Favourite Moments from Moscow
I’m eating my words from earlier in the season when a rough start at Skate Canada seemed to herald a lackluster 2010-2011 skating year. The standard of performance at last week’s World Figure Skating Championships in Moscow was elite. The number of clean programs and strong technical achievements made it a week to remember. Here were some of my favourite moments:
Patrick’s Perfect Performance
Watching Patrick Chan put two (almost) perfect programs back-to-back, blowing the rest of the field away with picture-perfect quads was a thrill. While some of his go-for-broke energy was replaced with measured concentration, this truly was Patrick at his best.
Mao’s Risky Triple Axel
With deductions for a two-footed landing and poor grade of execution, Mao Asada would have earned more points for attempting and landing a double axel in her short program than the dodgy-looking triple she squeaked out. But I’m so glad she did the triple. It’s precisely that kind of technical risk that propels the sport forward. Taking technical and physical chances is what makes figure skating a sport, not just an art.
The Broken Nose
Eric Radford didn’t even flinch when partner Meagan Duhamel clocked him in the face on the way down from a split triple twist in their short program. It wasn’t until blood began pooling at the base of his nostrils that I realized Meagan’s elbow had broken his nose. He went on to land a triple lutz and complete spins and lifts in a flawless and graceful short program. Incredibly, he even had the presence of mind not to wipe his bleeding nose, which, after transferring the blood onto Meagan and her costume, could have looked like a B horror-flick version of “The Cutting Edge”. Bravo Eric!
What were your favourite moments?