2011 U.S. Nationals Exhibition Highlights

I'll add a few more videos as they make their way onto youtube. Thank you to users who are uploading them!

If anyone is capable of begrudging Ryan Bradley on his National title, watch this & see if you are still capable of doing that.


Ryan's EX (with a quad!)


Meryl & Charlie's new EX (which is quite adorable!)


Maia & Alex's EX (again... adorable!)


Jeremy Abbott's new EX which he choreographed himself (Love!)


Nathan Chen!

30 Days of Skating - Day 16: Your Dream 2014 Olympic Medalists

...Like you didn't see that coming after you read the title. ;) This one is so much easier than predicting who I think will win!

For the ladies, I'd like to see something like this...

Gold -Mao Asada
Silver - Mirai Nagasu
Bronze -Christina Gao/Akiko Suzuki

Mao is a lovely skater and wants it (Olympic gold) so badly, and I appreciate that she is trying to relearn her jumps in order to have proper technique and a full set of triples. It's hard to correct something when you have the wrong way to do it in your muscle memory from doing it that way so long, and I think it's great that Mao is working on her weak points and trying to make her skating the best it can be. Mirai has a personality that really grabs your attention and when at her best, you can see it in her performances. Christina Gao stood out to me in the splat fest that was US Nationals last season, so I'd like to see her grow and hopefully be an Olympic medalist one day. And finally, Akiko Suzuki, because she skates with heart; you can see she enjoys skating and I love that she brings you along for the ride.

For the pairs... well. I don't see nearly as many anymore, but from what I do...
Gold - Pang/Tong (though in reality, I kinda doubt they'll stay in)
Silver - Savchenko/Szolkowy
Bronze - Barazova/Larionov

I have a soft spot for Pang and Tong after watching them for so long and I'm basically a sucker for a good pairs love story. I enjoy their lyrical style and it's always a pleasure to watch Chinese throws and twists. Savchenko and Szolkowy impressed me at the 2010 Olympics - I really loved their freeskate, and I find it a bit of a shame that their Olympic season didn't go quite how they had hoped (although never would I EVER wish that Shen and Zhao hadn't won in Vancouver) , and I think it'd be great if they stayed in and improved on their placement in Sochi. Barazova and Larionov have a beautiful style, and if they continue to improve and avoid injury, they could definitely be serious contenders at top competitions. I'd definitely like to see that, so long as she works on her jumps (they lack height and possibly rotation).

For ice dance, I'd like...
Gold - Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani
Silver - Meryl Davis/Charlie White
Bronze - ?

Although I have no idea who I'd like to have the bronze at this point in time, I'd love to see the Shibutanis and Marlie go 1-2, in either order (after all, the Shibutanis will still be pretty young for ice dancers). I really enjoy both teams, and how amazing would it be for America to win two Olympic medals in ice dance at one time?!?

For the men...
Gold - Daisuke Takahashi
Silver - Adam Rippon/Takahiko Kozuka
Bronze - Florent Amodio

Yeah, yeah - my pick for gold is extremely predictable, but what can I say? Daisuke is my clear favorite and he wants the gold so badly. I really feel that as amazing of a skater that he is and considering what he's overcome to get this far, that he deserves to be the first Japanese man to win the Olympic title in figure skating. For silver, I can't bring myself to decide who I want it for more at this point, Adam or Takahiko, especially because both will be about the same age and might be thinking of retirement by then :-/. Finally, for bronze, I'd like Florent to have it, although by then he might really be challenging for gold if he continues to develop the way he has been.

Hopefully at least a few of my dream picks will come true - the Olympics aren't exactly my favorite skating competition. There always seems to be a skater who misses out on a medal that really deserved one and either were judged poorly or they succumbed to nerves and robbed themselves. Also, sometimes a skater just happens to get lucky and skate well on the right day, but overall their skating isn't worth an Olympic gold and the recognition that comes along with it. I'll take the World Championships over the Olympic heartbreaks any day.

30 Days of Skating - Day 14: 5 Favorite Dance Teams

I don't watch nearly as much ice dancing as I should, but I do have a few teams that I really like.

Based off of the last half of last season and the beginning of this season, my current favorites are Meryl Davis and Charlie White, Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.

The Shibutanis have really impressed me this season; even with my incomplete knowledge of ice dancing's technical aspect, they seem like they really have a handle on all of the elements they attempt (their twizzles especially are ridiculously good.). More than that though, I really enjoy how they perform. They make ice dancing look fun, easy, and beautiful, and skate so ethereally that it looks like they are skating on air. I really, really hope that they make the World team this season.

Davis and White and Virtue and Moir both really impressed me at the Olympics and Worlds. Both skated lights out, and it's really interesting to see this changing of the guard in ice dancing take place, after beginning a few years ago. It'll be interesting to see how they shape up against each other once Virtue has fully recovered from her surgery.

I also used to like Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto a lot, but they lost their luster for me after the 05-06 season ended. I suppose they were attempting to move onto "more mature" programs, but I don't think what they choose fit their style very well and they began to bore me (which was a factor in my watching ice dancing less).

I know that's only four, but those are the only ones I can list even somewhat definitively, haha. Who are your favorite ice dancing teams?

NHK Trophy - Short Dance

*Disclaimer: I am not, nor do I claim to be an expert on ice dancing. It is by far the discipline that I am least knowledgeable about. That said... here are my thoughts on the first ever short dance in Senior Grand Prix history! =)

 Turoczi / Major (Hungary): I thought they were skating a bit slowly and were very cautious. Twizzles ended up getting messy and the unison in the footwork wasn't very good. 15.81 TE 16.87 PC = 32.68 Total


Yu/Wang (China): Nice flow across the ice. Their twizzles were pretty good, albeit with slightly off unison. I really enjoyed their program. Hopefully they will continue to improve over time.  22.85 TE 20.65 PC = 43.50 Total


Coomes/Buckland (Great Britain): Good speed and I really liked their opening lift.  They seem to have an ease about them that makes them pleasant to watch. Twizzles were alright.  22.36 TE 21.16 PC = 43.52 Total


 Reed/Reed (Japan): Chris has a weird mustache... guess it is part of the costume. Cool opening lift, but they  skated a little slowly. Big problems on the twizzles. They had the best footwork so far though, I thought. 21.86 TE 23.04 PC = 44.90 Total


Ilinkykk/Katsatpov ( Russia): Very nice twizzles. I really didn't like the music. The lift in the middle of the program was great and they had nice footwork. 29.79 TE 27.10 PC = 56.89 Total



Mysliveckova/Novak (Czech Republic): The first half was really folk style, not necessarily my favorite thing.  Good footwork,  bad unison on their twizzles though. 22.07 TE 23.13 PC = 45.20 Total


Shibutani/Shibutani (United States): Maia's extension is lovely! Really nice twizzles, especially the last set. Best footwork so far, but then a random fall (apparently Alex got caught in Maia's dress) and a small shred of her dress was hanging on by a thread. Beautiful lifts. They were lovely, but for the fall. Hopefully they can make up ground for a medal still. 28.57 TE 26.11 PC - 1.00 Deductions = Total 53.68


 Weaver/Poje (Canada): Really can't stand At Last... anyway... smooth skating and the ending lift was nice, but overall they bored me. :-/  31.15 TE 27.54 PC = 58.69 Total


Cappellini/Lanotte (Italy): Again, not loving the song. Bah. Footwork was fine, and the twizzles had a little bit of unison issues, but weren't bad overall.  Her skirt is kind of distracting though, especially during the twizzles. 27.57 TE 28.11 PC = 55.68 Total


Davis/White (United States): AMAZING twizzles, and the lifts were good. They really seemed like they were enjoying themselves out there, which is awesome to see. Overall, they were definitely as good as they are hyped up to be. 32.28 TE 34.69 PC = 66.97 Total

ISU results page for the Short Dance