More Figure Skating - World Championships

As much as I love figure skating, the Worlds right after an Olympics is a tough sell. I mean, if you think about it, it's two "best in the world" titles right after each other.

So, with less than my usual enthusiasm, I began watching the World Championships last night.

Obviously, I'm not the only one with waning interest: ESPN is barely covering it. They only gave highlights of the mens' and pairs' short programs.

With the absence of gold medalist Evgeny Plushenko, the Swiss Stephane Lambiel was able to reclaim his World Championship, with relative ease. French Brian Joubert, who came in a disappointing 6th at the Olympics, gave him a serious run for his money, ultimately taking the silver. And American Evan Lysacek had the free skate of his life, moving up from 7th after the short program to take the bronze. (Very similar to what he had done in the Olympics, actually.)

Jeffrey Buttle and Johnny Weir were both off their games, coming in 6th and 7th, respectively. And my boy Matt Savoie (hey that rhymes!) came in a disappointing 11th. (But any opportunity to see him skate is a good one.)

Onwards to the rest of the competition. Interesting to see what will happen in the dance category, as Belbin and Agosto are going into the free dance in an incredibly disappointing 4th place - their original dance was beautiful and flawless, so who knows quite what that's about? No matter how hard they try to keep it fair and objective, there will always be a subjective piece of figure skating judging.

Oh, and kudos to ESPN for having Kurt Browning as a commentator. Huge thumbs up.