Skating Earthquake!

Wow, there has been quite a change in the skating world... Brian Joubert is NOT skating to the Matrix or James Bond. He's going Beethoven... and looking good. The video clip is from the French Masters which is somewhat of a test event for the French skaters at the beginning of their season. I thought he looked a bit faster and slimmer. He slowed down and had some bobbles at the end but compared to last season, looks like he did some serious skating this summer. He does a really cool scratch spin while holding on to his free leg too.




I guess he's not planning on retiring any time soon and trying new things. He's still a meat and potatoes skater underneath the Beethoven, but I'm glad to see he's making a slight change for this season. It shows some commitment and passion for winning by skating outside of his comfort zone.

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.

Twitter vs. Streaming To Catch Worlds

I rocked my rockers and choctaws this morning. That was a great way to start the day.

At work, I typically have Twitter up as I follow other online education professionals and some of my clients. It gives me some great ideas throughout the day seeing what others are doing with learning management systems, K-12 and higher education challenges and innovations.

I also follow several skaters and skating fans. It was most fun during the Olympics, like having a group of die-hard fans conversing about the events as they happened in my living room, however they were tweeting on my laptop. Not as many people were tweeting today while the men's short program took place in Torino during workday hours in the States.

I did check in on Universal Sports for the live feed and saw Ryan Bradley, Samuel Contesti, Jeremy Abbott, and Brian Joubert when I didn't have a meeting or call scheduled. I felt a little guilty streaming, but remembered how slow the network got last Friday in the thick of March Madness and left my guilt behind.

Jeremy Abbott was great and is in medal position going into the free skate. The old, dominating Brian Joubert showed up for the short program and is also in medal position. Ryan Bradley has had better skates and there was some debate on Twitter about the US men being able to earn 3 spots to Worlds next year with his placement. I lean towards Jeremy and Adam Rippon sealing the maximum spots for 2011.

I didn't see it, but I saw tweets about Nobunari Oda's skate. It must have been a splatfest, and he didn't make the cut to the free skate? Can anyone explain? Searching for Daisuke Takahashi's short program next, glad he's in first! I've always been a fan of his skating.

Vancouver Men's Short

I'm so not going to be able to sleep tonight and tomorrow's my day to get up early and skate. What a night of skating. The hype for the men's event was worth it.

The broadcast started with fluff on Evgeny Plushenko interviewing him while driving through St. Petersburg with shots of old Lenin statues throughout. He said he bought a fast car just to have some risk in his life and now he wants to be like Dick Button y winning back to back gold. I would love to see Evgeny Plushenko live into his 80s as a commentator as well. Plushenko is a bit of a modern day Muhammad Ali with his smack-talk.

Plushenko looked a bit nervous and stiff tonight. He hit the quad-combo, triple Axel and triple Lutz. I've seen stronger landings from him before, but what cajones land those three jumps at the Olympics after being retired for 3 years! 90.85 points put him into the lead and he held on the rest of the night.

Daisuke Takahashi WOW! Triple flip + Triple toe, triple Axel, triple Lutz. Fantastic footwork to tango rhythms. 90.25

Stephane Lambiel has always had difficulty with triple Axels, so he only planned a double. He's generally solid with his quad, but he stepped out in the combination. The footwork and spins were classic Lambiel. Always impressed with how centered his spins are. 84.63

Nobunari Oda skated and I didn't find anything really memorable about it. I like his long better, this was very business-like and earned a solid 84.85. I did get a slight sense he was imitating Lysacek with big arm movements and leg extensions. Lysacek does those moves because he's tall and they didn't fit the compact Oda.

Brian Joubert came out with an opportunity as Lambiel missed the quad and Takahashi didn't do one. Oooh, he steps out! Swivels hips. Triple Axel easy! Triple Lutz... he's down. He went through the motions the rest of the skate. He picked up the energy a bit in the straight line sequence realizing he would need to earn some points... he earning all of 68 points. He put so much pressure on himself to do well at the Olympics, awful to watch his dream fade away.

Takahiko Kozuka makes it 3 for 3 for Japan. They make skating at the Olympics look easy. 79.59

Patrick Chan stepped to plate next to the roar of the Canadian crowd. He stepped out of his triple Axel but then executed a triple combo and triple Lutz. Sweet to see a circular footwork sequence go in the opposite (clockwise) direction, then a weird step on the straight line sequence where he nearly tripped. Finally, he ended the program after the music so it ran 2:51. One point time deduction and earns 81.12.

Johnny Weir skated to I Love You, I Hate You but the audience was all about the love. He earned much love from the crowd with triple Lutz + triple toe, triple Axel, triple flip. Playful program after the jumps were through. They played Lady Gaga's Poker Face while he sat in the Kiss'n'Cry, but then seemingly low scores popped up prompting boos from the crowd. He received a negative grade of execution on the flip so I'm guessing a wrong-edge takeoff was called there. 82.10

Watched the OT of the UK-Mississippi State game and missed Kevin van der Perren. I don't think I missed much other than his costume. Several tweets it would glow in the dark. 72.90

UK also took precedence over Tomas Verner. He doubled his planned quad and finished behind Joubert. 65.32

Evan Lysacek is back to the Edward Featherhands look and his program took off! Bad writing, I know, sorry. Textbook landings on his triple flip, triple Lutz + triple toe, triple Axel. Besides the jumps he commanded the ice with his deep edges and speed. Spins second best to Lambiel with speed and centering. So proud of him to be able to focus and perform while making it look natural. I thought it would be close between him and Plushenko and Lysacek might pull ahead. My mind tried to remember how many times Evan has been in the lead after the short in a major international competition, I think he does better as an underdog in the free. He'll be the best an underdog can be with 90.30 points right behind Plushenko's 90.85.

Jeremy Abbott skated next and I don't want to type about it. Crushing. Jeremy you're free sings and pigs can fly, Thursday's free skate is another day. 69.40

Good Night, try to go to bed!

To Quad Or Not To Quad

If Shakespeare was sweating under Broadway's lights or sipping coffee before a slam poetry reading today, I think he could find some inspiration in the stories of the men taking to ice tonight. Particularly as the ponder the worth of completing a quadruple jump as they take the Olympic ice.

The Quad
Baseball has the homerun. That amazing athletic feat of hitting a ball that took barely a second to travel from the pitcher's mound to the plate and to hit hit over 400 feet is hallowed by baseball fans. The difference between a hit and homerun a combination of the pitch, and the speed and strength of the batter in his swing.

Figure skating has the quad, any jump done completed with 4 revolutions in the air before landing on one foot. It takes speed and strength and the precision of setting up the jump and landing on a narrow steel blade.

A decade ago the quad was the future of the sport with top skaters conducting jump seminars in their skating programs. Elvis Stojko, Ilia Kulik, Alexei Urmanov, Michael Weiss, Timothy Goebel & Alexei Yagudin pushed the sport from quad toes to quad combinations, multiple quads in a freeskate, and a quad for the short just to be in contention. These skaters represented the best of North America and Europe. Everyone was training a quad.

As the quads increased, the age old skating debate of artistry vs athleticism heated up. Then came the IJS awarding points for completing a quad successfully, and the deductions for underrotating or falling on a quad. The base value of a quad toe is 9.8 points, but a fall counts as zero plus one point deduction. That debate of whether the quad is worth it is reaching a boiling point on the eve of the men's short.

Brian Joubert and Evgeny Plushenko have made statements of the quad being everything in men's skating. Brian Joubert maintains a quad should be worth more and worth the risk of performing one in competition. He says,

There is pressure when you try a quad and there is pressure after it, because it is more difficult to do the next jump.

He has also lamented the lack of quads in skating these days and insists it is the future of the sport.

For all of his talk of quads as king, it would seem that his skating has suffered. After the Torino Games, he was on top the world the following season. He was the first skater to land three quads in a free skate that 2006-2007 and he capped it off with win at the world championships. Since then, he's experienced some illness and injuries. He seems to be able to easily overcome those, but not overcome the weight of the expectations he's put on himself to complete all of his jumps.

His North American competitors have seemed to play some head games with him on the quad topic. Patrick Chan of Canada in particular has reminded reporters while mentioning Joubert that his countyman Jeff Buttle won a world title without a quad. In fact, no one since Joubert has won worlds with a quad. While Joubert lands one, he falls on a triple making the pursuit of quad perfection questionable.

Most of the North American men will not attempt a quad this week in competition. Nancy Amour tweeted that Johnny Weir busted out the quad in practice (nice head games Johnny!) and Jeremy Abbott completed one in his win at US Nats but is more focused on adding a second triple Axel in the free. Evan Lysacek won his world title last year without one and thinks the rest of his skating is strong enough that he doesn't need it.

The North American skaters have used transitions, solid triples, spins and footwork to their advantage under IJS. They read the rules and the great points from the quad, but did the math and saw more points are to be had with other elements. While the Europeans have focused on quads, the transitions between jumps have suffered.

Still, Evan was planning on adding the jump to his free skate until last week. He has chimed in with Joubert on occasion that a quad keeps up the challenge and pushes boundaries in men's skating. Recently, he said he feared he had reinjured his foot. X-rays proved he does not have the stress fracture that bothered him last spring, but he doesn't want to risk it with a quad in his free skate.

With so many top competitors not planning to do quads or willing to take their quad out, why all the fuss?

The Quad 2010

Brian Joubert's pining for the old days of 15 top skaters doing quads is coming back to haunt him. Evgeny Plushenko and Stephane Lambiel have come out of retirement and beat him at Europeans. Both have solid quads, and Plushenko will probably do a  quad-combo in the short and multiple quads in the long. Stephane Lambiel does more quads than triple Axels in his free skate.

Patrick Chan isn't scared, he said this week of Plushenko's skating,

He has the confidence that he doesn't need to do the transitions because he can do what I think is a magnificent quad. But he's old!

The pendulum still swings in the debate of artistry vs. athleticism.  Perhaps a better question is what is more athletic? Skating with complex and fast transitions that take deep knee bends to maintain the speed for four minutes or accelerating down the ice into a quad Salchow-triple toe-double loop combo during a four minute program?

Of course Daisuke Takahashi and Jeremy Abbott can do transitions and quads, proving you can have both and there's no need for debate!

What do you think, to quad or not to quad?

Lost

Stayed up to watch the premeire of Lost and then got up for a 5:50 a.m. session. I'll need a Starbucks run this afternoon. Maybe it's the anticipation of a caffeine jolt, but I'm thinking about some "lost" skaters this season, that seem to be trapped on their own mysterious island from a dangerous mix of hubris and bad decisions while debating their destiny.

Mao Asada

Mao Asada - She can do a triple Axel-double toe combo with one arm over her head. Amazing! However, if she misses that her programs are dead and she lands way far away from the podium. Especially since the triples she goes on to attempt include a triple flip and triple loop. She can fly across the ice with grace, but she's been coming out with these heavy programs that don't use her lightness on the ice to her advantage. This year her long is to Rachmaninoff's "Bells of Moscow." I find the music and the choreography interesting, (a blogger called the music the "Bells of Death") but it's painful to watch Mao laboring through to the music if she misses the initial triple Axel jump passes. It's becomes "Bells of Mao's Dying Olympic Dreams." She's coached by Tatiana Tarasova who helped Alexei Yagudin become a legend. It seems Mao and Tarasova are attempting to recreate a Yagudin highlight reel with her programs. Mao needs to find her own style and inner muse. Jumps are easier when you're happy on the ice and skating for you.

Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto - I lamented earlier on this blog that they're great skaters but, similar to Mao, haven't shown their style this year or created a memorable program for the ages. They also seem to be attempting to channel some former Soviet or Russian champions instead of being Belbin & Agosto, the most decorated American ice dancing team ever. I did get past the gaudy gear they wore at Nationals and saw a beautiful free dance hidden amongst the nude lycra. However, I don't want to go back to it to review sections and nothing stands out but how horrible their costumes looked.

Tanith & Ben: Great Position, Bad Outfits

Jonathan Ferrey, Getty Images

Brian Joubert - Brian has plodded through the season. The spins and footwork are improved which garners more points, but he doesn't look like he's having fun on the ice. As Scott Hamilton commented during the Grand Prix, "He's a meat and potatoes skater, not a lot of parsley on that plate." Brian looks like he's completely weary of the little bit of parsley about him. Brian does have his own style but I also don't think he's used it to his advantage and insteads tries to add some dried, crushed parsley instead of producing a juicy steak covered in a marinade that's got a kick. I've got an exhibition program to Coldplay from a couple of seasons back below. The choreography is similar to the in between jumps moves in his programs, but he seems free to move and enjoy skating. If only he could find this mix during competitions.

Around the World of Figure Skating - European Championships

The Canadian Championship has wrapped up and the US Nationals are at the half way point. Over in Tallinn, Estonia the European Championships are beginning.

The compulsory dance took place today with Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin winning that portion of the event. I'll be watching if they keep the lead and checking in our their scores. This is the first international competition for the reigning world champs due to Maxim's knee troubles. North American teams have dominated this season, but I keep hearing skating fans chatter that podium predictions for ice dance can not be made until the Russians have skated. Russians skating are the equivalent to a fat lady singing in the world of figure skating.

Articles and Blogs on European Ice Dancing Championship:
Domnina-Shabalin Open Strong in Dance


Required Elements by Laura

Beyond ice dancing, the most anticipated event gets under way tomorrow with the men's short program. It's billed as a match up between several past European winners who are either coming back from retirement or from an injury. Tomorrow we'll see if the hype is justified as Evgeny Plushenko, Stephane Lambiel, and Brian Joubert take the ice.

The much hyped trio of former champs have had various injuries whether retired or not. Plushenko has been working on a quad-triple combo, seven revolutions in a second, wow! However, I heard some rumors the training has been rough on his knees and his Lutz was doubled at both Rostelecom Cup and the Russian Champs. Lambiel only competed at Nebelhorn in early fall and Joubert is coming off a foot injury that kept him out of the Grand Prix Final and the French Nationals. He was said today that his foot feels better skating than walking because it's locked in his skating boot.

I suspect there will be some surprises from Samuel Contesti, Tomas Verner and Michael Brezina if any of the hyped trio falters.

Articles on European Men's Championship:
Plushenko, Lambiel, both on comeback trail, feature at European Championships

Plushenko, Lambiel in focus at European Championships

A New Storyline Begins, But Is It Wise?

Monday I read several "tweets" from some of the competitive skaters I follow that involved either packing for Tokyo or traveling to Tokyo for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. Tweets from Meryl Davis, Charlie White, Joannie Rochette, Johnny Weir, Jeremy Abbott and Ashley Wagner. I liked Meryl's tweet, "It seems fitting that we're leaving for the land of the rising sun around dawn..."

The Grand Prix Series consists of 6 competitions across 3 continents that take place October through November for senior level skaters. Competitors earn points for their placements in the series. Winners of the event earn 12 points and go home with a snazzy gold medal, second place finishers earn 9 points and so on. The top six in the point standings after the 6 competitions end go on to the Grand Prix Final.

Skaters are selected to compete at the various competitions by their national governing body of the sport. (e.g., the USFSA in the States, Skate Canada in Canada, etc.). Competitors are allowed to compete in 2 of the six events where they earn points. Typically, winning a Grand Prix event gets you into the Final. The other competitors who make it are consistent in placing in the top three in their events.
 
The Final is the cream of the crop in the fall skating season. Performances and placements here are generally a good precursor to the World Championship standings. In an Olympic season, it's an excellent chance to make a statement that you're medal worthy. Plus, by reviewing the judges' marks and how skaters stack up against the narrow field, gives each skater exceptional feedback on what needs to be tweaked before the big championships later in the winter. Especially for those Olympics.
 
It would seem that all skaters would be honored to make it to the Grand Prix Final and want to skate their best. Recent seasons have shown a lot of skaters skipping the stay home and practice.Well, those skaters aren't completely "skipping" there is usually an injury involved. However, several blogs and message boards have been lit up this past week if the injuries are for real. Regardless, the big story leading into the Final is who's not here.

Brian Joubert experienced an awkward landing on a triple lutz last week. He ended up cutting his right foot with this blade. It so bad, he needed surgery to repair a ligament! According to his coach, the surgery went well and a good prognosis is expected. Difficult set back not only effecting the Final, but going into the French nationals and possibly Europeans. 

The ice dancing event would have been a great match up of North American ice dancers, Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto and Meryl Davis & Charlie White represent the US. While Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir sing "O Canada." Ice dance has been a sport dominated by former Soviet countries. Over the past decade that domination is swinging to North America in part by former Soviet coaches who have relocated to the North America. Amazingly, all three of the teams making the Final have been coached by Igor Sphilband at one point in their careers. Each team won all of their Grand Prix events. None of the teams actually had a head to head match up through out the season.

Belbin & Agosto had to withdraw due to Tanith having an impacted wisdom tooth that got infected. I had once of those...ouch! My whole right side of my head from my temple to just below the jaw would throb in the days leading up to the extraction. I feel for her, but I wonder a little about the doctor's orders to stay off the ice for a week. Hopefully, she'll get the time to rejuvenate and then take advantage of not having to travel and compete in Tokyo. Belbin & Agosto's scores were lower in both their Grand Prix wins to the scores of both Virture & Moir and Davis & White.

Finally, there are several players not attending the Final simply because they didn't either didn't compete in more than one event or simply skipped the Grand Prix. Evgeny Plushenko only competed in Rostelecom Cup and neither Sasha Cohen or Stephane Lambiel competed. They may be a factor in Olympic placements.

The streaming times for the Final start Thursday, I think I'll be able to watch a bit over coffee.

Romping through the Far East and Midwest

A couple of weekends ago, I got up early and let the dog out. Then I plopped in front of my laptop to watch bits of the men's and pairs' competition at Cup of China. Crazy time differences, I was seeing their evening performances in my slippers over the live feed.

Cup of China was a "comeback" comp for Shen & Zhao and comeback they did. I enjoyed the free program, it was easy to watch. The side-by-side jumps were probably a bit too far apart, but overall an excellent skate.

Cup of China was the debut of some of North America's Olympic medal contenders. Belbin & Agosto won the ice dance event, Evan Lysacek medaled in the men's event, and Mirai Nagasu & Rachel Flatt had nice outings in the front of the judges and their international competition. Joannie Rochette of Canada had a disappointing short but bounced back with her superior freeskate to Saint-Saens "Sampson & Delilah."

I must say I was a tad disappointed in the Americans. Evan Lysacek skated well, he was downgraded on a jump in each program, but the programs looked good. While the music was new, his programs have come to have a predictable pattern. I was slightly distracted from that pattern watching the short. He's skating to "Firebird" and has a black outfit, with long black feathers at the end of the sleeves. It kept giving me an image of Edward Scissorhands... all in black with these big, dangling, useless hands... except with feathers. Lose the feathers Evan!

I caught the ladies short and was thrilled that Mirai Nagasu had a good skate. She managed first which was a big improvement over everything last season. I expected more from Rachel Flatt with her "Sing, Sing, Sing" short. The YouTube clip of her performance at a summer competition gave me hope that she added some pizzazz to her consistency. However, the program just didn't seem to fill the big arena their in Beijing. She somehow appeared to be skating on ice twice as big as her competitors.

Belbin & Agosto chose a Moldovian theme for their original folk dance. Then they skated to a version of Ava Maria. The Ava Maria program is beautiful and features interesting lifts, however, I thought it was an odd choice for them. Since changing coaches prior to last season, I feel they have become more confident in their technical skill which especially has helped them in the compulsory portion of the competition. However, I their programs seem like they are coming straight out the Soviet School of Ice Dancing. I don't feel they are really offering anything new to the sport. Of course, skating passionately to Ava Maria is rite of passage in skating and Soviet/Russian ice dancers have demonstrated a winning formula of angst-ridden performances. I just Belbin & Agosto could be legendary with their talent by creating something entirely new. They're playing it conservative to win, while I think if they went outside of the box, not only would they win, they would blow everyone away.

I really think Meryl Davis and Charlie White are skating outside of the box this year with their Bollywood-inspired original dance. Watching Belbin & Agosto and then Davis & White in back to back competitions proves really brings that home to me. Davis and White have excellent technique and speed and I think their originality in their programs demonstrates those skills.

Davis and White completely left their competitors in the dust at the NHK Trophy. I was in Chicago over the weekend. I got to enjoy the weather for a weekend holiday shopping spree but the hotel didn't have free wifi so I missed my morning ritual of watching the live feed from Asia.

So glad to catch up on the NHK Trophy mid-week after work. Brian Joubert is back! He looked Yagudin-like out there. There was such command of the ice and energy in his performances. I haven't really seen that from him for awhile.

Johnny Weir actually put together two solid skates in the same competition. He earned a silver souvenir for that accomplishment. Jeremy Abbott debuted his programs for the season. Love the short, "Day in a Life" awesomeness. Jeremy, note to self, ice shavings are very apparent on black outfits so don't fall on every jump in the long! Daisuke Takahashi was back after injury last season. Wow, I missed him, he's programs fill the arena. Hope those jumps make a complete recovery after injury too.

Enjoyed the Kerrs free dance to Krwling too.

I've been getting the hang of choctaws and my rockers are back to what I could do well 10 years ago. I think I may pass my junior MITF by February!

Anticipation for the 2009-2010 season

With the Nebelhorn Trophy under way, here are the people and events I'm most looking forward too this season:

Who will have the most Micheal Jordan-like comeback ala coming back to play basketball for Bulls comeback after playing baseball versus coming back to play for the Wizards after a first retirement.

The 2006 Olympic men's champ, Evengy Plushenko, will be competing again after four years of touring in Russia, dabbling in Russian politics, getting divorced and married again. Will he still have the jumps, especially the quad? Melissa Gregory & Denis Petukhov worked with him on his programs.

Stephane Lambiel, the silver medalist in 2006, is also coming back. He is coming out of his 2nd retirement since the last Olympics. Plushy's last competition was the Olympics. Lambiel followed his silver by winning the world title after the games. He was entered in a few Grand Prix events the following season. Mid-season he said his heart wasn't in it anymore and retired. He found some passion later and ended up with a couple more medals at worlds, but no titles. Last year, he retired after some injuries were not healing as quickly as he would of liked. His biggest obstacle comes this week in working to gain Switzerland a spot for a man in the Olympic competition at the Nebelhorn. If he assists in earning that spot, I'll be interested to see if he keeps his interest in competing.

Sasha Cohen, the ladies silver medalist in 2006, has decided to return to competition as well after attempting an acting career in between touring with Stars on Ice. Looking forward to seeing the spins and spirals she's known for in competitive programs. I hope see found some consistency and focus through having to perform almost nightly on tour for stretches at a time.

Isabel Delobel and her partner Olivier Schoenfelder will have a comeback of sorts. Isabel is due to deliver her first child soon. This working mom will be a skater, I love it!

Beyond comebacks I'm looking forward too:

Watching and comparing the seasons of Belbin & Agosto and Davis & White before the US Nationals. Then seeing the battle for first at Nationals. I have a feeling Davis & White could overtake Belbin & Agosto this year in a head to head match up.

Johnny Weir's programs choreographed by David Wilson.

The ladies competition at Nationals with two spots to the O's and worlds.

Seeing how skaters who changed coaches in the off season fare:

Mirai Nagasu and Carolina Kostner to Frank Carroll, should give them some confidence and better preparation.

Jeremy Abbott with Yuka Sato after parting with his coach of many years, Tom Zakarasjc.

Caroline Zhang after swtiching coaches and then going back.

Brian Joubert made a change over the summer in his quest for Olympic gold and gaining 2nd last year at worlds.

Finally, I'll be interested to see the continuing saga/answer of that burning question, "to quad or not to quad?" Particulary in the case of Brian Joubert.