My second favorite country in the world (I'm from New York, and I can never get over how nice they are just over the border in Ontario) swept up the golds in both mens and ladies.
With some serious style (is it just me or is he starting to skate a lot like Jeff Buttle?!), and perhaps a bit of deja vu, Patrick Chan won both the short and the long, defending his Trophee Bompard title that he won--with equal amounts of shock and surprise--last year. Chan's 2007 win in France was a way of telling the world "I'm here," and his most recent win there surely sends another message..."watch out." Hearing that message loud and clear was 2007 World Champion Brian Joubert, who, like many of figure skating's supposed A-list this season, didn't skate so well. He ended up in a shocking fourth place (remember when we made a big deal over Evan Lysacek getting third?) when he was the favorite to sweep the competition away. Beating him for the second time this season was Alban Préaubert, who seems to have cleaned up his technique a bit--I didn't cringe as much every time he jumped--skated a great program to capture third place. Takahiko Kozuka of Japan, who shocked the world and won Skate America over favorites Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek, proved that he's here to stay with a silver medal performance.
The ladies short and long programs were equally surprising. American Emily Hughes came back for her lone Grand Prix event this season and struggled a bit--it looks like she has her work cut out for her. Caroline Zhang, also of the US, rallied back from a disappointing beginning of the season to capture bronze. I like her programs this year--much more age appropriate than her "Ave Maria" freeskate last year--but I still cringe whenever she goes into a toe jump. It never ceases to amaze me that no one thought to correct that horrible upswing over her free-leg whenever she goes into a lutz or flip. It might help her rotate her jumps better. Moving on, it was the top two ladies who really were the talk of the competition. Mao Asada, who had a great season last year and is now coached by the one and only Tatiana Tarasova, just looked completely tense and uncomfortable. Both her short and long were flawed, and she seemed to not be there mentally--surprising, since this is the girl who completely face-planted on a triple axel at the beginning of her 2008 Worlds freeskate and then pulled the whole thing together to skate an otherwise flawless program, not exactly an easy thing to do. This left a small crack in the door open (remember that Asada always has her stellar PCS to fall back on, as well as her otherwise great jumping and spinning ability), and the new Joannie Rochette skated right through it. Although her programs weren't perfect (a fall on a triple flip in the short and a popped loop in the long), the showcased the great style that she developed over the summer. She looked relaxed and powerful, and it was just one of those moments where, when she stepped on the ice, you knew that she was going to do it. In addition to her amazing jumps, I couldn't help but notice that she had some gorgeous dresses on. The teal-ish blue of her long program dress probably went great with her gold medal :-). Things to take away from this competition:
1) Nothing in figure skating is ever certain.
2) Look out for Canada--they want to be on their own podium in Vancouver, and this competition shows that they have every right to be.
3) Feathers should never, ever be used on figure skating outfits (I'm looking at you, Brian Joubert).
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