Skating News January 2011

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?

My Take: Johnny Weir & Stars On Ice - Much Ado About Nothing

The skating blogosphere has had some heavy traffic this weekend. Unfortunately, the comments and searches haven't been totally related to the World Junior Championships or Junior Synchro Championships and the future of the sport. It's focused on the present, with GLAAD condemning Stars On Ice (SOI) for not selecting Johnny Weir on the 2010 tour. GLAAD says the reason for denying Johnny a spot in the cast is because the tour deems him "not family friendly."

I think the story is ludicrous. First, GLAAD is getting this from an anonymous source. Why did an anonymous person go to GLAAD? Did the source also go to PETA, thinking SOI doesn't want a skater who may offend vegan families by wearing fur? Why is family friendly interpreted to mean straight? Doesn't GLAAD promote families made up of same gender parents? Second, I really don't think the typical audience of SOI really cares about any skater's orientation; they are there to be entertained and watch the best skaters in the world let loose. Third, I think Johnny is better off without SOI as it's not the premier tour it used to be.

I do not know Johnny Weir and I don't know much about his personal life. From what I've read and watched, he enjoys fashion, fur, Russian culture, and neatness. He's a skating purist and crazily talented. He started skating when he was like 12 and won Junior Worlds within four years and was in his first Olympics ten years after taking up the sport. I don't know who he's dating as I've never observed him flaunting that aspect of his life. I seem to always know who Evan Lysacek is dating as he seems to be OK with sharing that side of his personal life. I actually think Evan sometimes goes out of his way to promote whomever he is with. I actually think it's nice to have a celebrity who doesn't flaunt his love life. There are tons of celebrities who seem to keep their careers running by keeping their personal lives in the tabloids or Twitter. I don't think Evan will totally go the tabloid or Twitter route, but in contrast, Johnny keeps this side of his life to himself and I find it refreshing. Plus, since I don't know who Johnny is dating, I can't speak to any orientation, family friendly or not.

I've often heard others talk about Johnny's orientation, speculating that he is gay. Who really cares anyway? Johnny doesn't promote his orientation. Maybe he's protecting a great little wife and their three kids that have supported him since Torino. When asked about his sexuality and speculation that he is gay, he usually responds that it doesn't matter. People should be individuals and not let one aspect of their personality define them. Isn't it family friendly to promote what's unique about an individual while fitting in an ensemble cast? SOI is all about bringing together great individual skaters to create a unique and fun show.

SOI already signed several of this year's cast members prior to the Olympics. This included Olympians Evan Lysacek, Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto. Since the Olympics, they have signed the majority of the medalists and some fan favorites. I'm not sure why they didn't sign Johnny, but he only recently dropped out of Worlds. Perhaps he was signaling he really wanted to stay focused on training and continue his reality series while SOI was making casting decisions post-Olympics. Maybe SOI couldn't deal with a reality series crew on the tour.

I actually think more doors will open for Johnny away from Stars On Ice. The bigger skating markets are in Asia these days and he has already skated in Yuna Kim's shows in Korea on several occassions. He'll have more time to skate in Asia and not be locked into a North American touring schedule. He also loves Russia, and I'm sure he'll have a similar benefit of skating in Russian shows.

Stars On Ice is a great skating institution created by Scott Hamilton. It's the only skating tour around. Of course there's Disney On Ice, but that's more of way for Disney to promote its brand instead of showcasing skating. Then there are the old and packaged Disson Shows that are on TV on winter weekends with  has-been bands and has-been skaters. I think Johnny could fill a void in skating entertainment by creating his own shows. Johnny is becoming a brand himself and has his own style. I think he could attach his name to a new, yet undreamed of show or tour that could pull in new fans to skating. I hope this new world of skating shows comes out this fall - Lady Gaga On Ice anyone? I'm thinking a rock opera with skaters in a frozen world trying to break free....

Let Johnny be.... don't try to box him into a package to push an agenda... when you let Johnny be magic will happen.

Vancouver Men's Long - Spin Focus

I'm going to try to focus on the spins in this post as everyone else focuses on the jumps! I'm also only noting the skaters I see on the NBC broadcast.

Jeremy Abbott - Nice flying sit, good position in the sit change sit with a change to a forward inside edge, wobbled on the first camel rotation then back to the good, low and extended sit spin positions. Glad you focused and fought Jeremy! I'm proud of you. 149.56 free, 218.96 total.

Takahiko Kozuka - Flying change foot combo - way low in sit spin, cool upside down manuever; sit change sit with the foot tucked behind making a little ball position, nice; camel not as stretched as it could be but nice speed and extension in the sit spins, excellent blur scratch spin to finish. How often do you see a fast scratch spin these days? Thanks for that treat Takahiko! Like Sandra Bezic said on the broadcast he has a pure skating technique. I'm really looking forward to watching him over the seasons to come. 151.60 free, 231.19 total.

Denis Ten - Flying Camel Spin that started with good stretch and then almost immediately switched to inside and grabbed his blade. I wish he just held the initial extension, it was a good position. Change foot sit spin that featured resting his foot above the knee on both sides. Oooo, a Bielmann in his combo spin! Threw several positions in the combo spin, wish he picked two out of four and held longer and centered. 135.01 free, 211.25 total.

Huh, NBC showed Tony Dungy and Jerry Jones are in the seats watching. That's different. Wonder what they think of the event.

Florent Amodio - love this music from the Amelie soundtrack, superb speed, positions and centering in the combo spin; inside edge entry to back sit, then change sit and a nice tucked under position;  super sweet tuck position in flying sit, displaying snowboard-like "big air" with that flying sit tuck position. Loved the straight-line footwork preceding it too. This is a performance I'll look up on YouTube to relax and enjoy skating. 134.95 free, 210.30 total.

Patrick Chan - Nice position on a centered and fast sit. Good transition to another edge by pulling in his leg and placing his foot on his knee. Classic sit change sit after the half way mark. Camel, sit spin with unique arm position as part of combo. The crowd cheers are the end! Another program I'll go back too, loved the knee action and glide in his footwork sequences. Good jump technique too. I'm going to enjoy watching him over the next four years, stay healthy Patrick! 160.30 free, 241.42 total.

Michal Brezina - Flying sit with a good air position like Florent's, little wobble on a revolution; sit change sit with a change to an inside edge on the back sit; running out of steam but nice inside edge into back camel for the combo that included more sit spins and camels. He seems to rock to back of his blade in his sit spins and then quickly corrects. I must squeeze in a bit about his jumps. He has a great position in the air, really nice, tight leg position. Good edge riding out of his jumps as well. This is first time I saw him skate on TV instead of a web feed. It was so enjoyable on a bigger screen. 137.93 free, 216.73 total.

Penultimate group done, big guys warming up! Great six minutes of skating - but they decide to go to commercial. Argh.

Realizing as I watch Evan at the boards with Frank Carroll that he is first and Evgeny is last... remembering Michelle and Tara skating order in Nagano. Don't hesitate Evan, go for it!

Evan Lysacek - good position for a tall skater in a sit spin, pulled his leg into a wrap; jump not as high as others in flying sit, but again he's tall it's hard to tuck that daddy-long leg underneath; extended camel could have been held longer, beautiful, fast and centered sit spins that he held for about 10 revolutions each into great extended catch-foot spin to end. I felt I could see him thinking and not performing the first half of the performance. He built energy at the end, good skate. 167.37 free, 257.67 total.

Nobunari Oda - like the lift in the death drop into the sit spin position, good to see a spin earlier in the skate; oh, shades of Tonya Harding with a broken skate lace. Well that's a nice spin after retying his skates, his sit spin position is reminiscent of a curled up cat. Good combo spin with the same curled-cat position as well as nice camel positions. So calm and focused with the skate lace snafu! 153.69 free, 238.54 total.

Stephane Lambiel - La Traviata music; flying camel with excellent arm position along with leg extension; oh this ending combo spin is bringing a big and well deserved cheer from the crowd, camel with hands clasped behind the back, sit spins with about 12 revolutions each and changing arm positions throughout. Love how he streches an arm in the air during his sit and it looks like he could balance a plate better than a restaurant waiter on that hand as the spin is so centered. Then the combo ends with a "headless" back scratch where he's tipped his head back and he's just a blur. Looked a bit tight throughout, but I'm glad he made his comeback. I've missed him! 162.09 free, 246.72 total.

Daisuke Takahashi - nice variety of positions in his sit spins, he works the changes in foot and edge by extending and pulling in while adding features to the spin; cute flying sit, but not the same height and tuck as others, good move to go from a low sit into an extended camel, that's difficult; back camel, back scratch with leg crossed behind into scratch. I enjoy his spins as he puts effort into unique positions instead of the same old same old. Similar to Lambiel but missing the speed. 156.98 free, 247.43 total

Johnny Weir - Spin stumble! He seemed to catch his toepick while on the inside edge in the sit, will be reflected in the GOE. Nice death drop into sit, love how he drapes his upper body with a beautivully arched back over his extended free leg in his sit spins. Running threes into a camel, the gorgeous sit position again, extended catch-foot spin. The audience roars! I've got tears in my eyes, thank you for that skate Johnny, that was wonderful. 156.77 free, 238.87 total.

Evgeny Plushenko - Death drop into sit, not as low as Johnny or Evan, back slouched over; fast sit spin combo, impressed; choreography looks so silly after the last few skaters; back camel, sit, funky upright spin, slooow camel, funky upright with contorted arms, scratch and it's done. 165.51 free, Lysacek wins! Frank Carroll coached a gold medalist! 256.36 total.

Oh Plushenko, so close! Only quad combo of the evening and an amazing comeback. I'm sure he's disappointed, but he should be proud of the comeback effort and still being able to land a quad combo under pressure.

Proud of you Evan!

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?

Senior Men's Championship in Spokane

Evan Lysacek 2nd, Jeremy Abbott 1st, Johnny Weir 3rd, Ryan Bradley 4th

 After yesterday's championship free skate, I'm so pumped for the US team heading to Vancouver. We're sending the reigning World Champion, and three men who have each won two National titles. They've also shown they can deliver under pressure.

I'm especially proud of Jeremy Abbott. I'm going to bring brownies into work tomorrow so my colleagues can experience the joy of watching that free skate. He did a quad toe as if it took no effort, and then completed 8 triples. Each move just flowed into into each the other seamlessly. No long and thought out set ups into the jump elements, just strong edgework and flow through out. Watching it was like a warm, chewy brownie that makes you go "mmm...." It was that good! Total beat down on the other skaters. The crowd got on their feet while he was still in his last spin. Go Jeremy!

Evan Lysacek shed his basic black and feathers for a steel-gray tone. He threw in his quad toe for good measure and was bit short on the rotation and went down. Otherwise, he skated like the World Champ he is, with increased difficulty from the Grand Prix events. He shrugged off missing gaining the National title back with peaking in Vancouver in mind. He was glad to get some practice of doing a quad in a pressure-filled competition.

Johnny Weir skated around in a new costume that included fur and that was the highlight of his skate. His short program kept him on the Olympic team and got him a bronze medal. He skated this program better at the NHK Trophy, but I think he's never capitalized on COP in this freeskate. It doesn't help when he skates tentatively with this program.

I felt a little debate would have been deserved during the selection committee meeting making the Olympic and World Team picks between Johnny and Ryan Bradley. Ryan laid down a challenge with his free skate and two quad program at the beginning of the last group. He's been inconsistent in the short all season, and often does a quad but then botches his triples. Johnny always seems a bit more interested in Johnny which leads to some inconsistency as well. I think the committee could have debated who might be challenged to give the skate of their life by getting the honor of skating in Vancouver. I think Ryan would have, but Johnny's got the Olympic experience to begin with. OpEd off.

NBC did an OK job with the broadcast. Both Icenetwork and NBC had been promoting the same schedule that Icenetwork would show the first few groups and that NBC would show the final two. Unfortunately, NBC only showed the last group and also requested a moratorium on tweets and other reports during the penultimate group. So no one saw that group which is kinda silly. I'm sure people would easily switch from Icenetwork to TV and perhaps a bit more excitement would be brought into the broadcast.

News and Blogs:

Jeremy Abbott Wins Second Straight Skating Title - Los Angeles Times

Abbott Defends Skating Title with a Flourish - New York Times

Aspen's Abbott Leads US Men's Figure Skating Squad - Denver Post

Aaron's Blog

Eric's Blog - Minnesota Ice

Mr. Zamboni Man

Senior Men's Short in Spokane

Stayed up late Friday to watch Icenetwork's broadcast of the senior men's short at the U.S. National Champs in Spokane. After a little aggravation that the event didn't actually start at 9:45 as listed, I was treated to some great skates by Johnny Weir and Jeremy Abbot. (The Opening Ceremony started at 9:45 with "Thank You Spokane!" speeches from half of US Figure Skating, and then some kids skated as the flag, then they cut the ice again. All while I could have finished watching an episode of The Tudors with my husband. Argh!)

Johnny Weir skated second and gave a first rate performance. I haven't seen him skate with such command since his "Swan" short in the last Olympic season. Jeremy Abbott ended the first group of five with his "Day in the Life" short. It's an Abbott classic and garnished him an impressive score. I was eager to see Ryan Bradley do well, and he landed a soaring quad toe-triple toe combo but then doubled his Axel and Lutz. I'd never seen Keegan Messing or Johnathan Cassar before and wow, sorry I've missed them before. (OMG, the spread eagle Cassar does could be shown to cancer patients. It would raise endorphin levels and assist with defeating cancer. It's that wicked-good.)

My late night skating spectatoring ended a bit after Grant Hochstein. I had the pleasure of watching Grant skate in person at the 2007 Eastern Great Lakes Regionals in the novice division. Glad to see he's still going at it and impressing the judges at the senior championship. After Grant, Icenetwork really started cutting in and out. As it approached 1:00 a.m. Eastern, I finally logged out and hit the sack. I missed Evan Lysacek and Adam Rippon. I did see a bit of Evan's warm up in between blackouts. He was minus the feather gloves, I guess he ditched the "Evan Featherhands" look for Nats. Despite the new look, he apparently stepped out of his triple Axel.

It's Jeremy in first, Evan in second, Johnny in third.

I'm boring - here's what the journalists and other bloggers had to say about the event:
Jeremy Abbott Looks Ahead With Confidence - Detroit Free Press

Abbott Prevails at US Skating Championship - New York Times

Abbott, Lysacek, Weir Dominate - Los Angeles Times

Abbott's 'Day in the Life' Finds Him In First - USA Today

Lysacek's Brilliant Performance Doesn't Impress US Judges - USA Today

Aaron's Blog: Axels, Loops, and Spins

Laura's Blog: Required Elements 

Skater of the Decade Winner - Johnny Weir

Based on the poll, the winner of Skater of the Decade is Johnny Weir!

He even got to ring in the next decade in style with a blow out in New York. Check out Susan's blog at lifeskate.com for photos and video of the event.

I'll give his sit spin variation a whirl at the rink tomorrow to see if I've still got it.

Good luck at Nationals this week Johnny!

Skater of the Decade: Johnny Weir

As we say good night to the decade without a name, I thought it would be fun to review some of the skaters that have been prominent players on the competitive landscape over the past 10 years. Let's start with Johnny Weir.

Why start with Johnny? Well, has any other skater had both a movie made about them and inspired a character in a hit movie? Johnny Weir has done both with the documentary, "Pop Star On Ice" and the figure skating spoof starring John Heder and Will Ferrell, "Blades of Glory."

Johnny also personally inspired me while I was working my first job and still coaching group lessons on the weekends. I had figured that since I was out of college my skating days were numbered. Then I watched this teenager on the Nationals broadcast at the beginning of the century who mesmerized me with his spins. Whilst sitting the in Kiss'N'Cry after his skate, Terry Gannon and Dick Button chatted about how he started skating when he was 12 and now just fa few years later he was skating a Nationals. Not Junior Nationals, not skating in the novice or junior level, but at the senior level on friggin' TV!

My 22 year-old self decided to get off the couch. I went to the last hour of the public ice that evening and taught myself the variation on the sit spin he did. That involved placing the free foot over the bent skating knee while in the sit position and then stretching the arms down to the skating foot. My bottom ended up getting a bit icy before I figured it out and got the balance over my skating foot correctly.

After debuting on the senior level, he won the first of three National titles in 2004. In each victory he showed his individuality, culminating in skating to The Swan AS a swan with a glove named Camille after the composer, Camille Saint-Saens in Torino. His comments kept the press interested, especially comparing his performance to a shot of coke and vodka... and not the bubbly type of coke.

He changed coaches a year after the Olympics. His seasons have been up and down since Torino, but he managed a bronze medal at worlds in 2008 giving the US 3 slots to compete at Worlds the following year. He's had a successful run during the Grand Prix this fall making him a strong player in the upcoming US Nationals and Vancouver Games.

Johnny Weir, definitely one of the skaters who defined this decade of competitive elite skating.

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.