It Ain't Over Until It's Over

Used to be a time — and not that long ago — when it was easy to separate the contenders from the pretenders heading into a free skate.
It was this simple: Top three, have at it for the medals.
The rest of you ... well, thanks for coming out.
Not anymore.
The men’s and women’s finals at the Four Continents Championship offered the latest evidence that — as that old saying goes — it ain’t over until it’s over.
Start with the men’s free skate on Friday night. Evan Lysacek of the U.S. found himself in fourth place after the short program, 10.68 points behind leader Jeffrey Buttle of Canada. But Lysacek skated the lights out in the free skate final in Colorado Springs (most notably, landing a quad, even if it wasn’t the cleanest landing) and wound up on top of the podium when all was said and done.
Final scores: Lysacek, 226.27; Buttle, 223.96.
(the three-time Canadian champ, it should be noted, went quadless and botched a triple Axel).
His training buddy, Christopher Mabee, had the third-best free skate and jumped up five spots to finish fifth.
Fast forward to today and the women’s free skate final. No surprise seeing that reigning world champion Kimmie Meissner won the gold. But the American teen had to rally from a sixth-place finish in the short program.
Granted, Meissner was only 4.11 points in arrears of short program winner Joannie Rochette of Canada. But this is the kind of leap that would have been virtually impossible under the old 6.0-based system.
With a 172.75-point overall total, though, Meissner had more than enough to slide past American compatriot Emily Hughes (166.60) and Rochette (165.90).
Worth noting: Had Rochette been able to match her ISU personal best free skate score of 118.26 (recorded at Skate Canada in Victoria), the gold would have been hers.
Meissner wasn’t even the biggest mover among the women. Canada’s No. 2 entry, Lesley Hawker (a.k.a. Mrs. Doherty), turned in a fine season-ending skate (she’s not on Canada’s world team) to rocket up from 16th after the short to a seventh-place final standing (Fumie Suguri's withdrawal accounted for one of those spots).
No matter where you sit, you’ve gotta love this kind of volatility. The skaters know they’ve still got a shot at the podium if the point gap isn’t too wide. And there’s more drama for the fans.
Good for the skaters, good for the fans ... isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?