Year End Wrap-Up

2011 Draws to a close...I call it the "Year of Chan." He certainly had a great year...a Canadian Title, a World Title, another Grand Prix Title, and recently named Canadian Press Athlete of the Year. He's going to win another Canadian Title (take it to the bank!)in Moncton next month (short of a withdrawal) and probably another World Title in Nice. I've been very critical of the judges overmarking of Chan this season, let's see if it continues into the Championship span of the season.

Speaking of Championships, several have taken place naming top skaters around the world National Champions. In France, Brian Joubert won another National Title. Take a look:



He went back to his "Matrix" program that brought him success in the mid 2000s. I am a bigger fan of the more artistic Brian that tried to peek out over the last couple of years but he was having no luck with results so he's gone back to what works for him. Trouble is, there aren't any "component boosters" to speak of in this program so it doesn't have a hope or prayer outside of Europe. Pechalat/Bourzat also captured another French Title last week.

In Ostrava, Czech Republic, Tomas Verner bested Michal Brezina to win another Czech (and Slovak and Polish) Title:



One of the better skates from Verner in a while. Beauty of a quad off the top.

In Saransk, Plushenko did it again, I have no words.:



The ladies standings at Russian Nationals were a hot mess. Sotnikova won. Leonova (who looked to be on track this season) could only muster 3rd, Makarova was 4th, and seemingly immune to defeat Tuktamysheva was just 6th. Both Volosozhar/Trankov and Kavaguti/Smirnov skipped the event giving Bazarova/Larionov an easy win. Bobrova/Solviev took the Dance Title.

Finally to Osaka, Japan which had the most contested titles up for grabs. On the Men's Side, Takahashi held on to win after being bested in the free skate by Kozuka who finished 2nd and Hanyu who finished 3rd (Hanyu won the free skate). Nobunari Oda, whose had a terrible season after recovering from injury, did not compete. Despite the win, Takahashi's skate was marred by several errors. Here are all three performances:







On the ladies side Mao Asada, in what must have been a very difficult week after the recent passing of her mother, turned in a beautiful performance to win another Japanese Title:



While not perfect, you all but forgive her the last two jumping passes given the circumstances. Akiko won the silver and Murakami took the bronze.

Hope 2012 is great to everyone! Have a Happy and Safe New Year!

Revisiting Russian Nationals

Ah Saransk...

City of few hotels, cheap taxis, and adjoining rivers...how interesting thou are. Even more interesting is the fact that last month the city played host to the Russian National Championships.

If you look at the results I don't think there is a whole lot that one wouldn't expect. The men's winner, Konstantin Menshov, reeled off two quads in a Plushenkoesque Michael Jackson free skate that brought modest applause from the audience at the end. My favorite part is the 45 seconds or so you spend in an Aviary...



In pairs, new champions were crowned when newly formed team of Volosozhar and Trankov threw done a very solid program to Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. The two sets of side-by-side triple jumps were super impressive. This team can't compete internationally just yet but when they do they'll be top contenders.



For ice dance, Bobrova and Soloviev have solitified themselves as the top Russian team moving forward. I'm not sure they are quite yet ready to be considered top contenders yet (although they did place 4th at the Grand Prix Final), they are certainly a team to watch going forward (as are the gazillion Russian Junior Teams). Russia barely hit the ice dance podium in 2010...lots of work to do before 2014 when the Olympics are in Russia.



Finally the ladies, where young Adelina Sotnikova jumped her little butt off on her way to a win. She's only 14 so we wont see her at Europeans or Worlds but there is a spark here! In other news, Ksenia Makarova finished 5th...wamp wamp.



Someone did a nice job of organizing the full results on Wikipedia...take a peak.

Next Post: Back to B.C.

Junior Grand Prix Austria Rewind

The Junior Grand Prix kept moving forward this past weekend. Pairs made it's debut in Austria (Pairs is only competed at 4 of the events). Mixed results for Team USA, we managed two medals, a Gold in Ice Dance and a Silver amongst the Women.

Women:
Gold: Adelina Sotnikova RUS
Silver: Christina Gao USA
Bronze: Zijun Li CHN

Pairs:
Gold: Stolbova and Klimov RUS
Silver: Sui and Han CHN
Bronze: Yu and Jin CHN

Men:
Gold: Han Yan CHN
Silver: Artem Grigoriev RUS
Bronze: Zhan Bush RUS

Dance:
Gold: Lichtman and Copely USA
Silver: Sinitsina and Zhiganshin RUS
Bronze: Papadakis and Cizeron FRA

Full Results can be seen here. Next stop on the Junior Grand Prix is Japan.