Olympic Recap, Day 11: Ladies' Short Program

Last night, the women turned in some stunning performances in the short program. The top five competitors all turned in clean, dynamic skates.

Sasha Cohen leads after the short. She skated an exceptional program full of grace and confidence. Her jumps were solid. Her spins were centered. Her footwork was quick. And her spirals were fantastic. It was a dynamic program, and Sasha really sold it. Her showmanship was first rate. Her program component score, similar to the artistic marks under the old system, was the highest of the night.

Irina Slutskaya is a close second - she trails Cohen by only .03 points. Her program was light and lively and filled with athleticism. She skated faster and jumped higher than the rest of the field. Irina turned in the highest element score in the ladies' short.

Shizuka Arakawa from Japan skated to third place. She displayed a natural elegance throughout her program, and cleanly executed each of the required elements. I liked her music - Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu - though the piece seemed a little faster than she could handle. (In all fairness, the fast portions of that piece are probably faster than any skater could handle.) I also felt she could have displayed more emotion and expression; her footwork sequence in particular seemed a bit flat. But Arakawa is hot on the heels of Sasha and Irina, less than a point behind.

Arakawa's teammate Fumie Suguri is fourth after the short program. I really enjoyed her program. It had a fluidity and grace that I liked better than that of Arakawa. I felt she really sold her program through the choreography. But her program elements were not as difficult as those of the top three skaters; many of the elements were only level 3 instead of the highest level, level 4. As a result, her base mark was lower than that of Cohen, Slutskaya, and Arakawa. Still, Suguri is less than five points off the leader, so she's still a medal threat.

Kimmie Meissner, the sixteen-year old from the U.S. is currently fifth. Although she did well enough at Nationals last year to qualify for Worlds, since she was only fifteen she was ineligible to compete last year. She was one of the first to skate last night, and her program set a high standard. She skated clean and with passion. She lacks the maturity of the top skaters, but could still contend for a medal with a strong freeskate.

Emily Hughes, the bronze medalist at U.S. Nationals last month who took Michelle Kwan's spot after Kwan had to withdraw with a groin injury, skated a good program with only a minor bobble on her footwork sequence. Although she is not expected to medal, her seventh place finish in the short still gives her an outside shot at the podium. Full results here, detailed results here.

I was surprised that there weren't very many triple-triple combinations attempted in the short program. I'm sure we'll see a fair number attempted in the long program tomorrow night, but I thought there would be more in this round. I think spin quality has improved under the new system, and there are some interesting positions. But there are also some things that seem to be overdone - particularly Biellmann spins and changes of edge in spins.

Costume-wise, there was nothing particularly unusual or scandalous in the short program. There were only a few music selections that bear separate mention. Yelena Liashenko of Ukraine skated to a somewhat avant garde piece that included chirping birds and reminded me of some of Surya Bonaly's stranger numbers. Canadian skater Joannie Rochette chose an instrumental version of Madonna's Like a Prayer, which was interesting. Finally, Susanna Poykio of Finland skated to a piece that incorporated music from Austin Powers. I don't think any of these music selections were bad, just different. And the skaters even made them work to an extent, though they did not display the same artistry exhibited by the top skaters.