(in skate order and results at the end)

Tomas Verner, Czech Republic (122.15): Ugh. He popped his first jump, then made such a nice comeback and I was so proud, and then he lost it again with a fall and popped about four jumps at the end. That was a disaster and he totally gave up! Very hard to watch.

Jeremy Abbott, USA (158.73): He did not land the quad (but I am glad that he tried) but he did land everything else in a great performance. I think he should be happy about that overall, it was a season best.

Johnny Weir, USA (152.75): WOW, what an amazing job!!! I am so happy he was able to do this program, pretty near perfectly. He really worked out the first triple axel, too, yay! I would love to see a triple axel/triple combo or some other increased difficulty, though before nationals.

Nobunari Oda, Japan (155.71): He just does not seem as into things this weekend as he normally does. He popped his last two axels, but despite all this, overall it was very good and had his normal solid (looking) jumps.

Evan Lysacek, USA (159.60): Before Evan starts I have to say that his short program did not look quite as good on tv as it had on my computer, and I did notice that wonky spin. I would definitely have placed him behind Takahashi, maybe by more than he was. But it was still a great performance. AND NOW today: He popped an axel and his other jumps appear to have left a lot of grade of execution points on the table, although I can't be sure until I see the judges' scores. Still, it was a very good performance. Not quite as aggressive as we've seen before, though.

Daisuke Takahashi, Japan (134.65): Not his best; fell on his first jump which looked like maybe it had wanted to be a quad but did not get close and then botched his second triple axel attempt. I still loved watching every second.

WOW, CONGRATS to Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir, first and third!! woohoo! And Jeremy Abbott was able to pull up to fourth with his strong free skate. What a success for the American men!!!

Results: