Monday, February 10, 1997

Only five of the senior men have arrived for practices in Nashville. They are all in Practice Group A: Todd Eldredge, Shepherd Clark, Philip Dulebohn, Damon Allen, Trifun Zivanovic.

Senior Men's practices began today, later than is usual for a US Nationals (normally they start on Sunday before the competition).

The Municipal Auditorium rink is approximately 15 feet shorter than normal rink size, and the ice doesn't appear too good. The shorter rink length seemed to throw all the guys in Practice Group A. The pairs and dance practices are scheduled for the larger practice rink (the Centennial Sportsplex) or the main competition rink (the Nashville Arena).

The Senior Men only have one short program practice session at the Arena (starting with Group C at 7:00 a.m. Wednesday morning). The Thursday morning free skate practice session is also scheduled for the Sportsplex. The short program warmup session (20 minutes per group, no music) is scheduled for 3:20 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon at the Sportsplex. The Friday morning free skate practice session is scheduled for the Arena, as is the Saturday warmup prior to the Free Skate competition.

There were two practice sessions for Senior Men today (short program in the morning, free skate in the afternoon).

During this morning's practice session, Todd had to readjust his position at the beginning of his runthrough, possibly because of the unusually short rink size. Todd had some difficulty popping axels during warmup, and over-rotating the lutz during the runthrough, again perhaps because the rink length was less than he's used to. He did land a Triple Axel/Double Toe cleanly in the runthrough.

During this afternoon's practice session, Todd did a Triple Axel/Triple Toe and Triple Lutz/Triple Toe plus four other triples in the runthrough for "Independence Day." He landed eight triple jumps, the maximum number allowed in competition. Well on his way to a perfect runthrough, he flubbed the double axel (looked like it was almost a triple, wobbled in the air and opened up but landed okay).

FYI, the short program costume has been changed to something to that worn at Continent's Cup, although the long program ("Independence Day") costume has not.

The next practice session (short program) is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m. (Todd practices at 9:40 a.m.). Free Skate practice starts at 2:40 p.m. with Group B, and Todd skates at 4:20 p.m.

The Short Program Skate Order was announced today: Todd will be skating 10th out of 17, second to the last in the second group of men.

Tuesday, February 11, 1997

There were two practices today at the Municipal Auditorium: in the morning, the short program practice, and in the afternoon, the free skate.

Todd was awesome in the short program practice. Throughout the course of the 40 minute session, he landed four triple-triple combinations - three Triple Axel/Triple Toe, and a Triple Lutz/ Triple Toe. The runthrough of "Walk on the Wild Side" was flawless. After a perfect short program runthrough, Todd proceeded to start working on his long program. Following an extremely successful short program runthrough and practice of long program elements, Todd left the practice session early.

In the afternoon session, Todd did not have one of his better practice sessions, although he landed six perfect triples in his runthrough. He doubled a couple of loops in warmup, then again during the runthrough. He also had problems with his runthrough Triple Lutz/Triple Toe, doubling the triple toe, and also had some problems with individual triple lutz attempts. During the course of the entire session, he landed five triple-triple combinations - two Triple Axel/Triple Toe, two Triple Lutz/Triple Toe, and a Triple Flip/Triple Toe. He also did a perfect Triple Loop/Half Loop/ Triple Toe right before leaving the ice. At that point, he seemed to have fixed the Lutz/Loop problems by the time the practice session was finished.

Most of the men have now arrived in Nashville, although Scott Davis arrived later in the day and did not participate in today's practices. FYI, Michael Weiss landed the quad toe in his runthrough, and Timothy Goebel landed the quad salchow. Dan Hollander's long program looks excellent, and Michael Chack's new program (choreographed by Robin Cousins) is also a treat.

Wednesday, February 12, 1997

Morning practice session for Todd started at 7:45 a.m., and he was the first of his group to do his runthrough. This was the first men's practice in the Arena. During the runthrough, he popped his combination; Triple Lutz was fine as was everything else. He then went on to execute two perfect Triple Axel/Triple Toes and two Triple Lutz/Triple Toes, for a grand total of four triple-triple combinations. He worked for a bit on his long program choreography, and left the practice a minute early, in good spirits.

The free skate practice was held this afternoon, back at the Municipal Auditorium. The runthrough was flawless. All eight triples were landed, as well as the double axel, complete with Triple Axel/Triple Toe and Triple Lutz/Triple Toe. He did fall during this practice session on a simple Triple Flip attempt, but not during the runthrough. It appeared that he might have caught an edge, but he came up laughing and proceeded to land a perfect Triple Flip. The general consensus at the practice session was that Todd is in a class by himself.

In other men's news, Michael Weiss had his first solid practice session today - a near flawless runthrough of his long program (the re-choreographed Santana piece). This runthrough included multiple triples, including a quad toe, and two triple axels. Michael's quad was consistently well- done in each attempt. There are weaknesses in his performance, however. If Michael can do well in the short program, he's a strong contender for a silver. Dan Hollander's practices were not as strong as in previous sessions this week. Michael Chack looked good, although his axel wasn't strong. Scott Davis, who does not generally do a complete runthrough, landed numerous triple-triple combinations. Aren Nielsen was also looking good. Shepherd Clark appeared to be having some difficulties. All in all, we're going to have a really interesting competition this week.

Thursday, February 13, 1997

This was not a great night for the men. Out of the 17 men competing, there were only four clean triple axels; three clean programs, only two of which had a clean triple axel (Todd Eldredge and Damon Allen - Jere Michael had a clean program but no triple axel).

Here are the top-6 results of the 1997 US Men's Short Program, skated 6:15-8:30 p.m. CST in Nashville, TN on 2/13/97:

1st - Todd Eldredge - required 5.8-5.9; presentation 5.8-5.9

2nd - Damon Allen - required 5.5-5.7; presentation 5.6-5.8

3rd - Scott Davis - clean triple axel/double toe, hand down on the triple lutz; required 5.2- 5.7; presentation 5.6-5.8

4th - Dan Hollander - clean triple axel/double loop, but flubbed the double axel; required 5.2-5.5; presentation 5.6-5.8

5th - Michael Weiss - completed triple axel, but hand down, then double toe; required 5.0- 5.5; presentation 5.2-5.7

6th - Aren Nielsen - fell on triple axel, but everything else was relatively clean; required 4.8- 5.1; presentation 5.3-5.6

1997 US Nationals Short Program Marks (First Place)

Tech: 5.9, 5.9, 5.9, 5.8, 5.8, 5.9, 5.8, 5.8, 5.9
Pres: 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.9, 5.9, 5.9, 5.9, 5.8, 5.8
Ordinals: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

During the warmup immediately before the competition at the Arena, Todd did two Triple Axel/ Triple Toes and two Triple Lutzes.

During the earlier 20-minute warmup session this afternoon, he did Triple Axel/Triple Toe, Triple Lutz, Triple Lutz, Triple Axel, Triple Axel/Triple Toe (which everyone, including Damon Allen, applauded), Triple Lutz, Triple Salchow, Triple Salchow, and then he flubbed one (doubled or popped out of the salchow). He followed that up with two perfect Triple Salchows in a row, and another Triple Axel. Then he did a funny little leap in the air and got a laugh. He ended the session by working on his footwork sequences. During this session, Todd coached himself, since Richard was coaching a junior lady (Erin Pearl) at the time.

At this morning's practice session, he landed two Triple Axel/Triple Toes, one Triple Lutz/Triple Toe and one Triple Flip/Triple Toe. This was technically a free skate practice at the Centennial Sportsplex. Typically, on the day of competition, most men do not do full runthroughs (to conserve energy). Todd, however, did a runthrough of the majority of his short program to his long program music. He did segments of his free skate (Triple Axel/Triple Toe, the second Triple Axel/Triple Toe through to the Double Axel). He worked on elements of both programs, but focused more on the short program.

Friday, February 14, 1997

Today's free skate practice was held in the Nashville Arena, the only men's free skate practice held there. It was also the last practice session prior to tomorrow's competition. There will be a short warmup session in the morning, but the finals begin at 2:00 p.m. CST.

Todd's runthrough wasn't very good, but he wasn't really pushing himself to go all out. It appeared that he was working more on fitting the program to the Arena's ice. The runthrough consisted of only four triples. He did a Triple Axel/Double Toe; he came down hard on the Triple Axel, didn't have the spring for a Triple Toe, so he did a Double Toe. He then doubled the Lutz, and did not complete the combination. He also doubled the second Triple Axel, and the Triple Salchow had a somewhat shaky landing, coming down on an edge. The Triple Loop and Triple Flip came off well. During the rest of the practice, outside his runthrough, he was solid. The triple-triple tally outside the runthrough was two Triple Axel/Triple Toes, two Triple Lutz/Triple Toes, and one Triple Flip/Triple Toe. The best move was at the end of the practice session - a Triple Axel, followed by another Triple Axel. Shades of Scott Hamilton's multiple Double Axels!

Saturday, February 15, 1997

As Todd was warming up before his free skate, flowers for Scott Davis's performance were being thrown on the ice, and flowers hit the ice right in front of him. He nearly tripped over the flowers, and this seemed to shake him slightly.

The Triple Axel/Triple Toe became a Triple Axel/Double Toe (too low on the landing to get the power to go into the Triple Toe), then he came around to the Triple Lutz/Triple Toe, which became a Triple Lutz/Double Toe. The Triple Loop went fine; the Triple Salchow was not quite right, although it was clean and counted. Then he didn't include the Triple Flip in combination, but did a Double Flip as an individual jump. He then hit the second Triple Axel fine. He normally ends the program with a Double Axel, but ended with a Triple Toe instead. He landed six triples in the competition. It was fewer triples than he'd landed in some of the practices. Todd received a standing ovation at the end of his program.

1997 US Nationals Free Skate Marks (First Place)

Tech: 5.9, 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.9, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9
Pres: 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.9, 5.9, 5.9, 5.9, 5.8
Ordinals: 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2

The judges who voted Todd second awarded first place ordinals to Michael Weiss, who changed his program to include the quad and two axels, with a wally-wally-lutz at the end. Michael's scores were generally a little higher on technical, while Todd fared better on presentation scores. Michael skated last, with a less than clean program (hand down on the loop) and a few wobbles, but it was a strong technical content. Michael also received a standing ovation for his program.

Here are the final standings for the US senior men, skated 2/15/97, 2:00 p.m. to around 5:30 p.m. CST in Nashville, TN:

Todd Eldredge - Gold

Michael Weiss - Silver - pulled up from fifth to second

Dan Hollander - Bronze - bobbles at the beginning, but pulled it together to finish strong enough to pull up from fourth to third

Scott Davis - Pewter (Fourth) - doubled a couple of jumps, threw in another triple (for six triples total) - a very good skate for Scott, but dropped from third to fourth

Damon Allen - Fifth - had serious problems, including a fall (looked like he caught an edge), fell from third to fifth

Tim Goebel - Sixth - fell at least once during his free skate, but pulled himself up from tenth to sixth

Michael Chack - Seventh

Jere Michaels - Eighth

Aren Nielsen - Ninth - dropped from sixth to ninth

Shepherd Clark - Tenth - fell from seventh to tenth

Derek Delmore - Eleventh

Matthew Kessinger - Twelfth - pulled up from thirteenth

John Baldwin, Jr. - Thirteenth - dropped from eleventh to thirteenth

Philip Dulebohn - Fourteenth

Brian Buetsch - Fifteenth

Kevin Donovan - Sixteenth

Trifun Zivanovic withdrew

Sunday, February 16, 1997

Not a lot of news today.

For Todd's exhibition performance, he did Gethsemane, with a new costume.

After the Ladies' Medal Ceremony today, Richard Callaghan and Todd came out to join Tara Lapinski for a series of photos.

The World Team photo was also taken today. This event is always a source of goofing around, and Todd and Dan Hollander had a good time together mugging on the ice.

During this morning's exhibition practice, he worked on a few elements of Gethsemane, then went on to work on his free skate - in only 13 days he will be at the Champions Series Final, after all!