ICE SKATING: Trophee Lalique: Men's competition

Trophee Lalique Paris, France November 23, 2000 -, November 26, 2000 Televised on ABC 12/17/00

Trophee Lalique was Alexei Yagudin's last event on the Grand Prix circuit. He would try to wrap up a spot at the Grand Prix Finals in February. Yagudin had already earned 12 points at Skate Canada, where he had the performance of his life, and, should he perform the same way at the World Championships this year, could very well win his fourth straight world title.

However, Yagudin came to Paris sick. He had fallen ill in Moscow the week prior, and was still feeling a little uncomfortable throughout the competition. You certainly couldn't tell during the short program. Yagudin completed a quad toe-triple toe (a small turnout at the end of the triple toe), triple axel, and triple lutz. He was in first place after the short program, with his teammate Roman Serov in second place, Vincent Restencourt in third, and Stannick Jeannette in fourth. The rest of the field was relatively weak in comparison, and it seemed extremely likely that Yagudin would win without much of a struggle.

The long program was similar to the short program in the quality of skating. Yagudin was head and shoulders above the rest of the field. He was the only one to complete a quad toe-triple toe (although the triple toe had a slight turnout, like in the short program). Yagudin made another insignificant error in his triple flip - he attempted a triple loop combination after it, but singled the loop. While this is not a mistake, it sends a signal to the judges that you are capable of more. Yagudin performed a new slide, which he has in his interpretive version of "Gladiator." This slide is very difficult - he supports himself on his elbow and slides across the ice on his boots, without the help of his blades.

Yagudin equaled his performance at Skate Canada, flawlessly completing his quad and seven other triples. His program was full of intensity and power. Maybe the only thing that made the program slightly weaker, technically, was the turnout on the triple toe at the end of the quad, and his single loop. The minor mistakes were evident in his scores. His scores for technical merit were 5.8s and 5.9s, instead of the straight 5.9s he got at Skate Canada. However, Yagudin's scores for presentation included three perfect 6.0s!!! (He received two at Skate Canada). He was undoubtedly the winner at Trophee Lalique.

In second place was French champion Stanick Jeannette, who skated to a Violin Concerto. Jeannette had a very weak opening to his program. He tripled his quad toe attempt, fell on his first triple axel, popped the second, and attempted it a third time. The third time, it was successful. Having gained some more confidence, Jeannette seemed to suddenly get more energy to complete his program with clean triples. He also tried a slide ala Yagudin, but fell on it. While Jeannette's music was very suited to skating, his theme was fairly unclear and he seemed at times to flail around, searching for meaning. Perhaps the program would be stronger with cleaner jumps.

Still, Jeannette was better than Roman Serov. Serov, in second place after the short program, had a very uneven long program, a sign of his inexperience. At the offset he attempted a quad loop. If he landed it, it would have been the first time a quad loop was ever completed in competition. But Serov popped his quad loop. Right after that, he landed a beautiful triple axel-triple toe. Serov followed the combination with a double flip, and the rest of his program went like that: clean jump, mistake, clean jump, mistake. Skating to music from the musical "Chess," Serov had very nice choreography but he seemed tired and uninspired, especially towards the end of his program. Serov finished third behind Stanick Jeannette and Alexei Yagudin.

Yagudin earned another 12 Grand Prix points and secured his spot at the Grand Prix Finals, where he will meet up with long time rival Evgeny Plushenko.