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Sandhu no can do
Yesterday, he also was looking to see if his skates were on the right feet.
Talk about a rough debut at the world championships.
The Richmond Hill skater, who arrived at these worlds with all the fanfare of a conquering hero, suffered through an agonizing short program and, almost inconceivably, finished in 29th place.
The good news is, he was scored ahead of the guy from North Korea. On the down side, by not placing in the top 24, Sandhu did not qualify for tonight's free-skate program at the Minneapolis Target Center.
"I definitely wasn't expecting to be in this situation," a slightly shell-shocked Sandhu said. "Right now I'm thinking I wish I could do it all over again."
It has been a crazy season for the 17-year-old figure skater who, just a few months ago, was a household name only in his own house.
But after nailing a brilliant long program at the Canadian championships in December to finish second to Elvis Stojko, and then being left off the Olympic team, Sandhu became an instant hero, fuelled by an overwhelming media campaign.
TOO MUCH PRESSURE
Although he denies it, Sandhu arrived at this competition with far too much pressure on his slender shoulders, considering his age and lack of experience.
Still, no one expected a skater with such talent and grace to fall apart so dramatically.
Sandhu -- who nailed nine triples at the nationals and floored the crowd at Hamilton's Copps Coliseum -- fell on his opening triple Axel, thereby eliminating his combination, a required element. He also turned his planned triple lutz into a double. To add insult to injury, he had marks deducted because his music ran two seconds longer than allowed -- voiding his program-ending spin.
The soft-spoken Sandhu, while reluctant to offer excuses, suggested the long layoff between the nationals and worlds hurt his preparation. He also said that a trip to Nagano would have been a psychological aid.
The good news for Canadian skating was the performance of Jeff Langdon, 22, of Smiths Falls, Ont., who nailed a solid short program and was placed eighth by the judges, who weren't doing him any favors. Now the pressure is squarely on Langdon, who needs to finish sixth after tonight's free-skate for the Canadian team to be able to enter two skaters in the men's singles event at next year's worlds.
Yesterday's short program was won by Russia's Alexei Yagudin, 17, but the real star of the day was Yagudin's teammate, the phenomenal Evgeni Plushenko. Plushenko, 15, dazzled the crowd with a triple-triple jump combination and a unique Biellmann spin. American Michael Weiss, 21, beat out teammate Todd Eldredge, the 1996 world champ, for third.
Results
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Results Wednesday from the World Figure Skating Championships at the Target Center:Men
Short Program
1. Alexei Yagudin, Russia, .5 factored placements.
2. Yevgeni Plushenko, Russia, 1.0.
3. Michael Weiss, United States, 1.5.
4. Todd Eldredge, United States, 2.0.
5, Viacheslav Zagorodniuk, Ukraine, 2.5.
6, Andrejs Vlascenko, Germany, 3.0.
7, Steven Cousins, Britain, 3.5.
8. Jeff Langdon, Canada, 4.0.
9. Evgeny Pliuta, Ukraine, 4.5.
10. Michael Shmerkin, Israel, 5.0.
11. Takeshi Honda, Japan, 5.5.
12. Szabolcs Vidrai, Hungary, 6.0.
13. Markus Leminen, Finland, 6.5.
14. Zhengxin Guo, China, 7.0.
15. Ivan Dinev, Bulgaria, 7.5.
16. Robert Grzegorczyk, Poland, 8.0.
17. Margus Hernits, Estonia, 8.5.
18. Michael Tyllesen, Denmark, 9.0.
19. Laurent Tobel, France, 9.5.
20. Gilberto Viadana, 10.0.
21. Roman Skorniakov, Uzbekistan, 10.5.
22. Anthony Liu, Australia, 11.0.
23. Patrick Meier, Switzerland, 11.5.
24. Sven Meyer, Germany, 12.0.
Did Not Qualify for Free Skate
25. Patrick Schmit, Luxembourg, 12.5.
26. Yamato Tamuri, Japan, 13.0.
27. Sergejs Telenkov, Latvia, 13.5.
28. Vakhtang Murvanidze, Georgia, 14.0.
29. Emanuel Sandhu, Canada, 14.5.
30. Kyu-Hyun Lee, South Korea, 15.0.
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Pairs
Free Skate
1. Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, Russia, 1.0.
2. Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, United States, 2.0.
3. Peggy Schwarz and Mirko Muller, Germany, 3.0.
4. Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, China, 4.0.
5. Marina Yeltsova and Andrei Bushkov, Russia, 5.0.
6. Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek, Poland, 6.0.
7. Kristy Sargeant and Kris Wirtz, Canada, 7.0.
8. Sarah Abitbol and Stephane Bernadis, France, 8.0.
9. Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon and Luc Bradet, Canada, 9.0.
10. Shelby Lyons and Brian Wells, United States, 10.0.
11. Marina Khalturina and Andrei Kroukov, Kazakhstan, 11.0.
12. Yevgenia Filonenko and Igor Marchenko, Ukraine, 12.0.
13. Marsha Poluliaschenko and Andrew Seabrook, Britain, 13.0.
14. Katerina Berankova and Otto Dlabola, Czech Republic, 14.0.
15. Danielle McGrath and Stephen Carr, Australia, 15.0.
16. Elaine Asakani and Alcuin Schulten, Greece, 16.0.
17. Inga Rodionova and Alexander Anichenko, Azerbaijan, 17.0.
18. Olga Bestandigova and Josef Bestandig, Slovakia, 18.0.
19. Jelena Sirokhvatova and Juri Salmanov, Latvia, 19.0.
20. Jekaterina Nekrassova and Vladis Mintals, Estonia, 20.0.
Final Standings
1. Berezhnaya-Sikharulidze, 2.0.
2. Meno-Sand, 2.5.
3. Schwarz-Muller, 4.5.
4. Shen-Zhao, 7.0.
5. Zagorska-Siudek, 8.0.
6. Yeltsova-Bushkov, 8.5.
7. Sargeant-Wirtz, 9.5.
8. Abitbol-Bernadis, 12.0.
9. Savard-Gagnon-Bradet, 15.0.
10. Lyons-Wells, 15.0.
11. Khlaturina-Kroukov, 15.5.
12. Filonenko-Marchenko, 17.5.
13. Poluliaschenko-Seabrook, 20.5.
14. Berankova-Dlabola, 20.5.
15. McGrath-Carr, 22.0.
16. Asanaki-Schulten, 24.0.
17. Rodionova-Anichenko, 26.0.
18. Bestandigova-Bestandig, 26.5.
19. Sirokhvatova-Salmanov, 29.0.
20. Nekrassova-Mintals, 29.5.