Who is John Wilson/MK?

Well...John Wilson is a manufacturer of Figure Skating blades...MK is the name of the blade John Wilson produces.

John Wilson/MK is also the title sponsor of the 2010 British Figure Skating Championships which wrapped up in Sheffield, UK this weekend.

While there weren't any surprises, it's worth noting the winners. Matthew Parr won his second consecutive title. Unfortunately for Matthew, Great Britain did not qualify a men's berth in Vancouver (sad face) but he will have the opportunity to compete in the European Championships in Tallinn. The Pairs title went to Kemp and King who will get to compete in their first Olympics in Vancouver. That was their fifth consecutive win. Also competing at their first Olympics is Jenna McCorkell who won her sixth title. The dance title went to Britain's most prestigious skaters, Kerr and Kerr, who took their fifth consecutive title and head to Tokyo this week for their first Grand Prix Final.

Full results here.

The Op-Ed: Don't Blow Off the Grand Prix Final

I get really irked when skaters withdraw from the Grand Prix Final!

If there is a legitimate reason to do so (such as Joubert)...I get it. But it seems, at least to me, for the past several years, the number of skaters taking a pass on the Grand Prix Final for....cough cough...injury has increased quite a bit.

After we had a list of competitors set for the Grand Prix Final, people began tweeting me...who do you think is gonna withdraw first? It's become expected. I remember way back when they created the Grand Prix Final (then the Champion Series Final) this was a BIG event. If you made it...you didn't withdraw.

When did the Grand Prix Final become so dispensable to competitors?

I'm not a competitive skater so I don't know how their brain thinks and works when it comes to competition; but as a well-informed spectator, I'd think that the Grand Prix Final is an invaluable opportunity. Even more valuable, I think, in an Olympic year. The Grand Prix Final will be the deepest field you'll have the opportunity to compete in prior to the Olympics. Even without all the top competitors, it still affords skaters their best "Olympic Dry Run." Four Continents Cup and Europeans offer a second shot but those are regionally constrained and, unlike the Grand Prix Final, find themselves inconveniently jammed between National Championships (for many competitors) and the Olympics.

And what if a skater goes despite the fact they may feel ill prepared? Can't as much be learned from the failure? If you go to a competition and lose...the judges have available for you a beautiful road map, called a scoring sheet, that tells you exactly what you need to do to turn that frown upside down. If I was a competitor and there was someone I wanted to beat, you better believe I would compete against them every possible chance I could. In the end, it's bound to pay dividends.

I get that skaters are always weighing the pros vs cons for going to these fall competitions. Is it smarter to expend the energy here as opposed to there. I get that in an Olympic year especially, it's a marathon, not a sprint. But from my perspective, what a competitor can gain from this particular competition is too valuable to pass up.

But that's just me.

Another Withdrawal

Hope your Thanksgiving is going well. At my parents' house and every woman in my family is zooming around the kitchen at warp speed so I stole away upstairs to the computer and I discover that Brian Joubert has withdrawn from the Grand Prix Final.

He injured his foot in a training session yesterday...apparently is serious enough that he'll need an operation and his viability for the Olympics is in question (Eeeeeek!).

"The 2009 World bronze medallist was training in Poitiers on Wednesday when he landed awkwardly while attempting a triple lutz and sustained a deep cut to his right foot, his federation said Thursday."

That would mean, should he accept the invitation, that Tomas Verner has now made the final.

UPDATE: Brian Joubert has successfully underwent surgery after sustaining an injury while training a triple lutz. It was determined that Joubert's foot was not broke and all the ligaments were fixed. FFSG president Didier Gailhaguet added: "It is a serious injury. The blade touched the bone. Brian told me he could see bone. It's not the first time. It is a technical fault which often happens to him with new skates. In addition, he is in good form and hence is less vigilant on his technique"

Hopefully this is good news and Joubert can be on form in time for the European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia and ultimately the Olympics in Vancouver.

Happy Thanksgiving

To all my blog readers, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Lutai Banned For a Year

The Russian Figure Skating Federation has handed Andrei Lutai a one year ban from competition.

"For violating ethical norms of an athlete, the executive board excluded Andrei Lutai from the national team for a period of one year until Nov. 15, 2010," Russia's Figure Skating Federation (RFSF) said in a statement on Wednesday.

This of course means that Lutai no longer has a chance at competing in Vancouver at the Olympics.

After Skate America, Lutai was arrested on suspicion of stelaing a car and driving under the influence of alcohol. After spending several days in detention, he was allowed to return to St. Petersburg.

Pic of the Week

I was really hoping he wouldn't be like a one or two hit wonder, but after NHK Trophy I had my doubts about Jeremy Abbott. Admittedly, I thought his free skate was amazing but over ambitious and I never thought he would have much success with it this season.

I was pleased as punch that Jeremy proved me wrong...coming through at a clutch moment to not only win HomeSense Skate Canada but also earn another trip to the Grand Prix Final. He enters next weeks' competition in Tokyo as the defending champion.

Now comes the hard part; for the first time in his career he will attempt to defend a major title. Good practice I think for U.S. Nationals where he'll be in the same boat again...defending.

Looking forward to Vancouver, it's an exciting prospect that the U.S. might send three U.S. National Champions to compete. The U.S. did so in 2002 (Goebel, Eldredge, Weiss) and had a very good result. This time I get the feeling the U.S. could do even better.

LAME!

I'm just going to go on record and say that Tanith and Ben's withdrawal from the Grand Prix Final is lame.

An infected tooth? Really, an infected tooth? I remember when Maria Butyrskaya competed at the Grand Prix Final like a week (maybe even less) after having her Appendix out.

Pony up! At least say the reason you are withdrawing is because you know you'll loose to Virtue and Moir and very likely even Davis and White.

I pray at National's after their performance people throw toothbrushes onto the ice.

The worse part about all of this...we now have to endure Khoklova and Novitski's disaster on ice at the final. Pass the Vodka please...

UPDATE: We are sparred the revival of Bolshevist Era Muisic...Khoklova and Novitski have passed on the opporotunity to compete in Tokyo. Therefore we get Crone and Poirier, who I feel need the competition the most. I get the idea they'll be in a close race for that second Canadian Olympic Ice Dance Birth come January with Weaver and Poje.

I got a couple e-mail's yesterday from people telling me that Tanith really does have a tooth problem. I get that...I just think they (she?) should 'suck it up,' deal with it, and compete. People have gotten on the ice with far (far!) worse problems.

HomeSense Skate Canada: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly!

HomeSense Skate Canada wrapped up literally moments ago but I decided to go right to work on this post because it's all so fresh in my mind.

The Good: Some of the performances! Jeremy Abbott, Daisuke Takahashi, and Alban Preaubert put on quite a performance in the men's free. I have never seen Alban skate so well in my life, putting on a jump clinic. Daisuke came back from his NHK Meltdown with conviction. His free skate is rife with character, solid jumps, and great footwork (he actually won the FS by a smidge). And Jeremy Abbott, who took me by surprise enroute to his necessary win. He skated with conviction and even after a couple of little jump errors proved he could still compete with the big boys. Virtue and Moir captivated the crowd at the "Aud" with a gorgeous free skate...you could here a pin drop in there...well, until they did a lift and then the place erupted in applause. They set the new high mark and set a clear (crystal clear I think) message to Davis and White, Belbin and Agosto, and any other team that has their sights set on Olympic Gold. Shout-out to Weaver and Poje who were amazing here and actually found themselves on the podium! I spy Denney and Barrett throwing down another clean free skate! Finally, Savchenko and Szolkowy impressed me to no end with their new free skate to Out of Africa. For me, it gave me that same feeling that Dubreuil and Lauzon's Somewhere in Time did. This one may be a tear jerker for me and they set a World Record (206.71) in the process. I've added the video at the bottom of this post.

The Bad: I hate to mention a win in the bad column but Joannie Rochette was not on top of her game here. She was the benefactor of one of the weakest ladies free skate's I've seen in a while. Lots of doubled jumps and little landing errors. Her closest competition came in the form of Alissa Czisny who, herself, crashed and burned on two triples. Laura Lepisto had some clever choreography but didn't land many triples either to take the bronze. Mirai Nagasu actually had the highest technical score of all the ladies in the free but was hammered in the component score and failed to hit the podium. Dube and Davison didn't look sharp in their bronze winning performance. Poor Denis Ten lost all gas from the short program...we have to wait another day for brilliance via Kazakstan. Samuelson and Bates lost some big time ground here, not only falling behind Weaver and Poje but also Bobrova and Soloviev (Navarro and Bommentre...there's still hope!).

The Ugly: O goodness...Patrick Chan. From time to time he's been known to have a fall in his free skate...never would you expect three. Those falls, add in a doubled loop, and an iffy spin and it equals a disastrous 6th place finish. That was by far the shocker of the competition. Caroline Zhang got disastrous component scores after a slow, emotionless free skate where she fell on both triple flips. One judge gave her a 2.5 for skating skills...2.5!!!! Who could have ever predicted an 8th place finish for her, ouch. Same story for Phaneuf who finished ahead of her in 7th...four falls in the free and at home in Canada. She just cried in the Kiss and Cry, broke my heart. Kevin Van der Perren who is coming completely undone this season. I thought he was on his way to a better start when he did a three triple jump combo but after that all the energy went out of the program. After huffing and puffing his way to an 11th place finish, he looked like he hated skating and left the Kiss and Cry shouting curse words...oy! The last ugly is the scoring. In the short program especially, several skaters seemed to get boosts, most noticeably the Canadians. Joannie Rochette's short program scored a 70.00 without a triple-triple. Patrick Chan had the highest component score in the short despite a flawed performance. Virtue and Moir's OD score was off the charts. Amelie Lacoste and Cynthia Phaneuf made the final group of ladies despite the fact they had been clearly out-skated by Caroline Zhang and Akiko Suzuki in the short. In the free, Joannie Rochette again received some generous scores in the components given her performance while other skaters were grossly under-marked in components.

You can see full results here (including the judges protocol...I encourage you take a look).

So we have a list of those skaters making the Grand Prix Final. They are:

Pairs
Shen and Zhao (China)
Pang and Tong (China)
Mukhortova and Trankov (Russia)
Savchenko and Szolkowy (Germany)
Kavaguti and Smirnov (Russia)
Zhang and Zhang (China)

Ladies
Kim Yu-Na (Korea)
Miki Ando (Japan)
Joannie Rochette (Canada)
Alena Leonova (Russia)
Ashley Wagner (USA)
Akiko Suzuki (Japan)

Dance
Virtue and Moir (Canada)
Davis and White (USA)
Belbin and Agosto (USA)
Pechalat and Bourzat (France)
Cappellini and Lanotte (Italy)
Kerr and Kerr (Great Britain)

Men
Nobunari Oda (Japan)
Evan Lysacek (USA)
Brian Joubert (France)
Jeremy Abbott (USA)
Johnny Weir (USA)
Daisuke Takahashi (Japan)

HomeSense Skate Canada Free SkateFlash

Ozerova and Enbert (Russia) - Rough. Messy sbs triples. Fall on the throw triple flip. Missed a lift at the end of the program...just ran out of steam.

Moore-Towers and Moscovitch (Canada) - Amazzing attack and energy. Nothing was easy but it was terribly exciting. Held on to everything and brought crowd to their feet.

Yankowskas and Coughlin (USA) - Great start but came undone a little bit half-way through. The Colorado skaters are dealing with tough news of a friends death so a little uneasiness is understandable.

Denney and Barrett (USA) - In Caydee and Jeremy fashion put down an amazing free skate that was near perfect.

Langlois and Hay (Canada) - Anabelle was a fighter although there were some two foots and hand downs...still a good performance. Grand Canyon Suite is pretty piece of music.

Dube and Davison (Canada) - Uneasy from the start. Lots of little mistakes and balance checks. Botched berth at Grand Prix Final.

Mukhortova and Trankov (Russia) - Super solid, similar to Paris. Lost a boot strap and had to stop and fix but picked back up and skated great. I love Cinema Paradiso...even if it's folded in with Love Story.

Savchenko and Szolkowy (Germany) - New Out of Africa program is beyond beautiful. New record score after a stunning free skate. Just beautiful...this is easily the program to beat this season.

Jeremy Ten (Canada) - Missed opening axel but then rallied. Mid program began falling on jumps again. Kind of up and down performance. Some lovely moments here...Queen Symphony a great music selection.

Kevin Van der Perren (Belgium) - Looks like he hates skating. After an awesome 3-3-3 program came undone. Slow, no energy, cursing in the Kiss and Cry...not good. Needs to find a way to love skating again.

Stephen Carriere (USA) - Much better. Stepped out of opening triple axel but landed second and was fine from that point on. Needs a little more connection to the music but improved from Beijing.

Joey Russell (Canada) - Lot's of energy. Some jump issues including a jumping pass he never even took off from but good spunk. One for the future.

Armin Mahbanoozadeh (USA) - Fell on opening axel but then rocked out the rest. He's an amazing skater and looked outstanding here. Went behind Carriere...kind of confused about that.

Samuel Contesti (Italy) - So much fun to watch but had a few jump errors. Still, he's a joy to watch.

Patrick Chan (Canada) - Started off beautifully but then came undone. Fell on second triple axel, lutz, and a third jump (salchow?), also doubled a loop. Ended up behind Contesti. Eeeek!

Michal Brezina (Czech Republic) - Opened with a huge triple axel that was hard for him to hang on to. A few little jump issues kept the program from sizzling like it did in Nagano but not terrible.

Alban Preaubert (France) - Put on a jump clinic and delighted the crowd in the process. Only guy on the night to skate 100% clean.

Denis Ten (Kazakstan) - Lacked the excitement of the short and had too many jump issues. Lost his placement...what a shame.

Daisuke Takahashi (Japan) - Solid. Seemed to be better conditioned here than in Nagano. Great choreography...will be tough to beat.

Jeremy Abbott (USA) - Opened up with huge quad! Hung on to triple axel (little turned out) but went on to hit just about everything else, gorgeous skating...and the WIN!

Jenna McCorkell (Great Britain) - Messy triples including a fall on the lutz. Lacked spark. She and her husband (Kevin Van der Perren) didn't have great skates today.

Akiko Suzuki (Japan) - Some jump problems but had good attack. Shame she didn't repeat what she accomplished in Beijing. Will have to wait and see if it's enough.

Caroline Zhang (USA) - Slllllooooooowwwwww. Fell on both triple flips and lacked expression. Shame...she looked dejected.

Amelie Lacoste (Canada) - Lacked content. Coupled with some jump mistakes kept her from really being a player here. Surprised she was even in the final group.

Cynthia Phaneuf (Canada) - Ouch...literally, 4 falls. Tears of sadness in the kiss and cry...heartbreaking.

Laura Lepisto (Finland) - Clever choreography but lots of jump errors. So far an underwhelming evening.

Mirai Nagasu (USA) - Looked like she was determined to rotate those jumps...almost to the detrement of her choreography. Improved from Beijing but still needs some more attention to expression and overall flow.

Alissa Czisny (USA) - Started off great. Fell on her second lutz and second loop but impressed with her spiral sequence and final spin. Despite the mistakes was still a lovely program.

Joannie Rochette (Canada) - Lots of little jump errors...program never really took off. Still easily won, although she wasn't close to matching her performance from the short. Win bought her a ticket to Tokyo for Grand Prix Final.

FD is tomorrow and will post comments then.

UPDATE:

Hubbell and Hubbell (USA) - They seem very free on the ice with this program. You get the idea they like it. Couple places where Keiffer had to struggle a bit for balance and he had issues with one of his twizzles but fun to watch.

Bobrova and Soloviev (Russia) - Beautiful flow and great music choice with Adagio by Il Divo.

Samuelson and Bates (USA) - Solid but a little slow...lacked that instant pop they usually have especially on their extensions. Showed up in the score when they went behind (BEHIND I say) the Russians.

Weaver and Poje (Canada) - Gorgeous! Besides a slight unison issue on their twizzles

Pechalat and Bourzat (France) - Good dance. They do themes well (Time this time...no pun intended). Lost some energy at the end. Speaking of the end...it takes to long. It's one of those programs that refuses to end.

Virtue and Moir (Canada) - Masterful. While I'm not a huge fan of this music (for me it's all kind of one level) for a free dance they manage to weave a gorgeous picture out of it. The lifts in this program, I think, are the finest in the world. They set the new high score this season with a big ole 204.38. Sheesh!

HomeSense Skate Canada Short Program Flash

Moore-Towers and Moscovitch (Canada) - This is the first time I had ever seen them. Pleasant team. Lots of excitement...good energy in the Kiss and Cry, seemed excited about their performance.

Yankowskas and Coughlin (USA) - Pretty amazing! Nice SBS Triple Toes, outstanding lifts, and Caitlin knows how to sell a program. Within striking distance of the teams ahead of them.

Ozerova and Enbert (Russia) - Missed throw and SBS jumps. Alexander is really tall...reminded me of Anton Sikharulidze sans solid skating.

Denney and Barrett (USA) - Small step-out on SBS triple from Jeremy but otherwise great. Speed was amazing and throw was gigantic...also in the medal hunt for third.

Langlois and Hay (Canada) - Looked kind of rusty but Anabelle was hanging on to everything and in the end they got the job done. Nice to see them back in action.

Dube and Davison (Canada) - Clunky performance. Jessica singled the SBS salchow and their footwork looked labored. Their skating skills held them to 3rd however.

Mukhortova and Trankov (Russia) - Maria was scratchy on the throw salchow but everything else was fine. Amazing speed. Easily ahead of Dube and Davison.

Savchenko and Szolkowy (Germany) - Pretty amazing performance...solid as a rock. However the general consensus is the clown make-up must go. 74.16, really close to Shen and Zhao and Zhang and Zhang's record SP score (both teams share the record, 74.36).

Amelie Lacoste (Canada) - Ho hum performance. Showed nice triple loop double loop combo. Decent speed. Good enough for top six finish in short, surprising.

Cynthia Phaneuf (Canada) - Looked stronger here than in Nagano. Like Lacoste, ended up in the top six after short despite problem on landing of lutz.

Mirai Nagasu (USA) - Looked sharp. Rotated everything. Score seemed conservative though...some head scratching. Tweeps weren't happy about this. Love the circular footwork.

Joshi Helgesson (Sweden) - Poor skate, poor scores, sad face. Last place.

Jenna McCorkell (Great Britain) - Good attack. Amazing triple flip, textbook. Really surprised she was scored low as well, thought she deserved a better placement.

Sarah Hecken (Germany) - Came out with twice the speed she had in Germany. Attempted triple toe triple tow combo...almost. Seemed happy with her skate.

Alissa Czisny (USA) - Wow! Really good. Judges perked up and took notice. Spins and spirals, as always, were unmatched and the jumps were on point!

Akiko Suzuki (Japan) - Stepped out of her flip but otherwise looked fine but, like Nagasu, got really low scores and ended up behind everyone...confusing.

Caroline Zhang (USA) - Thinking is she got downgraded but couldn't tell. Hit Triple Flip Triple Toe and went on to hit everything else, gave the program some zest but got poor scores. Confusing..need the pdf!

Laura Lepisto (Finland) - Botched her combination but pulled it together from that point. Good choreography kept her in top four.

Joannie Rochette (Canada) - Impressive. Came out with attack and speed. Hit everything well. Score of 70.00 seemed a bit generous without a triple triple but Kim Yu-Na is looking more and more catchable each day. Easily took the short program.

*I was very impressed with the American women here...there is a glimmer of hope for Vancouver!

*Couple notes on the CD. Virtue and Moir killed it and are leaps ahead of the pack. Poje and Weaver have snuck in ahead of Samuelson and Bates for third currently. Pechalat and Bourzat comfortably in second.

Joey Russell (Canada) - Showed good attack! Pulled a triple flip triple loop out of nowhere. Struggles on the triple axel.

Jeremy Ten (Canada) - Ouch! Missed every jump element. Cool program though...can't go wrong with the Beatles.

Armin Mahbanoozadeh (USA) - Had a silly little slip off the top but went on to hit all his jumps including a gorgeous triple axel!

Denis Ten (Kazakstan) - Brilliant. Hit all of his jumps and then sold it! Footwork was crazy ridiculous and full of life. Crowd erupted. Big score!

Stephen Carriere (USA) - Rushed through the whole program. Quick fall then rebounce on triple axel. Needs to find a way to let this program breathe. I think the slower more dramatic version of Carmina Burana would be helpful...just my opinion. Think Todd Eldredge 01-02 SP Carmina Burana...

Samuel Contesti (Italy) - Fun but botched his loop. Needs a bit more difficulty in his footwork. Unable to move ahead of Denis.

Daisuke Takahasi (Japan) - Came out swinging. After somehow cranking out a triple flip triple toe he electrified the house with stunning footwork. Pretty awesome.

Jeremy Abbott (USA) - Another awesome performance! This short program is fantastic and showcases every good quality in his skating. Takes the lead from Takahashi.

Michal Brezina (Czech Republic) - Huge triple axel that he has to work at landing then it was smooth sailing. While his skating was solid, needs more expression in his face.

Alban Preaubert (France) - Lots of fun and gorgeous triple axel. He upstaged Contesti here and was the master showman...decent score has him in the thick of it.

Patrick Chan (Canada) - Didn't go as planned. Fall on the axel and then only a triple flip double toe. Then he had a scratchy sit spin to boot! Came back with great footwork though. Oddly, despite all the problems had the highest PCS...hmmmmmm? Tweeps weren't happy about this.

Kevin Van der Perren (Belgium) - Singled his axel and the program lost all life at that point. He was slow and huffing and puffing at the end. He looks desperately frustrated with his skating right now...fix that.

OD isn't until tomorrow so I'll update post then.

UPDATE:

Hubbell and Hubbell (USA) - They were crusing through until Keiffer totally missed his twizzle. Oh well, the program is cute...Madison Hubbell just sparkles.

Bobrova and Soloviev (Russia) - Another fun program until Ekaterina fell on a twizzle. Finished strong though.

Samuelson and Bates (USA) - Lots of energy. This Dixie Chicks medley works for them! Nice to see an American team go after American Folk Music.

Weaver and Poje (Canada) - Great attack. Went after their program which was a gorgeous Paso/Flamenco Blend.

Pechalat and Bourzat (France) - Good flow and well done. Not as good as Samuelson and Bates' Country OD.

Virtue and Moir (Canada) - Little unsteady a couple of places then actually slipped coming around a corner. Somehow Scott held on to her and they didn't go down. Then Scott messed up a twizzle a little. Weird. Program still has great character!

HomeSense Skate Canada Final Grand Prix Pit Stop

Tomorrow, the Grand Prix Series wraps up in Kitchener, Ontario with HomeSense Skate Canada. This competition will also finalize the line-up for December's Grand Prix Final in Tokyo, Japan.

The Ice Dance competition features reigning World Bronze Medalists Virtue and Moir of Canada. Like every single dance event this season, the favorites (Virtue and Moir) will go virtually unchallenged. We are robbed of a fun battle for silver which would have been a deciding factor in who makes the Grand Prix Final as Faiella and Scali have withdrawn citing injury, so Pechalat and Bourzat of France have a clear road towards silver, and presumably, a clear path to the Grand Prix Final. The bronze medal will be scrapped out between American's Samuelson and Bates and Russians Bobrova and Soloviev. Lithuanians Copley and Stagniunas have also withdrawn. Medal Predictions: (GOLD) Virtue and Moir, (SILVER) Pechalat and Bourzat, (BRONZE) Samuelson and Bates


The men's event, is packed, and gives reigning World Silver Medalist Patrick Chan a chance to finally get his season underway after withdrawing from Rostelecom Cup with a left calf injury. It will be interesting to see if the limited training time effects the Canadian Champ at the event. Looking to rebound from sub-par performances at NHK Trophy are Japan's Daisuke Takahashi and American Jeremy Abbott. Jeremy will need to find consistency and Daisuke will need greater endurance. Endurance will also be a factor for Belgium's Kevin Van der Perren who looked downright winded at the end of his free skate in Russia. Samuel Contesti surprised me by skating fairly well in Beijing, perhaps his Incan-inspired Free Skate will serve him well here. The wild card in the event is Michal Brezina who delighted at NHK in the wake of Takahashi and Abbott's struggles. A solid performance here can put the Czech on the podium and get him to his first Grand Prix Final. Other medal chasers are Kazakstan's Denis Ten, France's Alban Preaubert, and American Stephen Carriere. Medal Predictions: (GOLD) Patrick Chan, (SILVER) Daisuke Takahashi, (BRONZE) Jeremy Abbott

The Pairs event is a repeat of Eric Bompard Trophy with all three medalist from that event competing in Kitchener. Russian's Mukhortova and Trankov will try to repeat their solid performance from Paris that brought them the Gold Medal. Canadian's Dube and Davison will look to improve upon their silver performance from Paris while the reigning World Champions from Germany will look to skate much better. In Paris, Savchenko and Szolkowy had a meltdown in the free skate, only placing fourth in that portion of the competition and almost losing the bronze to American's Inoue and Baldwin. Speaking of American's, Denney and Barrett will get another shot at a medal after a disappointing free skate in Nagano. Canadian's Hay and Langlois also make their Grand Prix debut here in Kitchener. I'm keeping an eye on American's Yankowskas and Coughlin...their dynamic lifts and ability to pull you in their performance might be the recipe for a surprise upset. Medal Predictions: (GOLD) Savchenko and Szolkowy, (SILVER) Mukhortova and Trankov, (BRONZE) Dube and Davison

Two big stories are playing out amongst the women. One, can Joannie Rochette rebound from a rocky performance in Beijing and shine through at home and two, can Akiko Suzuki seize this opportunity to cement as the leading Japanese women currently competing (and, perhaps, nail down a trip to Vancouver). It will be terribly interesting to see how these two skate. This competition is far from predictable and really wide open. American Mirai Nagasu, who won the short program in Beijing, defeating Suzuki and Rochette, is here. For her, the key will be fully rotating her jumps. In Beijing she was charged with multiple downgrades in her free skate. If she can get those jumps around she'll be in the mix for gold. Two other American's are competing in Kitchener. Caroline Zhang will need to improve the expression in her program and Alissa Czisny will need to land jumps. Solid performances from them also put them in the mix. European Champ Laura Lepisto of Finland will need to land the tougher jumps in her program to be in contention, a feat she failed to do in Nagano. Sarah Meier has withdrawn citing injury. Lots of must do's for the women at HomeSense Skate Canada. Medal Predictions: (GOLD) Joannie Rochette, (SILVER) Akiko Suzuki, (BRONZE) Laura Lepisto

Chance of a Lifetime!

Blogging and Tweeting are two of my favorite things to do! And two of my social media compatriots have been given the chance of a lifetime...so naturally I'm going to shamelessly promote them!

Blogger Christie (owner of the blog: Lake Placid Skater), and Twitter user Sarah (@segsk8 and owner of the blog: blogher) are currently vying for the chance to blog for the U.S. at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Basically, that's awesome!

Here's the part I love the best. You can vote for BOTH of them! There are actually two teams...a Student's Team (Christie)and a Women's Team(Sarah)with the three highest vote getter's on each team going before the judges and if selected, winning a trip to Vancouver.

The judges are kind of amazing too! Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld who co-founded www.collegehumor.com and the awesome Bonnie Blair, Five-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Speed Skater!

I said...where's the Men's Team? *Sighs*

This awesome competition is being brought to you by the cool people at Microsoft® Office and you can vote now...just click here.

Also, if you are on Twitter...get out this message (Vote for @segsk8 and LP Skater to go to Vancouver! http://ow.ly/DpKa). Let's get these guys to Vancouver!!!

UPDATE: Looks like Christie has some more press...she's featured at the U.S. Figure Skating Website! Check it out here!

Pic of the Week

It's been an odd season to this point with lots of twists and unexpected turns.

We were absolutely robbed of a great match-up in Moscow when Patrick Chan was forced to withdraw from Rostelecom Cup with injury. I threw a private little hissy when it became evident that Plushenko wouldn't really be pushed there and his confidence (read: over-sized ego) would simply expand.

But better late than never, Patrick Chan makes his Grand Prix debut this weekend at HomeSense Skate Canada in Kitchner, Ontario.

Despite his injury, I still see him as the favorite here. Also, the key to the Grand Prix Final, lies in his hands for several competitors. While Chan cannot make the final, he can certainly play a part in the decision making process on who does.

Phantom of the Opera has been a popular choice this season and it's Patrick's choice for his free this season. Let's see if he can infuse HomeSense Skate Canada with a little magic, fantasy, and intrigue!

Number Crunch!

One of the most exciting aspects of the final event in the Grand Prix series is the race to the Grand Prix Final. At this point many have already sewn up births while others are desprately trying to get in. Here's the breakdown:

The Men
Three men have already qualified for the Grand Prix Final: Nobunari Oda, Evan Lysacek, and Brian Joubert. Johnny Weir looks very solid to make the final. The only way he doesn't make it is if the stars misalign and the crazy off chance he would loose a two (or three)way tie breaker...it ain't gonna happen so I say he's as good as in. Weir was totally helped by three things: Plushenko only did one event, Chan is only doing one event, and the Japanese meltdown at NHK. So basically two spots are up for grabs and five guys have a shot yet...it's unlikely that Kozuka or Verner could hang on to those spots. For Kevin Van der Perren and Jeremy Abbott, a win and a win only will get them to the final. Daisuke Takahashi and Samuel Contesti can qualify with a win...they can qualify with silve rmedals too, bronze medals only work if certain skaters are ahead of you (i.e. skaters that can't make the final!). Finally, Michal Brezina has the easiest route...a medal of any color will guarauntee him a spot, anything less and he needs help from other skaters. While Patrick Chan cannot make the final, his placement will be a huge determining factor on who does and does not make it.

The Pairs
Like the men, three teams have qualified for the final: Shen and Zhao, Pang and Tong, and Kavaguti and Smirnov. The remaining three spots are up for grabs. Currently Zhang and Zhang sit on the bubble with Volosozhar and Morozov and McLaughlin and Brubaker rounding out the top six. Hard to see the bottom two teams staying there. Four teams competing at Skate Canada have an opportunity to make the final. Denney and Barrett could make it with a win. A silver would only work if all the top teams competing in the event finished behind them. Savchenko and Szolkowy can clinch a spot in the final with a gold, a silver medal puts them into a tie breaking situation and they have to hope that their combined scores hold up. If they only get a bronze, everyone eligible for the Grand Prix Final would have to finish behind them in order for them to qualify. Third team with a shot is Dube and Davison who would qualify with a gold or silver. Bronze puts them into that tie breaker (no team wants to be there). Fourth means they need help from the other teams. The team with the easiest path is Mukhortova and Trankov. Any medal gets them to the final and even fourth place gives them a shot if they win a tiebreaker.

Isn't this fun...I love crunching these numbers!

The Ladies
Three women have locked spots in Tokyo: Kim Yu-Na, Miki Ando, and Alena Leonova. Unlike the other disciplines I've looked at so far, the skaters currently sitting 4th and 5th in the standings are as much in this as those competing. Both Ashley Wagner and Rachael Flatt will keep a close eye on Skate Canada even though they aren't competing. Would take a miracle for Mao Asada to qualify, she's currently 6th in the standings. Six women competing at Skate Canada have a chance to make the final. Laura Lepisto and Mirai Nagasu would need a gold medal coupled with some disastrous performances from some of the skaters with more points than them. While they mathematically have a chance, seems unlikely they'd get that much help. Alissa Czisny and Caroline Zhang are in a similar situation. Realistically they need gold medals and then need Suzuki to struggle. Silvers put them in that dreaded tie breaker and even then don't guarantee them a spot even if they win the tiebreaker depending on how others skate. Bronze medals just will not cut it. Joannie Rochette has more wiggle room than she probably anticipated after Cup of China. Gold gets it done. Silver gets it done unless Czisny or Zhang win, then she would need a little help from Suzuki and win a tie breaker (this all seems a bit unlikely as well). Another bronze medal would be scary and put her right on the bubble, she'd need for certain skaters to be behind her and she'd qualify 6th. If I was Joannie Rochette, I'd avoid 3rd place. It's simple for Akiko Suzuki...finish in the top four. Her win in China trumps the tie breaker in that case. Even in 5th she could squeak through but then it isn't guaraunteed.

Ice Dance
In Ice Dance three teams have locked spots for the Grand Prix Final: Davis and White, Belbin and Agosto, and Cappellini and Lanotte. For Kerr and Kerr, it's like Johnny Weir, crazy crazy things would need to happen for them not to qualify so I say they are in too. That leaves only two spots available (all of this made less complicated with the withdrawal of Faiella and Scali). I have a hard time envisioning a scenario where either Khoklova and Novitski (who botched their chances with a 4th place finish in Lake Placid) and Crone and Poirier qualify or the remaining two spots don't go to Virtue and Moir (who currently have 15 points) and Pechalat and Bourzat (who have 13). The only other teams even with a mathematical shot are Bobrova and Soloviev and Samuelson and Bates who would basically have to win (which would be crazy!) in order to make it. If they even managed to get a silver (slim possibility for Samuelson and Bates) then it would take one of those celestial alignments for it to work out. Basically, what I'm saying here is, this one is in the bag with Virtue and Moir and Pechalat and Bourzat getting in.

So who do you think will make the final when the dust settles? Also, the Junior Grand Prix will take place at the same time and the list of competitors for that event has been chosen already.

Papa...You Don't Steal Cars!

Oh my! I know your free skate didn't go as planned...but you don't steal cars!

So Andrei Lutai, apparently Sunday night decided to take a Chevy Impala that had the keys in it for a spin.

Trouble is, the car wasn't his...and he was drunk.

Chris Knight of The Adirondack Daily Enterprise Reports, "Lutai allegedly stole a 2008 Chevrolet Impala from the parking lot of Central Garage on Main Street around 10:45 p.m. Sunday. Lake Placid Police Sgt. Carol Hayes said employees of the business witnessed the theft and immediately called police. One employee got into a vehicle and followed Lutai. Within five minutes, police spotted the Impala and pulled Lutai over. He was found to be intoxicated and arrested, Hayes said."

Now Andrei is sitting in jail in Lake Placid on $100,000 bond.

More to come as this story develops...

UPDATE: Andrei now has representation. His lawyer Brian Barrett said he has "serious doubts" about the impaired-driving and theft charges. More to come.

Johnny Weir on Last Call with Carson Daly

Several people have asked me to post Johnny Weir's appearance on Last Call with Carson Daly...finally figured out how to do it. Enjoy!

Evan on Today

In cased you missed it, here is Evan from Today this morning.

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Cancer.Net Skate America Head Scratchers

This weekend I did lots of head scratching. I mean, I couldn't believe some of what I was seeing.

First, Ice Dance. The shake up that was the free dance. I thought coming in this was a no-brainer with Tanith and Ben winning, Khoklova and Novitski placing second, and the Italian's Cappellini and Lanotte placing third. Well things went crazy in the Original Dance with the Russians placing 5th in that portion of the free skate (they did manage to stay in 2nd overall however). Then things got even more tricky in the Free Dance with Zaretski and Zaretski charging forward to place second in the free dance allowing the Italians who were third in the free to slip in for the silver (and surprisingly locking them a spot for the Grand Prix Final) and the Russians dropped to third...excuse me...fourth overall (and enter the Grand Prix Final bubble zone as a result...more on this in another post later this week). Oy vey (thus the head scratching)! Completely above the fray, however, were Belbin and Agosto who breezed their way to victory.

The men here, I mean really? Conventional wisdom on how I perceive the way these competitions will play out I think must be thrown out the window. First the mess that was Verner in the short program. He came back a wee bit in the free but still who could think that would happen (somewhere Johnny Weir is jumping up and down happily having been saved for the Grand Prix Final)? And then Amodio and Mroz basically botching a golden opportunity to medal here and getting sub-planted by Shawn Sawyer and Ryan Bradley? Can I get another Oy vey! I watched the men's competition the whole time with my mouth open in disbelief. Again, much like ice dance, Evan Lysacek skated to an easy victory waltzing over the competition making only a small mistake on his triple salchow.

More head scratching in pairs where, I had predicted quite the competition, but got the "Little Engine that Barely Could" instead. The American teams were frustratingly underwhelming. Zhang and Zhang pulled in (barely) for the bronze with a program that was peppered with uneasy moments and devoid of any emotion whatsoever. The funny thing is that effort was actually second best in the free. Volosozhar and Morozov, equally uninteresting, managed the silver. And Shen and Zhao, who I was ready to anoint as the clear favorites for Olympic Gold, spit and sputtered their way to Gold with a program containing mistakes. All of a sudden I'm looking at Pang and Tong and thinking...maybe, just maybe...

And then the women, who shocked me most of all, with the big shocker being Kim Yu-Na is in fact human (who knew?) and can possibly (that's possible with a question mark behind it!) be challenged this season. I don't know that I've ever seen her have a performance so bad...I was speechless. Many have been going crazy to know how many points Rachael Flatt left on the table with the spins in her free skate and the fall in her short program. Well...13.07 was the difference between Flatt and Kim. At Cup of China Rachael received a combined total of 7 points for those spins at the end. In the free skate at 2008 Rostelecom Cup of Russia she earned 9.10 points for a triple flip triple toe combo...2.60 more points than she received in the short here. Add it up and she's still 3.47 points short (but that's well within the wiggle room of a GOE here and level there!). Even still, the fact that Rachael even beat Kim Yu-Na in the free skate is a major (MAJOR) accomplishment in itself. She may be the only skater who'll get to say "I beat Kim Yu-Na (kind of...) this season!" It's like global news when she makes even one mistake and to make three huge mistakes on the three toughest elements in her free...unusual. Still, she handled the failure with class and I suspect she'll bounce back quickly. 'Queen' Yu-Na will get the chance to re-substantiate her throne in Tokyo in December at the Grand Prix Final having clinched a spot in Lake Placid.

Full results are here. Later this week I'll crunch the numbers on the Grand Prix Final...Skate Canada will be exciting to say the least!

Cancer.net Skate America Free Skate Flash

Kemp and King (Great Britain) - This felt like a really complete program, charming young team. Needs a technical upgrade.

Castile and Okolski (USA) - This such a lovely program. It's a shame every jumping element was flawed keeping the program from shining. I really hope this team can get it together and more importantly I hope they continue skating after this season because they have all the makings of great skaters.

Evora and Ladwig (USA) - Really nice. Despite the side-by-side issues (she two footed her toe-loop and fell on double axel). They are trying different triples in the short vs. free. I say pick one and train the hell out of it! Throw lutz was a beauty!

Zhang and Zhang (China) - Can't even believe they are in the first group! It just lacked life of any kind. What little life it did have came from Hao, Dan just seems to be going through the motions. What's going on with them? The stamina? The camel spins? The iffy lifts? Weird.

McLaughlin and Brubaker (USA) - Well...they stood up on their salchows which was nice. Still, the program lacks any semblance of India. Slumdog Millionaire is an amazing piece of music and a brilliant choice but they are using the wrong music selections from the Soundtrack. Instrumentals to O Saya and Jai Ho would give this program so much more energy. Still...STILL needs more Mumbai.

Duhamel and Buntin (Canada) - Oh my. That was a spectacular fall on Megan's part. That throw jump was huge and she was already on a tweeked ankle. Unfortunate that they had to withdraw but health is most important.

Volosozhar and Morozov (Ukraine) - I always feel like Stanislav is huffing and puffing to keep up with Tatiana. Ho hum but I suppose it was the best so far.

Shen and Zhao (China) - Certainly not the dominating performance they had in China. Struggles on the axels and throw loop. Still, clearly the best. That they were only a point or so off their score from Beijing is suspect?

Tomas Verner (Czech Republic) - After the fall on the quad it was decent. Kind of slow and lacked energy but apparently had the flu. He should move up with that but I think the podium is well out of reach.

Kevin Reynolds (Canada) - Kind of put on a jumping clinic including a gorgeous quad salchow. Needs more artistic work though but improvement nonetheless.

Jialiang Wu (China) - I feel like i've seen every men's competitor from China skate this exact same program. Really slow at the end. Needs a better choreographer.

Ryan Bradley (USA) - The first half he found the lightness in his feet that was missing in Paris along with the jumps, it was amazing. Then the second half it was back to the slow heaviness. He's figured out the first half now he just needs to get the second half!

Yasuharu Nanri (Japan) - Slow and labored performance. Again, nothing special.

Andrei Lutai (Russia) - Meh.

Shawn Sawyer (Canada) - I want him so badly to fix those little technical glitches in his skating. If he could do that, wow!

Adrian Schultheiss (Sweden) - Kind of careful. Love the little part with Pac-Man.

Brandon Mroz (USA) - Really came undone. Past Lysacek and Weir, U.S. mens skating is not looking so hot right now. Double jumps wont get it done.

Florent Amodio (France) - Kind of let the excitement of being in second go to his head and had lots of little jump mistakes. He's quite a character on the ice and has the ability to be great. Wow...Sawyer and Bradley are medaling!

Evan Lysacek (USA) - Solid. He looks so ready for this season. I think he's right on track to be a serious contender in Vancouver.

*Before the final group of ladies begin me and my friend Debbie are trying to guess how much Kim Yu-Na will win by!

Emily Hughes (USA) - I thought she looked great! Some work yet to do but that opening lutz combo and the triple flip combo was great. Awesome speed and gorgeous choreography. Gone with the Wind is totally one of my faves!

Elene Gedevanishvili (Georgia) - Kind of heavy...but then again Carmen is kind of heavy. She did all the easy jumps but not the hard ones.

Elena Glebova (Estonia) - Same as Gedevanishvili. Lots of easy jumps, lacked lightness.

Fumie Suguri (Japan) - Not good enough. I think she put the nail in the coffin on her Olympic chances here. On the upside is her choreography was much better here vs Beijing.

Julia Sebestyen (Hungary) - She improved from Moscow but still not stunning by any means. She needs to get her head around landing those tough triple jumps in the back half of the program...or do them all in the top and back load with easier triples later in the program.

Rachael Flatt (USA) - She looked great! Her programs are growing on me. Every competition she looks stronger and when she hits all those difficult jumps it just makes the program sing more.

Kim Yu-Na (S. Korea) - OMG! All of a sudden the Asada's, Rochette's, Ando's, and even Flatt's are thinking...I have a shot! Kind of disastrous, missing the back half of the lutz combo, the flip, and the second lutz. She'll still win but she gave something for the rest of the world to chew on.

Chock and Zuerlein (USA) - Twizzles were a dream! Solid solid solid.

Navarro and Bommentre (USA) - Have I mentioned how much I love this program. It looked even better here than it did in Paris. That "Thank You" at the end was cute.

Zaretski and Zaretski (Israel) - I thought they turned it up a notch here. The looked comfortable and well paced. Schindler's List is a gorgeous piece of music. Nice work!

Cappellini and Lanotte (Italy) - Powerful. This is a piece of music I hate but I love it for them (weird I know). I love their lifts. However, they were behind the Israeli team in the Free Dance. The silver they won in fact locked them for Grand Prix Final.

Khoklova and Novitski (Russia) - For me it's just rough around the edges. I don't know ever what to think about them. They must have done something wrong...slipped behind Italian's and Israli's.

Belbin and Agosto (USA) - Amazing intensity and tension in the back half of the program. For me...still...I'm not as big a fan of this free as much as I am Davis and White's. However, I still feel Tanith and Ben were brilliant here (save the unison issues on the twizzles at the top). They are still trailing Davis and White and Virtue and Moir on the final score.

Cancer.net Skate America Short Program Flash

*Apparently U.S. Figure Skating didn't get the Friday/Saturday memo and thus the shorts and frees have been spread over three days instead of two...I'll update as I watch.

*A quick note on the CD, Tanith and Ben ripped it! That's how you do Ice Dancing!

Ryan Bradley (USA) - I don't know...kind of a hot mess (again!). He just throws himself into those jumps with reckless abandon and hopes and prays he lands...unfortunately he didn't pray hard enough.

Shawn Sawyer (Canada) - I just get tingly when he's on the ice. Even with the mistakes a decent score, and nice to see him commit to both rotating the jumps and landing them on one foot.

Florent Amodio (France) - This is why I have been raving about this kid all season long. He finally proved me right! Awesome...needs a tougher combo in the short though.

Adrian Schultheiss (Sweden) - This program kind of freaks me out. I like my Schultheiss with hard edged techno, not pretty Christmas.

Kevin Reynolds (Canada) - He lost the Bump It in his hair...lost his jumps too.

Brandon Mroz (USA) - Meh. This music doesn't work for him. Don't take it from me...Sandra Bezic said the same thing.

Evan Lysacek (USA) - I love this SP! The part where, right on the music, he extends his arms and throws his head back directly in front of the judges gets my blood pumping. Needs to get that axel around though, that was a clear cheat. Leaps ahead of the pack though, nice job. He looks so comfortable this season.

Tomas Verner (Czech Republic) - I thought Ryan Bradley was going to win the hot mess award but then Tomas skated. Oh papa...

Shen and Zhao (China) - Wow. I mean, they are so solid. I'm starting to equate them to Kim Yu-Na...unbeatable? Program ends abruptly though?

Castile and Okolski (USA) - Rusty I think. Their coach is the mean one who just yells at his students in the Kiss and Cry.

Evora and Ladwig (USA) - Pretty, little scary on those salchows with Amanda ending up sitting on Mark's foot.

Kemp and King (Great Britain) - Needs an upgrade.

McLaughlin and Brubaker (USA) - Lovely, but they need to solve the problem with side-by-side jumps, frustrating.

Duhamel and Buntin (Canada) - Nice work, throw lutz was scary though. Can't believe she didn't fall on that. This program had more life than it did in China.

Volosozhar and Morozov (Ukraine) - So boring. Strength on the elements alone have them in second place.

Zhang and Zhang (China) - Meltdown kind of. It must be frustrating to have been working so hard for all these years towards Olympic Gold to be completely waltzed over by your own countrymen in one fell swoop. I think their mistakes are coming from their self-applied pressure from Shen and Zhao.

Emily Hughes (USA) - Nice to see her back out there. Popping that lutz will hurt the score though. Triple flip under rotated too...some work to do yet.

Tugba Karademir (Turkey) - She always pleasant to watch. I wish she would upgrade her technical difficulty so she could really compete with the top ladies. Footwork is great...thank you Kurt Browning.

Alexe Gilles (USA) - She has lovely arms. The mistakes here in the short means she has a clean free? Reverse of Paris? I love that she always smiles.

Elena Glebova (Estonia) - Lovely save that spin whoops. Every time I hear this music I'm transported back to the 2001 Nationals where we all gushed over Michelle Kwan...the lady sitting in front of me goes "She's pretty good." And I looked at her funny. Good times in Boston.

Sarah Hecken (Germany) - Seems kind of green. Not a lot of Juliet in that Romeo and Juliet.

*Enjoying Tara's commentary on Ice Network.

Susanna Poykio (Finland) - Meh. Kind of boring, lacks spark.

*First group was really not up to par!

Joshi Helgesson (Sweden) - Wasn't she just here in Lake Placid at the Junior Grand Prix? She seemed excited about her performance. Seems like Sweden is up and coming with their ladies competitors.

Fumie Suguri (Japan) - She upped her game from Beijing. I think a last ditch effort to impress the Japanese Federation and perhaps get another shot at the Olympics. Needs to polish the program a bit.

Elene Gedevanishvili (Georgia) - Lacked the spark she had in Paris. Not her best...not her worst. Just so so.

Julia Sebestyen (Hungary) - She did it again! One of these days she is going to connect a clean free with these shorts and be a contender again. Is Cancer.Net her comeback competition? Time will tell. Nice job in the short.

Rachael Flatt (USA) - Unfortunate fall on the triple toe. Otherwise a lot better than Beijing. Gave that footwork a lot more zest!

Kim Yu-Na (S. Korea) - She pulls you in with seductive precision and right when you meet her face to face she sly slips her gun out and takes care of business...then walks away with confidence and class. She's a perfect Bong Girl. She's a vision on the ice, I love this short program, awesome.

Chock and Zuerlein (USA) - I love this OD. I'm a sucker for Cuban music. Twizzles looked better than they did in Beijing but the straight line sequence had issues.

Navarro and Bommentre (USA) - Nice work. They totally commit to the music and the feel of the dance. One place they could work on to move up in the standings would be their transitions in and out of elements and difficulty of the lifts.

Cappellini and Lanotte (Italy) - Trying to squeeze out more points. Very smooth.

Khoklova and Novitski (Russia) - More vodka please. Again the outfits...? Twizzle issues. Took a hit in the OD...Italians have a chance!

Belbin and Agosto (USA) - Well done. They are doing a better job of keeping up with Virtue and Moir/Davis and White here. Big lead.

*Intersting these folk OD's are bringing out everyones culture but the American teams have chosen to not take on American folk themes...just an observation.

Hughes is Back!

So, for me the most exciting thing happening at Cancer.net Skate America is the return to international competition of Emily Hughes!

I confess, she's one of my favorites, and since I'm robbed this season of Meissner (and thus far...Cohen) I'm pleased as punch that Emily is in Lake Placid.

As a primer for her upcoming short program, here is an exhibition she skated to Mary J. Blige and Bono's One at Rockefeller Center.

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A terribly upsetting response...

There have been several posts I've done this year that have been what I call heavy hitters...posts that get a lot of traffic. One such post was my Op-Ed: 210.03. This particular post has had A LOT of traffic.

There are a lot of comments about this post where I try to understand, and invite my readers to help me understand, Kim Yu-Na's score from Trophy Eric Bompard. Today I received an anonymous comment on this post that upset me deeply...

Anonymous said...
The "WOW" is precisely why the ISU 6.0 judging system was revised. Because people injected their own "WOW" biases into unfair results for decades which resulted in rankings and medals that the judges themselves couldn't validate or even necessarily logically express after the fact. The current system objectively quantifies required elements. People who criticize the scores do so almost universally from the POV of what they WANT to see in the program, not actually what was in the program. All that stuff is subjective and as a figure skating fan that kind of junk has been going on since the Witt and Ito, it has nothing to do with skating it's all noise and sour grapes.

As for your traffic from Korea and Japan, obviously that speaks that you need to do a better job with your English language links. If more people are linking from across the world in other languages for your posts than from your own continent in your own language then you obviously aren't getting many hits on google in English nor are other blogs bothering to link to you.

Finally I cant believe your nasty bit of racist insinuation that because traffic surges from Japan and Korea those people will automatically "bias" your poll unlike Caucasians or North Americans who I guess are automatically more subjective and fairminded (perhaps less ignorant or more informed on the technical aspects of skating? not sure exactly what your point was). Not only is it incredibly bigoted but it seems ungrateful, most of the responses here from across the pond have been civil and polite. Instead of being grateful that people across the world think enough of you and your blog that they log on to view your thoughts on skating you automatically pull a passive aggressive thing where you automatically dismiss them as "biased" and snark about them jamming into your site as if they're some yellow wave that's going to pollute the integrity of your site. Maybe your should put up a "no asians" banner on your site when you do polls so they know better than to pollute your polls and comments with their obvious bias.

It's the second and third paragraph's that really upset me. Having been to Japan and desperately wanting to plan a trip to China and Korea, I can tell you from the bottom of my heart nothing could be further from the truth. If anyone visiting my blog has ever felt I have dismissed their comments or opinions as bias and nothing more; please let me know so I can apologize personally, but I truly believe I've never done that.

Also, I've never complained about the traffic this blog has, no matter where in the world it comes from. I go out of my way to speak to figure skating on a global level and I LOVE that people from everywhere in the world visits this blog, Asia included!

I'm sorry Anonymous saw my mention of increased traffic from Japan and Korea during a poll about Kim Yu-Na as me complaining about Asians 'jamming' my site...nothing could be further from the truth. When you take any poll you have to note variances. If I take a democrat or republican poll in downtown San Francisco, my results will be skewed...that doesn't mean they're biased...you just have a heavy skew. Same with a poll on a skater; if traffic begins pouring in from their home country at a larger than normal rate (traffic that is welcome!) you have to report that when discussing poll results.

In the end, I'm so sorry if I've offended anyone else...and I'm sorry I've offended this anonymous poster. I love all of you and there will never, NEVER, EVER, be the crude and ugly banners on this blog this poster suggests I put up. That's just not who I am.

Please, PLEASE, feel free to comment.

Cancer.net Skate America begins!

So the Grand Prix makes it's way here to the U.S. for Cancer.Net Skate America. This competition will begin to finalize the Grand Prix Final line-up with next weeks' Skate Canada completing it.

*I'm desperately sad I will not be there. Who invented career's anyway?

Ice Dance, like NHK, is a no brainer with the clear front runners being American's Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. While they likely wont be pushed in Lake Placid, they need to push themselves to get closer to the scores achieved by Virtue and Moir as well as their teammates Davis and White this season. Although they won in Beijing, their scores were below the other afore mentioned teams. Barring some unforeseen cosmic disaster, Khoklova and Novitski should comfortably win the silver and and Cappellini and Lanotte the bronze. Cappellini and Lanotte are in a tight race for the final and their scores here may ultimately be the deciding factor in a tie-breaker. Medal Predictions: (GOLD) Belbin and Agosto, (SILVER) Khoklova and Novitski, (BRONZE) Cappellini and Lanotte

The ladies competition will likely be a fight for silver and bronze. If South Korea's Kim Yu-Na has half the skate she had in Paris, this competition was decided months ago. The judges have sent a clear message, they like what she's doing on the ice, and if she can manage to not hiccup on her triple flip and skate clean, will likely set a new world record. Even if she makes mistakes, the title is likely still easily her. In her wake, several competitors will be attempting to pick up the leftovers including Rachael Flatt of the U.S. Rachael had a rough start to the season in Beijing with one of her roughest skates in years. Making a small comeback (since we are again robbed of Cohen's) is Emily Hughes. This will be her first international competition since last season's Eric Bompard Trophy (which was her only international last season as well) after some time off to nurse a hip injury. It will be interesting to see how she does and if we need to put her back in the mix of those skaters within reach of an Olympic berth. I'm watching Julia Sebestyen who for a second looked to be back on form when she won the short program at Rostelecom Cup but returned to mediocrity in the free, Susanna Pöykiö who is attempting to snatch that second coveted Finnish Olympic berth, and Elene Gedevanishvili who is a little firecracker and can dazzle when she's on. The final skater to keep an eye on is Japan's Fumie Suguri who, like Rachael Flatt, looked rusty in Beijing, but has in the past proven to be a worthy competitor. Medal Predictions: (GOLD) Kim Yu-Na, (SILVER) Rachael Flatt, (BRONZE) Fumie Suguri

The men's competition looks to be a close match up between World Champ Evan Lysacek and Czech Champ Tomas Verner. Both won silver behind Nobunari Oda in their season openers and look poised to square off in Lake Placid. I think Evan has the upper hand, he looked very polished in Beijing with his new programs but Verner has a new sophistication on the ice this season which is refreshing to see. Great match up! If either of these two stumble there is a cast of characters waiting to capitalize including Evan's teammate Brandon Mroz who, after a terrible short program in Moscow, came back strong in the free skate. If he can put two programs together he'll be a medal threat. Also coming off a weak performance in Russia and looking to skate better will be Frenchman Florent Amodio. Also in the mix will be choreography savy Shawn Sawyer and quad consistent Kevin Reynolds both of Canada and the two entertainers; Adrian Schultheiss of Sweden and American Ryan Bradley. Medal Predictions: (GOLD) Evan Lysacek, (SILVER) Tomas Verner, (BRONZE) Brandon Mroz

Finally, the Pairs competition gives Shen and Zhao the opportunity to cement their comeback and name themselves squarely as the Olympic Favorites. It's also another opportunity for Zhang and Zhang, also of China, and Volosozhar and Morozov of Ukraine to compete better against the Chinese veterans. All three teams squared off in Beijing and Shen and Zhao left them in the dust despite having been away from competition since 2007. Added to the mix is U.S. Champs McLaughlin and Brubaker who squeaked out a bronze in Russia and will need to improve here to hit the podium. 2007 U.S. Champs Castile and Okolski make their first appearance on the Grand Prix in years, in the past they've been forced to withdraw from their events due to injury and will look to capitalize on this early season outing. Duhamel and Buntin of Canada will also try to improve upon their Grand Prix debut. Medal Predictions: (GOLD) Shen and Zhao, (SILVER) Zhang and Zhang, (BRONZE) McLaughlin and Brubaker

Pic of the Week

I just keep thinking, "Sasha's blowing all of NBC's promo spots!" NBC is using Sasha all over their t.v. spots for their coverage this season but she keeps not showing up.

Of course, Monday we got the news that Sasha Cohen was withdrawing from Cancer.net Skate America.

I can't say I'm surprised. It sounds terrible but I just kept thinking, "Will she withdraw early enough for us to get a replacement? (luckily the answer is yes...enter Emily Hughes stage left)" Once she withdrew from Eric Bompard...I never expected her to make it to Lake Placid. when I heard she switched coaches and returned to Nicks I had a glimmer of hope but poor alas, the news came Monday.

Health is paramount and I hope Sasha heals and can be at Nationals, but my belief that she can be in a position at Nationals to make the Olympic Team is waning. Even given some of the sub-par performances the U.S. women have put down this season, at least they've put down performances and have somewhere to work from...a benchmark if you will. Sasha will not be afforded that opportunity.

NHK Trophy Afterthoughts

I know it feels like some time has passed since this event ended but I did want to post some thoughts.

First, the underwhelming ladies field. Miki Ando won with an uninspiring performance to Cleopatra (although I felt the character was a bit improved). Also, surprisingly, Miki was the only Japanese competitor to win a medal at the event. For me, the only two bright spots in that event was Ashley Wagner's win of the short program and Alena Leonova's charming free skate (silver medalist), the rest, for me, was a bathroom break.

Second, the Ice Dance competition. I only watched the top three (again, given my hectic week thus far a detailed watch simply wasn't possible) but no surprises here. I will say I don't think that Crone and Poirier have that something special they had last season. And the winners, Davis and White, posting their personal best and again the highest dance total this season. Are they the ones to beat this year? The gap between them and the rest of the field in Japan was...cavernous!

In Pairs, Pang and Tong did it again with a lovely free skate. Kavaguti and Smirnov went for that quad salchow (which they always try with no speed?) and had that nasty fall. I thought they were going to withdraw when they went over to the referee. They said she suffered injury and had three minutes, I suspect she just needed to get her wind back (and perhaps pop a shoulder back in place?). Even still, they were only about six points back. I think this team, if they can get a clean competition together, will be formidable. Inoue and Baldwin nabbed the bronze ahead of Denney and Barrett who made unusual mistakes.

And the men, who by all accounts, were stunning in the short program, all but fizzled in the free skate. Joubert's win was unimpressive...he smartly played it safe because the rest of the field wasn't up to par and a win would more than likely get him to the final. Abbott, who was brilliant in the short, went to pieces in the free...as did Takahashi and Kozuka. The huge bright spot for me was Michal Brezina who put down, for me, the best performance of the night and moved up to capture the bronze. Johnny Weir's silver medal performance was much better than what he did in Russia.

So you check out all the results here.