This weekend's National Figure Skating Championships were full of surprises and spectacular performances. Especially fun was the Ladies' Free Skate in which Rachael Flatt, a chubby-cheeked chipmunk-like 15-year-old with "Ugly Betty" braces gave the outstanding performance of the night, outscoring her closest competitor (third-place finisher Ashley Wagner) by 5 points.
Winner Mirai Nagasu, IMO, was way overhyped/overscored as I did not experience any emotion from any part of her (third-place) free skate performance. Flatt's music ("Romantic Rhapsody" by Andre Mathieu, choreographed by Lori Nichol) was quite beautiful and she skated with joy and graceful precision (hence winning the free skate portion). It's a shame her short program score held her back from winning it all.
Also a shame was that Caroline Zhang fared poorly in the short program because her long program was among the best of the evening (she finished 4th in the free skate). But she is 14, winner Mirai Nagasu is 14 and 2nd place finisher Rachael Flatt is 15, and none of them can go to World's...not this year. Next year, Nagasu and Zhang may still be ineligible for World's....but that depends on when their birthdays fall (they can be within so many days of their 16th birthday and still qualify for World's). I'm hoping Kimmie Meisner can find her muse.
I, too, think Johnny Weir was royally robbed, but I can understand how Evan Lysacek outscored him with his spins and footwork. Weir's spins were a bit unimaginative and he didn't demonstrate much, if any, flexibility in them. His footwork, while good, wasn't as difficult as Lysacek's.
That said, I wasn't terribly impressed by Lysacek's skate...from the music selection (so many women have skated to "Tosca" that I guess he thought a man's using it would be unique), to his costume to his "flailing-himself-about-the-rink" execution. The choreography was a bit Debbie Allen-ish...slaggish, as it were. I've thought so every time I've seen him skate the program (this was the third time).
Lysacek has this "goomba" aura that I find very annoying. His costumes are always a bit "too goomba"... and that white satin blouse he wore (no doubt sewn for him by someone at Mr. Danny's Wedding Emporium) was NO exception. I'm certain he affects "goomba-hood", given his self-expression, his operatic music choices and his ornate costumes that always make him seem a bit neckless and shorter than he is, and it all prevents him -- in my eyes -- from being world-class the way he "might" be otherwise. Add the Michael-Weiss-preening-gene (i.e., "I'm-straight-and-don't-you-forget-it-'cause-I'm-not-gonna-let-you") and all the passion in the world will never make up for what he lacks that Weir possesses in spades.
All Weir needs to do to pass Lysacek is improve the difficulty of his spins and footwork. I don't think Lysacek can better Weir's presentation and jumps. And Weir's music was WON-der-ful (and composed/performed just for his program!!) Great music, that isn't overdone-to-death, is a major plus.
And three cheers for the national ice dancing champions Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto for another brilliant performance in the free dance. If they don't fall too far behind their world competitors in the first two dances, the free dance should seal the deal for the gold medal at World's.
That's my take on things. Yes, der Brucer, I'd love to have the final edit on Weir's costume. I think he can retain the glitz and still look more masculine. What's the point of out diva-ing the ladies in the costume department?
Oh, and about the Truth Booth: I rather liked it. It's far more interesting than the standard pointing-the-microphone at the skater and asking the usual questions (how do you think you did, do you think you needed a triple-triple combination, should you have done a quad/should you have skipped the quad?, etc. Isolated as they were, they got to speak about exactly what they were thinking at the moment. It may not be what everyone wants to hear, but it beats the old interviews with the interviewer being predictable and flat.
So that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!