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:

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.

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).

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.

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!!!!

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!!!

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.