World Championships, part 2!

Tonight, ESPN showed the Free Dance and the Ladies' Short Program. First, my thoughts about the dance results:

• The Bulgarians won the free dance and the overall event, which, in my opinion, was predictable. They went for the overly dramatic approach--something that has been done time and time again, perhaps most notably by Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France. The dramatically symbolic stories, tormented music, and anguished facial expressions are fine, but I would like to see teams express emotion just as powerfully, but in a more subtle way.
• One team that did that quite well was Marie-France Dubriel and Patrice Lauzon of Canada. They skated to "At Last," and presented a technically difficult program. Their program was filled with emotion as well, but it was a more subtle, relaxed emotion. They didn't hit the audience over the head with the drama, but instead, invited them in to a more intimate, private setting. They took second place--I'd really like to see them come back next year and win the title.
• The team that most impressed me tonight, however, was Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada (above). They skated to "Valse Triste" by Sibelius, a quiet, delicate piece of music. It would have been easy to ignore such a quiet piece. But I couldn't take my eyes off them; they were mesmerizing. I really can't wait to see what they'll be doing in a few years.

As for the ladies' short program...

• I was thrilled to see Yu-Na Kim do so well. Her program was amazing, and I hope that her back holds out long enough for her to win the title.
• I don't know exactly what it is, but I don't like Carolina Kostner's skating. I don't think she knows what to do with her arms very well, and as a result, looks like she's flinging things all over the place. Even though she had the best jumps in the competition tonight, she's going to need to work a lot on her presentation if she's going to compete with Mao Asada and Yu-Na Kim, both skaters who possess both of these qualities.
• I really got tired of listening to Dick Button crab about sit spins that aren't low enough, but after seeing Alissa Czisny's spins, I have to admit that he has a point. Her spins are far and away the best I've seen this year, and yet, after the short, she's in 18th because she missed two jumps. In a field this deep, that's mostly justified, but I do think that it highlights a disparity between the importance of jumps and the importance of spins. I wouldn't mind having the system tweaked a bit, so that spins are judged more harshly to encourage skaters to spend as much time perfecting their spin positions as they do on their jumps.
• And finally...I wanted to hit Peter Carruthers over the head with something heavy when he interviewed Mao Asada (from Japan), and later Yu-Na Kim (from South Korea). These girls don't speak English, and here is this idiot asking them complicated questions about their programs, and then patronizing them when they struggle to respond. You'd think that in Tokyo, a city of over 12 million people, ESPN would be able to find at least one would could speak both Japanese and English well enough to translate, and probably also one who could translate Korean. But no. Stupid American imperialists have to act like English is the only language that matters, and then pat themselves on the back for helping Japanese and Korean teenagers with their grammar. /sigh.

Stay tuned for ladies and pairs commentary tomorrow!! :)