Ah, it's January with two more months of winter. Most of the US is a bit sick of winter after record snowfalls, but the snow and cold is all the better to cozy up to winter sports. No, not the football playoffs, way more exciting stuff like ice skating!
Synchro Stuff
Early in the month, the U.S. selected their teams for the Junior World Challenge Cup in Switzerland. There's not an official ISU junior synchro championship yet, so the entrants are not decided at Nationals. The World Junior Team Selection Competition was held in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin with the Skyliners of New York and Team Braemar of Minnesota earning the two spots to represent the U.S. Both teams have several seasons of experience in international competitions.
The international competitive season of synchronized skating kicked off in Germany at the Cup of Berlin. The mighty Finns continued to be mighty at the senior level, with the Rockettes winning the event. They won by nearly 40 points. At the junior level, Finnish teams swept the podium. I'd hate to be behind the Finnish teams at airport security. That's a lot of medal to check.
California Gold and Chicago Jazz represented the U.S. at the senior and junior levels, respectively. Both teams had solid fourth place finishes. For full results check the Cup of Berlin link above.
National Championships
Several countries held their national championships in December. Canada and the U.S. hold their championships in singles, dance and pairs in January. The Canadian champs are wrapping up this weekend.
Missing in action from Canadians are Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. They sat out the first half of the season due to a surgery to help with shin splints on Virtue. They decided they weren't quite ready to compete yet. No word yet on if they will be selected to compete at the world championships.
Cynthia Phaneuf won the ladies event, and the team of Moore-Towers and Moscovitch were crowned the new pairs champs. Patrick Chan is leading after the men's short and planning two quads for today's freeskate. Check out skatebuzz.ca for results, interviews and live streaming and archives of some events.
Other News
Johnny Weir has a book out, Welcome to My World. It's made news as he actually talks about being gay in the book and in promotional interviews. I don't think his sexual preference is really news, but if you have googled figure skating in the past few weeks this has come up. If you're a Weir fan, he may be coming to a bookstore near you. Check his site for book signings and other happenings. I'm debating downloading his book to my Kindle or buying for my collection of skating books. While I think there will be some uber-dishing about the skating world, I think it will be more about Johnny covering all things Weir. It may just be a Kindle title. What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment