Skate America: A Preview

Here are my brief thoughts on who I suspect will be a factor at Skate America this weekend.

Pairs: World Champions Savchenko and Szolkowy should have no problem winning here. The bigger question is who else will be on the medal stand. Zhang and Zhang were out last season after an odd injury so it's hard to say how well they'll skate, but they've been among the best in the world for years and certainly shouldn't be counted out. Moore-Towers and Moscovitch, Russians Bazarova and Larionov, and possibly
Hausch and Wendes will all be looking to medal here as well.

Ice dance: Davis and White are the clear favorites to win, with Pechalat and Bourzat being pretty much a lock for silver. Who will get the bronze medal is more of the mystery - I'm leaning towards it being one of the two Canadian teams competing here (Paul and Islam and Ralph and Hill).

Ladies: There's a lot of ladies here who could potentially medal, but I think that either Carolina Kostner or Alissa Czisny have the most potential to win this event. Joshi and Viktoria Helgesson, Haruka Imai, Elene Gedenishvili, and Ksenia Makarova could all also be in the hunt as well.

Men: World medalist Takahiko Kozuka has to be considered the frontrunner here, with Florent Amodio being the most likely skater to challenge him. Michal Brezina is anything but consistent but he's managed to squish into 4th at Worlds twice, so it's hard to count him out. Last year's surprise medalist Armin Mahbanoozadeh will be looking to repeat here, with teammate and U.S. silver medalist Richard Dornbush will be competing at his first senior Grand Prix ever. Daisuke Murakami and Denis Ten are each a bit of a question mark, but if either go clean and others struggle, I could see one of them medaling.

Skating Updates

Daisuke Takahashi is not retiring and plans to compete next season. He says he wants to take things one season at a time, but has also stated in several interviews that he would like to compete in Sochi. Daisuke will be having knee surgery to remove the screw left from his prior surgery to repair his ACL and meniscus (this month, if I am not mistaken).

Daisuke also spoke to Icenetwork about his 5 favorite things.

Controversy abounds about whether or not Rachael Flatt should have competed at Worlds with her fractured tibia. While I am of the opinion that she should have withdrawn, I think it's more important to be asking why her coach Zakrajsek would even let her compete in such pain (and in fact, has a history of letting or supporting his skaters do so.)

Meryl Davis and Charlie White make history as the first American ice dance team to ever win Worlds. Alongside Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani, they created another historic moment; it was also the first time that North America swept the entire ice dance podium at Worlds.

The ISU President gave out some more details on the team skating event for Sochi.

Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin are calling it quits (despite their 6th place finish at Worlds...). She is looking for another partner while he is weighing his options.

Yu-Na Kim donated her prize money from her silver medal win at Worlds to UNICEF to help Japanese children.

An article on Alena Leonova.

Takahiko Kozuka talks about his flawless freeskate at Worlds.

Worlds Free Dance and Final Results

Free Dance results

Protocols

Overall results

Post free dance interviews

Meryl Davis and Charlie White (1st)



Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (2nd)



Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani (3rd!)



Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje (5th)

Worlds Short Dance Results

Short Dance Results

Protocols

Post short dance interviews

Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (1st)



Meryl Davis & Charlie White (2nd)



Maia & Alex Shibutani (4th)

Skating Updates

So sorry for the lack of posting! I've been enjoying the calm before the storm that is Worlds. Updates will definitely be a LOT more frequent when it is about to start. That said, here's some recent skating news!

There will be a free Russian live stream of Worlds!

Japanese skating fans should be pleased to hear that Fuji TV will be covering Worlds.

A new Alissa Czisny article by Phil Hersh.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir talk about Tessa's injury at 4 Continents, and how the delay of Worlds has enabled them to polish their free dance.They have changed a lift to avoid straining her quad again.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White also believe that the wait has been beneficial, but haven't made any changes to their programs.They're trying not to think about the prospect of being the first U.S. Dance team to win Worlds too much.

An interview with Rachael Flatt.

The Final Round of Fantasy Skating is open!

Patrick Chan talks about his hopes for Worlds. 

Ryan Bradley talks about Worlds (of course) and competing against Daisuke Takahashi at World Juniors in 2002. 

Maia and Alex Shibutani spoke to Icenetwork about their five favorite things.

An update from the ISU. Of interest is the fact they have approved the idea of 3 new pro am competitions, as well as allowing (requiring?) seeded skaters to compete in 3 Grand Prixs each season.

Skating Updates

Marina Zoueva & Carol Lane talk about waiting for Worlds

A translation of the French Federation's offer to give Japan next year's Worlds

Yu-Na Kim gave a sneak peek of her new short program


& will make a pitch for Korea's bid for the 2018 Olympics

All That Skate Korea announcement

 Finally and most importantly, Worlds has been moved to Russia and will take place April 24th - May 1st!


The ISU announcement

Phil Hersh's take on it - includes snippets with Meryl Davis 

Universal Sports spoke to Ross Miner about Worlds' relocation . Apparently the rink in Sendai, Japan, is gone, which is where World Junior Champion and 2011 Four Continents Silver Medalist Yuzuru Hanyu trains if I'm not mistaken. :-/

They also spoke to Rachael Flatt, Mark Ladwig, Michal Brezina, & Meryl Davis 

Patrick Chan article

4 Continents Exhibition Part 3

Meryl Davis & Charlie White (with encore)


Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani


Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje


Vanessa Crone & Paul Poirier


Madison Chock & Greg Zuerlein (Missing the beginning - I think I heard the stream was on commercial at the start of it or something.)

4 Continents Ice Dance Videos

Virtue & Moir Free Dance attempt and withdrawal.


Virtue & Moir Short Dance



Davis & White Free Dance

Shibutani & Shibutani Free Dance

4 Continents Free Dance & Final Dance Results

You may have heard by now, by Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir withdrew after completing a few elements, reportedly due to a tightness in her thigh muscles. A Skate Canada team leader claims that it is unrelated to her recent shin surgery.

1. Meryl Davis & Charlie White TE 50.01 PCS 53.01 ;FD 103.02 = 172.03 Total (USA)
2. Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani TE 48.76 PCS 44.58 ;FD 93.34 = 155.38 Total (USA)
3. Vanessa Crone & Andrew Poirier TE 47.27 PCS 42.90 ;FD 90.17 = 151.83 Total (CAN)
4. Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje TE 42.29 PCS 43.40 ;FD 85.69 = 151.14 Total (CAN)
5. Madison Chock & Greg Zuerlein TE 44.15 PCS 41.15 :FD 85.30 = 142.44 Total (USA)
6. Xingtong Huang & Xun Zheng TE 40.01 PCS 37.35 ;FD 77.36 = 130.29 Total (CHN)
7. Xiaoyang Yu & Chen Wang TE 40.92 PCS 34.25 ;FD 75.17 = 125.75 Total (CHN)
8. Xueting Guan & Meng Wang TE 35.10 PCS 28.39 ;FD 63.49 = 106.26 Total (CHN)
9.Danielle Obrien & Gregory Merriman TE 35.72 PCS 26.30 ;FD 62.02 = 104.69 Total (AUS)
10. Corenne Bruhns & Benjamin Westenberger TE 24.95 PCS 22.92 ;FD 47.87 = 88.55 Total (MEX)
11. Maria Borounov & Evgeni Borounov TE 24.66 PCS 19.05 ;FD 43.71 = 72.23 Total (AUS)


Detailed FD Results
Protocols

4 Continents Short Dance Results

1. Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir TE 35.64 PCS 33.76  =  69.40 Total
2. Meryl Davis & Charlie White = TE 34.50 PCS 34.51 = 69.01 Total
3. Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje TE 36.50 PCS 28.95 = 65.45 Total
4. Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani TE 34.22 PCS 27.82 = 62.04 Total
5. Vanessa Crone & Paul Poirier TE 33.50 PCS 28.16 = 61.66 Total
6.  Madison Chock & Greg Zuerlein TE 30.94 PCS 26.20  = 57.14 Total
7. Xintong Huang & Xun Zheng TE 28.42 PCS 24.51 = 52.93 Total
8. Xiaoyang Yu & Chen Wang TE 27.78 PCS 22.80 = 50.58 Total
9. Xueting Guan & Meng Wang TE 24.72 PCS 18.05 = 42.77 Total
10. Danielle Obrien & Gregory Merriman TE 42.67 PCS 17.67 = 42.67 Total
11. Corenne Bruhns & Benjamin Westenberger TE 25.28 PCS 15.40 = 40.68 Total
12. Maria Borounov & Evgeni Borounov TE 15.62 PCS 12.90  = 28.52 Total

Detailed Short Dance Results
Protocols