France's 2007 World Champion Brian Joubert is in the lead after the short at the world figure skating championships. He landed a quad toe, but not well, and his combination jump was atrocious. Still, he had a dynamic (and difficult!) performance and somehow managed to hold onto the lead at the end of the night, despite what appeared to be flawless, but quad-free, programs by American Evan Lysacek, who is in second place, and Canada's Patrick Chan, who sits in third place. I was surprised that Joubert's score was so high. Icenetwork says he edged out Lysacek because of Lysacek's (typical!) negative Grade of Execution on his single triple jump, the flip. I thought Evan's score was about right, and to be honest, as amazing as Chan always is, he was not up to par with what I've seen him do in other competitions this year. His jumps did not look perfect like they usually do. But that's nitpicking, because he definitely had a fabulous performance. The best jump combination of the night belonged to Tomas Verner, who landed a lovely quad toe/triple toe, but could not hand onto the landing of a triple axel and didn't have as great elements as the other leaders. He's in fourth place.
Also, I am going to go ahead and advise Chan to zip it. I will admit that my annoyance was already piqued with the commentators' nonstop defense of Chan's comments about Brian Joubert from earlier this week. I get that Joubert has a big mouth and gets annoying with his incessant quad-talk and whining about the lack of quads, but Chan's statements were unbecoming and unnecessary as well. He added a few more tonight after the program regarding his scores, according to The Vancouver Sun:
"I’m really disappointed with that. I think a lot of people are going to be talking about that," said the ever-forthright Chan.
"I’m not going to say anything, but I think it’s pretty obvious there’s a big difference between me, Evan and both of us against Joubert. It’s really frustrating for me, and not only me, [choreographer] Lori Nichol is going to be upset about this, too.
That article goes on to assert that Chan was being scored on reputation (or lack thereof?). But, hasn't he been scored very high this season? Here is another excerpt:
"I think the new system took away some of that judgmental stuff, but it’s still a bit of reputation and what you’ve done during the season. I looked over at the judges’ panel, and a lot of them I’d never seen before, so they haven’t really seen my skating in person until now."
I guess the judges didn't get the memo of how they are supposed to score Chan. I mean, I agree that Joubert was overscored, but Chan is coming off kind of entitled. Everyone should just shut up and skate. I agree that the crowd needs to see the best performances rewarded (and that did not happen last night), but maybe while the competition is still going on the competitors should just leave the complaining to the media and the spectators. We are obviously very good at it!
Lost in all this was some disappointing jumping from Jeremy Abbott that left him in 10th place. And Takahiko Kozuka was lovely, but only able to garner a fifth place slot.
| Pl. | Name | Nat. | TSS= | TES+ | PCS+ | SS | TR | PE | CH | IN | Ded. | StN. |
| 1 | Brian JOUBERT | FRA | 84.40 | 46.00 | 38.40 | 7.80 | 7.30 | 7.75 | 7.70 | 7.85 | 0.00 | 43 |
| 2 | Evan LYSACEK | USA | 82.70 | 44.40 | 38.30 | 7.80 | 7.35 | 7.70 | 7.70 | 7.75 | 0.00 | 42 |
| 3 | Patrick CHAN | CAN | 82.55 | 45.60 | 36.95 | 7.55 | 7.15 | 7.50 | 7.35 | 7.40 | 0.00 | 49 |
| 4 | Tomas VERNER | CZE | 80.36 | 44.06 | 36.30 | 7.40 | 6.95 | 7.35 | 7.15 | 7.45 | 0.00 | 48 |
| 5 | Takahiko KOZUKA | JPN | 79.35 | 44.20 | 35.15 | 7.35 | 6.90 | 6.95 | 7.05 | 6.90 | 0.00 | 47 |
| 6 | Samuel CONTESTI | ITA | 78.50 | 44.50 | 34.00 | 6.85 | 6.40 | 6.85 | 6.90 | 7.00 | 0.00 | 28 |
| 7 | Nobunari ODA | JPN | 76.49 | 41.94 | 35.55 | 7.35 | 6.85 | 7.15 | 7.10 | 7.10 | 1.00 | 41 |
| 8 | Brandon MROZ | USA | 76.10 | 42.30 | 33.80 | 6.95 | 6.45 | 6.80 | 6.85 | 6.75 | 0.00 | 44 |
| 9 | Sergei VORONOV | RUS | 72.15 | 40.40 | 31.75 | 6.55 | 6.05 | 6.40 | 6.40 | 6.35 | 0.00 | 31 |
| 10 | Jeremy ABBOTT | USA | 72.15 | 35.70 | 36.45 | 7.35 | 7.10 | 7.30 | 7.25 | 7.45 | 0.00 | 46 |
| 11 | Yannick PONSERO | FRA | 71.83 | 38.28 | 33.55 | 6.90 | 6.45 | 6.70 | 6.75 | 6.75 | 0.00 | 45 |
| 12 | Vaughn CHIPEUR | CAN | 70.45 | 38.20 | 32.25 | 6.70 | 6.10 | 6.50 | 6.50 | 6.45 | 0.00 | 32 |
| 13 | Takahito MURA | JPN | 70.35 | 39.10 | 31.25 | 6.55 | 6.00 | 6.20 | 6.25 | 6.25 | 0.00 | 34 |
| 14 | Kevin VAN DER PERREN | BEL | 70.15 | 36.60 | 33.55 | 6.95 | 6.50 | 6.65 | 6.80 | 6.65 | 0.00 | 50 |
| 15 | Andrei LUTAI | RUS | 68.95 | 39.10 | 29.85 | 6.20 | 5.60 | 6.05 | 5.95 | 6.05 | 0.00 | 27 |
| 16 | Kristoffer BERNTSSON | SWE | 68.61 | 36.66 | 31.95 | 6.50 | 6.05 | 6.40 | 6.50 | 6.50 | 0.00 | 30 |
| 17 | Denis TEN | KAZ | 68.54 | 38.24 | 30.30 | 6.10 | 5.65 | 6.15 | 6.15 | 6.25 | 0.00 | 29 |
| 18 | Adrian SCHULTHEISS | SWE | 65.20 | 35.90 | 29.30 | 6.15 | 5.60 | 5.90 | 5.85 | 5.80 | 0.00 | 38 |
| 19 | Anton KOVALEVSKI | UKR | 64.28 | 39.48 | 25.80 | 5.45 | 4.75 | 5.10 | 5.20 | 5.30 | 1.00 | 18 |
| 20 | Javier FERNANDEZ | ESP | 63.75 | 35.40 | 28.35 | 5.85 | 5.30 | 5.70 | 5.75 | 5.75 | 0.00 | 36 |
| 21 | Jeremy TEN | CAN | 60.90 | 31.10 | 30.80 | 6.40 | 5.85 | 6.15 | 6.25 | 6.15 | 1.00 | 33 |
| 22 | Gregor URBAS | SLO | 58.70 | 32.80 | 25.90 | 5.50 | 5.05 | 5.10 | 5.20 | 5.05 | 0.00 | 39 |
| 23 | Igor MACYPURA | SVK | 58.30 | 32.50 | 26.80 | 5.60 | 5.10 | 5.35 | 5.40 | 5.35 | 1.00 | 37 |
| 24 | Przemyslaw DOMANSKI | POL | 57.00 | 33.80 | 23.20 | 5.00 | 4.45 | 4.50 | 4.70 | 4.55 | 0.00 | 15 |
| 25 | Peter LIEBERS | GER | 56.73 | 30.88 | 25.85 | 5.50 | 4.90 | 5.10 | 5.20 | 5.15 | 0.00 | 26 |
| 26 | Jamal OTHMAN | SUI | 56.32 | 29.12 | 27.20 | 5.70 | 5.20 | 5.50 | 5.50 | 5.30 | 0.00 | 35 |
| 27 | Ari-Pekka NURMENKARI | FIN | 55.60 | 31.50 | 24.10 | 5.10 | 4.55 | 4.75 | 4.90 | 4.80 | 0.00 | 22 |
| 28 | Jialiang WU | CHN | 55.43 | 29.28 | 27.15 | 5.75 | 5.20 | 5.40 | 5.50 | 5.30 | 1.00 | 40 |
| 29 | Viktor PFEIFER | AUT | 54.01 | 28.86 | 25.15 | 5.30 | 4.70 | 5.05 | 5.05 | 5.05 | 0.00 | 19 |
| 30 | Elliot HILTON | GBR | 53.35 | 30.70 | 22.65 | 4.85 | 4.30 | 4.50 | 4.55 | 4.45 | 0.00 | 16 |
| 31 | Tigran VARDANJAN | HUN | 53.15 | 31.30 | 21.85 | 4.40 | 4.10 | 4.40 | 4.45 | 4.50 | 0.00 | 9 |
| 32 | Zoltan KELEMEN | ROU | 49.34 | 29.94 | 20.40 | 4.25 | 3.75 | 4.00 | 4.25 | 4.15 | 1.00 | 3 |
| 33 | Damjan OSTOJIC | BIH | 47.27 | 27.12 | 20.15 | 4.35 | 3.70 | 3.95 | 4.10 | 4.05 | 0.00 | 5 |
| 34 | Luis HERNANDEZ | MEX | 46.11 | 24.86 | 21.25 | 4.50 | 3.95 | 4.25 | 4.35 | 4.20 | 0.00 | 17 |
| 35 | Alper UCAR | TUR | 45.57 | 25.02 | 20.55 | 4.25 | 3.75 | 4.15 | 4.20 | 4.20 | 0.00 | 7 |
| 36 | Maxim SHIPOV | ISR | 44.85 | 25.20 | 20.65 | 4.40 | 3.85 | 4.15 | 4.15 | 4.10 | 1.00 | 12 |
| 37 | Kevin ALVES | BRA | 44.51 | 24.26 | 21.25 | 4.25 | 3.90 | 4.40 | 4.35 | 4.35 | 1.00 | 24 |
| 38 | Charles Shou-San PAO | TPE | 43.89 | 25.64 | 19.25 | 4.25 | 3.50 | 3.85 | 3.90 | 3.75 | 1.00 | 25 |
| 39 | Min-Seok KIM | KOR | 43.28 | 24.88 | 19.40 | 4.30 | 3.60 | 3.95 | 3.80 | 3.75 | 1.00 | 21 |
| 40 | Beka SHANKULASHVILI | GEO | 42.80 | 25.60 | 17.20 | 3.85 | 3.20 | 3.40 | 3.45 | 3.30 | 0.00 | 6 |
| 41 | Boris MARTINEC | CRO | 42.37 | 21.82 | 20.55 | 4.25 | 3.80 | 4.10 | 4.25 | 4.15 | 0.00 | 13 |
| 42 | Mikael REDIN | SUI | 42.29 | 23.84 | 19.45 | 4.15 | 3.60 | 3.95 | 3.95 | 3.80 | 1.00 | 1 |
| 43 | Alexandr KAZAKOV | BLR | 40.74 | 19.04 | 22.70 | 4.85 | 4.30 | 4.50 | 4.60 | 4.45 | 1.00 | 23 |
| 44 | Justin PIETERSEN | RSA | 40.39 | 23.14 | 17.25 | 3.75 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 3.45 | 3.30 | 0.00 | 14 |
| 45 | Georgi KENCHADZE | BUL | 39.90 | 21.30 | 18.60 | 4.00 | 3.35 | 3.65 | 3.85 | 3.75 | 0.00 | 10 |
| 46 | Mark WEBSTER | AUS | 37.35 | 18.40 | 18.95 | 4.05 | 3.50 | 3.70 | 3.90 | 3.80 | 0.00 | 20 |
| 47 | Andrew HUERTAS | PUR | 36.91 | 19.26 | 17.65 | 3.70 | 3.25 | 3.60 | 3.55 | 3.55 | 0.00 | 2 |
| 48 | Gegham VARDANYAN | ARM | 34.87 | 17.32 | 17.55 | 3.90 | 3.25 | 3.55 | 3.45 | 3.40 | 0.00 | 11 |
| 49 | Saulius AMBRULEVICIUS | LTU | 34.68 | 17.28 | 17.40 | 3.75 | 3.30 | 3.45 | 3.45 | 3.45 | 0.00 | 4 |
| 50 | Michael DIMALANTA | PHI | 27.53 | 11.98 | 15.55 | 3.50 | 2.85 | 3.10 | 3.15 | 2.95 | 0.00 | 8 |