Men

Starting Order - Short Program

Short Program

Notes:

Elvis Stojko took the Men's Short Program with a strong, but not perfect program, skating to a selection of Japanese Kodo drums called "Lion".  He landed triple Axel - triple toe with a small hop on the landing and his triple flip was a little stingy on the height.  His double Axel was excellent, and the spins outstanding.  The program was full of fast footwork that well expressed the music, and unlike so many of his past competition programs, he skated with speed and energy throughout.  For the second time for this program this season, his second marks were generally higher than the first mark, a breakthrough for a skater who has long been looked at as more of a technician than an artist.

Due to the few small errors in Stojko's program, Kulik had a chance at winning the short, giving a strong presentation of unusual music.  He landed a good triple Axel - triple toe combination, and a strong triple Lutz.  He skated so well throughout most of the program it looked as though he might slip ahead of Stojko, but near the end of the program he through a huge open Axel instead of the required double.   Afterwards he said that he did not even realize what he had done until after he landed the jump.  He receive four marks of 5.9 among his second marks and had the highest composition and style marks of the night, but the 0.4 deduction for the Axel placed him firmly in second place.

Michael Tylleson skated a slow and tedious, but capable, program to place third.  He landed triple Axel - double toe and a nice double Axel, but had a small step out of a triple flip.  To a large extent it wa a testament to the value of standing up in an event where the others end up wiping up the ice.

Daniel Hollander placed sixth courtesy of three errors in the program, falling on the opening triple Axel of his combination and later on triple Lutz, and turning out of a double Axel.  The non-jump elements were done well, and the glue (overall program connecting steps) was very well done, but the absence of the jumps is not an encouraging sign.  He dropped one spot from the short to end up seventh overall.

Starting Order - Free Skating

Final Results

Notes:

Ilia Kulik went into the long program with a self assured, "If I stand up, I win" attitude.  Well, he stood up, but he didn't - this long program belonged to Elvis Stojko. Stojko made only two small errors, a very small reach for the ice on triple loop and a small stepout of a solo triple Axel on which he almost sat down.  He landed four other triples cleanly and also a quad toe - double toe combination.  The program includes some of the signature Stojko shuffling his feet in place instead of skating, and the occasional meaningless grasping at air, but it also includes more fast skating than last year and far more attention holding choreography.  If he skates this program cleanly at Nagano the other men, especially Todd Eldredge should be afraid - very afraid.

Kulik placed second with a program that also had two small errors, singling the toe loop in a triple flip combination and stepping out of a triple Salchow.  He skated to "Rhapsody in Blue" wearing a hideous leopard spotted tuxedo type costume.   He skated with good strength and speed but the choreography was repetitive and somewhat cliche.

Michael Tylleson had few serious problems but still managed to land six triple in a bizarre program I still do not understand.  He popped his opening Axel to a single, singled the double toe loop in a triple toe combination and put his hand down on a triple Axel.  He also ended his program three seconds over the maximum time limit.  His program was weird.  It looked like he started out as a painter who then stepped into his painting.  For a while it looked like he was painting the sky and then a piece of the US Air Force hymn came along and at that point I was lost.

Daniel Hollander had a bad skate, in which he gave up early in the program.  In the opening series of jumps he two footed the double toe in a triple Lutz combination, turned out of triple Axel, and fell on triple flip.  At that point he gave up, subsequently singling two Axel, landing only a triple toe and a triple Salchow near the end of the program.  His footwork and overall speed were good, but his jumps are in sad shape.

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