The Nitpick

Grrrrrrrrrr....the Free Dance results at Cup of China were "redonk!"

I found the judges to be impertinent and devoid of all ability to actually "see" what was happening on the ice.

Take a look:



Then this hot mess took the ice...



Now I'm all for Walpurgis Night. Faust is greatly under-used in skating. But this dance was terrible. It lumbered across the ice at a snails pace. Ekaterina gave us her ususal poor posture. Don't get me started about the last 30 seconds or so when it went to complete s%*t! I watched it again to make sure I was giving them a fair shake...it was more painful the second time through.

Let's rewind the the Short Dance where I actually agreed that the Russians out skated team "Shibby." Maia and Alex have many things, but steamy sex appeal in a Rhumba isn't one of them (and now we have one of those weird brother/sister awkward moments). While I don't think I would have had the Russians like 7 or 8 points ahead...I would have given them the lead.

But what a load of crap that the judges not only handed the Russians the title...they marked them as skating better in the free...what?!?!?!?!?! C'mon, really? I realize figure skating is subjective and everybody has to have an opinion...but this is blatant ridiculousness. Put all feelings about style and music aside and just look at the skills and the skating. In short, the Russians weren't even close to being able to keep up with the skating abilities that Shibby displayed. And to even show their incompetence more...the judges didn't even make it close, but called it as a 7+ point blowout resulting in this disaster of a score:



I was pissed...still am! I think what pissed me off the most is that the Russians took their win in stride...they didn't even looked shocked. Not even a "Hey Babe, we just demolished a team that's clearly better than us, isn't that awesome?!?!" from Dimitri. If you just beat the World Bronze Medalists...wouldn't you be 'slightly' more excited?

And the sad part is, we'll never know which of the judges on the panel either don't know how to judge or are passing off favors...their anonymous. Didn't Beyoncé sing, "What goes around, comes back around..."

Ice Dance Newbies

As we approach the upcoming season, there are four Ice Dance teams that will be competing on the Senior Grand Prix for the first time that I have an eye on.

Maia and Alex Shibutani (USA) - 'The Shibs' as I call them make the move into the Senior Grand Prix this season. They breezed through their Junior Grand Prix events last season and took the Bronze at the Junior Grand Prix Final. After winning U.S. Nationals they placed 4th at Junior Worlds. This team has all the making of winners and I think as time goes by and they continue to develop they'll only get better. I would think it hard to skate with a sibling but this team manages that quite well. They have the added advantage that their training mates are the top two teams in the world (Virtue/Moir and Davis/White). Look for this team to make a stamp this season.



Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam (Canada) - This team teamed up in February of 2009 (both had previously skated with different partners) and have come together very fast. They just had iffy results during the Junior Grand Prix last season but got it together to win the Canadian National Title earning them a place on the Junior World Team where they really surpassed expectations and took the silver. They have amazing attack and you don't get that they are holding back. Their technical content is also very good. Some polishing needs to happen around the edges but certainly contenders in the coming years to be sure.



Kharis Ralph and Asher Hill (Canada) - Another Canadian duo that will make their Senior Grand Prix debut this season. This team actally has competed at the senior level at Canadian Nationals since 2009 and actually competed at the Four Continents Cup last season but has yet to skate on the Senior Grand Prix until this fall. This team was 4th at the Junior Grand Prix Final and Canadian Nationals last season. This team didn't compete at Junior World's last season. This team really gets 'Dance.' They move inventively and seem really in tune with their music choices and rhythm. They remind me of Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon at times...not a bad comparison I think.



Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov (Russia) - The cream of the Junior crop making the jump to Senior is easily Ilinykh and Katsalapov. They've actually had a bit of an internal rivalry with their teammates Monko and Khaliavin who beat them at the Junior Grand Prix Final. Ilinykh and Katsalapov responded with a win at the Junior World Championships over their teammates (who finished 3rd). Like the Shibutani's it seems like they have it all and as time goes on it will only get better. Favorites in Sochi? The Russian Federation would love to have a team in contention there and they may be the ones. Also, how can you not root for a guy named Nikita?



*Americans Tibbetts and Brubaker are also debuting on the Senior Grand Prix this season.

U.S. Nationals (Day Seven)

Scheduled Events for Today:

Senior Compulsory Dance
Junior Free Dance
Senior Ladies Short Program

Check this post for results and musings. I'll be tweeting during the Senior Ladies Short Program at 10:30 p.m. (Eastern). You can follow me on Twitter @skating102.

The Senior Compulsory Dance is over and is it close! Two battles shaping up. The Gold Medal battle between Davis and White who lead Belbin and Agosto by a mere .4 points! Then there is a battle for bronze as Navarro and Bommentre lead Samuelson and Bates by an even skinnier .24. I know, right!

The Junior Free Dance competition wrapped with no surprise, Shibutani and Shibutani nabbing the win (by 20 points!). Tibbetts abd Brubaker took the silver and Gilles and Donahue won the bronze.

The Senior Ladies Short is over and what a humdinger! The full results are here and you can read my thoughts in the flash above!

Junior Grand Prix: Croatia

On the eve of the start of the Senior Grand Prix, we musn't forget the Junior Grand Prix which is in full swing and nearing it's conclusion. This past week, skaters competed in Zagreb, Croatia.

Amongst the men, Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu repeated his performance from Poland and produced another Gold Medal winning performance. American Ross Miner won his second medal on the Junior Grand Prix, this time a Silver (he won Gold in Lake Placid). Russia's Zhan Bush was good enough for the Bronze.

Japan reigned supremed in the ladies field as well as Kanako Murakami also duplicated her Gold Medal performance from Poland. Canada's Kate Charbonneau took the Silver Medal while American Ellie Kawamura nabbed the bronze.

In Ice Dance, American's Maia and Alex Shibutani continued their dominance on the Junior Grand Prix with a big win in Zagreb. Canadians Ralph and Hill won another Silver Medal and Russians Baturintseva and Volobuiev held on for the Bronze.

Full results can be seen here. The Junior Grand Prix makes its final stop this week in Istanbul, Turkey.

Junior Grand Prix: USA

I'm a little slow to post my Junior Grand Prix Lake Placid update this week. I was out of town until today and thanks to Ice Network which showed the event live and on demand I was able to catch up on all the performances. A big thanks to Ice Network for showing the competition.

So beginning with the pairs, I must tell you I was really impressed with Canadians Hole and Johnson. For having been together for such a short period of time, there skating was impressive. Their gold medal was well deserved. Russians Stolbova and Klimov barely held on to the silver after a program that was ranked only fifth best. The bronze went to the Japanese team of Takahashi and Tran after a program as equally impressive as the Canadians. Americans Simpson and Miller made a valiant push to get on the podium with a top three free skate but came in just short in fourth place.

Amongst the ladies, Kristine Musademba was the clear class of the field with a strong free skate that showed excellent jumps, intricate steps, solid spins, and good speed. Kristine will be competing as a senior in Spokane and I wont be shocked at all if she is in the final group of skaters. The silver went to Russia's Ksenia Makarova who also skated well to pull up from fourth place. Her program had excellent tension and powerful, clear lines. The bronze went to Sweden's Isabelle Olsson who pulled all the way up from eighth place. The younger of two Olsson sisters' competing, her music was a bit odd but her jumping was solid. Americans Taylor Firth and DeeDee Leng self-imploded to finish fifth and seventh respectively.

For the men, Ross Miner easily took his first Junior Grand Prix Title besting his competitors. Ross showed complex choreography and good skating skills along with some solid jumping to take the title. Kento Nakamura of Japan and Russian Mark Shakhmatov's performances paled in comparison to Miner's as they took the silver and bronze respectively. American Joshua Farris had the comeback of the night with (what I thought) was the best program of the night. It included a gorgeous triple axel, a new jump for him, and he pulled all the way up from 10th to finish just off the podium in fourth.

Of all the Americans competing in Lake Placid, I think Maia and Alex Shibutani looked the most refined. Their Tango themed Free Dance looked polished well beyond their years and the team danced to a victory more than 20 points higher than their closest competitors. Canadians Ralph and Hill looked solid in winning the silver while the reigning U.S. Novice Champions Bonacorsi and Mager impressed their way to a bronze medal. Americans Tibbetts and Brubaker, who had a solid OD, ran into problems in the free dance when the duo tumbled on footwork, they had to settle for seventh place.

Full results can be seen here. Next week the Junior Grand Prix stops in Torun, Poland.

Junior Grand Prix: France

The results of the Junior Grand Prix in Courchevel, France can be found here.

U.S. Ladies competitor Kristine Musademba and Ice Dancers Maia and Alex Shibutani each skated away with Gold. Becky Bereswill and Armin Mabanoozadeh each took silver in ladies and men's single for the U.S.

This week, the Junior Grand Prix moves to Merano, Italy.