Some thoughts about the men's Grand Prix final:
Maybe it's a good thing that Canadian Patrick Chan came in last place. He's only 17, and he's been winning competitions with free skates that he makes a lot of errors in. That's not a great habit to get into. Maybe this "wake-up call," as he referred to it, will help him fight for more landings or something. We'll see. He's a beautiful skater and there's no real reason to be disappointed. Tomas Verner, of the Czech Republic, looked sooo tired through his skate (does he have a cold too?) and kept popping axels but then would land triple/triples (although I'm not sure he got credit for them). He held on to fourth by the smallest of margins, mainly because he did not fall.
American Johnny Weir was ok, but definitely not at his best. He doubled his first planned triple axel, and doubled or dropped other combination jumps. Still, he came in second in the free skate, but it wasn't even close. He had a 143 to winner Jeremy Abbott's 159.46.
An unfortunate missed opportunity for Japan's Takahiko Kozuka, coming in third in the free skate and second overall. There was so much to admire - he went for the quad (but didn't quite nail it), he has that triple axel at the end of the program (but he fell on that and another jump). It made me sad. I also feel like his free skate does not capitalize on his charisma the way his short program does, and that is a big mistake. But he is obviously a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the season.
What an amazing moment for Jeremy Abbott. I think this is one of the few times this season that someone has won by a goodly amount of points and the people watching can actually understand why he received so many more points than everyone else without taking out the scoring sheets and analyzing them. That's a good thing for the sport, judges. Keep that up. Abbott is definitely looking strong for nationals...
So that is the men's GPF this season. If you had told me Abbott was going to win at the beginning of the season, I would never have believed you. And that is why sports are awesome.
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