Jeffrey Buttle |
Canada’s own Jeffery Buttle is the current leader with 72.15 total score points after deciding with his coaches to skate a safer, clean short program. He and his coaching team made this decision after seeing the results and performances from Skate America held last week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania according to Buttle. "`I was happy to be good because we did go safe,'' Buttle said. ``In the short program, with only three jumps, one mistake is costly." he said," When I saw the flip afterwards it looked good so I should have tried the triple." He works with both Rafael Araturian in California and Lee Barkwell in the Toronto area (Barrie). He also studies chemical engineering at the University of Toronto. His stylish program to "Prelude in C-minor by Rachmaninov went over big with the largely Canadian crowd and his programs are choreographed by David Wilson. The last time he competed in Halifax was his first national competition as a novice in 1995. "There weren’t so many people there then," he joked. For his combination here Buttle did a clean triple flip but scaled down his second jump further from his planned elements to a double toe loop. "Quote me," said Buttle. He earned 35.40 points for his technical element score and 36.75 for his program component score. He also completed a triple Axel and triple Lutz along with strong footwork and spins. He leads compatriot Ben Ferreira by a substantial 4.77 points at this competitive stage. Ferreira also skated clean and completed a triple Lutz – triple toe loop in combination, along with a triple Axel and triple flip in his "Rodrigo Grassland Theme" short program. He has 67.38 points (36.78 TE and 30.60 PC). "I was really pleased and happy that I did what I went out there to do tonight," he said. Stefan Lindemann made a substantial improvement since his disastrous Skate America performance last week to place third with 63.45 for his total score with his total element score of 33.10 combined with his program elements score of 30.35. "I tried to remember what I had done right at Worlds instead of what I had done wrong at Skate America and that worked for me," he said. He skated to "Earnest." He has been taking English lessons the last few months and did quite well speaking to the press without an interpreter. Kevin Van Der Perren of Belgium sits in fourth position after his performance to "Everything" by Safri Duo. His program that was choreographed by Nickolai Maorozov is about a maze in a computer game according to Van Der Perren. "That is why it says Exit on my costume. I get to the exit at the end of the program," he said. He also said he is not particularly a fan of computer games that it was Maorozov’s choice. He recently trained with him but has now gone back to Belgium to train with Belgian coach, Vera Vandecaveye. "It is working out very well with my Belgian coach but I will also work again with Maorozov," he said. Fresh off his first international senior medal at age 26 after he earned the silver medal at Skate America last week, American Ryan Jahnke currently is in 6th place, which puts him in the final warm-up group for the free skate. "Yes, I am a slow-cooker," he said when asked if he was a late bloomer. He held on for his triple Axel as the opening skater in the 12 men field and completed his triple flip – triple toe loop combination. He was a little shaky in the air on his Tano triple Lutz but landed it in his "Bouree in E minor" program by J.S. Bach. This version he uses was performed by Jethro Tull, which gives it a more unique sound, which Jahnke enjoys performing to for this program. The second skater of the night was Canada’s Emanuel Sandhu who totally missed his quad in combination and not attempting a second jump for further point losses. He also slipped during his footwork so he dug himself a hole for the free skate. According to Sandhu he caught an edge during his very difficult footwork. According to Sandhu, "I was really prepared for the competition, my practices were great and I was actually quite relaxed. I think that maybe I took advantage of that a little too much. Just before I pick and do the jump, there was a little bit of a break in focus for me." He said he would plan to do a second jump to improve his score if this ever happened again but this time he was too shocked about what he did as he has been doing the quad in his sleep. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Free Skating
|
Emanuel Sandhu, the third skater of the night to skate finished his program at approximately 7:33 pm and earned a total score of 204.17. He then had to wait until the final skater, Takeshi Honda finished skating at approximately 8:52 pm to learn he was the 2005 Skate Canada men’s champion. Sandhu won the 2004 Grand Prix Final but this is his first victory at a Grand Prix qualifying event competition. “It's something to build on," he said of his performance. "I haven't been this ready at this part of the season for a long time, and that's what I'm really happy about.” He is changing his preparation prior to his next competition in Paris. He plans to increase his short program rotations and perhaps practice a warm-up, get off for several minutes and then come out and skate. He and coach Joanne McLeod are still working out the details. He landed his quad toe in combination with a triple toe loop but fell on Quad Salchow after completing the four rotations. His triple Axels were not perfect but he stood up on them in his “Piano Concerto No. 1 by E. v. Sauer. “I'm really, really happy,” said Sandhu, “I was disappointed after the short program but I knew there was still an outside chance to have a gold medal around my neck at the end of the week. I do, and I'm really proud of that.” His costumes were very effective and rather understated than in the past. Ben Ferreira earned his first Grand Prix event medal here when he placed second with 200.46 with his “Sentimental Journey” and “Hit It” program. He just doubled a Lutz but otherwise skated clean. He did not attempt a quad here. He was 8th last weekend at Skate America and much happier with this program, a personal best on the international circuit. “I felt good and very comfortable out there. Now at this age and experience level I have finally found a level where I can operate comfortably. My first Grand Prix medal is very exciting,” he said. Jeffrey Buttle struggled tonight during his program to finish fifth in the free skate after leading the short program but his total score pulled him into third place with a combined point total of 191.85. He beat the American skater Ryan Jahnke by a mere 1.30 points for the bronze medal. He fell on his opening quad and two-footed a triple Axel. “I am very happy about the Canadian sweep but I would have liked a different finishing order. I just wasn’t into the zone and feeling the music and I will work on that before I compete again in China,” he explained. Buttle has two dynamite programs from David Wilson that should serve him well this season, if he can just include the key elements in both programs at the same event. He plans to add more emphasis on the free skate in practices prior to his next competition in China. Jahnke skated his personal best under the new judging system although he said his long program at the 2004 U.S. Championships was actually a better performance but this was this season’s best program so far. “When you see it is so close it is easy to go if only I had gotten the second triple Axel but I am going to take this as a positive.” His wife was not able to come to Skate America and Skate Canada due to the expense but will be there to see him compete at the U.S. Championships in Portland, Oregon. His program to “Piano Concerto in A Minor” by E. Grieg tells the story of a painter painting a huge canvas and not wanting to let go of his masterpiece until the end. This program was choreographed by Tom Dickson. Kevin Van Der Perren of Belgium placed fifth overall and fourth in the free skate with his program to “Lawrence of Arabia.” He wanted to skate to “Pirates of the Caribbean” this season but choreographer Nikolai Morozov wanted this movie sound track instead. Van Der Perren skated the program well but fell on his opening triple Axel and did not include a quad attempt. Takeshi Honda of Japan who had been fifth in the short program dropped to 8th in the free skate and 7th overall. According to his coach Doug Leigh, right now they are working on building back his confidence, and working on his competitive readiness since it had been 11 months since Honda had competed. Honda had a serious ankle injury on his landing foot involving tendons and ligaments but is now currently healthy according to Leigh. “Honda was taken out by a knock out punch (injury) and has to now claw his way back,” he said, “ideally we can get him in good shape for Worlds. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2004 Skate Canada Men's Medalists
|
|
|
