JGP Japan/Nebelhorn

Oddly, Blogger wouldn't let me update or post over the past several days so my blog went quiet there for a bit. But Blogger has addressed the issue and blogging can commence.

I won't do a full rundown of the medalists from Junior Grand Prix Japan but the winners were:

Men - Andrei Rogozine (CAN), Dance - Stepanova and Bukin (RUS), Women - Risa Shoji (JPN)

The U.S. picked up two silvers with Kiri Baga and Max Aaron hitting the podium in the men and women's division. You can see all the results here.

Nebelhorn Trophy took place at the same time as JGP Japan and gave us a look at the deepest senior field to compete so far this season. Some familiar faces as well as some fresh face comprised the podiums.

In Dance, veterans Pechalat and Bourzat of France took the title after a rough start in the short dance. Italians Cappellini and Lanotte finished second while Russians Rizanova and Tkachenko took the bronze. Americans Maia and Alex Shibutani, while only fifth overall, were ranked second in the free dance so a solid accomplishment for them.

Amongst the men, Japanese upstart Tatsuki Machida took the title (and he did so skating to one of my music faves, Legends of the Fall). Russia's Konstantin Menshov took the silver and Peter Liebers managed the bronze at home in Germany. American Armin Mahbanoozadeh, while only fourth, had the third best rated free skate and finished higher than both Kevin van der Perren (5th) and Michal Brezina (7th), both of whom were heavily favored in this competition.

For the women, Finland's Kiira Korpi skated to an easy victory (as expected). Not expected was the silver snatched up by Sweden's Viktoria Helgesson or the bronze nabbed by American Melissa Bulanhagui. Outside of Korpi, there was great volatility in the standings between the short and free skates with lots of movement in the standings. The point spread between 3rd and 5th was very close with Viktoria sister Joshi placing 4th and Brit Jenna McCorkell finishing 5th.

In Pairs, top honors went to, also as expected, Russians Bazarova and Larionov. Italians Berton and Hotarek placed second as many predicted. Coming third was the brand (brand!) new Canadian team of Duhamel and Radford. Just this past season Megan Duhamel ended her three year partnership with Craig Buntin after failing to make the 2010 Olympic Team. American youngsters Donlan and Speroff finished an impressive fourth.

Nebelhorn results can be seen here. Below are some notable performances from the event courtesy YouTube user pianomaya65: