OK. I'm still - and will forever be, dogging X with questions on what's this, who's that - a figure-skating neophyte, but I really must write about this anyway, due to Evgeni Plushenko.
The Man returns after having been on hiatus 2006-2008. How well did things turn out for him?
At the 2010 European Figure Skating Championships Plushenko set a new world record score in the short program by scoring 91.30 points and took first place before the free skate. ((From Wikipedia.))
He lost 40 pounds, remarried and trained. And then some.
Below's a film from Swedish TV showing how he almost completely aced his free program yesterday in Moscow, winning him the gold medal almost 12 points before Stéphane Lambiel, who received a truly well-deserved silver, and Brian Joubert in third place, rightfully so. Even though Joubert should have passed out on the ice, leaving Michal BÅ™ezina - 19 years old - in third place; it would poetically have suited the former's theme with the phoenix. Or spontaneous self-combustion, I'd accept that too, yeah.
The scores from the men's finals are available here.
Note that after Plushenko's slip at 2:24, the Swedish commenter adds: "Oops! Even he can slip up!"
Related articles
- Plushenko back in full form at Europeans (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Still Jumping Strongly, Plushenko Makes a Comeback (nytimes.com)
