Sorry for my blogging tardiness this week but work reared its ugly head this week.
But this past week another Junior Grand Prix Event finished in Romania. The next Junior Grand Prix event in Austria is already underway. My fellow bloggers have done a great job of blogging and tweeting about the event so I'll just recap the results if you haven't seen them. The U.S. had a good showing, especially solid amongst the men where we went 1-2.
Women:
Gold: Elizaveta Tuktamisheva RUS
Silver: Kristiene Gong USA
Bronze: Shion Kokubun JPN
Dance:
Gold: Monko and Khaliavin RUS
Silver: Galyeta and Shumski UKR
Bronze: Bonacorsi and Mager USA
Men:
Gold: Keegan Messing USA
Silver: Joshua Farris USA
Bronze: Keiji Tanaka JPN
If you don't mind the shakiness of the videos, YouTube user divan0 has uploaded lots of the performances from the event. Full results can be seen here.
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.
We've had a busy few days in the figure skating world. Last week, the Junior Grand Prix Series came to a conclusion, champions were crowned, and we have a list of competitors for the Junior Grand Prix Final (which will take place simultaneously with the Senior Grand Prix in Tokyo, Japan in December).
In Ice Dance, American's Cannuscio and Lorello took home the bronze medal, their second on the Junior Grand Prix. Two Russian teams held the two top spots. Pushkash and Guerreiro were just ahead of the Americans winning the silver despite placing fifth in the free dance. The gold went to Monko and Khaliavin.
Amongst the men, both Americans were out of the medals. Joshua Farris finished fifth. After placing second in the short program he had a seventh place free skate and was unable to stay on the podium. Austin Kanallakan moved up from fifth to fourth. The bronze medal went to Japan's Kento Nakamura, silver to Russia's Stanislav Kovalev, and the gold to Han Yan of China (see video below).
The American ladies were quite successful. Christina Gao took home the bronze medal (and won the free skate in the process), adding a second to her collection this season. Russian Sofia Biryukova took home the silver. Kiri Baga, again took the gold medal in her second appearance in the Junior Grand Prix despite finishing third in the free skate.
Pairs: Sui and Han (China) Takahashi and Tran (Japan) Hole and Johnson (Canada) Zhang and Wang (China) Novik and Kuznetsov (Russia) Simpson and Miller (USA) Vasilieva and Shevchuk (Russia) Stolbova and Klimov (Russia)
Ladies: Kanako Murakami (Japan) Polina Shelepen (Russia) Kiri Baga (USA) Angela Maxwell (USA) Ksenia Makarova (Russia) Christina Gao (USA) Anna Ovcharova (Russia) Ellie Kawamura (USA)
Dance: Shibutani and Shibutani (USA) Monko and Khaliavin (Russia) Ilyinikh and Katsalapov (Russia) Pushkash and Gurreiro (Russia) Ralph and Hill (Canada) Alessandrini and Vaturi (Italy) Antipova and Kudashev (Russia) Cannuscio and Lorello (USA)
Men: Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan) Ross Miner (USA) Nan Song (China) Artur Gachinski (Russia) Kento Nakamura (Japan) Stanislav Kovalev (Russia) Richard Dornbush (USA) Grant Hochstein (USA)
After a week off, the Junior Grand Prix picked up again. This time in Minsk, Belarus. By all accounts, it was a rough go for Team USA.
In Pairs, China reigned supreme with two of three Chinese teams competing taking the gold and silver medals. Sui and Han, who as far as I could tell were in their first major international competition, won by nearly twenty points. A future powerhouse? See the video below...I find them very accomplished at such a young age! Zhang and Wang, the team that finished 16th at the World Championships in L.A. took the silver. Canadians Hole and Johnson, who won gold in Lake Placid, had to settle for the bronze in Belarus after a comeback performance from 7th place in the short program. Americans Carmen and Reiss finished 10th.
Amongst the women, Polina Shelepen managed another win, her second on the Junior Grand Prix. Japan's Yuki Nishino pulled in for the silver medal and Ksenia Makarova of Russia again medaled on the Junior Grand Prix; this time a bronze. American Kristiene Gong slipped from third after the short program to finish fourth overall.
In the men's field, Russian Artur Gachinski got his season underway with a win in Minsk. China's Nan Song broke up a Russian party by taking the silver (almost the gold, he had the wiing free skate and it was very close) with Gachinski's teammate Stanislav Kovalev earning the bronze. American Eliot Halverson placed fifth in the field.
In Ice Dance, Russian's Monko and Khaliavin dominated the field and took the ice dance easily. The lone medal America was able to walk away with was Tibbetts and Brubaker's silver. A much better performance for them here than at Lake Placid where they had a tumble on their footwork. The bronze went to Agafonova and Dun of Ukraine.
Full results are here. This week the Junior Grand Prix stays in the region with a stop in Dresden, Germany.
Sorry for my blogging tardiness this week but work reared its ugly head this week.
RUS
USA
JPN
UKR
