World Figure Skating Championships 2008

Oh, Leode, i very envy you for going to see that Worlds live
I wish, i could go too

By the way, can somebody tell me, where i can find out the starting order?
In which group will Daisuke skate
(I need that for taping )

The starting order hasn't come out yet, Sabse. The draw for the short program isn't until Wednesday. When the order does come out, you can find it here: http://www.isufs.org/results/wc2008/SEG001.HTM.

If you're in the U.S., the events are aired on either a one or 2 day tape delay (although the original dance airs on the same day that it occurs). The men's short will air on Friday and the free will air on Sunday.

Thanks for posting the starting order link, swandie. I was going to post it for Sabse too, but you were a bit faster than me.

I hope to see both Evan and Domnina/Shabalin fighting back for next year!

Leode, I hope you have a smooth and enjoyable trip to Sweden. I'm sure Sweden is a very beautiful country to visit. Thank you in advance for your reports as well (hopefully they will report something wonderful for us at DTFF).

Swandie, I also hope to attend Worlds next year in L.A.

Hi, everyone. I found some nice, new links on Youtube of Daisuke practicing in Sweden on Sunday for the World Championships (thanks to siamlin!). Maybe you haven't seen them yet. They are very nice quality and up close. He looks very well here I think.

2008 Worlds - Daisuke Takahashi practicing spins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pMjlLBPrdM

2008 Worlds - Daisuke Takahashi LP practice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHKFNEDZQQA&feature=related

It's truly exciting that the practices/competition has started.

Thank you for the links, UMgal!!!

Good!! Dai-chan looks in good shape!!! He commented the ice quality of Gothenburg fitted him.

GO DAI-CHAN!!!

swandie wrote:

The starting order hasn't come out yet, Sabse. The draw for the short program isn't until Wednesday. When the order does come out, you can find it here: http://www.isufs.org/results/wc2008/SEG001.HTM.

If you're in the U.S., the events are aired on either a one or 2 day tape delay (although the original dance airs on the same day that it occurs). The men's short will air on Friday and the free will air on Sunday.

Thanks, swandie, for the link!
Then i will wait for wednesday

Thank Umgal for video links!

I'm so happy to see Dai-chan practice. I'm always nervous before competition, but he seems to be in good shape! I really hope this!

I can't wait for competition

GO DAISUKE!!!

Compulsory Dance has finished.....here's the top 5.

1 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER
2 Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR
3 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI
4 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI
5 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO

Almost 6 points separates 1st and 5th. Tanith had a fall toward the end of their performance. It's really unfortunate because they were on up until that point.

Pairs Short is done...top 5

1 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG
2 Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY
3 Yuko KAWAGUCHI / Alexander SMIRNOV
4 Jessica DUBE / Bryce DAVISON
5 Qing PANG / Jian TONG

I only saw Pang and Tong and Kawaguchi and Smirnov and both teams skated very well.

For anyone in the U.S. (where the competitions are on a 1-2 day tape delay), ESPN360 (if your internet provider carries it) is showing everything live.

Compulsary dance videos
Delobel+Schoenfelder skated very closed and precised
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvd316RhllA
Belbin + Agosto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzaGffshexE
Pechalat+ Bourzat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLrOx44Njy0
Kerr+Kerr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS6keOji6zU
Virtue+ Moir
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5dtwjUNN0
Khokhlova +Novitski spectacular
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=1txT0WS1ews
Faiella +Scali
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=WCMRPhT7irA

Ice Dancing, Compulsory Dance

The ice dancers opened the competition with the Compulsory Dance. The Compulsory Dance drawn for the World Championships was the Argentine Tango.
Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder of France danced to the lead followed by Canada’s Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir and Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski (RUS). Delobel/Schoenfelder gave a strong performance of the Tango, showing off deep edges and excellent unison. They earned 40.73 points (20.79 element score/19.94 program component score). “We wanted to have fun here and enjoy (the competition)”, Delobel said. “It was a good compulsory dance, we wanted to show a special interpretation to make the dance more interesting. We are happy with the marks”, her partner added.
Virtue/Moir had drawn to skate next to last out of the 31 couples and turned in a characteristic Argentine Tango to score 38.71 points (20.00/18.71). “We really like this dance so it was really fun to compete, and there were a lot of Canadian flags out there, a bit surprising”, Moir told the press. “It is exciting (to be medal contenders), placing 6th last year was quite an accomplishment but we are always trying to re-event ourselves so this is another year and we are ready to break the top teams, stand on the podium”, Virtue said.
Khokhlova/Novitski came in third with a new seasons best of 37.98 points (19.52/18.46) “We’ve changed the beginning of the Tango after Japan (NHK Trophy in December) and we’ve worked really hard on the Tango, and apparently it paid off”, Novitski commented. “We feel more responsibility now. We found out about it only two or three days before we left, and it was rather unexpected news for us”, Khokhlova explained, referring to the withdrawal of their teammates, European Champions Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin.
Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali (ITA) came in fourth at 37.15 points. Reigning World bronze medalists Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto (USA) are standing in fifth place after she fell in the second segment of the second sequence on a turn (35.02 points). Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat (FRA) round up the top six (34.82 points).

Thanks a lot for the information and links, swandie & anne-marie!

I'll watch those links soon. I love all of those ice dance teams because they have their own characters. Very unlucky BELBIN / AGOSTO.... I think you were disappointed as one of US citizens, swandie.

Oh it's 2 days to go!!!!!
According a news in Japan, Dai-chan didn't attend at the afternoon practice 18th to take rest and refresh himself because there was much time until men's competition starts. Good!!

GO DAI-CHAN!!!

The Ladys SP is done:

1. Carolina Kostner
2. Mao Asada
3. Yukari Nakano
4. Kiira Korpi
5. Yu Na Kim

Miki Ando is in 8th place.

Its a surprise, that Yu Na Kim is such in 5th place and i also think, that Carolina Kostner got more points than she deserves. Sorry, but that is my opinion.

I hope, the juges will be better in the Mens Competition.
I cant wait for friday

Hi DTFF members!

It's the second day of Worlds Championship and this is my first message ... these days I really hate my job!!!

Here you can find Time Schedule for MEN SP:
http://st.sportcentric.org/results/wc2008/WC08_Men_SP_TimeSchedule.pdf
Daisuke will skate at 17,00 (local time).
He'll skate just after Jeffrey Buttle. Lambiel, Verner and Weir also will skate before Daisuke, while Joubert and Chan after him.

miyu wrote:

According a news in Japan, Dai-chan didn't attend at the afternoon practice 18th to take rest and refresh himself because there was much time until men's competition starts. Good!!

Thank miyu for news!
I read on an italian forum some comments about men's practice from people who are in Sweden. They said Daisuke is incredible and he does everything well!

GO DAISUKE!!!

Thank you all for result! And thank you anne-marie for links!

Dance: I'm so sad for Belbin/Agosto, but so happy for Faiella/Scali... I love their "Pizzica" OD and I hope they can keep the place!

Ladies: I haven't seen the competition yet, but I'm so for results! What happens to Miki???

Look at this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOm241Xd37M
Daisuke at the press conference on 17 March. (very short video)
"...I want to be the world champion..."

Here you can find a Dai's picture during practice: http://www.daylife.com/photo/00Zw6MudzS50d/DAISUKE_TAKAHASHI

Thanks for the video, glorydave! His English is great! I hope he can do it!

I'm very happy for Mao! She skated well and I thought she should've been first. I thought Yu-Na would be higher even after she fell. It looked like she just slipped off her edge because she had the landing on that. She may have been first if it wasn't for that fall. I'm happy that Yukari is in third too.

I'm also glad for Kimmie. Even though she's in 9th place, her skate was excellent. She only did a triple-double so she left off a few points. She seemed happy with what she did though and that's all that counts!

I don't know what happened with Miki...I missed her skate and the results page keeps crashing.

Pairs is going right now and Pang and Tong are currently in first.

MEN SHORT PROGRAM SCHEDULE

warm up Group 1
1 Tigran VARDANJAN HUN
2 Javier FERNANDEZ ESP
3 Danil PRIVALOV AZE
4 Peter LIEBERS GER
5 Kutay ERYOLDAS TUR

Warm-Up Group 2
6 Naiden BORICHEV BUL
7 Abzal RAKIMGALIEV KAZ
8 Maxim SHIPOV ISR
9 Sean CARLOW AUS
10 Konstantin TUPIKOV POL
11 Zoltan KELEMEN ROU

Warm-Up Group 3
12 Justin PIETERSEN RSA
13 Anton KOVALEVSKI UKR
14 Tristan THODE NZL
15 Saulius AMBRULEVICIUS LTU
16 Mikko MINKKINEN FIN
17 Luis HERNANDEZ MEX

Warm-Up Group 4
18 Elliot HILTON GBR
19 Michael CHROLENKO NOR
20 Manuel KOLL AUT
21 Igor MACYPURA SVK
22 Alexandr KAZAKOV BLR
23 Boris MARTINEC CRO

Warm-Up Group 5
24 Kristoffer BERNTSSON SWE
25 Gregor URBAS SLO
26 Pavel KASKA CZE
27 Yasuharu NANRI JPN
28 Adrian SCHULTHEISS SWE

Warm-Up Group 6
29 Chengjiang LI CHN
30 Karel ZELENKA ITA
31 Sergei VORONOV RUS
32 Jamal OTHMAN SUI
33 Yannick PONSERO FRA
34 Jeremy ABBOTT USA

Warm-Up Group 7
35 Stephen CARRIERE USA
36 Sergei DAVYDOV BLR
37 Tomas VERNER CZE
38 Alban PREAUBERT FRA
39 Stephane LAMBIEL SUI
40 Johnny WEIR USA

Warm-Up Group 8
41 Jeffrey BUTTLE CAN
42 Daisuke TAKAHASHI JPN
43 Brian JOUBERT FRA
44 Patrick CHAN CAN
45 Takahiko KOZUKA JPN
46 Kevin VAN DER PERREN BEL

Pairs result:
1 Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY GER 202.86
2 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN 197.82
3 Jessica DUBE / Bryce DAVISON CAN 192.78
4 Yuko KAWAGUCHI / Alexander SMIRNOV RUS 191.33
5 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN 186.78
...

Here you can find:
Pairs total result http://static.sportresult.com/sports/figureskating/live/results/wc2008/CAT003RS.HTM
Pairs FP result http://static.sportresult.com/sports/figureskating/live/results/wc2008/SEG006.HTM

I'm shocked (as well as sad) Pang and Tong couldn't move up but I'm happy for the medalists, especially Dube and Davison. Didn't see that coming at all! Congrats to all the medalists!!

I'm so happy for Mao and especially Yukari! I'm hoping that she will medal!! I love her so much ^^ I wish them luck for tomorrow!

In my opinion the German pair were overmarked. Stumbles in their jumps and for me the lifts weren't as good as others. I am annoyed they got such high scores!

I'm so excited for the men's competition! I am wishing that Daisuke can give an dynamic and clean performace in both the short and the free!!! Good luck Daisuke!!~

I love folk dance
Ice Dancing - Original Dance Folk Country Dance
1 Kamila HAJKOVA / David VINCOUR CZE 22 24.06
2 Leonie KRAIL / Oscar PETER SUI 25 22.38
3 Joanna BUDNER / Jan MOSCICKI POL 24 23.61
4 Ina DEMIREVA / Juri KURAKIN BUL 30 17.75
5 Danielle OBRIEN / Gregory MERRIMAN AUS 28 20.2

Warm-Up Group 2
6 Sun Hye YU / Ramil SARKULOV UZB 26 21.85
7 Barbora SILNA / Dmitri MATSJUK AUT 21 24.85
8 Krisztina BARTA / Adam TOTH HUN 27 21.44
9 Ksenia SHMIRINA / Egor MAISTROV BLR 29 18.87
10 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN 23 23.90

Warm-Up Group 3
11 Ekaterina RUBLEVA / Ivan SHEFER RUS 15 29.14
12 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS 16 29.12
13 Katherine COPELY / Deividas STAGNIUNAS LTU13 29.85
14 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE CAN 20 27.74
15 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR 14 29.31

Warm-Up Group 4
16 Allie HANN-MCCURDY / Michael CORENO CAN 17 28.33
17 Nelli ZHIGANSHINA / Alexander GAZSI GER 19 28.07
18 Cathy REED / Chris REED JPN 18 28.16
19 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA 11 31.52
20 Kimberly NAVARRO / Brent BOMMENTRE USA 12 31.48

Warm-Up Group 5
21 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT FRA 6 34.82
22 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR 8 33.48
23 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA 5 35.02
24 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR 9 32.51
25 Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN AZE 10 31.86

Warm-Up Group 6
26 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS 3 37.98
27 Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR CAN 2 38.71
28 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA 4 37.15
29 Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER FRA 1 40.73
30 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA 7 34.80

Thank you all DTFF members for your fast and efficient updates!! I've been watching a lot of the performances on Youtube since yesterday (nothing will be broadcasted where I live until tomorrow).

I'm getting so excited and nervous for this Friday and Saturday. It doesn't seem like it can come fast enough.

Quote :

I read on an italian forum some comments about men's practice from people who are in Sweden. They said Daisuke is incredible and he does everything well!

Wow, I'm so glad/happy to hear this, glorydave!

Hi everybody! Thank you for various updates!!

Here is Dai-chan's comment after the drawing.

"I prefered skating last. I'm afraid it would be bit difficult to prepare but it's OK. It's SP. There will be a big cheers to Jeffrey (#41) but I will do without caring about it."

WOW! He prefers skating last!? Great. It sounds he is very very confident in himself!!!!
(Do you remember he skated first in SP and last in FP at the last Olympic?? And he was so nervous at that time.)

glorydave wrote:

They said Daisuke is incredible and he does everything well!

Thank you glorydave! I'm very glad to hear that!!!!

I'm sad to hear the result of Pang/Tong....
The ladies' FP will become one of the most exciting game ever. I hope every skater will do well!!

GO DAI-CHAN!!!

I watched all the programs and recorded a part of them, my favourites!
It is difficult to choose between Carolina and Mao, and the difference is very tiny. I am not a specialist...Mao was excellent in everything. Carolina not perfect but enough strong, and her program, created by the great Lori Nichol, is really beautiful, special, and I loved the music (The Doors)... Yukari was excellent on a Chopin routine (it is difficult to skate on a Chopin music if you are not an excellent skater, and she did well). Miki is not at the top right now, but remember Shizika Arakawa, who had not good results before the year of the olympic games, and won gold...
the level is higher and higher.
This year, all the competitors are good, and we saw very few falls...
I just have to say that the results of the German pair are too higher compared to Zhang+Zhang. The Canadian pair and a russian paired improved a lot. For Pang and Tong, they didn't deserve, but maybe it is a transition season, before the O.G...
I am sad for the ones out of the podium... They should create a 5 steps podium!

here are comments on day 2
http://www.isuskating.sportcentric.com/vsite/vcontent/content/transnews/0,10869,4844-128590-19728-18885-283640-3787-4771-layout160-129898-news-item,00.html

Top 5 after the original dance:

1. Delobel and Schoenfelder
2. Khokhlova and Novitski
3. Virtue and Moir
4. Faiella and Scali
5. Belbin and Agosto

Delobel and Schoenfelder have increased their lead and it seems like they will run away with the title unless they splatter themselves all over the ice during the free dance. So many surprises in this event: both good and bad.