It's been another one of those work weeks and I fear there are more to come. But nonetheless I will get my blogging in!
Some quick thoughts on Skate America. I am horribly depressed about Savchenko and Szolkowy's Free Skate, they had such a gorgeous program last season and this Pink Panther diddy just seems like a let down. And I continue to wait for the day when Denney and Barrett are going to bust through...it will happen. I was basically underwhelmed by the men except Armin who exceeded expectations and was amazing. I loved the Alex and Maia snagged another bronze medal. Glad to see Rachael keep it together to get the silver and likely make the Grand Prix Final for the first time. We wont talk about my fantasy team...
So we turn our attention to Russia for Rostelecom Cup. I'm really excited about the mens event, there is a pretty deep field. I'm rooting hardcore for Jeremy but there are plenty of skaters that can get in his way there! Ice Dance doesn't look very exciting at all...it will be fun to see how it shakes out. I'm going to go on a limb and predict Kavaguti and Smirnov win the Pairs event...not too exciting there either. In the ladies field, I'd guess the Japanese women are favored, but I'm most interested to see he places higher between Alena and Ksenia. And can Ashley muscle her way in there?
Here are my fantasy picks for Rostelecom Cup...I hope I get somewhere with these!
And Drumroll...I WILL be tweeting tomorrow during the competition! I have the morning off because I told my boss I deserved it...she couldn't argue that point!
A large group of women are making Senior Grand Prix debuts this fall. While many of the names will likely be lost in the mix, five from the U.S. and Japan have an opportunity to possibly shine. Who you ask...
Haruka Imai (Japan) - One of Japan's up and coming stars, over the past couple of seasons she's managed to medal in a few Junior Grand Prix events. Her biggest achievement came last season with a top five finish in her first major ISU Championship (Four Continents Cup). She has lovely qualities as a skater and will certainly add to the strength of the deep Japanese Team. She needs to increase her jump difficulty (i.e. add a Triple Lutz) to really be on par with the top women but she is well on her way.
Kristine Musademba (USA) - Kristine is a very powerful skater who has had good results over the last two years on the Junior Grand Prix. Injury kept her from competing in the back half of last season but she is most certainly poised to make her Senior Grand Prix debut this season. She seems destined for greatness but has often been plagued with unusual inconsistency. One competition she'll be solid and the next filled with mistakes. She's a gorgeous skater and if she can fix her head and and produce solid, consistent skates, she'll be one to beat.
Amanda Dobbs (USA) - Amanda keeps super busy competing not only as a singles skater but as a pairs skater too! She had a dream U.S. Nationals where she was top seven in Senior Pairs and then finished in the top six in Senior Ladies. She capped her season off with a 4th place finish at her first major Senior International Championship (Four Continents Cup). She's currently working on developing a full repertoire of triple jumps but the overall quality of her skating shines through on the other aspects of her skating. My favorite quality of Amanda's is she fully commits to everything. She's isn't the skater that is going to single or double a jump. Make it or miss it, she's going to do a triple. She's proven that she has an innate ability to compete, if she can increase her jump difficulty she'll be one to watch for sure.
Agnes Zawadzki (USA) - I had no prior knowledge of Agnes until she showed up at Nationals last season and ripped it, winning the Junior National title. That win earned her a spot on the Junior World Team where she again skated well and took the silver (ripping it again!). I do pray she isn't a one hit wonder because this girl has the goods. Unlike her Dobbs her jumping repertoire is complete (unless we start talking triple axels but not everyone can be Mao Asada) and she seems super consistent. She has a little personality on the ice too which helps bring an audience in. I'm very curious to see how Agnes stacks up with the top women in the world because I think she can go toe-to-toe with some of these ladies. Stay tuned!
Kanako Murakami (Japan) - The biggest threat coming out of the Junior ranks this upcoming season is likely Kanako Murakami. She did a clean sweep last season, winning everything. In a word, she's magnificent. She reminds me of Sasha Cohen the way she moves across the ice. She looks so trained and prepared at every competition she enters. Pressure doesn't seem to get to her and she just powers through her programs with enough energy at the end to keep going another 4 minutes. I think she is another skater that I predict will hit the Senior Ranks and likely be one of the top competitors.
*Lena Marrocco and Mae Berenice Meite of France as well as Kwak Min-Jung of Korea and Sonia Lafuente of Spain are also making Senior Grand Prix debuts.
I must say there were plenty of surprises at the Grand Prix Final. I think I'm just going to be done predicting this season...I'm getting nowhere with it!
Ice Dance was close at the top. Davis and White squeaked ahead in the Original Dance while Virtue and Moir slimly won the free skate. When the dust settled Meryl Davis and Charlie White held on by the skin of their teeth to take the win (and become the first American Team to do so!). In the Free Dance, Davis and White had the highest component score where Virtue and Moir had the highest technical score. In any case, it's tight between these two teams. Pechalat and Bourzat meandered their way to a bronze after a free dance that seemed less interesting than the last time I saw it. Interestingly, Crone and Poirier and Cappellini and Lanotte had the same exact score in the Free Dance...84.30.
The ladies event was a continuation of what we've seen all season...less than exciting. Leonova and Rochette coming completely undone was just sad to watch. The lone exciting moment in the ladies event was Akiko Suzuki's free skate. She lit up that room like a Christmas Tree! I was so excited for her. While her bronze does not guarantee her a spot on the Olympic Team, it should help her case. Also doesn't hurt that she had the highest technical score of all the women. Miki Ando had a golden opportunity to landing a major upset but she let it slip away from her. Her Cleopatra program, which is still severely lacking in interesting choreography, wasn't clean enough to get past Kim Yu-Na. Perhaps she was just trying to do her best to stay ahead of Akiko. Her silver did clench her the first berth on the Japanese Olympic Team. It was rather shocking to see that Kim Yu-Na's component score was barely higher than Miki's. Even on an off day, Kim Yu-Na's components are way better than Ando's. Kim Yu-Na, while she won, didn't land that blow to the field that would have set her up as the commanding favorite in Vancouver. Now, the buzz amongst the skating world is that she CAN be beat. Suddenly, the Rachel Flatt's and Mao Asada's don't seem so out of the equation.
The pairs event gave me my second wow moment of the season. Shen and Zhao blew me away with their free skate. Every moment in that program was brilliantly timed to the music...it was just amazing. They've made the case for themselves...they are the ones to beat. Pang and Tong did a nice job of keeping their head's together and not letting the pressure of competing against their teammates for the first time in a while get to them. They, too, had a lovely performance. Savchenko and Szolkowy ran into a few problems at the top of their free skate. Once they settled down it was fine but those early problems were enough to keep them out of the hunt for Gold and stuck them with the bronze. Mukhortova and Trankov were solid in placing fourth. Less than four points separated 2nd thru 4th so it was very close.
The men, by far, were the most exciting here. Even without Lambiel, Plushenko, Chan, and Joubert...these guys put on an epic showdown! Weir, Oda, Lysacek, and Takahashi were stunning in their short programs. In the free skate, Abbott had to dig himself out of a hole after mistakes in the short, and did so with a fine effort that saw only one fall on the quad. Important to note that his score was less than a point away from winning the free skate and got him to fourth place overall. Johnny Weir kept it together to skate a solid (slightly tentative) free skate and pull himself up to the bronze medal for the second consecutive season. Nobunari Oda also skate well despite two silly popped axels and managed the silver after charming the crowd with his Charlie Chaplin free skate. Reigning World Champ Evan Lysacek showed he is a force to be contended with this season after a solid free skate (another silly popped axel) that not only won him the gold medal, but nabbed him the highest men's score of the season...and he did it without a quad (food for thought for Plushenko?). Takahashi, who had the lead after a brilliant short, went to pieces in the free falling all the way to fifth. Some would argue that the men's scores were somewhat inflated here...I'm not sure myself. In general I have a hard time understanding and relating scores from one competition to another so I'll leave that argument to the pundits.
A very talented group of Juniors took the ice this weekend as well. Congrats to Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu and Kanako Murakami for winning the Junior singles titles, China's Sui and Han for taking the Pairs competition, and Russia's Monko and Khaliavin for taking the Dance title. Maia and Alex Shibutani, Christina Gao, and Ross Miner all won bronze medals for the United States.
Full set of results for both the Senior and Junior events can be seen here.
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.
This past weekend the Junior Grand Prix concluded in Toruń, Poland. It was a VERY good weekend for Japan!
In Pairs, Takahashi and Tran of Japan bettered their bronze from last week in Lake Placid to take the title in Poland in a close final. Less than one point behind in second were Russians Novik and Kuznetsov with Canadians Jones and Gaskell pulling up to place third. Americans Zhang and Toth improved on their seventh place short program with a top four free skate and finished sixth overall.
In Ice Dance, Russians Ilinykh and Katsalapov won big. They won all three portions of the competition on their way to an easy victory. Their teammates, Antipova and Kudashev were second overall, despite finishing third in the free skate behind Americans Cannuscio and Lorello who took the bronze. Important to note Japan had no entries in Ice Dance.
Amongst the women, Japan also did well with Kanako Murakami taking the title easily. In second was Russian Anna Ovcharova and winning the bronze was American Christina Gao in her Junior Grand Prix debut. American Karen Zhou finished fifth.
Once again, Japan enjoyed success with Yuzuru Hanyu winning the gold medal by more than twenty points. In second was American Kanallakan who held on to second after a rough free skate that was ranked only fifth best. The bronze medal went to Russian Gordei Gorshkov who held off the challenge by teammate Alexander Nikolaev who actually placed second in the free skate. American Keegan Messing pulled all the way up to sixth from eleventh after a top three free skate.
Every Japanese entry in this event won! Full results can be seen here.
No Junior Grand Prix this weekend but the competition picks back up next week in Minsk, Belarus.
UPDATE: Big thanks to @patinaggio on Twitter for posting a link to the video of Yuzuru Hanyu's very elegant performance. My favorite highlight is the Ina Bauer he does.
It's been another one of those work weeks and I fear there are more to come. But nonetheless I will get my blogging in!
So we turn our attention to Russia for Rostelecom Cup. I'm really excited about the mens event, there is a pretty deep field. I'm rooting hardcore for Jeremy but there are plenty of skaters that can get in his way there! Ice Dance doesn't look very exciting at all...it will be fun to see how it shakes out. I'm going to go on a limb and predict Kavaguti and Smirnov win the Pairs event...not too exciting there either. In the ladies field, I'd guess the Japanese women are favored, but I'm most interested to see he places higher between Alena and Ksenia. And can Ashley muscle her way in there?
