Whistler British Columbia Canada

Evan Lysacek is such a lyric skater watching him execute his long program is like watching a moving pen loop through a sentence. The elegance of line, continued quality, the taste of sound choreography after decades of all-stops-pulled kitchen-sink men’s routines is refreshing. Lysacek is very polished and presents a numbingly taste-forward routine with decorator flair but no risks. Certainly no foreign challenger as of yet seeks to dominate over this favored medalist contender for Vancouver 2010.

The long training career of Evan Lysacek has reached a good high point in this pre-Olympic year. Lysacek’s long program is classic enough that it might have been performed 40 years ago, technical prowess in the jumps notwithstanding. There is a pronounced sophistication to Lysacek’s skating now that only a serious performance debacle could mar on the way to an Olympic gold medal. The international appearance of the tuxedo and Gershwin routine brings American appeal to a global figure skating stage.

Evan Lysacek is the right skater for Frank Carroll’s ship to come in, the coach of no less than Michelle Kwan and Timothy Goebels, carol has labored long and toiled hard for American figure skating. Evan Lysacek is fortunate to arrive at an Olympics where the Russians are not bringing a formidable set of tornadoes to outdo each other, leaving the others in the dust. Like Lysacek, the Olympics year will not include spectacular aerial combat which will include risks that often demote gracefulness to mere canyon filling between the leaps of faith.

Canadian Patrick Chan is having his best era of skating, unfortunately in the shadow of a senior technical craftsman and dancer extraordinaire Lysacek. But Chan’s elegant stepping and technical precision are only one layer behind Lysacek, one flair sequence or twirling sit spin away. Patrick Chan’s stunning extensions and balletic presence give Lysacek very little place to go except perfection. If a stumbling match occurs on the ice in Vancouver in 2010, Chan could grab the gold in front of his home audience.

Brian Joubert also delivered quite a performance at the World’s but one which gave pause. The dramatic one shouldered cutout costume, the hip swiveling shimmy and shake on the ice, and razzle dazzle had a feel both forced and fictitious. Joubert’s talent is undeniable, but he is happening along at the top of his figure skating game and peaking for Olympic medaling right under formidable talents like Chan and Lysacek. Give the winner-takes-all nature of Olympic gold medal crowns in figure skating, it’s a pity each of these skaters could not win renown for their gifts as it stands.

Tomas Verner is another name that might elbow one of the Americans off the Olympic podium in Vancouver in 2010. Theatrical and poetic, Verner has a feminine style often vilified in male skating performances. Yet Olympic judges have been known to award such skaters the gold. The earnestly lithe Verner features skip-stepping and fully extended variate spins. Yet the gloved delicacy of mime in his Worlds 2009 performance couldn’t distract from several singled-out jumps.

The case for Verner for Olympic gold is difficult to predict. His complicated scenarios inside the routine of delicate but burgeoning drama overshadows his technical prowess. The flair for completed moves is present, but the capability for a gold medal winning routine is flawed by an over abundance of European styling. Even in a yar when every championship male figure skater has the gifts of a lyrical Brian Boitano and a little Phillippe Candelario thrown in, Czechoslovakia’s Verner puzzles with a calibrated indistinctness of statement which will pale before the advancing Americans. Tomas Verner’s fluid spins and concise delivery are pleasing, but with a technical field where there is a gentleman’s agreement not to include a quad, this Olympic contest for male figure skating gold will be won on the fragile edges of style versus the hard grind of revolving blades.

Samuel Contesti of Italy might creep up on the outside of the Vancouver Olympic podium if he brings his best routine, best music, and best choreography, because as he demonstrated (from the ice skating powerhouse that is Italy) in the 2009 Worlds he can certainly put on a show. Samuel Contesti could stun the audience and replace one of a crowded upper tier of championship male skaters in Vancouver in 2010 if injuries, nerves, pressure or the dreaded technical additions start happening late in the game.

But where, as they say, are the Russians? Astute figure skating observers agree, there are no Russian contenders this time around. Sergei Voronov barely made the finals with a routine that might be first among Russians, but hardly yet world championship class. Andrei Lutai is not read for his Olympic close-up. Voronov is young yet and probably will not peak for Vancouver, but stranger things have happened.

Japanese skaters Takahito Kozuka and Nobunari Oda are not in the upper tier for Vancouver finishing competitively, although they ranked and sixth and seven finalists after the primary finishers. In fact, the closing finishers from the Los Angeles Worlds are Canadian (Vaughn Chipeur) and from Kazakhstan (Denis Ten), leaving Europe somewhat high and dry for Vancouver 2010.

But that does not mean Europe is not bringing some heat. In these first years of the ISU judging system, there are many Olympic scoring records to be made. As the 2009 Worlds determine the World Male figure skating competing slots for the 2010 Worlds and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, as of the end of March in 2009 the die was cast.

American Brandon Mroz finished 9th in Los Angeles in 2009, and might pick up some potential if he can improve by Worlds in 2010. A quad Master, Mroz threw out a lot of air and lightened his jumping program overmuch in World’s 2009. But he might put the cat among the kittens if he can scramble some senior level grace and style by Worlds 2010. A quad would challenge the ISU judging. But so far, the American top stylish trio of Lysacek, Chan and Joubert and a few global contenders will challenge each other for the male figure skating gold medal in Vancouver’s Olympic championships in 2010.

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