So here are my thoughts from Skate Canada, the last Grand Prix event.

Mens

The mens event really had all to play for, but Jeremy Abbott took the gold, landing the only quad jump of the night. Both him and Takahashi made the Grand Prix Final based on those performances, but the real star was Alban Preaubert, who has the only truely clean long program of the night, to a medley of Rolling Stones songs. He is really a fun skater to watch live! Disappointment for Denis Ten though, who dropped from third to seventh with a mediocre free skate. Also there was disappointment for Chan who, despite a masterful program, had a number of falls.

1 Jeremy ABBOTT
USA
232.99 1 2
2 Daisuke TAKAHASHI
JPN
231.31 2 1
3 Alban PREAUBERT
FRA
212.28 4 3
4 Michal BREZINA
CZE
202.32 5 5
5 Samuel CONTESTI
ITA
202.25 7 4
6 Patrick CHAN
CAN
198.77 6 6
7 Denis TEN
KAZ
193.33 3 9
8 Stephen CARRIERE
USA
188.31 10 7
9 Armin MAHBANOOZADEH
USA
186.48 8 8
10 Joey RUSSELL
CAN
168.71 9 11
11 Kevin VAN DER PERREN
BEL
168.54 11 10
12 Jeremy TEN
CAN
148.96 12 1

Pairs

Shen and Zhao have looked pretty unbeatable so far this season, but at this event Savchenko and Szolkowy managed show that they're going to be frontrunners - it was looking shaky after their disasterous outing in Paris. Their new LP, to "Out of Africa", was absolutely incredble, gaining them what might be considered the first 10 for performance and execution PCS ever (though definitely not the last, as we'll see!) It's definitely an "Olympic" program, and their overall score landed them a world record to boot. Other pairs fared pretty well - Dube and Davison weren't perfect, but managed to get the bronze, whilst Mukhortova and Trankov did a nice performance of "Love Story" to nail the silver. Notice that it was exactly the same medallists from Trophee Eric Bompard, but in a completely different order!

1 Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY
GER
206.71 1 1
2 Maria MUKHORTOVA / Maxim TRANKOV
RUS
185.71 2 2
3 Jessica DUBE / Bryce DAVISON
CAN
166.93 3 3
4 Anabelle LANGLOIS / Cody HAY
CAN
159.95 4 4
5 Caydee DENNEY / Jeremy BARRETT
USA
157.09 5 5
6 Kirsten MOORE-TOWERS / Dylan MOSCOVITCH
CAN
146.91 7 6
7 Caitlin YANKOWSKAS / John COUGHLIN
USA
143.61 6 7
8 Ksenia OZEROVA / Alexander ENBERT
RUS
113.36 8 8

Ladies

I didn't get to see the ladies long program, but from what I can tell it was a pretty weak field, with missed jumps from almost all of the skaters, including the medallists. However, Suzuki and Rochette still did well enough to make the Grand Prix Final.

1 Joannie ROCHETTE
CAN
182.90 1 1
2 Alissa CZISNY
USA
163.53 2 4
3 Laura LEPISTÖ
FIN
158.52 4 2
4 Mirai NAGASU
USA
156.83 3 3
5 Akiko SUZUKI
JPN
147.72 8 5
6 Amelie LACOSTE
CAN
141.13 6 6
7 Cynthia PHANEUF
CAN
132.48 5 9
8 Caroline ZHANG
USA
132.46 7 8
9 Sarah HECKEN
GER
124.40 10 7
10 Jenna MCCORKELL
GBR
123.50 9 10
11 Joshi HELGESSON
SWE
108.41 11 11

Dance

Dance seemed to be the most predictable of the disciplines, but actually had a different podium to what people expected! Despite Tessa slipping twice in the OD, Virtue and Moir walked away with the gold, gaining one 10 for performance and execution PCS in their beautifully executed free dance. They got a huge score as well (204) which is three points above what Davis and White have achieved this season, so we'll have to see who comes out on top in Tokyo. Pechalat and Bourzat did a nice job with their innovative but somewhat errative FD to Requiem for a Dream - that music's getting used a lot this season (both them and Cappelini/Lanotte will be performing to it at the GPF). Speaking of overused music...Weaver and Poje took an unexpected bronze in front of their home crowd to the "Phantom" music, and I like their cuts far more than Chan's and Davis/White's - far more subtle. With a suprise bronze, there has to be some who lose out, and in this case it was Samuelson and Bates, who ended up in fifth with some errors in the free dance.

1 Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR
CAN
204.38 1 1 1
2 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT
FRA
185.07 2 2 2
3 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE
CAN
165.64 3 4 4
4 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV
RUS
161.68 5 5 3
5 Emily SAMUELSON / Evan BATES
USA
160.76 4 3 5
6 Madison HUBBELL / Keiffer HUBBELL
USA
141.63 6 6 7
7 Carolina HERMANN / Daniel HERMANN
GER
141.61 7 7 6
8 Andrea CHONG / Guillaume GFELLER
CAN
128.70 8 8 8

This event determined the Grand Prix finalists, who I've put below.

Pairs

Shen and Zhao
Pang and Tong
Mukhortova and Trankov
Savchenko and Szolkowy
Kavaguti and Smirnov
Zhang and Zhang

Men

Nobunari Oda
Evan Lysacek
Brian Joubert
Jeremy Abbott
Daisuke Takahashi
Johnny Weir

Ladies

Yu-na Kim
Miki Ando
Joannie Rochette
Alena Leonova
Ashley Wagner
Akiko Suzuki

Dance

Davis and White
Virtue and Moir
Belbin and Agosto
Pechalat and Bourzat
Cappellini and Lanotte
Kerr and Kerr

Going to be an exciting competition; I'm looking forward to 3rd December already!

O Canada!

So Skate Canada is over, save for the exhibition, and what an event! I saw almost all of it, and have lots to say, so a big post will be following shortly; for now, here are the results.

Skate Canada Results

Also, the poll has ended! Thanks to everyone who voted. The question was asking who was going to be the most successful skater in the next four year cycle - Adam Rippon, Michal Brezina or Florent Amodio. Rippon won, which I sort of expected, just not by so muh - he got almost half the votes. If anyone has any suggestions for what they think would make a good question for one of my polls, comment below or email km-28@hotmail.com. Thanks! New question will be up soon.

Lutai....Jailed?

I know in skating you're meant to expect the unexpected, but this really takes the biscuit. Andrei Lutai, who came 10th in Skate America, got drunk on Sunday night and ended up arrested after stealing a car!

Andrei Lutai, a 23-year-old from St. Petersburg, Russia, is currently in the Essex County Jail in Lewis facing charges of third-degree grand larceny, third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, third-degree unauthorized use of a vehicle and aggravated driving while intoxicated.

Lutai allegedly stole a 2008 Chevrolet Impala parked along Main Street next to Central Garage around 10:45 p.m. Sunday. Lake Placid Police Sgt. Carol Hayes said employees of the business witnessed the theft and immediately called police. One employee got into a vehicle and followed Lutai.

Within five minutes, police spotted the Impala and pulled Lutai over. He was found to be intoxicated and arrested, Hayes said.

There may be more to this story than previously thought though:

Barrett said he expects Lutai's case to be resolved quickly because he said there were conflicting reports from witnesses about whether Lutai was the one who stole the vehicle and was behind the wheel. He said the Impala was already pulled over, next to the Econo Lodge on Cascade Road, when police showed up.

"I don't believe he was properly identified and I don't believe he was actually witnessed by police driving the motor vehicle," Barrett said. "At the time of the arrest, there were also serious communication problems with Mr. Lutai."

But for now:

Lutai was arraigned before village Justice Margaret Dorn and remanded to the Essex County Jail in Lewis in lieu of $100,000 cash bail. He's scheduled to appear in village court again at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Updates will be posted here as they come!

Skate America

The results from Cancer.net Skate America 2009 so far are here. Shocker for the mens podium; who'd have thought? I'm really glad though, as I love all three of the medallists, especially Ryan Bradley, who blew me away in his short program in Paris. Pairs wasn't really a suprise, but how great were Shen and Zhao (in the short!)? They're looking like the front-runners for the gold medal in Vancouver, which is understandably worrying Savchenko and Szolkowy, who are apparently crafting a new LP - their current one to "You'll Never Walk Alone" hasn't been well received. That'll be something to look forward to at Skate Canada next weekend.

On another note, my newest poll closed yesterday, and the results were...interesting. I asked about Plushenko's return, and the answer was that people were pleased about it, but only just! It was a closer result than I thought it would be. My new poll is looking past Vancouver and on to Sochi in 2014; who do you think will be the most successful skater in the next four year cycle; Adam Rippon, Florent Amodio and Michal Brezina? All three have only just left the junior ranks, and yet they've all beaten skaters with far more experience and expectation than them; Rippon leapfrogged over Joubert, Preaubert and Ponsero, Brezina managed to place in front of Kozuka and Takahashi, and Amodio surpassed Verner. I appreciate that these results only happened due to errors or meltdowns by the other skaters, but it is still an achievement, and I predict that some of them could beat the old guys when they're all on their game. So what do you think?

Breaking News - Cohen out of Skate America

Sasha Cohen withdraws from Skate America in Lake Placid, citing the same injury that stopped her competing in Paris.

"I have been battling this injury for a while," Cohen said. "After meeting with my orthopedic surgeon, it was determined that in order for me to fully recover, I should not compete this week."

Cohen withdrew from her first Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series assignment, Trophée Eric Bompard, in early October after being diagnosed with tendonitis in her right calf.

"I'm very disappointed I won't be able to compete in Lake Placid," Cohen said. "I've been going to physical therapy and training with every intention of being healthy and ready for this competition."

Cohen says she will continue her physical therapy and training, with the goal of competing at the 2010 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Wash, Jan. 14-24, 2010.

Replacing Cohen at the event is 2007 U.S. silver medalist Emily Hughes. The 2006 Olympian last competed at Skate America in 2006, finishing fifth.

Honestly? This is a real disappointment for all of Cohen's fans. I know she only sees these Grand Prix events as practice but she needs to get her programs out there before Nationals. I'm really pleased Hughes gets to take her place though, it's a great opportunity for her to compete there.

NHK Trophy - Final Results

So here's the full results from NHK Trophy, and my comments on each event.

Ladies

1 Miki ANDO JPN
162.55 2 2
2 Alena LEONOVA RUS
160.85 5 1
3 Ashley WAGNER USA
155.99 1 3
4 Yukari NAKANO JPN
152.35 3 5
5 Laura LEPISTO FIN
152.19 4 4
6 Cynthia PHANEUF CAN
142.03 7 6
7 Yan LIU CHN
126.49 6 10
8 Annette DYTRT GER
126.01 9 9
9 Oksana GOZEVA RUS
123.97 11 7
10 Shoko ISHIKAWA JPN
119.63 10 11
11 Becky BERESWILL USA
118.42 12 8
WD Sarah MEIER SUI
8

This event shows, to me, some of the weaknesses with the current judging system; how can a skater come second in both the short and long and win overall? I know why it happens, and that it makes sense, but still it confuses me! Anyway, that is what happened with Miki Ando at this event. Ladies have been so erratic and unpredictable over the past Grand Prix events, and I’m sure Skate America will be the same way, what with the supposed return of Sasha Cohen. Despite rumours, she has yet to withdraw. Leonova, despite some errors overall, seems to be cementing her place as one of these “one to watch for 2014” skaters.

Mens

1 Brian JOUBERT FRA
232.70 1 1
2 Johnny WEIR USA
217.70 3 3
3 Michal BREZINA CZE
217.48 6 2
4 Daisuke TAKAHASHI JPN
214.29 4 4
5 Jeremy ABBOTT USA
208.45 2 6
6 Adam RIPPON USA
197.61 8 5
7 Takahiko KOZUKA JPN
186.00 5 10
8 Artem BORODULIN RUS
181.62 7 9
9 Daisuke MURAKAMI JPN
181.04 9 8
10 Jeremy TEN CAN
178.87 12 7
11 Vaughn CHIPEUR CAN
176.36 10 12
12 Kristoffer BERNTSSON SWE
176.01 11 11

Speaking of ones to watch for 2014…for me, this event was all about Michal Brezina. Most people had never heard of him before this event, but he had the only clean long program of the whole event and performed his Gershwin routine really well. His jumps are also amazingly high. It was interesting to contrast his skate with Rippon, whose is definitely considered the other male skater with great things ahead. Unlike Trophee Eric Bompard, he didn’t do too well here, which was a shame. Similarly, Abbott had a bit of a disaster of a free skate; however, as he dryly noted in the Kiss and Cry, at least he didn’t peak too early in the season! The one American man who didn’t underperform was Johnny Weir, who had a great long program, save for the triple loop which didn’t get off the ground. He came into second place, which was great, after Joubert. Joubert skated last and so decided to play it safe after all the disasters of the previous skaters – he didn’t even do a triple-triple combination, but he nailed the quad toeloop, and narrowly missed a fall on the triple axel. Critics have been complaining about his short program win over Abbott, but I think Joubert’s overall win at this event was very much deserved. The other skater who has to be mentioned is Daisuke Takahashi, ending the reign of successful comebacks that we’ve seen so far in this Grand Prix season. He had a number of falls, and I worry that he isn’t properly recovered from those knee problems. His team mate Takahiko Kozuka also had a bit of a meltdown in the long program unfournately. This event probably had the strongest mens competition out of all the Grand Prixs, yet there were, arguably, some of the weakest performances.

Pairs

1 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN
199.65 2 1
2 Yuko KAVAGUTI / Alexander SMIRNOV RUS
193.05 1 2
3 Rena INOUE / John BALDWIN USA
158.78 4 3
4 Caydee DENNEY / Jeremy BARRETT USA
151.43 3 5
5 Mylene BRODEUR / John MATTATALL CAN
150.71 6 4
6 Ksenia KRASILNIKOVA / Konstantin BEZMATERNIKH RUS
137.49 5 6
7 Paige LAWRENCE / Rudi SWIEGERS CAN
130.77 7 7
8 Narumi TAKAHASHI / Mervin TRAN JPN
119.48 8 8

I didn’t get to see this event, but Yuko Kavaguti apparently had a horrible fall on the quad salchow, which meant they had to stop their program for a few minutes. This led to a 3 point deduction, putting them in second behind Pang and Tong. Inoue and Baldwin also had a fall on the throw triple axel, but still managed to pick up a bronze medal, which is a real achievement, though it’s a shame about the triple axel; it blew me away in Paris when she landed it!

Dance

1 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA
201.97 1 1 1
2 Sinead KERR / John KERR GBR
177.73 2 2 2
3 Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER CAN
165.89 4 3 3
4 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV RUS
160.01 3 6 4
5 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN
154.90 6 5 5
6 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR
154.61 5 4 6
7 Cathy REED / Chris REED JPN
147.53 7 7 8
8 Allie HANN-MCCURDY / Michael CORENO CAN
145.32 9 8 7
9 Lucie MYSLIVECKOVA / Matej NOVAK CZE
142.33 8 9 9
10 Jane SUMMERSETT / Todd GILLES USA
130.24 10 10 10

…and Ice Dance continues its reign as the most predictable discipline in terms of results. Davis and White looked markedly improved from Rostelecom Cup, and they got a standing ovation for their free dance. Their lifts are really innovative, as are Belbin/Agosto’s and Virtue/Moir’s, which is going to make the Olympics SO exciting! The Kerrs also deserve a mention for getting their first silver medal at a Grand Prix, though they seem to be struggling technically, compared to some of the other couples; they were 10 points off their personal best and were pretty close to Crone and Poirier, which isn’t good news for them in what is almost definitely their last season. Crone and Poirier, however, did great; their free dance, some of which is set to Bohemian Rhapsody, really is a masterpiece. Now that event’s over we’re looking to Skate America; I can’t believe the penultimate Grand Prix is almost upon us! Expect a post of what to expect at the event coming soon.

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.

NHK Trophy Preview

So Cup of China's over, and we're already looking to the next event, which is the NHK Trophy in the adorably named Big Hat arena in Nagano, Japan. Here's a preview of who you're going to see and how they're likely to do.

Mens

The mens event is definitely going to be where all the excitement is. All eyes will be on Daisuke Takahashi, who's returning to competition after a season off due to knee surgery. Another skater going for gold will be Brian Joubert, who'll be keen to recover from the disapointment that was Trophee Eric Bompard. Joubert has stated that he plans to keep competing after 2010 as he wants to win every Grand Prix event. He only has NHK and Cup of China to go so he'll be hoping to cross Japan off his list here. The American men coming to this event are also very strong; Johnny Weir will be trying to improve after his poor showing in Russia, whilst Adam Rippon will attempt to capitalise on his bronze medal from Trophee Eric Bompard this season. Jeremy Abbott will also have a shot at the podium, as will Japan' Takahiko Kozuka. The European contigency includes the always entertaining Kristoffer Berntsson and Michal Brezina from the Czech Republic.

Ladies

The ladies event will be focused, naturally, around the Japanese girls; both Miki Ando and Yukari Nakano are scheduled to compete. Other competitors who might do well here are Alena Leonova, Ashley Wagner and Sarah Meier, who missed the Grand Prixs last year due to injury. Also challenging will be Laura Lepisto, who looked strong at the Japanese Open earlier in the season.

Pairs

The pairs event will really be a battle between Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov, and Pang/Tong. The bronze medal will most likely be taken by Rena Inoue/John Baldwin, if they can land that throw triple axel as well as they did in Paris. It'll also be interesting to see how the young American team of Caydee Denney / Jeremy Barrett do - they did really well last season.

Ice Dance

Ice dance is probably the most clear-cut in terms of results; most people would predict Davis and White to top the podium, with John and Sinead Kerr in second and Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier in third. The Ukrainian couple, Anna Zadorozhniuk / Sergei Verbilo, could also cause an upset; they came in fourth in China this weekend.

Post your own predictions in the comments below!

Ladies Long Program from China

What strange results...Rochette managed to pull up greatly from the short, though it wasn't her best performance. It's such a dynamic and high-quality program she's got that I reckon she'll do very well in Vancouver, in the race for silver. Nagasu also had a good skate, minus one fall, but she had 4 under-rotations which pulled her down to 5th.

1 Akiko SUZUKI JPN
176.66 4 1
2 Kiira KORPI FIN
163.27 2 3
3 Joannie ROCHETTE CAN
163.18 7 2
4 Rachael FLATT USA
157.71 5 5
5 Mirai NAGASU USA
155.38 1 6
6 Carolina KOSTNER ITA
154.18 3 7
7 Fumie SUGURI JPN
145.99 6 8
8 Diane SZMIETT CAN
144.28 11 4
9 Yan LIU CHN
132.80 8 9
10 Beatrisa LIANG USA
131.39 9 10
11 Bingwa GENG CHN
121.20 10 11
WD Binshu XU CHN
12

Cup of China - More Results

So here's the rest of the results from the first day of Cup of China.

Ice dance had some really high quality programs. Belbin and Agosto's definitely deserved their score - it was a wonderful performance, as was Khokhlova and Novitski's, despite the terrible music!

1 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA
98.66 1 1
2 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS
92.78 2 2
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA
89.96 3 3
4 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR
79.65 6 4
5 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR
77.83 4 7
6 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN
76.20 8 5
7 Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLEIN USA
76.03 7 6
8 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE CAN
71.51 5 9
9 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN
67.09 9 8

Pairs was a great event...Shen and Zhao were absolutely flawless, and have a ten point lead so the gold is theirs. Another great skate was from the Russian pairs, who were almost unknown before this event.

1 Xue SHEN / Hongbo ZHAO CHN
72.28 1
2 Tatiana VOLOSOZHAR / Stanislav MOROZOV UKR
62.98 2
3 Lubov ILIUSHECHKINA / Nodari MAISURADZE RUS
62.54 3
4 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN
61.92 4
5 Meagan DUHAMEL / Craig BUNTIN CAN
55.08 5
6 Huibo DONG / Yiming WU CHN
50.32 6
7 Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG USA
48.02 7
8 Vanessa JAMES / Yannick BONHEUR FRA
47.28 8

Cup of China Results So Far

Here are the results so far. It's shaping up to be a pretty exciting competition; the ladies and mens long programs tomorrow will be good as the skaters are so close together that who knows who'll win?

1 Nobunari ODA JPN
83.35 1
2 Sergei VORONOV RUS
81.40 2
3 Evan LYSACEK USA
80.80 3
4 Samuel CONTESTI ITA
72.08 4
5 Jinlin GUAN CHN
66.70 5
6 Yannick PONSERO FRA
66.65 6
7 Stephen CARRIERE USA
65.24 7
8 Chao YANG CHN
65.10 8
9 Denis TEN KAZ
64.05 9
10 Ming XU CHN
61.02 10
11 Kevin REYNOLDS CAN
60.12 11
12 Armin MAHBANOOZADEH USA
59.54 12

1 Mirai NAGASU USA
62.20 1
2 Kiira KORPI FIN
61.20 2
3 Carolina KOSTNER ITA
61.12 3
4 Akiko SUZUKI JPN
59.52 4
5 Rachael FLATT USA
58.80 5
6 Fumie SUGURI JPN
55.46 6
7 Joannie ROCHETTE CAN
52.12 7
8 Yan LIU CHN
51.28 8
9 Beatrisa LIANG USA
50.76 9
10 Bingwa GENG CHN
47.64 10
11 Diane SZMIETT CAN
44.24 11
12 Binshu XU CHN
37.08 12

1 Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO USA
38.33 1
2 Jana KHOKHLOVA / Sergei NOVITSKI RUS
36.30 2
3 Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI ITA
35.37 3
4 Alexandra ZARETSKI / Roman ZARETSKI ISR
30.88 4
5 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE CAN
30.40 5
6 Anna ZADOROZHNIUK / Sergei VERBILLO UKR
29.43 6
7 Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLEIN USA
28.76 7
8 Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG CHN
27.87 8
9 Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG CHN
24.73 9

Russia - A Round-up

I wasn't able to watch the long programs or free dances from this evet, but from looking at the scores...wow. Dance and pairs were fairly predictable, ladies and mens less so (Weir in 6th!). This is shaping up to be an exciting season, and we've only had two Grand Prixs so far!

View all results here.

Rostelecom - Original Dance

So this one stayed basically the same in terms of positions. Have to say though, I absolutely loved Meryl and Charlie's original dance. It seemed really authentic, like they have studied Indian dance, and the final lift was really spectacular.

1 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE USA
100.08
2 Anna CAPPELLINI / Luca LANOTTE ITA
85.31
3 Ekaterina RUBLEVA / Ivan SHEFER RUS
81.25
4 Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER CAN
78.39
5 Anastasia PLATONOVA / Alexander GRACHEV RUS
75.81
6 Katherine COPELY / Deividas STAGNIUNAS LTU
75.65
7 Ekaterina RIAZANOVA / Ilia TKACHENKO RUS
75.34
8 Lucie MYSLIVECKOVA / Matej NOVAK CZE
75.09
9 Carolina HERMANN / Daniel HERMANN GER
68.18

Unfortunately I'm going away tomorrow, so there won't be any updates from the long programs and free dance. But expect a full round-up when I come back Tuesday/Wednesday. Good luck to all the skaters!

Rostelecom Short Programs - Ladies and Pairs

Pairs results were fairly predictable, ladies result...less so. Unfortunately I missed almost all of both of these events (doesn't college realise I have skating to watch?) but did catch the end of the ladies. Mao two-footed a double axel in the place of her triple, and didn't even get a combination on the end. Miki also messed up the second jump in her combination. There were also some awful falls, from Jenna McCorkell and Annette Dytrt. But the American ladies, not to mention Sebestyen and Leonova, did great!

1 Julia SEBESTYEN HUN
57.94 1
2 Alissa CZISNY USA
57.64 2
3 Miki ANDO JPN
57.18 3
4 Alena LEONOVA RUS
56.78 4
5 Ashley WAGNER USA
55.16 5
6 Mao ASADA JPN
51.94 6
7 Amelie LACOSTE CAN
51.82 7
8 Oksana GOZEVA RUS
51.08 8
9 Katarina GERBOLDT RUS
42.64 9
10 Anastasia GIMAZETDINOVA UZB
42.30 10
11 Jenna MCCORKELL GBR
40.94 11
12 Annette DYTRT GER
36.76 12

1 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN
65.40 1
2 Yuko KAVAGUTI / Alexander SMIRNOV RUS
61.62 2
3 Keauna MCLAUGHLIN / Rockne BRUBAKER USA
61.34 3
4 Vera BAZAROVA / Yuri LARIONOV RUS
54.42 4
5 Nicole DELLA MONICA / Yannick KOCON ITA
53.56 5
6 Anastasia MARTIUSHEVA / Alexei ROGONOV RUS
51.94 6
7 Mylene BRODEUR / John MATTATALL CAN
46.66 7
8 Maria SERGEJEVA / Ilja GLEBOV EST
44.88 8

Now its just the original dance left for today, which is exciting. Apparently Davis and White's is excellent, so that'll be worth watching.

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