Rachael Flatt - Mirai Nagasu Debacle

It was sad to watch...Rachael Flatt totally tanking in the free skate after a less than great short program. Then we learn after the fact that she had a stress fracture...diagnosed on April 22nd.

The question is...should Rachael Flatt have immediately decided at that moment to quick call Mirai Nagasu and say "I'm under the weather...get thee to Moscow!" A conundrum indeed...

To add to the intrigue, Frank Caroll piped up yesterday and said of his student "Mirai is in great shape - better than she has been her whole life. She took the responsibility of being ready as the alternate very seriously. She was doing triple axels and triple lutz - triple loop in practice. She was ready to go." He continued "This cost us three spots." He even went further when Phil Hersh pressed him on the fact that Nagasu's presence at the competition couldn't necessarily guarantee three U.S. berths next season "She blew those other American girls (Flatt and Czisny) out of the water at Four Continents."

Ballsy!

Tom Zakrajsek contends that Rachael was capable of doing all the elements in both her short and free and that is why they made the decision to come to Moscow. Over the course of two shoddy skates and and a couple press conferences the news slowly came out that she was injured and then eye brows were raised.

From my perspective, Rachael, injured or not, had the right to skate in Moscow. She outskated Mirai in Greensboro and earned her spot fair and square. I personally think she shouldn't have gone to Moscow but there is no rule in place that says she has to withdraw so I guess that's where it is. She could of been the bigger person here and put U.S. Figure Skating ahead of her wants/hopes...sad she didn't.

It brings up the bigger question however, should U.S. Figure Skating have a mechanism in place that automatically forces the withdrawal of a skater from major championships if there is a known injury that could affect performance? Food for thought...

Best of the 2011 Worlds

Just decided to throw up my fave performances from last week.

What were your faves?

Dance Attack in Moscow

I must admit...I didn't see that one coming, especially after the Short Dance where I thought it was written on the wall! It's always nice when Dance results are surprising.

For me, this was the best of all the free skates. The top five in particular I thought were all great. This was helped I think by Pechalat and Bourzat skating first and having that oh-so-untimely fall. They got up and kept going but the rest of the field suddenly had a chance to get after a medal and they all went for it. Even Bobrova and Soloviev, who I don't traditionally like, I thought got after their music with gusto and passion, helped along by the Russian crowd.

But the podium! If you asked me in the 90's if a day would come when North America would sweep a podium, with two American teams on it, one winning the Gold, I would tell you "that's crazy talk!" Well...that day has arrived with Meryl Davis and Charlie White skating lights-out to take the World Ice Dance Title. In the year of the Tango, I've never been the biggest fan of this program. At Nationals even seeing it live, I wasn't crazy about the music but I've always respected the difficulty and precision they give the dance. However, at World's, my perception of this dance totally changed as they went for the dance with everything they had and then some. Charlie, working his but off out there, showing a little chest hair, not gonna lie...kind of sexy. Loved the attack and the passion and LOVED that the U.S. finally has won a World Dance Title...long time in the making.

Let's talk about the Olympic Champs who made their season debut at this competition. I loved their free dance! What a departure for them...I felt like I was watching scenes from "Strictly Ballroom." Ummmm...Scott Moir can shake his little booty! Pretty impressive considering they've been out all season. I hope they keep this dance because if they polish it a bit more it can really sizzle.

And priceless moment of the season, Maia Shibutani's reaction to realizing they hit the podium! Igor just kept saying, "You're going to medal at Worlds," and she had that look of sheer disbelief on her face. Talk about up-and-comers! We've known for a couple years now that team Shibs was something special but to, in your first season as Seniors, medal at Worlds...that's really something.

Can we say, Igor Shpilband, is the MAN! Who coaches an entire Ice Dance Podium!

Ladies Finale in Moscow

First off, that short program was damn unusual. The Russian skaters are skating their butts off this week and wow Alena and Ksenia! Where did that come from...I had written them off long ago and here they were saying yohoo! Alissa getting through a World's SP without major mistake...unusual...lovely...but unusual. On the flip side Rachael doubling a lutz, what? Mao Asada in 7th...huh? About the most unsurprising thing in that short program was Kim Yu-Na winning it even after stepping out of her lutz...hush, I'll leave it alone.

I almost fell asleep through the first 18 skaters, what a snoozefest! About the only performance I really liked out of those first 18 skaters was Mao Asada's. It wasn't perfect but I loved seeing the soft Mao back...good things to come I think for her. And what's up with Rachael? All the singling of jumps, way out of character: "Paging Mirai Nagasu...paging Mirai Nagasu please." Wow. Two-fer for the U.S. again next year.

The final group was interesting if not for the unusual sense of drama that was created by Kim being the slim leader and both Russian ladies in the final group. Miki Ando...she did what she has done all season; she jumps her butt off and figuratively (get it?) says "try to do better..." Well on this night, no one could. And she was crowned World Champion...much to the delight of Japan I'm sure which could really use a Champion right now!

I have to take a moment to talk about Kim Yu-Na's free skate. Seeing it in competition full-out, I wasn't that impressed. It pails in comparison to the magnificent free skates she has had the past three seasons. I don't know if it was that it didn't have enough mileage (that's the risk you run by not competing until World's), that weird middle music where it sounds like someone is moaning (or in fact someone is moaning...), or just that she didn't have the spark she had last season but I found myself half disinterested the whole way through that program. I totally think she deserved the silver cause even on her worst days she's better than most the field but the music and program didn't work for me (loved the choreo to Giselle though!).

As per usual, Carolina finds her way to a bronze medal...I liked that she added the Flip back in...now we just need the Lutz. I also liked that Alissa 2.0 was again present. Remember Alissa 1.0...the one that would fall on a jump and the whole program would go "kaput?" Not Alissa 2.0, after falling on that opening lutz she pulled it together to finish strong. 5th place, not to bad and a big step up from her previous World's appearance. And what about Alena Leonova! I had forgot that she even existed and she shows up in Moscow all bewitched out and hits her programs as if she were channeling Irina Slutskaya (who was clenching fists during her program). It was like the bubbly Alena from 2009 that everyone loved decided to come back back. And how about this, Alena and Ksenia together will earn three Russian spots at next years World's...who saw that coming?!?!

World Championships Pairs Rundown

A year late I finally watched the Pairs Free. For the record, I made sure to have all the hard work taken care of at my job by this week and sure to form it has piled back up as if they somehow knew Worlds was this week. Ugh!

Anywho I don't think there was a lot of surprise amongst the Pairs. For me, the performance of the night was by far Volosozhar and Trankov...I love this team...LOVE THEM! They made my Prokofiev filled heart leap! I would have given them the win as I find Savchenko and Szolkowy's Pink Panther juvenile and beneath them but I'm not a judge so I guess I'll go with it.

Other highlights included Yankowskas and Coughlin's very nice performance. 6th place...not to shabby for the Americans, the best finish for the U.S. in some time. Loved Kavaguti and Smirnovs's performance despite the technical mistakes, Moskinva is brilliant with interpretation.

Lessons learned from these Worlds in Pairs: Land your side-by-side jumps, have bright blonde hair will skate well, and Russia is back in Pairs (China...what happened?).

I'm not going to even try to give a Dance rundown until the competition is over...I think we all know how that one will play out...I think.

2011 World Figure Skating Championships - Ladies

First, I hope this isn't the hot mess that the men where!

Favorites
Miki Ando and Kim Yu-Na are the two to beat, and really it's Kim Yu-Na's to win or lose. I thought after not competing for a year she would be a bit rusty. Nieyt! Triple-Triple combos look as good as ever. It's odd seeing her in practice sessions without Orser. Miki Ando would need to have the skate of the century and hope Kim made an error or two to win another World Title. She did have a win at the Four Continents Cup which may give her some confidence heading in. If I were a betting man (and clearly, I am!)...the good money is on Kim.

Spoilers
Bust the cast of would be spoilers is oh-so-juicy! Alissa Czisny is waltzing her way through a dream season. Skate Canada (check), Grand Prix Final (check), U.S. Nationals (check)...worlds? She stumbled in Taipei so you have to wonder if her confidence is shaken. Also in the field is Mao Asada who was the pits at the start of the season but has slowly gotten stronger with each competition. In Moscow, she looks her old self hitting triple axels like they are easy and triple triple combos like the sort that earned her accolades earlier in her career. Is she ready to go toe-to-toe with Kim again? She's the defending champion...is she ready to defend? Also in the spoiler list is dynamo Kanako Murakami and Rachael Flatt. Carolina Kostner is in the mix too but her watered down repertoire might not make the cut at worlds (but she pulls points from thin air so I'm likely wrong!). Don't count out Kiira Korpi either. The Finnish beauty also pulls points out of nowhere.

Dark Horses
Given the men's final I don't rule anything out so just for fun watch Cynthia Phaneuf (top 5 finish at worlds last year!), Team Russia (Makarova and Leonova...the judges seem to be going easy on the Russians), and Elena Gedevanishvili. Hey...stranger things have happened?!?!?!

p.s. You haven't seen my breakdown of Pairs...because I haven's seen Pairs! I plan to do this sometime between o'dark 30 and o'light 30!

Men's Breakdown in Moscow

WTF?

The short program was a hot mess in my opinion as far as the judging goes. The free skate...where to begin! Skaters were all over the place, skaters still couldn't count, favorites fell, non favorites didn't fall, lyrics were in, and records (unbelievably) were set.

Speedy...get a grip on your Championships!

Let me begin with the short program where I was seething over the results! My three biggest issues was the low scoring of Ross Miner, the atmospheric scoring of Patrick Chan, and basically a good deal of the scoring inbetween. I am pleased as punch that Ross Miner skated so well in the short...and then he kept getting pushed down lower and lower and lower...and by skaters that weren't putting together half the performance he did. I was ticked. Skater after skater, mistake after mistake, higher placement after higher placement. I get it, Ross doesn't have the skating skills that some of the others do but he isn't a total novice. C'mon, one of the skaters that finished higher than Ross not only botched a quad, but failed to do a combination jump...that's right...three non-combo'd jumps! Please brother brother please! And then Patirck Chan. That short program score was, as someone on Twitter called it, "Chanflated." He was easily the winner of the short program; hell, I agree that he deserved to win the whole thing, but that score was out of control. Patrick proved the saying "You can't win it in the short program but you can loose it" wrong...ummm he won it.

The free skate was a hot mess. Again some scoring oddities for Miner who again was undermarked (but rightfully so was the highest placed U.S. man in the free, Dornbush finished the highest overall). The final two groups had me at the end of my chair. Joubert, who is going through an identity crisis, seemingly skated well but made barely any forward progress to finish an unimpressive 8th (first time since 2005 he didn't make the podium). The real humdinger came in the free when Chan kicked the group off with landing two quads and instantly sealing his victory. Verner choked, Takahashi choked, then Artur Gachinski (who only God knows how was in 4th place after the short) had the Plushenkoesque skate of his life to hit the podium. Nobunari Oda again has counting issues doing three triple toe-loops!

The highlight of it all was Takahiko Kozuka who came through clutch with the skate of his life, quad combo included! Patrick Chan was expected to do well...everyone hoped Kozuka would, and he did, and that made it special. Lots of support for Team Japan in the audience and a Silver well earned after the longest week of any of the competitors since he skated in (and won) the qualifying round.

Florent Amodio ended the night with a perfect opportunity to hit his first World Podium...instead he opted to entertain the audience with his One Republic/Black Eyed Peas/Michael Jackson medley...complete with lyrics! In true French style he gave a big middle finger to the judges and did what he wanted. Don't know if the payoff was worth the rule breaking.

At the end of it all...I want a men's redeux! I feel like that was the most haphazard thing put to ice in sometime.

2011 World Figure Skating Championships - Pairs

The Pairs competition in Moscow gets underway after tomorrow's Men's SP. This field is a little less volatile than the men's field but remains strong.

The Favorites
Two teams enter as the teams to beat, Pang and Tong and Savchenko and Szolkowy. Both teams were solid on the Grand Prix, went 1-2 at the Grand Prix Final, won Four Continents and Europeans respectively, and now look to take the World Title. The key to winning for each team, don't make a mistake. Whichever team skates the cleanest likely takes the title. If both teams are clean...I haven't a clue what the judges will do!

The Spoilers
Several teams would love to crash the Chinese/German party at the top. Chief among them Kavaguti and Smirnov. This team has been on the cusp of brilliance for some time now and would love to break through here at home. Right on their heels is the new team of Volosozhar and Trankov. Both had some success with their previous partners (Stanislov Morozov/Maria Mukhortova) and made a splash winning the 2011 Russian Title. Watch out...when these two skate sparks fly! But, are they two young a team? Completing team spoiler is actually the third Russian team of Bazarova and Larionov.

The Dark Horses
Both American Teams fall into this category. If clean, Yankowskas and Coughlin as well as Evora and Ladwig could be medal threats. Also on the dark horse radar is the German team of Hausch and Wende who have been quietly getting more and more consistent; I wouldn't be surprised if they crack the top six. Both Canadian teams might surprise us as well, especially Moore-Towers and Moscovitch...they have exciting skating and have been surprisingly solid this season.

2011 World Figure Skating Championships - Men

This seems as jam packed a field as ever. In a post Olympic year, who could honestly have imagined such a strong field of contenders from all over the globe!


Favorites
I see two skaters entering this event as "co-favorites" if you will. Reigning World Champion Daisuke Takahashi and Grand Prix Final Champ Patrick Chan. Both skaters ooze component scores that are out of this world and are both technically consistent. For both of these skaters I think the key to the competition lies in one word: QUAD. Both have it, Chan's looks a little steadier this season, both will need it. Takahashi comes off a win in Tapei at the Four Continents Championships, Chan comes off the skate of a lifetime at Canadian Nationals...both look ready to take the title!

Spoilers
Past the favorites there is quite a list of would be spoilers. Just to list them: Tomas Verner, Florent Amodio, Brian Joubert, Takahiko Kozuka, and Nobunari Oda. All have had moments of brilliance this season with the exception of uber-veteran Joubert who has looked less than stellar for the better part of the season. Verner, Oda, and Joubert bring experience while Amodio and Kozuka bring youthful vigor...should be fun to watch it play out!

Dark Horses
Lurking quietly in the background are the ones no one expects will contend for the medals but may just surprise us. Among them, Team USA with Ryan Bradley, Richard Dornbush, and Ross Miner. Richard looks the most put together of the three with consistent skates this season. Ryan Bradley, if the quads and axels are with him, could be formidable. Miner with his quick speed and charming personality could also surprise. Also on the would be list include: Javier Fernandez, Denis Ten, Artur Gachinski, Samuel Contesti, and Michal Brezina.

Destination Moscow

Showtime!

It's been a while since I've blogged but the time has come for me to return to the blogosphere...just in time for the delayed World Figure Skating Championships.

And what a place to begin...with these World Championships, delayed due to the tragedy in Japan. Even though I didn't blog about about it, I want the people of Japan to know that I am thinking about them everyday. And for these special World Championships, all patriotism aside, I'm rooting for Team Japan!

There is some Preliminary Round action happening prior to the short programs beginning Wednesday. I'll kind of post my thoughts as the competition in Moscow unfolds.

It's great to be back in the blogging seat. It's been hard to be away. Thanks to everyone out there for being patient with me.

Aaron

Now that Samuelson and Bates are out for the season, do you think the U.S. can get three spots for next Worlds?

Wow good question!

The first thing I guess you have to do is evaluate the possibility even if Evan and Emily were competing. They finished 9th at Worlds in Turin and two of the teams they finished behind aren't competing this season so you have to think it would happen easy.

But when you take Emily and Evan out of the equation it becomes tricky.

The next question is, besides Davis and White, who gets the the other two spots in Tokyo? I think it's between three teams: Chock and Zuerlein, Shibutani and Shibutani, and Hubbell and Hubbell.

Barring disaster, none of those three teams I feel can get past Virtue/Moir, Davis/White, Pechalat/Bourzat, Kerr/Kerr, Crone/Poirier, Bobrova/Soloviev, Hoffman/Zavozin, or Cappellini/Lanotte at this point in their careers. That's 8 teams so the highest finish one might expect from a second U.S. Ice Dance Team at Worlds is 9th.

The other piece of this equation is Davis and White. You have to, at this point, assume they will finish 1st or 2nd at Worlds. Let's say 2nd as Virtue and Moir will be in the mix. That mean's for the U.S. to keep three spots, another U.S. team must finish no lower than 11th in Tokyo (12th if Davis and White were to win).

That gives that second U.S. team about a three spot wiggle room to slip in there. Other teams in the 'wiggle' area include: Carron and Jones of France, Mysliveckova and Novak of Czech Republic, and Reed and Reed of Japan. Those three teams are very evenly matched with the three American teams I mentioned.

It will be important to keep an eye on the Grand Prix this season to see how those other American teams compete against the 'wiggle room' teams. Carron and Jones will compete with Chock and Zuerlein at Skate Canada and Trophee Lalique. Mysliveckova and Novak will take on the Shibutani's at NHK Trophy and the Hubbell's at Cup of Russia. The Reed's will also face off against the Shibutani's at both NHK Trophy (that competition will tell us a lot!) and Skate America.

My gut tells me that U.S. Ice Dancing is strong enough to keep it's three spots but it wont be the walk its been the past couple seasons...we're going to have to work for it this time.

Have a skating question?