2011 Japanese Nationals - Men's Short

Daisuke Takahashi skated a flawless short program that included a clean quad toe-triple toe combination (the first I ever recall him landing offhand) - he scored 96.05 (50.70 TE 45.35 PCS = 96.05.)



Takahiko Kozuka also skated a clean short and is second with 85.60 (45.30 TE 40.30 PCS = 85.60).




Tatsuki Machida



Yuzuru Hanyu



Kento Nakamura



Keiji Tanaka



Shoma Uno



Yoji Tubio (no video available to my knowledge)

Daisuke Murakami



Akio Sasaki



Ryuju Hino



Takahito Mura



 See here for scores

Note: Yuzuru Hanyu was originally in third place, but there was some sort of mistake and he is now in fourth behind Tatsuki Machida (by a small margin, but fourth nonetheless.).

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

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

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.

Skating Updates

Evgeni Plushenko is seeking ISU reinstatement

Some notes from Moscow

Czisny is relaxed and ready to go

Chan leads after the men's short

Be sure to keep checking Universal Sports and IceNetwork for videos and pictures from Worlds, and here for more updates!

Skating Updates

 Takahiko Kozuka won the qualifying round in a stunning fashion, his sole mistake being an underrotated quad toe.

An article on Rachael Flatt concerning Worlds and her future skating and college plans.

An article on Yankowskas & Coughlin, Savchenko & Szolkowy, and Alexander Majorov.

Lastly, it is Alex Shibutani's 20th birthday today! Happy birthday Alex, and good luck at Worlds! (see _skating for a celebration post)

Poll: Who do you want to win the men's title at Worlds?

And the winner is... Daisuke Takahashi, with 66% of the vote! Patrick Chan is the runner up, with 16% percent of the vote.

The next poll is now up! Vote and let me know who you hope will win the ladies title!

Happy Birthday Takahiko!

I thought I'd celebrate Taka's 22nd birthday with a few videos and some pics.

4 Continents Exhibition - Part 4

Daisuke Takahashi (Amelie & his Mambo short program footwork. =D)


^ The more I see that man skate, the more I fall in love with his skating.

Yuzuru Hanyu (Vertigo by U2)


Jeremy Abbott (The Rhythm of Love - Plain White T's)


Takahiko Kozuka ( Hello Goodbye & Safety Dance - Glee)


Adam Rippon (I'm Yours - Jason Mraz)


Exhibition Opening


Exhibition Finale

4 Continents Men's Freeskate Videos

Shawn Sawyer


Armin Mahbanoozadeh


Jinlin Guan


Adam Rippon


Takahiko Kozuka


Jeremy Abbott


Yuzuru Hanyu


Daisuke Takahashi

4 Continents Men's Free & Final Results

1.Daisuke Takahashi TE 78.65 PCS 82.86 -1.00 :FS 160.51 = 244.00 Total (JPN)
2.Yuzuru Hanyu TE 78.20 PCS 73.38  :FS 151.58 = 228.01 Total (JPN)3.Jeremy Abbott TE 71.70 PCS 78.28 -1.00 :FS 148.98 = 225.71 Total (USA)
4.Takahiko Kozuka TE 83.19  PCS 75.08 - 1.00 :FS 157.27 = 223.52 Total (JPN)
5.Adam Rippon TE 66.10 PCS 71.20 :FS 137.30 = 210.01 Total (USA)
6. Jinlin Guan TE 72.30 PCS 66.00  -1.00 :FS 137.30 = 201.98 Total (CHN)
7.Armin Mahbanoozadeh TE 67.93 PCS 66.34 :FS 134.27 = 200.67 Total (USA)
8.Jialiang Wu TE 61.58 PCS 61.58 :FS 136.48 = 199.78 Total (CHN)
9. Nan Song TE 75.02 PCS 60.64 -1.00 :FS 134.66 = 195.13 Total (CHN)
10. Shawn Sawyer TE 59.31 PCS 67.92 - :FS 127.23  = 192.94 Total (CAN)
11.Kevin Reynolds TE 63.34 PCS 64.74 -2.00 :FS 126.08 = 191.55 Total (CAN)
12.Misha GE TE 62.68 PCS 60.78  :FS 123.46 = 182.06 Total (UZB)
13.Abzal Rakimgaliev TE 61.80 PCS 58.00  :FS 119.80 = 180.75 Total (KAZ)
14.Joey Russell TE 57.87 PCS 57.64 -2.00 :FS 113.51 = 171.18 Total (CAN)
15.Min-Seok Kim TE 64.28 PCS 50.64 :FS 114.92 = 168.59 Total (KOR)
16.Mark Webster TE 48.16 PCS 47.12 :FS 95.28 = 143.54 Total (AUS)
17.Jordan Ju TE 48.04 PCS 42.92 - 1.00 :FS 89.96 = 134.33 Total (TPE)
18.Brendan Kerry TE 40.11 PCS 41.08 - 1.00 :FS 80.19 = 125.64 Total (AUS)
19.Wun-Chang Shih TE 39.18 PCS 41.42 :FS 80.60 = 120.96 Total (TPE)
20.Stephen Li-Chung Kuo TE 36.92 PCS 43.22 :FS 80.14 = 117.96 Total (TPE)

Detailed Freeskate Results
Protocols

4 Continents Men's Short Videos

I posted Daisuke Takahashi's short a few posts ago, so if you're looking for that particular video, scroll down a bit. =)

Adam Rippon (Please... grow your hair back out. :-/)


Takahiko Kozuka


Yuzuru Hanyu


Jeremy Abbott


Shawn Sawyer


Kevin Reynolds

4 Continents Men's Short Results

1. Daisuke Takahashi TE 42.35 PCS 41.14 =  83.49 Total (JPN)
2. Jeremy Abbott TE 37.87 PCS 38.86 =  76.73 Total (USA
3. Yuzuru Hanyu TE 40.76 PCS 35.67 =  76.43 Total (JPN)
4. Adam Rippon TE 38.13 PCS 35.58  -1.00 = 72.71 Total (USA)
5. Armin Mahbanoozadeh TE 34.98 PCS 31.42 =  66.40 Total (USA)
6. Takahiko Kozuka TE 30.49 PCS 35.76 =  66.25 Total (JPN)
7. Shawn Sawyer TE 31.58 PCS 34.13 = 65.71 Total (CAN)
8. Kevin Reynolds TE 34.14 PCS 33.33 -2.00 = 65.47 Total (USA)
9. Jinlin Guan TE 34.75 PCS 29.93 = 64.68 Total (CHN)
10. Jialiang Wu TE 34.51 PCS 28.79 = 63.30 Total (CHN)
11. Abzal Rakimgaliev TE 31.41 PCS 29.54 = 60.95 Total (KAZ)
12. Nan Song TE 29.61 PCS 30.86 = 30.86 Total (CHN)
13. Misha Ge TE 30.46 PCS 28.14 = 58.60 Total (UZB)
14. Joey Russell TE 29.00 PCS 29.67 -1.00 = 57.67 Total (CAN)
15. Min-Seok Kim TE 28.10 PCS 25.57 = 53.67 Total (KOR)
16. Mark Webster TE 24.61 PCS 23.65 = 48.26 Total (AUS)
17. Brendan Kerry TE 23.70 PCS 21.75 = 45.45 Total (AUS)
18. Jordan Ju TE 24.02 PCS 20.35 = 44.37 Total (TPE)
19. Wun-Chang Shih TE 20.04 PCS 20.32  = 40.36 Total (TPE)
20. Stephen Li-Chung Kuo TE 15.21 PCS 23.61 -1.00 = 37.82 Total (TPE)

Detailed Results
Protocols

Japanese Nationals - Mens Results

1. Takahiko Kozuka
2. Nobunari Oda
 3. Daisuke Takahashi
4. Yuzuru Hanyu

The World team is Takahiko Kozuka, Nobunari Oda, and Daisuke Takahashi. 4 Continents is assigned to Takahiko, Yuzuru Hanyu, and Daisuke.

Freeskate Protocols
Freeskate Results
Overall Results

Congratulations to Takahiko on his first National title. It is a shame that he couldn't have won with a performance that he'd be more pleased with (I heard he disagreed with his score for the freeskate, thinking it too high), but it's still a big accomplishment.

As you could see from my post the other day day, I am extremely proud of Daisuke for pulling through and skating his best freeskate all season (and the performance of the night) to finish second in the freeskate and third overall. Here's to hoping that he takes a well deserved rest for a few days, and that his injury heals soon. After that, I think his focus should be getting the levels on his spins up (level 4's probably would have gotten him at least silver here), and obviously getting at least one of the quads consistent again. If Daisuke can do those things in the month and a half that he has until 4 Continents, he should be in much better stead. Sending my prayers that he'll be healthy and ready for Worlds!

Japanese Nationals - Men's Short Results

Well THAT certainly didn't go as expected! 

1. Takahiko Kozuka 87.91
2. Yuzuru Hanyu 78.94
3. Nobunari Oda 77.48
4. Daisuke Takahashi 74.78
5. Tatsuki Machida 73.75
6. Takahito Mura 72.33

From what I've gathered online, here is a summary how the top 4 skated. (If anything is wrong, I'll correct it once I've seen it and can confirm it.)

 Yuzuru Hanyu landed a clean triple axel, triple lutz-triple toe, and a triple flip.( Very good! It's nice to see him skate so well, he's definitely one to keep an eye on. Fuji TV's camera work was... interesting. It made it look like his donut spin was all over the place.)

Daisuke stepped out of his triple flip-triple toe, and had a shaky triple axel, but had a triple lutz that was fine. I didn't expect him to be under Yuzuru based on how Yuzuru was scored on the Grand Prix. I'm thinking he had something called underrotated or downgraded. (Upon watching, it is pretty evident Daisuke was not himself. None of the jumps were very secure and even the spins had trouble. It did look like he had the axel ,though maybe slightly underrotated, but then he flipped out of it. The second half of his combo looked underrotated in the replay too. In a Japanese article he said he's in a better condition than at the GPF, but his coach has alluded otherwise. :-/)

Takahiko landed a triple axel, triple lutz-triple toe, and a triple flip, all cleanly. (After watching... Holy cow! Those jumps were GORGEOUS! Definitely among the best I've ever seen him do. Good for him! I do still find it shocking that he hit 87 without a quad, but I've heard that he got level 4 on all his spins and the step sequence, and I guess the GOE was through the roof on the jumps, deservedly.)

Nobunari fell on his quad attempt, which was supposed to be his combo. He landed a clean triple axel and triple lutz-triple toe, but lost his balance and fell during the footwork sequence. (Ouch. Well, he did think on his feet this time and salvaged some points by making the lutz his combo.)

Unfortunately, it is definitely going to be an uphill battle for Daisuke to keep his title. Takahiko has over 13 points on Daisuke, so Daisuke's going to have to skate near perfect, sell it for everything it is worth and likely hope for mistakes by at least Takahiko.  Nobunari has his work cut out for him as well, if he wants the title, as he is 10 points behind the leader as well. 

As much as I love Takahiko, you can bet that I'll be praying for a Christmas miracle for Daisuke. :P

EDIT: Links added! Thank you to whoever sent them to me. 

P.S. Merry Christmas Eve and Merry Christmas to all of my readers!

Japanese Nationals - Schedule & Starting Orders

My sister was kind enough to convert the schedule from Japanese time to Eastern Standard time. =)

Friday, December 24th

Pairs Short 2:00 AM - 2:15 AM

Mens Short 2:20 AM - 6:30 AM

Short Dance 11:00 PM - 11:20 PM

Pairs Free 11:20 - 11:35 PM

Ladies Short 11:50 PM - 4:10 AM

Saturday, December 25th

Mens Free 4:05 AM - 8:00 AM

Pairs & Men's Awards 8:00 AM

Sunday, December 26th

Free Dance 1:00 AM - 1:20 AM

Ladies Free 1:30 AM - 5:30 AM

Ladies and Ice Dance Awards 5:40 AM

World's Team Announcement 7:00 AM

Monday, December 27th

Medalist on Ice Exhibition (Guests Stephane Lambiel and Evgeni Plushenko) 3:00 AM - 6:00 AM

Check on ontd_skating for streaming times (not live though).

Practice Videos 

1
2

(Sorry, I tried to embed them but they turned out huge and messed with the page a bit.)

Daisuke Takahashi, Takahiko Kozuka, and Nobunari Oda all seem to be in good condition - Daisuke told the press that his quad toe is inconsistent right now, but he might still go for it , but that if it is too unstable, he may try the quad flip instead. He does attempt a quad flip in one of the videos above and while I'm not sure it was fully rotated, I think it may have been more rotated than the attempt at the Grand Prix Final (though still two footed). Reportedly, the rest of his jumps are fine.

Also notable is that Mao Asada did land a triple axel in practice, but on the video it does look at least a little bit cheated.

Starting Orders
Mens Short

1	Ryuichi KIHARA
2	Yukihiro YOSHIDA
3	Sei KAWAHARA
4	Junzo NISHIGAMI
5	Yuya TAMADA
6	Yuki HORINOUCHI
7	Fumiya ITAI
8	Hiroki HABU
9	Ryujyu HINO
10	Kento NAKAMURA
11	Akio SASAKI
12	Jun SUZUKI
13	Hayato MIYAZAKI
14	Koshin YAMADA
15	Keiji TANAKA
16	Hikaru MURAYAMA
17	Junki SANO
18	Naoto SAITO
19	Yoji TSUBOI
20	Jo MATSUMURA
21	Yuzuru HANYU
22	Takuya KONDO
23	Kensuke NAKANIWA
24	Daisuke TAKAHASHI
25	Hayato ODAJIMA
26	Takahiko KOZUKA
27	Daisuke MURAKAMI
28	Tatsuki MACHIDA
29	Takahito MURA
30	Nobunari ODA
31	Yasuharu NANRI
32	Tomoyuki KORIYAMA

Ladies Short

1	Saya UENO
2	Haruna SUZUKI
3	Rumi SUIZU
4	Haruka INOUE
5	Nana TAKEDA
6	Shion KOKUBUN
7	Kana MURAMOTO
8	Juri OKAWA
9	Naomi TANIKAWA
10	Karen KEMANAI
11	Risa SHOJI
12	Kako TOMOTAKI
13	Aki SAWADA
14	Hikaru NASUNO
15	Yuki NISHINO
16	Risa MOCHIZUKI
17	Miyabi OHBA
18	Roannasari OSHIKAWA
19	Eri SETO
20	Risa SASAKI
21	Mutsumi TAKAYAMA
22	Ayane NAKAMURA
23	Shoko ISHIKAWA
24	Kanako MURAKAMI
25	Haruka IMAI
26	Miki ANDO
27	Mari SUZUKI
28	Akiko SUZUKI
29	Mao ASADA
30	Fumie SUGURI
31	Ayumi GOTO
32	Yuka KOUNO

Pairs Short
1Narumi TAKAHASHI/Mervin TRAN

Short Dance

1	Cathy REED/Chris REED
2	Emi HIRAI/Taiyo MIZUTANI

Universal Sports Article

I'm so excited!

Grand Prix Final: Men's Freeskate

Florent Amodio (France): Good triple axel at the beginning, followed by his triple axel-double toe combo - he had to hold the axel, but he got it done. A attempted triple loop that looked off from the takeoff was crooked and doubled. Good footwork, albeit with some moments where he just stands and dances, but what actual content was there was good. A flying sit spin with a cannonball variation was okay. Triple salchow-triple toe, the latter of which was at least two-footed, but otherwise done. Triple lutz, fine, and a triple flip that was great, except the wrong edge yet again. I definitely hope he works on that edge in the future; he pretty consistently does a flip on the outside edge, and that results in deductions. Triple lutz-double toe was alright,  as was his last jumping pass, a double axel. Second footwork sequence was cute, and skated well enough. Combo spin was alright, but some of the positions could have been better, and the final sit change sit was okay. Not his best skate, but it really wasn't bad, and it was a pretty decent comeback from his short program.  Florent just has a way of making people smile when he skates; it is evident that he really enjoys performing, even if he wasn't at his best at this competition. He also further endeared himself to me by  pretending to eat a stuffed ice cream cone in the kiss and cry. =) 70.40 TE 69.86 PCS ; 140.26 FS = 201.90 Total (6th)

Tomas Verner (Czech Republic): Started the program with his first quad toe attempt of the season - unfortunately, it was popped into a triple. He got it back together with a good triple axel-double toe combination shortly thereafter though, and a good triple loop. His first footwork sequence was alright, but as noted before by myself and others, while Tomas does the footwork well, his skating skills aren't as polished as the other men competing at the GPF; maybe not even as polished as Florent's. Flying sit spin was okay I guess, followed by a good triple axel. Lovely triple lutz after that; he got a full point extra on GOE. Great triple salchow and a triple flip that was on the wrong edge, but otherwise good. Stepped out on his triple lutz-double toe combo, but he did get credit for it as a combination and not a sequence. Slowish sit change sit spin, another footwork sequence that was fine, if unremarkable, and an okay combo spin to finish up.  I don't think that Tomas had his usual energy and spark artistically that he sometimes has, but it was pretty good technically. Like Florent, he also messed around in the kiss and cry, haha. 74.35 TE 73.92 PCS ; 148.27 FS = 213.64 Total (5th)

Takahiko Kozuka (Japan): The choreography at the beginning of the program always seems to highlight how beautifully he moves his body while skating. Opened up with a quad toe attempt that was two-footed and called underrotated; I do think I agree with that call.Triple axel was a little bit tight looking to me, but still good. Triple lutz-double toe was fine, followed by an alright combo spin that was clearly the best up to that point. First footwork sequence was gorgeous; I was really captivated this time around. Triple axel-double toe was managed, but he decided against using it as his three jump combination like he did in Paris. Triple flip was alright, if tentative. Triple lutz-triple toe was again tough at the ending. After that, a triple loop that was fine and a triple salchow that was kinda scratchy looking to me, but it actually garnered positive GOE... maybe I saw wrong? Nice death drop and very nice footwork, followed by an alright combo spin, which had a pretty nice and well center scratch spin at the end. Not as good as Paris, but still a good skate. His main problem was just having landings that didn't have a whole lot of flow coming out of them. One has to wonder if Takahiko was affected by his crash with Daisuke a couple of days prior; everywhere I've read has said that he has apologized multiple times and really feels bad about the incident, so I wouldn't rule it out. 82.25 TE 77.64 PCS ; 159.89 FS = 237.79 Total (3rd)

Daisuke Takahashi (Japan): Surprisingly, he started with a quad flip attempt, which was two-footed, severely underrotated and consequently downgraded by the technical specialists (By the way, anyone wondering why Daisuke would attempt this while not feeling his best: when his quad toe isn't reliable, he feels like it is a safer bet to go for the quad flip, because even if he doesn't rotate it, it's worth more than a downgraded quad toe and he falls on it less.). Really good triple axel, which received two points extra on GOE! After that was a triple loop that was okay, maybe a bit rough. Flying sit spin combo was fine, and the first footwork sequence was good, but not as great as usual. Stepped out of a triple flip-triple toe combo, the latter of which was downgraded and a bad fall on his second triple axel attempt, looked underrotated. Flying layback spin was alright, and then a good triple lutz.Triple salchow, maybe underrotated a bit. Fall on the second triple lutz, also underrotated, but I had a bad feeling about that one from the preparation; he really didn't have much speed going into it. Second footwork sequence was definitely slower that usual, but okay as far as the normal standard goes, and the final combo spin was just okay.For some reason two spins were only level 1; he's probably going to want to work on that.

Poor Daisuke. He seemed really tired in the second half and I'm sure he's extremely dissatisfied with his performance. Even the artistic quality to his skating didn't shine through as well as usual. I still think it an admirable effort though; here he was considering withdrawing and then he goes for a quad flip, haha. But, ah well, there'll be other competitions and really, I think the biggest hit to his technical score was that he only could complete one combination; his two falls were on his second attempts on the triple lutz and triple axel, rendering them sequences and causing him to be unable to add any more combos and salvage more points. It seems he's learned from Nobunari's past mistakes; thank God someone has. Here's to hoping that he recovers well from whatever injury he received in the crash and will be ready for Nationals and Worlds.
58.20 TE 81.00 PCS -2.00 Deductions ; 137.20 FS = 219.77 Total (4th)

Patrick Chan (Canada): Opened with an okay quad toe and an alright triple axel-double toe combination. Nice triple lutz and good footwork too, as well as a pretty good death drop. Fallout on the second triple axel, as well as the second triple lutz-half loop-double toe. Good sit change sit spin and he held onto a triple flip-triple toe combo. Nice triple loop and a good double axel. Finished up with good footwork and a good combo spin. Loads better than his other freeskates this season and if he had to win, I'm glad it was pretty clean , but I don't really have much else to say besides ,"Oh, now you don't fall" :P. Oh, and huge scores... too huge, in my opinion. 86.94 TE 87.22 PCS ; 174.16 FS = 259.75 Total (1st)

Nobunari Oda (Japan): He started off by dashing my hopes with a fall on his quad toe (deemed underrotated, though I disagree with that one). He came back soon after with a very nice triple axel-triple toe and a gorgeous triple flip-triple toe. His first footwork sequence was alright, and the flying camel combo spin was nice too. Great triple lutz (though, alas, edge called), followed by a lovely triple axel. The followed triple loop was alright and then a triple salchow-double toe-double loop that lost speed, but was okay. Good double axel, but much to my chagrin, he fell on the landing edge (I think he said he hit a rough spot?) and then missed part of his footwork sequence after. He finished off with a pair of pretty good spins. Ugh. He's an extremely maddening skater. First the combo counting issues, and now this fluke fall on a double axel.79.58 TE 78.64 PCS -2.00 Deductions ; 156.22 FS = 242.81 Total (2nd)

Freeskate Results
Overall Results

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.

Grand Prix Final - The Preview

After the marathon that is the regular Grand Prix season, it's always strange having this small lull in the action while the skating world waits for the Grand Prix Final to take place. This season is certainly no exception. So far, surprisingly, there have been no withdrawal announcements (although there are still a few days left for that). With the lineups the way they currently stand, the event has the potential to be rather interesting and in the case of the ladies (and the men to some degree), unpredictable. All that said, here are my thoughts.

 Ice Dance Qualifiers
1. Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA)
2. Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat (FRA)
3. Vanessa Crone/Paul Poirier (CAN)
4. Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev (RUS)
5. Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje (CAN)
6. Nora Hoffmann/Maxim Zavozin (HUN)
Substitutes
7. Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA)
7. Madison Chock/Greg Zuerlein (USA)
8. Ekaterina Riazanova/Ilia Trachenko (RUS)

I think the battle for gold here will most likely be between Davis/White and Pechalat/Bourzat. I'd still give the edge to Davis/White, but the French have come much closer to their point total than anyone expected before this season started. In all honesty, it seems like everyone else will just be fighting for the bronze.And my personal hope? Simply that a team will withdraw so that the Shibutanis get a chance to compete at the GPF this year and so we get a last chance to see them compete before Nationals.

Pairs Qualifiers
1. Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (GER)
2. Qing Pang/Jian Tong (CHN)
3.  Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov (RUS)
4.  Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch (CAN)
5. Lubov Iliushechkina/Nodari Maisuradze (RUS)
6. Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (CHN)
Substitutes 
7. Narumi Takahashi/Mervin Tran (JPN)
8. Caitlin Yankowskas/John Coughlin (USA)
9. Paige Lawrence/Rudi Swiegers (CAN)

 As in the ice dancing event, in pairs the top two teams are the clear frontrunners. Savchenko/Szolkowy and Pang/Tong should be the teams to watch here, but if either team really falters, Barazova/Larionov are the most likely to crash their party. Sui/Han will also be looking to place well in their home country and might be a threat for bronze if all of their tricks are there. Also, a fun fact: Sui/Han also qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final this season, but chose to compete in the Senior event instead (which I feel is definitely a wise choice), and the first alternates Takahashi/Tran also qualified for the JGPF. 

Ladies Qualifiers
1. Miki Ando (JPN)
2. Alissa Czisny (USA)
3. Carolina Kostner (ITA)
4. Kanako Murakami (JPN)
5. Akiko Suzuki (JPN)
6. Rachael Flatt (USA)
Substitutes
7. Kiira Korpi (FIN)
8. Mirai Nagasu (USA)
9. Ashley Wagner (USA)

As I previously stated, the Ladies event is likely to be the most unpredictable in Beijing, which could be exciting or just disastrous. I'd normally say that Miki Ando has possibly the best chance at gold here, but she got injured at Cup of Russia and was skating in pain during the freeskate. How she places will probably be determined by how well she has recovered. If Miki is healed enough to rotate and land her jumps well, it might just be enough for the title. Carolina Kostner will likely still be skating with watered down jumping content but if she lands what content she has, the judges are pretty likely to reward her with a medal. Alissa Czisny is as inconsistent as can be, and while her spins and spirals are very pretty, I really doubt that the jumps will be there for her and consequently am not convinced that she'll manage more than a bronze, if that.

I also think that Akiko Suzuki has a clear shot at a medal if she just lands her jumps and is just a lovely skater to watch; I'm definitely hoping that she can put all the elements together at this event and claim the title. Kanako Murakami and Rachael Flatt are each a bit of a question mark here; Kanako is lively and vivacious, but not necessarily the most consistent jumper, and I still find her rough around the edges, while Rachael is somewhat the opposite; consistent, but never exciting, and the judges haven't been doing her many favors lately (compared to other ladies).

Mens Qualifiers
1. Takahiko Kozuka (JPN)
2. Daisuke Takahashi (JPN)
3. Patrick Chan (CAN)
4. Tomas Verner (CZE)
5. Nobunari Oda (JPN)
6. Florent Amodio (FRA)
Substitutes
7. Jeremy Abbott (USA)
8. Brandon Mroz (USA)
9. Adam Rippon (USA)

As has been the case all season, the men look to be the highlight of the competition. All of these guys have the potential to be on the podium, so this event is somewhat hard to predict, though there's one or two that I find more likely to be on the podium than the others. Patrick Chan may have a harder time getting away with big mistakes in a field this deep, but I have a feeling that he's likely to medal even with those mistakes unless his competitors skate lights out. Daisuke Takahashi hasn't been as clean as he would've liked thus far this season, but his freeskate has been getting stronger at each event, so hopefully it will come together for him here. If Daisuke is clean, that along with his high (deservedly so) component scores will likely give him the win, and even if he has a couple of minor mistakes, he'll probably still be in the mix for a medal. Takahiko Kozuka, the surprise top qualifier for the Grand Prix Final,, will find himself in good stead if he skates as consistently as he has at his two Grand Prix events; if Patrick and Daisuke really fall short, Takahiko potentially could beat both of them and win his first major ISU championship. Even if he doesn't win, he has an excellent shot at medaling.

Nobunari Oda is also a possible medal threat - when he's on, he's great, and he always garners a lot of positive Grades of Execution on his jumps. He'll need to keep track of his combinations in this field though; it might be a close contest and he can't afford to give away that many points. Tomas Verner and Florent Amodio are the wild cards of sorts here; if either skate flawlessly, they could find themselves on the podium, but it may take mistakes by others to make that happen. Also, neither of them have attempted a quad in competition so far this season and if the other guys land theirs, that might end up being the difference between 3rd and 6th. Tomas plans to put a quad in at some point this season, possibly at the Final, but Florent has no such plans (his coach Morozov is leaving it out in attempt to build consistency and thus far, it is working).

Overall, the Grand Prix Final looks like it could really be a good competition, with some of the top skaters facing each other for the first time this season. The action starts Friday morning at 4:15 AM, Eastern Standard time.

Grand Prix Final Entries
Grand Prix Final Live Streaming Times