1999 Worlds, Elvis Questions

[Wingnut]

Hi everyone. I was wondering if anyone could answer some of my questions.

First, can anyone give me a run-through of the mens event at the 1999 Worlds? I only saw it once and taped over it or something. Was this the first time that Q-rounds counted? Where was Elvis sitting heading into the SP and LP? What jumps did he and the other skaters land? I know that Yagudin got gold, Plushenko silver, Weiss bronze, Elvis 4th, Alexei Urmanov 5th??? He came back? How did he skate?

Second, I'm wondering how Elvis did in the 1999-2000 season. He started his season off with a Star Wars program, when did he change to The Mummy? Anyone know why? How did he skate at 4 Conts and Grand Prix Final? I know he was 1st and 2nd respectively, but does anyone remember how he skated? Also, what was his other Grand Prix event that year? NHK? Wasn't there a really close competition in the SP between him and Plushenko?

Thanks a lot.

Wingnut

[leap of faith]

1999 was the first year for the q-round counting for 20%

Elvis won his q-round group over Plushy. He dropped in the SP to third overall. I think he was 4th in the SP but don't quote me on that and he was 4th in the LP to drop off the podium.

Urmanov skated a clean SP jump wise but his combo landing was icky, he wasn't doing the quad as a jump like the top group and he stumlbed on his footwork.
I do not remember his LP.

In 1999-2000 Elvis did Skate America and Skate Canada where he finished 3rd and 2nd.

[bcskater]

Originally posted by leap of faith
Elvis won his q-round group over Plushy. He dropped in the SP to third overall. I think he was 4th in the SP but don't quote me on that and he was 4th in the LP to drop off the podium.

for some reason i remember elvis, yes, finishing 4th in the short program but then dropping to 5th in the freeskate. he did finish 4th overall, but i think takeshi had finished 4th in the free but was 5th or 6th overall.

[leap of faith]

oh that would make sense. Takesh had a wonderful LP after a dreadful SP.

[Erin F]

Originally posted by Wingnut
Second, I'm wondering how Elvis did in the 1999-2000 season. He started his season off with a Star Wars program, when did he change to The Mummy? Anyone know why? How did he skate at 4 Conts and Grand Prix Final? I know he was 1st and 2nd respectively, but does anyone remember how he skated? Also, what was his other Grand Prix event that year? NHK? Wasn't there a really close competition in the SP between him and Plushenko?


Elvis was one of the few skaters to actually get a new long program choreographed for the second LP at the GPF, and that program was The Mummy. I suspect that his second place finish at the GPF gave him the idea that the Mummy program was better than the Star Wars one (or maybe he even got some feedback from the judges that it was). Personally, I thought that the Star Wars program was about the only long program he's done that I liked other than Dragon in 94 and I was disappointed that he ditched it for the absolutely horrific Mummy--probably my least favourite program of his (and that's saying a lot!)

Elvis's other GP event was Skate America that year (where he was 3rd behind Yagudin and Goebel) and I don't think that there was any close competition between him and Plushy in the SP that season--the only times they competed against each other were the GPF and Worlds and Plushy soundly beat Elvis in the SP at both competitions. Maybe you're thinking of Skate Canada, where I think that both Elvis and Yags had clean short programs, although I still don't think it was very close (although I'm relying on my faulty memory here, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

As to how he skated, I don't remember the GPF. At 4CC, Elvis missed the quad in the short and was fourth after that program behind Eldredge, C. Li, and Zhang. In the long, he also missed the quad, but I believe landed 8 triples, while Eldredge did not skate very well, which enabled Elvis to go from fourth to first. Ironically, it was his presentation marks that put him in first over the Chinese guys (who have since come a long way in that department). His performance at Worlds was similar to 4CC in terms of jumps.