It's time again for the annual Loop Axel Awards! Last year, there was such a huge response to the Reader's Choice Award I've brought it back again this season.Between now and next Sunday at 10:00 PM CST, send me your vote for who you think the Skater of the Year is. You can e-mail me, tweet me, leave your vote in the comments below this post, tell me on Facebook, however you want to do it! I'll keep tabs and the top 5 will go into a poll on my site where you can vote for who you think is most deserving of the Reader's Choice Award.
It's been a very unusual skating year...who will win?
p.s. I'm also looking for fun suggestions for Award categories...feel free to toss out an idea if you have one!
10 comments:
This pains me, because I don't love his skating and probably never will, but for taking technical and artistic risks, improving throughout the season, finally letting his skating do the talking, and really bringing it when it counted, my vote goes to Patrick Chan. But I still think he was overmarked at Worlds :)
Runners up: Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, for coming back after a hugely disappointing season with two completely different programs from their 2010 efforts, for their undefeated season - unlike D/W, they did it without their main competition being sidelined/recovering from injury - and for generally being awesome. I know you didn't love their Pink Panther but they performed the heck out of that program and it was difficult and fun, something skating really needs.
You didn't ask, but the comeback skater of the year has to be Carolina Kostner, who went from a truly dreadful Olympic season to medalling at every event she competed in.
Other categories you might want to add: best program, breakthrough skater (the Shibs for sure), favorite moment (Sarah Meier in the Euros K&C), best and worst costume.
My vote would go to Florent Amodio for great skating combined with fun and contemporary choreography
Skate of the Year should go to Davis/White. They just seemed to do everything right this year.
Comeback skate of the Year has to be Alissa Czisny. She had a dream year (even if she finished off the World's podium) after many many seasons with "fans" calling for her retirement.
Breakthrough skater of the year: The Shibutani's for sure. WOW.
Men's skater of the year: Patrick Chan
Breathrough man of the year: Richard Dornbush. Who would have expected a junior grand prix skater to be the top US finisher at Worlds? He probably expected to be skating at Junior World's instead! (Which begs the question- is it better to finish top 10 at Worlds, or have a Junior World medal?)
On Dornbush...way better to have the Senior Top 10 finish. We have to groom him for Sochi 2014 so he needs all the experience he can get now. What a debut...still rough around the edges...but what promise!
Skater of the year: I'm torn between Chan, Davis/White and (yes, I'm serious!) Miki Ando. She had a stellar season, transforming her artistry along the way, and ending up with a second World Title. Still, I think my final vote would be Davis/White.
Comeback skater of the year: No question, Alissa Czisny. What a story!
I agree with breakthrough skaters: the Shibutanis.
Since I was the one who brought up the comeback thing... I think if you look at Kostner vs. Czisny, both are well-known headcases who had a rough time in 2010 but were wonderful in 2011. However, I give the edge to Kostner because she has been more consistent throughout the season - medalling at all her events is something no other lady did this year (Yu-Na had one event and thus doesn't count). And considering she was skating injured, that's truly impressive.
I also think Florent Amodio had a real breakthrough this season.I gave the nod to Maia and Alex because they continually improved throughout the season, while Flo had his ups and downs. I'm not sure his momentum will carry to next season, between the coaching uncertainty and the silliness with the music at Worlds, he might be in for a more difficult time.
Amodio, definitely. Most entertaining and different skater on this year's circuit
Chan for skater of the year. Patrick to me is like Plushenko with skating skills. He's such an improvement on Plushy and Joubert in the "manly man who can man up under pressure" category. His Worlds SP and his Canadian Nationals free skate were the skates of the year. That said, Taka is my favorite of those who actually skated at Worlds. Love Dai as well, but his programs seemed like 'one-note sambas' this year.
Team of the year, Meryl and Charlie. They danced that tango brilliantly and the expression improved to an amazing degree over the year. They really pushed themselves. That upside down camel spin is incredible, but my favorite part was the real tango footwork.
Breakthrough team, V & T Russian pair. Most exciting new classic Russian team since Elena & Anton.
"Justification for IJS and In-Absentia Punsalan and Swallow World bronze" team of the year: Shibbis. Who could imagine an American team, a baby team, would not be asked to 'wait their turn' year after year after year?
"Wish I Could See it Again (Thank Goodness for UTube" Award: Tessa & Scott's Hip Hip Chin Chin. That Cuban motion is tough. Tessa looked like an International Latin Blackpool finalist.
Best exhibition: Jeremy's Rhythm of Love, hands down. Probably the best exhibition by an amateur man EVER.
And in that line, best program never skated to its potential (dang those stupid boots): Jeremy's Life is Beautiful.
There should be a best contemprary award this year and the winners should be Crone/Poirier with a Christopher Dean choreography. Elenor Rigby and Alicia Keys version of SD makes them the winners of contemporary section.
The greatest skater of the year should be Davis/White Team. With twists and turns, great footwork and adding some passion into it they made hell of a great program.
There should be greatest costume and worst costume this year. greatest costumes can be Tessa Virtue Worlds FD gold dress,Alissa Czisny's blue dress or Carolina Kostner's FD and the worst costumes can be Kiira Korpi FD, Kanako Murokami FD.
The sexiest skater category last year was great. There can be Charlie White,Andrew Poje, Peny Coomes,Brian Joubert..
And the greatest moments of the year ofcourse.... there is Kaitlyn Weaver's hair opening moment when they started to fast rythm dance, and there Spilband's taking a picture with his teams winning gold, silver and bronze
Best costume to Carolina Kostner's LP outfit? It was not at all flattering, she looked washed out! I vote for Nathalie Pechalat's SD dress and Elena Ilinykh's FD tutu. Yes, it was a bit impractical, but she looked stunning (http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/09Xsg3nb7T1MR/610x.jpg). I also liked Czisny's LP costume and Korpi's SP dress - not original, but very pretty.
Post a Comment