by Laura Fawcett
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| Brian Joubert, Evgeny Plushenko and Stefan Lindemann accept their World medals. Photo by Michelle Wojdyla |
Men's Free Skate Results
Men's Free Skate Photos
All Worlds Results/Photos
The medalists Thursday night at Westfalenhallen Arena — Plushenko, France's Brian Joubert, and Germany's Stefan Lindemann — displayed extraordinary presence under the pressure of a World competition. Each one had his own sort of pressure with which to deal. Plushenko, skating last, had to follow the deafening noise created by the hometown fans for Lindemann's skate. The Russian was also coming off a second-place finish to Joubert at the European Championships. Joubert himself knew he had to skate perfectly if he was going to beat Plushenko for the second straight time. And Lindemann, well, the 23-year-old who has never finished higher than fifth at a major senior international competition had the entire country cheering his every move.
The result? Simply terrific skating from top to bottom in the final flight.
Weir Makes the Top SixWeir opened the flight with his own version of perfection. Without the quad, Weir technically was a step below the other five skaters from the get-go. Weir's coach Priscilla Hill said they had decided not to put it in the program tonight.
"We've never put it into any program yet," she said. "When he ended up skating in the final group, we pretty much knew we weren't going to do it."
But what Weir did do was his absolute best. He opened with triple Axel-triple toe combination and followed with six more clean triples, including triple Lutz-triple loop. He received marks of 5.3-5.7 for technical merit and as high as 5.8 for presentation en route to finishing fifth. For his first Worlds, Weir couldn't have been happier with the result.
"I was expecting in the 5.5-5.6 range as the highest, but to see 5.8s in my first Worlds was something to keep pushing me to get 5.9s and maybe 6.0s next year," Weir said.
Now that he's finished in the top six at the World Championships, Weir has loftier goals in mind — ones that might not be out of the question considering his dedication to the sport.
"[I want to work on] putting one or two quads in my long — I'm working on the quad flip, and I want to medal next year," he said.
Weir is confident he knows what it takes to win — he needs the quad, and he thinks a better artistic program will also challenge Plushenko and other top skaters such as Joubert.
About Plushenko's program tonight, Weir said, "I like the concept of the program, but I think there's a lot of standing in one place. No one can really deny the fact that he's an amazing jumper, but as far as the second mark goes, once someone comes along — hopefully me — that can pull it together better on the second mark and really have a complete program, then Plushenko will have someone to compete against finally."
He added later, "I know those are big words to say right now, but it's a goal."
A Bevy of QuadsSwitzerland's Stephane Lambiel followed with a rousing program of his own that included two quads. Many people expected Lambiel and maybe even Lindemann to fall apart in the free skate, as they have not generally been consistent in the past. Lambiel's highest placing at Worlds was 10th last year, and he was sixth at the 2004 European Championships. But it was a wonderful story to watch unfold as both Lambiel and Lindemann put out solid programs.
"Last week I tried two quads for the first time in practice," said Lambiel, who finished fourth. "This week we never even discussed trying the two quads, but when I stepped on the ice, I just wanted to do them. I wanted to give everything. ... After the second quad, I lost all my fear. I felt nothing anymore, but my head made me go on."
Could it get any better?
It could — in the form of European champion Joubert. Skating his "Matrix" program, Joubert was spot on, delivering two quads and six triples. He turned out of the back end of his quad-triple combination, but the rest of his program was full of style and good choreography.
"Tonight my long program felt even better than at the European Championships," he said. "Before the second quadruple toe loop I just said to myself, 'Brian, you have done this before, you can do it now.' And I did it."
Joubert's program eventually earned him his first World medal — the silver. It was the first medal for France in Worlds since Philippe Candeloro won the bronze in 1995.
Weiss had a tough act to follow. Although a medal would be difficult to achieve, there was still something else at stake — qualifying spots for the 2005 World Championships. The total placements of Weir and Weiss had to be 13 or below for the U.S. to have three spots next year. He two-footed the opening quad but went on to land seven triples in his program. His technical merit scores were hurt by the quad and the fact that he doubled a planned triple Axel.
"It wasn't easy to skate in this group," Weiss said. "The last group was so tough. It was an honor for me to be with them. Normally I would have done a clean program, but I was a bit nervous today. My big mistake was that I did the first Axel as a double. After it I really fought, and now I'm glad that the season is finished."
The U.S. skaters finished fifth (Weir) and sixth (Weiss) — good enough for three spots next year. It is the first time since 1994 that the U.S. goes home from Worlds without a medal in the men's event.
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| A picture says a thousand words — Lindemann wins bronze. Photo by Michelle Wojdyla |
The final two skaters just brought the house down. The crowd went wild for Lindemann, the 2000 World Junior champion from Germany. Under the glare of the spotlight he held up well, landing seven clean triples. He had trouble with his opening combination, putting his hand down slightly on the quad and turning out of the back end triple toe. A few of his jumps had rough landings, but he held on.
"I didn't have to do much; the audience carried me through the program," Lindemann said. "I was a bit afraid before every jump, until I managed my last jump."
Lindemann captured the bronze medal — the first World medal for a German man since Norbert Schramm won the silver in 1983.
Plushenko was the big finale for the night. He opened with his trademark quad toe-triple toe-double loop combination and also hit a solo quad and five more triples. Technically his program was on the money until he had a fluky fall going into a triple loop. He said in the post-event press conference that his blade slipped on a red sequin. However, the judges have been prolific with 6.0s so far in Worlds this week, and he nonetheless collected four 6.0s for presentation.
"Finally I pulled myself together and did two quads," Plushenko said. "Unfortunately there was this weird mistake on the loop."
Plushenko won his third World title.
"The third World title is great, and I thank destiny," he said. "Yes, I waited anxiously for the marks, but I hoped that I had won."
Savoie Makes It Through the PainMatt Savoie not only had a tough week, but he had a tough season, mostly due to his lingering knee injury. Thursday night he completed his season with a dedicated performance to "Ragtime," landing six clean triples. For his part, Savoie is happy the week is over.
"I'm happy I didn't have to withdraw," he said, referring to the trouble with his knee. "It was always in the back of my mind, and I was contemplating at what point I would. But it never really got to that point."
Now it's back to regular life for awhile. Savoie said he has a paper due on Tuesday for his master's program at the University of Illinois, and he wants to have it finished before he gets on the plane home. He also needs to prepare for next season, and that starts by getting his knee back to full strength.
"I'm planning on cutting back on training and getting into rehab for awhile," he said.
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