Jennifer Kirk: Plushenko must be reckoned with

Jennifer Kirk, who won the 2000 world junior figure skating championship, finished third at the U.S. championships in 2004 and fourth in 2005, will write a weekly blog for The Times providing insights into the skating world during the final months leading into the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Since retiring from figure skating in 2005, Kirk, 25, has been working on obtaining a college degree in broadcast journalism and has spent the last few months blogging about skating at Trueslant.com/jenniferkirk.

When reigning Olympic gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko announced his plans to compete this season following a 3½-year hiatus from the competitive arena, most were initially skeptical about the success of his return. Would he be in competitive form? Was he going to be able to adapt to the various changes in the judging system? Would he regain his standing as the No. 1 male skater in the world?

Last weekend Plushenko answered those questions.

Winning his first and only Grand Prix event of the season, Plushenko kicked off his return to competitive skating with a bang. Skating a squeaky-clean long program and commanding the ice in Moscow, he picked up exactly where he left off in 2006. Not only did Plushenko take the gold, but he crushed the competition, winning by 25 points over Takahiko Kozuka of Japan.

What was most impressive about Plushenko’s skating in Moscow was his unwavering confidence. Though  his victory dance after the completion of his long program could be perceived as cocky by some, this blend of cockiness and confidence proved to be the reigning Olympic champion’s winning ingredient. Plushenko seems incredibly committed to his quest of winning a second Olympic crown, and after two events of the Grand Prix series he’s the front-runner heading into the Games.

Although Plushenko may be leading the pack at this point, Olympic gold is by no means solely his for the taking. Even as clean as he was last week, the reality is Plushenko is still beatable. It seems as though the shock of how well he did has masked the apparent flaws in his skating, but these weaknesses have the potential to be the deciding factor in Vancouver.

Although Plushenko’s spins are faster than they were in 2006, they are still slow. The ending combination spin in his short program inched along, and he needs to work on adding more variety to his spins. Along with this, the choreography in both of his programs isn‘t as strong as it could be, and his programs have far too much two-footed skating. Plushenko’s hip rolling and rapid arm movements may be fun to watch, but I don‘t know how they‘ll stand up to Patrick Chan‘s edgework and artistry.

That said, Plushenko won fair and square in Moscow, and without a second Grand Prix event he has a lot of time to work on fixing his flaws. What will be telling is how Plushenko responds to his season opener, which then leads to more questions.

Will last weekend’s overwhelming victory lead him to fall off from his training, now that he has answered his critics and, I’m sure, some of his own doubts about his return? Or will this win motivate him to work harder, culminating in gold in Vancouver?

Perhaps the most important question surrounding Plushenko’s win is whether his performances will spook his closest competitors. I’m sure most of his competitors weren’t planning on having to contend with such a strong Plushenko. If I were reigning world champion Evan Lysacek, I’d use this weekend’s Cup of China to respond to Plushenko by not only winning the event but beating his score of 240.65.

Among all the questions, what we do know is that there is only one Olympic gold medal up for grabs, and the season is still young. Although Plushenko’s skating in Moscow was beyond expectations, we shouldn’t hand him Olympic gold just yet.

-- Jennifer Kirk

Comments

[Karabas Barabas]

Plyuschenko is beatable in your dreams only))

[Dee]

It would be another disappointment for this sport if other skaters who skate clean who have a much more superior program, spins and yes even footwork were to lose out to Plushenko with those programs and gyrating hips. At this point I've lost interest in seeing who's going to win since it seems they've already crowned Plushenko. Now I like Plushenko for the most part. I especially liked Plushenko back in the day before he became so big because he showed good artistry along with his jumps. I even knew then that Plushenko would give Yagudin a run for his money soon enough but then all of his nice artistry left and he was just wailing his arms about. I mean did you see how empty his Olympic long program were when he won gold. He had superior skating skills but no TR, CH, just okay interpretation and his scores were ridiculously inflated. I couldn't even be excited for him even though I was hoping he would be next in line to win Olympic gold after Yagudin. Now here we are again with the same blah, silly skating coupled with amazing jumps and that's what's going to win again. Are we to believe he had better transitions and choreography than Takahiko's beautiful progam or even Johnny's program. No wonder I don't follow this sport like I use to. I was glad Plushenko was back but I didn't expected the judging to stay the same. What was I thinking.

[jewel54]

Hi Jennifer,
I found Plushenko's program to be technically brilliant, jump-wise, but other than that, it had little artistry, lots or arm flailing and grandstanding with his "Number 1" signal that I found very annoying. He was the clear winner, but I felt he was overmarked. His spins are slow and sluggish looking, footwork is blase. To me, his program was boring and not very interesting to watch, unless I wanted to see a clinic on jumping. I was impressed at how well he did skate considering he's been away for 3 years, but as you said, he is beatable. I hope somebody with more flair and artistry like Evan, Johnny or Patrick Chan steps up to the plate and beats him for the gold in Vancouver.

[Joan]

Hi Jennifer, I agree that Plushenko is beatable but at the same time it's amazing at how fit he is, even if just comparing to the Plushenko from last year! His spins and footwork are definitely not pre-2004, and I still think that the reason why he's become sluggish in terms of artistry is because there's no one like Yagudin out there to push him. Very well that Patrick is amazing in terms of artistry but his jumps IMHO aren't as good as Plushenko's, and without a quad a programme's not as exciting (though I'd watch Buttle over Joubert any given day). And for some odd reason I generally find Russians (Plushenko, Yagudin, Kulik) better in terms of making artistry manly instead of making it gender-confusing (maybe it's just my prejudice against male skaters that aren't as tall...=S).

We just need someone that has got Plushenko's jumps, Lambiel's spins and Patrick/Buttle's presentation out there to take men's skating to a new level (or at least the 'old level' achieved between Plushenko and Yagudin's battle of the giants, so to speak)...I still believe that Plushnko could change his programme, and while the Beilmann spin may have gone he certainly should be able to deliver a programme not unlike those before 2004.

It'd be a lot more exciting if Patrick could add a quad to his arsenal. The last Olympics was kind of a joke given that once Plushenko had his skate it's almost become a competition to stumble on jumps for the rest of them. He deserved it just because he WAS the best out of the lot, and it's a shame that he didn't even had to push himself. I REALLY hope that it's not a case of 'The King has returned therefore we have to crown him' in the end, and I REALLY hope that his return would act as a catalyst to push the other talents in the field to better themselves. Sometimes I do think men's figure skating was a lot more exciting and interesting before 2004, and I lament those past golden days...

[humanscum]

Patrick Chan is really boring. I don't wanna see no-quads Men's skaters anymore!! Welcome back, Plushenko.

[Ozge]

With all due respect, it is not Plushenko's fault that he did not have to push himself to the max. As previously stated here in comments, when Yagudin was around, Plushenko showed what a fantastic skater he was. If the men's field is now filled with many inconsistent jumpers, who cannot bring their top games, it is not Plushenko's fault that he is not pushing himself to maximum. Jumps are the most important technical element of this sport, so it's only natural that someone with crazy consistency and technical ability of jumps will beat them all, like it or not. I also hope Plushenko will improve this programme because it seems like he has more serious competition this year but I will not cry if he gets the OGM again because the rest of the field failed to deliver the big elements.

[Jeff]

Didn't Oda's score at TEB this year beat Plushenko's Rostelecom score?

Even if it did, he is certainly in excellent shape coming back in!