Rinkside Power Rankings (Men): Joubert is back

November 10, 9:14 PMFigure Skating ExaminerJackie Wong

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Brian Joubert (FRA) proves that he is still
a contender this season.
Photo: AP/Francois Mori

Trophee Eric Bompard may be Brian Joubert’s least favorite competition, but he certainly recovered well from his dismal showing in Paris to win the NHK Trophy last week over a deep field of strong skaters.  Likewise, Johnny Weir made a similar comeback with his silver medal performance in Nagano, even while being under the weather.

The men’s Power Rankings was the most affected of the four leaderboards by the results of the NHK Trophy.  In addition to Joubert and Weir, surprise bronze medalist Michal Brezina showed that he could hold his own with the best in the world with a fantastic free skate.  If he can skate like that again, he could give countryman Tomas Verner a run for his money at the Czech Nationals this season.

Nobunari Oda, Evgeni Plushenko, and Evan Lysacek are still at the top, having skated the strongest set of performances so far this season.

MEN
1. (1) Nobunari Oda – Still the best this season.
2. (2) Evgeni Plushenko – On a competition break until Russian Nationals in December.
3. (3) Evan Lysacek – Back in action at Skate America this week.
4. (-) Brian Joubert – Looked like his normal self again at NHK.
5. (4) Stephane Lambiel – Flying under the radar for a while.
6. (5) Tomas Verner – Battles Lysacek (and his stamina) in Lake Placid.
7. (-) Johnny Weir – Found his triple axel in Nagano, now for the quad?
8. (-) Michal Brezina – Great future ahead for the Czech No. 2.

Off the top 8: Daisuke Takahashi, Takahiko Kozuka, Adam Rippon
Key names yet to compete this season: Patrick Chan