’t Michelle in ‘97 teach them anything?) But why would they listen to me? ;-) Oh well. I still love this program, even though it didn’t have the same effect as usual, it still is beautiful. His marks:

USA CAN POL ITA RUS FIN AUS
5.8 5.8 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.8 5.9
5.8 5.7 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.8 5.7

Final Results:

  1. Alexei Yagudin
  2. Kurt Browning
  3. Todd Eldredge
  4. Rudy Galindo


Awards

They announced that the ASW Professional Skater of the Year Award would be given out. Past winners were Scott Hamilton, and Katia Gordeeva (last year.) Sandra Bezic gave a heartwarming speech, and awarded it to Kurt. The audience went wild. They were both crying. The award even had skates on it!

Then, the plates were given out to the winners. (Pairs, Men, Dance, then Ladies.) They all held the plate over their head...except Michelle. :-( And because they were on the other side of Dick Button, and the others giving out the awards, I didn’t really get good pictures of the skaters with their plates. All the skaters came out, and skated around. They then posed for a group pictures (of course, they posed with their back towards my side!) So sad...it was all over!


Hotel

We then went to the hotel where the skaters were staying. No one arrived for at least an hour and a half. I heard Alexei came through, and on one even noticed! At one point, someone said “there’s Michelle’s,” and my head snapped around to look. But, it was her parents. Both were carrying some of her things, and her mother had her plate and flowers. At least we knew Michelle was staying there!

Finally, we saw a group of people surrounding someone, and we rushed over. It was Katarina! She is beautiful. She went down the line of people, signing autographs and posing for pictures. Then, we saw Mandy Woetzel, and got her autograph and picture. I was using a disposable camera for these pictures, and both times, the picture wouldn’t snap at first! Thankfully, the skaters were patient! Nicole came through with her boyfriend, and said that she would “come back later.” She didn’t.

A little while later, Todd came. He is so nice. He stayed until the last person that wanted a picture or autograph got one. When I asked for a picture, he stood like I was going to be in the picture, but no one I knew was around me, so I didn’t have anyone to take it. :-( And again, the same thing happened with the camera! But, I finally got my picture, and had to fight my way out of the mob around him.

Then, Michelle came! She had a few security people around her, along with Frank and her agent. Frank had a huge smile on his face. I had my card with the URL of my site on it. The security people were moving people out of the way. But, I was able to get in there and give my card to Michelle! I told her how I had a website on her, and gave her the card. She looked at it and smiled. While she was walking, she was signing autographs. I tried to get a picture of her, but they were too far ahead of me now. She got on the elevator, and fan tried to get on, too. I was upset with myself that I didn’t get a picture of her earlier. Oh well. She looked great, though. Her hair looked really cute (it looks like she is growing it out.) She had on a gray top (I think) with faux fur around the collar.

At one point, Oksana walked through the lobby (on the other side of where I was), and got right on the elevator. She later came back downstairs, and walked by me. I asked her for a picture, and she smiled while she walked. Oksana Kazakova came through the front door, her coat wet (it was raining.) She was had a huge smile on her face while she signed and posed for pictures. Evgeny Platov also signed and posed for a while. At one point (just before he got to me!), he said that he had to go upstairs for a party, but would be back. Still, he stayed for a while later. Then, a whole group of skaters (Yuka, Jason, Jerod Swallow, Rudy, and maybe some I didn’t see) passed through. I was only able to catch Yuka. I also got Elena Leonova’s autograph and picture.

I think that’s everyone. I know some skaters passed through that I missed. Philippe Candeloro was also there, but he was at the other end of the lobby, and by that point, I was too tired to go over! We left a little before 2am. Now I was sad again...it really was all over! It was a great two days! Everyone always seems to have so much fun at this competition, and now I see why!


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Photo © Heather Winfield