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| 1998 Keri Lotion Figure Skating Classic | | Location: | Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, Florida | | Date: | October 3-4, 1998 | | Competitors: | 1. Todd Eldredge (USA)
2. Michael Weiss (USA)
3. Viktor Petrenko (UKR)
4. Ilia Kulik (RUS)
5. Rudy Galindo (USA)
6. Tim Goebel (USA) | | Reports by: | Diane and Mary | ABC only aired the skaters' artistic programs and not the short programs unless your name is Michelle Kwan.<G> Todd was the leader after the short program (he skated to Cabaret). Todd skated to Gethsemane as his artistic program. Todd's costume was the reincarnated Walk on the Wild Side costume but yellow stripes were replaced by black sequined material.
Todd stood in his opening position for a while after the music started, there may have been a time rule. His opening move was a spiral. The first jump was a 3 Loop, he was slightly tilted in the air, but made a nice save landing it. His program featured big crossovers and deep stroking. His second jump was a well-executed 3 Axel, perfect. The third jump was a 3 toe loop which Todd almost makes look like a Salchow. His combination jump featured a great 3 Lutz, with absolutely not hint of a flutz. He managed to squeeze in a 2 Toe Loop. The size of the rink was mentioned as being on the small/short size.
The next element was one of Todd's world famous combination spins featuring: a camel spin dropping into sit spin change of leg to sit spin on other leg, ending in a back scratch spin. Great spin, he lost the centering a bit during one change of position, but quickly re-centered it. He followed up the combination spin with a death drop spin.
The next series of elements were a nicely extended outside edge spiral, two Russian split jumps, and running threes. The final element was a wonderful forward scratch spin which is more difficult than a back scratch spin. Again, great speed and centering.
Bravo! And the judges agreed with 5.8s and 5.9s and a 6.0 for presentation. | | | CZE | USA | CAN | GER | BUL | RUS | USA | | Technical | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.8 | | Presentation | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 6.0 | | |
