Ice Addiction - What's Coming Soon?

I thought I would keep everyone updated on what's going to be coming up over the next few weeks on Ice Addiction:

• A round-up of the World Championships - who's attending, who the hot medal hopes are, and who might surprise us.

• Looking Back - a series of articles looking back over the career of those skaters who have either already retired post-Olympics or who are looking to retire at the end of the season. I'll be looking back at their best performances, their highest-placed programs and their most memorable moments, on and off the ice. I'll also be looking back over the last season overall.

• Dancing With The Stars round-ups - two skaters who won't be heading to Saitama for the Worlds are Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who are instead competing again each other on Dancing With The Stars! I'll be keeping you all updated with their progress (my money's on Meryl!)

• Program of the Day - because sometimes you just need to take five minutes out of your day to watch some figure skating.

And much more! Any suggestions are always welcome - either comment below or tweet me at @theiceaddiction.

Preview - World Championships

So this week marks the start of the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships, now held in Moscow instead of Nagano after the devastating events in Japan. So who are the contenders to watch?

Mens

Reigning Champion: Daisuke Takahashi
Forerunner for Gold: Patrick Chan
Potential Challengers: Amodio, Kozuka, Takahashi, Joubert, Brezina

Patrick Chan is definitely the main contender for this event - his performance at Canadian Nationals included a quad toeloop in his short and TWO quad toes in his long, and he's going to want to match that in Moscow. However, I suspect his competition will come from the 2014 kids, Florent Amodio and Michel Brezina, who have a history of consistency in competition that Chan does not. Brian Joubert, Takahiko Kozuka and reigning gold medalist Daisuke Takahashi will also be trying to take the gold. The mens event is undoubtedly one of the most exciting of the whole competition as it is notoriously hard to predict, especially with such a deep field.

Pairs

Reigning Champion: Qing Pang and Jian Tong
Forerunners for Gold: Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy
Potential Challengers: Pang/Tong, Volosozhar/Trankov, Basarova/Larionov

The pairs event seems to be a two-horse race between Pang and Tong and Savchenko and Szolkowy. The Germans won at the recent Grand Prix Final by over 20 points; however, their lack of jumping consistency may be their downfall. The Russian team will also be the main challengers hoping to take a home gold - both Basarova/Larinov and Kavaguti/Smirnov have a good chance, but all eyes will be on Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov. It'll be interesting to see if their gamble in partner-swapping paid off - their sizable win at their only competition so far, the Mont Blanc Trophy, seems to suggest so!

Ladies

Reigning Champion: Mao Asada
Forerunner for Gold: Yu-na Kim (?)
Potential Challengers: Asada, Csizny, Kostner, Ando, Flatt, Murakami

This ladies event marks Yu-na Kim's return to competition after her gold medal win in Vancouver, but how will she fare after a whole season out and a messy split from coach Brian Orser? Mao Asada has had a very mixed season but she's been known to pull a winning performance out when it's been least expected, so she might take a surprise gold. Also hoping for a medal will be Alissa Csizny, riding high on her Grand Prix Final win, and her teammate Rachael Flatt, as well as Japan's Miki Ando and Kanako Murakami.

Ice Dance

Reigning Champion: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir
Forerunner for Gold: Virtue/Moir
Potential Challengers: Davis/White, Pechalat/Bourzat

This is also a event which marks a return to competition; it is Virtue and Moir's first full competition of the season, as they were forced to withdraw from both Grand Prix assignments, Canadian Nationals and the long program of Four Continents due to Virtue's injury struggles. It'll be interesting to see if Davis and White have managed to leapfrog over their training mates due to their extra practice time - after all, they've always been a very close second! Pechalat and Bourzat will also be fighting for a medal, fresh after their huge win at Europeans.

So that's my predictions/round-up - who are your picks? Also I've posted the dates and times of each event below - enjoy! I'll also be blogging about each event and live-tweeting.

World Championships (Moscow Times)

Monday, April 25
14:00 Qualification round: Men

Tuesday, April 26
12:00 Qualification round: Ice dancing
15:30 Qualification round: Ladies

Wednesday, April 27
13:00 Men's short program
18:30 Pairs short program

Thursday, April 28
13:30 Men's free skating
18:30 Pairs free skating

Friday, April 29
13:30 Ladies short program
18:30 Short dance

Saturday, April 30
13:30 Ladies' free skating
18:30 Free dance

Sunday, May 1
14:00 Exhibition

Bits and Pieces

So, it might be the off-season, but there's still some skating news to be had.

Firstly, the obligatory retirement/continuation announcements. Most skaters haven't committed either way yet, but some have - Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir have stated that they will compete for another season at least! This is a fantastic decision; they might be Olympic and World champions but there is so much more they can bring to the sport. Plus, this will ensure a nice friendly "rivalry" between them and Davis and White will continue, giving them both the push to create such masterpiece FDs as they did this year. Kristoffer Berntsson has also stated he will keep competing, which is great news, and Meryl and Charlie have stated their intentions to be in Sochi!

The coaching shuffle has also started; Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates are moving to train with Zoueva and Shpilband. I think this can only be a good thing for the pair, but not necessarily for the other teams Zoueva and Shpilband coach; they might be spreading themselves a little thin, and could be in danger of being the next Morosov. Speaking of Morosov, Nobunari Oda has left him and will be coached by Lee Barkell; a very sensible decision after his disastrous Worlds.

There is also the partner shuffle happening; as predicted, Mukhortova and Trankov are over and he's been trying out with Volosozhar, but Stanislav will still be involved, as assistant coach. Also, Khoklova and Novitski are not longer skating together, and Jana has had a try-out with Fedor Andreev, the son of Marina Zoueva and former Canadian mens skater! Seems like a weird match, and a definite downgrade for Jana - it's only a tryout though, so it may not be successful. It was also assumed that Novitski was retiring due to his injury issues; however, there have been Russian rumours of HIM also looking for a new partner! Hopefully these will be false; it's always been considered that him and Jana had a very good relationship and he will definitely not be able to find a partner as good as Jana, she's such a talent. Piper Gilles and Zachary Donohue have also split.

In weirder news, Nobunari Oda has apparently got married to his girlfriend who is four months pregnant! Kind of unexpected (I think because he looks so young!) but congratulations to him. Lots of changes in his life right now!

The feud between Evan Lysacek (who seems to be doing pretty well on Dancing with the Stars over in America) and Johnny Weir shows no signs of being extinguished. Evan said, when asked about Johnny:

“Stars on Ice” is really selective of who they hire and they only hire the best of the best to skate. It would’ve been hard of them to justify hiring him, and I think he was really upset because he wanted the financial benefit of the tour. A lot of us in the skating world were really disappointed in the way he reacted, basically whining that he wasn’t chosen.

Bit harsh, I think? But Johnny is still doing the media rounds, and on the Wendy Williams Show, the quote was read to him? Johnny's response?



I'm a teenager, and even I didn't know what "slore" meant! But Urban Dictionary filled me in. Honestly, Evan's comment was rude, and so was Johnny's, just in different ways. A bit of friendly rivalry in figure skating is always funny, but when their competitive careers are basically over and they're STILL sniping? Not cool.

Figure Skating in Harlem or Dancing with the Stars?

The annual Figure Skating in Harlem event took place on April 5th - here's what Ice Network had to say about it:

It's an annual event where stars and fans meet, greet and skate under the stars (hopefully no rain this year) at Wollman Rink in New York's Central Park. This year, Figure Skating in Harlem (FSH), an organization that provides innovative ice skating and educational programming for girls ages 6-18 from the Harlem community, will honor three women who share a commitment to kids.

From the skating world, FSH has chosen Kristi Yamaguchi, who founded the Always Dream Foundation around the same time FSH came into being. On Jan. 16, the foundation celebrated the official opening of the Always Dream Play Park in Yamaguchi's hometown of Freemont, Calif. It's a place where physically challenged and able-bodied kids can play side by side.

And it seems the Stars on Ice tour bus took a pit stop in Central Park, because a lot of familiar faces pitched up to support FSH:






Also present from the skating world was Dorothy Hamill, Charlie White, Mirai Nagasu, Ben Agosto and Sasha Cohen. Donald Trump, Tamara Tunie and Christopher Meloni also attended the benefit due to their work with the cause.

One FSH regular who wasn't able to attend was Evan Lysacek, due to his commitments to Dancing with the Stars. He topped the leaderboard this week with his Quickstep:



But one person who isn't too interested in Evan's footwork? Johnny Weir, NY Mag is reporting:

"Evan is fine as a person. We've been competitors for years and years and years and that's kinda the forefront to us being people to each other," Weir said. "I think he worked very hard and he deserved that Olympic gold medal and he does a good job. He does his work. But as a person I don't really know him that well and we've never really made the effort to be nice to each other." But surely he must at least watch Lysacek on Dancing With the Stars? "No," Weir said. "And I won't."

Ouch! But who'd expect anything less from Johnny?

Post-Season Slump

Post-season slump is inevitable, especially after the Olympic season, so to combat this Ice Addiction is look back over the 2009-2010 season, and setting a sort of skating questionnaire, asking for some of your favourites over the season. Here are the questions:

Favourite Mens Short Program -
Favourite Mens Long Program -
Favourite Ladies Short Program -
Favourite Ladies Long Program -
Favourite Pairs Short Program -
Favourite Pairs Long Program -
Favourite OD -
Favourite FD -
Favourite Breakout Star of the Season -
Heartbreak of the Season -
Skater(s) You'd Most Like to See Saved From Their Imminent Retirement -
Skater You'd Never Like to See Again! -
Best Tweeter of the Season -

...and here are my answers! Remember, this is totally all for fun, and I've done my answers not on the best score of the season, or the most talented skaters, but on the performances and people I personally adore. I'm sure that there are some stars I've missed. Basically, answers from the heart and not the head!

Favourite Mens Short Program - Jeremy Abbott's "A Day in the Life" Choreographical masterpiece! Honourable Mentions: Weir, Takahashi, Rippon, Lambiel

Favourite Mens Long Program - This was a much stronger season for short programs, I thought. But Oda, Kozuka and Joubert all get mentions from me.

Favourite Ladies Short Program - Mirai Nagasu's "Pirates of the Caribbean"

Favourite Ladies Long Program - Joannie Rochette - "Sampson and Delilah" Honourable Mention - Yu-na Kim

Favourite Pairs Short Program - Evora and Ladwig's "Love Actually". Really embodied the Olympic spirit. Honourable Mention - Shen and Zhao, Denney and Barratt

Favourite Pairs Long Program - Pang and Tong's "Impossible Dream" Honourable Mentions - Savchenko and Szolkowy, Dube and Davison

Favourite OD - Virtue/Moir and Davis/White. How could you choose between the two?

Favourite FD - Again, I could never pick between V/M and D/W. Honourable Mentions - Cappellini/Lanotte

Breakout Star of the Season - Michal Brezina. I am so hoping he maximises his potential and becomes the star that he deserves to be!

Heartbreak of the Season - Joannie Rochette, of course. Honourable (or not so) Mentions - Tomas Verner and his disaster of a season, Novitski's retirement, Joubert and Abbott's Olympics

Skater(s) You'd Most Like to See Saved From Their Imminant Retirement - Belbin and Agosto - so, so fantastic. Honourable Mentions - Lambiel, Weir

Skater You'd Never Like to See Again! - Sorry, Plushy, but my votes for you!

Best Tweeter of the Season - Has to be Jeremy Abbott! He has been hilarious to follow all year. Honourable Mentions - The entire Team USA, they all seem to be on there!

...and there you have it! Answers in the comments please - I'd be interested to know how your opinions differ.

Day One of Worlds

So the pairs short program and the ice dance compulsories happened last night;

Pairs

Results

Questions:

Can Pang and Tong take the title, or will Kavaguti and Smirnov's "Blue Danube" end their gold medal dreams?
Will Maria Mukhortova/Maxim Trankov EVER look happy?
Can Jessica Dube actually land a sbs triple salchow?
Can Savchenko and Szolkowy hang onto that precarious bronze medal position?
Will the American pairs come out and nail their free skates as well as they did their short programs?

Compulsories

Results

Questions:

Have Faiella and Scali made it a race for fourth, and not bronze, with their lead?
Can the Kerrs/Pechalat & Bourzat/Khoklova & Novitski move around their placings?
Does anyone have nicer costumes than the North American teams?
Will these be the last compulsories ever?
Can Davis and White take that World title?

Ready for Worlds

Worlds starts tomorrow and, as with all post-Olympic Worlds there is a real chance for some skaters who are usually low down in the top ten to potentially gain a medal. Here's my preview.

Men

Notable Absences: Evan Lysacek, Johnny Weir, Evgeni Plushenko, Tomas Verner, Stephane Lambiel
Potential Medal Hopes: Nobunari Oda, Daisuke Takahashi, Takahiko Kozuka, Brian Joubert (though, as someone noted on Twitter, it depends which Joubert shows up!), Jeremy Abbott (same situation as Joubert), Patrick Chan
2014 Kids to Watch: Adam Rippon, Michal Brezina, Denis Ten, Florent Amodio

Ladies
Notable Absences: Joannie Rochette
Potential Medal Hopes: Yu-na Kim, Mao Asada, Miki Ando, Mirai Nagasu, Rachael Flatt, Akiko Suzuki
2014 Kids to Watch: Ksenia Makarova, Mirai Nagasu

Pairs

Notable Absences: Shen/Zhao, Volosozhar/Morosov
Potential Medal Hopes: Pang/Tong, Zhang/Zhang, Mukhortova/Trankov, Savchenko/Szolkowy, Kavaguti/Smirnov
2014 Kids to Watch: Denney/Barrett

Dance

Notable Absences: Domnina/Shabalin, Belbin/Agosto, Delobel/Schoenfelder
Potential Medal Hopes: Virtue/Moir, Davis/White, Faiella/Scali, Pechalat/Bourzat
2014 Kids to Watch: Cappellini/Lanotte

Agree/disagree? Comment below!

Media Madness

So since I last blogged, the ice dance event has finished and the ladies short program has happened; two of the best events which have ever happened in Olympic history. Virtue and Moir's free dance and Joannie's incredible short program will forever live on in figure skating history; did anyone NOT cry the whole way through her skate?

But here's a round-up of some news to fill up the time between now and the ladies free skate (can you believe it's the last competitive event of the Olympics? How it's flown!)


The US team have been talking about their plans post-Vancouver - hear what Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir are planning. Evan on Dancing with the Stars would be great, but I'd rather see Johnny on it, as long as he could perform to Lady Gaga every week!

Other skaters who have been talking about their life now Vancouver is over includes Brian Joubert; after his awful result last week he has stated he plans to keep competing until 2012 and that he needs to make changes to be successful. Hopefully these plans will convice the French Fed to judge him fairly at the "readiness test" they're giving him before Worlds in March.

Across the pond, all the ladies of the US Olympic team (plus a bit of Johnny Weir thrown in for good measure) talked about their beauty routines and favourite products - definitely worth a read.

In your regular snarking update, Plushenko appears to have finally gone quiet on the skating controversy over his gold medal, but that doesn't mean it's over. On his official website, his medal from Vancouver was billed as "platinum" instead of a silver, but when the international media picked up on it and made an outcry it was swiftly change; with his "people" insisting Plushy was nothing to do with it.

Similarly, Massimo Scali has been criticised for criticizing both Virtue and Moir and the judges in Vancouver; however, Lynn Rutherford over at Ice Network quickly set us straight on how Scali's quotes were manipulated and out of context. Thank goodness!

The media really have been going skating-crazy; as Charlie White tweeted "We were made fun of on the Colbert Report!!! Woohoo, haha I've made it!! " Watch that here; it also mentions Weir and Lysacek.

Go Fug Yourself, a hilarious fashion blog, did a review of some of the costumes we've seen in Vancouver; the good, the bad and the ugly! Read it; I defy you not to laugh your head off!

There have also been other skaters in the media; most of it is US-centered (for example, Lysacek was on the Larry King Show and Davis & White are going to be on the Today Show) but Twitter is the place to be for the best updates.

Enjoy!

Joy and Sorrow for the Canadian Team

So there is happy news and terrible news for the Canadian team in Vancouver. Tragically, Joannie Rochette's mother, Therese Rochette, just passed away suffering a heart attack on Sunday at the age of 55. Rochette still plans to compete tomorrow night, and even attended her official practice (pictured). All our thoughts and prayers are with Joannie and her family at this difficult time.

In other skating news, Virtue and Moir took a comfortable lead in the original dance section of the competition yesterday. Both Virtue/Moir and Davis/White skated out of their skins to take first and second position, pushing Domnina and Shabalin's much-talked about Aboriginal program down to third. The free dance today is going to be great; whilst the medallists appear to be set, will they move around?

It's also been confirmed that Evan Lysacek and Nastia Liukin; anyone else with me in not being suprised at all? I'm just wondering if it's too cyncical to think of it as a match made in NBC heaven.

Vancouver 2010; over halfway through!

So mens and pairs medals have been given out (my comments on which will come in a giant round-up post after all the events are over)but there is still a drama bubbling between Plushenko and Lysacek. Here are a few articles about Lysacek, Plushenko and the aftermath:

IOC President says Plushenko's behavior only an expression of disappointment - Philip Hersh, Chicago Tribune

The night they killed figure skating - Elvis Stojko, Yahoo! Sports

Timothy Goebel responds to Elvis Stojko’s Rant - Timothy Goebel/Jocelyn Jane Cox, Current Skate of Mind

How Evan Lysacek got ready to win gold - Emma Rosenblum, NY Mag

Lysacek waves off criticism from Russian Federation - Amy Rosewater, Ice Network

Plus the compulsory dance happened last night. Whilst I still wish it had been the Golden Waltz instead, I still loved it! Full results are here. I'm going to call who I want to win right now, and get it out there; Virtue and Moir. Here's hoping! However, thought any of the top teams would be deserving of it after watching those CDs; Davis/White, Belbin/Agosto and of course Domnina/Shabalin really brought it! Original dance is tonight - check out Twitter for updates, live as they happen.

formspring.me

Who's your favorite skater?(single female/male)

Male...wow I have a lot. Despite his flaws, I'm a long-time Joubert fan. I know, I know...but I just can't help but love him. This season I've also become a massive Jeremy Abbott fan, and I'm praying he gets assigned TEB next season because I so very much want to see him live! My other favourites are Lambiel, Brezina, Kozuka, Oda, Weir, Verner, Bradley, the list goes on! Other than Plushenko (sorry!) I pretty much love them all.

Ladies, I don't have so many favourites in. Whilst I love Yu-na and Mao, my real favourite lady is Joannie Rochette. I also adore Ashley Wagner, Alissa Czisny, Sarah Meier and Elene Gedevanishvili.

Whilst you didn't ask, I think I'll tack on that my favourite pairs are Savchenko and Szolkowy, and my favourite dancers are...almost all of them! I'm a diehard Marlie and Virtue/Moir fan though.

However, readers of my blog probably know this already; I'm not too good at keeping my biases under control!

Ask me anything

The Tango Romantica for Dummies

Another post to feed on that Olympic fever; some comparisons of the compulsories! I haven't got every top team on here (Belbin and Agosto haven't competeted the Tango Romantica yet, for example) but there's enough that you can watch and make a comparison. Ignoring the possibility of disasters, who do you think will take gold after the CDs?

Important Things to Remember; What the ISU Communication on judging the Tango Romantica Says

Skating Skills
Ice coverage without visible pushing; cleanness and sureness of steps; strongly curved well rounded lobes; lobe to lobe transitions well controlled; controlled body weight changes; light knee action; clean, tight, crisp footwork.

Performance
Perfect vertical and horizontal unison; good carriage and style; controlled body action;nicely matched free legs; balance in performance between partners.

Interpretation
Expression of the typical changes between the soft and strong character of the rhythm, relationship between partners reflecting the lyrical mood of this Tango. Well-defined and strong edges should be skated with a lot of character using good knee action, tight ,clean footwork with matching free leg movements. For good presentation and interpretation the body style and movements should reflect Tango rhythm.

Timing
Very precise and crisp timing, exact beat value for each step, sometimes syncopated to bring out the Tango character.

Here are some of the key players in the medal race performing their Tango Romanticas this season.

Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir



Oksana Domnina/Maxim Shabalin



Meryl Davis/Charlie White




Federica Faiella/Massimo Scali




Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte




Jana Khokhlova/Sergei Novitski




Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat




Isabelle Delobel/Olivier Schoenfelder (from the 2006 Europeans, embedding is disabled on this video, annoyingly!)

I've also decided, as a point of comparions, to add in some of the best performances of the Tango Romantica from the past few years as a point of comparison.

Jayne Torvill/Christopher Dean



Oksana Grishuk/Evengy Platov




Marina Anissina/Gwendal Peizerat



So there you have it; everything you need to know about the Tango Romantica! Hope it was helpful.

Olympic Fever!

Now, if you're like me, you're totally excited for the events in Vancouver to start and are itching to see some skating! But to keep you going until the first event (the Pairs Short Program, on Valentines Day!) I've compiled some links/sites/videos to keep you going!

Twitter

Twitter is an invaluable tool for any skating fan. There are a number of skaters who tweet, especially the American ones; my favourites are @jeremyabbottpcf, @EvanLysacek, @JohnnyGWeir, @Adaripp (Adam Rippon, in case you couldn't tell), @AshWagner2010 and @charlieawhite. There are so many more figure skaters out there in the Twitter world, so have a look at Aaron's site Axels, Loops and Spins for a full list.

There are also so many people who tweet skating news, and who, along with me, will be tweeting the Olympic results. The best, I think, are @SarahandDrew (off of Ice Network), @skating102 (Aaron from the aformentioned Axels, Loops and Spins) @blazingblades and @NBCOlympicZone. Don't forget about @Ice_Addiction either!

TV

Skaters seem to be popping up on TV all over the place. Jeremy Abbott, who has traditionally flown under the radar in terms of promotion, was actually on the Today Show and skated a flawless program. Evan Lysacek is also going to be on the Today Show on February 10th, so look out for that. Evan was on Jay Leno (with Kristi Yamaguchi and Mirai Nagasu in the audience!). Also, the latest in the Cutting Edge franchise is going to be shown on March 14th. It's called Fire and Ice; taking inspiration from Brian Joubert/Sasha Cohen's autiobiographies?

Other Stuff

And finally, to keep you going, here are some interviews with skaters which might be interesting. There's an interview with Abbott, and then a little news piece on Nathan Chen, America's hopes for 2018 (!) There are also a few clips on Delobel and Schoenfelder from recent training!







Oh and last bit of skating news; the compulsory dance at the Olympics is going to be the Tango Romantica! Do you like this decision? Personally I was hoping for the Golden Waltz but you might disagree - comment below.

The hiatus is over!

I'm back from hiatus! And my, what I've missed. I really missed blogging over the past few months, and I had to force myself not to start again because what with my exams and my own skating I've had no time to properly do it; in the past some of my posting has been half-hearted and not of good enough quality and I didn't want a repeat of that.

Once my exams were over (for now!) I KNEW that there was just too much going on in the skating world for me to limit myself to a few tweets (www.twitter.com/Ice_Addiction if you're interested) So here I am, and ready and rather raring to go.

I've still be watching the skating since I went on hiatus, and here are my highlights and lowlights to get me back into the swing of things.

+ Jeremy Abbott's long program at US Nationals. It was one of the most amazing skating moments I have ever seen, and I am desperate for him to repeat that in Vancouver.

+ ...which is starting in 15 days and 7 hours! Anticipation for the Olympics has been what's got me through some particularly boring revision sessions these past few months. Hands up who else just cannot wait?

- Speaking of revising, I think that's what Belbin and Agosto need to do with those new long program costumes, a definite lowlight for me. They just really didn't fit with the music at Nats, and that really made a big difference to how the program came across.

+ BUT it left Davis and White open to win US Nationals again, in spectacular fashion. The other top ice dance teams should be very afraid.

- Yes, I'm talking to you Domnina and Shabalin. All that controversy over your Aboriginal original dance has yet to distract from the fact that your free dance does not have that "wow" factor which Davis and White have in spades, or that Maxim's knee has really seen better days.

- Actually, the "wow" factor has been missing for me in a lot of the ladies skating these past few months. I found the European ladies competition somewhat of a letdown, and whilst Flatt and Nagasu were fantastic in the US, I'm dissapointed about Ashley Wagner not making the team.

- I'm also disappointed about Cohen; she had such a great (if overhyped) comeback with the short program but then let herself down in the free skate; not only by fluffing the jumps but by seeming to lose the fire which usually made her competitive programs so exciting.

+ But (to end on a high note) the comebacks from Plushenko and Lambiel didn't let me down (too much). Whilst I'll never be a Plushy fan, you cannot deny that his jumping is amazing, especially after so many years of doing those quads! And on the opposite hand, whilst Lambiel needs to work on the jumps, it was great to see his beautiful artistry and fantastic spins back on the competitive circuit. We're all pleased to see him (apart from a certain Mr Joubert, I'd imagine.)

I could go on and on (I haven't even touched on some of Europeans, or Canadian Nationals) but I think that's enough for now. I have a blog to revive!

Bloggers - Being Respectful?

Aaron from Axels, Loops and Spins wrote a great post about the snarking and bashing that happens on a lot of figure skating forums. But what about it coming from actual bloggers themselves? Phil Hersh has long been attacked for his Chicago Tribune articles, but I felt this one really took the biscuit. He did a question and answer session (of questions he made up himself!) Notable quotations include:

"Czisny and Kostner would clean so much of the ice with their bottoms the resurfacing job would be much easier."

"Yuna Kim could stand still for four minutes, and she still would deserve higher component scores than Rochette at her best."

"There is everything to like about Belbin-Agosto and Davis-White as people and performers. And performers is the key thing, because that is all ice dance is about. It's all in the eye of the beholder -- great entertainment, archly camp at times, incredibly hard to do well...and no more a sport than ballet."

Now, I don't know about you, but as a blogger I would never say things like that about skaters. People might argue about how high Rochette's PCS scores are, but to say that about her is clearly not true, and Hersh knows that - in his attempts to make an entertaining, controversial blog post he is merely putting down skaters who do not deserve criticism like that. Bloggers are allowed to question, of course they are, that's our job. But flat out put skaters down? I think not.

Furthermore, I'm not a professional blogger; I get no money for this, I just do it for fun! But Hersh is EMPLOYED by the Chicago Tribune, as well as other publications to write about skating, and so has an obligation to write fairly and honestly, I feel. I hardly have to mention how his writing skills are not reflective of his professional blogging position; at one point he says Rochette got Level 2s "on all three of her four spins".

I should add, this is not a personal attack on Hersh. I don't mean this in an offensive way, as I am merely questioning his post and opinions. He has some good points in his post as well, and attempts to apologise to Jenny Kirk after criticising a very excellent post she made about Cohen's Grand Prix withdrawals (with limited success!)

Do you agree with what I'm saying about Hersh's post? Judging by the comments at the bottom of his article, many others are outraged/exasperated/amused at his post. Or do you think this post is just giving him a wider audience, and catering to his controversial style of blogging?

NHK so far

So, I watched the mens short program from Japan....and here's what I thought. Apologies to Aaron from Axels, Loops and Spins for the blantant rip-off of his "flash" posts!

Mens Results

1. Brian JOUBERT FRA 85.35

Overscored? I'm the only one who seems to think he wasn't! Joubert got a new, less revealing outfit and managed to nail his quad combination. However, his lutz had a turnout and his choreography is not as sophisticated as most of the men who skated before him. I thought, however, it was worthy of first place (though as a very vocal Joubert fan I would say that!) It was dynamic, exciting and a total crowd pleaser.

2. Jeremy ABBOTT USA 83.00

This had to be my favourite program of the event though. Great music, great choreo, great jumps, great new haircut! I reckon Jeremy could win if his LP is as solid as his SP was, especially as Joubert isn't known for having consistant long programs. I'm sure Jeremy has won over A LOT of new fans with that performance; he completely owned the ice.

3. Johnny WEIR USA 78.35

I've heard mixed opinions of Weir's new programs but I really liked it; the music started classic and morphed in guitars. Jumps looked pretty solid, though I felt his spins were a little slow. It was a really excellent performance though, especially after the disappointment of CoR.

4. Daisuke TAKAHASHI JPN 78.18

Oh, Daisuke. Just when I thought your comeback was going alright, that step sequence just came and tripped you up. Hope the long goes a bit better. Good scores, considering.

5. Takahiko KOZUKA JPN 74.05

Another guitar solo piece of music, courtesy of Jimi Hendrix. The music might have been rocking, but I'm afraid the program wasn't. A fall on the triple axel pulled him down, though he did have the highest PCS scores of the event.

6. Michal BREZINA CZE 70.80

I've been a fan of Brezina for a while; whilst technically his program was pretty good, it lacked the spark found necessary for the swing music he was skating to. I think this'll come, though - along with Rippon I think Brezina is a future champion.

7. Artem BORODULIN RUS 69.49

The feed I was watching went down during Borodulin!

8. Adam RIPPON USA 67.15

I thought it was a really nice performance, minus the fall on the triple axel. His face when he received the scores was absolutely heartbreaking; he turned to Orser and said "Why are they so low?" Orser speculated that the lutz was downgraded, but we'll have to see. Honestly? I think he was undermarked, but again, this is coming from a largely Rippon biased viewpoint. I mean, who couldn't be impressed by that "Rippon Lutz"?

9. Daisuke MURAKAMI JPN 66.78

The only Japanese man to skate clean! Nice, but not especially memorable. The "West Side Story" music was fun.

10. Vaughn CHIPEUR CAN 66.55

Love, love, love his "Cliffs of Dover" music"! So fast and enjoyable.

11. Kristoffer BERNTSSON SWE 64.64

Berntsson is fantastic because he always has so much fun with his programs! He might not have nailed the jumps but it was great for the audience.

12. Jeremy TEN CAN 61.69

I know I watched this, but I can't remember anything about it, so I'm afraid it's going to have to go down as a "not very memorable performance." Sorry Jeremy!

The ladies, pairs and compulsory dance have also taken place; see the results here. Pairs was exciting, with Kavaguti and Smirnov giving a great performance. Ladies was, according to those who saw it, underwhelming as a whole, unfortunately. And the compulsory dance was not broadcast, but Davis and White are in first, with John and Sinead Kerr in second.

Rostelecom Compulsory Dance Results

So...I'm no expert on dance, but this event was really great! Charlie and Meryl were just...wow. They looked like they were skating a different dance to everyone else. They have a comfortable lead, which I know they're going to maintain this evening and tomorrow. However, I could be completely wrong; I'm watching it on a Russian TV feed and so have no idea what the commentators are saying!

1 Meryl
DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA 37.87
2 Anna
CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA 32.73
3 Ekaterina
RUBLEVA / Ivan SHEFER RUS 30.33
4 Vanessa
CRONE / Paul POIRIER CAN 29.94
5 Katherine
COPELY / Deividas STAGNIUNAS LTU 29.39
6 Lucie
MYSLIVECKOVA / Matej NOVAK CZE 28.08
7 Anastasia
PLATONOVA / Alexander GRACHEV RUS 27.93
8 Ekaterina
RIAZANOVA / Ilia TKACHENKO RUS 27.89
9 Carolina
HERMANN / Daniel HERMANN GER 25.54

Predicting Rostelecom Results

That's right, it's time for some predictions from Rostelecom Cup of Russia! Though considering how unexpected the TEB results were (Savchenko/Szolkowy in third!) my predictions will probably be spectacularly wrong.

Mens

Mens is probably the hardest to predict, since who knows how Evgeni Plushenko will do? It's his first competition since his success in Torino , and he's been looking very solid in practice. He's allegedly training for 6 to 7 hours a day, and so has a good shot of making the podium, but how will he fare against Johnny Weir and Takahiko Kozuka? They're the three skaters I predict for a podium position, now that Patrick Chan has withdrawn. Others to watch at the event will be Kevin Van Der Perren and Florent Amodio, who will be making his senior Grand Prix debut.

Ladies

Mao Asada will be hoping to to win after her defeat in Paris. It'll also, reportedly, be the last performance of her current short program to "Masquerade", as she plans to change it after this event to her exhibition piece, "Caprice". The two skaters that will surely be rounding off the podium are her fellow team mate and supporter at Trophee Eric Bompard, Miki Ando, and the American Ashley Wagner, who recently started her own Youtube vlog series. I think another skater who might manage to sneak up to a podium place is Alena Leonova, who recently won the Findlandia Trophy. I also have to wish Jenna McCorkell luck; according to her Facebook, she had huge difficulties obtaining a visa to come to the event and so I hope all that effort doesn't go to waste for her.

Ice Dance

All eyes are going to be on Meryl Davis and Charlie White, especially now that Domnina and Shablin have withdrawn from the event. Their team mates Vanessa Crone and Paul Poitier will also be at the event, and will be likely to make the podium, unless the Italian couple, Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte get in the way. I think these three will be a cinch for medals, but Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer might also have a shot. They also have an advantage as they're skating in front of their home crowd, but trying saying that to someone like Brian Joubert!

Pairs

Again, it'll most likely be a home victory in this event; Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov will be looking to improve on last year's silver medal. However, they'll have stiff competition from Pang and Tong, who won the Grand Prix Final last season. The bronze medal has Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker's name on it; they'll be competing at the event for the first time. This'll be an exciting event, seeing how these pairs fare.

So that's the rundown of the competition; good luck to all the skaters!

Also, I've created a new poll; it's one which I have already run a few months ago but it'll be interesting to see whether the results change, considering it's a new season, with some of the events changed (Cup of Russia and Skate America both have new sponsors, for example).

Rostelecom; what'll happen?

That's right, it's time for some predictions from Rostelecom Cup of Russia! THough considering how unexpected the TEB results were (Savchenko/Szolkowy in third!) my predictions will probably spectacularly wrong.

Mens

Mens is probably the hardest to predict, since who knows how Evgeni Plushenko will do? It's his first competition since his success at the Torino Olympics, and he's been looking very solid in competition, but how will he fare against Johnny Weir and Takahiko Kozuka? They're the three skaters I predict for a podium position, now that Patrick Chan has withdrawn. Others to watch at the event will be Kevin van der Perren and Florent Amodio, who will be making his senior Grand Prix debut.

Ladies

Mao Asada will be hoping to to win after Kim beat her hands down in Paris. It'll also, reportedly, be the last performance of her current short program to "Masquerade", as she plans to change it after this event to her exhibition piece, "Caprice". The two skaters that will surely be rounding off the podium are her fellow teammates and supporter at Trophee Eric Bompard Miki Ando, and the American Ashley Wagner, who recently started her own Youtube vlog series I think another skater who might manage to sneak up to a podium place is Alena Leonova, who recently won the Findlandia Trophy. I also have to wish Jenna McCorkell luck; according to her Facebook, she had huge difficulties obtaining a visa to come to the event and so I hope all that effort doesn't go to waste for her.

Ice Dance

All eyes are going to be on Meryl Davis and Charlie White, especially now that Domnina and Shablin have withdrawn from the event. Their team mates Vanessa Crone and Paul Poitier will also be at the evnt, and will be likely to make the podium, unless the Italian couple, Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte get in the way. I think these three will be a cinch for the podium, but Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer might also have a shot. They also have an advantage as they're skating in front of their home crowd, but trying saying that to someone like Brian Joubert!

Pairs

Again, it'll most likely be a home victory in this event; Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov will be looking to improve on last year's silver medal. However, they'll have stiff competition from Pang and Tong, who won the Grand Prix Final last season. The bronze medal has Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker's name on it; they'll be competing at the event for the first time. This'll be an exciting event, seeing how these pairs fare.

I'm going away this weekend (to Paris, again!) so won't find out whether these predictions were correct or not until Monday.

Program of the Day

Program of the Day is my favorite performance from the whole of the World Championships. It moved me to tears, and that doesn't happen a huge amount with skating programs. It's Meryl Davis and Charlie White's free skate to "Sampson and Delilah"; absolutely, just perfect. It's an absolute travesty that they didn't make the podium!



Props to those performances that almost won; Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy - short and long programs, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir's FS, Evan Lysacek's LP, Brian Joubert's SP and both Joannie Rochette's performances. There are so many more...what are your favourites?