Notes on 2011 Sectionals

Midwesterns - Ann Arbor, Michigan

Alissa Czisny, the 2009 ladies national championship, finished 10th at last year's championship. Due to this finish she had to qualify for nationals despite winning a Grand Prix event two weeks earlier. She won Midwesterns by over 30 points. According to her scores, the short program was good, but the long program had some issues including two falls. The other skaters rounding out the top four and earning a trip to Nationals hail from Colorado - Morgan Bell, Katy Jo West and Tatyana Khazova.

The senior mens event was much more competitive between a veteran of senior nationals (Pennington), junior grand prix competitors (Brown and Johnson) and a skater moving into the senior ranks after success as a junior competitor (Hochstein). Jason Brown edged out Grant Hochstein. Parker Pennington finished 3rd and Alexander Johnson rounds out the top four that advanced to nationals.

Only three couples competed in the senior pairs event. Molly Aaron and Daniyel Cohen won the event. The new team of Becky Bereswill and Trevor Young finished 2nd and advanced to Nationals.

There were also only three couples competing in the dance event. Shannon Wingle and Timothy McKernan won by nearly 20 points.

Easterns - Aston, Pennsylvania

Samantha Cesario won senior ladies. Melissa Bulanhagui, Kelsey Traunero and Joelle Forte also  advanced. Forte is an older skater, mid-twenties so it's always fun to see a slightly older skater without major sponsors advance.


There were four couples in both the dance and pairs events, but I didn't recognize any of the competitors. It appears it will be a first nationals for those skaters and possible Grand Prix events in the future.

Pacific Coasts - Culver City, CA

Vanessa Lam conquered the senior ladies event by 18 points. She sure is having a great year also having won her only Junior Grand Prix event. Danielle Kahle finished 2nd. She had competed at nationals a few years ago and thought she moved on as she got older, so it's nice to see her name near the top of the sectionals competitors. There was another oldie but goodie at this event, Laura Lipetski finished 11th. She competed at senior nationals back in the late 90s. So she actually competed against Michelle Kwan, Nicole Bobek, Tara Lipinski and Tonia Kwiatkowski. How cool is that? That's gonna inspire me in tomorrow practice working on those junior moves thinking I need to switch to the adult moves track.

Rockne Brubaker and his new partner Mary Beth Marley were the only senior pair there. They only skated their short and scored something like 52 pts for it. Mary Beth also competed in Jr. ladies and qualified for Nationals by finishing 4th.

Jonathan Cassar won the senior mens event and will be gracing us with his awe-inspiring spread eagles at nationals.

Sectionals - Good Luck!

Good luck to all of the competitors participating at either the Eastern, Midwestern or Pacific sectionals this weekend. If you're in Michigan, head to the Ann Arbor Ice Cube to see Alissa Czisny and Grant Hochstein skate to qualify for Nationals. Alissa Czisny just won a Grand Prix event two weeks ago but has to qualify at Midwestern Sectionals!

Spinning Skate Canada

Sure, Patrick Chan won with a quad and Alissa Czisny won by landing most jumps in both the short and free, but I'm going to focus this results post on the spins skated by the medalists.

Patrick Chan - kept last year's free skate music to the Phantom of the Opera. Death drop with low sit; beautiful and low right inside three entrance to a fast, low back sit, change into forward sit, then good position with free leg tucked behind his spinning leg; final spin combination a camel into a sit spin, then change foot into a back scratch variation with his free foot crossed in front on the ice. Excellent speed and centering on all spins.

Nobunari Oda - He didn't do a spin until nearly two minutes into the program. I can't explain why I find that odd, but since I've noticed it, I'll probably notice it more. The IJS has caused more skaters to front load their program and Oda's program was certainly packed with jumps and footwork in the front half. The first spin was a combination starting with a camel that seemed a bit unlevel as it rotated into a sit, change, sit, and pulled his bum up and kept his head down for a unique position. Then lots of skating around with some jumps and finally, a flying camel into a sit spin, back scratch with free leg behind the skating leg,  tucked sit, few pushes out into a death drop into a cannonball sit position, scratch spin and final pose. Those last two spins were slow, much slower than Patrick's. I know there will be articles and talk on quads versus quads, but I truly think his slow spins hurt him here more than any jump misses.

Oda - bum up, head down position

Adam Rippon - through training in Toronto, Skate Canada is somewhat of a home competition for Adam. Maybe that caused some jitters in the short, but he had a great skate in the free to win the bronze medal. Adam didn't get into a spin until after the 2 minute mark either, but when he did he stroked into a death drop and held an arm up as a variation in sit spin landing then transitioned into a forward sit in a tuck position while draping his arms towards his spinning  foot; right forward inside edge three into back camel, fast and low sit, scratch spin with variation of the free foot crossed in front on the ice; then he ended with stars into a flying camel and stretched back into a doughnut position, then moved into a sit with a neat arm variation - he wrapped his arms around the free leg - and final scratch and end pose. Good centered spins with nice position variations which he held.

Complete Men's Results:

1	Patrick CHAN	CAN	239.52	4	1
2	Nobunari ODA	JPN	236.52	1	3
3	Adam RIPPON	USA	233.04	3	2
4	Kevin REYNOLDS	CAN	218.65	2	6
5	Javier FERNANDEZ	ESP	210.85	6	4
6	Alban PREAUBERT	FRA	209.05	5	5
7	Artur GACHINSKI	RUS	204.08	7	7
8	Jeremy TEN	CAN	191.86	9	8
9	Yasuharu NANRI	JPN	188.96	8	9
10	Grant HOCHSTEIN	USA	181.65	12	10
11	Kristoffer BERNTSSON	SWE	175.84	11	11
12	Paolo BACCHINI	ITA	167.60	10	12

Alissa Czisny - Wow, this program is lovely. Her dress and music reminded me a bit of Michelle Kwan's Lyra Angelica, I hope she can have a moment at Nationals like Kwan in 98 with this program. Her first spin was a flying camel into a held and extended back camel into a doughnut position and then on the same foot pulled into a gorgeous catch-foot position. What I thought was especially nice was that she spun in three different positions on the same foot with the same amount of speed throughout. Wonderful spinning technique on display at Skate Canada.  Next a camel, sit, change sit into a "Y-spin" that had such extension, it was really more of an "I-spin." Finally, she ended with a classic layback and then moved into a haircutter and finally into wonderful and rather natural looking Biellmann. Again, these three positions were on one foot with good speed and centering throughout.


Ksenia Makarova - Layback to the side, haircutter, Biellmann, good speed in all positions; stars into camel, sit spin, broken leg position sit spin; finally, butterfly into good sit position and done.

Amelie Lacoste - classic layback, pretty haircutter position; back camel, illusions, change foot to forward sit and scratch spin


Complete Ladies' Results:

1	Alissa CZISNY	USA	172.37	4	1
2	Ksenia MAKAROVA	RUS	165.00	2	2
3	Amelie LACOSTE	CAN	157.26	5	4
4	Cynthia PHANEUF	CAN	156.24	1	7
5	Haruka IMAI	JPN	154.54	6	3
6	Agnes ZAWADZKI	USA	154.35	3	6
7	Myriane SAMSON	CAN	152.05	7	5
8	Valentina MARCHEI	ITA	137.78	9	8
9	Fumie SUGURI	JPN	132.84	8	10
10	Sonia LAFUENTE	ESP	131.20	10	9
11	Alexe GILLES	USA	125.64	11	11

The buzz from Champs Camp

Lynn Rutherford's tweets (@LynnRutherford) from the USFSA's Champs Camp are making me dream of crisp fall weather and way early mornings watching skating on the other side of world via IceNetwork. It's the post-Olympic season and anything's possible!

Alissa Czisny has spanking new programs and she reports new coach Yuka Sato has changed her jump technique. I thought Brian Boitano and Linda Leaver had been doing that, but it's the dawn of a new season! Anything can happen! This may be the year Alissa knocks out those superb spins with jumps!

Speaking of Sato students, Jeremy Abbott showed off his new-fangled long program to the powers that be at US Figure Skating and included a fancy quad!

The rest of the Detroit crew in attendance represent the ice dancing discipline. Samuelson and Bates are working are becoming speed demons in Canton, MI while their training pals Davis and White are skating to, wait for it.... Amelie! The Amelie soundtrack is exceptional skating music in my humble opinion. Plus, their coaches, have charted Amelie territory in Belbin and Agosto's post-Torino season and it's one of my fave Belbin and Agosto programs! I can't wait to see this one with the speed and athleticism of Davis and White!

It's going to be a great year for skating and this is only the American side of it! The info out of Canada, Japan, and Russia will start flowing soon too.

As the Skating World Turns - Coaching Changes

Kim and Orser are no more. The summer is usually a time of coach swapping here are some other swtiches:

2009 US Champ, Alissa Czisny, will continue to train at the DSC but will work with Yuka Sato. I'd love to watch Yuka Sato coaching in Detroit. What a lovely session between a trio of beautiful skaters: Yuka, Jeremy Abbott and Alissa. I think a change of pace could be good for Alissa, but I'm not sure if Yuka can completely overcome Alissa's previous challenges with nerves.

2007 US Champ, Kimmie Meissner made a coaching change to be closer to home. She had been working with Richard Callaghan and Todd Eldredge in Florida, and is now working with Chris Conte back in Maryland. This change occurred pre-summer as Kimmie was coming back from a knee injury. Here's hoping to a great comeback this year!

Speaking of Florida skaters, this week, Denney and Barrett also announced they are leaving their coaches to train with husband and wife team, John Zimmerman and Silvia Fontana just down the road. This move was rather surprising. Their previous coaching team of Jim Peterson, Lyndon Johnston and Alison Smith. THis team was just named "Developmental Coaches of the Year" by the PSA and seem to be building a great training base for US pairs. However, the other top pair team, Evora and Ladwig, trained with them so maybe the friendly competition was changing to full on rivalry. Find more here: IceNetwork News

The ice dancing team of Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates also made a change of the neighborhood move. They are now in Canton, MI with the mega-team of Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva. Another rink filled with greatness, I just hope it doesn't end up pushing a team out as well.

Caroline Zhang is now coached by Tammy Gambill after her former coach, Mingzhu Li became the head coach of the Chinese team. Tammy Gambill has had some great up and coming skaters lately, perhaps she can fix Zhang's miserable flutz for this season.

I believe Mao Asada and Brian Joubert have some shakeups in their coaching teams as well, however I can't find the exact info. If anyone knows, definitely pass it along in the comments.

The season begins: Nebelhorn Trophy this week!

The first major senior event of the season gets underway this week in Oberstdorf, Germany at the Nebelhorn Trophy. The Nebelhorn serves as an official Olympic qualifier for countries to fill the remaining slots available for the Olympics. There are a few countries who were unable to qualify skaters in certain disciplines due to their skaters' low placements at the 2009 World Championships.

The remaining slots are generally filled by some of the smaller countries such as Azerbijan, Luxembourg, or New Zealand. Generally there are bigger countries that traditionally supports skaters that just missed qualifying in a discipline. Switzerland falls into this category. Their current champion, Jamal Othman, finished 26th at Worlds. I don't believe he even qualified to continue the freeskate after his short. Switzerland is without a spot for the Olympics in the men's competition from his 26th place finish. What makes this pursuit interesting this year is the return of a two-time World champion and Olympic silver medalist: Stephane Lambiel.

Lambiel is the Swiss Brett Favre, perpetually going in and out of retirement. I'm anxious to see if this Favre can still prove himself. (He would instantly lose the Favre-title if he doesn't succeed, right?) I'm looking forward to catching his skate on YouTube... come on European fans, get your camera phones ready, it's Stephane Lambiel making a comeback (for the 2nd time!)

Ah, catching skating on YouTube. There was a stir on a message board that NBC's Universal Sports would be televising Nebelhorn. Alas, they just posted upcoming skating competitions on the calendar on their figure skating site. Hopefully, some info on the event will show up there. I've heard the US Olympic Committee has something in their bylaws that anything deemed an "Olympic Trials" comes under their jurisdiction which I think usually extends to broadcasting rights. NBC is so big into promoting Olympic Trials they usually will cover and promote those events. It would make sense to have some coverage of an international Olympic Trial, even if it's just a webcast or posting updates. Online coverage counts these days.

Beyond searching for Stephane Lambiel's skates, I'll also be searching for the six American skaters competing. The US can't qualify anymore slots for the games, they were set at Worlds (3 men, 3 dance teams, 2 pair teams, and 2 ladies). This is an international competition debut to test drive programs before the Grand Prix season. Alissa Czisny, Ryan Bradley, Brooke Casitle & Ben Okolski and Meryl Davis & Charlie White will be there. I'll be searching for Davis & White's new programs for sure. I've heard the original dance is a mix of Bollywood music. Ryan Bradley and Alissa Czisny always do well early in the season and I hope that trend continues and gives them confidence for the rest of the season. I've not seen Castile & Okolski too much, but I think the last time they competed here, they did well and ended up winning the US Champs later that year. Here's hoping to a great competition for all!

Alissa Czisny's New Short Program

I'm sitting at Java on 4th, enjoying the free wi-fi. My connection keeps going out at home and I'm supposed to be packing to move into a new home. The new house is by the ice rink, so I've really got skating on the brain. I'm trying to figure out how to balance my day job demands and organize a coaching schedule. It would be good to get back into it during an Olympic year.

I was searching figure skating on YouTube - the second largest search engine in the world in case you didn't know. I searched by newest and found Alissa Czisny debuting her new short program to Zorro music at Skate Detroit.



Her jumps looked solid - triple Lutz + double toe, triple flip, double Axel. She's one of the best spinners around now. Her spins are so fast and centered, especially the ending combo spin of camel, sit, into the "Czisny" position. I always wonder why great spinners have some jump troubles like she tends to have. Being able to hold a spin position is much more strenuous and the back scratch spin is the jumping position in the air. That should be a topic for another blog... since I'm so good at blogging. ;)

The footwork sequence didn't sing yet, it was slow and there was a stumble. Overally, I think it has the potential for a great program. I'm looking forward to seeing it on the Grand Prix schedule.