World Championships - Men and Pairs

So despite my promises of live-tweeting, it turns out that British Eurosport decided only to show the top three performances - how disappointing! Still, here's some commentary and video for the top nine skaters (i.e all I could find on Youtube.)

1. Patrick CHAN - 93.02



Sandra Bezic recently tweeted that you don't "get" Patrick Chan until you see him live, and this is something I would absolutely agree with. His ease of movement, and flow across the ice, is just amazing when seen in person and is not really fully captured on tv. He achieved a world record score with this performance - fantastic. Having said that, to me it's not the most exciting program, in terms of music, but is still performed magically. I think I'll call it now that he has enough of a lead to take this.

2. Nobunari ODA - 81.81



A few stumbles and mistakes makes me think he was lucky to edge out Takahashi on this one - but can he hold it in the FS? Such a gorgeous triple axel on its own though - Oda has a knee bend on the landing of his jumps that is to die for.

3. Daisuke TAKAHASHI - 80.25



Loved loved loved this - this program absolutely plays to his strengths and is just so fun! Again, I question his positioning, behind Oda and so far behind Patrick Chan...hmm.

4. Artur GACHINSKI - 78.34



I'll leave this comment to John Kerr who posted on his Facebook - "who the hell is Artur Gachinski's choreographer!?! Talented kid but the routine is pile of crap!" Loved the use of Pink Floyd though - gave me Virtue and Moir/Delobel and Schoenfelder flashbacks!

5. Florent AMODIO - 77.64



Think Amodio could definitely move up over Gachinski on the long, since he has a really fun yet very consistantly well-performed long program. It was a nice performance, with a great opening jump sequence.

6. Takahiko KOZUKA - 77.62



Kozuka's second performance of this competition so far - due to weird ISU rules he had to skate in the preliminary qualifying round. Kozuka also has gorgeous fluidity on the ice, and a great audience-friendly program, but a botched triple axel landing left him out of medal spots. But I definitely wouldn't rule out a medal just yet.

7. Michal BREZINA - 77.50



I have been a huge fan of Brezina for ages as he has amazingly high jumps, but they weren't quite on today. But with only one point between him and fourth place (him, Kozuka and Amodio are so tight) there's bound to be a lot of movement tomorrow.

8. Tomas VERNER - 75.94



Tomas's program is so light and fun - but a fall on the quad, not so much.

9. Brian JOUBERT - 71.29



Joubert has been on the podium here for the last five years - pretty impressive considering how inconsistent he's been over the past half a decade. However, with performances like this he's never going to retain his world title - he recovered from his opening mistake well but he's twenty points behind Chan, ouch.

And the rest of the results are below (I.E Youtube is letting me down so cannot see the rest of the programs) The skaters below who are in bold advanced to the free skate tomorrow - commiserations to the others.

10. DENIS TEN - 71.00
11. Richard DORNBUSH - 70.54
12. Ryan BRADLEY - 70.45
13. Ross MINER - 70.40
14. Javier FERNANDEZ - 69.16
15. Kevin VAN DER PERREN - 68.34
16. Peter LIEBERS - 67.73
17. Anton KOVALEVSKI - 65.16
18. Samuel CONTESTI - 64.59
19. Kevin REYNOLDS - 64.36
20. Nan SONG - 63.78
21. Joey RUSSELL - 61.69
22. Jorik HENDRICKX - 60.74
23. Paolo BACCHINI - 58.96
24. Kim LUCINE MON - 58.81
25. Adrian SCHULTHEISS - 58.41
26. Viktor PFEIFER - 56.68
27. Min-Seok KIM - 56.19
28. Alexander MAJOROV - 54.24
29. Maxim SHIPOV - 50.10
30. Misha GE - 49.61

And here are the pairs result - I have yet to find any performances on Youtube yet. However I have to say my favourite skate was Volosozhar and Trankov's. They absolutely lived up to the hype, such a perfect match for partners, and he looks so much happier than he was when skating with Maria Mukhortova! Both Savchenko/Szolkowy and Pang/Tong were sublime - tomorrow is going to be close. Major props also go to Eric Radford - he and Meagan did a great job for their first international outing together, made even more impressive by how he skated the majority of the program with a broken nose due to an ill-placed elbow during the opening triple twist! Commiserations also go to Kemp and King; being British I always cheer them on, but just missing out on qualifying for the free skate must be devastating. Below are those who qualified.

1. Pang/Tong 74.00
2. Savchenko/Szolkowy 72.98
3. Volosozhar/Trankov 70.35
4. Bazarova/Larionov 64.64
5. Kavaguti/Smirnov 62.54
6. Takahashi/Tran 59.16
7. Duhamel/Radford 58.83
8. Yankowskas/Coughlin 58.76
9. Berton/Hotarek 57.63
10. Moore-Towers/Moscovitch 56.86
11. Evora/Ladwig 54.64
12. Hausch/Wende 53.90
13. Zhang/Wang 52.25
14. Dong/Wu 49.29
15. Kadelcova/Bidar 45.20
16. Zabijako/Kulbach 44.35

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.

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.

Magic of the Men

So...we have a new mens world champion! I'm going to forget about the OD for a bit and instead talk about the mens because it was eventful!

The Highs

Adam Rippon - Can you believe he is the FIFTH ranked American man? Apart from a bobble on the landing of the first triple axel, Adam put down such a good performance. I'd never really been sure about this long program music but thought he pulled it off really nicely last night. To finish sixth in his World debut is very impressive.

Kevin VDP - I was sending Kevin good vibes before he started; it was probably his last ever competitive performance and I really wanted him to go out with a bang. Seemed to work; that quad-triple-triple was astonishing. Is that the highest ever tariff combination? The look of joy at the end of his program was just so adorable to see!

Adrian Schultheiss - He never really gets mentioned as part of the twenty-fourteenies but I think that might change after that performance. The Eurosport commentators said that his program "really suited him" but is that a good thing when you're portraying a mental patient, complete with screams and a straitjacket? Anyway, it was stellar.

Daisuke Takahashi - The gold was his to lose, after some disappointing skates in the final group, and so you have to really respect him for trying a quad flip, and landing it; he really didn't need to take that risk. It might have been downgraded, but the rest of the performance was perfect, and so much fun! He absolutely deserved that gold medal, and I'm so glad he managed to get his head together!.

Brian Joubert - So Brian's skate could have come in the misses - after all, he fell on a triple lutz and had some very questionable jumps landings. However, landing a quad and a quad-double in the same program after his terrible Olympics is something he should be so proud of; I was afraid of a Verner-esque meltdown. But he managed to podium, for the fifth year in a row, which is some record and he'll probably surpass that, given that he's said he'll stay on until 2012 Worlds in Nice.

Patrick Chan - So, it wasn't perfect, and I'll be honest, I'm not a Chan fan. But he got the silver medal, so good on him.

Michal Brezina - One of my favourite performances of the night. His jumps are absolutely out of this world, the speed on the landing and height and flow...incredible! He's also been really consistant this season, which hopefully will continue. In a couple of seasons, once he gets better performance skills, spins and maybe choreo, he'll be unstoppable.

The Misses

Jeremy Abbott - I feel pretty harsh putting Jeremy in the misses, to be honest. In his post-skate interview, he said he was proud of his performance because he didn't pop a single jump and fought until the end of the program. He also ended up 5th, which is a great improvement on his two elevenths. But he did fall twice, which was a real shame, especially as he was completely screwed over with the points for his exquisite short program.

Denis Ten - I didn't see Ten, the Eurosport broadcast missed him off, but it seems he didn't do so great; his country now only have one spot for 2011 Worlds. But he's got a long career ahead of him, so it shouldn't faze him too much.

Takahiko Kozuka - I absolutely adore him, and his jump problems broke my heart, because he's such a talent...but again, he's young.

Nobunari Oda - Because we didn't even get to see him! Too sad - I bet he'll be making some big changes before the start of next season.

And that's the mens event; congratulations to Takahashi, Chan and Joubert! Some of the judging though was very questionable for this event, I thought; leave your comments on that below!

Day Two of Worlds

The pairs event is just starting, so thought I'd comment on the mens event.

Firstly, has there ever been such a deep competition at a post-Olympic Worlds? Jeremy Abbott managed to get his act together and skate a fantastic short program (the Eurosport commentators adored it, and rightly so!) but is down in sixth, showing just how great this competition is, even without Lysacek, Weir, Lambiel or Plushenko.

Speaking of getting your act together, I have two words; Brian Joubert. To come back and skate like that after the agony of bombing in Vancouver was just amazing - he also got the highest technical score of the night with his quad-triple combo. His fist-pumping after his jumps and roaring at the end shows how much that must have meant to him, and even a Joubert hater couldn't fail to have enjoyed that.

I've always maintained that the pattern when you have three skaters in an event will be that two will nail their program, and one will meltdown, and this event managed to prove this right. Jeremy Abbott and Adam Rippon both skated great, whilst Ryan Bradley had such a heartbreaking short (though not unexpected, given his injury issues). In the same way, Daisuke Takahashi and Takahiko Kozuka skated fantastically, whilst Nobunari Oda's meltdown (he popped every jump) means he doesn't even qualify for the long! Who'd have thought? Ice is slippery, after all.

So questions for the long prgram; how much will the top ten move around? Can any of the twenty-fourteenies sneak up in the rankings - after all, Brezina, Ten and Rippon all seem to want to make 2010 their year, judging by their skates! Can Joubert pull out a clean long program? Who'll be the next World Gold medalist?

I can't wait for tomorrow: comments on the event below!

Worlds Post Part Two + Some Brian News

Before I get started with the Mens Awards from the Worlds, I just have to mention that Jean-Christophe Simond has dropped Brian Joubert, and so Brian is looking for a new coach. Unfortunately, the relationship did not end on good terms; Brian said that Simond did not believe him when Brian had boot and blade problems earlier this season, and in response Simond said all sorts of horrible things...it's really quite messy. IceNetwork have posted a very long article about it and the possible options Brian will have for a future coach, which can be read here. It's really not a great time to change coach, especially with the Olympic season on the way, but there was definitely problems between Simond and Joubert so he had to leave. Brian has said that he does not want to leave Poitiers, calling it "treason", and this is obviously a big mistake. He needs a really great coach if he's going to get that elusive OGM, and no coach is going to move to Poitiers. Who do you think will be his new coach? Tarasova seems to be the most likely option and I think that'd be great; personally I think Orser would be fanatastic but unlikely, especially after Brian's relationship with Kurt Browning.

Anyway, on with the Mens Awards!

Best LP: It's got to be Evan Lysacek, hands down. To win the mens' world championship in his hometime after a dodgy Nationals must have been fantastic for him, and was definitely amazing for all those watching. The emotion on his face in the last minute, and the crowd rising to their feet during his last spin...what a memorable moment. Curse or no curse, he's going to be quite a force to be reckoned with in Vancover. And with the might of Coca-Cola behind him as his new sponsers, he's going to be pretty much unstopable.

Most Heartbreaking Moment: Brian Joubert's LP. The disappointment on his face after his hideous fall on a double axel, of all things, was just supremely depressing.

"One to Watch" for the Future: Denis Ten. Wow, wow and more wow.

Best Comeback: Nobunari Oda - after missing the last season, he came back with a great SP, despite his dive into the boards, and the emotion he showed after the LP reflected the great performance he gave.

Biggest Diva: Until this season, Patrick Chan had been the perfect gentleman. However, his comments to Brian Joubert regarding the quad, which included him branding Joubert "a sore loser", were unnecessary, and just made him look slightly childish in the face of Joubert's mature responses.

Biggest Meltdown: Okay, so it wasn't a fully-fledged meltdown. But everyone expected huge things from Jeremy Abbott, so it's still sad that he didn't perform to the best of his ability. Abbott is so talented, with a bit more experience he'll definitely be on the podium in the future.

Skater who was overlooked: Takahiko Kozuka. He's absolutely adorable, and so fantastic, but really, IMO, deserves better marks. Hopefully the judges will wake up soon!