I'm sorry if it looks like I've fallen off of the face of this Earth. I had computer virus problems, then health problems, then finals, and then that whole moving-back-home-oh-crap-it's-the-holidays-and-I-haven't-bought-gifts-because-of-my-stupid-anthropology-final thing.
Anyways, I desist. I know that I missed the end of the Grand Prix (as did most of the ISU, thanks to the bazillion withdrawals), so here are my thoughts on it in a few bullet pointy-things:
ICE DANCE: This competition would have been infinitely more interesting if there had been more competitors. But there weren't. Here's hoping that all sick/injured parties feel better soon! Also [I can't help it] MERYL AND CHARLIE GOT BRONZE (in the most watered-down competition of the year, but who's counting?? NOT ME)!!!!!! Yay!
PAIRS: Savchenko and Szolkowy didn't win, which was surprising...but it looks like the Chinese pairs are back on top for now. Good for them!
LADIES: Yu-Na didn't win...so here's hoping that she'll get the World title in March. Mao Asada, however, pulled off two triple axels in her program--stunning now, but I haven't a feeling that she's going to need a hip replacement by age 25. Carolina Kostner's skating still doesn't do anything for me, but she got bronze. Joannie Rochette rallied to fourth place with a third-place freeskate that was really great.
MEN: Did anyone expect this whole new field of suddenly great men's skaters so close to the Olympics? I didn't. Jeremy Abbott won with a seriously amazing long program...Evan (who didn't qualify) and Johnny (who won bronze) should be watching their backs. US Nationals is going to be very interesting.
That's it. Again, I'm sorry for abandoning ship for awhile. However, it's almost January...and that means NATIONALS!!!!....so I can basically guarantee that I'm going to be here quite a bit :-)
Have a wonderful and happy New Year!!!!!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
The Rundown from Russia
Unfortunately, my love of skating is no match for the cold I've had for the past week...sorry for the lack of updates!
Cup of Russia is done and in the books. This GP stop drew me in a lot more than the other ones have. Since I still can't breath through my nose, here are the highlights (for me) from the competition (I might post a more in depth review later on):
-->Mens: If Brian Joubert and Tomas Verner were newspaper articles, they would be front page and center with the headline "We're Back!!" After seriously shakey starts to their seasons, these guys were on in Moscow. Joubert's long program, which placed fourth, wasn't up to his usual standard, but his short program was absolutely fantastic. From flirting with Tatiana Tarasova to nailing that pesky quad, the short got him enough points to safeguard his first place position. Tomas Verner skated brilliantly, placing second--he looked MUCH better than he has all season. The short program was a bit messy for most of the other competitors, the exception being Adam Rippon, who ended up in a very respectable fifth place overall after placing third in the short. Teammate Jeremy Abbott had some trouble with his short, but rallied back with a second place long that brought him up to fourth place (and bought him a ticket to Korea in December). Alban Preaubert placed third in the freeskate and overall to secure a bronze medal.
-->Ladies: Speaking of competitors getting their legs back under them (literally and figuratively), Carolina Kostner showed that she's not going anywhere. She placed second to a revamped Fumie Seguri (yes, she's still around) in the short, but skated a good long to move up to first place. She's gone back to her freeskate from last year. Rachael Flatt of the US was also there. After placing third in the short, she had a great long and secured the highest ladies placement for the US in the GP yet--second place. I haven't always been a big supporter of Rachael (her skating sometimes seems, well, (forgive me) flat). However she was ON in Russia. Kimmie Meissner's troubles continued, causing her to place eighth, and Alissa Csizny placed fourth.
-->Pairs: Pairs has always been a huge deal for the Russians, so Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov placing second to the Chinese pair of Zhang and Zhang was probably a bit of a blow. The Russian team won the freeskate, but was unable to overcome the point deficit that they'd accumulated in the short. I can't say that I love either of these teams, but they both looked pretty good.
-->Dance: This competition was INTENSE and definitely the highlight of this GP event for me (I seem to be saying that a lot this season). I was pretty sure that Oksana Domina and Maxim Shabalin had the gold medal locked up, but a second place finish in their OD and third in their slow, messy-looking FD caused them to lose the gold to teammates Jana Khoklova and Sergei Novitski. That's HUGE considering Domina and Shabalin are considered to be amongst the favorites for Worlds this year and Khoklova and Novitski are just, well, not. However, they certainly changed that with this competition--Khoklova and Novtiski looked cleaner and sharper than I've ever seen them look before. However, the absolute high point of this competition (I'm biased, I know, I'm sorry) was Meryl Davis and Charlie White's FD. After placing third in the CD, they had an absolutely disastrous OD where White stumbled on a twizzle and then just completely melted down afterwards (I couldn't watch it--he looked so upset). They dropped to fourth with a HUGE point deficit that seemed completely insurmountable (in ice dance, it's difficult to make up large differences in points since there aren't any big jumps that are rewarded heavily). Basically, I'd lost hope and debated whether or not I wanted to check the scores this morning. However, they came back with a HUGE bang. As though nothing had happened the day before, they pulled off and absolutely amazing FD with level fours on everything except their step sequences and came up with the highest technical scores of the night as well as a second place FD (yep, they beat Domina and Shabalin). (end gushing here)
I meant to leave you off with Meryl Davis and Charlie White's FD AND Brian Joubert's SP...but since only Brian has been posted on YouTube so far, I'll have to get back to you with the Meryl and Charlie video:
Cup of Russia is done and in the books. This GP stop drew me in a lot more than the other ones have. Since I still can't breath through my nose, here are the highlights (for me) from the competition (I might post a more in depth review later on):
-->Mens: If Brian Joubert and Tomas Verner were newspaper articles, they would be front page and center with the headline "We're Back!!" After seriously shakey starts to their seasons, these guys were on in Moscow. Joubert's long program, which placed fourth, wasn't up to his usual standard, but his short program was absolutely fantastic. From flirting with Tatiana Tarasova to nailing that pesky quad, the short got him enough points to safeguard his first place position. Tomas Verner skated brilliantly, placing second--he looked MUCH better than he has all season. The short program was a bit messy for most of the other competitors, the exception being Adam Rippon, who ended up in a very respectable fifth place overall after placing third in the short. Teammate Jeremy Abbott had some trouble with his short, but rallied back with a second place long that brought him up to fourth place (and bought him a ticket to Korea in December). Alban Preaubert placed third in the freeskate and overall to secure a bronze medal.-->Ladies: Speaking of competitors getting their legs back under them (literally and figuratively), Carolina Kostner showed that she's not going anywhere. She placed second to a revamped Fumie Seguri (yes, she's still around) in the short, but skated a good long to move up to first place. She's gone back to her freeskate from last year. Rachael Flatt of the US was also there. After placing third in the short, she had a great long and secured the highest ladies placement for the US in the GP yet--second place. I haven't always been a big supporter of Rachael (her skating sometimes seems, well, (forgive me) flat). However she was ON in Russia. Kimmie Meissner's troubles continued, causing her to place eighth, and Alissa Csizny placed fourth.-->Pairs: Pairs has always been a huge deal for the Russians, so Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov placing second to the Chinese pair of Zhang and Zhang was probably a bit of a blow. The Russian team won the freeskate, but was unable to overcome the point deficit that they'd accumulated in the short. I can't say that I love either of these teams, but they both looked pretty good.
-->Dance: This competition was INTENSE and definitely the highlight of this GP event for me (I seem to be saying that a lot this season). I was pretty sure that Oksana Domina and Maxim Shabalin had the gold medal locked up, but a second place finish in their OD and third in their slow, messy-looking FD caused them to lose the gold to teammates Jana Khoklova and Sergei Novitski. That's HUGE considering Domina and Shabalin are considered to be amongst the favorites for Worlds this year and Khoklova and Novitski are just, well, not. However, they certainly changed that with this competition--Khoklova and Novtiski looked cleaner and sharper than I've ever seen them look before. However, the absolute high point of this competition (I'm biased, I know, I'm sorry) was Meryl Davis and Charlie White's FD. After placing third in the CD, they had an absolutely disastrous OD where White stumbled on a twizzle and then just completely melted down afterwards (I couldn't watch it--he looked so upset). They dropped to fourth with a HUGE point deficit that seemed completely insurmountable (in ice dance, it's difficult to make up large differences in points since there aren't any big jumps that are rewarded heavily). Basically, I'd lost hope and debated whether or not I wanted to check the scores this morning. However, they came back with a HUGE bang. As though nothing had happened the day before, they pulled off and absolutely amazing FD with level fours on everything except their step sequences and came up with the highest technical scores of the night as well as a second place FD (yep, they beat Domina and Shabalin). (end gushing here)I meant to leave you off with Meryl Davis and Charlie White's FD AND Brian Joubert's SP...but since only Brian has been posted on YouTube so far, I'll have to get back to you with the Meryl and Charlie video:
Monday, November 17, 2008
Takahashi Out for the Season?
As you've probably noticed (unless you've been living under a rock), this seems to be the season for surprise retirements and/or serious injuries. We already heard that Daisuke Takahasi, who broke the record for highest combined total under the CoP last year at the Four Continents Championship, dropped out of Cup of China due to an injury, but reports are trickling in from Japan that he's dropped out of the 2008-2009 season altogether to undergo surgery to his ACL.
This is horrible news for Daisuke who, after posting that huge total last season, faltered at Worlds and seemed to have a rough summer that included a coaching change due to rival Nobunari Oda arriving at his training center in New Jersey. Sitting out the season before the Olympics is never a beneficial thing, but it's best that he rests and is fully healthy for the 09-10 season. Good luck, Daisuke!
Taking up the reins of the Japanese mens field will be countrymen Nobunari Oda, who is back this season, and Takahiko Kozuka, who, with a gold at Skate America and silver at Bompard, has cemented his place at the top of his field. Takahashi's hiatus also increases the chance that men who didn't perform at their best, such as Evan Lysacek, will have a better chance at making the Final.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
The Great White North is Golden
While the world champions prevailed, as they often do, in pairs and ice dancing at Trophee Eric Bompard this past week, it was the ladies and mens divisions that proved that the winds of change may be blowing over the ISU.
My second favorite country in the world (I'm from New York, and I can never get over how nice they are just over the border in Ontario) swept up the golds in both mens and ladies.
With some serious style (is it just me or is he starting to skate a lot like Jeff Buttle?!), and perhaps a bit of deja vu, Patrick Chan won both the short and the long, defending his Trophee Bompard title that he won--with equal amounts of shock and surprise--last year. Chan's 2007 win in France was a way of telling the world "I'm here," and his most recent win there surely sends another message..."watch out." Hearing that message loud and clear was 2007 World Champion Brian Joubert, who, like many of figure skating's supposed A-list this season, didn't skate so well. He ended up in a shocking fourth place (remember when we made a big deal over Evan Lysacek getting third?) when he was the favorite to sweep the competition away. Beating him for the second time this season was Alban Préaubert, who seems to have cleaned up his technique a bit--I didn't cringe as much every time he jumped--skated a great program to capture third place. Takahiko Kozuka of Japan, who shocked the world and won Skate America over favorites Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek, proved that he's here to stay with a silver medal performance.
The ladies short and long programs were equally surprising. American Emily Hughes came back for her lone Grand Prix event this season and struggled a bit--it looks like she has her work cut out for her. Caroline Zhang, also of the US, rallied back from a disappointing beginning of the season to capture bronze. I like her programs this year--much more age appropriate than her "Ave Maria" freeskate last year--but I still cringe whenever she goes into a toe jump. It never ceases to amaze me that no one thought to correct that horrible upswing over her free-leg whenever she goes into a lutz or flip. It might help her rotate her jumps better. Moving on, it was the top two ladies who really were the talk of the competition. Mao Asada, who had a great season last year and is now coached by the one and only Tatiana Tarasova, just looked completely tense and uncomfortable. Both her short and long were flawed, and she seemed to not be there mentally--surprising, since this is the girl who completely face-planted on a triple axel at the beginning of her 2008 Worlds freeskate and then pulled the whole thing together to skate an otherwise flawless program, not exactly an easy thing to do. This left a small crack in the door open (remember that Asada always has her stellar PCS to fall back on, as well as her otherwise great jumping and spinning ability), and the new Joannie Rochette skated right through it. Although her programs weren't perfect (a fall on a triple flip in the short and a popped loop in the long), the showcased the great style that she developed over the summer. She looked relaxed and powerful, and it was just one of those moments where, when she stepped on the ice, you knew that she was going to do it. In addition to her amazing jumps, I couldn't help but notice that she had some gorgeous dresses on. The teal-ish blue of her long program dress probably went great with her gold medal :-).
Things to take away from this competition:
1) Nothing in figure skating is ever certain.
2) Look out for Canada--they want to be on their own podium in Vancouver, and this competition shows that they have every right to be.
3) Feathers should never, ever be used on figure skating outfits (I'm looking at you, Brian Joubert).
My second favorite country in the world (I'm from New York, and I can never get over how nice they are just over the border in Ontario) swept up the golds in both mens and ladies.
With some serious style (is it just me or is he starting to skate a lot like Jeff Buttle?!), and perhaps a bit of deja vu, Patrick Chan won both the short and the long, defending his Trophee Bompard title that he won--with equal amounts of shock and surprise--last year. Chan's 2007 win in France was a way of telling the world "I'm here," and his most recent win there surely sends another message..."watch out." Hearing that message loud and clear was 2007 World Champion Brian Joubert, who, like many of figure skating's supposed A-list this season, didn't skate so well. He ended up in a shocking fourth place (remember when we made a big deal over Evan Lysacek getting third?) when he was the favorite to sweep the competition away. Beating him for the second time this season was Alban Préaubert, who seems to have cleaned up his technique a bit--I didn't cringe as much every time he jumped--skated a great program to capture third place. Takahiko Kozuka of Japan, who shocked the world and won Skate America over favorites Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek, proved that he's here to stay with a silver medal performance.The ladies short and long programs were equally surprising. American Emily Hughes came back for her lone Grand Prix event this season and struggled a bit--it looks like she has her work cut out for her. Caroline Zhang, also of the US, rallied back from a disappointing beginning of the season to capture bronze. I like her programs this year--much more age appropriate than her "Ave Maria" freeskate last year--but I still cringe whenever she goes into a toe jump. It never ceases to amaze me that no one thought to correct that horrible upswing over her free-leg whenever she goes into a lutz or flip. It might help her rotate her jumps better. Moving on, it was the top two ladies who really were the talk of the competition. Mao Asada, who had a great season last year and is now coached by the one and only Tatiana Tarasova, just looked completely tense and uncomfortable. Both her short and long were flawed, and she seemed to not be there mentally--surprising, since this is the girl who completely face-planted on a triple axel at the beginning of her 2008 Worlds freeskate and then pulled the whole thing together to skate an otherwise flawless program, not exactly an easy thing to do. This left a small crack in the door open (remember that Asada always has her stellar PCS to fall back on, as well as her otherwise great jumping and spinning ability), and the new Joannie Rochette skated right through it. Although her programs weren't perfect (a fall on a triple flip in the short and a popped loop in the long), the showcased the great style that she developed over the summer. She looked relaxed and powerful, and it was just one of those moments where, when she stepped on the ice, you knew that she was going to do it. In addition to her amazing jumps, I couldn't help but notice that she had some gorgeous dresses on. The teal-ish blue of her long program dress probably went great with her gold medal :-). Things to take away from this competition:
1) Nothing in figure skating is ever certain.
2) Look out for Canada--they want to be on their own podium in Vancouver, and this competition shows that they have every right to be.
3) Feathers should never, ever be used on figure skating outfits (I'm looking at you, Brian Joubert).
Monday, November 10, 2008
Cup of China Wrapup
I've been putting off writing about Cup of China because, well, like most of the competitions, it was incredibly underwelming. It seemed like there were so many expectations for the season, and most of them have not been realized. So, I guess you could say that I'm a little bit depressed.
Some highlights (there aren't many):
1) Jeremy Abbott and Stephen Carriere go 1-2: I can honestly say that I did not predict this. I was thinking Verner and then Carriere, with bronze up for grabs. Verner, who has had a less than stellar season so far, fought for his bronze medal, but it was Jeremy Abbott who took the spotlight. Both of his programs were beautiful--he is such a musical skater. With the way Evan and Johnny have skated this season, I'd say that Nationals this year should be very, very interesting. Great job, Jeremy. Who would have thought that he'd be the highlight of the US men so far this season?
2) Belbin and Agosto vs. Domina and Shabalin: They've got the same coaches. They skate at the same rink. They came THIS CLOSE to getting the same score. I was not impressed by either of these teams (this new style of Belbin and Agosto's is just not working for me at all--it's just not them!!). Domina and Shabalin edged (and I mean edged--they won the FD by one one hundredth of a point) out their training mates for the gold.
3) Yu-Na Kim: She won by a huge majority yet again. I think that the only person who will really be able to beat her (provided that she remains injury free and doesn't have a Kimmie-style mental breakdown) is Mao Asada. Remember that we haven't seen them compete against each other yet, and most likely will not until the GP Final in Kim's home country. As usual, Kim was mesmerizing, despite a few flaws that she quickly made you forget about. Miki Ando, in her second match up against Kim in the GP, skated better than she did at Skate America, but just could not compete with Kim.
Some highlights (there aren't many):
1) Jeremy Abbott and Stephen Carriere go 1-2: I can honestly say that I did not predict this. I was thinking Verner and then Carriere, with bronze up for grabs. Verner, who has had a less than stellar season so far, fought for his bronze medal, but it was Jeremy Abbott who took the spotlight. Both of his programs were beautiful--he is such a musical skater. With the way Evan and Johnny have skated this season, I'd say that Nationals this year should be very, very interesting. Great job, Jeremy. Who would have thought that he'd be the highlight of the US men so far this season?
2) Belbin and Agosto vs. Domina and Shabalin: They've got the same coaches. They skate at the same rink. They came THIS CLOSE to getting the same score. I was not impressed by either of these teams (this new style of Belbin and Agosto's is just not working for me at all--it's just not them!!). Domina and Shabalin edged (and I mean edged--they won the FD by one one hundredth of a point) out their training mates for the gold.
3) Yu-Na Kim: She won by a huge majority yet again. I think that the only person who will really be able to beat her (provided that she remains injury free and doesn't have a Kimmie-style mental breakdown) is Mao Asada. Remember that we haven't seen them compete against each other yet, and most likely will not until the GP Final in Kim's home country. As usual, Kim was mesmerizing, despite a few flaws that she quickly made you forget about. Miki Ando, in her second match up against Kim in the GP, skated better than she did at Skate America, but just could not compete with Kim.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Underdogs on Top
If you'd asked me who I thought would bring home a gold medal at Cup of China for the US, I would have immediately replied Belbin and Agosto and said that the other Americans competing didn't really have a chance.
Well, I'd be wrong. Jeremy Abbott won the short program and the freeskate, beating out fellow American Stephen Carriere and European Champion Tomas Verner. This means that the only gold medals this season for the US have not come from their number ones--Tanith and Ben, Evan Lysacek, Mirai Nagasu...--but from the runners up Meryl Davis and Charlie White and, now, Jeremy Abbott.
More on Cup of China later...I was just super-excited for Jeremy and had to write this!!!!
Well, I'd be wrong. Jeremy Abbott won the short program and the freeskate, beating out fellow American Stephen Carriere and European Champion Tomas Verner. This means that the only gold medals this season for the US have not come from their number ones--Tanith and Ben, Evan Lysacek, Mirai Nagasu...--but from the runners up Meryl Davis and Charlie White and, now, Jeremy Abbott.
More on Cup of China later...I was just super-excited for Jeremy and had to write this!!!!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Back to Beijing
And you thought that this city would slip off of the sports radar after the Olympics ended...
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating heads to the second largest city in China this week. One thing about the GP is that they don't seem to give anyone a break--it seems like we've just come off of Skate Canada, and suddenly we're halfway across the world!!! Anyway, it looks like it'll be a good competition in many of the fields. I don't have time to do a whole rundown of the week, but here are what I think will be the highlights:
MEN: A bunch of my under-the-radar favorites are in this group. Jeremy Abbott, who was fourth for the second time at this year's nationals, will be there representing the US--look out for his quad, which he seems to be nailing in competition more and more often. Stephen Carriere, the US bronze medalist, will also be there. Tomas Verner, who has been on a roller coaster ride as far as his skating goes for the past season and a half, is the favorite going into the competition, but, as much as I love him, he does have a habbit of self-destructing in the free skate, so don't count anyone out.
LADIES: The big bright light here is obviously Yu-Na Kim. Look for her to repeat that amazing skate that she had at Skate America. Looking for a rematch with the Korean superstar after Skate America is Miki Ando, who, yet again, claims that she'll be putting out a a quad in the free. Competing for the US is world team member Ashley Wagner, who recently switched coaches to Priscilla Hill, and Katrina Hacker.
PAIRS: I honestly don't know too much about the field at CoC. However, the Chinese have always had a great pairs program, and I'd keep an eye out for their teams of Zhang and Zhang and Pang and Tong. This was supposed to be the debut competition for former US Champions Brooke Castille and Benjamin Okolski, but yet another injury forced them to pull out. Feel better, guys!
ICE DANCING: This, yet again, is the big one for me (I swear I was never this enthusiastic about ice dancing until this season...it just got so good). This is a LOADED field. First of is Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. They came in second at Skate America, but looked tons more confident--will they be able to bring that confidence to China and possibly grab the gold? Not of their training mates, Oksana Domina and Maxim Shabalin, have anything to say about it. These two went head to head all of last season (before Domina and Shabalin had to pull out because of injury, of course), so it came as a surprise to everyone when the Russian team announced that they would be training under the same coaches as Belbin and Agosto in Pennsylvania. This is the first time this season that these two will be competing, and the first time we'll be seeing Domina and Shabilin since halfway through last season, so this should be a big one. Not to be forgotten, as they proved at Worlds last year, are the other Russian team of Khokhlova and Novitski, who are the reigning world bronze medalists after they edged away Belbin and Agosto's efforts to reach the podium last March.
It should be a good competition!!!
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating heads to the second largest city in China this week. One thing about the GP is that they don't seem to give anyone a break--it seems like we've just come off of Skate Canada, and suddenly we're halfway across the world!!! Anyway, it looks like it'll be a good competition in many of the fields. I don't have time to do a whole rundown of the week, but here are what I think will be the highlights:
MEN: A bunch of my under-the-radar favorites are in this group. Jeremy Abbott, who was fourth for the second time at this year's nationals, will be there representing the US--look out for his quad, which he seems to be nailing in competition more and more often. Stephen Carriere, the US bronze medalist, will also be there. Tomas Verner, who has been on a roller coaster ride as far as his skating goes for the past season and a half, is the favorite going into the competition, but, as much as I love him, he does have a habbit of self-destructing in the free skate, so don't count anyone out.
LADIES: The big bright light here is obviously Yu-Na Kim. Look for her to repeat that amazing skate that she had at Skate America. Looking for a rematch with the Korean superstar after Skate America is Miki Ando, who, yet again, claims that she'll be putting out a a quad in the free. Competing for the US is world team member Ashley Wagner, who recently switched coaches to Priscilla Hill, and Katrina Hacker.
PAIRS: I honestly don't know too much about the field at CoC. However, the Chinese have always had a great pairs program, and I'd keep an eye out for their teams of Zhang and Zhang and Pang and Tong. This was supposed to be the debut competition for former US Champions Brooke Castille and Benjamin Okolski, but yet another injury forced them to pull out. Feel better, guys!
ICE DANCING: This, yet again, is the big one for me (I swear I was never this enthusiastic about ice dancing until this season...it just got so good). This is a LOADED field. First of is Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. They came in second at Skate America, but looked tons more confident--will they be able to bring that confidence to China and possibly grab the gold? Not of their training mates, Oksana Domina and Maxim Shabalin, have anything to say about it. These two went head to head all of last season (before Domina and Shabalin had to pull out because of injury, of course), so it came as a surprise to everyone when the Russian team announced that they would be training under the same coaches as Belbin and Agosto in Pennsylvania. This is the first time this season that these two will be competing, and the first time we'll be seeing Domina and Shabilin since halfway through last season, so this should be a big one. Not to be forgotten, as they proved at Worlds last year, are the other Russian team of Khokhlova and Novitski, who are the reigning world bronze medalists after they edged away Belbin and Agosto's efforts to reach the podium last March.
It should be a good competition!!!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
They're dropping like flies...
Daisuke Takahashi has announced that he'll be pulling out of Cup of China. He reportedly hurt his knee in practice last week, but hasn't pulled out of NHK yet. Takahashi always has interesting programs, so he was someone who I was really looking forward to seeing. He is also another skater who had a rough second half of the season last year and changed coaches afterwards, so I'm interested in how he's been holding up with that. In this year's mens field at the GP, we could really use him around.
This is horrible for Takahashi, but it should also be a hint to Evan Lysacek that maybe he shouldn't cross Seoul, Korea off of his list of travel destinations this year. With the mens competition looking like it is, his chances of making the final with his 3-3 finish at Skate America and Skate Canada are slightly wider.
This is horrible for Takahashi, but it should also be a hint to Evan Lysacek that maybe he shouldn't cross Seoul, Korea off of his list of travel destinations this year. With the mens competition looking like it is, his chances of making the final with his 3-3 finish at Skate America and Skate Canada are slightly wider.
Monday, November 3, 2008
ROCK THE VOTE
In a completely unrelated-to-skating note, this is a reminder to all of you Americans out there to VOTE tomorrow!!! It doesn't matter who it's for (alright, I'm cringing as I write that, but it is true), but it's important for all of you guys to exercise your constitutional rights (old Tom Jefferson would be proud ^_^)!!!
Winner's Circle...Skate Canada edition
I've realized that my posts keep getting longer and longer and longer...sorry about that! For some reason, my pictures aren't being resized very well either, so I'm sorry if the blog has been looking a bit...colorless lately.
On a happier note, Skate Canada was ANYTHING but colorless. I thought going into it that it was going to be a bit of downer thanks to all of the withdrawls, but there were definitely some super-exciting parts! Now on to the winners (and the losers...because a lot of them skated well too)...
MENS: Watch out world, Patrick Chan is back this season and looking every bit the leader of Canadian figure skating that he has become. His long program was definitely not the best that we've seen him skate (for that, look up Canadian Nationals 2008 on youtube), but he already looks mature far beyond his eighteen years and has a wonderful skating style. I think that a lot of us have been worried about the state of the program components after Stephane and Jeff's retirements, but it looks like Patrick is more than ready to take up that mantel. The rest of the podium was one of those huge surprises that reminds you how unpredictable this sport can be. Ryan Bradley, with an absolutely gorgeous short and freeskate, came in second. He looked calm and confident, and his programs are always so much fun--I cannot wait to see more of him this season. The big surprise is that he beat his fellow countryman, Evan Lysacek, who just couldn't rebound after that short program score. Evan's going to be on pins and needles for the rest of the GP, since his chances of going to the final don't seem to be that great.
LADIES: Patrick Chan proved that he was a force to be reckoned with in the mens, and fellow Canadian Joannie Rochette did the same thing in the ladies. Joannie has always been powerful, but her short and long programs showcased a polished, sophisticated side that we haven't seen from her yet. Both of her programs were clean, and I can only imagine that they'll get better as the season goes on. It's obvious that she worked really hard over the summer and it shows--she wants to be on the World podium this year, and I think that she'll definitely have a shot. Someone looking not so great was Carolina Kostner. She was getting negative GOEs and deductions everywhere and ended up in fourth place. Fumie Suguri proved that she shouldn't be forgotten in the world of Mao Asada and Miki Ando and that her new coaching situation with Morosov in New Jersey is working out pretty well. Alissa Czisny, has she has done on many occasions, came back after a rough short program to claim bronze with a wonderful long program--I LOVE her skating, but I'm always so nervous to put faith in her because of her inconsistancies. Hopefully she's cleaned that up this season, but, as always, her spins were superb.
PAIRS: I was a bit torn in this part of the competition. I love Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, but I'm also starting to really back Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, so I wasn't sure who I was really rooting for--my country or my favorite team? Well, the long program did kind of help with that. After a great short, Keauna (who collided with Yuko Kawaguchi in the warm up) and Rockne had a rough long program that resulted in them falling to third place. On the other side of things, Dube and Davison had a rough short program, but skated brilliantly in the long. They made me really nervous with a mishap in their opening triple twist, but other than that, they were great--it was a really different program for them, set to Carmen (I know, I know...but, in their defense, they selected some of the lesser known sections), but it definitely worked and will get beter as the season goes on. They ended up with the silver behind a team they beat at last year's worlds, Russia's Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov. Their long program was clean except for a popped triple toe by Smirnov and kept them in first place. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm just not really a big fan of this team--I'm hoping that they'll prove me otherwise as the season wears on.
ICE DANCING: This was by far the highlight of this competition. As ice dancing always should be, it was super dramatic up to the very end. First place was basically set as soon as Meryl Davis and Charlie White stepped on the ice for the compuslory dance. I'm not quite sure what Shpilband and Zoueva did with them over the summer, but they were absolutely brilliant from the start to the finish. I don't know if they were getting more attention because Belbin and Agosto left Canton or if they just matured naturally, but they were outstanding, and I think that they're going to be serious contenders this year. If my name was Tanith Belbin, I'd be looking over my (sequined and feathered) shoulder a bit nervously come January. The battle for second and third was really intense. In the end, Canadians Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier, World Junior silver medalists from last year, won out over favorites Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat (and Nathalie Pechalet did not look happy about it at the medal ceremony). It looks like Canada might have produced another team to watch out for this year.
And that's the wrap up from Skate Canada. I leave you with the highlight of the competition for me (and no, I don't know what's up with the music in the first half...I hope that they fix that!!!)...
On a happier note, Skate Canada was ANYTHING but colorless. I thought going into it that it was going to be a bit of downer thanks to all of the withdrawls, but there were definitely some super-exciting parts! Now on to the winners (and the losers...because a lot of them skated well too)...
MENS: Watch out world, Patrick Chan is back this season and looking every bit the leader of Canadian figure skating that he has become. His long program was definitely not the best that we've seen him skate (for that, look up Canadian Nationals 2008 on youtube), but he already looks mature far beyond his eighteen years and has a wonderful skating style. I think that a lot of us have been worried about the state of the program components after Stephane and Jeff's retirements, but it looks like Patrick is more than ready to take up that mantel. The rest of the podium was one of those huge surprises that reminds you how unpredictable this sport can be. Ryan Bradley, with an absolutely gorgeous short and freeskate, came in second. He looked calm and confident, and his programs are always so much fun--I cannot wait to see more of him this season. The big surprise is that he beat his fellow countryman, Evan Lysacek, who just couldn't rebound after that short program score. Evan's going to be on pins and needles for the rest of the GP, since his chances of going to the final don't seem to be that great. LADIES: Patrick Chan proved that he was a force to be reckoned with in the mens, and fellow Canadian Joannie Rochette did the same thing in the ladies. Joannie has always been powerful, but her short and long programs showcased a polished, sophisticated side that we haven't seen from her yet. Both of her programs were clean, and I can only imagine that they'll get better as the season goes on. It's obvious that she worked really hard over the summer and it shows--she wants to be on the World podium this year, and I think that she'll definitely have a shot. Someone looking not so great was Carolina Kostner. She was getting negative GOEs and deductions everywhere and ended up in fourth place. Fumie Suguri proved that she shouldn't be forgotten in the world of Mao Asada and Miki Ando and that her new coaching situation with Morosov in New Jersey is working out pretty well. Alissa Czisny, has she has done on many occasions, came back after a rough short program to claim bronze with a wonderful long program--I LOVE her skating, but I'm always so nervous to put faith in her because of her inconsistancies. Hopefully she's cleaned that up this season, but, as always, her spins were superb.PAIRS: I was a bit torn in this part of the competition. I love Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, but I'm also starting to really back Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, so I wasn't sure who I was really rooting for--my country or my favorite team? Well, the long program did kind of help with that. After a great short, Keauna (who collided with Yuko Kawaguchi in the warm up) and Rockne had a rough long program that resulted in them falling to third place. On the other side of things, Dube and Davison had a rough short program, but skated brilliantly in the long. They made me really nervous with a mishap in their opening triple twist, but other than that, they were great--it was a really different program for them, set to Carmen (I know, I know...but, in their defense, they selected some of the lesser known sections), but it definitely worked and will get beter as the season goes on. They ended up with the silver behind a team they beat at last year's worlds, Russia's Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov. Their long program was clean except for a popped triple toe by Smirnov and kept them in first place. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm just not really a big fan of this team--I'm hoping that they'll prove me otherwise as the season wears on.ICE DANCING: This was by far the highlight of this competition. As ice dancing always should be, it was super dramatic up to the very end. First place was basically set as soon as Meryl Davis and Charlie White stepped on the ice for the compuslory dance. I'm not quite sure what Shpilband and Zoueva did with them over the summer, but they were absolutely brilliant from the start to the finish. I don't know if they were getting more attention because Belbin and Agosto left Canton or if they just matured naturally, but they were outstanding, and I think that they're going to be serious contenders this year. If my name was Tanith Belbin, I'd be looking over my (sequined and feathered) shoulder a bit nervously come January. The battle for second and third was really intense. In the end, Canadians Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier, World Junior silver medalists from last year, won out over favorites Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat (and Nathalie Pechalet did not look happy about it at the medal ceremony). It looks like Canada might have produced another team to watch out for this year.And that's the wrap up from Skate Canada. I leave you with the highlight of the competition for me (and no, I don't know what's up with the music in the first half...I hope that they fix that!!!)...
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Bits from SC
If you guys get a chance, I'd HIGHLY recommend finding some time to watch Meryl Davis and Charlie White's performances this weekend--so far, they've been the highlight of the Americans in the Grand Prix for me (uh...they haven't had all that much competition). They've matured over the summer, and they're currently leading by nine points (the French team had a fall). The FD is tomorrow, so tune in!!!!!
The mens long should be and interesting event as well. Although I loved his program, Evan Lysacek is in fourth because of a triple-triple that did not count as a combination (he lost it on the landing of the first jump and had to insert a double three to get back in control)--in the short program, there are elements that the skaters must do to earn the points, so to not execute a combination means getting hit with deductions pretty heavily. Canada's Patrick Chan looked great--his skating style reminds me SOOO much of his fellow countryman, Jeffrey Buttle. He's currently in second place on a rather surprising podium. Yannick Ponsero of France is in first after a great short with a beautiful quad, and America's Ryan Bradley is in third.
Also to check out: the pairs long program, where Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker will go head to head with Kawaguchi and Smirnov of Russia, and the ladies free skate, where Joannie Rochette will try to hold her lead over competitors like Caroline Zhang and Carolina Kostner (more on that rather surprising development later).
The mens long should be and interesting event as well. Although I loved his program, Evan Lysacek is in fourth because of a triple-triple that did not count as a combination (he lost it on the landing of the first jump and had to insert a double three to get back in control)--in the short program, there are elements that the skaters must do to earn the points, so to not execute a combination means getting hit with deductions pretty heavily. Canada's Patrick Chan looked great--his skating style reminds me SOOO much of his fellow countryman, Jeffrey Buttle. He's currently in second place on a rather surprising podium. Yannick Ponsero of France is in first after a great short with a beautiful quad, and America's Ryan Bradley is in third.
Also to check out: the pairs long program, where Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker will go head to head with Kawaguchi and Smirnov of Russia, and the ladies free skate, where Joannie Rochette will try to hold her lead over competitors like Caroline Zhang and Carolina Kostner (more on that rather surprising development later).
Friday, October 31, 2008
Skate Canada Starts Today!!!
One week into the season, we're off to Ottawa, Ontario (which, if you ever have the chance, is a great city to visit). Skate Canada had all of the makings of a HUGE showdown in ladies (everyone who wasn't at Skate America is basically at Skate Canada), mens, ice dancing, and even pairs.
Well, that was then...during the summer when the GP assignments came out. This is now, and the list of scratches is long enough for me to make a list:
1) Jeffrey Buttle: Well, if you don't know about this, it's time to play some SERIOUS catch-up. His retirement has, to quote every single article that I've read, "rocked the skating world". He's happy with it, but we're certainly not.
2) Stephane Lambiel: Yet another retirement that shocked everyone. This one was SLIGHTLY less surprising than Buttle's, since we'd watched as Stephane traveled back and forth between New Jersey and his home country multiple times over the sumer to try and overcome injury. The retirements of both Lambiel and Buttle have put a significant dent in the advancement of mens figure skating--they were two of the few skaters who could really work the CoP AND put out dazzlingly beautiful programs.
3) Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir: Canada's ice dancing wunderkinds. Tessa is still recurring from a previously unannounced leg surgery brought on by overpracticing. They hope to be back by NHK, but it's really sad that Canada, which has really led the way with North American ice dancing, doesn't have anyone skating.
Okay, so on to the people who are actually competing...
In the ladies field, keep an eye out for Canadian favorite Joannie Rochette. She's competing against Carolina Kostner of Italy, who won silver at World's last year (don't EVEN get me started on that). Joannie is a really strong, powerful skater who's had some jumping inconsistancies, but has gotten so much better over the past few seasons. Also in the mix is Fumie Suguri (remember her?), who needs a medal here to show that she's still in the running for a spot on the Japanese World team come January (she only has to compete against a few girls you may have heard of--Mao Asada...Miki Ando...Yukari Nakano--and that's just at home. No pressure or anything). Caroline Zhang, Bebe Liang, and Alissa Czisny will be competing for the US here. Caroline is probably looking to repeat her amazing Grand Prix debut last year, so definitely keep an eye out for her and her "pearl" spin. Never count out Alissa Czisny either (see Nationals 2007, please). She's back with a whole new attitude to go with (hopefully more consistant) jumps and her exquisite spins.
On to the men. This was supposed to be a huge competition, but thanks to the retirements, that is no longer so. Evan Lysacek will be here, hopefully coming back with a vengeance (and fully rotated jumps--PLEASE EVAN!!!!) after his placement at Skate America. His main competition here will be homeprovince (is that even a word?) favorite Patrick Chan, who is now holding the weight of Skate Canada (the organization, which incidently has the same name as the competition) on his shoulders after Jeff's retirement. He's been practicing the quad over the summer, but I doubt that he'll risk putting it in this early in the season. Also in the mix is Russian up-and-comer Sergei Voronov, so keep an eye out for him.
As for the pairs, my personal favorite pairs team--Canada's own Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison--will be competing here. If you haven't seen their freeskate from last season's World Championships, go and watch it now and try telling me that you don't love them (and that's an order). They're coming in with a triple twist, having won a bronze at Worlds with only a double. I seriously CANNOT WAIT to see them. The other team that I'm looking forward to is my fellow Americans, Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker. They were great at last week's Skate America, coming in second place behind the current World Champs. Here's to hoping that they repeat that beautiful freeskate here (you're only carrying the hopes of the entirety of the American pairs program, guys...just saying). One team that those two pairs should definitely watch out for would be Kawaguchi and Smirnov. They've gotten a lot of attention lately, especially since it was a HUGE deal that the Russians actually had to look outside of their country to create a suitable pairs team--Kawaguchi is from Japan. Things sure can change in just a few years! They're a really strong team and are certainly contenders for the gold.
And then there is ice dancing. My favorite team, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, will be competing here, so forgive me if I'm a little bit biased. With Virtue and Moir no longer competing, these guys have a serious shot at their first GP gold!!!!! They really haven't gotten any press, which is disappointing, and have been living in the shadow of Belbin and Agosto as well as Virtue and Moir (they were all training mates until Belbin and Agosto switched coaches). Also in the running is the French team of Pechalat and Bourzat--if anyone is going to take the gold away from Davis and White, it will probably be them. We've got a strong American contingent here--Navarro and Bommentre, the bronze medalists at last year's US Nationals, are here as well as up-and-comers Wester and Barantsev (um, they're married and they're kind of the cutest couple ever...just saying).
So there aren't any huge, lifechanging events going on here (unless you're Meryl and Charlie!!!!), but there should be some good skating this weekend. Definitely tune in if you have the time!
Well, that was then...during the summer when the GP assignments came out. This is now, and the list of scratches is long enough for me to make a list:
1) Jeffrey Buttle: Well, if you don't know about this, it's time to play some SERIOUS catch-up. His retirement has, to quote every single article that I've read, "rocked the skating world". He's happy with it, but we're certainly not.
2) Stephane Lambiel: Yet another retirement that shocked everyone. This one was SLIGHTLY less surprising than Buttle's, since we'd watched as Stephane traveled back and forth between New Jersey and his home country multiple times over the sumer to try and overcome injury. The retirements of both Lambiel and Buttle have put a significant dent in the advancement of mens figure skating--they were two of the few skaters who could really work the CoP AND put out dazzlingly beautiful programs.
3) Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir: Canada's ice dancing wunderkinds. Tessa is still recurring from a previously unannounced leg surgery brought on by overpracticing. They hope to be back by NHK, but it's really sad that Canada, which has really led the way with North American ice dancing, doesn't have anyone skating.
Okay, so on to the people who are actually competing...
In the ladies field, keep an eye out for Canadian favorite Joannie Rochette. She's competing against Carolina Kostner of Italy, who won silver at World's last year (don't EVEN get me started on that). Joannie is a really strong, powerful skater who's had some jumping inconsistancies, but has gotten so much better over the past few seasons. Also in the mix is Fumie Suguri (remember her?), who needs a medal here to show that she's still in the running for a spot on the Japanese World team come January (she only has to compete against a few girls you may have heard of--Mao Asada...Miki Ando...Yukari Nakano--and that's just at home. No pressure or anything). Caroline Zhang, Bebe Liang, and Alissa Czisny will be competing for the US here. Caroline is probably looking to repeat her amazing Grand Prix debut last year, so definitely keep an eye out for her and her "pearl" spin. Never count out Alissa Czisny either (see Nationals 2007, please). She's back with a whole new attitude to go with (hopefully more consistant) jumps and her exquisite spins.On to the men. This was supposed to be a huge competition, but thanks to the retirements, that is no longer so. Evan Lysacek will be here, hopefully coming back with a vengeance (and fully rotated jumps--PLEASE EVAN!!!!) after his placement at Skate America. His main competition here will be homeprovince (is that even a word?) favorite Patrick Chan, who is now holding the weight of Skate Canada (the organization, which incidently has the same name as the competition) on his shoulders after Jeff's retirement. He's been practicing the quad over the summer, but I doubt that he'll risk putting it in this early in the season. Also in the mix is Russian up-and-comer Sergei Voronov, so keep an eye out for him.
As for the pairs, my personal favorite pairs team--Canada's own Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison--will be competing here. If you haven't seen their freeskate from last season's World Championships, go and watch it now and try telling me that you don't love them (and that's an order). They're coming in with a triple twist, having won a bronze at Worlds with only a double. I seriously CANNOT WAIT to see them. The other team that I'm looking forward to is my fellow Americans, Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker. They were great at last week's Skate America, coming in second place behind the current World Champs. Here's to hoping that they repeat that beautiful freeskate here (you're only carrying the hopes of the entirety of the American pairs program, guys...just saying). One team that those two pairs should definitely watch out for would be Kawaguchi and Smirnov. They've gotten a lot of attention lately, especially since it was a HUGE deal that the Russians actually had to look outside of their country to create a suitable pairs team--Kawaguchi is from Japan. Things sure can change in just a few years! They're a really strong team and are certainly contenders for the gold.And then there is ice dancing. My favorite team, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, will be competing here, so forgive me if I'm a little bit biased. With Virtue and Moir no longer competing, these guys have a serious shot at their first GP gold!!!!! They really haven't gotten any press, which is disappointing, and have been living in the shadow of Belbin and Agosto as well as Virtue and Moir (they were all training mates until Belbin and Agosto switched coaches). Also in the running is the French team of Pechalat and Bourzat--if anyone is going to take the gold away from Davis and White, it will probably be them. We've got a strong American contingent here--Navarro and Bommentre, the bronze medalists at last year's US Nationals, are here as well as up-and-comers Wester and Barantsev (um, they're married and they're kind of the cutest couple ever...just saying). So there aren't any huge, lifechanging events going on here (unless you're Meryl and Charlie!!!!), but there should be some good skating this weekend. Definitely tune in if you have the time!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
What Happened...Part II
Ugh, I'm sorry that this is taking me forever to do.
Ice Dancing:
The big hype here was not actually the current reigning world champs, Delobel and Schoenfelder. It Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto--unless you've been living under a rock for awhile, you've probably heard that they switched coaches over the summer. Well, they still came in second, but I have to say that I think that they're headed in the right direction. The changes could really be spotted in the CD, where they looked cleaner and more comfortable. I wasn't a HUGE fan of their FD, skated to the music from the opera Tosca, mostly because Tanith looked kind of awkward, as though she didn't fit in with the character that she was supposed to be portraying. Ben, as always, still looked very strong, and that's what saved the program for me. I do think that a few more months with their new coaches will do quite a bit for them.
And because I talked about Belbin and Agosto for this whole post, and they didn't even win, I'll give you Delobel and Schoenfelder's OD. Please note Olivier Schoenfelder's new look:
Pairs:
There were no surprises in this round of the competition, except for the short program, where the Russians pulled off a minor upset by coming up ahead of the German World Champs Savchenko and Szolkowy. The world righted itself in the free skater, where the Germans came out on top once again. However, the real highlight for me of this competition was the young American team of Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker. I am SO SO happy that the US might have the medal prospects in the pairs division in the coming years. They were great! They skated to West Side Story, which is a little bit overused, but they pulled it off and made it seem fresh with their great choreography and a HUGE throw triple loop at the end (and not to mention that triple twist in the beginning). The best part was the look on Keauna's mother's face (she co-coaches them with Captain Blood herself, Dalilah Sapenfield) when they finished the program--she was in tears, which was so cute :-)
So if you're going to watch nothing else of the pairs competition, you need to watch the long. I can't find it on YouTube right now, so you'll have to do with the short in the meantime:
Ice Dancing:
The big hype here was not actually the current reigning world champs, Delobel and Schoenfelder. It Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto--unless you've been living under a rock for awhile, you've probably heard that they switched coaches over the summer. Well, they still came in second, but I have to say that I think that they're headed in the right direction. The changes could really be spotted in the CD, where they looked cleaner and more comfortable. I wasn't a HUGE fan of their FD, skated to the music from the opera Tosca, mostly because Tanith looked kind of awkward, as though she didn't fit in with the character that she was supposed to be portraying. Ben, as always, still looked very strong, and that's what saved the program for me. I do think that a few more months with their new coaches will do quite a bit for them.
And because I talked about Belbin and Agosto for this whole post, and they didn't even win, I'll give you Delobel and Schoenfelder's OD. Please note Olivier Schoenfelder's new look:
Pairs:
There were no surprises in this round of the competition, except for the short program, where the Russians pulled off a minor upset by coming up ahead of the German World Champs Savchenko and Szolkowy. The world righted itself in the free skater, where the Germans came out on top once again. However, the real highlight for me of this competition was the young American team of Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker. I am SO SO happy that the US might have the medal prospects in the pairs division in the coming years. They were great! They skated to West Side Story, which is a little bit overused, but they pulled it off and made it seem fresh with their great choreography and a HUGE throw triple loop at the end (and not to mention that triple twist in the beginning). The best part was the look on Keauna's mother's face (she co-coaches them with Captain Blood herself, Dalilah Sapenfield) when they finished the program--she was in tears, which was so cute :-)
So if you're going to watch nothing else of the pairs competition, you need to watch the long. I can't find it on YouTube right now, so you'll have to do with the short in the meantime:
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
What Happened at Skate America: Part I
LADIES:
YU-NA KIM!!!!! This girl was absolutely, positively breathtaking. There's been all of this hype about the next generation of American ladies, but a lot of them were there at SA and just could not compare once Yu-Na stepped onto the ice. She singled a loop in her long program and stepped out on a double axel in her short, but there were no falls and she just looked so much more confident. Keep those fingers crossed for an injury-free season for her--it hasn't happened quite yet on the senior circuit. She won by twenty points in what might be one of the strongest ladies fields in the individual Grand Prix events. I think that she and Mao Asada will be going head to head all summer. As far as the rest of the ladies go, the competition was okay, but not great. No quad from Miki Ando, which isn't exactly a surprise. Yukari Nakano still has that wrapped leg that makes me cringe. Mirai Nagasu has some growth issues to work out, but I think that she'll be the one to watch for the Americans this year. I like Rachael Flatt, but I don't love her. As far Kimmie Meissner, well, she made me almost want to cry. She obviously has mental issues to work out--what she did land looked very good, but this competition was not a great way for her to start out the season.
Men:
Okay, so I understand why Evan Lysacek came in third--it was all technical stuff that they found with a sloooooooooow motion camera. His step sequences also apparently hurt him. However, the fact that he didn't win is making me lose some faith in the CoP. Yes, the quad kind of failed. However, everything else looked amazing (to my eye), and Kozuka just did not have the charisma that Evan had--he didn't draw you into his program. Johnny came in second with two programs that were good, but will probably get better. I think that he'll be landing that quad by the end of the season--he's very close now and mostly two-foots it or steps out, so he's not getting the one point deduction for falls. The rest of the men were slightly disappointing. Adam Rippon hada rough start to his senior career, but this was his first competition at this level, and I'm sure that we'll be seeing more from him.
YU-NA KIM!!!!! This girl was absolutely, positively breathtaking. There's been all of this hype about the next generation of American ladies, but a lot of them were there at SA and just could not compare once Yu-Na stepped onto the ice. She singled a loop in her long program and stepped out on a double axel in her short, but there were no falls and she just looked so much more confident. Keep those fingers crossed for an injury-free season for her--it hasn't happened quite yet on the senior circuit. She won by twenty points in what might be one of the strongest ladies fields in the individual Grand Prix events. I think that she and Mao Asada will be going head to head all summer. As far as the rest of the ladies go, the competition was okay, but not great. No quad from Miki Ando, which isn't exactly a surprise. Yukari Nakano still has that wrapped leg that makes me cringe. Mirai Nagasu has some growth issues to work out, but I think that she'll be the one to watch for the Americans this year. I like Rachael Flatt, but I don't love her. As far Kimmie Meissner, well, she made me almost want to cry. She obviously has mental issues to work out--what she did land looked very good, but this competition was not a great way for her to start out the season.
Men:
Okay, so I understand why Evan Lysacek came in third--it was all technical stuff that they found with a sloooooooooow motion camera. His step sequences also apparently hurt him. However, the fact that he didn't win is making me lose some faith in the CoP. Yes, the quad kind of failed. However, everything else looked amazing (to my eye), and Kozuka just did not have the charisma that Evan had--he didn't draw you into his program. Johnny came in second with two programs that were good, but will probably get better. I think that he'll be landing that quad by the end of the season--he's very close now and mostly two-foots it or steps out, so he's not getting the one point deduction for falls. The rest of the men were slightly disappointing. Adam Rippon hada rough start to his senior career, but this was his first competition at this level, and I'm sure that we'll be seeing more from him.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Compulsories
The results from the compulsory dance are in, and Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder are in first with 38.49 points, followed very, very closely by Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto who have 37.63. The Kerrs sit in third followed by Pernelle Carron and Mathieu Jost, another French team.
Even from just looking at the costumes (I haven't seen the dances yet, but I will later on!), Belbin and Agosto have a different style. The compulsories have always been their weak point, and they're closer to the top than they usually are when facing competition like Delobel and Schoenfelder, so it's safe to say that they still have a good chance at winning.
Judging from what I've seen of the French World Champs, they look great--really fit, really in sync, and definitely every inch of a pair of world champions. I think that this competition is going to be an extremely close one, so stay tuned!
Even from just looking at the costumes (I haven't seen the dances yet, but I will later on!), Belbin and Agosto have a different style. The compulsories have always been their weak point, and they're closer to the top than they usually are when facing competition like Delobel and Schoenfelder, so it's safe to say that they still have a good chance at winning.
Judging from what I've seen of the French World Champs, they look great--really fit, really in sync, and definitely every inch of a pair of world champions. I think that this competition is going to be an extremely close one, so stay tuned!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Quadruple the Fun?
Word on the street is that Miki Ando has been nailing quads during the practice sessions at Skate America. Will we be seeing one in her freeskate? She's done this before, landing quads on the practice ice and either popping or falling during the competition, but her coach, Morosov, is claiming that she's a completely changed skater.
I guess we'll have to wait until Saturday, but if this information is true, the ladies competition (if it's possibly) just got a whole lot more interesting.
I guess we'll have to wait until Saturday, but if this information is true, the ladies competition (if it's possibly) just got a whole lot more interesting.
Patience is a Virtue
2008 World Silver medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada have pulled out of Skate Canada. According to CBC, Tessa has not fully recovered from an unannounced leg surgery due to overtraining. They're hoping that she'll be healthy enough for NHK, but this significantly lowers their chances of making the Grand Prix Final.
Wow, this is a surprise. Skate Canada's world team has been dropping like flies--Jeff Buttle retired, Langlois and Hay are injured, Mabee is out for the season, and now their ice dancing prodigees are out of their own Grand Prix event. I hope that Tessa gets better soon! I'm surprised that we didn't hear anything about her being injured, but maybe they wanted to keep it quiet to avoid all of that speculation stuff that goes along with injuries in skating. Now we'll have to wait a whole extra month to see whether or not they'll be able to live up to their previous season (which I expect they will).
On the other hand, this opens up a huge door for the American teams at the event, particularly Meryl Davis and Charlie White. They have a serious shot at the gold medal now.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
New and Improved
This year's Skate America seems to be all about being brand new and sparkly...at least for the Americans.
There's Kimmie Meissner. Google News her to find a bunch of articles just like this one. There are skaters whose style I like better, but my heart is 100% for Kimmie. If there is one skater who I am dying to see succeed at this competition, it is her. Will Richard Callaghan and Todd Eldredge (yeah, remember him and his amazing spins?!)work their magic? I think that I, and most of America, hope so...we're not quite ready to move on to Mirai, Caroline, and Rachael just yet. GO KIMMIE!!!!!
While Kimmie Meissner fell (literally and figuratively) at Nationals, our next duo fell at Worlds. I'm talking about Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. They, too, have changed coaches, this time to Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov. I, for one, am thrilled that they did this--Michigan was looking a little bit crowded. While, with the sudden coaching change of Domina and Shabilin, Aston, PA may be feeling a bit cozy at the minute as well, I think that this coaching change is going to work out for the better. There's lots of hype about their new "back to basics" attitude, choreography, and (hopefully) improved compulsories. Again, I would LOVE to see these two have a really successful season--it hasn't really happened since the Olympics.
Next is Johnny Weir. His coaching change isn't quite as new, but hopefully it's for the better. He has a brand new, 100% focused on skating mentality that's bound to be dangerous to his competitors, so I figured that he should be put in here.
And last is Evan Lysacek. Evan didn't have a coaching change this year, but he did have a major choreographer one, moving to the one and only Queen of the Fur Coat herself, Tatiana Tarasova. Will Evan dabble into rhinestones and sparkles territory? Will we see something other than the all black, Zorro-Carmen-Tosca-esque guy we've been seing for the past four years? I love Evan, so hopefully we will be!
And that's all of the major changes for major skaters that I can think of this season.
And, because I forgot about them in my last post, try to find a way to watch Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker. They're America's only feasible hope of a medal collection this season in the pairs event (unless Inoue and Baldwin surprise us), so I'd try to tune on online (I doubt they'll be shown on TV in the US) as they take on the Germans.
There's Kimmie Meissner. Google News her to find a bunch of articles just like this one. There are skaters whose style I like better, but my heart is 100% for Kimmie. If there is one skater who I am dying to see succeed at this competition, it is her. Will Richard Callaghan and Todd Eldredge (yeah, remember him and his amazing spins?!)work their magic? I think that I, and most of America, hope so...we're not quite ready to move on to Mirai, Caroline, and Rachael just yet. GO KIMMIE!!!!!While Kimmie Meissner fell (literally and figuratively) at Nationals, our next duo fell at Worlds. I'm talking about Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. They, too, have changed coaches, this time to Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov. I, for one, am thrilled that they did this--Michigan was looking a little bit crowded. While, with the sudden coaching change of Domina and Shabilin, Aston, PA may be feeling a bit cozy at the minute as well, I think that this coaching change is going to work out for the better. There's lots of hype about their new "back to basics" attitude, choreography, and (hopefully) improved compulsories. Again, I would LOVE to see these two have a really successful season--it hasn't really happened since the Olympics.Next is Johnny Weir. His coaching change isn't quite as new, but hopefully it's for the better. He has a brand new, 100% focused on skating mentality that's bound to be dangerous to his competitors, so I figured that he should be put in here.
And last is Evan Lysacek. Evan didn't have a coaching change this year, but he did have a major choreographer one, moving to the one and only Queen of the Fur Coat herself, Tatiana Tarasova. Will Evan dabble into rhinestones and sparkles territory? Will we see something other than the all black, Zorro-Carmen-Tosca-esque guy we've been seing for the past four years? I love Evan, so hopefully we will be!And that's all of the major changes for major skaters that I can think of this season.
And, because I forgot about them in my last post, try to find a way to watch Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker. They're America's only feasible hope of a medal collection this season in the pairs event (unless Inoue and Baldwin surprise us), so I'd try to tune on online (I doubt they'll be shown on TV in the US) as they take on the Germans.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Watch Out, Washington
It's Skate America time!
After a long summer (um...no skating since March?!), skaters are finally packing up their suitcases, brushing off their passports, and heading out to Everett, Washington!!!! It's time to check those TV schedules (or not, since basically nothing is being broadcast in the US...for more on that, see below) and get yourself [again, if you're American...if you're not, you probably have better coverage than us] an Icenetwork membership (or let your old one "accidentally renew" on your parent's credit card like I did) because it's basically the only way you're going to see figure skating this year.
If you don't have the time to see all of Skate America, here are some highlights that I think that you shouldn't miss:
The Ladies: This is the big discipline at this year's SA. Miki Ando, Yu-Na Kim, and a bunch of the little American upstarts are competing. The main reason to watch? Kimmie Meissner--we're all curious about how she's doing.
Johnny vs. Evan: How is this one going to play out? Oh, and keep an eye for Adam Rippon looking to make his senior debut, and Shawn Sawyer on a hunt to fill up the gap that Jeff Buttle left behind.
Ice Dancing: Watch out for Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto under new coaches. How will they fare against the raining world champs? If you have the time, keep an eye out for the young Americans in this event.
After a long summer (um...no skating since March?!), skaters are finally packing up their suitcases, brushing off their passports, and heading out to Everett, Washington!!!! It's time to check those TV schedules (or not, since basically nothing is being broadcast in the US...for more on that, see below) and get yourself [again, if you're American...if you're not, you probably have better coverage than us] an Icenetwork membership (or let your old one "accidentally renew" on your parent's credit card like I did) because it's basically the only way you're going to see figure skating this year.
If you don't have the time to see all of Skate America, here are some highlights that I think that you shouldn't miss:
The Ladies: This is the big discipline at this year's SA. Miki Ando, Yu-Na Kim, and a bunch of the little American upstarts are competing. The main reason to watch? Kimmie Meissner--we're all curious about how she's doing.
Johnny vs. Evan: How is this one going to play out? Oh, and keep an eye for Adam Rippon looking to make his senior debut, and Shawn Sawyer on a hunt to fill up the gap that Jeff Buttle left behind.
Ice Dancing: Watch out for Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto under new coaches. How will they fare against the raining world champs? If you have the time, keep an eye out for the young Americans in this event.
Season Opener!!!!
This year, if you're an American and a skating fan, one of your biggest concerns might be (and should be) is how exactly you're going to watch our favorite sport. Thanks to figure skating's decline in popularity here in the US, coverage isn't exactly eating up primetime TV every night. Since my friends and I were talking about the ways we're going to get along, I figured I'd post a few different ways to get by (and by that I mean survive this HORRIBLE TERRIBLE drought caused by our football, basketball, and Nascar loving nation):
NBC: For this week, and this week only, you will be able to watch our own Grand Prix stop (why they show this and not the rest of the GP is beyond me...what's the point in showing Skate America if they're not going to broadcast the final?) on NBC on October 26th at 4:00 pm. It's only two hours of coverage for all four disciplines, so I wouldn't expect anything groundbreaking here, folks. Since it's the US, this'll probably mean the ladies, Evan and Johnny, and possibly Tanith and Ben (I'd be very surprised if they showed Emily and Evan or even Keuna and Rockne).
Icenetwork: Yes, you have to pay thirty bucks for it, but if you're living in the US, I strongly suggest this. They're showing live coverage of the entire Grand Prix (including the JGPF), some of U.S. Senior Nationals, Europeans, Four Continents, Junior Worlds, and the brand new World Team Trophy. This kind of sounds like an advertisement (I'm not being paid for this, I swear!), but if you're serious about seeing your figure skating, this is your best bet at actually being able to watch this season.
YouTube/Other Broadcasts: If you don't mind patchy coverage and possibly commentators in other languages, sometimes this'll work on. I know that the ISU (or at least USFS) has been cracking down on YouTube videos, so the coverage here might be limited. I know that other countries have websites where they're streaming a live broadcast of a lot of the competitions (my friend go last year's Worlds through some Turkish network), but, again, you might be taking a bit of a chance by going with this.
Canadian Television: A lot of my friends who live close to the US/Canada border (I'm looking at you, Lake Placid) get CBC and CTV. Most of the country does not have access to this, I realize, but for those of you who do, I suggest looking into what they have.
This is just a broad list of different ways to watch skating. If you have others, definitely comment and tell me!
NBC: For this week, and this week only, you will be able to watch our own Grand Prix stop (why they show this and not the rest of the GP is beyond me...what's the point in showing Skate America if they're not going to broadcast the final?) on NBC on October 26th at 4:00 pm. It's only two hours of coverage for all four disciplines, so I wouldn't expect anything groundbreaking here, folks. Since it's the US, this'll probably mean the ladies, Evan and Johnny, and possibly Tanith and Ben (I'd be very surprised if they showed Emily and Evan or even Keuna and Rockne).
Icenetwork: Yes, you have to pay thirty bucks for it, but if you're living in the US, I strongly suggest this. They're showing live coverage of the entire Grand Prix (including the JGPF), some of U.S. Senior Nationals, Europeans, Four Continents, Junior Worlds, and the brand new World Team Trophy. This kind of sounds like an advertisement (I'm not being paid for this, I swear!), but if you're serious about seeing your figure skating, this is your best bet at actually being able to watch this season.
YouTube/Other Broadcasts: If you don't mind patchy coverage and possibly commentators in other languages, sometimes this'll work on. I know that the ISU (or at least USFS) has been cracking down on YouTube videos, so the coverage here might be limited. I know that other countries have websites where they're streaming a live broadcast of a lot of the competitions (my friend go last year's Worlds through some Turkish network), but, again, you might be taking a bit of a chance by going with this.
Canadian Television: A lot of my friends who live close to the US/Canada border (I'm looking at you, Lake Placid) get CBC and CTV. Most of the country does not have access to this, I realize, but for those of you who do, I suggest looking into what they have.This is just a broad list of different ways to watch skating. If you have others, definitely comment and tell me!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Stephane Says Goodbye
It happened. He retired. He and Jeffrey Buttle were basically the definition of the PCS, and, now that they're both gone, I am not looking forward to a season that's just about jumping.
Apparently retiring is the thing to do this season :-(
Apparently retiring is the thing to do this season :-(
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
NEWS FLASH
I really should be studying right now, but...
Stephane Lambiel has called a press conference to talk about a "crucial change" in his figure skating career. He went back to Europe recently for an awards show and apparently has not returned to New Jersey.
Why is this so big? Well, speculation of course! The word on the street (meaning the rumor mill) is that Stephane has called the conference to announce his retirement. He didn't call a press conference when he changed coaches or anything (which was a HUGEEEEEE deal), so that can mean that his announcement is only bigger. He is not longer listed as a competitor at Skate Canada or Trophee Eric Bompard, so at the very least, he'll announce that he's pulled out of the Grand Prix (let's hope that that's it). He's been battling injury all summer, which probably means that he hasn't made much headway with the triple axel, but still!
To which I can only say NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
The world wouldn't be so cruel as to take away both Jeffrey and Stephane in the same pre-Olympic season, would it?
Midterms Week Roundup
I know that tons of interesting things are happening in the skating world...but I'm in the middle of midterms week.
Sooo...I'm going to do a quick roundup:
-->Naomi Nari Nam retiring: I'll miss her so much! She was such an amazing singles skater (those spins!), and I'd hoped to see more of her in pairs
-->GOLD MEDAL SWEEP IN AFRICA!!!!: The Hubbells (LOVE THEM), Alexe Gilles, and Richard Dornbush ALL WIN at the coolest looking ice rink I've ever seen. Piper Gilles (that family has really cool names) and Zach Donohue also medaled in ice dance, Amanda Dobbes in the freeskate
-->Kerrs win in Finland: I don't know enough about them to have an opinion, but I did like their alien costumes last year
-->Yet Another Change to the ISJ: Why does the ISU have to be so sketchy about all of this stuff?
I'll be back sometime next week, right in time for the start of Skate America!!!!
Sooo...I'm going to do a quick roundup:
-->Naomi Nari Nam retiring: I'll miss her so much! She was such an amazing singles skater (those spins!), and I'd hoped to see more of her in pairs
-->GOLD MEDAL SWEEP IN AFRICA!!!!: The Hubbells (LOVE THEM), Alexe Gilles, and Richard Dornbush ALL WIN at the coolest looking ice rink I've ever seen. Piper Gilles (that family has really cool names) and Zach Donohue also medaled in ice dance, Amanda Dobbes in the freeskate
-->Kerrs win in Finland: I don't know enough about them to have an opinion, but I did like their alien costumes last year
-->Yet Another Change to the ISJ: Why does the ISU have to be so sketchy about all of this stuff?
I'll be back sometime next week, right in time for the start of Skate America!!!!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Just Kidding...
So in my last post I said that I wished that Jeffrey Buttle would do the US SOI tour...
...and then I woke up this morning, checked his website, and it turns out...he is! Twenty lucky cities in the US will get to see Jeff tour. Only the first ten tour dates have been confirmed, so they're making me a little bit nervous, since (with the exception of the random Lake Placid show, which is basically as far away from me as you can get while still being in New York State) all of them are currently West Coast shows (so all of you guys out there are really lucky!) The show doesn't come to the East Coast until later on, and he doesn't have any confirmed dates there, but hopefully he'll decide to come (it is, after all, closer to his hometown).
If you're interested the list of tour dates including the ones that Jeff has confirmed are here and the official Smucker's Stars on Ice website ishere (they say that the website should be updated for this season's Stars on Ice On the Edge soon).
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Sasha on Ice
As some of you may have heard, Sasha Cohen is heading up the 2008-09 Stars on Ice US tour (SOI website here). There's been lots of talk in the skating world recently about Sasha coming back to skate for the 2010 Olympics--she's been quoted as saying that she's really training for them, although she'll be skipping 2009 Worlds in LA (not I good idea in my opinion, since that means that the Olympics could be her first major international competition in four years). However, what has me a bit concerned is that she's going to need all of the time that she can get to get back the jumps that she hasn't been doing (not to mention the fact that she's never really had a consistant triple triple). I like Sasha, but she's got me a bit worried.
Anyway, if you're interested in the tour, IceNetwork has the complete list of everyone in it (the cast hasn't changed that much from last year). I was hoping that Jeffrey Buttle would chose to do the US tour, but it seems like that isn't going to happen =[ For those of you who won't be able to catch the show, the Lake Placid version will be broadcast on NBC on January 4th.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Huh?
One of the first competitions for French skaters this season takes place at the French Masters in Orléans. If you've seen even one international competition in the past four years (and if you read this blog, I'm guessing that you have =]), you'd expect Brian Joubert to win the competition hands down.
Welllll...then I guess it's time for you to meet his friend and teammate, Alban Préaubert.
Shocking basically the entire skating world, Alban won French Masters over Brian. Although Brian had a significant lead after the short program, a fall on his opening quad, a hand down on a triple axel, and numerous mistakes on other triples in his freeskate led to a score that was easily beaten by Alban's flawless program, which included a gorgeous quad. He won the freeskate and then the entire competition. Brian Joubert has not been beaten on home turf for four years.
Apparently, the 2007 World Champion has been having some blade issues (he told icenetwork that it effected him mentally as well as physically on the ice). Hopefully for him, that's all that it is and everything will be resolved by the time the Grand Prix hits France in November.
On another note...Brian doesn't seem to be having great luck with underdogs. First Jeffrey Buttle at last year's Worlds, and now beaten by his own countryman in a competition that he was supposed to own? Just something to think about...
Here is Alban's short program...I'm on the hunt for a youtube version of his long, so stay tuned!!
Welllll...then I guess it's time for you to meet his friend and teammate, Alban Préaubert.
Shocking basically the entire skating world, Alban won French Masters over Brian. Although Brian had a significant lead after the short program, a fall on his opening quad, a hand down on a triple axel, and numerous mistakes on other triples in his freeskate led to a score that was easily beaten by Alban's flawless program, which included a gorgeous quad. He won the freeskate and then the entire competition. Brian Joubert has not been beaten on home turf for four years.
Apparently, the 2007 World Champion has been having some blade issues (he told icenetwork that it effected him mentally as well as physically on the ice). Hopefully for him, that's all that it is and everything will be resolved by the time the Grand Prix hits France in November.
On another note...Brian doesn't seem to be having great luck with underdogs. First Jeffrey Buttle at last year's Worlds, and now beaten by his own countryman in a competition that he was supposed to own? Just something to think about...
Here is Alban's short program...I'm on the hunt for a youtube version of his long, so stay tuned!!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Because Skate America is more interesting than writing an essay...
As Skate America approaches (it's October and that means skating in 23 days...and reasons for me to procrastinate), I was thinking about the ladies competition there and decided to write this pretty random post full of my musings.
Basically, the ladies competition is completely stacked. You've got the upstarts from only two years ago (now, because this is figure skating, viewed as the old veterans), Yu-Na Kim (who's been held back by injury but finally seems healthy again), Miki Ando (what happened?), Yukari Nakano, and Kimmie Meissner (the reigning SA champion looking for some redemption this season). I'm interested to see what they're going to end up doing. I don't really know what to say about Yu-Na except that I absolutely adore her skating, but hate that we haven't really seen her full potential--she never managed to put down two clean skates last year, but she's also been hampered, perhaps more than any ladies skater out there right now, by injury. She's made the wise decision to not attempt the triple axel ever in competition, but, honestly, if this girl skates to her full potential, I don't think that she'll need it. There is also Miki Ando, who followed up a stellar 06-07 season with a dismal 07-08 one. She hasn't changed coaches, as seems to be the trend with the Japanese skaters this season, but she has hopefully dealt with her injury problems. Miki can be one extreme or the other--extrememly brilliant or painful to watch. She's rumored to be nailing quad sals in her program run-throughs, but we've been hearing this for awhile...and have yet to see it in international competition. And, of course, we can't forget about Yukari Nakano--I think that anyone watching Worlds last year thought that the girl was going to do the seemingly impossible and beat Mao Asada for the gold and then stared at the marks in complete disbelief as she settld for fourth place. It was small deductions that cost her a medal, but you can't deny that she has talent...even though her habbit of wrapping her foot on ALL of her jumps makes me cringe. She doesn't seem to have much support from the Japanese Federation either, which can't make things easy on her.-freeskate2.jpg)
And then there's Kimmie, who I think deserves her own paragraph. She won this competition last year (her first GP gold) and then went on to win silver in France...and then crashed and burned for the rest of the season for "personal reasons" that haven't been made public (which, I think, is most certainly her perogative). Recent interviews have shown her looking happy with her new coaching situation in Florida with Richard Callaghan and Todd Eldridge. What problems she's been having seemed mental to me (nothing else really would have caused that sudden downfall in her skating), and she did look a lot better at Worlds after her coaching change, results aside. As an American, I'm rooting for her--remembering how it made me feel to watch her win her world title in 2006 is enough to keep me supporting her. Plus, I don't think that you'll find a sweeter girl in the entirety of the sport.
Those are the veterans...now for the American upstarts. After the Kimmie self-destructed at US Nationals last year, she not only opened a wide door for the young girls who medalled, but also left them with huge shoes to fill. While we've excelled at many aspects of the sport, it is the ladies competition that the US is truly known for...and is Mirai Nagausu, who was too young to even qualify for senior Worlds, ready to step into the position that greats like Michelle Kwan, Kristi Yamaguchi, Dorothy Hamill, and Peggy Flemming have occupied? Maybe yes, maybe no--we'll probably get to see it this season. There's also World Champion, Rachael Flatt (I don't mean to be too biased, but I am just not a fan...her skating just doesn't really interest me at all), who enters the competition armed with triple-triples (not as gorgeous as Yu-Na Kim's, but still impressive for such a young skater. It actually reminds me of Kimmie a bit).
And, because this is figure skating, it's never a good idea to fully count out the rest of the competition. Mira Leung, who's placed second at Canadian Nationals for the past few years but has never really made a splash on the world scene, Yan Liu, Susana Poykio (part of a new era of skating in Finland), Annette Dytrt, Valentina Marchei (if she doesn't place, she always has the loving arms of her boyfriend to run to--this guy named Brian Joubert...I'm not sure if you've heard of him), and Tugba Karademir will all be competing as well.
Whew, this was a long entry.
And mostly full of rambling about a competition that's not going to happen for another three weeks. I can't help it...I'm excited :-)
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Two of a Kind
After doing a review of what I'm looking forward to in dance last week, I've decided to give you my opinion on who I'll be watching out for in pairs this year. This isn't a comprehensive look at all of the pairs skaters out there--it's just who I'll be looking forward to watching/find interesting this upcoming season.
Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker
I'm so excited that these guys are going to be competing fully as seniors this year--Keauna is now old enough to go to Senior Worlds (which, judging from the state of pairs skating in the US, I think that they'll very easily go to). I think that they're going to make a huge splash on the senior circuit this year--last season was their senior debut, and they managed to medal in both of their GP events, made it to the GP Final, and then, to finish everything off, won gold at their first senior nationals. I have a lot of hope that these guys are the pairs team that the US has been looking for.
Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy
They aren't my favorite pairs team, but they do interest me. After saying that they wanted to win everything last season, they almost did--the one exception being Cup of Russia. How will these new world champions fare in the coming season? Well, I don't know that...but they did seem to have a very good hold on the gold medal last season. There are a few up and comers, however, that I think they should be watching out for (for more on that, read most of the other blurbs in this post).
Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison
Can I just start out by being horribly biased and saying that I LOVE this team. My love began when they came back after that terrible injury that Jessica sustained at last year's 4CC (and they STILL do the side by side flying camels!) to skate at Worlds only a few weeks later. And then they lost the Canadian title this year, and then came back (that seemed to be a thing for Canadians last season...Jeff did it to) to go against all of the odds and won bronze at Worlds (with only a double twist!). This year, they're back and they've mastered the triple twist in the off season...what could possibly be better?
Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang
This [unrelated, by the way] team has the hugest triple twist in competition right now. They won silver at last year's worlds, and are a part of the Chinese pairs program that's come to dominate the sport in the past years. I'll admit that I'm not the biggest fans of these guys (I preferred the retired Shen and Zhao), but I will say that I do look forward to seeing what they come up with this season and whether or not the Chinese influx in pairs skating will hold through the 2010 Olympics.
Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker
I'm so excited that these guys are going to be competing fully as seniors this year--Keauna is now old enough to go to Senior Worlds (which, judging from the state of pairs skating in the US, I think that they'll very easily go to). I think that they're going to make a huge splash on the senior circuit this year--last season was their senior debut, and they managed to medal in both of their GP events, made it to the GP Final, and then, to finish everything off, won gold at their first senior nationals. I have a lot of hope that these guys are the pairs team that the US has been looking for.Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy
They aren't my favorite pairs team, but they do interest me. After saying that they wanted to win everything last season, they almost did--the one exception being Cup of Russia. How will these new world champions fare in the coming season? Well, I don't know that...but they did seem to have a very good hold on the gold medal last season. There are a few up and comers, however, that I think they should be watching out for (for more on that, read most of the other blurbs in this post).
Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison
Can I just start out by being horribly biased and saying that I LOVE this team. My love began when they came back after that terrible injury that Jessica sustained at last year's 4CC (and they STILL do the side by side flying camels!) to skate at Worlds only a few weeks later. And then they lost the Canadian title this year, and then came back (that seemed to be a thing for Canadians last season...Jeff did it to) to go against all of the odds and won bronze at Worlds (with only a double twist!). This year, they're back and they've mastered the triple twist in the off season...what could possibly be better?Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang
This [unrelated, by the way] team has the hugest triple twist in competition right now. They won silver at last year's worlds, and are a part of the Chinese pairs program that's come to dominate the sport in the past years. I'll admit that I'm not the biggest fans of these guys (I preferred the retired Shen and Zhao), but I will say that I do look forward to seeing what they come up with this season and whether or not the Chinese influx in pairs skating will hold through the 2010 Olympics.
Nebelhorn Roundup Pt. 2
Watch out world, ice dancing has officially landed in North America.
After placing second in the compulsory round of competition, Americans Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates placed first in both the original and free dances and, in their senior international debut, stole the show with an 8 point lead to claim first place. Alexandra Zaretski and Roman Zaretski, the winners of the compulsory dance, fell to second in the original dance and third in the free, but held on to a silver medal. Rounding out the podium with yet another medal for the US were Jane Summersett and Todd Gilles, who placed third.
In the ladies competition, American domination continued with a surprisingly consistant Alissa Czisny. Her inconsistancy makes watching her otherwise beautiful programs a nerve-wracking experience, but her patchy jumps seemed to have gone on hiatus...at least for this competition. It seems like working with the King of Consistancy himself, Mr. Brian Boitano, has helped her out a bit. She took the gold medal with a 12 point lead in the free skate, where she scored all level fours on her characteristically gorgeous spins. Laura Lepisto, the national champion from Finland, took silver with a few popped jumps, but otherwise good program, and Akiko Suzuki of Japan took the bronze.
Can you say USA?! Nice job, guys!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Nebelhorn Roundup Pt. 1
The pairs and mens parts of the competition are now done with, so I figured that I'd start my commentary a little bit early.
As far as the men are concerned, Nobunari Oda seems to be in pretty good shape--he won both the short and the free with a combined total of 224.67...not bad, but pretty far off of his personal best of 244.56 at NHK 2006. Of course, it is the very, very, very beginning of the season...so I'm not about to judge. He did manage to get all Level 3s and 4s on his spins and footwork sequences and landed a huge triple axel-triple toe that recieved +1.25 and was worth over 18 points. The guy who has me a little worried is Tomas Verner. I'm a big fan (and not just because I'm a teenage girl), but he isn't looking so good at the moment. He missed the podium by .33 points. Third in the short and fourth in the free? His countryman, Michael Brezina, beat him by about 23 points to claim silver (and landed 8 triples with no negative GOEs), and Yannick Ponsero came through to knock Verner off of the podium to claim bronze.
As far as the pairs, there really weren't any surprises. Savchenko and Szolkowy led in both the short and long. Their score was a little less than twenty points out of their personal best, but, again, it's only the beginning of the season. Hopefully they're set to be challenged this year by the up-and-comers in an otherwise rather disappointing (at least, in my opinion) field. They did receive quite a few negative GOEs in their long program, but, in the long run, their program components score helped them out.
Tomorrow will conclude the competition with pairs and ladies finals...so more on that later!
As far as the men are concerned, Nobunari Oda seems to be in pretty good shape--he won both the short and the free with a combined total of 224.67...not bad, but pretty far off of his personal best of 244.56 at NHK 2006. Of course, it is the very, very, very beginning of the season...so I'm not about to judge. He did manage to get all Level 3s and 4s on his spins and footwork sequences and landed a huge triple axel-triple toe that recieved +1.25 and was worth over 18 points. The guy who has me a little worried is Tomas Verner. I'm a big fan (and not just because I'm a teenage girl), but he isn't looking so good at the moment. He missed the podium by .33 points. Third in the short and fourth in the free? His countryman, Michael Brezina, beat him by about 23 points to claim silver (and landed 8 triples with no negative GOEs), and Yannick Ponsero came through to knock Verner off of the podium to claim bronze.As far as the pairs, there really weren't any surprises. Savchenko and Szolkowy led in both the short and long. Their score was a little less than twenty points out of their personal best, but, again, it's only the beginning of the season. Hopefully they're set to be challenged this year by the up-and-comers in an otherwise rather disappointing (at least, in my opinion) field. They did receive quite a few negative GOEs in their long program, but, in the long run, their program components score helped them out.
Tomorrow will conclude the competition with pairs and ladies finals...so more on that later!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Since when was Nebelhorn so legit?
The Nebelhorn trophy will be taking place this week in Oberstdorf, Germany. I may be a little bit prejudiced, but I've always remembered it as the competition for people who were not quite "there" yet--the fifth through tenth placers at national championships who may or may not progress up in the ranks.
However, I'd be wrong if I said that about this year...seriously, when did Nebelhorn get so big?! This girl named Carolina Kostner is entering as defending ladies champion, as is Tomas Verner (love him!) on the mens side of things, and, in pairs, Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy will be putting in an appearance after an almost perfect season last year.
Even though this competition isn't one of the big ones for this season (those start in about three weeks), I'd at least take a peak at the mens competition. Will European Champ Tomas pull himself together after a great season, but horrible LP at Worlds? How is Kevin van de Perren doing after his surgery? Who is Michael Brezina and should we be keeping our eye on him? And, the big one (in my opinion)--just how is Nobunari Oda, the slightly disgraced Japanese skater who we haven't seen in awhile, going to be this season after a slightly questionable coaching change?
I'm feeling a bit like Gossip Girl now, so I'm going to sign out. We'll keep you posted!
I see London...
Skate Canada announced on September 22nd that London, Ontario will be hosting the 2010 Canadian National Figure Skating Championships. The event will take place on January 13 and last through the 17th at the John Labatt Centre. The last time that the city hosted the competition was back in 2005, where Jeffrey Buttle and Joannie Rochette captured their first national titles.
This will be the last nationals before Canada's best and brightest trade coasts and head to Vancouver for the Olympics. If you can go, I'd definitely suggest it, as it's a preview of what's to come...I'm American, but I'm thinking of crossing the border to see it, considering that it's much, much closer to me than Spokane (although, as Jeff Buttle will probably not be in it, I'm not so sure...). It's also the hometown of this little dance team that you probably haven't heard of...Virtue and Moir, anyone?
Saturday, September 20, 2008
He's Better!
All of those PCS lovers out there can take a breath. Reports have been surfacing that Stephane Lambiel will be returning to training within the next few days. He received an injury to his "left abductor muscle" according to his website, but it appears that he's on the mend. If you can read French, this page might be of interest: click.This is great news for the skating world, considering the men's field was starting to look a little bit flimsy for this year's Grand Prix if Stephane wasn't going to make it. Glad he's feeling better!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Dancing with the Stars
As a result of my skating rather badly this morning (um...have you ever realized how riddiculously unforgiving this sport is? I travel for an hour to get to the ice rink nearest to my college and all that I get for my efforts is a flying sit that traveled from here to China and a bunch of double-footed doubles), I think that this would be a great time for me to talk about that lovely part of our sport that doesn't include jumps and doesn't become impossible past age eighteen.
I've never actually been this excited for the ice dancing season to start...in fact, I've never actually been excited about ice dancing period, the one exception maybe being Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto's silver-medal skate at the Olympics. I began getting into watching skating when Russia and Eastern Europe were still, thanks in part to the old 6.0 system, completely dominating the dance scene. The long, tacky skirts, boring music, and lack of jumps never really attracted my twelve year old self. However, this year, there are a bunch of North American teams that I'm really looking forward to seeing.
Meryl Davis and Charlie White
I was lucky enough to see these guys skate live at one of the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center's Saturday Night Ice Shows. They were phenomenal--so powerful and so in-sync on twizzles!!!!! I thought that their free dance last year at Nationals was amazing, and I really, really want them to move up in the ranks this year--in my opinion, they whole heartedly deserve it (and...um, I'm a nineteen year old girl who's been captured by Charlie White's gorgeousness...but I'll try not to talk about that).
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir
I suppose that they go on this list without saying. I think that they're great and definitely deserved that silver medal...but I also found their free dance a bit boring at worlds last year. I'd like to see some more power from them, but their connection on the ice really is extraordinary.
Isabelle Delobel & Olivier Schoenfelder
I'm interested in whether or not their level of skating will continue through next season. I'm glad that they're staying on until the Olympics, but I'm wondering if they'll be able to hold off the Russians, who were out on injury for the World Championships, and the North Americans, including, of course, the revamped...
Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto
I'm dying to see them. So many people don't like them, but I can't help it. They're the reason why I know what the heck is going on in the ice dancing world...I honestly think that their West Side Story FD was the first dance program I watched all of the way through and truly, truly enjoyed. I'm really interested in seeing what their new coaching situation has done for them and hope that we'll see it in their result.
Madison and Keiffer Hubbell
I think that these guys might be at the head of the next generation of American ice dancing (wow...a decade ago that would have meant nothing. Things have definitely changed for the better!!). I've always thought that brother-sister ice dancing teams were a bit...weird, considering they're supposed to be portraying a couple, but I have to say that I really, really like these guys. They're having success on the JGP (Mexico, anyone?), and they'll be making their senior debuts at Nats this year!!!!
Obviously, I do want to see the other teams, but if I were to list everyone that I was excited about, this would be a very, very long blog.
I'll probably be doing one or possibly two (depending on timing) of these commentaries about each discipline a week leading up to the start of the senior international season...Skate America!!!!!!
I've never actually been this excited for the ice dancing season to start...in fact, I've never actually been excited about ice dancing period, the one exception maybe being Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto's silver-medal skate at the Olympics. I began getting into watching skating when Russia and Eastern Europe were still, thanks in part to the old 6.0 system, completely dominating the dance scene. The long, tacky skirts, boring music, and lack of jumps never really attracted my twelve year old self. However, this year, there are a bunch of North American teams that I'm really looking forward to seeing.
Meryl Davis and Charlie WhiteI was lucky enough to see these guys skate live at one of the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center's Saturday Night Ice Shows. They were phenomenal--so powerful and so in-sync on twizzles!!!!! I thought that their free dance last year at Nationals was amazing, and I really, really want them to move up in the ranks this year--in my opinion, they whole heartedly deserve it (and...um, I'm a nineteen year old girl who's been captured by Charlie White's gorgeousness...but I'll try not to talk about that).
Tessa Virtue and Scott MoirI suppose that they go on this list without saying. I think that they're great and definitely deserved that silver medal...but I also found their free dance a bit boring at worlds last year. I'd like to see some more power from them, but their connection on the ice really is extraordinary.
Isabelle Delobel & Olivier SchoenfelderI'm interested in whether or not their level of skating will continue through next season. I'm glad that they're staying on until the Olympics, but I'm wondering if they'll be able to hold off the Russians, who were out on injury for the World Championships, and the North Americans, including, of course, the revamped...
Tanith Belbin and Ben AgostoI'm dying to see them. So many people don't like them, but I can't help it. They're the reason why I know what the heck is going on in the ice dancing world...I honestly think that their West Side Story FD was the first dance program I watched all of the way through and truly, truly enjoyed. I'm really interested in seeing what their new coaching situation has done for them and hope that we'll see it in their result.
Madison and Keiffer HubbellI think that these guys might be at the head of the next generation of American ice dancing (wow...a decade ago that would have meant nothing. Things have definitely changed for the better!!). I've always thought that brother-sister ice dancing teams were a bit...weird, considering they're supposed to be portraying a couple, but I have to say that I really, really like these guys. They're having success on the JGP (Mexico, anyone?), and they'll be making their senior debuts at Nats this year!!!!
Obviously, I do want to see the other teams, but if I were to list everyone that I was excited about, this would be a very, very long blog.
I'll probably be doing one or possibly two (depending on timing) of these commentaries about each discipline a week leading up to the start of the senior international season...Skate America!!!!!!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Adios Nonino
I'll be the first person to admit that I haven't really followed Jeffrey Buttle's career too closely. I cheered for him at the Olympics and felt for him at 2007 Worlds, but it wasn't until what would become the last event of his competitive career that he became my favorite male skater.
So, although the news is about a week old, I figured I'd start the first entry of my new figure skating blog with an entry about Jeff.
In a skating world where most of the emphasis is put on a person's ability to rotate four times in the air, Jeff Buttle was sort of a breath of fresh air when he got onto the ice. The fact that he was able to win Worlds without a quad is a pretty extraordinary feat, especially when you look at the fact that the jump was in all of the other top competitor's programs. After 2008 Worlds, I spent a whole lot of time (which SHOULD have been spent studying...) looking him up on YouTube. People will talk about how he has an easier program because of a lack of a quad, but I think that any figure skater (including myself) would be able to tell you that his intricately choreographed, musical programs are not only works of art, but also programs that I doubt any other skater out there could perform. While he may not have always been consistant with the jumps, he was consistent with the performance, and that is something that is sadly lacking in figure skating today.
I only wish that I'd gotten a chance to see him compete live, but--lucky for us!--he's not returning to the University of Toronto just yet. I'm personally keeping my fingers crossed for the US tour of Stars on Ice...I'm sure that he'll do the Canadian tour, but now that he has all of this free time, I certainly hope that he stops by New York as well :-)
On the other hand, I'd like to welcome you to my blog...it's not very well publicized at the moment, so if you're reading this, I'll be quite surprised =], but expect lots of updates over the course of the season, because I'm a figure skater who's stuck at a college without an ice rink, so I've got lots of skating-related energy that I have to get out somehow :-)
So, I leave you with one of my all-time favorite Jeffrey programs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
