(I'll update this as each event finishes)
Men's Freeskate Results
Protocols
Overall Results
* Honestly, the men were an absolute disaster - if you watch it, don't get your hopes too high for great skating.
Pairs Freeskate Results
Protocols
Overall Results
Ladies Freeskate Results
Protocols
Overall Results
Free Dance Results
Protocols
Overall Results
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Trophee Eric Bompard: A Preview
Ice Dance: Virtue/Moir will be competing here and are certainly the favorites to win. I'm glad to see that Pechalat/Bourzat are competing after his bout with the flu - they'll likely take silver. I'm curious to see how close to Virtue/Moir they can get and am looking forward to seeing their free dance again. The battle for bronze looks like it will be between Cappellini/Lanotte and Ilinykh/Katsalopov both of whom have already won bronze on the Grand Prix this season (although Ilinykh reportedly hurt her knee last week at NHK Trophy, so it remains to be seen how healthy and ready to compete she will be here.).
Pairs: I think Volosozhar/Trankov shouldn't really have any trouble winning here. Bazarova/Larionov also could place quite well here, but Bazarova often underrotates, two foots, or simply falls on their jumps, so I don't think a silver is a given for them. Duhamel/Radford and Evora/Ladwig look like they could be in it for the bronze. Also, Stolbova/Klimov medaled at Junior Worlds twice consecutively and finished 5th at Skate America last season and could be ones to watch out for here.
Ladies: Carolina Kostner, Alissa Czisny, and Elizaveta Tuktamisheva have all won a Grand Prix already this season. I think Alissa and Carolina might have the edge due to their stronger PCS, but if they falter technically while Elizaveta is clean or near it, her jumps could put her ahead. Kanako Murakami struggled at her last Grand Prix, but her skating is looking more mature this season. If she can keep her jumps together, she might just be able to grab a medal here.
Men: Patrick Chan will almost certainly leave with the gold here; I'm curious to see how he is scored here in comparison to Daisuke Takahashi's from NHK. It's a bit of a toss up when it comes to who else will medal. Michal Brezina won Skate America, but his score wasn't very impressive, he did not attempt a quad (though he has stated that he definitely plans to try some here) and he isn't the most consistent of skaters. Nobunari Oda is a consistent jumper and has begun to land quads again, but is still coming back from his knee issue. Florent Amodio did not start his season off well at all and will want to get things back on track here; if he gains back the consistency he had last season in addition to at least rotating his quad, he could be a factor. Nan Song surprised just about everyone by snagging the bronze at Cup of China with an impressive technical performance in the freeskate. I'm kind of doubtful that he'll be able to duplicate that here, but if he goes clean, it could definitely be interesting. Lastly, Adam Rippon (my personal favorite at this event) is another one that has medal potential, but he'll likely need others to make mistakes in order for him to do so - he struggled with his triple axels at Skate Canada and while he's attempting a quad lutz, I'm not sure he'll be able to pull it off on competitive ice quite yet.
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Pairs: I think Volosozhar/Trankov shouldn't really have any trouble winning here. Bazarova/Larionov also could place quite well here, but Bazarova often underrotates, two foots, or simply falls on their jumps, so I don't think a silver is a given for them. Duhamel/Radford and Evora/Ladwig look like they could be in it for the bronze. Also, Stolbova/Klimov medaled at Junior Worlds twice consecutively and finished 5th at Skate America last season and could be ones to watch out for here.
Ladies: Carolina Kostner, Alissa Czisny, and Elizaveta Tuktamisheva have all won a Grand Prix already this season. I think Alissa and Carolina might have the edge due to their stronger PCS, but if they falter technically while Elizaveta is clean or near it, her jumps could put her ahead. Kanako Murakami struggled at her last Grand Prix, but her skating is looking more mature this season. If she can keep her jumps together, she might just be able to grab a medal here.
Men: Patrick Chan will almost certainly leave with the gold here; I'm curious to see how he is scored here in comparison to Daisuke Takahashi's from NHK. It's a bit of a toss up when it comes to who else will medal. Michal Brezina won Skate America, but his score wasn't very impressive, he did not attempt a quad (though he has stated that he definitely plans to try some here) and he isn't the most consistent of skaters. Nobunari Oda is a consistent jumper and has begun to land quads again, but is still coming back from his knee issue. Florent Amodio did not start his season off well at all and will want to get things back on track here; if he gains back the consistency he had last season in addition to at least rotating his quad, he could be a factor. Nan Song surprised just about everyone by snagging the bronze at Cup of China with an impressive technical performance in the freeskate. I'm kind of doubtful that he'll be able to duplicate that here, but if he goes clean, it could definitely be interesting. Lastly, Adam Rippon (my personal favorite at this event) is another one that has medal potential, but he'll likely need others to make mistakes in order for him to do so - he struggled with his triple axels at Skate Canada and while he's attempting a quad lutz, I'm not sure he'll be able to pull it off on competitive ice quite yet.
Event Page
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Monday, November 14, 2011
NHK Trophy Men's and Ladies Results
Daisuke Takahashi landed his first successful quad flip attempt in the 6 minute warmup before his freeskate. (Above is a slow mo clip of it)
He didn't land his quad flip attempt in his freeskate, but he still won NHK by nearly 25 points after a dazzling program. His spins are showing a lot of improvement, his skating skills (which, in my opinion, were already very good) are better than ever, and his jumps are looking easier.
Men's Freeskate Results
Protocols
Overall Results
Akiko Suzuki held off Mao Asada to win by less than two points overall after the latter won the freeskate with a better performance than she's given in some time and one that should give her and her fans hope for this season.
Ladies Freeskate Results
Protocols
Overall Results
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Daisuke TAKAHASHI - SP
Daisuke Takahashi leads after the men's short program with a personal best of 90.43 points (also the best men's short score of the season).
Brandon Mroz finish 3rd in the short program after landing the first quad lutz ever landed in international competition
Men's Short Results
Protocols
Free Dance Results
Protocols
Ice Dance Overall Results
Pairs Freeskate Results
Protocols
Pairs Overall Results
Friday, November 11, 2011
ISU GP NHK Trophy - Akiko SUZUKI - SP
Akiko Suzuki is in first place after the ladies short with 66.55 points, the highest ladies short score of the season!
Ladies Short Results
Protocols
Pairs Short Results
Protocols
Short Dance Results
Protocols
Thursday, November 10, 2011
NHK Trophy: A Preview
Pairs: Savchenko/Szolkowy are definitely the team to beat, but they'll have more competition this time in Kavaguti/Smirnov. Takahashi/Tran and Iliushechkeni/Maisuradze should be the hunt for the bronze and Denney/Coughlin might be a factor, if they are judged similarly to how they were at their last Grand Prix.
Ice Dance: The Shibutanis, Weaver/Poje, and Ilinykh/Katsalapov seem likely to be the medalists in one order or another. The Shibs have beaten Weaver/Poje before, but not this early in the season; while I'll be rooting for the Shibs, it could go either way. Ilinykh/Katsalapov are the 2010 World Junior Champions and placed 7th at Worlds last season; they also changed coaches during the off season to Nikolai Morozov and this is a good opportunity to see how that has changed their skating.
Ladies: This event doesn't really have a clear favorite. Mao Asada will be competing for the first time this season; she's still working on correcting her flutz, but if her other jumps are being fully rotated, she's definitely one to beat. It still remains a bit of a mystery though - there hasn't been a whole lot of news from her in the off season and I'm very interested in seeing how she skates. Akiko Suzuki is much less of a mystery and is a threat for gold; her main issue is a tendency to pop jumps in the freeskate and that she often doesn't get the PCS that I feel she deserves. Ashley Wagner is coming off of a surprise third place finish at Skate Canada, where despite a fall and flutzing issues, she had an overall strong competition and showed a lot of fight. If she keeps it together like that again here, she could be in the running. Kiira Korpi doesn't have the technical content of some of the other girls, but she usually garners good PCS which, if she does what technical content she has well, could result in a medal. Agnes Zawadzki and Alena Leonova are two more wild cards here; Agnes has massive jumps but lacks consistency, often placing highly in the short program only to falter in the freeskate, while Alena nearly medaled at Worlds last season, but struggled at her first Grand Prix this season.
Men: The battle here should be between Daisuke Takahashi and Takahiko Kozuka, with Tomas Verner, as usual, being a wildcard. Daisuke and Takahiko both had some troubles at their first Grand Prix of the season (and have reportedly both had boot issues) but are still clearly the class of the field. This should make for an interesting matchup (and a stressful one if you're a fan of both, like I am). Tomas played spoiler at Cup of Russia last season, shocking many, and will be looking to do that here, but I believe he'll need his quad if he even wants a fair shake at it. There's a cluster of other guys that will be looking to move up to bronze; the ones that come to mind for more are Armin Mahbanoozadeh, Tatsuki Machida, Brandon Mroz, and Ross Miner. Armin had a poor showing at Skate America and will be looking to improve upon that here and Brandon Mroz has been landing quad lutzes recently, which could help him place highly here if his other jumps remain steady. Ross Miner had a rough short at his last event but came back strong with a solid freeskate; I think it'd be difficult for him to factor in here, but given how the Grand Prix has played out so far... it's hard to count him out. This is Tatsuki Machida's only Grand Prix of this season and he'll want to make a strong statement here to stake his claim on more international assignments. He's one of many good skaters that's had a hard time medaling at Japanese Nationals due to the depth and I'm really looking forward to seeing him skate here.
Event page
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Ice Dance: The Shibutanis, Weaver/Poje, and Ilinykh/Katsalapov seem likely to be the medalists in one order or another. The Shibs have beaten Weaver/Poje before, but not this early in the season; while I'll be rooting for the Shibs, it could go either way. Ilinykh/Katsalapov are the 2010 World Junior Champions and placed 7th at Worlds last season; they also changed coaches during the off season to Nikolai Morozov and this is a good opportunity to see how that has changed their skating.
Ladies: This event doesn't really have a clear favorite. Mao Asada will be competing for the first time this season; she's still working on correcting her flutz, but if her other jumps are being fully rotated, she's definitely one to beat. It still remains a bit of a mystery though - there hasn't been a whole lot of news from her in the off season and I'm very interested in seeing how she skates. Akiko Suzuki is much less of a mystery and is a threat for gold; her main issue is a tendency to pop jumps in the freeskate and that she often doesn't get the PCS that I feel she deserves. Ashley Wagner is coming off of a surprise third place finish at Skate Canada, where despite a fall and flutzing issues, she had an overall strong competition and showed a lot of fight. If she keeps it together like that again here, she could be in the running. Kiira Korpi doesn't have the technical content of some of the other girls, but she usually garners good PCS which, if she does what technical content she has well, could result in a medal. Agnes Zawadzki and Alena Leonova are two more wild cards here; Agnes has massive jumps but lacks consistency, often placing highly in the short program only to falter in the freeskate, while Alena nearly medaled at Worlds last season, but struggled at her first Grand Prix this season.
Men: The battle here should be between Daisuke Takahashi and Takahiko Kozuka, with Tomas Verner, as usual, being a wildcard. Daisuke and Takahiko both had some troubles at their first Grand Prix of the season (and have reportedly both had boot issues) but are still clearly the class of the field. This should make for an interesting matchup (and a stressful one if you're a fan of both, like I am). Tomas played spoiler at Cup of Russia last season, shocking many, and will be looking to do that here, but I believe he'll need his quad if he even wants a fair shake at it. There's a cluster of other guys that will be looking to move up to bronze; the ones that come to mind for more are Armin Mahbanoozadeh, Tatsuki Machida, Brandon Mroz, and Ross Miner. Armin had a poor showing at Skate America and will be looking to improve upon that here and Brandon Mroz has been landing quad lutzes recently, which could help him place highly here if his other jumps remain steady. Ross Miner had a rough short at his last event but came back strong with a solid freeskate; I think it'd be difficult for him to factor in here, but given how the Grand Prix has played out so far... it's hard to count him out. This is Tatsuki Machida's only Grand Prix of this season and he'll want to make a strong statement here to stake his claim on more international assignments. He's one of many good skaters that's had a hard time medaling at Japanese Nationals due to the depth and I'm really looking forward to seeing him skate here.
Event page
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Thursday, November 3, 2011
Cup of China: A Preview
Pairs: This is possibly one of the deeper pairs fields on the Grand Prix so far, Zhang/Zhang, Kavaguti/Smirnov, Moore-Towers/Moscovitch, and Sui/Han likely being the major teams in contention for the podium. Zhang/Zhang led the field after the short program at Skate America and grabbed silver overall, despite not having competed in over a year. Moore-Towers/Moscovitch also medaled at Skate America and will obviously want to repeat that here, but I think it'll be more difficult this with the two Chinese teams and the Russians to contend with. Kavaguti/Smirnov have been World and Olympic medal contenders before and definitely have a good chance win over this field here if they skate well. Sui/Han are a very young team but they did well on the Grand Prix last season and won Junior Worlds for the second year in a row. They may lack finesse, but their big tricks can be absolutely massive, which often helps them shoot up the rankings. Americans Evora/Ladwig are an outside shot for a medal in my opinion, but a solid showing here would be a great way to build confidence going into Nationals.
Ice Dance: World bronze medalists Shibutani/Shibutani are the likely favorites for this event and look to win their first senior title of any kind here . Bobrova/Soloviev will probably be their main challengers for the gold. Beyond that, it's a bit more confusing with Carron/Jones and Coomes/Buckland having been World competitors and Lichtman/Copely who medaled at Junior Worlds last season. The newly formed team of Emily Samuelson/Todd Gilles will also be competing and I'm interested to see where they'll end up (Samuelson's former parter Evan Bates placed 4th at Skate Canada last week with his new partner Madison Chock).
Ladies: Carolina Kostner has to be considered the favorite at this competition. There's a few girls that could defeat her, but for most of them that will probably require mistakes on her part and excellent skates on theirs. Mirai Nagasu should be considered a threat, but her programs this season, especially her freeskate, are lackluster and she displayed very little fire at Skate Canada last week. If Mirai is on, I think she could take Carolina, but like Jeremy, it all depends on what's going on in her head. Kanako Murakami did extremely well on the Grand Prix last season (beating Kostner at Skate America even) and placed at the top 10 at Worlds; she reportedly is having boot problems but if she can fight through that, it's easy to imagine her medaling. Adelina Sotnikova is the 2011 World Junior Champion and will be making her senior GP debut at this event and will likely be a factor if her jumps stay together. Christina Gao will also be making her GP debut; I like her, but I'm not convinced she'll be in it for a medal. She does has a triple flip-triple toe that's been competition tested before though, so I don't think it's entirely out of the question.
Men: The battle for the podium here will be slightly less difficult than it was expected to be, due to Brian Joubert withdrawing because of a back injury he's been dealing with recently. It seems like there will be four main guys in contention, with a few possible spoilers should they falter. Jeremy Abbott is a fantastic all around skater, but how he places here will depend on his mental game; if he keeps it together he could come out with a massive score, but if he doesn't, he could end up off the podium entirely in this field. Artur Gachinski is lacking in some areas but can be a very consistent jumper and has a solid quad under his belt. Yuzuru Hanyu shocked many by placing second behind Daisuke Takahashi at Four Continents last season and while still developing (understandable because he's still only 16), has nice style and some absolutely gorgeous jumps. Nobunari Oda is not planning to attempt a quad here because of a knee injury he was dealing with a few months ago, which could make medaling here significantly more difficult with Gachinski, Abbott, and Hanyu competing; especially with all three planning to quad (to the best of my knowledge). Kevin Reynolds, as usual, has the potential to play spoiler here as he'll probably be attempting at least two types of quads, but he lacks consistency and often falls apart in the freeskate. Richard Dornbush also has a quad planned and can be a steady competitor, but unless the others really struggle, I think don't think his odds of medaling are great.
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Isu Event Page
Ice Dance: World bronze medalists Shibutani/Shibutani are the likely favorites for this event and look to win their first senior title of any kind here . Bobrova/Soloviev will probably be their main challengers for the gold. Beyond that, it's a bit more confusing with Carron/Jones and Coomes/Buckland having been World competitors and Lichtman/Copely who medaled at Junior Worlds last season. The newly formed team of Emily Samuelson/Todd Gilles will also be competing and I'm interested to see where they'll end up (Samuelson's former parter Evan Bates placed 4th at Skate Canada last week with his new partner Madison Chock).
Ladies: Carolina Kostner has to be considered the favorite at this competition. There's a few girls that could defeat her, but for most of them that will probably require mistakes on her part and excellent skates on theirs. Mirai Nagasu should be considered a threat, but her programs this season, especially her freeskate, are lackluster and she displayed very little fire at Skate Canada last week. If Mirai is on, I think she could take Carolina, but like Jeremy, it all depends on what's going on in her head. Kanako Murakami did extremely well on the Grand Prix last season (beating Kostner at Skate America even) and placed at the top 10 at Worlds; she reportedly is having boot problems but if she can fight through that, it's easy to imagine her medaling. Adelina Sotnikova is the 2011 World Junior Champion and will be making her senior GP debut at this event and will likely be a factor if her jumps stay together. Christina Gao will also be making her GP debut; I like her, but I'm not convinced she'll be in it for a medal. She does has a triple flip-triple toe that's been competition tested before though, so I don't think it's entirely out of the question.
Men: The battle for the podium here will be slightly less difficult than it was expected to be, due to Brian Joubert withdrawing because of a back injury he's been dealing with recently. It seems like there will be four main guys in contention, with a few possible spoilers should they falter. Jeremy Abbott is a fantastic all around skater, but how he places here will depend on his mental game; if he keeps it together he could come out with a massive score, but if he doesn't, he could end up off the podium entirely in this field. Artur Gachinski is lacking in some areas but can be a very consistent jumper and has a solid quad under his belt. Yuzuru Hanyu shocked many by placing second behind Daisuke Takahashi at Four Continents last season and while still developing (understandable because he's still only 16), has nice style and some absolutely gorgeous jumps. Nobunari Oda is not planning to attempt a quad here because of a knee injury he was dealing with a few months ago, which could make medaling here significantly more difficult with Gachinski, Abbott, and Hanyu competing; especially with all three planning to quad (to the best of my knowledge). Kevin Reynolds, as usual, has the potential to play spoiler here as he'll probably be attempting at least two types of quads, but he lacks consistency and often falls apart in the freeskate. Richard Dornbush also has a quad planned and can be a steady competitor, but unless the others really struggle, I think don't think his odds of medaling are great.
Icenetwork Livestream Schedule
Isu Event Page
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