The Good
NBC is going to air some of the Grand Prix series;
The partnership includes 12 hours of live event coverage on NBC Sports during the 2009-10 season, including live primetime coverage of the ladies free skate at the 2010 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Jan. 14-24, 2010, in Spokane, Wash. The 2010 U.S. Winter Olympic Figure Skating Team will be determined at the conclusion of this event. Universal Sports, available in more than 56 million homes, will once again offer additional coverage and re-airs of Skate America and the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
Excellent for those in the US, where the popularity of skating has seen somewhat of a decline in recent years.
Also, Isabelle Delobel gave birth to a baby boy called Lois on the 1st October. Congratulations Isabelle!The Japan Open also just finished a few days ago, and seemed to be very successful, especially for Joannie Rochette, whose LP from the event is Program of the Day. I just thought it was wonderful, and will be interested to see how it progresses through the season. She looks in great shape already, and actually got a new personal best of 126.39 points for the program, which is to Camille Saint-Saens' "Samson and Delilah".
Also, the Finlandia Trophy is currently on at the moment in Vantaa, Finland, and finishes on the 11th. Today is the compulsory dance and the mens's short program. Big names in the competition include the Kerrs, Laura Lepisto, Fumie Suguri, Kiira Korpi, Susanna Poykio, Kevin van der Perren and Kristoffer Berntsson. It is also the return of Daisuke Takahashi, who had an injury that forced him to miss the whole of last season, which is exciting. As soon as results get in, they'll be posted here. The full line-up of skaters is available here.
The Bad
It appears Eurosport will not be showing the Grand Prix series this year, due to apparent legal issues. They broadcast every event last year and it seemed to be very successful, but despite impassioned pleas from the die hard fans (myself included, of course) the channel won't budge. Ice Network also announced their subscription schedule today but the Grand Prix series are only available to those in America, sadly.
Kimmie Meissner has also had to withdraw from her two Grand Prix events and thus the whole season due to a knee injury. Things have been tough on Kimmie these past few months and this setback is so awful. Furthermore, there are rumours flying around, which I cannot confirm either way, that US Figure Skating will announce the withdrawal of one of their skaters from Trophee Eric Bompard, which starts a week today. Let's hope this is a false rumour.
