Omaha or Bust: Bring on the boys! January 23, 2013

Based on name recognition and resume, the mens title would seem to be easily in the hands of reigning champ, Jeremy Abbott. He has the pedigree. He has the experience. He’s won the title not once, not even just twice, but three times already. He comes to Omaha armed with extraordinarily complex choreography, emotionally engaging music, and the jumps, steps, and spins to rank him one of the world’s best.

But, he’s battled some physical setbacks this year that made those technical things quite difficult.

Meanwhile, Ross Miner made good strides on the international circuit, scoring the highest totals of any U.S. man in a Grand Prix event when he took bronze at NHK Trophy.

There’s also Richard Dornbush and Adam Rippon. Both have had their struggles. Both have had their moments to shine. Both would love to be on the World Team again. But, their path to a world spot isn’t simple.

Not only do they have to get past Abbott or Miner, but they have to hold off challengers like Armin Mahbanoozadeh, Brandon Mroz, Douglas Razzano, and young stars like Joshua Farris, Jason Brown, and perhaps the stiffest competition, Max Aaron.

Max presents a potentially large road block. His score of 231.27 at the Senior B event in Salt Lake City to start the year is higher than Abbott’s best Grand Prix score. That carries some weight.

Understand, though — that was a very well executed competition for Aaron. It was not Abbott’s best competition. Not by a long shot.

All that means is, Max Aaron is in play for a medal. But, he’ll have to be GREAT, while others have room for error.

Likewise, Mahbanoozadeh has a chance to make a splash. He was dealing with an ankle injury at Skate America (where he was a last minute replacement for Evan Lysacek), but is always a potential spoiler.

Razzano was 5th at Nationals last season after pulling up from 8th in the short to 4th in the long. Could he be this year’s upset?

Not that it means anything now, but, just for kicks, how different would this competition be if Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir had, indeed, come back and been able to compete?

Johnny attempted the comeback. His Grand Prix experiment didn’t go so well. Not that he didn’t make a valiant effort, but it appeared that he sorely underestimated how far he was from being a contender.

If he’d stuck it out, trained as hard as ever, and been scheduled to skate in Omaha, how would he have fared? It’s hard to say, of course, but based on what we saw out of him earlier this fall, he would have been a long shot.

And Evan? He couldn’t have been counted out, that’s for certain. If he’d been healthy enough to compete internationally earlier in the year, and if he was truly back in “fighting shape,” you’d be hard pressed to deny his chances.

Lysacek provided consistency for the American men for many years. Many hoped he’d be able to come back and help earn back that third World Team spot. Instead, he stares down a potential comeback during the Olympic season, instead of before it. That’s no easy task, to say the least.

Meanwhile, though, we have a handful of contenders who will be in Omaha. And I have a feeling they’re going to put on quite a show!

Who do you think makes the World Team? Who will fare the best against Evgeyni Plushenko, Patrick Chan, and the Japanese superstars?

Here are my predictions.

Gold: Abbott
Silver: Miner
Bronze: Aaron
Pewter: Dornbush

Don’t forget to follow me on twitter (@FromTheBoards) for updates from Omaha. And, if you’re an instagramer, follow me @TaraBethW for pictures throughout the week!

It’s a wrap! Junior Worlds Results March 5, 2011

Well, the Junior World Championships from Korea are complete. Due to the time difference and lack of available coverage, I saw all of 3 skates thus far. More are making their way to Youtube, I’m sure, but here’s a quick look at how things shaped up.

 

The Pairs title was the first one handed out, and, as expected, Wenjing Sui/Cong Han took it easily. Their 7.41 victory, though, doesn’t show off the kind of success they had on the senior circuit this season. Some wondered if they would be distracted by their involvement in the Chinese age controversy, but they managed just fine.

Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov topped Narumi Takahashi/Mervin Tran in the free skate to take the silver. Takahashi/Tran, then, took bronze.

Americans Ashley Cain/Joshua Reagan finished a distant fourth, scoring a 135.40 overall, but have put themselves in good position for next season. I like this team, from their long, elegant look on the ice, to their positive-but-always-competitive attitudes. I hope the off season is good to them and they come back strong next year, as the teams ahead of them are already on their way to strong senior careers as well.

Find complete Pairs results here.

The Russians continued their resurgence in Ice Dance, taking the top two spots.

Ksenia Monko/Kirill Khaliavin won the title by nearly 10 points over their fellow Russians Ekaterina Pushkash/Jonathan Guerreiro.

Charlotte Lichtman/Dean Copely of the US pulled up from fourth in the Short Dance to a bronze medal overall, while the other Americans, Anastassia Cannuscio/Colin McManus finished in 7th.

Find compete Ice Dance results here.

The biggest shake up between the short and long programs came courtesy of the Junior men.

American Keegan Messing led after the short program by 5.31 points over the eventual winner from Canada, Andrei Rogozine.

Japan’s Keiji Tanaka pulled from sixth in the short to second overall, and Alexander Majorov from Sweden moved up a spot to land on the podium.

Messing fell to fourth, followed by teammates Max Aaron and Jason Brown in fifth and seventh respectively.

Find complete Men’s results here.

Continuing to push to the top, the Russians took gold and silver for the ladies, as well.

Adelina Sotnikova won the title, as expected. This girl is one to watch. She has some incredible jumps that remind me of the height and strength of Irina Slutskya’s jumps at times. But she has an artistic edge that Slutskya didn’t. Adelina will give some big names a run for their money if she keeps it up.

Elizaveta Tuktamisheva took home the silver.

Americans Agnes Zawadzki and Christina Gao flip-flopped places after the short. Agnes landed on the podium after a strong free skate, and taking bronze over Gao by 5.8 points. The third American, Courtney Hicks, had the fourth-best free skate of the event, however, and pulled up from 10th to 6th overall.

Find complete Ladies results here.

With all the buzz lately between Junior Worlds and Senior Worlds, I was curious…how much does Junior world success translate to Senior world success? I’ve been researching/studying this for the last few days, so look for a post early next week with all the details! Some interesting stuff came up…and, as I always do with research, I had trouble finding a place to stop! But I think I’m done compiling, now I just have to put it all together for you to see! So stay tuned.

 

Until then…

Practice, passion and pixie dust August 30, 2010

What a whirlwind of a weekend! Yes, for me personally, but also in the skating world.

Champs Camp wrapped up this weekend for the Team USA skaters, and with that, the news came pouring in. A few things stood out as particularly interesting to me.

For the short whilte they lasted, I was a big fan of the US pairs team of Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker. They just had something so special, the “it” factor, if you will. Of course, it helps that they’re both naturally gorgeous, and together on the ice they make a beautiful image. But their movement and their pairs skills seemed to have so much potential…untapped potential, really. I was devastated for them when they missed the Olympic team with the disastrous performance at Nationals in 2010.

Likewise, I was disappointed when they split after the season. I understand Keauna’s desire to explore other options. But it’s still unfortunate that their success was cut short. Plus, I adore Rockne and hated to think that he’d miss out on following his own dream.

Now for the rumor – sources say that Rockne may have found a new partner. While it was rumored that he had skated a bit with US singles star Sasha Cohen, that seemed to be more for a show than for competition. Now, it appears 2009 U.S. novice ladies silver medalist Mary Beth Marley may be the lucky girl who gets to skate with the charming two-time national champ. Mary Beth is adorable. She’s young (9 years younger than Rockne, to be exact), and has little to no pairs experience, so this may not be perfect immediately, but she’s definitely got the spark. Look her up on youtube to see a little bit of what she has to offer.

If they want to compete this season, they have to submit all the paperwork for Sectionals by September 1st. Plus, they’ll have a lot of practicing to do. This isn’t a team that will come together overnight. So that ice time will be critical. Like I said, I adore Rockne, so I really hope this works out.

Now for injuries – Mirai Nagasu ended the Olympic season with a glimpse of what could be, and a realization of what she had to do to get there. She managed a spectacular (and unexpected) 4th place finish in Vancouver, just behind Canadian sweetheart, Joannie Rochette. But after another surprising 1st place standing after the short program at Worlds, she gave away every chance for a medal in the long. This season, she says she’s working on confidence as well as technique, but her summer training was hampered by a stress fracture in her right ankle. Off the ice for six weeks, the US silver medalist still maintained her charm.

According to this article at from icenetwork, she sparkled at her Champs Camp photo shoot, winning over the room with her wit. No doubt, the girl’s a comedian. Just watch a press conference where she’s speaking. She speaks her mind, and she charms the crowd in the process by piling on the humor! I love it.

I love her skating, too.

Despite the injury, she’s managed to put together two new programs that are, in the starlet’s own words, “Brilliant.”

Her short is to selections from The Witches of Eastwick soundtrack, and her long is to John Williams’s Memoirs of a Geisha, which, I do believe, are fabulous choices for her! She’s been working with Lori Nichol on storytelling for her short, and developing her maturity for the long, and I can’t wait to see these programs. (Probably can’t tell, but I’m a big Mirai fan. She’s something special, and I’ve said that since her first senior season. …when she won the National title, I was feeling pretty good about calling it!)

Feeding off the energy in that article, I’d say Mirai is back, and more passionate than ever. She’s got what it takes, she just has to believe it. And with music she adores, she just might be there.

Mirai can hit the ice again on September 1st, so there’s no doubt Frank Carroll will work her and those programs hard to be ready for the Grand Prix season.

Also hoping to get some momentum back is Mirai’s close friend and co-starlet, Caroline Zhang.

I saw this little pint-sized wonder girl training in Artesia, Ca about 4 years ago, and was wowed by her spins, but bothered by some of her technique. Looks like her disappointment last season showed her the same thing. She’s changed coaches (yet another one!) to train with Tammy Gambill and choreographer extraordinaire, David Wilson. And from the sounds of things, they’re attacking some of her biggest faults – that high leg kick on the Lutz jump (as well as the edge take-off), and her nearly nonexistent speed, especially out of the double axel.

I’ll admit, I haven’t been too excited in jumping on the Caroline bandwagon, but when I read that her short is to Libertango, I was suddenly pretty stoked to see this from her. She’s always brought a sense of drama to the ice (when she’s not skating to music that seems to lull herself to sleep!), so a tango seems unbelievable for her. Plus, with improved confidence and technique, as well as a pinch of pixie dust from David Wilson, this season could be something special. I really do hope she holds it together.

Now for a video that may very well define the future of US skating for the men: Jason Brown’s remarkable Free Skate from the first Junior Grand Prix event in France. Check it out! Seriously…watch it. He’s something else.

Until then…

(Don’t forget to follow me on twitter – @FromTheBoards)