Stephane Lambiel and Brian Joubert transcripts
Stephane Lambiel
2004 Worlds Short Program
TG: On the ice right now from Switzerland, Stephane Lambiel, who does at least one thing extremely well because he's from Switzerland.
DB: He spins.*laughs*
TG: Right, Dick?
DB: It's because he drinks Swiss water.*chuckles*
TG: The eighteen-year-old came in third in his qualifying group. Fifth overall, and last year he had a top ten finish at Worlds.
DB: Now he's opening with a triple axel. In some of his practice sessions, he's been somewhat out of control, but he's also known to do well sometimes, and he got that one off right into the barriers, you know, but he did it. And that is (chuckle) the name of the game in this. Now this combination quadruple toe-triple toe...ah. That's been his downfall on too many an occasion.
TG: That's what did him in last year in the short program. He was in third in his qualifying group last year, too, but was in thirteenth after the short in D.C..
DB: Footwork into a triple flip jump. Very low landing, in fact inside edge on the landing. Not a great position here. Good speed, but not a good or a very artistic position. There's an awful lot of arm movements here. If you took away about twenty-five percent of them, I think it'd work a lot better. Spin is good. Now this is well-centered. That good! Headless spin that's terrific! He's really all over the lot. You know, sometimes he can spin like a top and then he can fall splat on some jump that's really spinning in the air along with the jump...Well I've gotta tell you there's about four tenths of a point for that fall, yet I noticed that he's still come in quite high.
TG: 5.2 up to 5.8 for presentation. The judges' placements all over the place, from fourth to ninth.
2004 Worlds Long program
TG: Came in tenth at Worlds last year.
DB: He's been a less consistent skater than Johnny Weir has been. He must make these opening moves, first a triple axel. Very clean, nice.
TG: He had a disappointing showing recently at Europeans where he came in sixth, but he's a four-time Swiss national champ.
DB: Now he's planned a quadruple toe-triple toe combination. If he does that it will put him in a higher technical standing than what Johnny Weir has who only had triples and no quads. Oh! really good, but he fell out of the double-of the toe loop afterwards. But at least he completed the quadruple toe and I'm sure he'll get very good credit for that. Combination triple flip-triple toe. And one thing he has that is really superb is his spinning ability.
TG: He's from Switzerland. Denis Biellman, Lucinda Ru.
DB: Oh my gosh, it goes way back. Nicole Hassler, for a name from the past.
TG: Why is that?
DB: I think there's a certain amount of ability to center spins, and it's a solidity that comes with the spin. Some people can try and work, just work themselves to the bone, but they never quite center or straighten up that spin. It's like a top going off the table.
TG: Somehow it happens in Switzerland.
DB: Well, I've told you before, it's the water.
TG: Okay.*laugh* Oh, wow!
DB: A second quadruple. Now that will really stand him in good stead. There's excitement in his skating too-oooh!
TG: Dick, with regards to the quad, if you're Johnny Weir, and you've made these great strides, and you're at this level, can you win at this level without a quad?
DB: Yes, one can win it without a quad, but it would be far easier to do it with it. And that doesn't mean that somebody else can't beat you out if the rest of the program is consistent, good and imaginative. Look at this straight-line footwork. Now that's not so great. It's not unusual or really different. Now you notice the way he lands that, leaning over and not with a very smooth edge. But he'll get probably very full credit for that jump inspite - and this one too.
TG: He's had a long way to go in terms of the standings though. In fourth, and there are three phases of the competition for the men, so the free skate only worth fifty percent.
DB: Look at the speed he has here, the centering of that spin. A headless spin at the end. Well I gotta, I gotta tell you something, he really made it with the jumps. He has never landed a triple axel or two quads in one program before in his life. This is a big deal for him, and it will stand him in very good stead. And on top of that, he's a magnificent spinner. But he's kind of all over the lot a little bit too. Now what he needed and what he got was first, a quadruple toe loop, right there, look at the tightness of the legs, the stretch of the body, very low, deep landing, and then he steps up into a triple toe loop. I mean that, it's a marvelous thing even though he jumped out, popped out of the last one. But look at this second quadruple toe loop right here. The smoothness of it, the ease, right there, watch what happens. Straight legs, tightly done, good clean edge and a nice position coming out. Good for him.
TG: So. *laugh* He's still excited in the kiss and cry. It would be hard to win here because of the free skate only being worth fifty percent, but. But he certainly can medal. 5.6 up to 5.9. That's the first set for technical merit. And presentation 5.6 up to the 5.8 range there.
DB: What, er, uh!
TG: One of the judges, though, put him in second, but eight of the nine who count putting Stephane Lambiel in first place.
2005 Worlds Short Program
Simon Reed: figure skating. Is he about to be the king this week? He has all the credentials. He was...sublime. But when it really mattered at Europeans he couldn't do it. He couldn't quite do it in the Worlds last year. A gulp of air.
SR: Stephane Lambiel leads Plushenko at the moment. Will he do so in ten minutes' time? Plushenko, remember fallows him. Spanish Caravan, his music.
SR: Triple axel first. So good! That was a very good jump and a very good sign. So here's the quad-triple toe combination. No trouble!
SR: Triple lutz, but was there a double-footed landing?
Chris Howarth: Touched down with the free foot on the way out of that.
CH: Just amazing footwork.
SR: When it comes to spinning, this is the governor.
SR: Superb. One more routine for him to perform.
SR: He looks to be good enough. Can he possibly beat Plushenko on Plushenko's home patch?
SR: One that we received here, even by the Russians, that's good to see. Take that, Plushenko.
CH: That is, speechless, to be honest. Touchdown on the lutz was the only mistake I could see in the program. The spins are going to be level threes, I would imagine, and possibly the step sequences, too. Which means the tarriff for the first set of marks is going to be very, very good indeed.
SR: Never realized how many Swiss were here. I can attest Mr. Roger Federer is the biggest thing in Switzerland by some way, but here, he might have arrival!
SR: Lambiel. Out of this world.
SR: Two successive nights he's done it.
CH: Brave, brave man. Wasn't comfortable on the landing of the quad toe, but still got the triple toe out.
SR: Well, for someone who had the (something) night of his life, to someone new, and a night to forget. Quick to do with Stephen Lindeman, with Petra.
SR: How do you explain what happened today? Just wasn't a good day for me, says Stephen. Had a good feeling before the competition, I just cannot explain why I missed the first jump and from then on it just got worse. Can't do anything. Just try and do my best from here on in.
SR: Back to Stephane Lambiel, who gave his best, and produced his best. Plushenko's on the ice now, ready to rumble. What is he going to have to do to overtake this guy who remember has that fraction of a lead over him, it's virtually nothing. It's all on this.
SR: It's massive. The score is (cut off) (reads as 42.56)
2005 Worlds long program
Simon Reed: Lambiel. The nineteen-year-old. The Prince of men's figure skating. Is he gonna be the king in four and a half minutes' time? Skating to the soundtrack from King Arthur.
Chris Howarth: Oh no!
SR: Meant to be the triple axel. Just a single. He needs to nail this next thing badly. It's the quad-triple toe loop combination. The title may depend on it.
SR: Oh, magnificent!
SR: Calm down now for the loop. And he does it. Triple loop.
SR: Double axel, but only a double scheduled.
SR: There's no doubt he's the king of spins.
CH: Another quad! And that may be the gold medal jump. Well, one thing's for sure, it was an absolute corker!
SR: Double lutz-triple toe, got out of that very well.
CH: Great combination spin. Difficult entry, changing edge, good positions.
SR: Woah, nearly a nasty moment there. But he salvaged it again.
SR: Going for the triple flip. Only singled out. He mustn't make another mistake.
SR: Triple salchow-double toe loop.
CH: Amazing finish.
SR: It wasn't flawless. Far from flawless. He knows he can do better. He may have done enough. The spins, the step sequences, the two quads. Surely they're enough.
CH: It'll be key. The spins are level three. The step sequence at the end should be close to level three if not level three. Two quads. Massive tariff(?) and a wonderful program. And this atmosphere. Surely he's done enough!
SR: Overall, at the moment, it's Buttle in the gold medal position, Johnny Weir in second place. Sandhu second on the night so far in the free, but for second overall it's Weir.
CH: Just to put it into perspective, Simon, it's those two quad toes are worth nine points each and the last one must be a plus three because it was perfect.
SR: A nine-point lead he had over Buttle going into the free. So it's Buttle, Weir, Chengjiang Li third. Then Joubert, then Sandhu overall.
SR: Has Lambiel gone to the top of the podium? Does Switzerland have a new star? The difference between first and second is everything. They've had their ups and downs, but they're back together again. Surely it's the gold.
SR: The second score was so massive.
SR: That was a very iffy start, wasn't it? The triple axel that was singled out. But didn't he bounce back straight away.
CH: He really did. Put it right behind him to the back of his mind and focused on the job at hand. And this was the response after the single axel at the beginning. That was the second quadruple toe loop, and it was just brilliant.
SR: Does Switzerland have another world champion alongside Roger Federer?
SR: Here we go.
CH: Hold your breath.
SR: They're good. The marks are good! 67.32, he needs a strong second set and he's got them, 76.86! He shoots into the lead! He is the world champion. Still one to go, but he can't catch Lambiel. You are looking at the gold medalist for 2005. And amidst everything, the teenager from (?) has done it! Fabulous (?). You can just imagine what he's had to go through over the last forty-eight hours. Especially with Plushenko pulling out. All the focus was on him.
2006 Worlds long program
Terry Gannon: And he's the reigning world champ. He's from Switzerland. He won the silver medal at the Olympics. Coming in. Certainly he and Jeffrey Buttle, the two names that jumped out first, and then maybe Joubert. And that's who's up there now. Lambiel, twenty years of age. Skating to the Four Seasons by Vivaldi. Back and forth on whether or not he would even come to the World Championships because of a knee injury. It's that right knee, the landing knee.
Kurt Browning: Of all the skaters in the world today, Stephane Lambiel is a triple threat guy: the quads, the two of them in the program planned; an unbelievable spinner; and a great footwork and creativity. This first jump though a bugaboo for him, the triple axel. Goes off his heel a little bit. Well done.
TG: Wow.
KB: Okay.*laughs* You know what's fun about watching a competition when there's mistakes, and all you're watch--all you're thinking about is "All these guys want it." That all they're fighting for and that's what makes a great event. A two-footed landing there on that triple loop. Uncharacteristic. Quad-triple just could not have been better. That worth 13 points, I'm sure he'll get positive grades of execution for that which get added to the base value of the combination. This footwork sequence I love. The upcoming hitchkick, reverse direction, very creative, unique move. Goes right into the spin. great transitions in this program as well. You've gotta remember right now that the guy in first place, Joubert, did two quads. Working on the second one right here. *sigh* Perfect! Bring it! Bring it.
TG: Admiration for the Olympic silver medalist from the guy who did the first quad ever on the other side, Mr. Browning.
KB: And a triple flip-triple toe. Both the quad and the triple-triple getting the bonus ten percent for being past the halfway mark.
TG: Great piece of music. It suits him.
KB: It's not about the music right now, triple lutz-
TG: Oh, wow!
KB: -double toe. And we gotta start asking ourself, are we watching the world champion already?
TG: So far, you'd have to hand it to him.
KB: This has gotta be a great moment, no big jumps left. Just you and the music and the clapping of the audience. Wow.
TG: From the reigning world champ, to perhaps a two-time world champ.
KB: Defending world champ. He did what he needed to do, when he needed to do it. And that's what you dream about. You dream about your competitors skating great, and then you overcoming them.
TG: Pretty good night of skating.
KB: You know, I'm glad that the people who paid to come here didn't only just see the warm-ups. Because they were horrendous.*laughs*
TG: They were awful. But you go back to Lysacek really to kick it all off, and the effort that he had, and the end of it.
KB: I'm an absolute firm believer in a skater stepping out and setting the tone for the evening, and I think Lysacek was that guy.
TG: It becomes contagious. Brian Joubert, on top of the standings, watching. He'll watch backstage and wait for the marks for Lambiel along with us. Will it be Lambiel or will it be the Frenchman? We'll see, when we come back. They call him the little zebra for obvious reasons. Costumes do mean a lot in this sport, don't they? Right now he's applauding himself as he should. That's a great effort, and it may have just won him a world title, once again. Stephane Lambiel. Brian Joubert, from backstage, making his way closer to the ice with all the media. He'll get a medal, there's no doubt about it. Will it be gold or silver? How much drama? In your mind?
KB: Oh!*laughs* Tons. I mean, for those two guys. Just everything hanging in the balance right now. Brian Joubert skated as well as he can skate. And you can argue that there was that one little foot down on the triple loop for Jou-, for Lambiel.
TG: Here we go. His personal best is 160.90 in the free skate. He needs 153.21. He got it. 156.58. He doesn't realize it yet.
KB: *laughing*
TG: 274.22, guys.
KB: That's a massive score.
TG: There's your gold medalist. How long is it going to take for him to realize it.
KB(overlapping): Still looking up, trying to decipher the numbers.
TG(overlapping): Right about...
KB: There it is.
TG: All right. There you go.
KB: And after all that skating it came down to a little more than a double axel.
TG: That close.
KB: That's right.
TG: And for Joubert, I mean, a great way to end the season, but you get that close and then you want the gold.
KB: What's interesting is that the triple axel in the beginning of the program was downgraded to a double in Lambiel's program, and even so, he won. And the strengths of his components scores which were in the high sevens.
TG: Stephane Lambiel two-time world champ now, Brian Joubert, the silver. Hey, Mr. Browning, look who's in third.
KB: Ha-ha!
TG: Did we wager on that? Evan Lysacek the bronze once again at Worlds. Nobunari Oda, though, you remember the combination he got no credit for, repeating jumps. Some have to be in combination. All the rules, much like with the Japanese nationals, it cost him the bronze medal here. It cost him the gold in Japan
KB: Cost him a trip to the Olympics.
TG: That's exactly right. Because he was not the Japanese National champ.
KB: A young guy has a lot to learn.
TG: And we check in now with Peter Carruthers who's with Evan Lysacek.
2007 Worlds short program
TG: Is the inner fire back? He says so. We'll see if it shows in his skating.
KB: Stephane, just like Jeffrey Buttle, knows how to use the music, and his whole program looks like it has a lot of plot behind it. Triple axel. Just--
DB: Oooh, boy!
KB: I was going to say that if there was a weakness in this program, it would be the axel.
DB: I mean, these guys are self-destructing, more than one right on the start. Now what he did there was to remove the quadruple toe that he had planned and do a triple toe. and that made good sense.
KB: Holding on. Triple flip. You know, if you can just get rid of those mistakes in your mind and just enjoy his skating. Obviously one of the best spinners on the planet. So much to offer to the audience and to the judges.
DB: But even on the landing of that lutz you could see the inside edge leading to an outside on the landing.
KB: You know, we've both been there. When you're fighting the demons in your head of knowing that you've given up your world title already halfway through your short program it's hard to focus.
DB: Look at the way his body moves with this. That's really good skating.
KB: Yes. Being aware of the music all the way through the footwork sequence when so many other skaters skate right through the music, concentrating on their steps. Well, I may be premature in saying he's given up on every chance of winning the title this year, but.
DB: Listen, who said it ain't over til it's over? But almost. And not quite. And doesn't he know it.
TG: So Stephane Lambiel. Certainly not the start to this world championship that he had hoped for.
KB: Well, I was worried about the triple axel only because of the way he's been doing it this week. And you can see he was not tight in the air, and I think that had everything to do with just not feeling confident about it. And you need to be smart.
DB: It's called painting by the dots.
TG: Or numbers.
DB: One from the column red - one red, one from the column red, one from column two, er green. after all that three from green. Five from purple. My god, when you get through with it, you gotta, by the time you get done you have a telephone book done instead of a skating program. The originality and creativity.
KB: Gotcha.
Brian Joubert
2004 Worlds Long Program
Dick Button: And coming up after two first-rate performances, the pressure's on him, but he's one of those skaters who rises to the occasion. This will tell you right here - quadruple toe. Very exquisitely done. Easy, smooth outflowing edge. Wow. Triple flip jump. Oh! Did you see how he opened up in the air and then settled down. That's perfection in jumping. Now watch the arc of this next jump. The entrance edge, the air edge and the landing edge. The smoothness, the completeness of the arc. Perfect.
TG: Now at Europeans, for the first time in his career he landed a quad and a quad combination. See if he does it here. But the next quad has to be in combination.
DB: Quadruple toe combination to count. And a double turn really at the end will not give him the perfection of that mark, but the quad was beautiful.
TG: You've gotta love how outspoken and honest he is. "I wanna be European champ", he's done that. "I wanna be World champ," trying to do that here, and be the Olympic champ. And he has said that he wants to be the Olympic champ in 2006 and the pairs Olympic champ in 2010. I'm not sure if he's kidding or not.
DB: Sit-spin, changed sit-spin.
TG: Remember, you've got Michael Weiss, the two-time World bronze medalist still to skate in the medal hunt, and the defending champion, Evgeni Plushenko.
DB: Moves in the field, made up of individual smaller moves like spread eagles and spirals and Ina Bauers. Triple lutz jump. Now you'll see the influence of Alexei Yagudin in these kinds of straight line footwork steps. He's been working with him very briefly, but you can see the influence is already taking effect. Look at this. Triple salchow. Wonderfully open in the air, before the landing comes! Death drop. (laughs) Yes, I like that.
TG: Dick, you mentioned Yagudin helping out coaching Joubert, the main rival for so many years with Evgeni Plushenko. Plushenko's gotta be thinking, "How can I get rid of that guy!? He's still after me!"
DB: Yep.
TG: Technical merit, 5.6 to 5.9
DB: Very good marks. You know. Look at that! 5.7 to 5.9. Well, that's, that's terrific for him. A steady, secure, clean, confident program.
2005 Worlds Short Program
1: Silver medalist last year, silver medalist in Turin in the Europeans. He's fed up with being second. Brian Joubert, from France. Music selection from the Blue Man Group. The quad is first. And he lands it. Big combination. Quad-triple toe loop. Now for the axel. Yes. Didn't get the height he wanted but he held it together. I hope that rounds up. The triples. Good reply from Joubert. These guys! Well, that's why they're superstars. The ability to hold it together when the world round them is going crazy. That's why they're superhuman. Just imagine - you've been there Clifford - the definition of, you know, success and failure, on that blade at that speed. Just amazing.
Clifford: Yeah, you know, you're literally on a knife edge. It sounds a crazy thing to say, but you are. It's...the timing is absolutely paramount. And it's gotta be from the soul. And they're feeling it. They're not doing it, it's from the heart, this stuff. Yes. Just amazing.
1: A willingness to perform, a willingness to compete, a willingness to show and a love of what they're doing.
Clifford: yes.
1: Just fabulous. What a night this has been. And we've got a chance to talk to Plushenko now. He's rinkside for Eurosport.
Plushenko: I am injured right now and I have a problem with groin, so after Europeans I did not skate two and a half weeks, so I skated before Worlds just two weeks. And I have bad bad condition. But, you know, I should skate, and I must skate here at hometown in Moscow and win World championships here. I like skate and, uh. But, of course, uh when you have bad condition, you weigh something strange, you know, and I have big mistake with combination. But, you know, it's okay. For two weeks, skate. I am fine. Fine with result, and I just want to skate here, because you know it's Russia and I should skate.
1: Yeah, excellent start from Plushenko. Showing real pride in himself and his country, and of course desperate to get the top three to get that place for Russia at Olympics. There's Joubert there, looking up at his marks looking up hopefully, and he's right to look up hopefully. 41.95 and 37.71. It's second place for Joubert. It's second place for Joubert. Second place behind Lambiel. But he's in front of Plushenko. 112, so he's a point in front of Plushenko, six points behind Lambiel. It's looking great for Lambiel. Joubert's happy. He's in front of Plushenko. Will he be on Thursday night? Will Plushenko be in any kind of state to make a challenge on these two. It's fascinating. Boy.
2005 Worlds Short Program
Note: This video sucks for video and audio quality - it looks and sounds like someone tried to film off a projector screen. However, it did enable me to figure out who one of the commentators actually is, so I'll be going back and fixing commentator IDs in past transcripts. For vid quality, watch the other version of 2005 Worlds SP.
Commentator #1 might be Paul Wylie, but I'm not certain.
Terry Gannon: A surprising top three, not Plushenko leading right now, but the man from Switzerland, as Brian Joubert takes the ice. The three-time French national champ. He has become one of the best skaters in the world, the reigning world silver medalist.
1: This is the jump that Plushenko fell on, the quad toe-triple toe loop. Working through that nicely.
TG: Joubert has become quite a hot item in France, for those of you who follow such things. He's no longer dating Miss France. Trouble even qualifying, third overall. Really complained about having to skate at ten a.m., he's not good in the morning.
TG: You know, at the European championships this year, Joubert barely lost to Plushenko, and it was his first short program, I think, that he's struggled with (something)
1: Absolutely. And to know that he got that close to Plushenko had to be a big boost to his confidence and (something) what happened to Plushenko, he can certainly at this point just let it go at the end of the program.
TG: Nice near the top though, including the Americans, Lysacek in the rear, just not in the top three. Can no longer overlook Stephane Lambiel. You have to think about the Plushenkos and the top names.
1: He met the challenge, Terry. Came out here, see, and skated a good short program, delivered the elements, eight required elements, no mistakes, a good performance for Brian Joubert.
TG: Yeah, he'll tell you, sure, because of skating at night, not at ten a.m.
1: *laughing* No, he did not like that.
TG: Brian Joubert, the 20-year-old from (something), France. (something) right here, in the short program.
1: Skating a little bit too close to the boards on this quadruple toe loop, but he remained focused, brings around the corner a bit, quad toe-triple toe. Very nice, that was the opening jumping sequence in his program. *laughs*
TG: Quickly join Kristine (cuts off)
2005 Worlds Long Program
Peter Carruthers: Joubert really rose to the occasion at the European Figure Skating Championships, very much challenged Plushenko. His timing, his peaking at the right time of the season may be right on. He was going for the quadruple toe loop, only a triple. All is not lost yet.
2: How did he hang onto that?
PC: Strength. Great air on that triple lutz, the rotation finishing out about seven or eight inches off the ice.
2: Since Joubert won the European title in 2004, he's been a star in France. On magazine covers, reality television series, all over the place, and also his name, that was the buzz in figure skating. The next great male skater. Then he hit a wall earlier this season, with criticisms of his skating. And now he seems to be coming back
PC: There's another attempt at the quad and a fall, two minutes into the program. That will certainly hurt the points. And he's just not on tonight. Reaching for the ice instead of standing out and staying straight. Oh my, and you know just a concentration problem right here.
2: And you would think, Peter, this is where the experience of having competed at Worlds, won a medal would pay off, by keeping your composure. But he's not...Lambiel, and about a five and a half point lead. Don't forget about Lysacek, the American, trying to medal in his first trip. He skates last he's got a shot.
PC: Just running on the toe picks, not particularly hard to do. Turns in different directions, mohawks, brackets, counters, rockers, that's what makes it difficult. Oh, my, you know he's just losing it. Well, the long pause just standing in one place.
2(overlapping): And a chance to think about a golden opportunity that has fallen by the wayside.
PC(overlapping): Oh my god yes.
2: When you have that opportunity to be a world champion, Peter, I mean, 20 years from now they may not remember that Evgeni Plushenko withdrew because of his groin injury, but remember that Joubert won the world title. He may have tossed that away.
2006 Cup of Russia Long Program
Terry Gannon: Paris at home handily and right now he takes the ice -- remember, he had a 2.6 point lead after the short and Johnny Weir struggled. Ilya Klimpkin received a total of 187.45, good enough for second place behind Weir at the moment.
Paul Wylie: One word describes Joubert this year: confident. He has a new training regime, a new coach, a new program with three planned quads. The first in combination, a quad toe-double toe loop. And that is a psychological advantage over all of his opponents. Because he shows up and he's got three quads in the program they're saying, 'Oh my gosh, I don't even have one.' Quad slachow. (laughs) And that is so huge because it's two different jumps. The quad toe and the quad salchow are as difficult as a forehand and a backhand in tennis, or serve. He won't stop there, triple axel's next.
TG: And Paul, Brian Joubert not only trying to win a gold medal but send a message to the rest of the skaters who are competing here, and I would imagine there's a little something extra to have Evgeni Plushenko, the Olympic champ in the arena watching this performance.
PW: Contemplating when he's going to make his return, and Can I beat this guy?
TG: Right.
PW: Okay. The third quad here coming after the halfway mark earns a bonus if he gets it. Ha. Wow. Three quads. The shot around the world. You can tell Stephane Lambiel's paying attention to that. and (someone) and Evan Lysacek and anybody else watching.
TG: Game, set, match. Forget about this event. That's long gone. That wasn't in question after the second quad. But no one in the world has proven that he can step on the ice and match what we just saw.
PW: He set a new standard. He's gone out and taken a new approach with a new coach. This is not the guy that we saw in sixth place in Torino, not the defeated guy there. Well. The quad toe double toe at the beginning of the program, just about text book in the air. Look at that. He has to figure it out a little bit. That worth 10.3 points. He follows it right up with a second and different quad off the back inside edge, the quadruple salchow, more difficult, higher value. Haha. Just the emotion in his hands. And then this quad came after the halfway so it gets that 10 percent bonus. It equals--It's so difficult to do this when you're winded and tired.
TG: This might be a defining moment and a defining performance for him. We'll see if it, uh, tops his personal best. You would imagine with the three quads, he did everything else remarkably too. 156.47, that's his personal best. Throw that 118 out, I mean he's going to blow that away easily. 160.13, a personal best for Joubert, but also that's the best we've seen from anyone except for Evgeni Plushenko.
2006 Worlds long program
Terry Gannon: Joubert, on the ice, going back to a program which he had a lot of success with back in 2004. A 21 year old in third place after the short, and just a little more than three off the lead heading into this portion of the competition.
KB: Well he’s been winning every single practice. He looks completely fit. The warm-up was an anomaly. I just can’t believe what I saw, two falls. It must be so distracting as he goes into this opening quad-triple combination he did so well in the short.
TG: He’s got it.
KB: Hahow. That’s huge. 13 base points value for that.
TG: And that’s where the confidence comes in. You know when something goes wrong in that five minute warm-up, it doesn’t bother you, you just get rid of it and go to business. Triple flip, double flip.
KB: A jump that he’s struggled with in the past, but he’s looked great all week, here the triple axel. Solid over his knee, just like the short.
TG: Only two guys have beaten Evgeni Plushenko, the Olympic champ since the last Olympic games in Salt Lake. Joubert’s one of them. Sandhu is the other, still to come. Not to mention Midori Oda didn’t get credit for one of his combinations because there were too many elements. You can only do so many, Klimpkin penalized for doing too many triples. Down the list.
KB: Second quad. He’s lucky on the ice. Exactly the same corner.
TG: You know with Stephane being injured and having a tough season, I just think this guy is probably laying a trap. Skate clean, let Stephane make one mistake, become World Champion.
KB: There’s that loop. He missed it twice in the warm-up. Bet he’s glad to get that out of the way. Woah-hohoho, he held onto that one. He was off in the air, correcting in the style of Todd Eldridge. Where I’ve seen a lot of improvement is in his spins, here, he’s getting levels by changing edges he’s worked with Lucinda Rue the Swiss spinning great.
TG: I get the feeling last season he just didn’t know how to work this new system. Now he’s going to work the audience.
KB: All right, who’s going to be World Champion? Well, he’s going to force Stephane Lambiel to fight for it now, he’s gotta skate clean. All week long you’ve been dreaming of this moment, and certainly Mom has.
TG: Raymonde? Certainly a standing ovation from her, but she’s not the only one. Much of the crowd here, on their feet. Brian Joubert back to an old, familiar friend, his Matrix program. He beat Plushenko with it. Can he beat Lambiel, Weir, Sandhu, Buttle? They’re next.
KB: Well, he’s had this jump - quad toe - in his back pocket all week. Johnny Weir was totally in his way in the warm-up. He didn’t care, he landed it, and he landed it right here. Well if the first quad wasn’t good enough, the second one was even better. And talk about working your strengths.
TG: So that is kind of the thing, falling down in the warm-up and then skating great. Almost 80 for technical elements, and look at that number. 270.83.
KB: Wow.
TG: The free skate by far a personal best for him, and he vaults into the lead. Raymonde, does she know yet? She’s gotta know.
KB: She’s gotta know.
TG: Didn’t react much though.
KB: Well, with the way he’s been skating all week, maybe she expected it. Honestly. He has been clean, clean in the practices.
2007 Worlds Short Program
DB:--having been out.
KB: Well, still working the female side of the audience with a cool James Bond theme. This guy's an athlete. I know we talk about Jeffrey and Lambiel and these guys being skaters. Right now, Brian Joubert is an athlete, and when it comes to doing a quad in the short program, I don't have any worries about this guy. It's so strong. Having said that, here we go. That's it. Easy!
DB: You see the way that free leg just swept around so beautifully. The edging going into it, the smoothness, the deepness of the knee.
KB: Keeping that momentum going, triple axel. So he's proving himself maybe the best athlete in the competition and the sport today, but also proving himself mentally really strong as well. Wow.
DB: Here you see him trying to use his upper body more, but it comes out rather the same movement each time, right when he drops down like that. Not real upper body movement, but an awefully good circular step.
KB: Car chase.
DB: The same repetitive dip of the body. Good fast edge, my god, turns.
KB: Well, it's awfully hard to learn a quadruple toe loop, but somebody who has a quad in his back pocket can learn how to do footwork. This guy's going to improve in the next few years.
DB: *laughs* The strength there is...(cuts off)
2008 Worlds Long Program
TG: --the muscular virus, you know, for a while there he didn't know what was going on. And it's just fatigue.
PW: He was untouchable last season. Opens here with a quad. Wow.
DB: Look at the height on that! Ha ha!
PW: Beautiful. He has been practicing a quadruple salchow, the only one of the men here to do multiple types of quadruple jumps.
DB: Another quad, possibly.
DB+PW: Triple.
TG: Beautiful.
PW: Really improved the quickness on his footwork working with Kurt Browning since the Europeans.
DB: There again is the matter of somebody who is attacking his problems and learning to live with it and making improving them. Good speed, he's improved the speed, the spinning, the speed and the centering on it, on his spins, much.
PW: Little breather before his second quad toe attempt
DP: And, and to get to the second half of the program, too.
PW: Turns it into a triple flip-triple toe, very smart.
DB: Beatiful. That's just wonderful spring. Look at the smoothness of these edges, the flow of them.
TG: *laughs*
DB: A group of French fans in that corner of the arena. Here's where a straight line footwork and the music and his attack work perfectly. Ah. That was to have been a triple salchow, he converted it. Nobody here's going to complain.
PW: *laughing* Yeah!
DB: Haha...
(various laughter)
PW: What a difference from Europeans.
DB: Oh yeah. But I mean, you know, I mean, he really did those jumps. He's got a very interesting quality. It's a very straightforward, very masculine kind of simplicity of movement. He doesn't do the little tap dancing steps the attack thing that Kurt Browning--
TG: It's not (someone), it's not Philippe Candeloro, who is here.
DB: Nor is it Kurt Browning, or Paul Wylie. It's his own style. And he did it beautifully today.
PW: He owns lots of speed going into it and tremendous reachback. Of course the quality, height, air position there and the landing position. You're going to get some positive grades of execution for that for sure. And the straight line footwork, really, giving all of the energy that he had left, to reach out to the audience and the judges. Very, very very good. This has been an incredible season, you know for him to come back from all of the stuff that he's had to go through, it's an awesome feeling.
DB: You know, I think for me, it's more the fact that he's attacked the problems that he had and he's improved his spinning, and he's worked to create a greater dance ability in his steps, and he pulled the whole act together. And I, I, I take my hat off to him for that.
TG: The French man to win two world titles. I don't think there's going to be any doubt. Look at those numbers. That's more than enough, guys. First place, Brian Joubert.Looking to repeat as champ here at Worlds. Woah, that's a huge lead. Wow.
DB: Look at the points that that's pulled up.
TG: Over nine points, the lead.