Post Nice Reflections

I've had time to digest all of what I saw in Nice at the World Figure Skating Championships... re-watched lots of the skates...re-read what I wrote in blog posts and not to toot my own horn...I think I called square.

Right after the competition was over, Paul from Jumping Clapping Man sent me some questions and thoughts via Facebook that I promised a blog post on. I'll do my best to give my take:

"Virtue/Moir were given that SD result. Meryl/Charlie beat that at least in the SD." - I'm assuming, like many, that Paul thought Meryl and Charlie were better in the Short Dance. For me, I'm actually okay with Tessa and Scott winning the Short Dance. I think the difference that gives the Canadians a slight advantage in Latin dances is Scott's Latin abilities. He moves precisely like a Latin dancer and I think the judges respect the purity of his movements.

"What happened to the House of Sato/Dunjen? Are they just exhausted from a too long season? Or, is there something going on behind the scenes that knocked their confidence?" - I think it was different for each skater. Alissa and Jeremy both competed in Europe a couple of weeks prior to Worlds so burnout may have been a factor. Jeremy, Alissa, and Adam all have been known to be slight headcases at times. Alissa, more than any of them, seemed just exhausted and unprepared. There was also some chatter that Yuka and Jason had asked Alissa to add a few pounds and that may have messed with her jumping technique. All three need to find "killer" instincts so they can get the job done.

"Were Kavaguti/Smirnov decked for their public commentary on the ice? I actually think they deserved a higher FS score (at least 130s). They only made one mistake, as I remember." - That one mistake led to others. After Yuko missed the second double axel in sequence, they had to bail on a lift which left lots of points on the table. Those little mishaps seem to always happen to them...they need to figure out how to skate perfect because when they do, they'll be tough to beat.

"WHY, oh WHY is Chan always scored above Takahashi? Am I missing something? Takahashi is one of the finest dancers/footwork specialists of all time, so when he lands his jumps, shouldn't he prevail, when Chan falls?" - When you find the answer, let me know.

"I was thrilled to see Kostner have her moment. For years I watched as she was overscored, and now that she remade herself and her look, she earned/deserved it. Beautiful! I hope this gave Ashley some momentum for next season...way to go girl!" - Yes, the field of ladies made it so simple for Carolina that we can't even be mad about her watered down content as it was still some of the most difficult content performed (I joke but not really...she could have seriously phoned it in!). I do pray she never wears a body outfit like that ever again though. And Ashley took my breath away. She has that "killer" instinct that some other Team USA members desperately need.

"Did Weaver/Poje deserve the bronze? Their FD was so beautiful. Perhaps I'm just biased against The Mummy." - So Weaver and Poje's Free Dance is brilliant and if Pechalat and Bourzat had skated as they had all season up to this competition I would say yes, Weaver and Poje would deserve the bronze. But Pechalat and Bourzat (as was Joubert) were energized I think by the amazing swell of crowd support they were getting and it elevated their performance level. In the arena, that Mummy program was rockin' out and they had everyone in the palm of their hand. I say at this competition, the judges were fair in awarding the Bronze to Nathalie and Fabian.

Quick Europeans Update

Very quickly, some updates on Europeans.

First, Pairs Champions were crowned yesterday. Volosozhar and Trankov, looking much rested after skippping Russian Nationals, turned in a lovely performance to take the title.



Noticeably absent was Savchenko and Szolkowy who withdrew due to a muscle injury suffered by Aliona. "I was a very difficult decision for us," said their coach Ingo Steuer. "We came to the European championships and now we are unable to compete. The risk is too high to aggravate the injury further." Aliona plans to begin training again in 5 - 7 days.

Russian Teams in fact swept the podium with Bazarova and Larionov taking the silver and Stolbova and Klimov the bronze. See full results here. Top 6 below:



Amongst the men, Artur Gachinski upset Plushenko to take the lead in the mens short program. Plushenko has been complaining of injury and says his participation in worlds is "50/50." Verner and Fernandez were close behind in 3rd and 4th with Amodio and Brezina rounding out the top 6. Brian Joubert was way down in 10th. Full Results.



The Free Dance has also concluded with Pechalat and Bourzat winning after a lot of moving and shaking in the standings. Leaders after the short program Bobrova and Soloviev had to settle for silver and their teammates Ilinykh and Katsalapov moved from 7th all the way to the bronze medal. Full Results.





The ladies short program finds Carolina Kostner leading Kiira Korpi and Ksenia Makarova. Full Results.

Cup of China Wrap

A very fast wrap-up of Cup of China. I'm on limited blogging time!

Ice Dance was a runaway for Pechalat and Bourzat of France. They had a nice lead out of the Short Dance and just extended it in the free. Bobrova and Soloviev of Russia surprised many by taking the silver. Faiella and Scali had to settle for the bronze after a nasty slip in the free dance. Three bland programs at this point for the top three teams but I think Faiella and Scali's Flamenco has potential.

Pang and Tong put experience to good use in Beijing besting their Chinese teammates Sui and Han for the win. It was as unusual meeting of experience vs youthfulness as the senior most competing Chinese team took on the youngest. Sui and Han provided some fireworks with a very solid throw quad salchow attempt and a flair for performance rarely seen in Chinese competitors. Americans Yankowskas and Coughlin improved their 4th place finish at NHK to a bronze in Beijing and have a slim shot at making the Grand Prix Final, also in Beijing. Pang and Tong are the first skaters to earn a trip to the Grand Prix Final.

It was Japan full steam ahead in the ladies competition. Miki Ando showed a jumping clinic to take the ladies title. Akiko Suzuki was in tow in second with a solid effort and a beautifully choreographed program. Russia's Alena Leonova backed into the bronze medal after Mirai Nagasu, leader after the short, tanked in the free to finish 4th overall.

Japan again was on top in the men's division as Takahiko cruised to an easy victory with two programs chock full of strong components. American Brand Mroz surged in the free skate with a tremendous skate that included a clean quad to take the silver.
Tomas Verner managed to hang on for the bronze with an entertaining (but somewhat lacking) skate to Michael Jackson. The big story in the men's field was Brian Joubert, with a decent performance, dropping down to 4th due in major part to only receiving level 1's for his spins.

My Fantasy picks weren't horrible...I tied for 222nd for Cup of China which doesn't sound great...but I moved up to being ranked 139th overall. I'm just going to stick with it...

You can see the full Cup of China Results here.

Skate America starts tomorrow.

JGP Japan/Nebelhorn

Oddly, Blogger wouldn't let me update or post over the past several days so my blog went quiet there for a bit. But Blogger has addressed the issue and blogging can commence.

I won't do a full rundown of the medalists from Junior Grand Prix Japan but the winners were:

Men - Andrei Rogozine (CAN), Dance - Stepanova and Bukin (RUS), Women - Risa Shoji (JPN)

The U.S. picked up two silvers with Kiri Baga and Max Aaron hitting the podium in the men and women's division. You can see all the results here.

Nebelhorn Trophy took place at the same time as JGP Japan and gave us a look at the deepest senior field to compete so far this season. Some familiar faces as well as some fresh face comprised the podiums.

In Dance, veterans Pechalat and Bourzat of France took the title after a rough start in the short dance. Italians Cappellini and Lanotte finished second while Russians Rizanova and Tkachenko took the bronze. Americans Maia and Alex Shibutani, while only fifth overall, were ranked second in the free dance so a solid accomplishment for them.

Amongst the men, Japanese upstart Tatsuki Machida took the title (and he did so skating to one of my music faves, Legends of the Fall). Russia's Konstantin Menshov took the silver and Peter Liebers managed the bronze at home in Germany. American Armin Mahbanoozadeh, while only fourth, had the third best rated free skate and finished higher than both Kevin van der Perren (5th) and Michal Brezina (7th), both of whom were heavily favored in this competition.

For the women, Finland's Kiira Korpi skated to an easy victory (as expected). Not expected was the silver snatched up by Sweden's Viktoria Helgesson or the bronze nabbed by American Melissa Bulanhagui. Outside of Korpi, there was great volatility in the standings between the short and free skates with lots of movement in the standings. The point spread between 3rd and 5th was very close with Viktoria sister Joshi placing 4th and Brit Jenna McCorkell finishing 5th.

In Pairs, top honors went to, also as expected, Russians Bazarova and Larionov. Italians Berton and Hotarek placed second as many predicted. Coming third was the brand (brand!) new Canadian team of Duhamel and Radford. Just this past season Megan Duhamel ended her three year partnership with Craig Buntin after failing to make the 2010 Olympic Team. American youngsters Donlan and Speroff finished an impressive fourth.

Nebelhorn results can be seen here. Below are some notable performances from the event courtesy YouTube user pianomaya65:

European Championships Preview (Dance)

The last of my European Championship Previews before the event kicks off next Monday, the Dance event in Tallinn is quite unusual this season. The teams that we might consider the favorites have either not competed at all this season or are making some slight comebacks from injury and such. This aura of uncertainty makes me believe this title is possibly up for grabs. The teams to watch? I'm keep an eye on:

Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder - This team has competed since winning the 2008 Grand Prix Final. A shoulder injury kept them out of last season's Europeans and Worlds and Isabelle's pregnancy kept them out of this season's Grand Prix. It's is still unclear if the 2008 World Champs will compete in Tallinn. FFSG (French Skating Federation) is weighing the pros and cons of having them compete there with an announcement expected anytime. I think anytime you can run your programs and get feedback pre-Olympics it's a good thing (but I'm not the one on the ice). They've said they are ready to compete no matter FFSG's decision so we may be seeing them next week.

Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat - In Delobel and Schoenfelder's competitive absence this other top French team has been slowly moving up the ranks. They won the bronze at the recent Grand Prix Final and look to be possible Gold contenders in Tallinn. Their program, however, has looked less put together each time I've seen it this season. Let's hope the break between Tokyo and Tallinn has given them some time to polish things up. If Delobel and Schoenfelder are rusty/don't compete and Domnina and Shabalin aren't put back together yet...this is the team to beat.

Alexandra Zaretski and Roman Zaretski - This team was just 5th at Samsung Anycall Cup of China but then shocked me at Skate America taking the bronze medal (actual was second in the free skate ahead of Cappellini and Lanotte). They also won the recent Golden Spin of Zagreb competition. This team apparently is doing something right as far as the judges are concerned. This competition gives them the opportunity to move into the top ranks of ice dancers. They are exciting, have beautiful programs this season, and are perhaps coming together at the perfect time. On a side note, and maybe someone can answer this for me...why do Israeli skaters compete at European's and not Four Continents Cup? I'm pretty sure I didn't fail Geography and Israel is an Asian nation. I suppose the same question applies to Azerbaijan...

Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin - This team is attempting to quick get it back together prior to the Olympics. They won Russian Nationals (although Khoklova and Novitski didn't compete) convincingly despite looking a hot mess. They looked a little better at a recent send-off show...a little. The reigning World Champs easily have the most unique OD set to Aboriginal music but I think it's going to take more than that to win this. If they somehow manage to show up in Tallinn in top form, well that would be a miracle! But if any team could pull it off I think it's them. This team may be helped along by the rust prevailing in the other teams, lack of consistent competing by other teams, and good ole Russian Ice Dancing luck!

Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte - One of only two teams competing in Tallinn that have done the full gambit of competition this season (two Grand Prix's, Grand Prix Final, Nationals) which may help them in the long run. They've had more time to put their programs in front of international judges and tweak them. After a surprisingly (surprisingly!) easy qualification into the Grand Prix Final, they struggled in Tokyo finishing 5th (actually was last in the free dance losing to Canadians Crone and Poirier). They also enter this event as the number two Italians, not the national champs. Still, this team can be exciting to watch and given the special circumstance of this competition they may find themselves in a race for the podium.

Sinead Kerr and John Kerr - The other team that has had a full plate this year, the British brother and sister duo seem forever stuck as the bridesmaids and never the brides. At the Grand Prix Final, they didn't look as sharp as they had in the past. This team is always one of the crowd favorites and it's hard not to like them this season with a Linkin Park Free Dance but this team needs to make a big move here to push through to the top. The best thing about this team is the passion and abandon they skate with when they are 'in the zone.' I say at Europeans hold nothing back and just go for it. Throw caution to the wind and let it all hang out...they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Jana Khoklova and Sergei Novitski - After a promising start to their Grand Prix Season in Beijing (they won the silver) they came undone a bit at Cancer.Net Skate America, fell off the podium, and failed to make the Grand Prix Final. Then they actually made the final when Belbin and Agosto withdrew (I will let the tooth saga go...) but decided not to compete. They didn't compete at Russian Nationals either due to a knee injury for Sergei. This team heads to Tallinn a little beat up and needs a turnaround performance to get themselves back in the judges good grace. Their programs are...um...unique? Russian to the core I'd say. Their best asset is their 'in your face wow factor.' They have to use it or I think they will not be happy with their result. The defending champions may have a rough time defending here.

Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali - This team has yet to get their footing under them this season. A shaky start at Samsung Anycall Cup of China where they were just third, they were then forced to withdraw from HomeSense Skate Canada when Federica took ill. They do enter European's having won Italian Nationals and can hopefully get back on track. They won the silver at last season's European's and are hoping to at least match that performance here. They have a great program this season that tells a great story. This team is great at telling stories on the ice. Again, no team looks like clear front runners so anything is possible...perhaps a step higher up the podium this season?

UPDATE: Delobel and Schoenfelder have withdrawn from Europeans

Cake and Candles: Fabian Bourzat

Today is Fabian Bourzat's Birthday! Fabian, along with partner Nathalie Pechalat, is the reigning French National Ice Dance Champion and recently finished third at the Grand Prix Final.

He's turning 29.

Fabian, vous souhaite un merveilleux anniversaire! (Working on my French!)