Exuberant Chinese Performer Wipes Himself on the Ice but Still Outshines the Competition in the Mens Qualifier  

1.  Nan Song, 130.75 (68.33+64.42 -2) The 21-year-old from Beijing, who was runner-up in the 2010 & 2011 Chinese championships and finished 22^nd in Worlds in Moscow last season, rolled around the ice on his first two elements, both quad toe loop jumps, while performing to Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody #2. The composer of this lively music might have approved of this spirited if clumsy unusual way of winning. Certainly his music sometimes inspires the less talented to dance around off ice in often quite ungraceful ways.

And, despite the falls, Song, who won bronze in this season’s Shanghai Grand Prix and silver in Trophy Bompard, banked 7.30 and 5.24, less the two points deduction, for his flawed beginning. The system obviously rewards those who have the courage to attempt ambitious content over graceful perfection. Song also made other errors, adding only a single toe loop to his second triple Axel, being saddled with an “e” for wrong edge take-off on his triple flip, and getting negative Grades of Execution for his Level 2 flying camel (-0.20) and triple Lutz (-0.59).

He said, “Considering my condition right now, I think it was pretty good. I was sick with a fever at the Four Continents (in Colorado Springs, where he finished 11^th after being sixth and ninth in his previous two years in that championship) and it took me a long time to recover.” About having to compete in the preliminary round, he said, “Each time you compete is an experience. Maybe I was a little nervous today. Now I have to get ready for the short program, this is really important and I will have to give my very best.”

2.  Sergei Voronov, 128.47 (66.73+61.74) The 24-year-old, who used to be trained by Alexei Mishin and is now coached by Nicolai Morosov, is taking part in his fourth world championship, although he did not compete last year. His best placement was seventh in 2008. He was Russian champion twice, in 2008 and 2009, but only third this season. He is still recovering from a foot injury which gives him pain when he picks for the Lutz takeoff.

He skated relatively early in the proceedings, 20^th of the 28, to the operatic aria I Pagliacci. He did not make a good start. He substituted a triple Axel for his first element and did a double Axel for the second move, followed by a double flip which was penalized with an “e” call for wrong for wrong edge take-off. His first spin was Level 3 but the following circular steps were only Level 1.

But then he seemed to relax and skated in a different class. He executed a triple toe loop followed by an excellent triple Axel to double toe to double loop. The latter element alone, which included the 10% bonus marks for being in the second half and his +0.33 GoE earned him 13.09 points. He followed that with a triple loop and then another triple loop with a double toe loop and a triple Salchow. Then came two Level 4 spins separated by the choreographed steps. He left the audience on a high.    

Obviously buoyed up by that recovery, he said, “I think skating in the preliminaries was a good start for me. It let me try out the ice here. And I enjoyed my skating today. I think that was because of the other guys who came to support me, and obviously the audience. Even the Prince of Monaco was here. The audience supports skaters here very well. It is a pleasure to skate with such loud cheering.

“I missed a season and a half, so this season, when I came to the Cup of Russia, and then to the Russian Championships, they were a really tough challenge. But I consider each event like a competition with myself, with all the injuries I have. Today, I was wearing my costume meant for my short program. The design is made by my girlfriend. I wanted to try it before wearing it in the short program.”

3.  Maciej Cieplucha, 126.50 (67.64+59.86 -1) The 23-year-old, who was born in Lodz, trains in Canada with Scott Davis (former US champion) and Jeff Langdon (former Canadian champion). He was the Polish senior champion in 2010, lost his title last year, but recently claimed it back. Despite an early fall because he got too near the barrier, and not yet presenting a triple Axel or quad, he gave a pleasing showing to music from the movie, Brazil.

He said, “Altogether it was great. The fall at the beginning was unfortunate but the program was very good. I lost my passport and only arrived here yesterday so I still have a jetlag (coming from Calgary, an eight hour time difference). But I skated well, so maybe I should always come just one day before competing! I just learned the triple Axel a month ago, so I won't do it here. But it's something to add for the next year, or the quad toe maybe.” Out of the 13 elements he presented, he received only one negative GoE. His triple flip had -0.47 deducted from its base value of 5.30 because it was given an “e” by the Technical Panel, which determined the jump had an outside and not an inside edge on the take-off.  

4.  Misha Ge, 124.41 (60.81+64.60 -1) The 20-year old represents Uzbekistan but was born in Moscow and grew up in China where his parents were skating coaches. He is trained by Frank Caroll and his father, Jung Ge. He placed 30^th in his debut in Worlds last year and was recently ninth in the Four Continents Championships. He performed to War and Love by Invincible.

He said, “Overall I am pleased with my performance. The Technical Panel deducted on (his first move) the triple Axel (giving it an arrow for slight under-rotation), but it was still my best try of the season I'd say. So there was some progress. I am not happy with the triple flip.” His first try at this jump got -1.05 taken off its base value and he fell on the second attempt at it. “Each competition is a learning experience and I will work to correct my mistakes for the short program. I want to go for the triple Axel in the short as well.”

He did not come straight from California. “I spent about two weeks in Moscow training by myself, because I had to apply for my visa in Tashkent (the capital of Uzbekistan). There was not enough ice time in Tashkent so I went to Moscow to train while waiting for the visa. Viktor Nikolaevitch (Kudriavtsev) is helping me out here. He had coached me in Moscow when I was little. My father is unable to come here and Frank Carroll is currently taking care of Denis Ten.”

5.  Kim Lucine, 122.58 (60.48+62.10) Lucine, who is 23, grew up in the French Annecy mountains, not far from here, originally represented France. In 2008 he changed to Monaco. Attending the Mens Preliminary contest were Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco. The principality is less that forty minutes drive from Nice along an extremely scenic route up mountains and alongside the Mediterranean coastline.   

Lucine said, “Skating here, nearly at home, put a lot of pressure on me. All the federation is here and the Prince, too, so it was very important for me to skate well. The goal today was to qualify, so I didn't skate the most difficult program I possibly could. Now the goal for the Short Program again is to skate well and qualify.” Lucine completed five triples: flip, loop, Salchow and two Lutzes, the second one combined with a double toe. He had only one slight negative GoE: -0.05 was taken off three jump combo of double flip to two double toes. All three of his spins were the maximum Level 4 and his straight line steps earned Level 3.

6.  Viktor Pfeifer, 120.48 (59.20+61.28) The 24-year-old, who has lived in the United States since 2006 and is coached by Priscilla Hill, has been Austrian champion six times and this is his sixth world championship. But that was over considerable time frame. His first entry was in 2005, when he finished 23^rd. His best placing was 20^th in 2010.  He skated to a mixture of tunes from Send in the Clowns, The Elephant Man, Entry of the Gladiators and Circus Contraception.

Pfeifer brought off six triple jumps including a combination of triple Salchow to triple toe loop, a Lutz, loop, flip and second toe loop. Two of his spins were Level 4 and his circular steps were Level 3. However, the flying sit spin was only Level 2. He said, “I think it was a pretty good performance for the qualifying round. I had to fight for a few jumps out there. I know I can do them nicer. In the short program I want to show the elements I can do really well, qualify for the long, and there I would like to do a quad or triple axel.”

7.  Alexander Majorov, 115.78 (56.96+58.82) The 20-year-old, who was born in St. Petersburg but his parents, who are both skating coaches, moved to Sweden when he was very young and he now trains in Lulea. He is the Swedish current senior champion. When he won bronze in last season’s World Junior championships, he was the first Swede ever to medal in that event. He placed 28^th in last year’s World senior Championship and was 11^th in the recent European championships. He performed to Ravel’s Bolero. He was saddled with minuses for both his triple Axels, the triple Lutz, the triple flip which ws combined with a single toe loop and a double toe loop and his second triple flip.

8.  Christopher Caluza, 112.08 (53.40+59.68 -1) The 21-year-old was born in Chula Vista in California and now lives in Escondido, CA. After placing 19^th in the 2011 U.S. Championships at senior level, his parents, who are from the Philippines, decided to enter him for this season’s national championship which he won. In his first international, the Four Continents Championship this year in Colorado Springs, he placed 12th.

After skating to Grieg’s famous Piano Concerto in A Minor, he said, “It was very nerve-wracking out there but I think it was pretty good for my first time at Worlds. For the rest of the competition I'm not expecting a lot, but would like to continue to challenge myself and to do my best in my first year of competing internationally.” He began with a +0.12 triple loop which gained +0.12, but the following triple Lutz had -1.40 deducted and the triple flip was given an “e” with -0.70 taken of the jump’s base value.

Later he did a second triple loop, which counted as a combination because it was a repeated triple. Then he soared through a three jump combo of triple Salchow to double toe loop to double loop which earned +0.47 over its base value plus the 10% bonus and a +0.47 triple Lutz to double toe. That used up his three allowed combinations. He showed his inexperience by throwing off a double Axel to double toe as his last jumping pass, but this gained no points at all because it was classed as an illegal fourth combination.  He did, however, please the audience finishing with a Level 4 change foot combination spin which earned +0.75 over its base value. His earlier spins were only Level 1 and Level 2 but his circular steps were Level 3.

The last four qualifiers were:

9.  Javier Raya, Spain, 111.66 (52.22+59.44);

10.  Justin Strid, Denmark, 110.45 (57.19+55.26 -2);

11.  Min-Seok Kim, South Korea, 110.24 (53.66+57.58 -1);

12.  Alexei Bychenko, Israel, 108.51 (57.99+50.52)

The above twelve qualified for Friday’s Men's Short Program.

The first non-qualifier was:

13.  Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari from Finland who scored 100.16 (47.16, +53.00), over eight points behind Bychenko.

The other 14 “discardees” were, in order of placement:

Keleman, Roumania (97.75);

Kerry, Australia (95.40);

Alvarez, Switzerland (93.24);

Ostojic, Bosnia and Herzegovina (93.11);

Hayapetyan, Armenia (92.84);

Chilcott, Great Britain (91.92) [Luke, who now lives in Dallas, was second in the last British championship, but was sent to Worlds instead of the title-holder, Jason Thompson, because he had earned a greater score in an international. He would have scored at least four points more had he not made a tactical repetition mistake and lost all credit for one of his jumping passes);

Ju, Taipei (89.56);

Marko, Hungary (86.08);

Demirboga, Turkey (84.34);

Luchanok, Belarus (83.97);

Ambrulevicius, Lithuania (82.40);

Rajec, Slovakia (81.81);

Atanassov, Bulgaria (79.14);

Lee, Hong Kong (66.56).