Friday, December 23, 2011

Daisuke Takahashi Breaks 95 in Short Program at Japanese Nationals

Unlike in golf, breaking 95 is a very rare achievement in figure skating when it comes to the score for your short program.  Well, that's what Daisuke Takahashi just did at the Japanese nationals:


He wasn't satisfied with his step sequence, he said in interviews afterward, but he nailed his quad (in a quad-triple combo!) and was awesome on his other jumps, as well.  Ended up earning himself a 96.05, over 10 points ahead of his nearest pursuer (Kozuka) and over 20 points ahead of his next-closest competitor (Hanyu)!

I'm hoping Takahashi skates great in his long program, because I'd love to see him eclipse the hyper-inflated score Patrick Chan beat him with at the ISU Grand Prix, where Chan actually extended his lead on Dai-chan despite bringing his C-game to the free skate.  Everyone watching thought that Dai-chan completed outskated Chan when the chips were down and that the only question was whether Chan's huge lead from the short program would hold up against Dai-chan's onslaught.  Instead....  Well, just watch.  I still can't write about it....

First, Dai-chan's challenge:


Then, Chan's response:


Dai-chan wuz robbed, I tellz yuh!

Now let's hear the commentary in English, first for Takahashi:


Then, for Chan:


What do you think?

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