Munich, GERMANY - 1997/1998 Champions Series Final, Figure Skating, Men's Free Skate - Elvis Stojko of Canada placed 2nd in the Free Skate and ended dropping from 1st to 2nd Place overall.
I'm not Canadian, but I love him just the same. He is such an amazing skater and athlete...and a wonderful person. He got better and better and stronger too. Elvis USA loves you!
Great at jumps, but subpar in artistry. And that's what always hurt him in the end. Judges reward well-rounded skaters and that's what Ilia Kulik was and that's why he beat Elvis here and at the Nagano Olympics.
It didnt hurt him with the judges here. Artistic marks were way too high. Technical marks were too considering badly missed quad and all those low landings. Kulik had a better attempt at the quad, much cleaner 2nd triple axel, and definitely outjumped him here too.
off topic but those low landings would have saved Maria Butraskaya a million times over if she would learn not to land with straight stiff leg landings.
@Troy Turner: That's exactly what I try to explain to people who think Elvis was "robbed" of the gold in '94. Both he and Urmanov missed jumps in their LP that they replaced later in the program. So...all things being equal, when the total performance, artistry, body awareness and technique are considered, Urmanov was the superior all-around skater. Stojko is lucky he had a high level of consistency with his jumps because he'd never have had the career he did otherwise. He was just not a great all-around skater.
