Sorry - but where on earth do people get the idea that hayley is an inferior skater. Why are Gary and Keiron better skaters? I am not sure they are. At the most you could say there is not a lot in it. Her solo routine was better than anyone else's in my view but I might be wrong. People can say they enjoy one person more than another and enjoy their skating more and find it more pleasurable to watch. But it seems obvious from her marking and the comments that she is getting that Hayley is much better generally than anyone else in this show - by a long way. Until all of them get up there and do the same routine on their own it will be hard to judge their skating ability. But as dancers on ice she is miles ahead of the boys. I hope they step up their game and make it a good final. Otherwise it will look awful if one of the men win.

Exactly!
As to the top post, it isn't nonsense to say Keiron is better at performance than Hayley. Yes Hayley is great at performance, but hers is sort of a graceful dance style, whereas Kieron's is more of a character dance style.
Think Brian Joubert v. Stephane Lambiel, one is all athletic character and the other is powerful grace and beauty. Both brilliant. They can be separated on technical skill by those who know, but which of their performance styles you prefer is a matter of taste.
Both their European championships 2010 gala performances are on youtube if you want to see what I mean. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlCecOFYerM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es-tJPKm4_g
I adore both these guys - glad I haven't got to choose between them!

I just don't think he is solid enough, he still looks 'wobbly' to me and I don't find this entertaining or exciting and Gary just doesn't have any presentation skills at all so it does bore me.

OT - ice-dragon, are you watching the mens short programme, Takahashi has gone into 1st place ( is he your favourite), brilliant skate.

I'll have to refer you back to a post IceDragon did which explained in much more detail about their respective skating and the difficulty of each routine (will check back to find it).

In my view her solo skate was slow and tenative - so clearly we're looking at different things aren't we. I happened to agree with Nicky more than Robin in respect of her score that night.

You are not going to agree with my views, and nor I with yours.

I absolutely appreciate how beautifully Hayley performs, but she is not my favourite to win.

It's quite clear to me that Hayley has been the outstanding performer of the series, and fully deserves to win - as I confidently expect her to do on Sunday

Thanks for the links. I think it's a good way to explain the differences.

Did you watch them? I absolutely love both performances....I think I like the gala better than the competiton half the time!

Yes. I now fancy Stephane Lambiel a bit. I meant it, it was the most effective way of explaining why both athletic and more elegant performances may have their merits, and why it might be difficult to compare them (before someone gets me, I don't mean to say that any of this year's contestants are even close to those guys).

Why do you think I said I wouldn't want to choose between them?

Watching the world's and I've just added Samuel Contesti to the list!

Joubert is just about to skate in the short progttramme. Quad toe-triple toe done. He's doing well, he's on fire.

I don't think that's remotely true. If one of the boys win, it'll be because the audience loved their performances, in just the same way it'll be if Hayley wins. None of them are Mikey or Colleen types relying on an huge existing fanbase - they've all had to gain their fans primarily on the ice. So whoever wins out of the three will be the deserving winner (even if it's Gary... ). They've all done well in their respective ways. Personally, it's Kieron that I love watching on the ice - for others its Gary or Hayley. But they're all good in their own ways, and I think to suggest that it be disaster if a person other than your favourite won is just silly.

Well I should have known that we have the same taste.

I might have to start watching ice skating, but I don't have access to sky or Eurosport.

I thought he was magnificent!

I love my yearly feast of ice-skating, I could watch it all the time, I love it, when you watch these skaters, it's just awesome (I don't usually use this word, but it just fits).

Yes, what a guy, he's 3rd.

An object lesson in picking yourself up after a knock back. His last few weeks make a week in the skate off on DoI look a bit minor!

I used to watch it when I was a child in the eighties, and I absolutely adored it. I still remember Chris and Jayne (although i was a wee little girl then). I also liked the french canadian brother and sister couple (I think she was married to Chris). I can't remember names of solo people anymore, but I remember quite a few of them (without knowing names).

The men's has been fantastic this year. So thrilled to see Brian back on form - love Brian and have for years but Daisuke is also a favourite since seeing him in 2004 Worlds and he has really improved.

Also impressed by the Spaniard and by Amodio who were on early, and enjoyed Kevin Reynolds skate too as it was a lot of fun.

Oooh and Contesti too. He's a real fighter - so impressive how he managed to land some of those jumps.

Have to agree with you on both of these....both brilliant "against the odds" performances. And entertaining to watch with it.

I have been watching longer than I care to remember. The Duchesney's were the Canadian couple who danced for France and she was married to Chris for a short while, Isobel I think her name was. I love ice-skating, it is my favourite sport and I wish I had taken it up when I was younger instead of a mis-spent youth.

I have taken my 2 boys ice-skating when they were younger to our local rink and we had some great times event though I was convinced we were going to get cut by someone elses skates those were the days.

You're never too old to start. I know a guy who started skating in his 70's! lach doch mal has already said she'll try it so I think you should too!

If I could, I would, but I'm afraid my old joints just wouldn't take it now.

I'm sure she'd be equally as flattering towards you should she ever have the pleasure of meeting you

Oh shame yellowlabbie, we could have been Internet skating buddies. Thanks for the information about the Duchesney's. I was always very impressed with them, although I was slightly disturbed to find out they were brother and sister when I was younger. They looked like a couple.