2001

Skate America

Men's Event

The performances in the men's short program was as error prone as in the ladies event the day before, but the overall quality of the skating still managed to hold up.

As expected, Timothy Goebel took the short program.  Skating to Dance Macabre he was placed first by five of the seven judges.  He opened with a successful quad Salchow-triple toe loop combination.  That was followed with a triple Axel completed on a tight landing edge.  He nearly made it through the entire program cleanly, but in the next to last element of the program he turned out of the landing of a triple flip out of footwork.

More significantly than Goebel's winning the short program was the way he did it.  It was expected that he would skate his elements well, as he is very consistent in that respect.  The pleasant surprise was that for the first time he put together a whole program that was well presented.  Yes, he still makes faces, stick out his tongue and still sometimes looks like he is catching flies, but for the first time he presented a program that was a complete coherent whole and gave a clear indication that with additional effort he may well develop into a complete, well-rounded skater.

Two of the seven judges placed Russian skater Alexander Abt first.   With four judges placing him second and one third he ended up second in the short program.  Abt now trains at Lake Arrowhead, CA at altitude and it helped him here, showing none of the stain many skaters have shown skating here.  Abt landed triple Axel-triple toe loop for his opening combination.  He followed with an attempt at quad toe loop that was two-footed.  His creative routine, was skated to a medley of Armenian music, was well generally well skated, though at times he did not quite keep up with his music.

Third place in the short program was taken by Takeshi Honda.   He opened with quad toe loop-triple toe loop, and then landed a triple Axel out of a spread eagle but had a small reach for the ice.  Following a change sit spin he fell on triple Lutz out of footwork.

Matt Savoie placed fourth with triple flip-triple toe and a triple Axel.  As did many of the skaters in the short program, he also fell on his solo triple jump, a triple Lutz out of footwork.

Michael Weiss had a difficult skate which cast a pall on his pursuit of a place on the U.S. Olympic team.  He fell on quad toe loop and left off the second jump of the combination.  Following the combination he fell on triple Axel.  He landed a triple Lutz out of footwork and successfully completed the other elements of the program.  He will be under a great deal of pressure in the long program to prove he can compete with the higher ranked skaters in the jump department if he wants to keep his comeback hopes alive.

Timothy Goebel

Alexander Abt

Takeshi Honda

The leaders after the short program stumbled their way through the free skating and onto the podium, with Takeshi Honda overtaking Alexander Abt in the standings.   Timothy Goebel landed six triples and quads, but missed on three others.

Goebel opened with a triple flutz and then landed quad Salchow - triple toe loop followed by came triple Axel - double toe loop.  He doubled an attempt at quad toe loop, landed a quad Salchow and then fell on a triple Axel.  He put a hand down on triple flip and then following a straight line footwork season landed a triple loop.  His presentation was not as coherent and developed as in the short program and to a certain extent fell back on old ways in terms of stressing jumps over quality of skating and presentation.  Nevertheless, his presentation was strong enough to hold of his challengers who also had several technical errors and their own weaknesses in the presentation department.

The silver medal was won by Honda who landed six triples, but missed on one triple and a quad.  He landed an opening triple flip but then two-footed a quad toe loop.  A planned quad Salchow was turned into a triple and on a triple Axel - triple toe loop combination he stepped out of the triple toe.  The remainder of the program was skated cleanly and included triple Axel, loop and Lutz.   It was a capable job and for the most part technically well skated.  It was also in large part boring, the only really interesting touch being his triple Axel out of a spread eagle.

Alexander Abt also landed six triple; but unfortunately three of them were toe loops and thus only five of them counted.  He opened with a nice triple Axel - triple toe loop combination but then ran into a string of problems.  A quad toe loop attempt was two footed and then he fell on triple Lutz.  Following a camel spin and step sequence, he double a triple Axel, tripled a quad toe loop and omitted a triple Salchow.  In the second half of the program he pulled things together a little better and landed three triples, including one of those three triple toe loops.  In addition to the problem with the toe loops another flaw in the program was his choice of placing most of his jumps in the same corner of the rink.  Abt is capable of a better program and performance than was presented here and hopefully things will improve for him as the season progresses.  He dropped one place following the short program, loosing a 4-3 split of the panel to Honda, with one judge placing him as low as fifth.

After burying himself in seventh place in the short program, Michael Weiss salvaged about as much as he could in the free skating, and landed five triples in the process.  He fell on an opening quad toe loop in a  planned quad toe loop - triple toe loop combination and then threw a triple Axel - triple toe loop combination, with the Axel two-footed.  Following a reverse sit spin he landed a triple flip and improvised a combination by adding a double toe loop.  From that point he took control of the program and the remainder was generally well skated, with three more solo triples landed but also with a triple loop turned into a double.  His program, skated to a medley of music by Puccini, was in many ways the most artistically satisfying of the top four men here, but without the more difficult jumps that will not be enough to find a place on the Olympic team or earn an Olympic medal.  Without the quad, which he only lands inconsistently, the triple Axel triple loop combination must be rock solid as must all the other triples.

Matt Savoie dropped from fourth after the short program to seventh, skating an incoherent "kitchen sink" program.  He landed an opening triple loop then fell on the second jump of a triple Axel - triple toe loop combination.   Following a combination spin he landed a triple flip triple toe loop sequence - which gave him an illegal three attempts a triple toe loop.  He attempted a triple Axel out of a spread eagle but fell on the Axel and then omitted a triple Salchow.   He tried the Salchow later in the program but doubled it and finally landed a triple Lutz.  This program needs considerable work on both its content and presentation, with just 10 weeks left before the start of U.S. Nationals in January.

2001 Skate America Men's Medalists