Tuesday, 11/11/97

Todd arrived in Paris at about 11 a.m. today in good spirits and ready to tackle the competition ahead. Shortly after arriving, he headed for the practice rink to get in some time on the ice before the official practice sessions, which start tomorrow. Todd's shoulder is now fine. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for his ribs. An effect of the injury he sustained at Skate America, his severely bruised ribs have not as yet totally healed and the situation for now is limiting what he's able to accomplish on the ice. According to his doctor, the healing process is simply a matter of time, but is taking longer in Todd's case because the training necessities of the competitive season have not allowed him the luxury of inactivity. His coach, Richard Callaghan, still hopes he will be in top form by the time the competition starts on Friday.

The Competition

Among the notably absent from both practice sessions today:
Phillipe Candeloro
Igor Pashkevitch
Michael Hopfes
Evgeny Pliuta (Pliuta actually arrived in Paris early this afternoon, but skipped the afternoon session.) All of the abvove are in Practice Group One, so for today, that group consisted entirely of Zhengxin Guo from China, and Selichi Suzuki of Japan. Thus today, Todd's significant competition came from within his own group, namely Jeff Langdon and Alexei Yagudin.

Jeff Langdon looked fairly sharp today, although he seemed to be having major triple axel problems. However, this afternoon, he did manage at least one execution of the new triple flip/triple loop combination this reporter had been waiting to see. It remains to be seen if he can pull it off in the competition.

Alexei Yagudin is looking really strong and right now appears to be Todd's biggest threat in this competition. Alexei has really matured since last we saw him at Worlds. He seems to be taller and looks older and much more polished. He seems much improved in both the footwork and connecting moves department. Since he is in Todd's group, it's difficult for this reporter to watch him carefully but he seems to have come up with a new (for him) jump combination, the second jump of which is a double loop (not totally sure what the first one is yet, but it's either a triple salchow or a triple toe). Todd's next and only practice session tomorrow is scheduled for 12 noon. The opening draw for the short program skate is to take place at 5:00 p.m. We'll reporting on both from rinkside tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 12, 1997

Todd took the ice for his first practice session at 8:15 this morning (local Paris time) (not 8:30 as your jet-lagged reporter mistakenly reported yesterday). Todd is in Practice Group Two with Jeff Langdon, Alexei Yagudin, Frederic Dambier, Theirry Cerez, and Steven Cousins (who apparently has withdrawn from the competition). The session, a Short Program/Long Program skater's choice, was held at the appropriately-named Sonja Henie Rink, a small practice rink located within the Palais de Omnisport Complex. Todd reported that his ribs felt a bit better today and he proceeded to have a fairly good practice session. Although he elected to have his short program music played, the smaller than regulation ice surface made a complete runthrough of the program impossible, so he opted instead to practice selected elements of the short program choreography. He did look sharp throughout the session, even though he was necessarily being somewhat cautious on account of the ribs. He did, however, execute several very nice triple axels, and a couple of triple axel/triple toes. He shared the ice this morning with Jeff Langdon (Canada) and Alexei Yagudin (Russia). The two Frenchmen (Dambier and Cerez) also slated for this group, were among the missing, and Steven Cousins, originally also listed for this group, has apparently withdrawn from the competition.

Todd's second practice session took place at 5:30 p.m. in the main arena. Another SP/LP skater's choice session, this time around he opted for the long program music and skated a complete runthrough of "Gettysburg." It was an involving, moving performance but was not without some flaws occasioned by the rib problem. After landing a gorgeous triple axel/double toe, he doubled the flip (the jump in fact that is hardest on the ribs). He then landed a nice triple lutz (the walley that had preceded it has been dropped from the program to give him greater speed going into the lutz), and a great triple loop. He proceeded from there to nail the second triple axel only to flub the triple salchow (another jump hard on the ribs). As the program neared its end, he was really into it, getting so carried away by the music that he forgot he wasn't supposed to try the closing moves, a series of Arabians that are in fact the hardest elements for his ribs to withstand and which he was supposed to save for the competition performance. Thus throwing himself into these with enthusiasm, the ribs instantly protested, and he was forced to abandon the attempt. These problems notwithstanding, it was a fairly good session for Todd and did see the sucessful execution of three triple axel/triple toes, a triple flip/triple toe, and a triple lutz/triple toe.

Thursday, November 13, 1997

Todd's ribs continue to improve, but he is by no means skating at 100% efficiency. He had one practice session today (another SP/LP skater's choice) at 12 noon, and this time he elected to do a runthrough of his short program. It was a somewhat ragged effort, to say the least. A lovely triple axel was combined with a shaky double toe and the triple lutz ended with his having to put a hand down on the ice. He landed a nice double axel, but was forced to pull back from some of the more strenuous elements in the footwork. On a more positive note, during the course of this session, he did execute three gorgeous triple-triple combinations - an axel/toe, a flip/toe and a lutz/toe. The other guys in Todd's group left the ice at least 10 minutes or so prior to the end of the session. Todd remained, however, and alone on the ice, did a complete jumpless runthrough of he "Gettysburg" choreography, thus giving onlookers a true appreciation of what a choreographic masterpiece this program really is.

Todd is without doubt devoting his best effort to this competition, but under the present circumstances of his lingering injury, his best efforts may not be enough. If he cannot in fact skate this competition at full efficiency, then it would no doubt be in his best interests for him to withdraw from it. This is especially true if there is any possibility that skating this competition might jeopardize the rest of this all-important season. His coach will make an assessment of Todd's situation tomorrow and will make the call as to whether or not Todd will continue.

The Competition

Jeff Langdon did a fairly decent runthrough of his new long program, complete with triple flip/double loop (close to the desired combination, but not quite there yet). This new program promises to be the best he's had to date - very interesting choreography. Alexei Yagudin continues to look strong and, the situation with Todd being as it is, is definitely the one to beat here. This afternoon's session saw the almost-successful completion of the quad toe/triple toe combination. The quad part of it was fine; but the triple toe was heavily two-footed.

Today marked the first appearances of two other major competitors. First, Igor Pashkevitch, looking very sharp indeed - he could be a major factor here as he was at Nation's Cup. Then, the man we've all (well, some of us) been waiting for ... Phillipe Candeloro, who, this afternoon, surprisingly treated us to major chunks of his "Napoleon" long program, the closest thing to a complete runthrough this reporter has yet to see from him. It even included a nicely done triple flip/triple toe. On the whole, Candeloro looks in rather good shape and even tried his best at a quad toe, completing the rotations, but two-footing the landing.

Note for fans of Michael Hopfes: Michael finally appeared today and was present for this afternoon's practice session. His new long program is to the music from "Dragonheart" and in the opinion of this reporter at least, is much more interesting choreographically than that skated by Elvis Stojko last season. Michael now appears to be working avidly on adding the triple axel to his repertoire. Although he was not observed by this reporter to have landed this jump successfully this afternoon, he did come awfully close. On the other hand, his runthrough today included a triple salchow/triple loop/double loop combination.

The draw ceremony for the short program was held last this afternoon at 5:00 p.m. Todd drew ninth, a good draw for him. Overall, the draw shapes up as follows for the major competitors: 1 - Igor Pashkevitch 4 - Phillipe Candeloro 5 - Jeff Langdon 9 - Todd Eldredge 10 - Alexei Yagudin

Todd has one practice session tomorrow at 12:15 p.m. local time, and the men's short program is scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m. local time. Join us tomorrow for more news from rinkside.

Friday, November 14, 1997

Todd's practice session today went fairly well. He did not attempt a complete runthrough of his short program, but he did work on his choreography for a bit, and on some isolated jumps, including a nice triple flip/triple toe. Following the session, which he left about ten minutes early, the decision was made to continue with the competition by giving the short program today a shot.

While not his best performance, Todd once again proved beyond a doubt that 75% of him is worth 100% of anybody else. While his ribs did not allow him to go all out with the choreography, all the elements in the program were clean and he clearly merited the first-place ordinals he received from 5 of the 7 judges. Specifically, he managed to execute the triple axel/triple toe combination, although not quite as smoothly as he's done in the past. The triple lutz was gorgeous, but the double axel was a bit on the wonky side (high and slightly out of control). The marks were as follows:

Required Elements: 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.6, 5.8, 5.8
Presentation: 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.7, 5.7, 5.9, 5.7
Ordinals: 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1

The Competition

The competition began with Igor Pashkevitch, who again proved to this reporter that it is indeed possible to execute all the required elements while turning in a totally colorless performance. A triple axel and a triple lutz were enough to leave him in third place.

In the interest of full disclosure, it must be confessed that the next skater up is not exactly a favorite of this reporter. The skater in question, Thierry Cerez of France, did manage a clean execution of most major elements - a triple axel/triple toe, and a triple lutz. However, his program was some sort of irritating percussion number and featured sloppy travelling spins. For reasons known only to the Skate Gods, and at the expense of a much better skater who was to follow, Cerez finished the short program in fifth place.

Next was another Frenchman, Frederic Dambier, whom I would like to say was better than Cerez, but in all honesty, cannot. Dambier managed to miss most of his elements and finished in ninth place.

Next up was the third Frenchman in the competition, Phillipe Candeloro, who was worth waiting for. He has a great new short program which sparked the audience's interest. The music was a Native American percussion piece. He landed a triple axel/double toe, a great triple lutz, and a rather hairy but clean double axel. He finished the night in fourth place.

Phillipe was followed by Jeff Langdon, who seemed to put the problems he'd been having in practice this week completely behind him by landing a totally clean triple axel/triple toe and a triple flip as well as other required elements for one of his truly better performances. Unfortunately, he wasn't rewarded sufficiently for this effort, finishing the short program in sixth place, at least one place too low.

In the next group to take the ice, first up was Evgeny Pliuta, who it would appear suffers from a bad case of competition nerves. After landing some great jumps in practice sessions, he proved unable to translate that into actual performance, and a turnout on the triple axel/double toe combination and a singled double axel left him in seventh place.

Next up was Selichi Suzuki of Japan, whose splat on his triple axel combination among other problems, landed him in eleventh (and last) place. Zhengxin Guo from China, skating an ambitious program to "Riverdance" and showing marked improvement from last season, nevertheless met disaster with a fall on his triple axel combination. He ended the night in eighth place. Todd followed Guo; see above for details.

Alexei Yagudin followed immediately after Todd, and demonstrated in performance the amazing improvement that had been noted in his practice sessions. Skating a very lively and quite brilliant new short program, he landed a really nice triple axel/triple toe, a triple lutz, and phenomenally good footwork, showing also a seemingly newfound confidence and a style and presentation we've not seen before. The reaction from the judges was somewhat mixed, however. Two of the judges had him in first place, but he also received three second place ordinals, and two fourth place ordinals. His required element scores ranged from 5.5 to 5.8, presentation from 5.5 to 5.9.

The last competitor was Michael Hopfes, who had a less than successful performance, suffering a bad fall on his triple toe/triple loop combination. He finished the competition in tenth place.

Top-Six Skate Order for Men's Long Program
(8:00 p.m. Paris time, Saturday, November 15, 1997)
6 - Alexei Yagudin
7 - Thierry Cerez
8 - Phillipe Candeloro
9 - Jeff Langdon
10 - Todd Eldredge
11 - Igor Pashkevitch
More from rinkside as Trophée Lalique's Men's competition concludes tomorrow

Saturday, November 15, 1997

The Trophée Lalique Men's Final was held today starting at 8:00 p.m. Todd skated in the second group of six, delivering a performance that was gutsy but flawed. Apparently, the new "Gettysburg" program has been rechoreographed, possibly to accommodate Todd's continuing rib problems. Todd appeared to be having problems especially with the triple axel, popping the opening triple axel/triple toe combination, popping a later solo triple axel, and doubling/stepping out of a third. He managed to land a clean triple flip/double toe, and for the first time in his career (as far as Fran can remember), he landed a triple lutz/triple toe combo. He also landed a nice triple loop, but doubled the salchow. While his footwork wasn't sparkling in this performance, his spins were apparently stable. According to another friend on the scene, the revised choreography for "Gettysburg" worked very well, and looked better than at Skate America.

Todd ended the Trophée Lalique competition in fourth place, and his long program scores (sans ordinals for the moment) were: Technical Merit: 5.2, 5.2, 5.5, 5.2, 5.5, 5.7, 5.4
Presentation: 5.5, 5.6, 5.6, 5.4, 5.6, 5.7, 5.7
Unofficial Ordinals: 5, 5, 5, 6, 4, 4, 4

Although he probably has enough points to advance to the Final, it is possible that Todd will elect not to compete in the Champions Series Final to allow the nagging rib injury to fully heal before US Nationals.

And now the competition in the order the men skated: Suzuki fell on triple axel and wasn't terribly good. Dambier fell at least four times. Pliuta came out and was generally flawless, landing eight triples (his quad attempt didn't work - he tripled it). Guo fell on his quad, but still managed to land a triple axel/triple toe, among six triples (higher technical than presentation scores). Hopfes fell on his triple lutz, fell on his triple toe/triple loop, then withdrew (no one's sure if he was injured or what the reason was).

Yagudin was first of final 6. He opened with triple axel, which he two-footed. He then landed a quad (his first in competition), followed it with a triple axel/triple toe, triple flip/triple toe, salchow, loop. Doubled his lutz. 5.6-5.8 technical; 5.6-5.8 presentation. While he looked tired toward the end of the program, he maintained his energy level later into the program than he has in the past (obviously building stamina). He didn't sell the program as well as he could, but his performance was good enough to land him in first place and hold onto it.

Cerez skated next. He two-footed his axel, then landed seven triples. He really had the skate of his life. According to Fran, the judges can still recognize lack of quality when they see it, and technical was 5.3 to 5.7; presentation scores 5.0 (US) to 5.7.

Candeloro followed and did quite well. He landed five clean triples and two that were two-footed (a second triple axel in last minute of program, triple toe). A good skate for Phillipe. 5.5-5.7 technical, 5.6-5.9 presentation. The 5.9 was from the German judge. Fran commented that while Phillipe's skate was stronger and his scores higher, he did not receive the same degree of approbation from the audience, possibly because he's simply expected to do better because he has in the past (Cerez has not performed so strongly or consistently).

Jeff Langdon was up next. Not one of his better skates, but by no means a disaster. He two-footed his first triple axel, fell on the second, then fell out of a lutz. His triple salchow/half-loop/triple toe combo worked well. Fran loves the new program. Technical 4.9-5.4, presentation 4.9-5.5.

Todd followed Jeff (see above).
Pashkevitch followed (last to skate). 5.3 - 5.8 technical 5.6-5.8 presentation. Fran didn't make note of the performance because she was distracted by Todd's.

The Final Standings for the Men's Competition at Trophée Lalique:
Alexei Yagudin
Phillipe Candeloro
Igor Pashkevitch
Todd Eldredge
Evgeny Pliuta
Thierry Cerez
Jeff Langdon
Zhengxin Guo
Frederic Dambier
Selichi Suzuki
Michael Hopfes - Withdrawn